Autumn is underway and it’s the perfect time to reflect and cast off what you don’t want to take into the new year.
Yes, I’m already talking about the new year. Because the new year is just 77 days around the corner.
I find once the holidays are underway—which are also just around the corner—many of us fall into a siege mentality of just getting through the busyness and the craziness of year end.
So now, before holiday autopilot begins, is a great time to pause, take a deep breath, and really think about what’s working and not working in your life.
To think about what you want to carry forward into the next weeks and months and years. And, equally important, to think about what you want to discard and leave behind.
More, less & different: 3 simple questions to spark your exploration
- The first: What do you want more of in your life?
More connection? More community? More time for yourself? More financial peace of mind? More joy? More meaning? More flow? More acceptance?
What do you want more of to bring you and your life to fullness?
- The second question: What do you want less of?
This question is often easier than the first because many of us have already been percolating about what’s not working in our lives—even if we’re sometimes reluctant to face the truth. When you think about your life, what do you want less of?
Less struggle and stress? Less over promising? Less friction with your significant other? Less overhead to support? Less guilt? Less time spent at the office? Less keeping up with the Joneses? Less perfection?
What do you want less of to bring you and your life to fullness?
- The third question: What do you want to be different?
A different level of engagement and meaning in your work? Different boundaries that keep more of what you don’t want from coming into your life in the first place? A different emphasis on experiences and less stuff? A different relationship to your body and health? A different sense of your place and purpose in the world?
What do you want to be different to bring you and your life to fullness?
These deceptively simple questions are potent and potentially life changing. If—and this is a big “if”—you spend time exploring them.
So grab a pen and paper, go to your favorite cafe or out into nature, and explore your answers. Write and draw your way to clarity about what you want to be more, less, and different.
What do you want to be more, less and different in your life in the year ahead?
P.S. Some of you are thinking, Yeah, that would sure be nice to go to a cafe and journal about what I want, but I’m too busy with work, the kids…
Well, here’s a little dose of tough love: If you don’t have time to explore what you want to be more, less, and different in your life, then the year ahead is likely to be much the same as the year you’ve just had.
You’re the only one who can decide if that’s OK. But know this: You’re worth the time and your life is worth fully living.
