What You Leave Behind Tells a Story

If you knew that the things you leave behind, send a message to our universe about who you are, would you be more careful to clean up?Well...what do you leave behind?Maybe it isnt something physical, like your car keys, or phone, but more about things that are left unfinished. Like at the end of each day, what does your inner critic say? What does your inner spirit whisper?Does it confirm that once again you did a great job, putting out fires, completing all of the tasks you set out to do, and that in fact your intensity was so great you achieved things you didn’t even plan on achieving thus far? Or does it squelch all of the inspiring words of wisdom that you had for yourself just a few short hours ago?What is your leave-behind? A checklist complete...or a mass collection of things yet to be finished?Knowledge is power, even in the area of leave-behinds.In the area of productivity and growth, it is helpful to consistently assess the patterns we see at the beginning and end of each day. Most importantly, to be mindful of the actions we constantly repeat that do not serve us well. Without doing so, we will have great difficulty tapping into our true potential and will spend unimaginable time spinning our wheels. Surely we are all a work in progress, but for an Entrepreneur's financial livelihood, daily movement is critical and behaviors that don't help in that area should be modified.What you leave behind, sets the stage for where you are now, as well as where you want to be.Simple leave-behinds, like a calendar of incomplete tasks, does not speak as loudly as what you do with those tasks. You can shut the book and head for bed, feeling frustrated by your inability to complete things, spend the night tossing and turning, or you can take action as part of your closing process.Remember that taking action is the critical part of your financial gains, no matter what that action is. So in this specific area, what you might simply do is move each task to a place and time when you know you can complete it, keeping in mind all tasks needing to be complete, as well as length of time for each task to be completed.Incomplete tasks each day does not necessarily mean nothing is getting done, but instead may tell a story about your ability to manage time, or assess length of tasks to be completed. Either way, by using the close of each day to assess this, you can grow in this area and turn it into an area of productivity.What else do you leave behind?I spent an afternoon at my favorite coffee shop last weekend writing, while a gentleman dressed in casual business attire spent his hour tapping away on his keyboard as well. He was clearly working, seemed quite focused and did not look up nearly as often as I did. I silently complimented him for being so productive in a busy environment, but that wasn't all that I had noticed. I also noticed that the entire time he sat there, three shiny pennies sat on the windowsill right beside his table, basking in the sun.I assumed that they were his. That perhaps he only had a money holder and no place for change. Or that he hastily sat down, gently dropping the coins on the sill. But at the end of the hour, as he began to pack up everything sprawled on the table, I began to wonder if they were there before he arrived.As I watched him carefully pack up, meticulously putting everything in its' expected place, I guessed he wasn't likely to leave much behind. He then put his jacket on, and picked up the briefcase he had ever so carefully packed. It was then for the first time that our eyes met and then mine quickly darted back to the shiny pennies....At this point I knew that whether or not these were his, was less important than what he was going to do next, and of course, I was not going to stay quiet.”You’re not going to leave those pennies there, are you?”As he looked over at the coins that had been calling out to me, I could see it was the first time he noticed they were there and he smiled. I could feel what he was going to say next and interrupted his thought.“You know, if you leave those behind, you are telling the universe that you have enough money and do not need any more."“Oh!” He said with a little laugh and then picked them up! “I dont want my universe to think that."He then leaned over and dropped one of them on my table and we both laughed. Perhaps a finders fee, I thought. One that I was not going to leave behind. Penny or not.