Every once in a while I go on these month-long themes.

They started a few years ago when I was contracting at a job where I was underutilized and bored out of my skull. So I had to do something to fluff my mood up on a daily basis. Hence: the  monthly "things."  For a month I did daily things like:

• Wear mascara  (hardish)
• Talk to someone new at work (harder)
• Tell someone you love them (hardest; freaked a few people out that month)

Lately, as I establish and build my own biz, the monthly themes have come back in a different form: letting go of. A couple of themes in the last several months:

• Don't think or talk about biz-building (November '09)
• Don't worry (April '10)

In both cases I gifted myself a time frame to let go of overthinking and do the work that was in front of me and see what might come in. Actually, I didn't know if anything would come in, I just needed to give my brain and psyche a break, already!

I can be a real  fretter and worrier  in times of uncertainty (like starting a new biz and not having a regular HR-generated paycheck). Which is also a bit paradoxical since I ultimately thrive in the creative adventure of work, which comes with a lot of uncertainty. But really, any "certainty" in life is a bit of a mirage, no?

Anyway the point here is to get you thinking about something you can do -- or give up -- every day for a month. And good news! There's a new month incoming in just a few days here.

A note about the Month Theme

There's something wonderfully liberating about giving yourself a designated time frame -- a beginning and end-time -- in which to try something new and possibly uncomfortable. Whenever I want to sit up and calculate my bank account or imagine myself destitute under a bridge, I remind myself that April is worry-free month and that on May 1 I can resume worrying myself into the coma, if need be.

And since I've been worrying way, way less ...

• I've been more creative, more productive
• I've been happier
• I've been getting out into the world and meeting new people more
• I've had some cool new biz opportunities come up
• I'm sleeping better
• More smiles, more optimism, more calm
• I'm thinking of signing up for one more month. Curious to see what less worry gives me.

What can you give up or do more of -- one habit or way of being that doesn't serve you well -- for just one month and see how life shifts a bit for you?

The space you create for yourself by giving up a dear old-friend of a habit (focusing on regrets; filling your head with "yeah-buts") may bring answers, resolution, the birth of new cool projects and creative progeny.  Maybe even a refreshing sense of peace and a true belief in life's possibilities. Trying something new for a month may kick your sweet ass and out of a rut and show you what you're made of.

Ready, set .... let the month begin!

And have fun with it,

xo