Yep, December 2023 is nearly half over.
So…are these last days “counting down to a finish” or “the gateway to our best NEW STARTS?”
Here’s what I’m thinking. The busy, over-peopling holidays may seem like the worst time to think about what we can wiggle into our schedules in a fresh new calendar page, but this may, in fact, be the best time to set the stage.
You see, we need to talk to ourselves about our creative longings.
A great time to chat is when we’re busy with the kind of stuff we do on holiday breaks… buy stuff, carry stuff, decorate stuff, wrap stuff, go to the gym to burn off stuff we eat.
Rather than use these resting brain moments for stupid holiday fretting, I like to use these snippets of time to give my brain better assignments…usually in the form of questions.
The right questions can do big work.
For example, rather than dive into specifics about what our New Year’s Resolutions will be, what if we started figuring out how we can get in position to ignite whatever idea comes our way?
Questions to wrangle before we wrangle 2024:
• What habit is between me and my boldness? How can I burn a bad habit or create a freeing one, one action at a time?
• How do I decide which ideas get my focus? Can I make a policy or criteria for deciding to say “yes” to my best ideas?
• Who can I spend more time with who will up my chances of starting and finishing the things that matter most?
• What are tiny things I can start and finish to build my muscles for facing the blank page, the blank stage, the blank canvas?
• Am I ready to take my starts up a notch? What will that look like?
• Who is the audience or cheering section for the things I want to make? How can I be a cheering section for them?
Just asking questions like these will start wheels turning. We won’t be able to help it. That’s what our brains do!
WARNING: smart, empowering questions might trigger bigger ideas and weaken wimpy ones.
If you’re in a long line at Best Buy and self-defeating questions creep in…like “what will my partner say when I start a third business or a new toaster cozy when everybody knows one business and one toaster cozy is more than enough?” just channel your inner stARTist.
A stARTist knows the answer is to say “yes” to the ideas that call our name.
A stARTist knows that starting is a skill and a muscle.
A stARTist knows that the first step will give us more powerful information than a Harvard research team.
A stARTist knows that starting MORE takes us to more and better finishes.
So my big, brave stARTists, here’s hoping you celebrate all your starts of 2023, whether you finished them or not, and that you ignite yourself a gorgeously messy, enchanting holiday season!