10 Ways to Start Fresh in 2014

1. Unsubscribe to emails you NEVER read (except for mine). It only takes a few seconds and it will save you hours of time that would add up cleaning out your inbox everyday. You can always find that information again... that's what Google is for.

2. Donate every kitchen utensil or personal care product you did not use in 2013. Be Free! Why store useless items in the sanctuary that is your home? Get rid of a little bit every week so that you are always purging.

3. Donate every piece of clothing you did not wear in 2014. Don't believe the lie that you will wear it again, "someday." Someday is not a day of the week. Let it be a blessing to someone else!

4. Pitch every pair of scruffy shoes and piece of ratty clothing you own no matter how much you love them. You will find love again. I promise. In the meantime, good things tend to come to those who don't hold on to the last shred of the past.

5. Choose one personal health goal to begin working on in 2014. Just one to start. Then tell one friend who is not afraid to call you on your crap to hold you to it. Write it down as if it already happened and put it somewhere you will see it everyday. Then say it out loud each day. (i.e., I have cut out 75% of my sugar intake. It's showing on my waistline and I am feeling fabulous!  Or...I run 20 miles per week and I feel empowered!)

6. Choose one professional or business goal to begin working on in 2014. Follow instructions from number 5. See yourself as if you've already accomplished it.... and you will. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)

7. Say goodbye to draining people. Friendships that bring more negative than positive to your life are like a checkbook that's overdrawn all the time. No matter how much you deposit, you never get ahead. Not  worth the energy. No hard feelings necessary - just wise "budgeting" of the love and care you spend out of your great big heart.

8. Set new, firm, loving limits in old problematic relationships. (This mostly applies to people you are related to and aren't able to budget out of your life.) Try saying NO where you previously said YES but knew you shouldn't... such as: I will spend time with you again when it is fun for me, too. I will continue this talk when we are both calm. I will do those extra things for you when I feel respected. I will work as hard on your problems as you are willing to work on them. And so on.

9. Let yourself off the hook! Forgive yourself for.... being human. You can't possibly get it all right every time, your DNA won't let you. Accept failure as part of the journey to success but never accept defeat. (All successful people have a string of failures behind them, but not all people who fail become successful.) If you have not given up, regardless of setbacks, rejection or failure, then you need to give yourself some serious credit! If you have given up, decide to get up and go again! 

10. Have a talk with God. Only He can truly clean your slate and make all things new. Only He can unload your fears, your guilty conscience and those heavy burdens. Only He can give you the power to love like you want to love and the gift of being loved the way you long to be loved. And guess what? He wants you to start 2014 with HOPE. I promise. Just Ask Him!

Happy New You!