I think the hardest part about doing the work (whatever that ‘work’ is for you) is getting started, amirite? Here’s a tiny but mighty practice you can start incorporating into your work days and sessions as a mega boost to get going.
Let introduce you to my fun, super-energised hoi tong practice!
Hoi tong, in Cantonese, literally translates to “open stall”, which means that you’re open for business - as in, your ‘shop’ is now open for business.
Whenever I do this tiny thing to be just that bit more intentional about what I'm heading into, it changes my whole mood and flow.
It feels easier to start doing the thing; I work with more energy, focus, fun; and it feels waaaaay less like a slog or a chore.
Switching on this "hoi tong!" energy is my thing right now - sometimes I visualise myself literally opening up the shutters on a storefront.
In the literal sense, it means that:
🏪I’m open to receive and work with new clients;
🏪I’m open to taking on plenty of training gigs
🏪my ‘shop’ of coaching and training offerings is open, on display and ready to ‘do business’ with you!
But it a symbolic sense, it also means:
🌟I’m ready to do the thing!
🌟I’m open to new beautiful connections, friends, networks
🌟My mind and heart are open to downloading and processes new ideas, thoughts, creations
🌟I’m ready to receive wealth and abundance from ‘doing the work’
Please feel free to pinch my ‘hoi tong’ practice as it is. Or to find and curate a little practice, ritual or action that will ignite that same spark for for you.
The wonderful Writing and Manifesting Mentor Shantini Rajah (whose equally wonderful book Manifest Anything You Want has just launched by the way!!!), and whom I have the privilege of calling one of my dearest friends, uses the term ‘symbolic gesture’ - this describes a tiny action you take to reaffirm and zhuzh up the energy and intention you’re bringing into any activity. A symbolic gesture could be, for example, reciting a mantra, performing and holding a mudra, lighting a candle, putting on a favourite super vibey song etc.
At different times in my life, my version of a symbolic gesture has been to start each work session by drawing a tarot or oracle card, and just letting myself sit quietly with the energy that the card has brought me for that moment.
Other intentional signals I've used before include:
turning on a particular playlist
putting on a bra (!)
making a specific tea in a particular mug
sending a message to a specific friend for accountability
Right now, I need something a little ‘louder’ so this is manifesting as shouting ‘hoi tong! hoi tong'! out loud to myself in my office and dancing badly in my underwear.
But you probably already know that it’s not about how the practice looks. It’s about the intention you bring to it and the energy that it incites in you. The point is to find something that’s going to help you kickstart those engines and bring the energy to do what you want/need to do.
Take a little time to play, try different things and experiment to see what uplevels your energy, enough to take even one tiny step closer to doing the thing. And when you find it, I’d love to hear what you do to set yourself up for the day!
(Or, if you decide to adopt my ‘hoi tong!’ declarations, let me know how that feels for you!)
Share this post