To be happy, motivated and effective we don't always need to… add. Sometimes, we should just let go.
“Renunciation does not take away. Renunciation gives. It gives the inexhaustible strength of the infinite. "
M. Heidegger.
We often arrive at the end of the year that we are loads: full of commitments, full of stress, full of disappointments. But obviously we are not good enough.
In fact, the holidays are coming, and what do we do ?!
We charge even more! The stomach of fries, pandoro and panettone and the mind of good intentions, projects and new activities.
It is not surprising then that the mind and body sometimes decide to rebel, suffocated under layers of "garbage", physical and mental, which have accumulated over the years.
What if this year was different? What if we finally decide to to let go something and start the new year lighter and, ultimately, happier?
In the last few weeks I have been thinking about this for a long time and for the new year I have decided to let go of all that is superfluous, so that I have the energy and time to focus only on what is essential.
Here's what I chose to give up. They are my choices, linked to my life, but I suspect that during the reading you will think on more than one occasion ... "this is me!" ;-)
1. I have chosen to let go of too much information
"So many books, so little time."
Frank Zappa.
I love reading. I read on average 52 books a year and hundreds of articles and studies: I have always considered reading one of the keys to my personal success.
There isn't a day, however, that I don't add a new book to Amazon's wish list, and dozens of articles to Pocket's list: even if I spent 8 hours reading every day, I would still need 20-30 years to dispose of the arrears.
It does not make sense.
I will continue to be a voracious reader, but in the meantime I will free my wishlists of all those articles and texts that I will never have time to read and I will choose carefully what I will let in in the future. Our time is too precious and deserves to be invested exclusively in excellence. What do you think about it?
2. I have chosen to let go of the delusions of perfectionism
11 revisions. This is the number of times I have reviewed and corrected this article before publishing it. A little paradoxical for those who wrote a post titled "How to free yourself from perfectionism and enjoy life", do not you think? ;-)
When I was working as a Management Consultant, my first Manager taught me attention to detail and I will always be grateful to him for this, but being effective also means understanding that limit beyond which the pursuit of excellence becomes futile.
For the new year I have decided to eliminate the useless activities of my job at the root and continue the delegation process started this year.
In fact, the paradox of perfectionism is that it leads us to waste tons of time in activities that we shouldn't do at all or that someone else could do much better than us.
And so we come to the third point ...
3. I have chosen to let go of the obsession with control
In English they call them "control freak": control freaks. Well…
"My name is GetPersonalGrowth, I'm 32 and a control freak."
Session of CFA (Control Freak Anonymous).
Since I can remember it I have always wanted to be in control of my life, in short, I have always wanted to be thearchitect of my destiny. Put like this doesn't even sound so bad and my character trait probably prompted me to invent my work.
But I am aware that what has brought me to this level is also what is holding me back from reaching the next level.
Who knows, maybe it's the same for you too ...
So I decided to let go (a little) of my need to be in control of every little detail. I will finally listen to the advice of my favorite taxi driver: I will follow the wave.
4. I have chosen to let go of some of my fears
The last time I was in Spain, I happened to watch an advertisement for a well-known Whiskey brand on TV, whose motto, since 1780 is:
"Sine metu / Senza paura."
So ... the idea for the New Year is not to take out half a bottle of Whiskey and then launch myself from the tallest skyscraper in London with a sheet as a parachute, but of course there are other forms of fears that I can and must face.
Each of us has our own monsters to defeat and I am sure this also applies to you.
I have decided to let go of at least a couple and I wish you a new year too… sine metu.
5. I have chosen to let go of the need for approval
"Be yourself and say what you think: those who take it don't count and those who count don't take it."
T. Seuss.
If I want to complete the projects that await me in the new year, I can no longer afford to waste even a minute ad feed other people's mental illnesses… And the same goes for you.
Those who decide to take a path off the beaten path inevitably expose themselves to the criticisms of others: let them arrive, put the useful ones to good use, ignore the spurious ones, but in any case do not let your ego be tied to any of them.
6. I have chosen to let go of unnecessary objects
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
Leonardo da Vinci.
I have never been a "heap-pick", but my latest move still gave me the opportunity to let go of many objects that had accumulated over the years in Milan.
Getting rid of these objects made me feel a pleasant sensation of lightness.
Sometimes we don't even realize how the multitude of superfluous objects that "encrust”The places where we live and work negatively affect our life. We become aware of it only when we finally decide to get rid of it.
For the new year I have chosen to continue this minimalist approach and bring into my home and my life only what I consider essential.
I advise you to try.
And if you don't feel like getting rid of some objects for good, test this simple one experiment: Put everything you are undecided about in a box and label it with today's date. In a year, get rid of all those objects that have been in the box for 365 days.
7. I chose to let go of the damn excuses
Although I embarked on my personal growth path 15 years ago, I am anything but perfect. This means that there are times when the apologies they take over my will. It's natural: I'm not an automaton. Maybe it happened to you too ...
Well, do you know what the mistake we make in these cases? It is certainly not to stop and take a breath. No. The mistake is to believe in our excuses, to give space to that little voice that whispers to us that we should give up, to transform a temporary stop into a definitive defeat.
Here, in the new year I have decided to let go of these damn excuses, to call things by their name, also to accept to lose some battles, but not to give up. Never.
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These are the 7 things that I have chosen to let go in the new year: if we want to reach ambitious goals, we must travel light, putting only the essentials in our luggage.
And you? What do you choose to let go?
