You Have Permission

Need a Permission Slip?

Remember raising your hand in class and asking to go to the “lavatory”? (There’s a word you don’t hear much anymore.) Perhaps now you are the one signing permission slips for class trips and missed days at school, yet throughout life and even as adults, the need for permission remains, sometimes under the surface of our awareness.

My friend, Monica, and I joke about calling each other up when we need “permission on demand”. Just two weeks ago, Monica heard something in my voice on the phone and was right there with the permission slip I needed when she said, “I give you permission to take an extension on this deadline if you need to.” A few days later when she was hit with a flu bug, I returned the favor by saying: “I give you permission to stay in bed today.”

We’ve found that it’s often easier to give each other permission than to ourselves. Of course, we both realize that the permission we’re seeking is really our own to give, however granting it for the other is the sometimes humorous and sometimes profound reminder of our freedom to choose.

Give It To Yourself

The need to give yourself permission happens within small daily moments: permission to sleep in, permission to speak up, to call it a day, or to keep working when you’re on a roll. It also occurs within the larger, pivotal decisions of life: permission to decline an offer, leave an unhealthy situation, or to pursue a dream.

Just within the last week, I posed this question during several coaching conversations and these were some of the answers I heard: What do you need to give yourself permission to do, in order for this goal of yours to happen? To stop worrying about the money. — To take the pressure off. — To say no. — To be assertive and show I have what it takes for this job.

When you give yourself permission you are appreciating your freedom and realizing what is within your ability to do.

Permission Granted!

Sometimes when you aren’t getting the results you want, it signals an opportunity to grant yourself permission.

This Week:

• During the day and especially if you feel yourself struggling, take a moment, and like the little kid raising his hand to go to the lavatory, ask (yourself) for permission to give yourself what you need.
• As you consider your deepest desire for the year ahead, what permission must you grant yourself in order for this vision to materialize?