Now that 2008 has come and gone you may be thinking one of 3 things: 

“What a great year it’s been!”, “2008 could have been a lot better!” or you may even be thinking “2008 was the worst year ever”.

I think for many of us, especially with the economy the way it is, things could have been better. 

2008 was an exciting year for me. My daughter got engaged, my business grew, my income doubled and I made some tremendous friends and associates online and I feel privileged that many of you were here throughout the year to share my successes with me.  You’re awesome! 

So now it’s time to move on to the New Year and take a good look at how we can improve on 2008.  It’s a time for hope, change and making those New Year’s resolutions.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions because I always break them, just like that last 5 pounds I’ve resolved to lose – yep, I make that one every year and every year I break it.

But I do have a few things that I work on when it comes to making positive changes, either personally or professionally. These are things that are practical enough to apply to any aspect of your life.

So, by all means keep moving forward with your resolutions but here are a few things that have made a difference in my life and I’m hoping they’ll also make an impact on yours…

Show gratitude and appreciation

Sounds corny, but life is about being grateful first.  You may not always feel there’s anything to be grateful for but if you examine what you have, you’ll see it.

I’ll admit, I’m a fairly religious person but call it religion, or just good karma, showing appreciation for what you have, being thankful for even the smallest things, can bring you special blessings.

Show gratitude, give back to others, share your blessings and it will all come back to you in prosperity and peace.

Don’t procrastinate – Make those Needed Changes Now!

We all see the need for change but most of the time it’s hard to make changes, it often means stepping out of our comfort zone, so we put them off.

I’m always putting things off until the time seems right.  I’ll start that tomorrow, or when the weather’s better or on the first of the month, etc., etc.

There’s never a better time that right now!    
 
Making changes starts with looking at the changes you most want to make and then setting goals, but don’t set unrealistic goals. Setting a goal to make an extra $200 this month would be much more realistic than setting a goal to make $10,000, which would be fairly unrealistic.

Next make a plan of action for your goal. How you make that extra $200 this month means breaking down your goal into manageable steps and assigning each step a time limit, also keeping the time frames realistic.

Do something each day that will take you closer to your goal.

Take advantage of the opportunities presented

If you have an idea or see an opportunity, act on it.  I can’t tell you how many times I had an inspiration to do something and let go of it because I got lazy or unsure.

My husband is a great ‘idea’ guy and he always comes up with ideas, most of them sound hair-brained to me, but he does one thing that I don’t do, he takes the time to examine his ideas and see if there is potential.   The internet is a great tool for research, so he uses it to its full advantage. 

Ideas often takes a few twists and turns before you can see the full opportunity take shape, but that’s ok, some of the best ideas started with an initial ‘kooky’ thought.

Remember the saying, “Those who hesitate are lost”. If you see an opportunity and sit on it you could lose out.

I use to work with a guy that was kind of a paradox, he always wanted to have his own business, I could tell because he talked about it all the time, he would constantly come up with ideas, but the odd thing was that for every idea he had he focused on what he couldn’t do, not what he could do.  He actually talked himself out of opportunities.  

I remember thinking, “Huh! Don’t focus on what you CAN’T do; look at what you CAN do.   

As far as I know, he is still working at the same company, he never acted on any of the ideas he had …sad.

Don’t let failure or doubt defeat you

We all have fears and doubts, especially when it comes to making change. Nobody wants to fail but your fear of failure will hold you back. 

We are afraid of risk, of losing money or of criticism.  But if you look at the people who have succeeded, they were not afraid to fail; they simply learned from their failures, made the appropriate changes and jumped right back in the saddle.

I personally think that your failure or success depends on your ability to feel confident.  If you doubt yourself and lose confidence, you WILL fail.  It’s sort of like a self-fulfilling prophecy; think you will fail and you most assuredly will. 

Don’t do that to yourself!  Have the will and confidence to succeed, keep the faith and persist.  It will come. 

One of the biggest steps I ever took was quitting my job for my online business.  Was I scared? Yes.  Did I have moments of doubt?  Well, let’s just say I avoided them like the plague. 

Don’t get me wrong, those feelings were definitely there but I resolved to believe I could do whatever was in front of me.

There were things I failed at, but when I failed I looked at ‘why’ I failed.  Once I could see why I failed, I fixed it and then I vowed never to let it happen again. And my second or even third try was always a charm, as they say.

People will also try to defeat you. Don’t let them!  For me those people were actually a good thing, they gave me more determination.  Nothing pleases me more than to prove people wrong.

So whether you’ve made New Year’s resolutions or not this year, make a resolution to yourself to at least look for the opportunities, don’t be afraid of failure, make those needed changes now and always keep gratitude in your heart.

My Best,
Elizabeth