One of the hardest things for any writer is having to cut. But it is one of the most important. (Read that again because I am going to say that it’s true about life in general).

I am presently preparing a manuscript to be turned into a publisher. In order to get it ready it has to go through the same journey that all books do: it goes to an editor. What do editors do? They correct (grammar and phrasing), re-write sentences, and suggest new ways of organizing material. One of the most important things they do though is cut.

One of the most painful things for a writer is getting the original manuscript back and seeing all of the suggested cuts. Large swaths of information a writer has spent hours and days and months researching, writing and re-writing at all hours of the day and night, and now they are just slashed. Discarded. Left behind.

But…it’s essential that they are because it makes the material readable and more accessible for a publisher and more importantly for the public.

In other words, in the writing world: cut or perish.

What is true about writing is true about life. (I told you).

And for some of us cutting from our lives may be the most important thing we do in 2016. Maybe you are involved in too many things. Maybe your children are in too many programs. Maybe you are working too much. Maybe you have a toxic friendship you need to get rid of. Or a sin/habit/tendency that is keeping you far from Jesus.

Whatever it is, 2016 may be the year you need to cut things from your life rather than doing what we often do which is add stuff. We add another toy, another lump of debt, another friendship, another promise we can’t deliver on, another expectation we can’t meet.

Twitter & Ernest Hemingway

When you are planning your year and making decisions about what to do and not to do: think about two things. First, think Twitter. Ideas forced into 140 characters. Every time I write on Twitter I write out what I want to say and then I have to…cut. It forces me to be short and to the point. Cut this word and that word and this word.

Or think Ernest Hemingway. The story goes, that in the 1920’s friends of Hemingway’s – a master of words – bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words. He did so, in what people say is some of his greatest work. Here it is:

‘For sale, baby shoes, never used.’

Powerful. To the point. Haunting. So few words. And he got there not by adding things but by cutting things from the story.

Your best year (spiritually, emotionally, relationally, maybe even financially) may be 2016. And it may not be because you add but because you cut – making your life more focused, efficient, and sharper than ever. Pray and ask the Lord if he is calling you to cut certain things from your life in order to simplify and make you better at the few things you are called to do versus the plethora of things you want to do.

And then: listen.