Fall is indeed a season of change - we see that oh so clearly in Connecticut as we enjoy the myriad of colors in the changing leaves of autumn, and the cooler temperatures which require us to change our wardrobes from sleeveless tops and sandals, to sleeved blouses and open toed shoes, and eventually to a light jacket or sweater and a full shoe.
In business, our work day changes as well. As the chillier weather sets in, I tend to start work a bit earlier, and end a bit earlier. I shift more of my showing appointments to earlier in the day, or to the weekends when I can, because the days are shortening. In another couple of months, it won't even make much sense to show houses after work during the week as it's too dark for the buyers to get a good look at everything!
So this is a great time to make other changes as well. And without blinking, I can think of several things that NEED to change and a few more that I just WANT to change.
I've also found the most lasting changes for me are the ones that are not too drastic, but consistent, and those where I've involved others with me in the process, so this challenge is great. I can involve my friends on Active Rain and by default I will be more invested in the process of change because now I've made my change areas a bit more public.
My season of change needs to involve thinning things out in three major areas: my office, my basement in my house, and myself! Ideally, it would be good to make all three of these things work together as I make changes.
1. Thinning out my office. I am going to plan to spend 10 minutes at the end of each work day, before I leave the office, doing whatever I can to sort through the accumulation of paper in my office. Filing, systematizing, and judicious use of the circular file under my desk! I've let my office manager know to hold me accountable, and she will enforce the backup plan of 10 minutes before I start the next work day if I didn't hold up to my end of the bargain the day before.
2. Thinning out my basement. My basement is a disaster. It has served as a temporary storage facility for nearly every member of my family at one time or another. It hasn't been clean and organized in a long time. I am going to commit to 30 minutes twice each week (Tuesdays and Saturdays) to start dismantling the mountain of accumulation in my basement, and find places to disburse those things that are being stored, but are just no longer necessary to hold on to. My family has agreed to take responsibility for making arrangements for runs to the landfill or Salvation Army.
3. Thinning out myself! I just signed up for Roger Mucci's group Take it Off in the Rain! Beyond that, I have convinced my daughter to get up and take an half hour walk with me three days per week (Monday Wednesday Friday) for October and four days per week in November. Add this to some careful meal planning, and I hope to see some steady consistent results! I need to drop some weight!
This third area will also be a followup strategy to a post I wrote several weeks ago On Being Neighborly. Hopefully getting out in my neighborhood regularly will help me build some new friendships on my own street!
Hopefully as all these areas are thinned out, the energy in those places will expand! Well, there you have it - a PLAN for change! Let's hope implementing it goes as well as making the plans!
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