Time for Spring Cleaning?
Do you get excited when spring comes, and it’s an excuse to clean your house, your yard, your shed? If you’re like me, this brings very little joy and excitement to me beyond the recognition that the season has changed. But, it signals the time to open the windows (while avoiding the deluge of pollen that has appeared) and let some fresh air into your home.
Some people find cleaning a type of therapy, but for me, it’s just a task that I really don’t enjoy. What I do love though is the seasonal purge of stuff. When the seasons change, it’s time to look at all the clothes I didn’t wear last season and all the stuff that I really don’t use in my home. Now, purging clothes based on what I didn’t wear in the past year is probably not a great guide after the year we’ve had, but I think there’s still a sign to follow. When you look at that clothing item that you didn’t get to wear this past season do you get excited to wear it next fall/winter or do you just feel ahh about it. My new rule with many things…if it’s not a hell yes, it should be a no - clean it out. Donate it, sell it, throw it out.
Spring cleaning isn’t just for things. We should also use it for behaviors, habits, and mindsets because they become dated too. Are you saying these things to yourself as you read this…
But it’s always worked before
But I don’t know what I want it to be instead
But it’s scary to change
But it works for everyone else
If you are, you’re not alone. Changing our behaviors, our habits, and our mindsets is tough work. Just like deep cleaning your house, particularly if it’s been awhile, you need to buckle down and use some elbow grease (no idea where that phrase originated but apparently it was first used in 1672, who knew?) When things are no longer serving us, we need to be willing to cut the tie to what we know so that we can get to what’s possible.
Let’s start with an inventory…
What does your calendar look like? Is it still back to back Zoom meetings and now getting afternoons, evenings, and weekends filled with kid activities as things begin to open up? Are you already feeling stressed just looking at it? I know I am.
When you look at your healthy living plan for the season, are you already feeling behind? I know I’m not going to be prepared for my 10 mile spring race coming in 3 weeks.
Did your family dinner/game/movie night go by the wayside as things started to open up, and you’re starting to feel disconnected again?
Or…have you done well keeping things under control during the last season? If so, celebrate yourself for being self-aware, for managing your time effectively, for regularly making adjustments as needed.
If you’re like me with some internal spring cleaning to do, don’t put it off too long or else you’ll go through a whole season and wonder what happened. I’m away this weekend so the good news is that I don’t have many errands to run on Saturday. So…conceptually, I have a good amount of time to get a few things “cleaned out.”
I’ve had things on my to-do list for way too long. I will either do them, delete them, or give them an official invite on my calendar to do them (if they require a significant time effort).
I will do some mindset work around why I’m dragging my feet on releasing some content/offerings. I will launch, pick a new target date, or shelve until they’re truly a priority.
I need to rethink my calendar management as it’s gotten a bit out of control (I know why), but it’s impacting my sleep and workout routine. It’s time to reassess what’s most important and make sure it’s getting the right level of priority on my calendar.
Though I coach others on many of these things, I also need to do them for me. We’re human. We fall into habits that work for awhile or that are easy. We make choices that seem to make sense but once we live them, we realize they’re the wrong one. The good news is…we can make change. We can do the spring cleaning. We can make a different set of choices for the next season.
Depending on where you live, you’ll get four seasons a year. Some of you will have to create some artificial seasonal changes because you have the same weather all year long. Some seasons will last longer than others so you need to take advantage of each of them for the opportunity they provide to you. Use the seasonal changes as the catalyst to reexamine what’s working and what’s not.
We officially observed the start of spring in this part of the world last week. Time to clear the dust bunnies, open the windows, and get a fresh perspective.
Happy cleaning! If you need some help cleaning out the mindset issues, send me a message and let's talk.