It’s that time of the year where you’d expect someone like me, a business, team, and career coach, to whip up a clever post about making resolutions and how to stick to them.

Sorry to disappoint. You won’t find that here.

As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of resolution making because statistics say it turns into resolution breaking.  Instead of resolutions, I’m a fan of expecting the unexpected.

If you insist on cruising down the resolution highway, here’s a post that might get you to your intended destination. Good luck.

If you find yourself breaking your resolutions by the third week of January or, if you’re lucky, early February, go back to my aforementioned posts about what to do instead.

Another idea is to simply let go of what’s holding you back.

I love Tim Gallwey’s “Inner Game” formula:

Performance = Potential – Interference

If we can remove the interference, whatever is getting in the way, we can improve our performance. Sounds simple enough.

What’s your interference? A situation? Controlling people? Unproductive behaviors? Your Itty Bitty Shitty Committee?

Try this mental exercise. Take every interference that’s not serving you and put each one in the basket of a hot air balloon, cut the ropes, and watch them sail high in the sky moving further and further away until they all disappear.

How does that feel?

Set the intention of cleaning your mental house and just let it go. You might be thinking, easier said than done Steve!

This is your choice. You always have a choice. You can choose a new life or continue to live in your old one. Whatcha gonna do?

As you say goodbye to this year and move on to the next, I leave you with this poem. I’m uncertain of the author because I’ve seen attributions to Ernest Holmes, Jennifer Eckert Bernau, and Rev. Safire Rose.

What do you need to let go of?

Drop me a line to schedule a complimentary strategy session to discuss your endgame.

She Let Go

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go. She didn’t search the scriptures. She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back. She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it. She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go. She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. She didn’t call the prayer line. She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.

No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

Photo courtesy of J. Todd Poling.