The Desert of Arizona
Sunrise 46 Degrees – 6:44 a.m.
In the “Land of Shoulds,” nothing is quite as it should be.
Your mailing list should be bigger…
You should know more about lead generation…
You should outsource every task that isn’t worthy of your time…
You should (finally) get some tech skills…
You should work more if you’re serious…
You should work less if you’re smart…
You should be getting better clients by now…
You should stop doubting yourself…
You should go to the gym more…
That’s enough “shoulds” to make anyone’s head spin.
The Land of Shoulds is a trap. It’s a crowded wasteland full of tired people who aren’t actually doing anything.
Why do so many people spend so much time there?
Because that’s how they’ve been trained!
The Land of Shoulds is where the system wants you–because in the “Land of Shoulds,” you become impotent. You effect no change, no progress, no result. You’re too busy and tired and worn out! When this is the case, the system doesn’t have to suppress you, it just watches as you do it to yourself!
Bruce Lee talked about this a lot:
Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualizing and self-image actualizing is very important. Most people only live for their image.
Where some people have a self, most people have a void, because they are so busy projecting themselves as this or that. This again is the curse of the ideal. The curse is that you should not be what you are. Every external control, even internalized external control—”you should”—interferes with the healthy working of the organism. There is only one thing that should control the situation. If you understand the situation that you are in, and let the situation that you are in control your actions, then you learn how to cope with life.
So what happens if you purchase a one-way ticket out of the Land of Shoulds?
First step: TAKE A BREATH.
Collect yourself. Come back into your body.
Turn OFF the “I should be different than I am” program that you’ve been infected with. Just shut it off.
Every time you find yourself back in that mental construct of your ideal future “should” state, the place that fills your being with a feeling if dissatisfaction, bring yourself back to the moment, because that mental construct is fake.
Rinse, repeat.
Then look at your situation, ask yourself, “Given the situation, what’s the next best step for me now?”
Keep asking that question as many times as you need to ask it.
How will you know if it’s working?
You’ll know by your feeling. If you feel powerless, you have more work to do.