2011 – Shed the Baggage – Keep the Wisdom

By Dan Nielsen

December 27, 2011


2011.  Was it a good year?  A bad year?  A great year?  A difficult year?  A year of transition?  A year of stability?  A year of significant change?  A taxing and trying year?  A year of inspiration and progress toward your personal and professional mission?  A year filled with successes and failures?

Like virtually every human on the planet, your year included all of the above.  There was good, bad, great, difficult, transition, taxing and trying times, times of inspiration, and times of success as well as failure.  Hopefully there was progress, even significant progress toward your personal and professional mission in life.

Like every human on the planet, you accumulated plenty of baggage during  2011.  Mental baggage, relationship baggage, material baggage… baggage in every area of your life.  Almost all of that baggage is not needed in 2012 and beyond.  Your baggage will surely weigh you down, slow you down, trip you up, and seriously impede your progress toward your personal and professional mission and success in 2012 and beyond.

One of the most important priorities and activities in which you should engage in preparing for true success (your definition of success) in 2012 and beyond is to take the necessary time to identify and aggressively rid yourself of all unneeded baggage.

One dictionary defines baggage as “things that encumber one’s freedom, progress, development, or adaptability; impediments: intellectual baggage that keeps one from thinking clearly; neurotic conflicts that arise from struggling with too much emotional baggage.”

We all accumulate baggage.  It is a part of life.  Particularly in retrospect, we all have plenty of baggage that is weighing us down and holding us back.

Take the time.  Identify the baggage in every area of your life.  Almost all of this baggage is useless, dangerous, negative, anti-productive dead weight.  Over time, this baggage is extremely costly.

Shed the baggage – but keep the wisdom.  Wisdom is the opposite of baggage.  Wisdom provides a priceless foundation, platform and perspective for high-impact success in every area of your life.

Shed the Baggage – Keep the Wisdom… and move effectively, efficiently and expectantly into the greatest and most successful year of your life… 2012.  

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About the author

Dan Nielsen is the author of the books Be An Inspirational Leader: Engage, Inspire, Empower, and Presidential Leadership: Learning from United States Presidential Libraries & Museums. He regularly writes and speaks on leadership excellence and achieving greater success, and is available to deliver keynotes, lead workshops, or facilitate discussions for your group. LEARN MORE

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