Yesterday i pretty much spent the whole day at my sewing table and I have awesome things to tell you about it. It all started on Saturday, that’s the day I do grocery shopping for our family. The grocery stores are within walking distance and embedded among clothing stores. So I have made it a habit to secretly use this kid free time to shop for clothes as well. Yet as often, this Saturday there was nothing that inspired me. So that night, while complaining about the clothing stores to my wife I heard myself say: “I am just going to sew my own skirt!” Wait. I have never sewn actual clothing for myself before. Accessories yes, but fitted clothes? No way. I haven’t even used my sewing machine much, since having kids. Spent Sunday night on YouTube watching skirt tutorials. And Monday morning, right after writing down all the things I wanted to get done on this work-from-home-for-my-coaching-practice-day, I was determined to sew a skirt instead. Here is what I learned: 1. Inspiration is awesome. Follow it. Our lives are so full of things we “should” do. You know when you are inspired, because it’s that awesome feeling that you want to do it and won’t let other things stand in your way. Taking action when you are inspired is 16,25 times more effective than when you feel the action is a thing you should be doing. Awesome. I totally just made this number up. But I am sure you know what I am talking about. 2. Preparation is key. Take the steps to prepare for what you want to do. In Law of Attraction circles we say: Get in alignment with what you want to do first, and then take action. When I know what I want to sew, I usually can’t wait and want to do everything right that minute. Yet I know I have to wait till the store opens to pick up a few things I need for the project, I know it’s better to iron the fabric beforehand, I know it’s best to pin the fabric in many places and iron the folds… I know it, yet I am not so excited about it. Yet as I take these prep steps, they become fun and everythings runs so much more smoothly. Same is true for the things and tools I know make my life run more smoothly in general. I know the tools and methods, yet I am not always excited to use them. But every single time I do sit down and write out some intentions, make a plan of what I want to do that day, or how I want to feel during a meeting, … so every time I use a practice to get me in alignment with what I want to do before doing it, it feels so awesome and the effect is immense. 3. Things unfold in unexpected ways. Embrace it with excitement. I picked a pattern for a circle skirt. It seemed so easy and duable, that it got me excited to start as it removed all my hesitations of sewing skirts. When I got home from the store though, I realized I calculated wrong and bought the fabric too short. Grhmp! Well, I turned to fabric I still had in the house, in this case a black curtain I once saw, with colorful birds on it. After more prep work, the sewing went nice and smoothly. But when the skirt was done, I realized: This skirt is way to fluffy and I don’t like the look of it! Oh no. The whole purpose of sewing my own clothes is to create pieces I love. So, embracing this take of turns, I decided to make some adjustments. After picking up the kids, it was time to take in some fabric and reduce the volume of the skirt. And then make some more adjustments. And one more. And now: I love my skirt! Not only that, but as my two year old got to see the final process he is super excited about the result that he has been complimenting me all day. It helps that is a great fan of birds, too. If I had known from the start, that I would need this kind of pattern, I wouldn’t have done it, because it would have seemed too complicated. I went for the thing that seemed easy and duable and it still brought me to where I wanted to go = pretty and awesome skirt. So keep in mind that when things don’t work out as expected, awesome things are still on their way for you. Planning out HOW to achieve something is tricky. Because only certain options seem within reach. Some might seem like very big burdens that you have to take on, others might seem easy and exciting like my circle skirt. Once you move towards your goal more ways and perspectives on how to accomplish things come into sight. So embrace that things unfold in unexpected ways. 4. It’s ok that it takes time. Look out for other awesome things while waiting. While it builds upon the previous point, this deserves a special mentioning. As things unfold in unexpected ways, be sure to look out for other awesome things in the process. Just because you don’t have yet what you want, it does not mean that you don’t get to appreciate what is there. I got to drink great coffee with sunrays warming my face, while waiting for the store to open so I could buy fabric. I got to share my excitement for sewing with my kids, simply because it took me much longer than expected. And to be honest, all this happened two weeks ago. This post is late. In the meantime November decided to give us sunny warm weekend and now this post is delivered with pictures of me in my awesome skirt in the sunshine : )