Christmas is over, and New Year’s is next. There are literally just a few days left in the year. And if you haven’t already over these last few weeks in December, you’re probably starting to think about what you’ve done this year. Was it enough? Was it what I set out to do? What goals were achieved? Which ones were missed? How can I make next year better?
And even if 2019 was a great year, sometimes our anxieties revolve around being able to do the same thing, or more, the next year. You wonder, “can I really do it again? Or was this just a fluke? Was this kind of success repeatable or was it just a one hit wonder?”
Or maybe this year wasn’t quite what you hoped. You did achieve some great things, but you know there’s more potential left inside of you that just hasn’t found its way out yet. You know there’s more in store for you, you’re just not sure what that missing piece is yet.
My Best Year Bundle is About to Disappear
If that’s where you’re at, remember there’s only a week left to snatch up the “My Best Year!” bundle. Inside you’ll get your A to Z trusted resource, friend, and guide on all things needed to take up your design firm’s client service and client experience about 100 notches in the New Year, in a way that you’re able to actually charge more for.
And here’s one more review from an attendee of “The Exceptional Experience” so you can get an idea of the high quality content you’ll be getting in the bundle.
Kathy Hoskins from Hoskins Interior Design – “I would highly recommend “The Exceptional Experience”. The sessions were full of actionable advice. The action items and downloads included after each session provided clarity on how to implement content from that day’s presentation. Loved it!”
Get your hands on this actionable advice, items, and downloads here before the option leaves you next Thursday, January 2nd!
Relax & Renew – A Recipe for Success
But no matter how you feel about 2019, you’re probably wondering, how do I make 2020 even better? Well, other than snatching up “My Best Year!”, take some time to relax and renew – both you, and your team.
So often at the end of the year we keep on pushing ourselves to work. I know I’m certainly guilty of that (but at least this year I have a pretty good excuse – preparing for maternity leave.) But really, that’s not the best plan. Pushing ourselves to work, just for the sake of work, is often not the best plan of action. Instead I’ve found its often the worst.
What you want to do instead is relax. Relax your mind, your body, and your work ethic. For just a week. Close up the whole office until the day after New Year’s.
Heck, even give yourself until the next Monday, January 6th. Give your employees some much needed time off – they’ll no doubt love you for it. Turn on your out of office. Alert your clients that you’re taking the week off, but also reassure them that this won’t in any way affect the progress of their projects. And then just go for it. Walk out the door, lock it up, and don’t come back for a week. Don’t think about it, try not to talk about it, just leave it all behind. Just for a week.
Give Yourself the Gift of Boredom
The goal is to spend so little time working, and so much time relaxing, that your mind literally gets bored. Like crazy bored. Like seriously should I start cleaning the baseboards because I’m so bored kind of bored. Because – boredom is a good thing.
Boredom motivates you. It gives you ideas. It gives you new ambitions. It gives you a bit of a fire under your tuchus. But it’s also an incredible rarity these days. Very, very few of us ever leave ourselves or our minds to be bored anymore. We almost can’t stand it. But we’re cheating ourselves, our businesses, our ideas, and our minds from one of life’s greatest gifts – boredom.
Boredom brings on a freedom for your mind that can’t be achieved when its overrun with to do lists. Or problems. Or solutions. Or a whirling, swirling mind. Boredom is like opening a gate so wide for your brain that it just doesn’t know what to do with itself. It doesn’t know where to go.
So, it just starts roaming around, running around. Coming up with great ideas. Solutions. Ambitions. And you didn’t even ask it too. You finally let it run free like a toddler being let out of a car after a 10 hour road trip and as a show of its appreciation, it rewards you with its best behavior yet.
First Relax, then Renew
So take a week of boredom. Let your mind run free. Let it roam. Let it wander. Let it get bored. And then when you’re so bored that you just can’t stand it anymore, go back in and not only feel renewed – but become renewed. Renew your goals for the year, renew your focus, renew your firm.
Start sifting through any creative ideas, goals, or ambitions that came to you throughout your week of boredom (and as they do come to you, just write them down somewhere but do nothing about them until your week of boredom is up). What could work? What couldn’t? Why or why not?
Then think through everything that worked in 2019 – why did it work? What were the elements that made it work? If you’re not sure, ask someone else. Now think, how can I expand on that? Is there a way I can blow up the potential of what worked? A way that I can really focus on that strength and use it to my clients’ advantage and my own as much as possible?
Renewing Includes Reducing
And what about what didn’t work? Why didn’t it work? Think to yourself, was it because I was inconsistent with it? Was it because I don’t like that work? Or was it because I’m just not good at it? If so, should I hire out for it or get myself coaching or education on it? Or is there another way I can handle it? Maybe let go of that task entirely?
Sometimes our goals need to focus on reduction instead of production. Sometimes the only way to produce more, is to first reduce what you’re already doing. Take a look at what you’re currently doing – is there anything that needs to be taken off? Anything that needs to be reduced in some way? Ask yourself, is it better to expend my energy on something that’s a huge struggle, or is it better to expend my energy on expanding what’s already going really well?
Sometimes we keep doing something that’s not going very well just because we feel obligated to it or because we’ve been doing it in the past and just blindly continue. When in reality, it’s actually better to cut it loose. Don’t get caught in that. You have the power to take any task, service, or offering that’s not working for you or your clients, right off your plate.
Get Ready to Be Bored into Success
So throughout this next week, get ready to achieve more in 2020, by first being bored. Let yourself just sit around, watch movies, maybe eat a few too many leftover Christmas cookies, play games with your kids, and just, get bored. Teach yourself, your mind, and your kids, the beauty and benefits of relaxing so much that you’re bored.
And then when you’re so bored that you simply can’t stand it anymore – go out there and get ’em. Go get those goals, go renew those goals, go renew that vigor for making this your best year yet. I know you can.
And if you want help making this your best year, remember that you can snatch up the “My Best Year!” bundle until next Thursday, January 2nd.
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