I don’t know how you feel, but sometimes I feel like I’ve added so much to my life that I feel weighted down by all the good things. Sometimes I need to stop and jettison some things that are slowing me down. So here are the top five things I’ve decided I’m going to stop doing.
- I’ve stopped attending meetings with no agenda. How many times have we wasted a day dreading a meeting, then the other half of the day sitting in a meeting that droned on and on and on with no agenda other than to be critical and complaining about other people in the organization, and at the end of the day, nothing gets done? I only attend meetings with a specific agenda and a 45-minute time limit.
- I’ve stopped caring about what my critics think. Yes, I can’t turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to those around me. I need to be informed by what people are saying about how I am performing and what I am doing. I understand all of that. But I am not going to allow my critics to set the tenor and tone of my attitude or state of mind. They no longer have the right to take control of my day, my hour, not even a single minute.
- I’ve stopped trying to make other people happy. Boy this is a big load to get rid of! To carry the burden of making your wife happy, your children happy, your father, your mother, your in-laws, your siblings happy: this is a weight no one can carry. The truth is, I can’t make anyone happy. I can’t even make myself happy. I can only choose to be happy. I can only choose the actions that are loving and gracious toward those in my life. Then they have to choose how they interpret and apply it to theirs.
- I’ve stopped doing things out of obligation. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel compelled to do a lot of things. As a matter of fact, everything that I do in my day is something that I have a high desire, a high sense of oughtness about. But just to do them out of blind obligation, just to do them because other people said I should, or expect that I should, or demand that I should; no, not anymore. Everything I do, I am going to do out of intention and deliberation, out of a sense of purpose and passion based on principle, not on fear.
- I’ve stopped putting limits on my future. I don’t know if you’re like me, but the older you get the more you start calculating how much time you might have left. You start worrying about, “am I now at the end of my career, the middle of my career, the top, the bottom?” I’ve stopped doing all of that. If I live as long as my mother, I’ve got almost 30 years left to live. So, I may have 30 years, 30 days, or 30 minutes. Whatever my time on this earth is allotted, I’m not going to limit it by worrying about the false expectations of others, or the dumb limitations I put on myself. I’m going to know God, love God, and stretch to live the big life that He had intended when He created me. I invite you to do the same.