2007 had been a great year. I went through a lot of growth and changes in both my personal and business life. The hoildays were busy days but a good time to connect wiht friends & family and just spending time with loved ones.

The New Year reminds us that we are starting anew. Starting fresh. I remember when I was a child, in school, that it’d be great to go away for Christmas, or I think they call it winter break now to be PC. Anyways, it was great because you knew you were starting all over again when you returned from school. In business and life (outside of the 4 walls of school) we seldom get to reset or start over as we did when we were in school.

We typically just plod on and continue to do the things that we were doing. There’s no summer breaks, winter breaks or even spring vacation for us entreprenuers and business owners. Even people who work at corporate jobs. We just continue to plod along. And then once a year we go through the Holidays and come to a New Year where we are reminded to examine our lives and to try, reflect and make adjustments.

I really think doing this once a year is not enough. But it is also a good reminder that, althought we might not be able to reset our lives as we did when we were in school. We can definitely make changes and adjustments. And we shouldn’t only do them once a year for new years because we feel the social pressures to make new years resolutions (just like everybody else)…many of them that we won’t even keep.

No we should be examining our lives and measure and test to make sure that we are on the path that we that leads us to our goals, dreams and the end results that we desire.

But we shouldn’t forget to stop and smell the roses along the journey. I am often reminded that we get into the hustle and bustle of life and often forget to stop and just appreciate the things around us. Like go out for a walk on a sunny day and just lie downand watch the clouds, floating through the blue sky. Or listen to birds chirp and do their dance and sing a song. Or how about just watching the rain fall and seeing if we can see the lightining.

Those are some of the mysteries of nature and life that we often over look.

Or spending time with your son or daughter, if you have any and just play with them or be with them without having to worry about a phone call, rushing to a meeting or getting to that done. Just giving them 100% of your undivided attention. How many of us can honestly tell ourselves that we can do that? I know, I am guilty of that as well … so you are definitely not alone.

If you don’t have children, I’d say you can try applying that with neices, nephes, cousin’s kids or even just when you spend time with your friends or significant other.

There will be definite adjustments and changes for 2008 that I’ll be making, but I will also remember to stop and smell the roses from time to time. And why not have a little check up and exam once a quarter or if you’re ambitious, you might even try once a month or even more frequently. For me I’ll be trying out the monthly time interval and seeing how that goes.

Happy New Year to you and yours and we welcome 2008!
May it be your best year yet!

Looking it up at our friends over at Webster Dictionary, www.m-w.com

Clarity – the quality or state of being clear: Lucidity

Clear – 4 a : capable of sharp discernment : Keen

4 b : free from doubt : Sure

You have to get very clear about what it is that you want. If you don’t know exactly what it is you want you will never get there. If you have a fuzzy idea or a vague idea of what you want that is the type of results you will have.

I was on a call yesterday that really brought this point home for me. The speaker was talking about an artist who wanted to do a painting. Let’s say they live next to this gorgeous mountain and lake and can see it right outside their window while sitting in their bedroom. They want to begin painting.

Let’s ask them, “So what do you want to paint?”

They reply with, “I don’t want to paint that mountain that you can see from my bedroom, and I don’t want to paint the beautiful lake. I know that that’s what I want, not to paint the mountain or lake.”

We follow with, “Is that it?”

They reply, “Yup, I don’t want that.”

They are never going to be able to paint that painting of not the mountain and not the lake because they have no idea, no clarity, no sharp discernment, about what it is that they do want. Why you might ask? Because our minds do not work that way. Our minds can only move towards what it is that we see and not the negative of that. We can use the negative aspect to help us clarify what it is that we do want.

Ok, let’s try this dialogue again. But this time the person has an idea of what they do want.

Let’s ask them, “So what do you want to paint?”

They reply with, “I want to paint that mountain that you can see from my bedroom, and I want to paint the beautiful lake right below it that has this beautiful reflection of the mountain on a clear day with the snow caps gleaming in the water. I may not have any experience painting, but I’m really excited about this.”

We say, “So you haven’t painted before, right?”

They reply, “Yup, that’s right I haven’t painted before. I know that I’m going to paint this great painting of the mountain and water. It’ll be so great!”

We can tell our friend is super psyched about getting started to paint the painting of the mountain and lake. Even if they don’t know the first thing about painting, they’ll take classes, read books, find and meet other people who have done it and get it started. They may not do it very well the first time, but as they get more involved, they’ll refine their painting skills and get better at it. So what does all this have to do with you?

Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet; the painting is actually just a metaphor for whatever it is that is your goal. Let’s say someone asks you, “Where do you want to be in 5 years?” and you reply, “I don’t want to be in this job anymore. I want to not be working.” That is not very clear. You have to be able to describe and see in exact detail exactly what it is that you want so you can figure out the steps to take to get to where you want. If you have a very clear picture both in words and images in your mind it is much easier to move towards those images and pictures.

Sit down and think about the one thing that you want to do or have. Then write down exactly how it’d look like, how long, how big, what color, where are you at with it, who’s there with you, whatever it is that you need to get a clear picture. Get it to the point where you can see it in your mind exactly how you want it. Once you’ve got that figured out just keep bringing that picture up in your mind’s eye.

One tip is to get a piece of paper, or a pad of paper and put pen to paper and go through the process of describing what it is that you want. There should be no doubts or questions in your mind about what it is that you want to achieve.