photo credit www.teaminternetmarketing.com

When you think of the word “start” what comes to mind? A track, a swimming pool or perhaps a line in the sand? You stand on the other side that represents routine. Until you actually start, you have no hope of getting there (wherever that may be.) This is the season of setting goals and initiating new activities in the hope of achieving improvement…in some form, shape or fashion. We start a diet, we start an exercise program, we start a weekly date night with our spouse, we start a new Bible study…

As important as the start may be, what is not always so apparent is the need to “stop.” Think margin, think guardrails as time is a finite resource. Time is the only thing that can be spent and never recovered. You only have one chance to spend this minute, and this hour and this day and so on…

Improvement is essential for both personal and professional growth. As human being we were created to make progress. A life of stagnation will undoubtedly lead to frustration and disappointment. So here’s the question, what have you started in 2015 that you have already abandoned? What resolutions that you promised yourself you would keep have not been kept alive thus far in these 40 some odd days of the new year. Take a deep breath, by no means am I trying to pour salt in your wounds if indeed you have given up. Guess what, it might not be you! That’s right, your ability to change has everything to do with you ability to say NO…

You see, in order to start something new in your life you must first stop something. Think about the give and take, the pros and cons, the good, the bad and the ugly. Now re-evaluate the change you want to make. You instinctively understand that you must start something new, but have you considered what you must stop in order to keep your start alive?