To Move Ahead – You Have To Leave Some Things Behind

Greetings Leaders!

This past weekend I had an adventure! I helped my son move from Medford, Oregon to Reno, Nevada as he got a promotion at the Guitar Center. The weekend was hectic as we drove from Sacramento to Medford, packed, drove from Medford to Sacramento, spent the night, drove from Sacramento to Reno, unpacked, then caught a Greyhound back to Sacramento. We braved the snow over the mountains near Mt. Shasta, raced a winter storm to Reno and unloaded in the snow. It was fun.

While we were packing in Medford, we made the decision to leave some things behind.To move and make room for new things, we had to leave some other things behind. This sounded like a great metaphor and reminded me of mental baggage we carry around with us.

So, what mental baggage are you carrying around? If you want to move ahead in your life, and you find yourself stumbling and faltering, perhaps you need to leave some baggage behind. Let go of the stuff that is cluttering your mind. What kinds of things am I thinking about? Well, surprisingly, not all of it is negative.

The obvious mental baggage includes past failures, feelings of insecurity or inadequacy. However, it can also include some positives. If you are clinging to a victory in your life, it may be preventing you from moving on. Much like Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico, you can hold onto past glory to a fault. He was a middle aged man holding onto the glory of being a high school quarterback. Are you holding onto an accomplishment that you need to let go of?

Get rid of the baggage…

All the best!
All the time!
JT