The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna

Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger

Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal

 

In the early hours of my mornings (or whenever I find time), I read these three books one after another. It's my second time reading them, where now I annotate, highlight and write notes and I'd love to share the lesson I learned today with you. 

 

In the Crossroads of Should and Must, Elle Luna explains that your shoulds are pre-determined mostly or they were put in place by your childhood, upbringing, culture etc. Musts are different. These are what your mind, body and soul long for. What you truly want to do. Sometimes our musts are clear and also pre-determined from a young age and sometimes they're blurry and not noticeable anymore. She gives many exercises and motivates the reader to push forward. On page 68, "Look Within" is one such exercise and example. Here's a quote for you from that page: "Must is always with you, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. Must is you. Sometimes, Must can feel really far away, but it will never leave you. You just might not see it yet." - The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna

 

The exercises that follow encourage you to keep thinking of what your must is. For example, if you had one day to pursue some idea, activity or project, what are three things that come to mind? She encourages the reader to collect all answers in a collection (a simple notebook perhaps?) and review them often, to look for connections and to see the bigger picture more clearly. While it's not always realistic to drop our responsibilities and priorities and pursue our musts full-time, we can however carve some time and devote to our musts and consider those as a form of self-growth and self-care even. 

 

Wishing you a lovely day!

 

Loba