HOW A SINGLE LETTER CAN CHANGE IT ALL...

This will be my last MYT Monday of 2020 - and I wanted to round it off with something powerful, that will not only transform your creative life, but potentially your whole life.

I'm sure you've heard of the "80/20 Rule", which is also known as The Pareto Principle - in which 80% of a desired result comes from 20% of the efforts you make.

It's essentially living proof of other concepts we can live our lives by, such as 'less is more' and 'work smarter, not harder'.

What I'm about to share with you is almost 80/20 on steroids.

It's a change so small, it's almost imperceptible. However, it produces a shift so big, it's hard to put into words.

In short, this change has recently changed my life, the way I look at my work, my art, my creative practice, and my responsibilities as a businessman.

Not only that, it's revolutionised the way I look at my relationships, friendships and connections in my life

It's transformed my emotional state, from feeling obligated, to feeling privileged and honoured, and from that, a natural feeling of gratitude has flowed, as has inspiration, excitement, and well, joy.

All this, and that's before I get to mentioning how my productivity has also shot through the roof due to this change.

Believe it or not, it's all come from changing one letter, in one word - It's come from changing 'got' to 'get'.

Why is this so Powerful?

When we feel obligated to do something, we say 'I've got to do <insert task here>." 

This statement implies that it's something that must be done, despite the fact that we don't really want to do it - it's inconvenient, we're procrastinating, or we just don't feel like it.

"I've got to get into the studio", "I've got to get this track finished", "I've got to go out for a run", "I've got to go and see my family over the holidays" are all very common statements, and each one of them makes the task at hand sound like some sort of indentured servitude. It doesn't exactly inspire, does it?

So, what would happen if we change one letter, in one word? What if we change from 'I've got to' to 'I get to'?

"I get to go into the studio", "I get to finish this track", "I get to go out for a run", "I get to see my family over the holidays"

See how that feels? How we've shifted away from obligation, and maybe even resentment, toward opportunity, excitement, inspiration? You can even feel a little gratitude for the fact you have the opportunity to create, so see your loved ones, to strengthen and increase you body's capacity to do physical work...

You can even extend this to incredibly boring tasks

"I get to do my taxes" feels a lot different to "I've got to do my taxes"!

This is because it almost retunes our perceptions to the fact we have a job, or a company, that's been successful enough to need to do taxes for!

I've found since I've made this shift, and changed just one letter in one word (granted it kinda shifts the sentence a little bit too, but hey, give me a little artistic license here, ha!) I'm now far more connected to happiness, flow, joy, and from that, flows inspiration, expression and true confidence.

This isn't a unique concept - in fact it's something that really hit me whilst reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.

It's an idea that's been around in many forms - another of my favourites is changing 'should' to 'could', which unburdened me from so much needless pressure and expectation I was unconsciously piling on myself, which came from Louise Hay, author of "You Can Heal Your Life".

So this festive week, and maybe into 2021, you can change a single letter in a single word, that might lead to a profound positive shift, that could eventually revolutionise your artistic and creative practice.

Give it a go, and you might just surprise yourself

To your increasing Creative Flow - all the best for the festive season, I wish you all the health, happiness, joy and wisdom the world can bring, and I'm looking forward to a transformative 2021 - for you and for MYT...on which there will be more in subsequent posts...

Big Love,

Paul <3