Shed Your Junk

I’ve spent the past two days going through a bunch of old papers and junk we’ve got stored in a local mini storage unit. It’s amazing how much useless old crap we’ve got packed away in those boxes.

Going through box after box of old papers (some from a far back as 1984!), I got to thinking about how I’ve accumulated a lot of junk in my life, too. No, I’m not talking about old business cards or anything like that.

I mean the kind of junk that dulls the mind, keeps you from innovating, and just plain slows your forward progress.

As is often the case when things are going pretty well, I’ve gotten comfortable over the past few years. Plenty of work, good money, having fun both professionally and personally. Sure, there’ve been some down times, but that’s expected in anyone’s business or life. All-in-all, life is good.

But in the cold of the mini storage I realized that like the junk in the boxes, my brain’s collected some junk of its own. I’m not really pushing myself like I used to. Sure, I still work hard (I’d like to think I work smart, too) but I realized today that I’ve settled into a comfort zone. I realized that I’m pretty damn complacent these days.

And that scared me.

So I’ve resolved to clean out my mind as I clean out the mini storage. See, my mind, like yours, is a tool for competitive advantage. If my mind isn’t in top-notch condition, I lose my edge. A check-up from the neck-up is needed, as Zig Ziglar would say.

By mid-week next, I’ll have set renewed goals for my personal and professional life as well as firming up a couple of new media initiatives I plan to launch early in the New Year (BTW, if you’re interested in developing a road map to success in the digital marketing biz, drop me a note and I’ll share more details!)

Here’s what I’m doing, specifically:

• Taking inventory of all of the activities I do that aren’t bringing me value, making a list and then planning to shed them – all of them.
• Creating a detailed list of short (90 days), medium (12 months), and long-term goals (18 months).
• Resolving to change the way I end and start my days – I need to use the end of the day to more effectively plan for the next and then, start my day by following the road map I developed the night before.
• Taking Zig Ziglar’s advice (yup, I love that guy) and stepping up my doing for others (because as Zig says, “You can have everything in life you want if you’ll just help other people get what they want.” Trust me, it works.)
• Committing to simplify my life, both personally and professionally.
• Pledging to get more sleep (please don’t tell Gary Vaynerchuk).

The key is to make your goals manageable. If you’re not being realistic, you might just bite of more than you can chew. Take little bites and don’t be afraid to go back and adjust your list regularly. Oh, and consider putting your list up on the fridge and anywhere else it’ll be plainly visible to you. The more you see it, the more you’ll internalize it – let that subconscious go to work and help you put your list into action.

OK, I’m headed back to the mini storage to shed some more junk. Make your list and let me know how it goes.

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