Complete and Create

I love the threshold time between Christmas and New Year’s to reflect on the closing year and “throw forward” my vision for the year to come. To help me, I follow a simple format called Complete and Create. Feel free to follow along and begin your own annual ritual. Thanks to my former coach, Jeffrey, for this powerful and fun exercise.

Step One – List This Year’s Successes

List your accomplishments and “aha” moments – anything worth celebrating. These personal triumphs need not be earth shattering in anyone else’s book – as long as they are meaningful to you.

Here’s a sample of a few the 23 successes from my list:

1. Bought flowers for myself regularly
2. I fire walked twice (!)
3. I have many deep, wonderful friendships
4. I’ve had Evan as my action buddy for a full year

 

Take a moment with each of your successes and feel the accomplishment.

Step Two – List Your Disappointments

Take an honest inventory of where you felt held back in your life last year. There’s no need to sink into feelings of failure. Simply acknowledge each and move along. One of my disappointments was that my temper can create problems for me. A little background: in a frustrated moment I “laid hands” on my laptop and damaged the hard drive. That was a low.

Step Three – List Lessons Learned

You are a year wiser now. If you could time travel forward and give yourself some advice, what would you say? Example: Jean, back up your computer and respect your technology. Be grateful when systems are running well. Be absolutely grateful.

Step Four – List Your Successes for the Upcoming Year

It’s crystal ball time – imagine what you will be celebrating this time next year. Me? I’ll double my income and travel more internationally – this time with more friends to keep me company on my journeys.

How ‘bout them apples?

Now it’s your turn. I’d be honored to witness your Complete and Create Process. You can email me at Jean@JeanFranzblau.com.

Happy New Year!

 

 

January “One Minute Note”

Spring Cleaning has a frosty counter part – let’s call it Winter Weeding. January is a great time to purge files and clear away the junk.

My friend Chrysalis has turned this exercise into community fun by hosting a Recycling Party. Invitees bring household items they no longer use and display them for give-away. When you get a bunch of people’s stuff up for grabs in one room, you wouldn’t believe the excitement. At the last party, I got rid of a Halloween costume that was taking up space in my closet and in return got a purple scarf with a dragon on it. I treasure my glamorous, new-to-me scarf.

In nature, a butterfly emerges from a “chrysalis.” When I metaphorically clear away what I no longer need, I’m making room for something wonderful and new to emerge.

May exciting things emerge for you in January!

Jean
Jean “Cleaning-out-the-sock-drawers” Franzblau Consulting

chrysalis illustrating the Greek origin of the term : χρυσός (chrysós) for gold

More Travel Tips From Your Roving Speaker

Here are five more tricks I use on my business trips:

Two Sets of Toiletries

I’m on the go every week so why take the time to pack and re-pack my toiletries? I’ve got duplicate prescriptions, toothbrushes, hair brushes…you get the idea.

Ear plugs

It’s nice to be able to tune out engine noise on a plane. If I’m sharing close quarters with a snorer, I have a line of defense as well.

A Plastic Bag

I keep a plastic bag in my luggage. It’s my mini dirty clothes hamper. At the end of the trip I empty it and leave the bag there for next time. I am testing out keeping a 2^nd plastic bag for recycling. (My carbon footprint doesn’t need to be any bigger, thank you very much!)

The Double Alarm

It’s not as easy to rest if there’s a ghost of a chance I may accidentally oversleep. So I set my cell phone as alarm number one and the hotel alarm clock as alarm number two. I don’t favor wake up calls– I find the jangling of a hotel phone to be a highly unpleasant way to start my day.

Intentions and Assumptions

In the mornings, I write in my journal. I think of the day to come and set an intention for a great day. If I’m traveling I always intend for a smooth, safe journey, pleasant people, comfort, convenience and ease. I always have great travel experiences.

