Abraham-Hicks is a spiritual teacher that I listen to a lot. You can find their Youtube videos all over, and I highly recommend them. One of the things that I have heard them say many times is the idea that you never get it done (by the way, I say “they” because “she” doesn’t feel quite appropriate, because it is a channeled intelligence that comes through a woman’s voice).
As I understand it, this idea means that, whenever we accomplish a goal, there is always more we want to do. The moment you accomplish something, a new goal will fall into place, or soon after. We never stop “wanting” things.
At first, this may feel slightly oppressive (What am I doing all this work for then?), but in fact, it can be greatly liberating. Think about it this way: you can relax! Because you never really will get it all done, so you can let go of thinking you can. No matter what you accomplish, there will always be more. So perhaps you can decide that whatever you can reasonably accomplish is enough. Perhaps you can relax and stop worrying about trying to get everything done!
To me, this was a wonderful concept to hear. At least, once I gave up the frustration about it. Because I, like so many, had spent so long “trying to get it done.” And yet, there’s the simple fact that there always seems to be more to do!
One specific area where this applies for sure is in creativity. Despite how it may look, artists frequently do not truly feel done, even though they have stopped working on their art. To me, there comes a point where you say, “Yes, this is good enough.” And you feel that, while you could keep working on that particular piece of art, you think it is basically what you first imagined when you thought it up, or at least in the ballpark. And you realize that the law of diminishing returns can start to kick in, where at that point, spending more time on it may not really produce much helpful change.
This sort of idea at first was quite challenging for me for awhile, because everything I did. Had. To. Be. Perfect! Yet over time, I realized that finishing things was often more productive and effective than not finishing. And having to be perfect somehow got in the way of finishing things! Quel surprise.
Nowadays, I always aim to do my best, and because I realize that a work is done when I say it is done, I give myself ample time, put in the work, and hopefully arrive at that point of satisfaction where I feel good about it.
Or else, I just run out of time and say, “Okay, then I guess this is done!” I have found that a looming deadline can be very helpful for finishing things 🙂
Going back to the overall topic, I have found that it is very useful to be willing to surrender my need to control, my need to “get it right.” Remembering that I will never get it all done helps me with this. I figure that I am in a continual process of becoming, of being. And so, the “work” always continues, the next, the new. There is always more calling forth.
Perhaps the purpose of life is not to “get it done” but to enjoy the process. Maybe it’s the river ride on the raft that is the point, not the destination. After all, isn’t every story we enjoy about a process unfolding? Would “The Wizard of Oz” have been so fun if Dorothy had fallen asleep during the cyclone, and said to herself while she dreamed, “You know, I realize this is all a dream, and I’m experiencing some stress and trauma over this cyclone thing and over that mean woman who wants to take my dog away from me, so I know that everything I’m seeing in this supposed Oz place is just a figment of my overactive imagination. So what’s the point? I think I will wake up now”? I think I would have skipped out on seeing that play!
But life, it seems to me, is about the process. When you think of it this way, then maybe it doesn’t matter so much whether you get it done. People like Leonardo, who was notorious for not finishing things, make more sense. He was just engaged in a lot of different processes! Maybe he was fulfilling the purpose of life even more than the rest of us who are trying to “get it all done”!