Whew, it’s nearly the end of the year for 2014. And what a year it was! How was it for you? For me it ended up being a year where the theme was ‘change’, both personally and professionally. That certainly wasn’t how I expected the year to be when planning for it a year ago. Were there any themes to your year?

It’s really easy to look back on the year and ‘kick myself’ over all the things I didn’t achieve. You know, beating myself up for not ticking all the ’achieved’ or ‘completed’ boxes in my business plan or in my personal goal sheet.

Are you doing this? Reflecting on what you didn’t achieve in business or in life? If you are someone who sets New Year’s Resolutions, are you looking at the list you created on New Year’s Eve 2013 and beating yourself up for not achieving them in 2014?

If you are beating yourself up, how are you feeling? Grumpy? Disappointed? Probably! Certainly, that is normally how I feel if I miss a goal on my never ending list of things I want to do and achieve.

It is also really easy to reflect on all the things that went wrong in 2014, rather than those things that went well.

So I’m reviewing 2014 differently. I am not reviewing Q4 of my 2014 business plan right now, nor am I looking at my 2014 personal goal sheet. I want to end the year on a high. I’m reflecting on the good things; the lovely things – big and small – that happened this year. I am grateful for all that I have in my life, and all those people in my life whom I care about. It’s a much better feeling. It brings joy and happiness.

Don’t get me wrong. Soon I will be finishing off my 2015 business plan, personal goal sheet and accompanying vision board; that is important, as I do like to achieve things, and I have plenty I will be working on achieving in 2015. But for now, that can wait.

I’m feeling reflective. I’m feeling grateful. I’m feeling joyful. I’m feeling thankful. Life is not perfect. It never is. But life is good. Why? Because it just is. And life is short.

Right now, life is good because:

• In early 2014, London was alive with Spring colour and floral aromas – daffodils and other intoxicating flowers. It was glorious.
• We periodically played Bridge (card game) with close friends in 2014 and it was such fun (and competitive).
• The British Summer was fabulously warm, enabling our daughter and her friends to play outside in the garden – just as kids should do in Summer – for a change there was little use of technology as ‘fun’.
• We had loads of family BBQ dinners at our home, where friends congregated to catch up, and all the children ran wild outside.
• Visitors from overseas came to stay for periods of time so they could also experience our beloved London.
• I continued reinventing ‘me’ and my career for the next +51 years of life (I plan to live and work until I am 101 years old)… very exciting. 🙂
• I have met loads of new and interesting people from around the world.
• Our daughter was able to have several weeks in New Zealand in April, creating memories with her extended family, and particularly with my mother, her grandmother.
• We got home to New Zealand in time to be with my mother before she passed over in October, and I was able to sit with mum through the night that she passed; I have unforgettable memories of that moment in time.
• We now have both our children living with us…. and it is great fun being a family with an adult son (27 years) and daughter (12 years) all living together.
• As a family we play lots of board and card games and table tennis together, plus we go on family ‘outings’.
• I power walked around my local village most days for the last half of this year, swinging my arm weights with reckless abandon…. I even managed a couple of runs too.
• In December, I celebrated being married for 14 years to David, the man of my dreams.
• We enjoyed the company of a number of ‘elderly’ people who are in our lives, like my 100 year old relative in Scotland, and others who are a little lonely.
• On 25 December, we are having a family Christmas at home; the first time in many years as a complete ‘nuclear family.

There is a lot more that I am happy about and grateful for. What are you grateful for? What puts the ‘smile on your dial’ as you reflect on 2014?

I’m loving the time where I am reflecting, smiling and smelling the Christmas lilies. And in smelling the Christmas Lilies, wonderful memories are flooding back. Christmas lilies (or Lilium Candidum) are one of my favourite flowers and will forever remind me of our wedding day as they were ‘our’ flowers on our special day.

Go on. Reflect. Smile. Smell the Christmas Lilies. Life is too short not to. Tomorrow is another day. 2015 will soon be another year where we can set more goals that we plan to achieve.

 

Could some guidance from me be helpful to you?  If so, please arrange a free 30 mins Skype strategy meeting with me.  Here’s my calendar to book a meeting.  I’d love to support you in some way to gain ‘seductive clarity’ in any aspect of your business or life.

 

Other articles on What Creates Success in Business and Life:

Success Breeds Success!
Success Secrets of Successful People
Adèle in a Nutshell – ‘To Give is to Live’
The Beauty of the Last Hours in Life
Success Breeds Success – Tip #1
What’s Stopping You?  FEAR?
Savour the Journey
What’s all this Gratitude ‘stuff’?
The 7 Traits of High Achievers
What’s Your Excuse? No Arms? No Legs?

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