Clean slate

  There is something almost intoxicating about a clean slate. Nothing is written on the slate and there is nothing you have to do. The sense of freedom lasts until you put the pen to paper or chalk to slate. And now... your slate is being filled in. How does that make you feel? Pleased - because it is you who is making the new entries? Disappointed - that the clean status didn't last longer?

  The point is that a clean slate provides a 'new beginning'. Do you think that you'll do it 'better' this time? Or you'll be more (fill in the blank) in order to accomplish 'more'? But first... is the slate truly clean or are there remnants of previous 'to dos' or unfinished tasks? Are those unfinished items the first ones that you enter onto the clean slate? Are you merely carrying yesterday into tomorrow? Or, more precisely - do you want to and/or do you need to enter the unfinished items? How do you think your clean slate should look?

  It seems that after you enter the very first item that a snowball begins and your slate gets filled up faster than you imagined. Are you only in a same o, same o situation? Can you do anything to change this yesterday way of doing things? Of course... but it takes knowing what you want and whether or not you will pay the price to get to what you want. While you may be looking at a clean slate you need to determine how you want what you want.

  We all like 'second chances', the ability to change something we didn't do right the first time. Clean slates provide this. However, they don't work in on-going areas in which you still have responsibility. Those must be completed. The fresh start though will work for new projects if you are willing to try new ways of thinking and doing, if you level of risk is high enough to accept 'loss'. A clean slate invites you into a mindset of thinking outside your box. In the final analysis... what do you really have to lose?

...but, what do you think?