Making new year’s resolutions and setting goals for 2018 is a great idea. It means you know what you want to achieve and you have a clear plan for making it happen. Awesome. But there’s something you need to do before you get cracking on those new goals.
In his book The Success Principles, Jack Canfield —co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series—has an exercise he calls ‘cleaning up your messes and incompletes.’ It’s as genius as it is simple.
CLEAN UP YOUR MESSES AND INCOMPLETES
It’s time to deal with all those annoying things —big and small— that you’ve been ignoring. Maybe you’re too busy or perhaps you simply stuck your head in the sand in the hope that it will miraculously take care of itself. We’ve all been there.
This approach comes at price, though. These things take up space in the back of our mind and whenever we’re reminded of them we experience a sense of guilt or shame at not having dealt with them. We close the door (physically or metaphorically) on the problem and for a while we forget about it. Rinse and repeat, right?
Whether we left a project uncompleted, failed to get closure with someone or our filing is in a state of disarray, these messes and incompletes represent areas in our life where we’re not clear – or where we have emotional or psychological blocks.
“When you don’t complete the past, you can’t be free to fully embrace the present.” —Jack Canfield.
How on earth can we expect to focus on our new goals when we have unfinished business hanging over our head? If you’ve ever tried to stuff one more thing into a too full closet you’ll know it’s just going to make more of a mess. You also know that if you took the time to clean out the closet you’d solve the problem.
CREATING SPACE FOR SUCCESS
It’s the same in life. If you want success you need to create space for it. That means getting rid of the baggage. The more you clean up and clear out, the more space you create for success to enter your life.
In 2009 my partner and I were stuck. Some aspects of our life were great —we were living in a furnished beachside apartment, training for our first half-marathon and we’d just gotten married. But other aspects weren’t looking that good. We were both between jobs and our finances were in bad shape.
I’d been reading The Success Principles at the time and when I got to Success Principle #28 – Cleaning up your messes and incompletes, the message resonated and we decided to give it a try.
We made a list of everything we hadn’t dealt with and set to work. We cleaned up the apartment, which was overflowing with the owner’s clutter. We tackled our filing and taxes, we sorted through photos and donated things we no longer needed.
Within a relatively short space of time we began experiencing a sense of flow in our lives. We no longer felt stuck. My partner got a job offer, I found some freelance work and the tightness in our respective chests dissipated.
MAKE A COMPLETE, DELEGATE OR DUMP LIST
Do a quick inventory in your head. How many things do you need to deal with? If you’re like most people you likely have a fair amount of unfinished business. By clearing up all these messes and incompletes you’ll have a much better chance of achieving your goals.
You’ll feel more energized and alive and you’ll experience a sense of flow in your life, too. It’s not a quick fix (the good stuff never is), but make the effort and you’ll see results for sure.
Start by making a list of everything you need to complete, dump or delegate. Once you’ve done that, schedule a ‘Completion Weekend’ and start working your way through the items on your list. Complete as many as you can in your allotted time and if you don’t finish, schedule a second weekend.
When you sign up for Jack Canfield’s Success Principles 10-Day Transformation (it’s free) he actually takes you through this in detail in Day 8. I’ll give you some examples below, but see if you can think of things that I may not have mentioned, as well.
Unfinished Projects and Courses
I’m always signing up for courses and starting new projects only to get bored halfway through. Does that sound like you? If you have any of those in your life you need to either commit to completing them by a certain date or accept that you won’t finish them and let them go.
Junk Drawers, Overflowing Closets and Cluttered Garages
There’s no point keeping stuff you don’t use. Donate it, send it to recycling or throw it in the garbage, but just make sure you get rid of it. It’s taking up valuable space in your home as well as in your subconscious.
Finances, Taxes and Filing
Finances and taxes are two super important areas in just about everyone’s life and yet they’re often the most neglected. Is your checkbook balanced? Are your tax records up to date? Is your filing in order? If not, add it to your list and get on top of it.
Relationships
Are there any promises you made and didn’t keep? Ignoring the issue won’t make it go away and it’s also a surefire way to tarnish a relationship. Get in touch and let the person know what’s happening. Whether you plan on following through or have to renege doesn’t matter. Just let them know.
Harboring grudges isn’t healthy. Is there anyone you need to forgive? Are there people you’ve been meaning to spend time with and haven’t? Can you think of any unspoken appreciations? Voice them.
Maintenance, Mending and Miscellaneous Clutter
When last did you get your car serviced? Have you got a pile of mending that you’re just not getting to? Is your desk cluttered with things that need to be put away? What about family photos?
As long as you have visual cues reminding you of everything you haven’t done you’re going to feel a sense of overwhelm. It will always feel like too much. Take it bird by bird, as Anne Lamott advises. Focus on one area and when you’re done, move onto the next.
Pretty soon all those messes and incompletes will be a thing of the past. The trick, of course, is to ensure it stays that way. You could either schedule a weekend a month or tackle these things on a weekly basis. Just make sure you do it otherwise you’ll be back where you started.
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