What Else Do You Want to Happen in 2018?

Is it time to reboot your year? As children return to school in the United States, there is a sense of new beginnings and opportunity. There are only 4.5 months left in the year, and that is more than enough time to achieve goals and move forward on important dreams and initiatives.

I am in the throes of finishing the first full draft of my seventh book (on women and overwhelm) as I prepare to send it off to my agent.  It’s been a huge undertaking in my life for the past year and a half and I can feel the energy of completion.

Achievement thrives on completion.  Every new project has a beginning, middle and end, and each phase has its own special energy.  Completion fuels new opportunities and new projects.  What’s still on your agenda for 2018?  What dreams do you have? What could you reboot and complete?

How to Reboot the Last Few Months of 2018

Examine every area of your life and assess what goals and dreams you have, what you want, and what progress you have made.  Often, we are so busy getting things done, we don’t give ourselves the chance to celebrate the small successes along the way

A. Physical Goals  –  Are you eating healthy food?  Have you lost weight or finished a run you’ve been training for?  Congratulations! Celebrate that win and recalibrate what else you might achieve this year.  If you’ve sitting a great deal, get yourself a stand-up desk. Or take a half hour walk in the morning.  Increase your sleep.  Drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water and be sure to replenish your electrolytes.

B. Financial Goals- How’s your cash flow?  Have you increased your savings?  Do you know what your balances and interest rates are on your credit cards?  Could you pay them off or do a balance transfer at a lower rate?  Could you curb spending? How are your investments?

C. Mental Goals- What are you feeding your mind?  How many books have you read this year?  How do you spend your leisure time?  Have you attended any workshops, seminars or taking new courses?  The mind stays sharp when you’re learning and growing.

D. Emotional Goals– How’s your happiness level?  How often do you see dear friends? Are you doing things you love that bring you joy?  Do you spend time with family that you cherish? Are you having any fun?  If not, prioritize the things that make you happy.

E.Professional Goals– How’s your career going?  Are you learning, growing, contributing or just spinning your wheels?  Is a new job in your plans for this year or are you spearheading a new project? How can you best use your talents and abilities?

F. Spiritual Goals- Do you feel a sense of calm and inner peace?  Are you connected to God, the Universe, your Higher Power?  Do you pray, meditate, spend time in nature connecting with other aspects of the earth? Do you know your life purpose and live according to that?  Delving deeper into your sense of meaning is important.  Purpose fuels happiness and is core to living a  fulfilling life.  Find yours and live yours more this year.

You have everything you need inside you to achieve what you want.  There are untapped reservoirs of greatness inside you, untapped strengths and talents which will helps you progress on your goals and dreams.  Assess where you are now and where you want to be, start making a plan to achieve those goals and dreams, write them down, look at them daily and take massive action.  You can do it.  I believe in you!

Before Asking, What Value Are You Giving Your Customers and Followers?

I had never heard of Amanda Palmer or her music before I read her book the Art of Asking. But whether you like indie punk rock or not, you will be a fan of Amanda Palmer and her ability to connect with her fans and ask for what she needs.   One of the most impressive facts about Amanda is that she was the first musician in history to get $1 million in funding for her music from Kickstarter.  And she has over 1 million followers on Twitter, all organically acquired.

Asking is All About Value, Transparency and Love

What lessons can we all learn from what she did?

1. 1. Get to know your customers, your fan base, your clients really well- even intimately, when you’re asking.   Starting in Harvard Square as a still statue of a bride complete with white face makeup, she gave away flowers to those who donated to her performance.  The actual act of connecting with the person through the flower was amazingly intimate.  She gazed into their eyes and connected deeply.  She learned to form those same deep connections through Twitter and all her social media.

1. 1. Be vulnerable and real with your customers.  Amanda is utterly transparent with whatever is happening in her life.  She shares it all very publicly.  And as a result, she creates real trust.  After Kickstarter, she had to postpone part of her world tour because her dear friend, Anthony, had cancer and she needed to be near him for treatments.  She told the truth to her fans and they understood, so much so, they sent love and letters and gifts to Anthony.

