Readers Summary
- Reflect on what 2013 brought you and what you need to accomplish in 2014.
- Is Christmas the time of the year where you realize life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards?
- Do you talk to enough random people during the season?
- How do you align your mind, body and spirit?
“Habit rules the unreflecting herd.” ― William Wordsworth
On this Christmas Eve, consider these 12 ways to improve your clarity of vision during the 12 Days of Christmas and for 2014. If your vision is clear, if you know what you want and where you are going, then things will be as easy and simple as 3rd grade math. Add what you need and only the relevant, subtract what you do not need, avoid the irrelevants, multiply your assets and divide the tasks to make the work enjoyable yet crystal clear. A vision without clarity is a vision without purpose. Mindful reflection can be called epiphanies, moments of truth, deeper levels of awareness: these defining moments that put all the other moments of my life into context and give me clarity of vision. Vision is sharpened by reflection of what has happened. That vision usually awakens my senses to what I can become, but most importantly, it opens my mind to the realization of what I need to BE. From that vision I create a blueprint. Today, begin to create your blueprint for 2014 using the momentum of the Christmas spirit. It is the best gift to give to yourself.
Why is change hard for us all? It maybe because you forgot to create momentum for yourself. The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure that as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create momentum. Successful change requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. You must get moving first to attain your goals to overcome the inertia or procrastination within you. Once you are moving, you need to stay moving. A boulder is hard to get moving, but when it does it is power. Momentum is the hardest thing to start but its even harder to stop. Momentum represents movement towards the change. Monuments represents movement in the past. Today, use the 12 Days of Christmas to become your spring board of momentum for 2014, and not a monument to thoughts that anchored you in years past.
Here are my 12 wishes for you this year.
- Not being grateful sooner. Gratitude is designed to be contagious and be shared. When you express your gratitude to others, you are helping them learn its benefits. Gratitude is also what paves the way to achieving greater things, and I call it achieving ‘greatitude’. Reflecting and being grateful on what you have now in the present and not focusing on what you want or don’t have helps us to remain in an attitude of gratitude. Give without expectation and receive without question. Become the other option.
- Getting caught up in needless drama. Everyone has critics, but the smart folks ignore people who try to define their message. Never allow your critics to dull your shine … revel in who you are. Critics are trying to become relevant in your world. They can only be successful if you provide them the chance. What should you say to a critic? Did I just cross “the” line, or did I just cross yours? Be unique, be yourself; there is only one of your kind. Be anchored to your truth.
- Not taking risks in business and in love. Do not be afraid to be bold about your love for yourself professionally or socially. If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances. We can only love others as much as we love ourselves. Become immune to that shame. Just as the sun does not shine for certain trees and flowers, love has no boundaries for any of us. If you are not good enough for you, who are you really good for? Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.
- Worrying too much. The light of day; the cool clearness of water; the sun; the moon; the evening; the caress of our lover. We do not have to purchase these things with money to remain healthy … why not rely on them instead of your fears? Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at.
- Not developing your network. You don’t build a business. You build people. And these people then help build your business. People do not care how much you know until they know you care about them. For example consider the story of the person who we celebrate Christmas for as the best analogy of this idea. Jesus. He put his all for 33 years into 12 ordinary guys, and from those 12 people have come a massive MLM business for the last 2013 years. Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often accomplish because our fears limit us to attempt the improbable or impossible. I believe our ultimate survival may depend upon our talking to one another.
- While building your network seems additive sometimes, the best additions are done by subtraction. Consider pruning some friendships. Many run their course. I put the effort in to call some when I sense a change upon the relationship, but when I hear nothing back this is when I delete them from my iphone and put the onus on them to re-estabilish the gravity of the relationship. I do the same thing on social media now. I began this in 2013. People grow apart. Clinging to what was instead of acknowledging that things have changed is a waste of your precious time and may drag you down. Holidays always make me reflect upon what was, and what could never be. Time sees what we have become, even when we miss it. Time is erased for some of us. Sometimes we erase people and walk away from the shadows creeping up on us. Sometimes you must give up on people, not because you do not care, because they do not. When you live by your convictions and not others opinions, your create new chapter to live by.
- Stop letting yourself be defined by people, society, your job and cultural expectations. You are the CEO of you. When you live by your convictions and not others opinions, you create new chapters to live by. Learn how to climb a tree in a forest or climb a real granite wall in a park. Just act now. Be your own constituency. Crowd source using your thoughts. Stop being dead while breathing and walking. Stop being so damn scared of living at the edge. Before you become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. After you become a leader, success is about growing others. A leader shows you fear is an illusion of the mind. Your fears are 100{a7b724a0454d92c70890dedf5ec22a026af4df067c7b55aa6009b4d34d5da3c6} dependent on your thoughts for its survival.
- Working so much that you never develop your passions. You must take time off to sharpen the blade. When I see employees with a talent, I want to help them develop it. Supporting others is a beautiful thing for a time, but not when it means you never get to shine your own light on the world. We need to create starfish to change the world. Life is not a one-man job.
- Consider dropping all grudges. A grudge is just letting someone live rent-free in your mind. Teach yourself in 2014 how to move on quickly in life, love and your job.
- Caring way too much about what others think about you, your life and your ideas. They have so little of their own creativity they need to try to ruin yours. Cut “their rope” before they can suck “your blood.” When you fuel your life’s journey on the opinions of others, you end up on a dark curvy road holding a gas can …
- What has social media taught me more than any other thing? People will stay in bad relationships for eons and then bitch about when it is gone. They abhor change. Begin to realize who you spend your life with defines and colors the way you see life through those lenses. If you don’t like them, move on. Love is just not a good enough answer to stay.
- Not traveling when you are young, broke, and full of creative possibilities. The older we get the more set in our ways we get and the possibilities open to us diminish. This is why young people perceive time moves slower than old people do. They see life’s creative possibilities while all the old see is the ways in which they have become accustomed to wasting their time on this Earth. Do something about that. Reject being the walking dead and not knowing enough to just lay down. Force yourself to travel someplace in 2014 you have totally whiffed on for the last 30 years. And before you go, learn some of their language. The mental gymnastics will actually improve your health and brain without having to change your diet or become a zoo animal in a local Gold’s gym. Excuse me now, have a better new year … I’ve got to book a flight. Joyeaux Noel!!!
You don’t get in life what you want … you get in life what you are. You must program yourself for success. NEVER lose your hunger … or curiosity.
Here is my gift to you and yours: watch this!
What are your resolutions for 2014? Leave a comment.
