New Year’s Done a New Way

What if this year, we don’t start another 365-day cycle by pushing the marker of success further out? What if this year, we start the year looking at how far we’ve come instead of how far we have to go? What would that do to your results?

I just finished work with a Now What?® client who came to the process to find her way out of a restrictive work situation in a family business. She wanted to explore what else she might do with her life. In less than four months, she had identified three areas of interest and had made tremendous inroads educating herself in all three. She networked her way into these fields by not being afraid to ask people to connect her to others who could enlighten her. Not having that big of a network to begin with, this was an impressive feat.

As we approached the end of our sessions, she voiced her disappointment in herself for not having a new job in hand yet. I asked her to look at how far she had come.

Four months prior, she was miserable in her job, felt like a victim and could not see a way out. Now, she had grown a network in a very short period of time, had learned about the art world, the commercial real estate market, and start-up investing at a rapid pace. It was only when she recognized her progress that the answer to her query hit her.   In our final session, she had the epiphany that she didn’t want to work in any of the three! Instead, she wanted to use her current job in her family’s business to keep her steady as she built her desired net worth through the three areas she was exploring. There was no next job. It was just the next level of strategy on how to get where she wanted to go. She wants to reach a high personal net worth outside of her family business and she now sees she can do so without changing her job.

In this case, discovering the way to financial freedom via three areas that were of interest and fun, suddenly made the job not only bearable, but ultimately, a blessing.

The whole perspective shifted and yours can too. The key is to measure where you’ve come from.

As we step into 2015:

What can you give yourself credit for?

What can you be grateful for?

What can you celebrate?

What can you mark as a milestone lesson whether due to crisis or victory?

Now, go to the gym and be grateful that you have a body that is healthy enough for exercise instead of beating yourself up for the five pounds you gained in the last two weeks.  Happy New Year!