It’s the end of the year, and I’m dragging myself to the finish line weighed down by major decision fatigue and burnout. But there’s one big decision left to make…
What do I NOT want to do next year?
Before I break out the new planners and dream up the lofty goals, I want to take a critical look at what I’ve been doing this year. Especially now. It’s easier to cut things out when you’re already fed the f*ck up.
So join me in taking a few days to think about these questions:
- What’s weighing me down the most?
- What tasks involve me spinning my wheels and not adding to my forward progress?
- What just isn’t working for me anymore?
List out all the things you do (I’m looking at my writing business, but you can tackle any aspect of your life this way), and ditch what’s not working while you’re already tired. You can always put items back on your list (maybe don’t, though), so if it helps, tell yourself this isn’t forever. We’re just experimenting with doing less for a few months. “Doing more with less,” is an excellent focusing guidepost if you need one.
We can find ourselves doing things simply because we’ve done them for a long time. It’s not only difficult to change course on something that’s built up a habit space in our lives, but it’s also difficult to mentally release something like that. Our brains assume that if we’ve been doing a task for a long time, it must be having an impact. Something would surely crumble if we just removed it, right? Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been doing it for so long, right?
Nope.
It’s easy to keep doing things that aren’t having a positive impact on our lives simply because of habit momentum or an assumption that it belongs on our task list, and letting go of something like that can require a harsh reality check. This lands us in sunk-cost fallacy territory. Maybe grab some good chocolate or other comfort treats before you analyze your list.
Sometimes it’s easier to start with a fresh plate. After you list the things you currently do, instead of crossing tasks off, try making a brand new list and only adding the items you absolutely want/need to do for next month/quarter/year.
Is this the year you stop trying to make ads work? Is this the year you really pick just one social media platform to be present on? (Or maybe ditch all of them altogether?) Is this the year you unsubscribe to podcasts/newsletters whose advice-givers are no longer helpful?
I’m way too unfocused at the moment to list what I’m cutting here, which is a sign I definitely need to spend more time doing this. So I’m going to focus on making my own list and ruthlessly trimming it. Yes, it’s one more thing I have to do (this, of all weeks), but I know how good it will feel to move into next year carrying less task weight.
What tasks do you want to leave behind as you move into a new year?