I also assume that any shift in my travel plans will always be for the best. A missed flight? It turned into a lovely, snowy museum day in Minneapolis. A flat tire? That turned out to be a joyful adventure in Bishop, California.

Miracle in Bishop

I was in a rotten mood. I had been on four business road trips in a row the week before, and here was the longest trip of them all in front of me. I tried to talk myself into an attitude adjustment. Hey, I was in my adorable new Honda Fit. Life was just fine.

It was night time in the middle of nowhere with a few more hours to drive. I noticed a light on my dashboard. It looked ominous. My first impulse was to ignore it. From the manual I learned it had something to do with tire pressure. “Tires are important parts of cars,” I reasoned, “so I’d better stop.”

The gas station attendant lent me a tire pressure thingie. I filled up my tires and was mighty proud of myself as I pulled back on the road. But the tire pressure light was still lit. At the next gas station, I made sure each tire was at the right level. Then the ominous light went out.

The light was back on the next morning on the drive to my client. I also noticed the car was pulling to the left.
“When I get back, I’ll tell the Honda dealer that not only is there a tire pressure problem but also the alignment must be off.”

Thoughtful pause.

“Hmm. Maybe these two symptoms have something in common.”

I put the thought out of my head until lunch when I took a closer look. Alas, fair reader, you may be relieved to know that I accepted the reality that I had a flat tire.

Help was close to hand. Within twenty minutes, Triple A sent a fellow to help change my tire to a temporary spare. He even took my dud tire to the closest service station so it could be repaired while I worked. I was scheduled to drive all the way home that night.

The service gentleman explained when I arrived that my tire was FUBAR. This is military lingo that I cannot repeat. It meant that my tire was unfixable. This is when I learned that my Honda Fit had a new kind of tire, a kind that can’t be easily found in a small town at closing time. It might take a few days to get the tire I needed. I was apparently stranded, just like in the movies.

But I had resources: a cell phone, a good attitude and hotel points. So I parked right in front of that service station and started making calls. Within a few minutes I found a hotel where my points had earned me a free night. As I was finalizing the details, I realized that my service guy, Ron, was making a few calls of his own.

Ron had a creative thought: maybe the dealer across the street has a Honda Fit. There was low probability of this due to the smallness of the town, the newness of my model of car and this particular dealership’s practice of keeping low inventory.

As it happened, they had two. So Ron convinced them take a new tire off of their new car and put it on mine. And they agreed!

Ron wanted to let me know, but didn’t have my name or cell number. He decided to go out into the cold, blustery evening and troll up and down Main Street looking for my little orange car. He didn’t have to go far. I was still right there in front of the service station finishing up my call. He told me his good news, I was amazed at how easily and quickly my fortunes changed.

While waiting for the tire replacement the next morning, I went on a walk. A few blocks down, I noticed a smooth, white polished rock. Just sitting there on the cement. And so it became my special Bishop rock. I keep it in my car.
I gave my guardian service station angel a big hug goodbye. I was on my way home, in the groove, loving the beautiful views of snow capped mountains and cattle and just adoring being on this road trip. I listened to an inspiring audio book and by the time I got home I was supremely happy.

Cost of new tire? $133
Cost of joy and inspiration? Priceless

Thanks Ron Ryan of Perry Motors, Bishop!

December “One Minute Note”

Cathy sent the bold email last week. She suggested that our annual holiday party with all the usual greetings and feasting be traded in for a new economy sensitive tradition: no gifts this year.

“No gift giving” is a misnomer. The biggest gift we can give, it’s easy to forget, is simply being there. It’s easy to underestimate what our presence means and gives to others.

Perhaps there are those of you who have lost a loved one and the undertone of the whole season is the ache of that person’s absence. Please know that if you weren’t here, you would be ached for. By someone. Perhaps by many.

This may be the perfect moment in time to bring simplicity back to the holidays. You may even boldly propose to the ones you love: no gifts this year.

To Warmth, Togetherness and You,

Jean