As we come to the darkest days of the year, we also enter the time where most of us are running around to buy gifts for others. At this time, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best gift I can get for myself is to get rid of things.
As part of my professional and personal development, I’ve been looking to make myself more efficient, and a big part of that for me has been trying to incorporate the Getting Things Done (known as GTD) philosophy championed by David Allen. My take on the basic philosophy is that we are usually bogged down with so many possibilities in our lives, that we get paralyzed easily in that we just can’t deal with everything and don’t know where to start. GTD is all about getting things out of our heads, and just having in front of us clear action steps that we can do and not have to think about at the time. The thinking’s been done already and we can just (somewhat) mindlessly take action. (I’ve completely drunk the Kool-Aid on this, and will write about it more later.)
This has manifested itself in my life that I’ve got too much stuff around, and that I need to get rid of these things in order to not get so bogged down in things. Just knowing that that file drawer only has things that I need, or that that pile that’s been haunting me for months is now gone, has done tremendous things to free up energy in my life. I’m doing things now that I’ve been meaning to do for a while (like, starting this blog).
So, what’s hanging around and keeping you from taking action? What things/people/actions in your personal or professional lives are the road blocks that are in your way? Leave me your comments.
Ken
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Dunno that purging oneself of unnecessary stuff should be called an “anti-gift.” Seems to me clearing out the things that dam our lives and block positive movement is a huge gift to self. Clarity, simplicity, focus are all part of the ability to move forward.
You’re right Margaret, but I was thinking of it as the opposite of receiving, but giving away. It’s a gift to self definitely!
“‘Tis a gift to simplify” ?
Absolutely. It means that I can look more at the things that matter.
You might want to re-title this post with that phrase, or something along the same line. Your post has a positive message, and a more positive title might be better suited to it.
Daniel: Good idea. It’s been renamed. I give you credit for the retitling.