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3 Ways to Avoid Drift

Have you heard of drift? Defined as the continuous slow motion from one place to another? Also defines as being carried slowly by current of wind or water? Guess what? When it comes to life we can drift and live as if carried by others’ currents and move from one place to another without much thought. As I’m sure you can imagine, this does not equate to life satisfaction or feeling like a life well-lived. Listen in to today’s podcast to learn three ways to avoid drift.

1. Conscious Living

Living consciously and with intent is a significant first way to avoid drift. Furthermore, I’ll bet you’re thinking: done, I’m conscious so good to go.  While yes, that’s factually true, bear with me as I know from personal experience that it’s possible to be alive and functionally conscious yet still drift. In fact, I went through the first 30-35 years of my life rather unconsciously. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was an incredibly driven and dedicated young woman : I worked hard at what I was doing. The unconscious part is that what I was doing and the goals I was striving for weren’t necessarily chosen by me. There wasn’t much consciousness as to why I was striving to do what I was doing. Further, there wasn’t much of a connection between my actions and my inner values or my inner guide. 

I was unconsciously following others plans for my life and their ideas about what a life well-lived looked like. It’s like I was reading someone else’s guidebook for life and adopting it as my own. This leads to feeling disconnected, discontent, and despair. Living an unexamined, unconscious life is one of the main things I see that causes drift, creates suffering. Moreover, it’s one of the simplest to change. 

Action Step to Avoid Drift and Unconscious Living

The good news is there are simple things we can do to stop living someone else’s vision of a happy life. Better news? We can do this without completely disrupting your own life. 

People who live lives they love stop every so often to think of where their daily actions are leading them. People who live lives they love have a vision of their future. Have a flight plan of where they want to go. People who live lives they love have goals. People who live lives they love take small, consistent action towards that future every week, if not every day. 

If this sounds familiar to you, your action step this week is to listen to this podcast episode and tell me by email or in the comments below which action you will take.

2. Skilled Decision Maker

People living lives they love are skilled decision makers. They avoid drift by having a growth mindset around decisions and understanding there are no wrong decisions. Skilled decision makers understand that if they feel fear or doubt when considering a decision, that’s a sign they’re growing or pushing to that next level. They make decisions swiftly regarding how they want to live their lives and taking action towards living that life.

When we allow ourselves to hop off that treadmill to think of the future we want to live, fear and excuses WILL come up.  People who live lives they love accept that that discomfort is a part of a life well-lived rather than a sign that something has gone wrong. 

When we delay making decisions this is where drift sneaks in and regrets are born. How do we delay? Listen in to the episode to learn about procrasti-learning as I can trick myself into delayed action with this technique. Unhelpful. Stalling to make decisions causes drift and end of life regrets.  

Action Step to Avoid Drift and Slow Decision Making

Growth happens when we take action. There’s a huge difference between knowing how to do something and actually doing it. it really doesn’t matter how smart you are or how many degrees you have, what are you doing? Life satisfaction rises through the simple act of making decisions quicker so as to take action towards living the life you’re here to live.

If this sounds familiar: your action step is to listen to the podcast linked here. Listen and learn how to make decisions faster with a growth mindset.

• Learn the 3 Steps to Become a Skilled Decision Maker here on Apple Podcast
• Read for further understanding here 

3. Surround Yourself with Supportive People

Be ruthless about surrounding yourself with supporters. Accept nothing less. Surround yourself with people who support and uplift you. With people who are comfortable seeing your joy, your light, who want to see you shine

The people you interact with on a daily or weekly basis matter profoundly. They influence our actions and mindsets greatly. 

Interestingly, this is an area where we often get complacent and experience drift. We make excuses by saying things like: “We’ve been friends since childhood.” or  “She was a good friend when my kids were young.” Or “She’s my sister…Or my mom…Or my dad.”

Hard truth. Relationships can have expiration dates.

Further, our biological family is not always our logical family. Avoiding drift comes from reflection and answering some questions:

• How do you feel when you get off the phone with them? Excited? Enthused? Supported?
• Do they see your light? Are they reminding you of your greatness? Do they lift you up, encourage you to feel the fear and do it anyways? Are they listening to your goals, your dreams and jump in to help you believe in their possibility?

Or do they think it’s their job to poke a hole in your enthusiasm. To remind you of past mistakes? To limit your future by pointing out past limitations and ways your dreams may not be possible. Do they encourage your doubt or confusion by saying things like “are you sure?” Or “that may be hard…”

There are some who use love as a shield and say things like “I’m only saying this because I love you”…and yet, what they’re doing is trying to put you back on that treadmill that they’re comfortable with. They’re uncomfortable with your change and they act as an anchor to keep you in their box of comfort. That’s okay for them. Not for you.

Action Step to Avoid Drift and Surround Yourself with Support

You’re here today with the knowledge that a life well lived means taking risks, listening to our dreams as guides of what is possible for us. Not everyone is brave. Furthermore, not everyone listens to podcasts like this that teach that fear is okay, actually more than okay, that when we feel it, it means we’re growing, moving towards that greater life satisfaction.

If there are those around you who aren’t comfortable seeing you shine, seeing your light, or seeing your contentment, boundaries are needed. And possibly different relationships. If this sounds familiar, your action step is to listen to the podcast on boundaries or emotional vampires that I link in the show notes and to check out my monthly membership for courageous women over 40. 

• Listen to the Boundaries Podcast here
• Listen to the Negative People Protection Plan Podcast here
• Learn more about joining other courageous and supportive women in the community membership here

Permission to Live a Life you Love

Dear warriors, there you have it: Three ways to avoid drift, to move towards living a life you love, 3 ways to avoid getting to the end of your life with regret.

I bring you this podcast every week with the intent to share over 3 decades of knowledge and now 5 decades of life to assist you as you SHINE your frigging light. You are here for a reason. Your dreams and desires are unique to you. We each have our own damn treadmill. Get off of other peoples, chart your own course and know I’m here to support you every step of the way.

Speaking of, if you are looking for an easy way to support the show, the best birthday gift you could give me is to head to patreon.com/SusiePettit and support the show. I have 3 different levels set up and your support means I can continue to take the time out of my billable hours to put this content out there ad free. Thank you thank you thank you.

Big love to you amazing wonderful unstoppable warrior.

You matter to me.