Start of Year

Another year comes racing into being - "so who did fire the starting gun?" As I look back at the year just gone, it was a year of ups and downs - both personally, professionally and globally. The real highs and lows were significant.

Personal:
Ups Downs
Ailsa born in August Spending long periods away from home
Getting personal finances in shape


Professional:
Setting up two regional partnerships for improvement Concern about future
Spending several months meeting Hampstead Heath
staff to discuss how to improve morale

Globally
Change of US president Global economic meltdown
The success of Team GB at the olympics

There were some absurd moments as well - John Sargeant and his dancing; farce over Russell Brand and Jonathen Ross phone calls and the Big Bang experiment - massive expenses and fails on first use.

The ripples of these radiate out into 2009. What message can we take. Here are my key takes:

- Enjoy the moment - we can plan all we like, we have to be sensible over money - we all have to payback in the end
- Remember why we are here - work is only the means of earning money to enjoy our life. We can still enjoy life without money
- Above all - stay positive. Look at the stories of the successful athletes in Bejeing - attitude determines success. If you are positive you will spot opportunities.

The BBC appears to have helped speed the scale of the economic crisis. The BBC has found every bad news story on the economy. On days when the FTSE went up - the BBC would rarely comment. They would run another doom and gloom story.

So a New Year resolution for me is to practice Realistic Optimism. The habit of realistic optimism includes expecting good results; believe in self under stress and ability to learn from mistakes. It is not about being "polyanna". All successful athletes have this and from my research in organisations so do successful leaders.

Times of rapid change - 2009 will bring this. Not only do we have to weather the ups and downs we inevitably face we will aslo have opportunities come our way.

Remember, a smile costs nothing but the ripples will be felt by everyone you come into contact with. The link here provides 10 of the daftest news stories from 2008. Click here

If we can help you shape your goals or make your new year's resolutions stick click here to find out by my coaching facility.