January 2010

In This Issue
The beginning of a new year is a great time to take a closer look at your work life, to acknowledge how you feel about it and what you really want. As you read through the articles, please don't hesitate to call if I can help.

Taking Stock of Your Work Life
Top 10: Self-Defeating Habits in the Workplace
Beyond the Box
Relevant Reading
Today's Quote

To reply to this newsletter, please click here. Messages using the reply button will not be delivered.

Taking Stock of Your Work Life
Ancient Romans named the month of January for Janus, their god of gates, doors and beginnings. Always pictured with two faces--one looking toward the future, the other back at the past--Janus is a fitting symbol for the turning of a new year.

As we step through the doorway from one year to the next, it's natural to do as Janus does: look back and ahead. But this year, instead of just reflecting on the past year or making New Year's resolutions, consider using this first part of the year to take stock of your work life.

Click here for more.

Self-Defeating Work Habits

The following habits are like weights on wings. Imagine how high you could soar without them.

Click here for more.

The following questions are designed to broaden perspectives, to open vistas, to widen the lens. There is no one right way to approach them. You can journal about them, talk to friends, create art, ponder them while driving, work out to them--whatever helps you explore "outside the box."

1. What were your greatest successes in 2009? How did/could you celebrate them?
   
   
2. How has your role at work evolved over the past year? Does that role please you?
   
   
3. What is left incomplete? What do you need to do or let go of to be at peace with your work in 2009?
   
   
4. What self-defeating work habit plagues you the most?

A New Year Message from Kathy

How you end a year determines the beginning of the next.

Take time today to think about the purpose of your work. Think of the lives you will change this year. Your attention to your intention will strengthen your mental muscle in order for you to start the New Year with energy and then create momentum to sustain it. Make a decision to inspire the people that support you - and your business - with renewed purpose. Share your pride, give thanks for the blessings and abundance that you earned last year, and decide - right now! - to make 2010 your best year ever.

All the best,

VIP Tool for the Month

from the VIP Toolkit: 12 Tools to Build People and Build Profit

Tool #2: MAKE YOUR FUTURE SECURE

Building your business is the best way to make your future secure. Pay close attention to the bottom line. No amount of inspiration keeps the business afloat if you run out of money. When you have systems in place for tracking the bottom line, you know that you will catch problems when they are still small and correctable. You can sleep at night.

Make sure you begin every year with at least two systems in place:

• Solid, specific, doable, and inspiring financial goal-setting
• Systematic ways to track your production so that you achieve those goals

If you can see where you are going, then you can figure out how you will get there. Securing your future is the best reason for the trip. Make sure that you are traveling on the right road, at a speed that will get you there on time.

Download your free report: 12 Tools Professionals Ignore that Cause Their Practices to Fail

Relevant Reading

Thank God It's Monday: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love, by Roxanne Emmerich

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten

Financial Intelligence, A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean, by Karen Berman, Joe Knight and John Case

Today's Quote
"Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions."
~Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)