POWER surge

All of Carter's belongings didn't make it home with him after his vacation Up North. He forgot a treasure bag with his flea-market hard hat, his chocolate Skittles and some new flavors of Dots candy.

He left them at my brother's house and I told him he didn't have to send them back. Carter has lived his life so far without them and can manage without them. But thanks to my kind-hearted bro, they're on their way to our house as we speak via the brown truck.

I realize I should be taking my own advice. If I've got things in my house I haven't used -- let alone seen -- in a good chunk of time, then obviously I can live without them. Obviously, I should get rid of them.

Remember how my "back to basics" approach helped my golf game a few days ago? I need to try that with my life. Back in January, I resolved this would be my year of POWER -- with the P standing for Purging (getting rid of the excess, the junk, the clutter).

It's always good at mid-year, both personally and professionally, to gauge your progress on goals established at the beginning of the year. Have I gotten anywhere? Do I still want to go in this direction? Should I add any new objectives?

It's just like getting a fresh start or, what we say in my world, a Mulligan!