A most empowering phrase to soothe those hard-driving reflexes, especially for all you over-achievers out here. It worked for me, at least.

I tend to drive myself too hard, till health, well-being, and other areas of quality-of-life break. And lately I’m trying to practice joy in my work, so subtracting ‘not-joy’ things is part of it. One key culprit is my hard-driving attitude. So this is my mantra now:

“I give myself permission to not……“

• work so hard today
• feel bad about what gets done today
• do any chores today
• work on the project that I should be working on
• wake up early
• be super productive
• always be on top of all my goals
• be disciplined with my habits
• killing it all the time
• be clever, witty or insightful when writing 200wad
• be nice all the time

Side-note though: this mantra probably works only for those who have trouble stopping, resting and take it easy on themselves. This mantra probably won’t work on you if you don’t fit this description.

I initially wanted to phrase it in a positive way “I give myself permission to……”, but I realised the negative framing helps me to better let go of those hard-driving expectations on myself. 

But it’s a strange, because…once I let go of those expectations, I find that I can do the thing better, if I so choose to. Sometimes I don’t go back to it, and it’s fine. 

Sometimes, expectations are like shackles that weigh you down.