I learned the phrase “protect your punch bowl” from success coach, Darren Hardy. It immediately resonated with me and I wanted to share it with you. It’s Mardi Gras season here in New Orleans, so there will be many parties and many punch bowls filled with probably more liquors than the creator will admit to. But once you get that perfectly flavored Mardi Gras punch, the last thing you want is for someone to say, “I think it needs more pineapple juice!” And now it’s ruined….

In that beautiful little head of yours, there are thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, dreams, that you’re excited about. You’ve even planned them out in your fancy new planner. There is so much possibility for this year and you can’t wait to manifest your wildest dreams.

You have set your expectations for 2019 around those thoughts swimming around in your head, or in this case, your punch bowl.

But then you start to share those dreams with your family, your spouse, and your friends and quite frankly, they piss on them. They say things like, “you remember what happened when you tried that last year, or I know you, you’ll give up on that before the end of the week, that’s what you said last year…”, and it goes on and on. Without even realizing it, you allowed them to ruin your perfectly prepared punch. Now all of sudden, you’ve lost that excitement, you feel confused about your ideas, and you lose faith in your ability to make it happen.

You didn’t protect your punch bowl.

From my perspective, with the wonders of social media, Snapchat, etc., we have empowered people to share their opinions freely whether we want to hear them or not. People who have never met you and know nothing about you can offer you advice and tell you how you’re doing it all wrong. Crazy, huh? So if complete strangers are handing out advice, surely your friends and family are going to feel comfortable spreading their two cents. It’s not their fault though, you invited it…

I’m not saying you can’t share your dreams with the people you care about, but you have to set boundaries. Sharing doesn’t mean you want advice, you might just want to share what you are excited about, and that should be enough. Don’t let people confuse the two. You are responsible for protecting your dreams. No one at the party knows exactly what’s in the punch bowl. And no one really wants to know either.

Did you catch that? No one really wants to know…

I know you think that the world revolves around you and your friend at work really wants to know exactly what you plan to do next, but trust me, they have their own stuff going on. The same conversation you are having with yourself about manifesting your dreams, they are too. People only want to know enough, not the details. Like, “does the punch have alcohol or not?” And that’s it. The rest isn’t really all that important.

So before you invite the whole world into today, take some time to decide what you are willing to allow. If you’re still struggling with a decision, it might not be the best time to share. Learn to trust yourself and be ok with how things turn out. If things don’t go the way you want, it doesn’t mean you were wrong or someone else was right.

Always vote in favor of yourself. Always protect the punch bowl.

Talk soon,