There is still time to give a gift that can change everything in the coming year.

The gift? A fresh start. A new beginning. A clean slate.

Give it to everyone with whom you interact — family, colleagues, team members, clients and customers. Extend it even to those from whom you expect to receive little or nothing in return.

And give it to yourself.

The preconceived notions and expectations imposed by the past inevitably inhibit our ability to take full advantage of a clean slate.

The past is history — successes and failures, hits and misses, even promises broken and opportunities missed.

A clean slate cones with an unobstructed view.. And a new beginning fosters the capacity to dream.

This is, at least in part, why we celebrate the turn of the calendar and the promise of a new year.

The best beginnings come with new emotional energy and uncluttered perspective. There is no quicker way to adjust the course of relationship or enterprise.

Want the benefits of a clean slate to last longer than your average resolution? Try this:

  • Forget about making a case for or justifying decisions, actions and plans of the past.
  • Begin with your most noble aspirations.
  • Measure success by the degree to which actions align with these aspirations.

Resolved to make the new year more productive on every front? Work with these basics and the slate will stay relatively uncluttered.