Why Doing Less is Hard, Even for Intuitive Women
You value listening to your heart and intuition. And more and more, they are nudging you toward doing less, of giving yourself permission to let go of constant doing. You’ve maybe even tried it. This likely felt great in the moment, but later, you may have felt guilty or less worthy.
As much as you want to do less, it still feels hard to imagine fully committing to and implementing this different approach in your life. This makes complete sense. Doing less is hard for many women, even for intuitive women.
Most women, including those who honor their intuition, have developed deep beliefs around what it means to do more and to do less. Maybe some of these sound familiar:
If you want to be successful, you have to do more.
If you want to be loved, worthy, and enough, you have to do more, especially for others.
If you want to enjoy a good life later on, you have to do more now.
If you do less, you won’t be successful.
If you do less, you won’t be loved, worthy, and enough.
If you do less now, you won’t be able to enjoy a good life later on.
It’s no wonder, then, that women, even heart-guided women, find doing less so difficult. When your success, your worth, your lovability, your chance at a good life all feel tied to doing more, trying to do less is hard. It’s also unconventional and perhaps frightening.
There is hope, though. Recognizing these deep cultural, societal, or familial beliefs you have around doing less helps you see that you’re not doing anything wrong. Doing less is hard, especially at first. And there are things that can help it be and feel easier.
Reframing your beliefs around doing more is a great place to start. That might look like reminding yourself of the following:
There are lots of ways to be successful. Success can absolutely be found in slow, steady progress that prioritizes intention and doing less over doing more.
You are innately loveable, enough, and worthy. Doing less cannot change your worth. You are already enough, even when you choose to do less.
A good life can be built on things like doing less, allowing for rest, and slowing down. This opens you up to experiencing delight and joy right now and not just saving those things for the future.
Any time you’re doing less and start to feel resistance from old beliefs, recognize them for what they are and then reframe them in your mind. Over time, they will get easier to let go of.
Starting small is another way to help doing less be less hard. You could let go of one extra task a week for a few weeks, or one task a day for a week. Or maybe you want to prioritize getting rest on a regular basis or spending a few moments each day doing nothing. Whatever feels doable, try that. Then assess how it went, how it felt, and how you’d like to proceed going forward.
If your intuition is nudging you to do less, know that you can do this. It may feel scary, hard, and guilt-inducing right now. And the beautiful, gentle life you want, of slowly down and doing less, is possible.
