I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but “leaky bucket” is not one of them! So, when a good friend told me ‘We are all leaky buckets’, I had to hear more.
He said that every day we wake up as an empty bucket, and we need to fill our buckets up in the morning BEFORE our day gets started because it gets emptied by the end of the day.
So I asked, ‘how DO we fill our buckets?’
According to him, we can do it by gaining strength from others before us and seeking wisdom from wise/spiritual leaders.
The noise of the world – phone calls, emails, traffic jams, bills, arguments, budget meetings, etc. can take away from our bucket. Imagine if you start your day with an empty bucket. Many of us do. In fact, I did for over 40 years (as you’ll read in my book The Success Paradox: How to Succeed and Win in Business and Life).
Rushing around in the morning was a habit. I would jump in and out of bed with my hair on fire, underprepared from the night before. I’d come into the office on two wheels and be stressed out by the car in front of me being too slow (in fact, it was my fault because I had left home too late). I’d be late coming to the meeting and try to pretend to catch up, so there was my authenticity out the window. That’s how the day – in fact, most days – started.
On top of that, I was relying on self-sufficiency, which I now realize is a complete myth –
and so, the wheels were falling off because my leaky bucket was never full.
I had a major breakdown and some really scary health issues as a result. When I explained how I was living on empty to my preacher, he asked me quite directly: “And how is that working for you?” Of course, the leaky bucket lifestyle was not working for me at all! And so, with the help of many others, and God, I managed to find a way of slowing down, I accepted the help I needed in order to change my operating system from Get Up and Go to Letting Go and ensuring that my bucket is full every morning before leaving the house was not only part of my healing process, it’s become a daily habit.
Filling Up My Bucket
I am very intentional about scheduling Quiet Time for myself each morning, away from the family and away from my phone and other distractions. I’ll use the time to either pray or meditate, or both. I love that quote: “Prayer is for talking to God; Meditation is for listening to God.”
Sometimes I’ll take a walk outside to clear my head or I’ll read something that will inspire me. I also find good value in journaling and writing my thoughts down on paper. Some mornings I’ll find the itty bitty sh*$$y committee is ruling the thoughts in my head, and then I usually need an extra few minutes to put them back in their place and let them know that I’ll hear what they have to say, but they don’t control my life.
Another way I fill up my bucket is by surrounding myself with good people – whether it’s at work, at home, or in our community on Pawleys Island. It feels good to lean on other people, ask their opinion or even ask for help – as much as I want to reach out and help others, I have to also give them the privilege of reaching out to me. When I do this, my bucket overflows and that’s just the way it should be.
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