New Year New You: Series Finale (Day 7)

It’s day seven of the annual New Year for a New You 7-day series with me, Lisa Jacobs! Welcome back for the grand finale to this session of review and reflection. If you’re just joining me, here’s how it works: I offered you a new list of prompts and review questions every day from Tuesday, December 27 (2016) through today, January 2.

And it’s never too late to start your review! Here’s all the links to help you catch up:

:: Day 1
:: Day 2
:: Day 3
:: Day 4
:: Day 5
:: Day 6
:: Day 7 (you’re here)

Each day, I answered the same questions and posted them as examples. You’ll find my thoughts as you scroll back through the previous days. If you want to blog your answers, I’d love to read them. Please link up in the comments below or use #yby2017 on social.

I *LOVED* your participation this year, and I thank you very much for jumping down this rabbit hole for me. One of the best bonuses was finding that my treasured friend and colleague, Kara (Boho Berry) was blogging her responses each day. It was such a treat, especially because I know how much goes into planning, journaling, and then blogging this review.

At whatever place you start or pace you take, I’m honored you’re here.

Last day! I’m using this moment to shower us with virtual confetti!

Before we talk goals, did you know that a whopping 95% of people will have given up on their New Years resolutions by January 15? It breaks my heart to realize that most people give up on themselves before they even begin to make progress on the changes they crave!

I have a plan to ensure this doesn’t happen to you.

I’m committed to helping you do things differently. This year, I decided there were two things I no longer needed to ask YOU, this community of online, creative entrepreneurs. The first was:

• Are you hesitating to ask for the sale?

I don’t have to ask anymore, I’m sure you are. The second is:

• Are you struggling?

I no longer have to wonder, I know you’re struggling! This thing we’re doing is hard. Even the uber-successful doubt their mission from time to time, and I’m tired of putting on a brave face and pretending that’s not the case. It’s all too easy for uncertainty or doubt to come along and knock the wind out of your sails.

And don’t get it twisted: I’m not saying these things to shame you. I’m here saying, “ME TOO!” I’ve seen what unapologetically and repeatedly asking for the sale can do to my bottom line … and I still hesitate to ask. I’ve made more money in a year than I ever imagined possible … and I’m still struggling.

I’ll say it again: This thing we’re doing is hard. You can bet that we only see the superficial *face* of the businesses or people we look up to. And on purpose, our role models and competitors are keeping it that way! Wouldn’t you?

They’re real people, which means they too get crabby and puffy and hung over and hairy. And on those days, they don’t feel very good about themselves, either. You don’t really want to see that side of them! That’s not what you were hoping to find when you followed them on Instagram! But, I get it – you are hoping that they’re real, too.

We always envy others, comparing our shadows to their sunlit sides. – Margaret George

I have a shocking story to share with you next week, and sadly, it’s a tale of quitters. While they seemingly had it all (great website, self-confidence, professional showmanship, etc.), they simply couldn’t hang. They threw in the towel after nine months or two years or too few visitors. Each one of them created a unique excuse, convinced themselves they didn’t want that dream anyway, and high-tailed it back to an easier life in a cozy (albeit average) comfort zone.

I get it. I’ve almost convinced myself the same several times during my career.

To make certain this doesn’t happen to you, I’ve created two giant, year-long projects: one for you, one for me. Stay tuned – all the details will be posted Tuesday, January 10 right here on the blog.

Here are my answers to yesterday’s prompts …

Create Goals in All 5 Pillars

:: Create a specific goal for each of the five pillars of life: Relational, spiritual, mental, physical, and financial. The more detailed the better! 

We’ve been here all week, and I still found myself incredibly overwhelmed by the list of goals I wanted to achieve. They raced through my mind endlessly, leaving me feeling more anxious than inspired.

I started to wonder, How am I going to do all this? When I really should have made a list and asked: What’s my plan of attack?

Instead of project maps (as assigned yesterday), I did a rapid log organized into an annual goal list in my bullet journal. A “rapid log” is basically a brain dump, and while I typically do these quarterly, I found this to be a very useful exercise for my annual goals as well.

What’s more, my rapid log usually expands out into smaller ideas. For example, I listed that I wanted to end the year with four employees. Rather than coming back to the page months later and wondering what in the world I had in mind during this initial brainstorm, I jotted down who I wanted on my team (Jennie Rensink, a bookkeeper, and two support/admin staff).

Then, I categorized that rapid log into the five major categories we’ve been working with: relational, spiritual, mental, physical, and financial. It really helped me get back to the big picture and realize I can absolutely tackle every goal on my list, one thing at a time.

Your Best Year 2017

If you loved this series, you’ll LIVE FOR my best-selling productivity workbook and online business planner, Your Best Year 2017. Every rut is followed by a rope to get you unstuck. Every fear is followed by an empowering action plan.

Online business is truly the land of unlimited profit potential … if you’re willing to do the work. You can’t look at the face of an online entrepreneur’s successful business and forget all that goes into the operation behind the scenes. I liken it to the workings of a car; the beautiful body you see sitting on the wheels is not what makes the machine run.

I spent a lot of time studying that machine this year, and since my favorite thing to do is figure something out and then teach it, I organized all of the tools, strategies, and systems into one extremely efficient package.

In Conclusion

Thank you for joining me this week! There’s a lot of work to be done, but I truly believe 2017 is going to be a banner year for entrepreneurial spirits the world over. I love you all so much, and I’m excited to embark on this adventure with you. LET’S DO THIS!

Here’s to your best year yet,