Volume 7  Number 12   |   December 2017

Summing Up

What kind of a year has it been for you? If you look back to December of 2016, thinking about a year forward, how would you compare? Consider:

• Happiness                                   

• Relationships

• Business Level                   

• Financial Security

• Health                               

• Intellectual Property Creation

• Brand Power                       

• Discretionary Time

In all honesty, if you've not created what you had hoped a year ago, why is that? Were your expectations too high, or did you not apply yourself? If you met your goals, what enabled you to do so? Could they have been more aggressive? If you surpassed your goals, were they too easy? What enabled you to do so well?

This is purely a private, self-diagnosis. So you should be totally honest. Because a year from now you should be doing the same thing!

Guidelines

Don't use others' metrics. You don't have to outperform others. What you do need to do is sustain the lifestyle of your choice and meet or surpass the goals that you set for yourself.

We often become distracted. Bright people can easily follow a variety of trails because they're interesting, but not necessarily helpful. (I'm reminded of my dogs dropping whatever they're doing to chase a squirrel they're never going to catch.) Sometimes we're forced to fight fires, and become engaged in the purely short-term and the tactical. And sometimes we feel obligated to pick up where others have failed—clients, family, partners, and so forth. (This is classic "failure work," never productive.)

I'm not suggesting that we can stay on the expressway all year. There will be off-ramps, exploring, refuelling, and wrong turns. But I am suggesting that we take stock of the overall progress of our journey. We may have made great time while going to the wrong place.

The Coming Year

My suggestion is to honestly explore where you've made the most progress and replicate it in those areas where you haven't, and eliminate those habits or "traps" which have impeded you. Here are my candidates for what you should pay most attention to:

• To whom are you listening? Do you have a formal or informal coach who can help you reach new levels, or are you held back by friends and colleagues who don't share your ambition?

• To what extent is your family supportive? Do they help you celebrate victories and overcome setbacks? Do they share an abundance mentality or are they obsessed with conserving?

• How much discretionary time are you allowing yourself? Do you have time to work on your business and not in it? Do you feel refreshed and energized, or overworked and exhausted most of the time?

• Is your net worth increasing? Can you make impulse purchases? Have you reduced your indebtedness?

Life is short. Take stock of where you are, evaluate your progress candidly.

If not now, when?

© Alan Weiss 2017