Your To-Don’t List

Jan 15, 2025

How does this new year stack up against the rest?

Perhaps you begin with a clear sense of what you wanted. Maybe you have a general hope for something better, different, or more of the same. You might even look to sources of wisdom and advice for that magic key that will unlock your next right move, or help you break that all-too-familiar pattern.

The reality is that most top-of-year plans fall to the wayside quickly, despite our best intentions and efforts. So how can you make this cycle a different one?

Things to Remove from Your Life (And How To Do It)

Growth can feel like an endless list of to-dos. But it can be just as impactful (and load lightening) to have a clear list of to-don’ts:

Good timing.
You might be waiting for that perfect moment to start. But perfection never really arrives (in this world) and is a thief of joy and progress. You don’t need to have it all figured out to begin. Let go of the pressure to be flawless and embrace the beauty of progress, with all its bumps and bruises. The best time to start might have been five years ago. The second best time is now.

Action: Start small, celebrate each win, and recognize that you’re going to take your share of wrong steps along the way. 

New goals.
Before you add a bunch of new things to your calendar, STOP! You probably already have things you really want to do, but really aren’t doing. Don’t take up new distractions which prevent you from focusing on important goals you’ve left idle for years. 

Action: Set clear boundaries, and say no to good things so you can say yes to the best things.

Trusting yourself.
We know we don’t have it all together. But we often default to our own devices rather than inviting feedback that could help us live the lives we really want. This year, invite more feedback into your life from trusted people and spiritual sources. You’ll be surprised what you’ve been missing.

Action: Add constructive conversations, prayer, and reflection to your calendar. Let go of the need to always be right and open yourself to new perspectives.

Giving it your all.
There’s more than one reason most resolutions don’t make it past January. But a key one is that it’s impossible to sprint through the year. Anything worth doing is going to take time, effort, and patience. Pace yourself, and aim for sustainable progress.

Action: Make a schedule – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly – that allows you to work, rest, delight, make progress, and have space to dream.

The Most Important To-Don’t

Chances are you come across advice, ideas, and practical tools every day. (Hopefully, you’ve found some of those here). But that leads us to our final, most important to-don’t for the year:

Collecting wisdom.
Whether proactively or passively, you’ve amassed a lot of this stuff throughout your life. Most of it has been forgotten or lost, and has made no real impact. 

One of the Biblical writers, James, speaks directly to the antidote: “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.”

Action: Take one of these to-don’ts. (Yes, just one. Pick the most appealing, or the most challenging). Then, take an actual step to put that DON’T into practice.

What will you let go of first this year? The choice is yours.

 

Seeking clarity as your determine your next steps for the year? Unravel: GO is a free, self-guided study to help get you on the road to where you need to be.