3 Places to Start Your Spring Cleaning

It is time for spring cleaning!

There are certain projects we work on each spring, and depending upon where you live, those tasks vary. Maybe you will get the pool ready, clean out the garage, wash the windows, weed and feed the yard, break out the golf clubs, or have a long list of projects both inside and outside the home that are long overdue.

Whatever your version of spring cleaning and getting ready for the new season, the time is here!

So is the time for you to do some spring cleaning on your leadership and your life. Here are three categories to take some inventory and do some clean up:

1. Your Goals

What goal(s) have you set this year and how are you doing in hitting them? You have some goals, whether from the beginning of the year or new ones that have come about, how are you doing? What steps need to be taken this week to move the needle?
What will you do today to be productive on what is important to you?

2. Your Health

How is your health? Are you at the weight you desire? Are you sleeping well? How about your energy level? Take inventory on your personal health and take steps to improve your life by improving your health.

3. Your Personal Development

How many books have you read this year? How many more will you read? Reading is so key to increasing your mental approach and critical thinking. Read, read, and read.

Have you signed up for a seminar, conference, or other event to develop your skills? If so, great! If you haven't, its' not too late. Go research options and sign up for at least one event this year.

We can get so focused on new activities, baseball, housework, kids graduating, work projects, and more that we lose sight of what makes all those good things great....

YOU, YOUR BEST YOU!

Take some inventory, do some spring cleaning now on your leadership and your life. Make it a great day, a great spring and you will be on your way to your best year ever!

Do You Know What Matters Most?

You may hear people say, “Don’t sweat the small stuff!”

How? Might be your reply.

I saw a great quote recently (not sure who gets the credit), “One of the most important things in life is to know what is most important.” It is easy to say, much tougher to do. In the end, it is about keeping our focus on the bigger picture with confidence that we are on the right path.

So what is most important to you? What are your core values?

If it’s been awhile since you looked at them or if you’ve never created a list, now is the time!

Your challenge is to spend some quiet time alone and develop your list. These values help frame where you spend your time and attention because these are the things that matter the most to you. Once you know what matters most, it is easier to identify the "small stuff."

Here’s how you go about that process:

1. Identify approximately 10 words that describe the things (in large buckets) that matter to you in your life (personal, professional, recreational, etc.)
2. Then narrow down your list to the absolutes, the top 3 – 6. These values are your core values.
3. The final step is crucial. Put them in number order. Something must be number 1 and always take precedence over number 2, 3, and 4.

This process is a necessity in the path to success. Defining your own core values brings clarity in times of tough decisions and prevents you from being distracted by the wrong things. And in the end, it keeps you from sweating the small stuff because you now know what really matters.