1. 1. Asking specifically for what you need when you need it is key. Amanda toured the world by couch surfing while performing. Whether she needed to borrow an electric piano or a place to sleep, she’d ask her fans for it.  She’s post on Twitter that she needed a place to stay that night, and someone would offer a sofa, a bed, or some other place to sleep.  She was always safe and she always had what she needed.

1. 1.  Love your customers and demonstrate that love in dozens of ways.  Amanda showed them how much she loved and trusted them by continually sharing, giving, expressing and reaching out.  She responded to comments, emails, tweets and shared her passion through love.  Her fans knew it was genuine and they responded in kind.

1. The single most important lesson from Amanda about asking is to give incredible value back and loving her fans.   When she sold her Kickstarter packages, she gave so much more than the average artist.  She sold $5000 house party performances for no more than 50 people, and included $1000 worth of merchandise as well as performing for an hour or two.   And then she mingled and had one to one intimate conversations with her fans. They told her painful stories from their lives, they shared vulnerably because she had and because she loved them.  She accepted them.
   And she usually spent the night, so she had extra time with the hosts.  Love is a keynote to all her interactions.

What can you do to add extra value to every customer and client experience? How can you demonstrate more transparency and intimacy in the interactions you have?  How can you show your love for them before you do any more asking?  Think about it.

Wishing you great success, joy and love,
Snowden

How Often Do Say Yes to Possible Success?

How many times a day do you say no to opportunities, invitations, assignments, challenges, chances to advance your career, things that would stretch you out of of your comfort zone? If you say “no” too often, you could be holding yourself back.

Why Shonda Rhimes Made a Year of Yes

For those of you who don’t know Shonda, she is the sensationally successful writer and creator of the ABC Thursday tv night hits, “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” “Private Practice,” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”  For one woman to dominate a night of network TV is extraordinary.  For a woman of color to do this is amazing and wonderful. And she created starring characters who were all female.  So she has truly been ground-breaking in her industry.

But until a few years ago, she stifled her happiness and her whole life success by saying no too often. No to big interviews, no to speeches, no to invitations to smooze with high powered people in her industry, no to socializing period. And it hurt her, in more ways that one.

An introvert, Shonda thought it was enough to write her scripts and raise her daughters.   She kept turning down chances to really get out there and make a difference. One day her oldest sister said, “You never say yes to anything.”  And that really impacted Shonda.  So she decided to say “yes” for a solid year.

When her alma mater, Dartmouth, called her to do a graduation speech, she said yes. She was terrified, but she did it anyway, and was candid, funny, and effective.  She went on Jimmy Kimmel (not quite live.)  More and more opportunities emerged for her to inspire others and share her experiences, and she leaned into them.  And her life changed in a very good way.  She never had realized how miserable she had been as an isolated introvert.  And now that she was interacting with the world, connecting with others in meaningful ways besides her writing, her life became fuller, richer, happier.   So much so that she decided to extend her year of yes into a life of yes.

How to Change Your Life with More “Yes”

•  I’m not talking about saying yes to everyone who asks you to do their work or handle their problems.   Instead, look at the times in your life when someone has invited you to do something out of your comfort zone, where you felt you weren’t worthy and you shrunk back and said no.  Next time, say “yes.”  Next time, stretch and experience something new.

• Emulate those you most admire.  Where do your mentors and role models go?  What events do they attend?  What kinds of conferences do they go to? Consider doing some of those things.  Consider attending an event that is way out of your comfort zone.  Get into Wonder Woman pose (those of you who have heard my speeches know what I am referring to,) psych yourself up and act like you deserve to be there. You do.

• Take on new challenges at work, ones you’re not quite sure of.  And then learn everything you can to be a smash success at them.  If you need to ask for help, do so.
Show them what you are truly capable of.  And show yourself.

You have so many gifts, talents and abilities that you don’t even acknowledge.  Start saying “yes” to yourself and see how your life, love, joy and abundance expand.