First, Celebrate!

A Road Map to Your Best Year Yet, Part I

Take the Time to Celebrate Your Accomplishments

Point to Ponder:
Did you take the time to acknowledge and celebrate all that you accomplished in 2014 or did you go straight into thinking about all that you did not accomplish and want to do in 2015?

Fill out your Celebrate 2014 page today!

by Neissa Brown Springmann

First, Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you always enjoy the new year because you get a do-over, or at least that’s how I feel. The fresh start is….refreshing, and had I not begun receiving professional coaching in late October with iGnite member and consultant/coach extraordinaire Martha Lynn Mangum, I would not have known or even taken the time to celebrate first, and then look at what I want to accomplish in 2015. This activity is called “Cleaning the Slate.”

What Martha has taught me is that all success, the fulfillment of goals and attaining the health, career, relationships, and life we want begins and ends with energy. So, rather than do what most high-strung Americans (like myself) do and start the new year only thinking about where I failed in 2014 and what I want to accomplish in 2015 — that’s just bad energy, the energy I first need to bring into 2015 is the energy of celebration and gratitude.

While it seems simple, the act of celebrating our successes, unexpected wins and accomplishments is not easy (at all) because we are not programmed to celebrate ourselves unless it’s an annual celebration such as a birthday or anniversary. Instead, we are trained to always look ahead, do better and see what and where improvements can be made. Ultimately, we are very rarely satisfied, and I’m speaking for myself when I say that, which has been a disturbing and humbling discovery. In fact, this is likely why I love the new year so much. I really don’t celebrate anything from 2014. Instead I celebrate a do-over. And, it’s because of this internal wiring that Martha had me rely on my 2014 calendar, so that I could actually see my accomplishments, successes and unexpected wins.

Because we all need and want 2015 to be our best year yet, I encourage you to push the pause button on setting all of your goals and first grab your 2014 calendar or photos in your Smart Phone, print the 2014 celebration PDF and begin writing down all that occurred in 2014 that you are grateful for, your accomplishments, unexpected wins and successes (you’ll have this opportunity in your iGnite classes as well). Try not to over-think or go ‘epic’ on your accomplishments. Some of my accomplishments and successes were: remaining healthy, having the resources to pay our bills, remaining married and having healthy children. Hey, whatever way you slice it, a success is a success so do not de-value your amazing life and all that you were able to overcome, coordinate, and make happen in the past year.

Finally, as I continue to read the book The ONE Thing, the one thing I am learning is how unproductive it is to multi-task. Based on studies, the book states, “There is just so much brain capacity at any one time. Divide it up and you’ll pay the price in time and effectiveness. Multi-taskers experience more life-reducing, happiness-squelching stress.” So let’s avoid trying to accomplish too many things in this first week of January and make our ONE thing to focus on our 2014 successes and all that we were grateful for in 2014. The more intentional we can be about the energy we bring into 2015, the more likely we’ll be able to create the year we want and desire!

Action Item:
Push the pause button on setting all of your goals and first grab your 2014 calendar or photos in your Smart Phone, print the 2014 celebration PDF and begin writing down all that occurred in 2014 that you are grateful for, your accomplishments, unexpected wins and successes