A New Year, A New Blog

A page from the 2006 “Quote of the Day” calendar pinned to the cork board above my desk reads:

“Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I couldn’t agree more.

It’s That Time of Year

I typically spend the holidays visiting with family, watching A Christmas Story over and over again, eating entirely too much, and dreaming about the upcoming year.

But this year was different.  Something clicked, and I’ve been on a mission the last week and a half.  As a result, I’ve never been more fired up about my business, my relationships, my finances, my charity work – my life in general – as I am today.

For starters, Santa brought me a slew of fantastic new books for Christmas.  As you’ll learn, I’m not big on giving and receiving expensive, unnecessary gifts for the holidays, but books are my one weak spot.  I read business books almost exclusively throughout the year.  I like to think the information keeps my ideas relevant and forces my brain to constantly scan for possible business opportunities in my life, but my reading sessions are usually limited to ten minutes after dinner and right before I go to bed each night.

But this year, I read a book from cover-to-cover in one sitting for the first time in I don’t know how long… THREE TIMES.  Ironically enough, I came across Julien Smith’s (co-author of Trust Agents) blog post today about how to read a book per week in 2010. If I keep up this pace, I’ll read somewhere close to 150 (but don’t count on it).

New Year Prediction

I’ve always known I was destined to do big things, but now I’m certain.  On New Year’s Eve, a tiny lead palm tree told me that 2010 is going to be my year in business – and it’s awfully hard to disagree with logic like that.

You see, my fiance’s sister and her German husband stayed at our house over the holidays, and they brought along some gifts from Cologne for New Year’s Eve.  One of these items was a box of funny shaped metallic pieces and what looked to me like a cheap spoon someone might melt crack rock in.  Apparently, it is tradition in Germany to place lead pieces into the spoon and melt them over an open flame until molten.  Once liquefied, the metal is then quickly dumped into a container of cold water and solidifies into an abstract shape.

Mine (everyone decided) looked like a palm tree.

Luckily, on the back of the box was a key (in German) that provided a fortune for each shape and the palm tree read:

“This year will bring you success in business.”

The Fire Inside

Don’t worry, I haven’t gone off the deep end.  I don’t plan on waiting for the German palm tree fairy to put a little “business success” under my pillow while I sleep.

I fully intend to hustle and make it happen on my own.

One of the three books that I sat and read cover-to-cover was Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, by Gary Vaynerchuk.  I had heard of Gary and his website winelibrarytv.com through some friends, so I picked up his book and gave it a spin.

If you want to be inspired, you need to buy this book right now and read it as soon as the mail man drops it off on your porch.

Don’t want to drop $14 on the hard copy?  At least check out his blog (http://garyvaynerchuk.com), and you will see why Gary is so successful.  His energy and passion are contagious, and he got me thinking about what kind of impact and legacy (more about this topic later) I want to make this year, this decade, this life.

Enter this blog…

Every Goal Needs a Plan

Each January 1st, millions of Americans set resolutions and goals for the upcoming year.  I have heard the over 80% of people forget what their new year’s resolution was by February 14th.

Let me repeat that: over 80% of people completely forget what their goal was by February 14th.

We’re not talking about not reaching the goal by February; 80% can’t even remember know what the goal was.  Pretty sad, and pretty discouraging if you ask me.

We all know that writing your goals down and making them S.M.A.R.T. increases the likelihood of achieving them, but professional blogger Chris Brogan offers up a great perspective on his “three words”:

“I always felt that resolutions were a little too push and not enough pull, and I wanted something a bit more compelling to pull me towards the future. Basically, I come up with 3 or so keywords that tie to goals and work from that.” -Chris Brogan

So I decided to give it a shot myself.  Being the visual person I am, I drew out my flow chart on paper and came up with a list of goals I want to accomplish this year.  Next I began looking for similarities, trends, and overlaps between goals.  Once I had filled in all the data, I jumped on the internet, found some images that really struck a chord, and dropped them into Illustrator for maximum effect.

The three phrases I came up with were:

1. Yacht race
2. Chains
3. Tribe

1. While YACHT RACE isn’t a single word, it was a perfect representation of all the things I need to focus on to make my real estate business more successful this year.  Create a map of where I’m headed, be committed to a routine of completing my tasks, complete those tasks with intensity, consistently review where I’m headed and what I am working on, and develop my team to help me accomplish more.  The word “race” really reinforces the idea that there is a goal at the end and that I will FINISH what I set out to do.  And it makes the concept a little more focused than a ship drifting around at sea.
2. Working to remove the CHAINS of debt is my second goal of 2010.  Fittingly enough, the second book I read all the way through was The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey which is where this goal comes from.  Combining this goal with the first will allow me to contribute more to my community sooner.
3. Yes, TRIBE is derived from Seth Godin’s book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, but it was a perfect fit.  During my brainstorming, I realized I need to connect with a LOT more people in order to accomplish all of my goals this year (and on into the future).  The fun realization I came to with this word is that there is no “Finish Line” – this is a goal I will continue to pursue for years to come.

So there it is, my roadmap for the new year.

I have lots more planning – and doing – to accomplish in order to make things happen, but at least it’s a start.  Now it’s time for that lead palm tree to start working its magic.

What are your three words?

And more importantly, what are you going to do to make 2010 an amazing year?