Are you enjoying the beginning of lovely autumn weather?
Okay, for those of us nestled here in Southwestern or Central Florida, it may not be quite as lovely as it will be in about three or four weeks. Some sweltering heat still lingers but it has been offset by the occasional breeze, something not commonly making an appearance during our typical humid Florida summers.
Earlier in the week, I posed a new creative thinking challenge connected to this season of shedding the old to prepare for the new. My Kuhnspiration question to you:
What “leaves” can you shed this fall – something on your mind, on your person, on your conscience weighing you down – to allow yourself to uncover your own raw truth?
I hope that you have taken a few moments to consider the question, because we often get so caught up in our daily scheduling that we just let these issues hang on us much longer than is probably healthy. I really had to take longer than usual to contemplate this question for myself. I do have one item I am definitely going to address during this next quarter in an attempt to rid myself of behavior that is doing nothing to help myself at all.
I am notorious for refusing to part with the old – and that is not just the “stuff” that piles up on our desks and clutters closets. I am talking about my words, ideas and plans. Sometimes it is just time to let them go, but to me, this is like admitting failure for not accomplishing them. So for me, probably the most positive thing I can do is shed myself of some “to do” items who have camped out on my list for about the past year or two. Yes, that’s right – I actually have items that I continue to postpone from one monthly to-do list to the next. You would think after – oh, I don’t know…24 months! – I would get a clue that perhaps this item on the list is not quite the priority in my eyes and heart as apparently it was when I drafted up the to-do list in the first place. Or maybe it was never really a priority in my heart but merely something that I thought others would expect I would focus on at that time. I’ve since determined – I don’t really give a crap what others think I should be doing. I care what I think I should be doing.
As it is, incomplete tasks weigh heavy on me – on my mind, on my psyche, on my energy. If I have a list of 10 things to do and I accomplish eight of them, I tend to focus on the two I didn’t accomplish rather than the eight I was successful at crossing off the list. (Can any of you relate?)
Well, no mas.
I have to rid myself of this pointless and self-destructive behavior. And the way I do that is completely rethink those to-do lists. If something is on my list three months and still hasn’t been completed, clearly now is not the time for it to be on my list. Off it goes. If somewhere down the road, it emerges as an important issue I must address, then I’ll likely at that point be forced to face the music and deal with it, but making myself feel miserable for constantly “failing” to get it done (how I perceive it), is accomplishing nothing but tearing down my confidence and any positivity at all.
This is just one way I plan to strip away something that doesn’t feel beneficial to give myself a fighting chance to stay positive and focused on what is being accomplished as I have so much I want to get done this fall, personally and professionally.
What about you? Can you think of one or two ways you can shed some not-so-helpful “leaves” in your life to set you on the road to wrapping up the year with resolute and contentment? I encourage you to take some time now to give yourself a little peace of mind somewhere in your life.
Cheers to finding that daily spark in your life!
~ Chris
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