Happy New Year!
Wow. So we finally made it to 2017, didn’t we?
I don’t know about you, but for me, this year was full of ups and downs. Really beautiful and fulfilling personal and professional dreams achieved. (Like getting engaged and getting fully licensed.) And then some intense situations I could never have predicted. Like the shocking US election results or personally ending 2016 having two emergency retinal surgeries for my left eye which bedrid me and took me off work until recently — I sure didn’t see that coming! (pun intended).*
*and don’t worry – I’m now on the slow and steady mend and typing up this message with my surgeon’s approval for one hour of screen time a day!
So the bottom line is this:
There will always, ALWAYS be wildly unexpected, unpredictable, uncontrollable elements to our years. And honestly, 2017 will likely be no different.
But what we can control, what we do have some modicum of power over, is how clearly we can recognize, articulate, and execute the dreams we hold inside our hearts in order to craft a truly fulfilling life.
We have control over defining what it is we would like to do with, to quote the poet Mary Oliver, “our one wild and precious life,” and we have, to a great extent, power over how we strategically and determinedly pursue these goals day after day in the coming year despite what fate may play out on the global stage or in our personal lives.
“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”― Louisa May Alcott
I’ve been a massive believer in this for years now and have a pretty extensive and soulful annual goal clarifying and setting process that I do each year (I’ve written about this before here and here) AND I also have a signature tool I created which helps me break down my many goals into concrete tasks that I can work on day after day, week after week, to accomplish all the big personal and professional dreams I have.
“Soul + Strategy: The Ultimate Right Brain/Left Brain Annual Planning Workbook”
And, I’m really happy to say that for the first time, I’ve compiled both the annual goal clarifying ritual of mine along with my signature, downloadable, goal execution tool into a brand new e-book: “Soul + Strategy: The Ultimate Right Brain/Left Brain Annual Planning Workbook” now available on Amazon for Kindle.
This annual planning workbook contains a process that both soulfully clarifies your most authentic dreams and goals and then helps you work strategically with the planning tool to actually execute against them.
And honestly, this whole process has been the secret sauce to my ability to accomplish quite a bit and craft an untraditional but incredibly fulfilling life year after year.
Do You Feel Shakier Inside Than Your Life Looks on the Outside?
A quiz to help you understand why you might feel less stable beneath the surface despite working so hard to build a good life.
START THE QUIZ
“She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her way, she adjusted her sails.” ― Elizabeth Edwards
Often so many of us excel in one way or another.
Channeling the right-brained part of ourselves to do deep, soulful inquiry into our goals but stumbling in not knowing how to break these goals down and actually achieve them. Still others of us know how to accomplish All The Things but struggle a bit identifying goals and directions and dreams that feel authentic versus something we think we “should” do.
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”― Joel A. Barker
The reality is that none of us has a crystal ball, none of us truly know what 2017 will hold, but what we can control is how we proactively dream and act, and how we reactively respond to what fate dishes out.
‘She could never go back and make some of the details pretty. All she could do was move forward and make the whole beautiful.’ — Terri St. Cloud
Wrapping up.
Whether you use my annual planning workbook or any other process that helps you get clear on the dreams you want to go after in 2017, awesome — do it!
Clarify your heart’s most authentic desires and then work your action plan to achieve them daily. We only get one shot at this life and I’d love for you and I to be able to live a life that deeply, truly suits us.
And, when fate dishes out the hard stuff of life in 2017, as She always does, I’ll be here for you. Really, I’m so excited about all the supportive blog posts, e-books, and workshops I have planned for you this year so please stay tuned.
Have an absolutely incredible New Year’s Day and let’s you and I give 2017 all we’ve got, shall we?
Here’s to healing relational trauma and creating thriving lives on solid foundations.
Warmly,
Annie
