Give yourself permission to rest. If you're a high performer or a business owner, you probably feel safe being busy and you don't feel safe resting. I know that's true for me. I always used to remember going on holiday or taking some downtime at Christmas and feeling extremely uneasy at the thought of doing nothing. And I could never really understand why. I always just felt that I was losing grip of my business. I felt that I was losing money. I felt that clients were going to leave me and essentially I was going to come back to a ton of work. And it just stressed me out going on holiday and taking down time at Christmas. But here's what I realized. My whole entire life, has come from chaos. Chaos in the form of being diagnosed with diabetes, having a very disconnected relationship with my parents, feeling like I was never good enough. My system was used to chaos. I knew what chaos felt like. Chaos became my friend. Chaos was familiar. I don't think I ever, ever had a month or week where chaos wasn't present. And here's the funny thing. While all my chaos has served me and I've turned it into order, my mind didn't see it at the time. I'm very grateful for the chaos in my life. In fact, I love it. But here's the thing. You get to a point in life where you mature and you begin to realize that all the chaos in your life has served you. And whenever you get to that point, you still have these little remnants. Think of it like coding. Think of it like your operating software, where part of your subconscious still feels that it needs chaos to feel safe. But rest will always feel like a risk to a nervous system that is used to chaos and a mind that believes our value is defined by what we achieve. So, Here's my recipe for you coming into the end of the year. Here's my recipe to really just relax and be calm. And most importantly, open yourself up to receiving. Life isn't all just about go, go, go, do, do, do. When you look at your future self and who you truly want to become, When you look at who you really are, sometimes you need to spend less time doing and more time being. There's a lot of power in that statement. Less focus on doing, more focus on being. If you close your eyes for a second and ask yourself, who am I? I'm a powerful entrepreneur. I'm an incredible father. I'm an incredible family man. I am notable. I have a great reputation, I am skilled, I am valuable, I am powerful. Whatever happened to being that? You don't just need to do all the time, you need to be. Rest builds capacity. If you can be in rest, you're almost like a magnet that attracts all this stuff into you. Because if you be that person and give yourself to be, give yourself permission to be, then if you give yourself permission to be, it's incredibly important to just be open to receiving rather than doing. So this Christmas, come the end of the year, or come any time that you're listening to this podcast, where you're seeing yourself sit down at the end of the week, but still feeling anxious, ask yourself, what are you worried about? Go into that thought and you'll realize that there's a narrative there that hasn't even come true. One of my favorite quotes is, your thoughts are not reality. Reality is not your thoughts. And it's important to realize that if you're used to operating from chaos, but you've resolved it and you've grown from it, thinking like that and operating from chaos doesn't serve you anymore. It's time to be open to being more than doing. This is a season of being, not doing all the time. Doing is still important, but be before you do. Outside of your doing, be. And we're now coming into the end of year where some people define it as separation season. Separation season is commonly framed as a season to get ahead of everyone else while they chill and go backwards. But I would encourage you to think differently. Here's how I want you to approach this season of separation season. Do the stuff that the old you wouldn't do. Separate yourself from yourself. Behave different than the average you. Do the stuff that nobody else does. Stretch yourself. Be intentional about pushing and stretching yourself every single day. Do it now. Life is a game of inches. Stack your efforts. So when it comes to health, do that extra rep. Spend that extra time in the gym. Go to that extra class. When it comes to business, say what you want to say to the team members. Say what you want to say to the marketplace. Build the plan, build the system, launch the product, push yourself. When it comes to family, what can you do for them right now, in the next day or two, in the next week or month, this year, that you've never done for them before? Social, friends-wise, what friends do you want in your life that you haven't yet got? How can you get yourself into those circles? How can you make yourself uncomfortable? Relationships-wise, go on the date, ask the girl out, ask the guy out. Tell them how you feel. Tell the truth. You cannot think your way to a new life. While thinking is important for planning, it doesn't get you the life that you want. You need to do. So, I really just want to encourage you that rest builds capacity to focus on being more than doing, especially if you have built your life trying to outdo all the people that told you that you couldn't do it, trying to overcome your adversity. It's a great activation energy, but long-term, it's not sustainable. And three, separate yourself this season by doing the stuff that all you wouldn't do. forge yourself into a character that is worth modeling, a character that everyone else looks at and goes, that's how I want to live.