Monday, November 5, 2012

From Here To Your Life's Work: Find Your Tribe

Step Two To Doing Your Life's Work - The People
Once you have found your purpose, it is only logical that you are intentional and select the people who will join you on this journey.

This is such a tough topic.

Most people are not very intentional about who they do life with. They sort of default to the usual suspects:

Family of origin

Co-workers

Church pew buddies

Pub pals


You can keep the list going but you know what I mean - the people who just "appear" in our lives as we go about our daily duties and habits, with little attention to who stays and who goes.

This is perhaps one of my favorite topics to broach. The company we keep is key to how our lives unfold. There is no denying this. We have to be conscious of who we let in and who we usher out. It does not just happen naturally.

There is nothing more important than guarding our dreams, hearts and very lives from ill. People impact us - positively and negatively. It is 100% our own responsibility to protect ourselves from toxic people.

In the book, I speak to this very succinctly and I'll do it again here:

Toxic people must be dropped from your life immediately.

No excuses.

Especially, if you are on a journey to doing your life's work every day. You need people who support you - not necessarily the endeavor. Do you see the difference? It is subtle but powerful.

People that will accompany you on this journey must love you. People who help get you "from here to there" respect you. People who walk with you in life must accept you.

Most toxic people I know are not capable of all three of the above and it is imperative that you don't compromise one point. Love. Respect. Acceptance. All deal breakers.

Whether you embark on the journey to your life's work or not, this is sound relationship advice. You need to surround yourself with people who love, respect and accept you.

So, the challenge this week is to look into your tribe... who belongs? Who does not? Who stays? Who goes?

Bonus - does anyone have any tips for ridding themselves of toxic people they'd like to share?

No comments:

Post a Comment