2 Ways To End 2015 Well These Last 12 Weeks

If you're like me, you may be wondering where 2015 went.

Woke up from my haze that was September just this past weekend and realized we are 12 short weeks away from ringing in 2016. 12 weeks. As 2015 is slipping away, I pose the question for you and me...

Did I get what I wanted from 2015?

I don't start the year with any grand resolutions or makeovers. Normally, I set a few objectives and a couple of big audacious goals and 2015 was no different. There were several big business goals and a few important personal ones. With 12 short weeks left to achieve them, here are my two practical ways to make sure 2015 ends the way I'd like it to.

Regroup

This past year has flown by and while I set out with some big business and personal goals, I've had to regroup on those especially lately. Take a step back and look at what has actually happened versus what I wanted to happen. What's the delta? How far off am I? In many cases, I am not too far off the mark but need to rejigger my compass. In other cases, I am in better shape than I thought I'd be at this point. There is no shame in tossing things out that don't make sense. With a full quarter left in this year, there is plenty of time to redirect energy into activities and relationships that will get us closer to our goals for 2015. Further, this may be the time to start tinkering with what we'd like to see happen in 2016. Get a jump on the planning and rework some 2015 goals and objectives into better 2016 ones. Regrouping is key to continued success. Do it as much as necessary.

Celebrate

I cannot help but chuckle out loud at this one. I love celebrating and don't do it nearly enough. Typically, we Americans are at one extreme or the other - you know, we celebrate too much or hardly at all. I am definitely on the hardly at all, especially during rough seasons of life like the one I'm currently in and have been in for over a year. Hence my new thought of taking time to celebrate even tiny wins and hints of new momentum. For most of the last 15 months, I have hesitated to celebrate anything "waiting" for my tough fog to lift, waiting for the "big relief." Well the reality is, it has not come. I don't know if it is even on the way anymore. So I've missed a TON of opportunities to celebrate the wins I've had in 2015. But no more. Last weekend, we had a celebratory dinner for surviving my crazy September. I have a celebration plan to finish this year and of course my birthday month will serve as a great catalyst this new direction. Part of what builds momentum is reinforcement of behaviors that got us the progress. Celebrating is a great way to encourage progress. Make sure you stop and celebrate your wins these last 12 weeks of 2015.


So the answer to my own question is... not yet. And I have 12 weeks to make sure that "not yet" converts to a yes. Then I can got into 2016 unencumbered with any remnants of "what ifs" from 2015. Join me.

 #2015Unshakable

Are You Ready For The Back Nine of 2013?

It's really ironic that I use a golf term to describe the remaining time in 2013 since I haven't picked up my own personal clubs in more than a decade. But it's always been my favorite golf term as a hacker so I keep using it even though I don't golf anymore.

I like the term for what it always stood for when I did play: opportunity

Regardless of how I played the first nine, the back nine was always my chance to make it right. If you are an avid golfer you will argue that point but stick with me. Notwithstanding the course or how it may or may not be my favor on the back nine, think of it purely from a physical standpoint. If you don't golf daily (and if you do golf daily, stop reading  - you are not my audience. Thanks.), then the first nine holes tend to be getting your body and muscle memory back into the golf groove you have - bad or good.

You focus more on mechanics and the particular details of the game. You can be irritable as you realize what the extended time away from the game - be it weeks or if you live in the midwest, months - can do to your swing and mental stamina.  You nit pick yourself and others you golf with. The front nine can be painful. But not the back nine.

You are more relaxed. Your body and muscles have had ample time to warm up and acclimate to the game. You play with abandon because either your front nine score was so bad it doesn't matter what you do from this point forward or you played close enough have a great shot at winning so taking a few more risks might bring the reward.

I just described myself on the golf course but I also described myself the entrepreneur. The first half of the year is in the books. Done. History. Many of my objectives are still there and within reach while others are just blown away. Regardless - I am stoked for the back nine of this year. My relationship with my goals is a fluid one. I have set goals but I am flexible to new ones that always seem to appear - like this year's fiction novel. If you'd have told me in January that I would be writing a fiction novel in June, I'd have laughed at you and thrown you out of my office.

I lay out objectives at the beginning of every year and each July, I stop and reflect on where I am and how I can end the year in the best possible manner. I review action steps and course correct as needed. I also delete or postpone items that no longer fit into my year plan. By August, I refuel my leadership tank at a conference. By mid-August - I am ready to punch the gas pedal to end the year ablaze.

It is not too late to hit some of those objectives of your list. Take some time in the last few days of this month to review and re-energize yourself toward your 2013 goals.  The back nine is green and waiting for you.

The Birth of Easy, A Novel

Yeah the last thing I needed on my "To Do" list was to write a fiction novel.


Really.

There are so many things I've yet to accomplish in 2013 on my objectives list, it certainly could have done without a new book project.

But that is the beauty of this story and my life. I am open.

Open to possibility.

Open to hurt.

Open to failure

Open to change.

Open to the scary "what ifs" of this life.

Last week was another tough week in a string of challenging weeks in my life this year. Yet, I went to Dallas on the promise and hope of a new business breakthrough. Little did I know the "breakthrough" was not external but internal. Helpless to my exterior situation, I turned inward to soothe myself and came out with a full blown fiction novel idea. By Friday evening, it was full outlined and ready to be written. A few "facts" to know about makes this incredible:

1. I do not read fiction. Haven't read fiction in many years, probably the last time I read a fiction book was pre-2001 (before marriage and first kid) Think - Bridget Jones as the last fiction. I know, pathetic.
2. I often question how anyone has time to read fiction - not my genre at all. Not an interest in my body  for fiction as a reader or a writer.
3. I am slammed with 4 projects in the works and many proposals out for bid. Really, I am at my busiest since I started my business.

Yet, I have to write this book. Now.

Don't ask me to explain it, I just know in my heart this is something I need to do. So I'm off to do it. And to make this insanity complete, I've shared my intention with my world already. That's right, I've announced it. Spoken with a potential copy editor and priced out design services.

I am even living up to my own promise to myself to sequester myself for optimal writing opportunity. A book writing retreat is scheduled for the DoubleTree Suites one month from today. I fully expect that 32 days from now, my first fiction manuscript will be complete.

So I'm taking my own advice, I tweeted this the day before I birthed my book, Easy, a novel -

"5 things the last 24 hrs taught me: don't assume, be specific, trust yourself, always ask & use frustration as fuel forward #2013Fearless"