As we approach the New Year and the start of a new decade, this is the traditional time to reflect and dream: looking back over the past year, imagining new possibilities and then setting goals for 2010. The question is, how good are the resolutions and intentions you set for the coming year? How do you approach this process? What opportunities do you create for yourself and your business?
Late December tends to be a quiet time in my consulting practice, a chance to reflect, rethink, imagine, and possibly reinvent service offerings for clients. Or envision new types of clients. I use it as a time to read or re-read business books, magazines, blogs and other resources that might trigger new ideas or spark relationships to pursue. I also learn new skills (like learning to blog) or experiment with new services and capabilities. But mainly it’s a fertile time to imagine new possibilities.
Sometimes these reflections are in the foreground of my mind, more often percolating in the background while I read materials chosen to provoke and push me out of habitual patterns of thought or assumption making. I’ve learned that the ones that often prove most productive are the unconscious ideas that percolate, the chance meetings with friends and business associates, the patterns and associations that emerge without my being aware of them.
15+ years of consulting have taught me to to trust in Louis Pasteur’s adage,
Chance favors the prepared mind.
So how do I prepare for a new year? The key is breaking out of day-to-day habits in terms of what to read, what to ponder, what to try, or what to imagine. So here’s what’s on my desk for inspiration or experimentation this week, admittedly a somewhat random assortment of resources:
- Harvard Business Review, January-February 2010 issue, theme: “Reinvent Your Company, Your Strategy, Your Marketing, Your Career”
- Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity, by Stacey Hall & Jan Brogniez
- Presentation Zen Design, Garr Reynolds
- Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences, by Steve Diller, Nathan Shedroff, Darrel Rhea
- Unstuck, Keith Yamashita & Sandra Spataro
- Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by John Medina
- Social Media Marketing for Dummies, by Shiv Singh [I hate the title…]
- Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas L. Friedman
- Yoga Journal, February 2010 issue, theme: “Renew your practice, renew your Self”
- Mac OS X Server Essentials v10.6, Arek Dreyer with Ben Greisler — yes, I’m learning how to manage a small server as a future Extranet resource for client projects
Highly creative or cerebral work requires a well-exercised (and well-rested) body; there’s abundant scientific research to affirm this (see Medina’s Brain Rules for proof).
So I also take advantage of the quiet time in December for biking, hiking and extra yoga classes, or in-home yoga practice by candlelight. Not to mention socializing with friends and family. Celebrating life and relationships over home-cooked meals, potluck gourmet feasts with friends, accompanied by wonderful bottles of wine.
How do you prepare yourself and your business for the New Year?
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