What DON’T I Want in 2015?!

What is it for you? That pile of reading material you never get to? The old donor files you mean to go through? Or is it the strained relationship you should at least attempt to fix? The clutter in your office? The promise made and never delivered?

There is tremendous power and comfort in rituals – in those things we do to lock in a feeling or action that is important to us. It may be the way you tidy up your office before you leave, or make the list of what is most important that you GET To Do tomorrow or say, ‘good bye’ to your family each day.

Then there are other rituals that don’t serve us.

• Picking up and putting down that project, again.
• Putting off an uncomfortable conversation, again.
• Putting off an ‘ask’ we keep thinking is not ready to be heard, again.
• Not dealing with someone, personally or professionally, we are at odds with, again.
• Putting off that money matter, again.
• Opening the email. And closing it, again.
• Not making the phone call to say we’ve decided to spend the holidays at home – no chasing, again.
• A pattern of delaying some recurring, important task, again.

We are afraid. Tried to deal with this before and well, failed to. Ouch. There is it. “What if I fail again?” Sometimes this ‘unfinished business’ keeps us up at night. Sometimes it pulls us down in broad daylight – nags at us when we are driving, creeps into our heads like heavy weights of, “Yeah, right – need to take that off the back burner.”

This is not a list of things you got wrong. That’s the wrong list to be running over in your mind. No, this is the list of “incompletes” that lay in waiting. Big and small…but waiting.

Stop now…..what are the top 5 “incompletes” in your life right now?

What happens if you never deal with one or more of these? Nothing, really? Maybe you just write it down and rip it up. Gone.

But if not…if it must be dealt with, DECIDE NOW that you are not going to enter 2015 with it as a millstone around your neck.

Say aloud, “By the new year I will no longer be dealing with this!”

You have a bit more than a month….and it’s a busy time, I know. But start your new year with at least one “incomplete” off the list. One thing that you just WILL NOT take into the new year.

And to keep the momentum moving forward, draw a few more lines in the sand.

“I will not begin December with this incomplete.”
“I will not go into the holidays without our family time secured.”
“I will not have this strained relationship even if having the conversation takes this person out of my life.”

Maybe it is simply, “I will not pummel myself for what contacts I didn’t make until now, but rather decide….draw a line in the sand… stop looking back and start talking! Talk to every prospective giver asking, “Is there a gift you want to make, something specific you wish to accomplish before the new year begins? Can I help?” “Is there something you want to get DONE, right now to have an IMPACT for our mission yet this year?”

What DON’T you want in 2015? Decide, draw the line and leave it behind. Fill in the space with positive action!

Nothing changes if you don’t.

Invest in Joy!