I had a little case of food poisoning this week. While I was writhing in discomfort, settling back into bed with tea and my computer, so grateful that my morning coaching session had rescheduled due to his own circumstances, something occurred to me. Something important.

How had this happened? A quick review of the circumstances brought me right back to one place: my own mindset. Yes. I had “manifested” food poisoning, and a big part of the why was in my own head. My own sneaky habitual thinking had created completely avoidable circumstances.

The culprit wasn’t really the past-its-prime cantaloupe sitting in my fridge. It was my own belief that even in its quickly-approaching-decrepit state, that I could make it good enough for me. I could make it work.

I’m uncomfortable with wasting food, something that I inadvertently do too often. Waste not, want not, right? That’s an ingrained

So, in service of something I theoretically value, I convinced myself that the fruit wasn’t that bad. I could stretch it out a bit more, avoid waste. I convinced myself that it was “good enough”. Just a rinse and a few selective slices and that orange flesh would be a perfect candidate for making juice. I know. It seems ridiculous when I revisit it now. I know better.

I settled for something that I knew full well was less than nourishing, and as life happens, I paid the price.

I share this story because this happens so often.

This is the same story I hear from many of my coaching clients, though not with their juice-making experiences. They’re trying to make the job work, even though it’s taking a toll. They’re staying in situations when it’s clearly time to go. They’re stressed out and the first thing to go off the plate is taking care of their own personal energy.

Anyone who is working through significant changes or chasing bigger dreams will experience this. Until we practice catching this slip in the act, it can be easy to slide into a place of convincing yourself that you can make do with something that is clearly not in service of your larger goal. It can be too easy to settle when what you really, really want is something nourishing, energizing, forward moving.

Reinvention can feel scary. Reinvention, personally or professionally, is asking us not to settle. It is asking us to clearly identify our own version of what we most want and to keep choosing that, over and over. Even when it’s challenging. It calls for change, for doing things a bit differently. It asks that we examine what we're thinking, feeling and doing as a result.

It happens with jobs, career paths, relationships, diets, lifestyles, habits. And it never gets us where we want to go. It’s so much more effective to get clear on and commit to your ultimate goal and put in the extra work.

Where I wanted to go was my usual state of healthy personal energy. Where I ended up was in bed sipping tea wishing I'd made a different decision.

The truth is, it’s better to toss out what we already know is not good for us instead of trying to salvage it and make it good enough.

The process of reinvention requires this of us. It asks that we get very clear on what we truly desire and what we know is good for us. And to accept only that. Even when it’s easier not to. Even from ourselves.

Especially from ourselves.

Your coaching challenge: What are you managing, tolerating or even pursuing that you already know is not working for you? It’s time to toss it out.