Transitions are when we change locations, activities or focus. They can be daily, short and regular transitions like coming home from work, finishing a television program and then mowing the lawn, or finishing dinner and then studying our Bible. They can be longer more major types of transitions like coming home from a vacation and then going back to work, changing jobs, or moving to a different house.

Whatever kind of transitions they are in our lives, a principle of life applies that many have not discovered or been taught about. During the time of our transitions is when we will make our worst choices in life, when we will waste the most time, and when we will treat people the worst.

I am a couple days away from leaving three weeks of exciting, and very enjoyable time of fishing in Alaska and heading back home to my “regular” life. I want that transition to be positive, quick, and fruitful. It is like shifting gears in a car with a manual transition, you can grind the gears or shift seamlessly. Here are some guidelines I use in my life when anticipated major transition points are coming.

Set goals for what you want to accomplish. Goals have tremendous power to move our focus and our brain from the old to the new. One of my goals is to get our winters firewood split and stacked. It is all in my front yard in the form of “rounds” all dried just waiting for me to get it split and stacked.

Strategize on ways to accomplish the goals with first steps clearly established. One of my strategy steps is to recruit some grandkids to help me. Transitions are often huge time wasters because we go in circles trying to figure out what to do next. Indecision is a killer in productivity and is a major contributed to depression and being unmotivated in life. As my Dad used to say to me, “Don’t just stand there, do something, anything.”

Determine and make a firm commitment to be positive and nice in all conversations with people during the transition period with absolutely no grumbling or complaining about anything. One of my worst mistakes with Patty was to complain about everything that didn’t get done around our house while I was gone for a month on a bicycle trip; it didn’t go over very well.