Have you ever found yourself dreading something that you have to do? I have to pay the bills, I have to exercise, I have to go to the grocery store, all the way down your dreaded to do list.

What if you could get rid of the have to’s? What if you could replace the have to’s with get to’s? What if you could sprinkle in some want to’s? And even some excited to’s?

It takes about a tenth of the energy to do something enthusiastically as it does to force yourself to do something, probably because it takes more energy to drag your proverbial feet and resist your own efforts.

What do you believe you HAVE to do? What I should’s and I ought to’s are you wasting energy putting off?

Here’s a challenge for you….

Take your to do list and try the following exercise:

On the left edge of a piece of paper (or if you’re a nerd like me, an Excel spreadsheet), list all of your to do’s phrasing them in the form of sentences. For example, I might have “I have to feed the dogs, I have to walk the dogs, I should make dinner for dear husband, I ought to organize my pantry, I ought to volunteer this week, etc.

Once you get those all listed, then across from each one on the right side of the page, rephrase as a privilege. So my examples would look like this:

I have to feed the dogs  –>   I choose to feed my dogs that love me unconditionally
I have to walk the dogs  –>  I am so excited to exercise the dogs and myself
I should make dinner     –>   I love making dinners that my sweet husband enjoys
I ought to organize my pantry  –>  I can’t wait to have my pantry organized and neat
I ought to volunteer this week  –>  I look forward to feeling so blessed when I volunteer

Suddenly I’m feeling so grateful for how many wonderful things appear on my list and I can’t wait to find more things to add to the list!