Out with Old to Make Room for the New

When you redecorate your house, or bring in a new piece of furniture, you clean out the space and area to make room for the new items coming in, right?  You rearrange what is there to utilize it better, perhaps putting on a fresh coat of paint and wiping down the walls.

This is a good life lesson!

You see, it’s necessary to do this with your mental house as well, and clean out old ideas and concepts that are limiting you from bringing in new ideas and people.

You may need to clean up your mental space as thoroughly as you clean your bathroom!

Often, messes from our past experiences, or incomplete ventures need to be tidied up or thrown out! When you don’t complete and release your past, you can’t fully embrace the present.

Take time today to make a list of your emotional housecleaning.  Start with the things that keep you up at night – we all have at least one thing…and write that down.  No need for detail here, we are doing a quick brain dump – but you need to do this on a clean sheet of paper.  No post it notes that will get lost or thrown away.  I suggest taking a fresh notebook and dating it.  Quickly write down what comes to mind.  You will have mental and physical cleanup to do here.  Your resume?  An old friend that you fell out of favor with?  A business plan that you started but never finished?

Next you will write by each of those items, and you will assign it to one of the Four D’s of Completion: Do it, Delegate it, Delay it or Dump it.

Do it – these will be done and addressed right away.  Put a time limit on it. 24-48 hours for action to be taken

Delegate It – You will notify (email or phone) the person that will be taking this over for you.

Delay It – Not to be eliminated, but not to be addressed right now.

Dump It – You are releasing this from your to-do list.  You are moving on from it.

It feels GREAT walk into a clean house doesn’t it? It feels just as great to clear your mental space and make way for new ideas, new opportunities and new results!