Happy Old Year! Be Thankful for What Went Right to See More Go Right!

It’s easy to get carried away with the new prospects for the New Year. After all, this year is over (finally!). And not all the news was good… The media has done a fine job of frightening us by focusing on the negative. Then there’s the personal frustrations of all the things we wanted to do that got derailed, delayed, or deferred. It’s easy to complain about what went wrong last year.  We almost can’t wait to put the past behind us and move on to a new world of all possibilities. There are New Year resolutions, plans, goals, and a general attitude that things will somehow get better.

But we’ve found that best way to make the New Year better is to take some time over the Holidays to make a list of what went right this last year. We call it our Annual Accomplishments List. It forces us to really think about all that we have accomplished in the “Old Year.”

Every year about this time, we spend an hour or two going through our calendar to help us recollect what happened. Then we make a list of everything we’ve accomplished, everything that did go right, and all the great times we had. We also add all the great people we met or did business with. We take the opportunity to continue to grow these new relationships by putting them into our contacts and sending them a personal note of appreciation before the year end. If you use this method, it’s amazing, but you will discover that you are making progress, making new friends and achieving your goals!

By taking the time to put together your “Old Year” list several great things can happen. You become more grateful instead of frustrated, hopeful instead of fearful, and most importantly you have real evidence that you can achieve your goals. All this results in an attitude you can take with you into the New Year where you will expect solutions. You will be looking for them at every turn. You will be less likely to overlook solutions just because they weren’t wrapped in a pretty package and hand delivered. The more you appreciate what you have the more you get what you want, if for no other reason than you are focusing on what you want and not what you don’t!

Now you are ready to work on your New Year’s resolutions with the confidence that comes from success. You can more easily visualize your new goals finding their way onto your next year’s Annual Accomplishments List. Why? Because you took the time to appreciate your progress this year, saw it all on one list and said, “Yes! I can do this!”

We want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who has followed us and shared our blog posts, joined us on social media, and attended our talks and Keynotes throughout the year. We hope that our experience has made a positive difference in your lives and businesses.

Michael and Bonnie say thank you for a great Old Year and we wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!