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What Did You Do?

December 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

 

I love this time of year.  Yes, the spirit and the festivities and the cool snap in the air.  Love that.

But I also love this time of year because of a reflective ritual I always perform – by myself, and for myself.

Every December, I sit down and write down my 25 Accomplishments for the Year.

Now, I know – twenty-five seems like a lot. Especially this year. Especially when you think the only accomplishments that matter are things like:

1.  Cured cancer.

2. Brought peace to the Middle East.

3. Joined the 1%.

4. Married a Kardashian.

But your own accomplishments are whatever you say they are. Case in point, how about the sweeping magnitude of this item from my own list:

16.  Took my medicine daily.

Sounds pretty trivial, huh?  Plus, taking medicine is something I “should” do, right?  OK, but you know plenty of people don’t take what’s prescribed to them, don’t you?  It’s ultimately a choice for health, wellness and self-care, and it’s a choice I’m conscious of making every day since I was treated for thyroid cancer in 2008.

I’m proud of this accomplishment, as small as it may seem in comparison to having your own TV reality show.

Yep, when I look at my list, I realize just how productive I’ve been this year, creating several new programs and earning more income than ever before.

Ever.

Now, there’s an accomplishment that feels really good.

All my accomplishments feel good, to tell you the truth, once I put them on paper and honored them.

My list of 25 Accomplishments – overachiever that I am, turned out to be 28 items – gave me a launching point to look at how my accomplishments line up with my key values. Know your own values? Think about the things that light you up, the things that are vitally important, the things you can’t live without. For me, it’s:

  • Taking care of my financial, spiritual and emotional health
  • Being a good enough parent
  • Leading
  • Learning

Being the nerdy geek girl that I am, I actually tabulated how many of my accomplishments related to one or more of my values, using teeny-tiny hash marks.  And guess what?  That information is already pointing me to what I want to do more of in 2012.

Sweet.

And useful. Practical. And really productive.

Want to give it a shot yourself? Hey, if you need some help figuring it all out, download the Personal Planning Tool for 2012 – available at my website as my gift to you. You can use the Tool to review 2011, identify your accomplishments, and get your thoughts together for what you’d like to get done next year.

And if you want, you can take it to a whole other level by making another list – let’s call it The Gratitude List.  Can you list 25 people or things you’re grateful for?

I can.  Again, the overachiever in me found twenty-six items to list, but let me tell you about:

10.  The kindness of strangers.

And,

11.  People who help me when I ask.

Kinda linked, yet kinda not.  But I’ll tell you, I could never have had as many accomplishments in 2011 if it hadn’t been for #10 and #11.

If it hadn’t been for you.

Because you are on my Gratitude List. You readers and clients, family and friends.

Oh, you’re on my List. Right up there at the top.

Right where you belong.

 

 

Filed Under: Authenticity, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment

Let’s Re-Cap

December 26, 2009 By 4 Comments



Want to take a walk with me? Let’s walk back through some of our favorite blog posts of the year, shall we? And feel free to dawdle wherever you want.

We looked at a big, honking question on February 8th – What’s Your Why? Using the book Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl as a framework, I talked about how to figure out your own, personal “Why?” so it’s easier to get to the “What?” and the “How?”

Power Talk on February 15th was all about how to nail a job interview, or shore up your position at work. “Why not use this question — “what are your expectations for me in the coming months?” — with your boss, or your board, or, if you’re brave enough, with your subordinates? Why not use this question to touch base, and to “sell” yourself and your abilities?”

The Absence of Perfect, Part 2 on March 1st looked at perfectionism: “You can hold on to your idea of “perfect” or, as I suggest, you can ask yourself, ‘what’s my best option right now?’”

Meeting Faith on April 12th was a personal favorite. I really did meet Faith. On an airplane. And she’s a PhD candidate with a fascinating personal story. Meeting Faith restored my faith that strangers are just friends I haven’t met yet.

Do Less, Get More from May 24th was not a slacker’s mantra, but rather an explanation of my 100 Units Of Energy theory. Oh, and it comes with a free recording!

Change your thoughts, change your life. That was the subject of A New Normal on May 31st. “When normal’s not working for you, just make a new normal.” Sounds so easy, doesn’t it?

Deep in the throes of writing a book that is still in process, I shared How To Tell A Story on June 7th, which debuted my simple tool: Now Words/Future Words. When you look at how things are now compared to how you’d like things to look in the future, you can consciously shift away from stuff that’s limiting you – toward stuff you really want.

Did I tell you about Meeting Sandra Day O’Connor? Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. On June 28th. This is a post about authenticity and knowing oneself. As Madame Justice clearly does (for those keeping track, this is the post about Being Your Own Buddha).

More Than Anything from July 26th, asked: “‘What do you want more than anything right now?’ Stop. You have an immediate answer, don’t you? That’s your gut talking to you.” Listen.

What’s The Point? on August 2 struck a chord with, “Never confuse urgency and drama with meaning and purpose.”

And this one was an eye-opener. Mama Ain’t Happy from September 20th discussed the disturbing findings that once a woman hits 47, her happiness declines rather dramatically. How to cope? Well, I urge women to… misbehave. Yep, misbehave and have fun.

In You on October 18, I talked about how you can change your language and find your power. It’s as simple as changing “don’t” to “will”.

As in, “I will keep writing my blog in 2010″ And, I will. Every week. I thank each of you for reading, and for sharing posts that resonate with your friends and family. It’s a pleasure, a privilege and a responsibility to write – and an honor when you tell me that something I’ve written has touched your life.

So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the connection between us. Bring on 2010. We’re ready, so let’s get going.

Filed Under: Authenticity, Career Coaching, Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living, Managing Change Tagged With: , , , , , , 4 Comments