We Still Celebrate Christmas ‘Round Here…
By Jimmy Vee
I’ve been out of the office for about a week now, spending holiday time with my family. Travis is out on the road visiting his family and all this time away from the day-to-day has given me the ability to reflect on the past year, my accomplishments, my failures (there are many) and new opportunities. I’ve been finalizing my goals for 2008, which I’ve been talking a lot about. Why? Because it’s the most important thing I will do all year. I reviewed my last year’s goals and evaluated my success and progress. Over all, I give myself a B. This coming year I hope to do better. How do I plan to do better? Here’s my list of the top 5 things I’m going to do differently this year.- Review and recite my goals to myself at minimum 3 times per week. Keeping my goals fresh in my head will help me keep focused on them and push me subconsciously and consciously to work on achieving them.
- Make more personal goals relating to rest, relaxation and family time. Believe it or not, the more you make these luxury items goals, you are happy to pursue them and more likely to achieve them. You win twice. If they are not planned, they most often get overlooked and pushed to the side because of the stress of life. A fresh you brings fresh ideas and a clear mind. That equals more success.
- Let my supporters in on some of my goals, so they can help me achieve them. My wife is a big positive influence in my life. She is my cheerleader. You need one of them. Last year I didn’t talk about any of my goals, and she was in the dark. This year I am using her to help me create some of my goals and using her to help me achieve them. That should increase my success rate dramatically. A support system is critical.
- Shoot for the moon. I am going to make some lofty goals this year. I usually do make big goals but this year I’m going for the gusto. I hit a lot of my goals and the ones I didn’t hit, I made progress toward. If I set some monsters and I only get part way there… I’ll be far better off than when I started.
- I’m applying Ben Franklin’s 13 principle approach. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Read his biography. Don’t have time to read it? Read, How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling by Frank Bettger. He talks about it in his book. It’s a great book on sales and one of the best books I’ve read in 2007.
Today is Christmas Eve. Christy, Autumn and I will be going over to my parents house for our annual Christmas Eve bash. I will play Christmas carols on my trumpet with my brother and father accompanying me on their horns…a mini family Christmas concert for the neighborhood. I will eat my favorite Christmas cookie, the Neapolitan, made by the best Italian pastry chef I know—my mother. (In case you don’t have the pleasure of knowing, a Neapolitan is a small, 3 layer cake cookie with jelly in between the layers and covered with chocolate). And I will spend some quality time enjoying family, tradition and all the gifts God has blessed me with.
I hope you do the same with your loved ones.
To all my friends, I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
