I was thinking about my phrase and picture for the year, about choosing small and tending large. It’s really helped me hone in on what is important to me. And I’m learning to choose the best and let go of the okay. Does that make sense?

I thought of my mountain of email that awaited me after a short two-day trip. It took a day to sift through it. And as I did, I realized that the world would not end if I deleted emails, if I kept them completely untended.

In order to have true and lasting success, we have to untend things. We ask ourselves two questions a day:

1. What has God uniquely gifted me to do–the thing no one else does quite like me?
2. And what is the task I can do today that will bring the most success?

Answering those two questions will focus you on your top priority for the day. For instance, the answer to question one is always, God has gifted me to communicate, whether writing or speaking. So I need to be giving the best time of the day (for me, the morning) to doing those God-infused passions. And the answer to #2 is “To work on my upcoming store.” That will give me more bang for my buck. (I’m developing some really cool products, folks. Stay tuned.)

So when I write and speak and work on my store, other things will go untended. That’s okay. That’s the secret of success. You cannot do everything on your list today. But you can do the most important tasks, the tasks that merit the most results.

I hereby grant you blessed freedom today to JUST SAY NO. No more guilt for leaving some tasks undone and untended. No more beating yourself upside the head. Just grace and the power of focus. It’s time to be brave.

Q4u: What tasks do you need to “untend”? Why? Why is it hard for you to concentrate and focus on one or two high-caliber tasks?