Pack/Unpack/Re-Pack/Donate

What can you release from your business and life forever?

What the $%@? How did this get here?

I shake my head. I’m sure this is ALL my husband’s fault.

“Alberto, why is this here?” I growl.

“What here?” he replies, sounding as innocent as a school boy . . . not at all!

“All of the stuff we said we were going to donate before we moved . . . TWO TIMES AGO.”

“Make that two states ago!” He exclaims holding up some a random plate.

Enter the back and forth over who/what/why we have boxes of stuff that should have been jettisoned, when instead, we paid someone to pack it and move it from Virginia, to Texas, and finally from the Florida rent house to our permanent house.

REALLY. Yeah . . . really.

Sigh.

As I write “donate” on yet another one of these boxes, I couldn’t help but wonder, how much crap am I carrying around in my business, my mind or even in my psyche?

The 80/20 Rule tells us that 20% of our actions cause 80% of our desired outcomes. Yet, many times I, maybe you, continue in business activities that have long ceased to produce results.

Why, maybe because it was easier to kick the can down the road. But you pay for that. Whatever we carry around has weight.

If you say yes to one thing, you are saying no to something else. So how many tasks are you doing that do not produce the desired result? Time to donate?

“Success is saying no to 1000 things”- Steve Jobs

When I was thinking this email through, my memory brought back something that happened to me at work years ago. I almost relived the whole experience before my senses kicked in to remind me that NO ONE but me had thought about that day since the day after it happened.

Re-Pack and Donate, or better yet, just throw out.

What to keep — — stuff that’s useful and relevant. The lessons you learned from mistakes. The encouragement you learned to give yourself in those tough times. Activities that give you the most bang for your buck, your buck being time, labor or money.

What to toss — ineffective activities, products or strategies, things you haven’t used in months. . . subscriptions, websites, guru emails . . . anything weighing you down.

How about the stuff that just doesn’t fit anymore. Much like the bikini you wore ten years ago, what was once “so me” may not be so any longer.

Donate old ways of doing business. Activities that work for someone else but don’t fit your strengths or values any longer.

Toss self-doubt, indecision, negative thoughts and poor self-talk.

It feels pretty darn nice to have half of the things in our house that we used to. We certainly don’t miss that extra salad spinner.

What can you re-pack and get rid of forever?

In my upcoming 5 Day Challenge, I will help you identify your high value clients, the ones need what you have to offer and you love working with. You can give the rest back to the market place and toss the belief that you have to sell to everyone forever. Go to MyHighValueClient.com for more information.