Did vs. Didn't

With the onset of a new year only hours away, it's time for a yearly tradition of sorts. What did I do this year? And what do I want to accomplish for the upcoming one.

A look back to review accomplishments and challenges in addition to refocusing on what your goals are going forward is so important. As with most of us we usually are tackling the latest fire and we forget to be proactively working toward our goals, too quickly the year is gone and we've lost the most valuable thing we have in this life....our time.

The action of writing down what I Didn't and Did in the last year for a review is a great exercise ....and of course profoundly I compile a Do and Don't list for the next year.

Tomorrow the list gets made as it has for the last 8 or so years...each year it gets more and more interesting to see.

What will your list look like? More Didn'ts that Dids? More importantly, what is next on your list to accomplish this year? Swing for the fences, no room for mediocre goals here! As a good friend recently told me....

May your 2009 defy gravity!

What to Watch @ Christmas?

Christmas and time with the family go hand in hand, just like Christmas and great movies go together. I intentionally leave out the fact that eating and the holidays are nearly inseparable. One of the simple traditions in my family is to watch a few of the SAME movies each and every year. We almost can't get through a holiday without them, someone will inevitably ensure that it gets seen!

Like all traditions, over the years we add to and adjust a little of the list as time passes. I thought this being Christmas Eve I may share a few of our favorite titles:

• It's a Wonderful Life (can Jimmy Stewart be any better...I somehow doubt it)
  
• Miracle on 34th Street ( "yes Virgina there really is a Santa Claus")
  
• Home Alone (when Macaulay Culkin actually had some talent)
• Elf (uh ok anything with Will Ferrell is just funny)

There could be 10 more but just a taste today as I'm off to watch Jimmy and Donna "lasso the moon"...

This Chrsitmas I'm not breaking any traditions.

Unplugged and listening

Taking (a little) time alone, unplugged, can really be a good thing no matter how beneficial being in community with others is for all of us. So it may be a little ironic writing about "unplugging" in a very connected format like a blog, but life is full of irony.

A few weeks ago a good friend of mine and I went snowboarding in Colorado. On day three of that trip we were night riding at Keystone (something anyone who is into skiing or boarding should do!!). On our second run of the night I told him to ride on (he is a few levels above me anyhow), what happened then wasn't anything you can really plan for.

For a solid 5-7 min I was alone on the mountain, it was lightly snowing that night, for the past few days it had drenched the mountains in snow and the wind was gale force but not that night, it was practically still. There was absolutely no one around me at all....I was ALONE, it was perfectly quiet except for a little whisper in the pines and the occasional sound of my board moving the snow as I glided down the hill. I couldn't tell you the last time I felt so open, its easy to listen when there is no clutter. No ipod in my ear, no texts or emails hitting my phone, no computer in my face, it really was surreal. On top of that mountain, in the dark, alone, I felt more connected to the world than I had in months.

Coelho, one of my favorite authors talks about the ability to listen to the "language of the world"....and I can tell you, that night I was listening.

I guess sometimes it takes effort to unplug, go for a walk (no ipod), sit in a chair (no tv blaring), read a book then sit and think about it, pray for longer than 3 min or any other manner of taking some time unplugged. While being connected to others is integral and we all need it, a little time alone and listening can do wonders (even if its only 5-7 min).

Don't Tell Me.....Show Me

One of the smartest guys I know (yeah he is also my dad) used to spout this little one-liner of wisdom anytime he had the opportunity. Usually when I was on some diatribe of how I was going to change the world, start a business, build a better "widget" and the like.

It was one of those sayings (and he has plenty) that stays with you, one that takes on different meanings as you get a little older. Yet, in an instant I'm reminded of that smell in the air when he would be giving me some of the advice like this that I still live by today. Most of the time it would be early afternoon and in context that was set up perfect, how he did that still astounds me.

I remember my dad giving up so many Saturdays to help me run a lawn care business (I still think I made more money at 12 years old that I did at 25). I used to think I got a great education early in life running that business (we had 35 or so properties), but I get the fact now that what I learned most was from spending the day with my old man. Stories are great educators, he could relate a story, and his one-liners were some of the best education I have received to date!

It hit me this morning over (an early) coffee with a good friend and mentor that a lot of us may be in the "tell me" part of this equation. I keep hearing things like: "I am going to volunteer more of my time", "I'm scared to leave", "I'm going to work on my resume", "If I could I would start my own business", "I should call that person", "I need to...." you fill in the blank and its all about what we "tell" ourselves we are going to do and not what our hands are busy about actually doing.

So as I take the medicine one more time (like I have many, many times before) I offer it to you. Not quite in the context I first received it, but I can only hope it seeps into your way of doing life as much or more than it has my own.

"Don't tell me, SHOW ME!"

For Love or Money

Some say it was Confucius and others attribute the sentiment to someone else but the statement makes an impression; "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. " A bit surprising then that so many of us are willing to do a job that we don't necessarily like, for a paycheck. Perhaps we like the job well enough but rarely ever love it, its not our passion.

It's this question that so many, including myself continually struggle with. Although the economy is down, there are "jobs" to be had....you could go make a paycheck in several places. The challenge is trying to move past that and find more of a mission or passion, than job.

What I think it comes down to is two things, the ability to dream and the guts to step out there. It's just as much of a process as it is a one time choice, we have to stick to it, believe it, gather encouragement and ultimately make sacrifices to do it. At several times in our lives we will get to the figurative "fork in the road", those moments give us the opportunity to take some action to stay put or move a new playing field...they are fleeting, they are rare and they are defining.

For me it's a calling to keep pushing for those dreams to be out front and for the passions and missions to outweigh the monetary drives we all have.