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It’s a New Year.  Great, but … so what?   New beginnings … resolutions … yada yada yada.  I promise this letter isn’t more of that.

It’s about cutting loose the albatross around your neck.  And the start of a new year is a great time to unload that baggage.

Let me tell you a short story that highlights the point I want to make.

I have what I think is a really good idea.

You know how people make resolutions and set goals for the New Year?  That’s all well and good, but how often is one of those goals or resolutions … Do more things I enjoy and make sure to have plenty of fun?

Not very often.  Usually, this exercise is all about implementing some kind of self-improvement regimen or drawing up some kind of achievement-oriented action plan.  Fun seldom enters into the equation.

Let me tell you about the first most important step you need to take as you’re starting your business … and every year thereafter. In nearly 20 years as a business coach, it’s the step I see most of my business owners wanting to skip!

But first, I want to tell you a quick story that illustrates why you don’t want to omit this step! Bear with me …

There are certain things monks do as they begin the day.

You might imagine the first one wouldn’t exactly be the first thing on one’s agenda.

Get centered and reflect on death.

Whoa. Okay. Hmmm.

But when you reflect on death, you can’t help but reflect on the preciousness of life and how fortunate you are to be alive this day!

The next one might seem like nothing special, and it isn’t. But that’s what makes it noteworthy.

Simple is good. Simple and powerful is even better. As a business coach, I look for the simplest possible ways to help clients implement the kinds of changes / improvements they want to make.

Well, there’s an extremely simple, highly systematic way of analyzing where you are and what you can do to improve your operations that’ll blow the doors off your performance.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know it’s essential for me as a life coach to get my time in the morning for reflection and visioning, so my day starts off right.

I spend thirty minutes …. to a delicious full hour or more … reading, writing appreciation lists, listening to inspiring podcasts, etc.

In one of my audio sessions, I came across this wonderfully enthusiastic, happy man, who asked himself a simple question … a question that clearly changed the entire trajectory of his life!

As a business coach with a thriving practice, I can’t possibly do everything that needs to be done in my practice … not if I want to have any kind of life!  It’s one of the things I teach … the top 3 things you need to focus on in your business.

If you’ve been reading these messages for a while, you know I’ve been looking for new team members for several key positions.

Well, I took the leap and hired a Virtual Assistant, something I’ve been resisting for some time, because I prefer a personal assistant working in my office.  The reality is there are things that a VA can’t do … or can’t do easily … from afar.  But I decided having help on 75% of the admin stuff is a lot better than nothing!

The other day, I was working with my VA and I had a major realization … one that could impact your business. 

You may think, since I’m a life coach, I’ve probably worked out all my “stuff” from childhood … emotional traumas … perceived slights … disappointments … fears … disempowering beliefs.

Uh, no.

Would that it were so! Not that I haven’t done pretty darn well with most of it, but resolution of these pesky mental and psychological bugaboos is seldom achieved all at once and completely. I don’t care who you are. That stuff is there.

Here’s a story from my past that directly relates to your business today.

Years ago, I was selected to be the first Executive Director of Spartanburg Community Events, a non-profit created by the City to produce and manage their festival and events. There were two major events, and they were previously managed by different divisions within City Hall.

A big part of my role was to bring in corporate funding through selling sponsorships. I had no previous experience, but I knew I was smart and gutsy and could learn!

So, I did just that … talking with folks who had experience in fundraising and creating packages of different areas of the festival that could be “sold” to a sponsor. That involved designing a professional portfolio of articles, news clippings, and photographs I could present to potential corporate partners

It took some time to pull all this together. One of my Board members, who had previously produced one of the events and clearly had a strong stake in it, accused me of not doing my job and brought this to the attention of the whole Board.

Last night, a dear friend I haven’t heard from in a while sent me a text that said, “I was listening to ‘Harry’s song’ tonight and I thought of you.”

Harry Hedges was my first husband … my first love. He died 30 years ago this year. Harry’s song was The Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg. It was the CD that was in our CD player when he died, and it described him perfectly … “a quiet man of music.”

I was surprised by how much grief and sadness was aroused when I listened to his song again. And it couldn’t help but reactivate the feelings of loss surrounding the death of my dear friend, Stephen, just one month ago.

We’ve all suffered losses over the last year. Our loss of freedom. Loss of family and friends. Some through death … some through the divisiveness created in our country … some through the inability to connect in person.