Reflect on 2008 to Create a 2009 that Shines

As 2008 comes to a close, I find I am reflecting on this past year and years previous. I do this every year, but this year I am more focused.

Last night, I was looking at pictures I found on my laptop computer. Our youngest daughter has downloaded pictures from her camera over the years. She has even scanned some of our old, 35 mm pictures, so I had a whole history to review and reflect on. What an unexpected blessing.

By nature, I can get kind of nostalgic. I think of what people have gone through in their lives. I wonder if they look back with satisfaction or discipline or regret. A wise man once told me, the cost of discipline is ounces but the cost of regret is unbearable. This has stuck with me.

I think of communities and even companies, how they developed and of the people who lived and developed them. What were their principles and convictions? The same is true when building a life. Some people who start against all odds build great lives, yet others who have great beginnings fail. I came to the conclusion that lives are built day by day; lives are built on the seemingly little daily events and on the foundations of one’s principles.

One of the best things about networking is, it is about life, it is about people. The people we meet, the relationships that grow, the impact people have on us and vise versa. Life is, after all, a journey and in the end it is the people we have an impact on that matter the most.

As we look forward to a new year, I find I reflect on these thoughts even more. Last night I spent hours going through pictures of our family and therefore our lives. I want to share a series of questions I am going through at the close of 2008.

These 30 questions can be asked, meditated upon, and answered in all areas of our lives: family, business, spiritual, personal, etc. If you find value here and want to do the same, then feel free to ask yourself the following.

Reflection Questions:

1. What did I accomplish this year?
2. What accomplishment am I most proud of?
3. What did I learn this year?
4. Knowing what I know now, what would I have done differently?
5. What are my most lasting memories of this year?
6. Why am I doing what I am doing?
7. What did I contribute to others?
8. What were my biggest challenges or obstacles?
9. Which ones did I overcome?
10. Who are the most interesting or challenging people I met?
11. What did I learn from them?
12. How did they impact my life?
13. How am I different now than I was at the start of the year?
14. What am I most grateful for?
15. What else do I want to reflect on?

Projection Questions:

1. What excites me the most about the coming year?
2. What are my FIVE most important goals for this year?
3. How will I best develop and use my skills?
4. How will I build up my strengths?
5. How will I apply the most valuable lessons of last year (and previous years) to 2009?
6. What do I want to learn?
7. How am I going to learn this?
8. Who do I want to meet?
9. What relationships do I most want to develop?
10. What new habits will I create?
11. What old habits will I change or eliminate?
12. What will I do to become healthier this year?
13. What lasting memories do I want to create?
14. Who will I serve more effectively this year?
15. What impact will I have?

We are definitely living in interesting times. Times that cannot be taken lightly. We need to get better or we fall behind. We need to grow to thrive. Staying were we are is a recipe for falling behind. It is a truth and the nature of our system.

Let me know if these questions help you.
If you are one of the few who do go through them, I guarantee the impact will be amazing!

Here is to fighting the good fight and coming out victorious in 2009!

To your contiued Success!

Fred.

The only measure of success is the ratio between what we might have been and what we have become.
In another words, success comes as the result of growing to our potential!
H.G. Wells