My very first coach, Wendy Keilin, taught me to end the year by celebrating the year’s accomplishments. It’s so easy to look ahead and make some crazy list of the 5 million things you plan to accomplish in 2010. You can do that.
Just, first, take a deep breath and enjoy all the gifts of the past year. Let’s start with work and purpose:
– What are you proud of doing or accomplishing in 2009?
– Did you make any improvements to your business or work life?
– Did you take any steps, however small, to make your dreams come true?
– Was it fun?
And how about your personal life?
– Did you grow in any ways?
– Experience new insights?
– Enjoy yourself?
Make a list of achievements and joys. Add everything that happened you’re grateful for. Read your list to a friend. Or sing your list as a prayer of thanks. Hang it on your fridge or keep the list by your bed and read it for the next three mornings. Revel in your list. Thoroughly enjoy it.
And on the 31st you can create your inspiring to-do list. But here’s a tip from another coach of mine, Morgana Rae: Break up your goals by the quarter that you will do them and don’t have more than 3 projects/goals in each quarter.
I did that with Morgana this year and I can’t tell you how freeing it is. I’m used to a very long goal list and I realized I’m just setting myself up to fail somewhere if there are too many things on the list. My new list is much more do-able.
Morgana also happened to introduce me to an interesting blog post by Ton Pascal that suggest that astrologically, this December 31 will be a particularly powerful time to set intentions for the next two and a half years. He even suggests a wonderful ritual for releasing the old and embracing your new intentions.
Is writing your book on your list? If so, you’ll want to join me for one or more of these upcoming free teleseminars:
Friday, January 22 at 12:15 Eastern join me for a 45 minute teleseminar to help you Bring Your Book to Life where Patty Saddallah of the Redwood Sisterhood will interview me on the secrets to start and complete your book. I’ll also share how to find and make the time to write your book and information on how to decide whether to self publish or look for a traditional publisher. Sign up here.
Or mark your calendar for January 13, where Dan Janal, founder of PRLeads.com will interview me on Write Your Book: 5 Steps to Get Started or January 18 at noon eastern when Deb Bailey of Power Women Magazine interviews me on the subject.
I’ll be in Vermont for the next few days, celebrating my accomplishments and creating my new year’s ritual. So, I’ll wish you a happy new year now. Enjoy celebrating all you’ve done, enjoyed and received in 2009. And, dear reader, please share your most proud of favorite 2009 accomplishment as a comment on the blog. I want to celebrate with you.
If I’m asking you to share your most proud 2009 accomplishment, I’d better share mine. I think it’s what I’ve created with my Bring Your Book to Life program, a program which has helped many people write their books. One graduate of the program has a book coming out with Simon and Schuster’s Atria Books this January.
It’s powerful to see 10-12 strangers become a supportive community in such a short time–and see sometimes scattered ideas with a whole lot of knowledge and passion behind them become the beginnings of a book, a solid first draft or a published book.
And I’m so proud of all my clients, 3 of whom are being published by major publishers next month.
Okay, you’re turn to share, my friend. Let us all celebrate with you.
Since being a teenager, my attitude has been to never pass up an opportunity that would leave me feeling regret when I turned eighty. I was fortunate to have many wonderful opportunities come my way in ’09 and be able to participate in them. My most proud moment was bringing my book to life, still not completed, but well on its way. In participating in the book writing project, I was fortunate to meet many wonderful people, and became part of a community of emerging authors.
It’s powerful to put feelings, thoughts, and experiences into words and have it edited. The realization that your own written words, your dream, is that much closer to reality gives pause. Better yet, it gives one a great reason to celebrate 2009 and look forward to 2010. Happy New Year!
It may sound like a small accomplishment, but we actually hired 4 full time employees this year into our small company. Basically we doubled our staff. The number seems small, but what went on behind the scenes in this recession-year was pretty remarkable in order to justify their new jobs. Obviously we grew, and I am proud of that, but we had procedures in place that allowed for our expansion without reducing our great customer service, which is what we base our reputation upon. So, with a big sigh of relief, I want to thank you for allowing me to tell you about this, so thank you! I hope that your 2010 is prosperous, safe, filled with new experiences and fun!
I started writing several years ago. At first, I told myself it was a hobby—that I wasn’t a “real” writer, even though I got up every day to write three pages in my journal, completed a script, and published a few articles.
I’m proud of many accomplishments of 2009. For one thing, I finally acknowledged the fact that I am a writer—for real. I joined Lisa’s book group in September and as of today, I am just a few pages away from completing a book for women who feel stuck in relationships. Lisa’s coaching and sharing the writing journey with a group of supportive women was a great help to me. I also gained a terrific book buddy, Robin Gillette.
Embracing this artistic side of myself and putting it into practice also opened doors in my career. Last April I earned a trip to Puerto Rico with my company. Last week I received a promotion.
2009 also brought two fun-filled vacations with my family. One took us out west to Arizona, the Grand Canyon, and many other sites along the way. The other brought us to Lake Champlain for some much-needed rest and relaxation.
2009 proved to be a very happy, productive, and creative year. I look forward to an even better 2010, complete with a published book in hand and whatever else life may bring.
I’m proud of many accomplishments of 2009. For one thing, I finally acknowledged the fact that I am a writer and joined Lisa’s book group in September. As of today, I am just a few pages away from completing a book for women who feel stuck in relationships. Lisa’s coaching, sharing the writing journey with a group of supportive women, and finding a terrific book buddy, Robin Gillette, were all of great help to me.
Embracing this artistic side of myself and putting it into practice also opened doors in my career. Last April I earned a trip to Puerto Rico with my company. Last week I received a promotion.
2009 also brought two fun-filled vacations with my family. One took us out west where we toured Arizona, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and many other sites along the way. The other brought us to Lake Champlain for some much-needed rest and relaxation.
2009 proved to be a very happy, productive, and creative year. I look forward to an even better 2010, complete with a published book in hand and whatever else life may bring.
Hey there this is kind of of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
WordPress allows you to use either WYSIWYG or HTML or to go back and forth between the two.