Time for Spring Cleaning

Do you get excited when spring comes, and it’s an excuse to clean your house, yard, and shed?

If you’re like me, this brings me little joy and excitement beyond recognizing that the season has changed. But, it signals the time to open the windows (while avoiding the deluge of pollen that has appeared) and let some fresh air into your home.?

Some people find cleaning therapy, but for me, it’s just a task I tolerate. What I do love, though, is the seasonal purge of stuff. When the seasons change, it’s time to look at all the clothes I didn’t wear last season and all the things I don’t use in my home. When you look at that clothing item you didn’t get to wear this past season, do you get excited to wear it next fall/winter, or do you just feel eh about it?

My new rule with many things…if it’s not a hell yes, it should be a no - clean it out. Donate it, sell it, throw it out.

Spring cleaning isn’t just for things. We should also use it for behaviors, habits, and mindsets because they become dated too. Are you saying these things to yourself as you read this…

• But it’s always worked before
• But I don’t know what I want it to be instead
• But it’s scary to change
• But it works for everyone else

If you are, you’re not alone.

Changing our behaviors, our habits, and our mindsets is tough work. Just like deep cleaning your house, particularly if it’s been a while, you need to buckle down and use some elbow grease (no idea where that phrase originated, but apparently it was first used in 1672,?who knew?)?When things no longer serve us, we must be willing to cut the tie to what we know to get to what’s possible.?

Let’s start with an inventory…

• Can you clearly articulate your top 3 priorities for this month, week, or day? I' I am loving my Full Focus Planner for the structure it gives me to document these.
• What does your calendar look like? Is it still back-to-back Zoom meetings, afternoons, evenings, and weekends filled with kid activities? Are you already feeling stressed just looking at it? I know I was.
• Looking at your healthy living plan for the season, are you already feeling behind? I've been lax on some of my healthy eating habits lately so after my spring vacation; I want to get back on track.
• Did your family dinner/game/movie night go by the wayside as things got busy, and you’re starting to feel disconnected again? I recognized what I was missing earlier this week when we had a family dinner with some of my son's friends and got to play a game together.

Or…have you done well keeping things under control during the last season? If so, celebrate yourself for being self-aware, managing your time effectively, and regularly making adjustments as needed.

If you’re like me with some internal spring cleaning to do, don’t put it off too long, or else you’ll go through a whole season and wonder what happened. I've been attending a business retreat this week, and it's allowed me to reflect on what's most important, how I want to show up in the world and what impact I want to make. We don't have too many plans this weekend, so I can work on integrating my thinking into my planning.

• I’ve had some things on my to-do list for way too long. I will either do them, delete them, or give them an official invite on my calendar to do them (if they require significant time and effort).
• I want to rethink my calendar management as it’s still not working as well as I would like. It’s time to reassess what’s most important and ensure it’s getting the right priority on my calendar.
• Assess what changes I want to make to the offerings I provide to align with the impact I want to make.

Though I coach others on many of these things, I also need to do them for myself. We’re human. We fall into habits that work for a while or that are easy. We make choices that seem to make sense, but once we live them, we realize they’re wrong. The good news is…we can make a change. We can do the spring cleaning. We can make a different set of choices for the next season.

Use the seasonal changes as the catalyst to reexamine what’s working and what’s not. Some of you where the seasons don't bring much change may want to rely on the quarters of a business year. Whatever cadence you choose, ensure you have built it into your regular operating system.

I believe we need to reflect quarterly on whether our strategy needs to adapt, if our plans to achieve that strategy are working or need to change, and whether the key measurements we use to guide our personal life or work are on target.

We officially observed the start of spring in this part of the world last week. Time to clear the dust bunnies, open the windows, and get a fresh perspective. Enjoy the time reflecting.

Happy cleaning! If you need help cleaning out any mindset issues, message me, and let's talk.

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???? ♀? I am Melissa Carson.

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??? The performance coach for high-achieving imperfect leaders who are at a crossroads

?? The Swiss army knife for CEOs and CHROs who know their people strategy isn’t working and are ready to fix it

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