Shed What Doesn't Serve You

Many of us go through periods of reflective cycles where we revisit our strategies, commitments, and goals in order to realign our efforts. One of those cycles happens as one year ends, and we use the fresh slate of a New Year as a new beginning. 

And while this introspective work is important and the intentions are good, it also needs to be practical. Often during these times we think of all of the things we want to be doing - eating healthier, exercising more, growing our business, consistent with date nights - and it sets us up for failure.

Just think of it logically. Our lives are already overfull. We’re busy doing so many things, with so many commitments, and we hardly have the capacity to do anything else. Wanting to add more to that without taking anything away just contributes to the problem and sacrifices quality across the board.

That’s why I want to encourage you to think about shedding what doesn’t serve you. Your plate might be full right now, but is it full of 10/10 things? Or are there things that aren’t quite as impactful, important, or desirable that you’re doing anyway?

If you want to invite more of the right things into your life, you need to create space for it.

And it’s not just things that take up your time, but things that take up your energy. When you take things on and have a high tolerance for anything that’s out of alignment, that inability to discern comes out in other ways. It becomes a consciousness that consumes all parts of your life, and it’s about much more than just the thing in question.

Here are two things that I’m choosing to shed:

First, I am no longer doing the Heroic app on a daily basis. It’s a quality app that helps a lot of people, but it wasn’t doing much for me. I have other systems and tools that I use, and this was just another thing that I was doing on a daily basis. I want to have a higher threshold of excitement and value than that for things I take on, so I’ve chosen to remove it from my routine.

Second, I am no longer doing my daily pushups. This is a big deal because it’s something I’ve been doing for 20 years, and my identity is woven into it. But, it has negatively impacted my posture and has pulled my shoulders forward. The pushups don’t serve me, and it’s a habit I’m replacing with an alternative exercise that does.

Shedding is painful and causes grief. We’re getting rid of the things that make us who we are, and that can be scary, stressful, and uncertain. But what it also means is that you’re committed to getting better, that you’re self-aware of your needs and willing to take action to meet them. When the initial emotion of separating from your old self wears off, it cultivates a sense of empowerment and control that will guide you forward into your desired future rather than hold you back in your past.

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