What I am grateful for in 2017

It’s at this time of year that our thoughts start to turn to New Year Resolutions. I believe it’s important that first we acknowledge, celebrate and be thankful for what we have already achieved or received.

I offered some ‘celebrate and be thankful’ questions to my mailing list a few days ago. I find this exercise really powerful and it’s become part of my end of year ritual before I plan for the year ahead. I’m going to share with you the questions that I ask myself as well as my answers.

What I am most grateful for in 2017?

• I am grateful for my health.
• My family.
• So many amazingly supportive women around me, including, to name but a few: Lucy Whittington, Sue Revell, Carrie Eddins, Sarah Arrow, Lottie Moore, Nis Arend, Elaine Halligan, Vicky Warr, and Caroline Ferguson.

What has delighted me in 2017?

• I have been delighted by the many dogs we’ve looked after.
• Collaborating with somebody so closely over several months has been an absolute joy Sue Revell.
• All of our guests On The Tipping Point LIVE! 
• Doing the Baby Show in October.
• Fresh air networking and walking in the woods.
• Splashing about in the rockpools in Brighton.

What am I grateful to myself for in 2017?

• For consistency and persistence.
• For stepping up and out of the comfort zone, even though at times it felt scary.
• For saying “No” to some things.
• For continuing – always – to believe in myself.

What has worked well this year?

• The success of my 10 Day LinkedIn Challenge blew me away! To think it was something I’d first thought about three years and it’s taken me so long to put together. It just didn’t occur to me that I what I find so easy would be so valuable to so many others.
• My first City Conversations event was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. Most definitely the final thing to help me to realise that I love love love working with GROUPS. I love my one-to-one coaching work, but for me, facilitating groups is what I absolutely love.
• Incredible to be nominated AND shortlisted in The Coaching Academy Life Coach of the Year. Very proud (though I’ll admit that at the time, I was disappointed) to be in the Final Three.
• My appearances on Sky News and BBC. I love that work and definitely want opportunities like that in 2018.
• Working with a PR/Publicist in the form of the fabulous Carrie Eddins.
• Launching a second podcast, On The Tipping Point, which led to the amazing On The Tipping Point LIVE! with Sue Revell. I still can’t quite believe that all of those 13 successful business leaders agreed to be our guests!

What is bothering me most in my life right now and needs changing?

• I don’t always practice what I preach about looking after No 1 first so that everything you do works for you.
• It’s time to really walk my talk because I don’t always have the right balance of work and life.

What do I want MORE of in 2018? 

• I want more abundance.
• More adventure. More fun. More daring.
• I want to be more me.
• I want to do something scary and challenging. I have an idea of what it might be! Lottie Moore has a part to play in this one!

What do I want LESS of in 2018? 

I want less fear. Less uncertainty. Less insecurity. Less ‘smallness’.

What have been my key learnings or insights this year?

• In order to be successful I need to step up and out of my comfort zone.
• To quote Alison Jones, I need to be more “unapologetically me“.
• I need to do things my way – the way that works for me.
• I need to do less because less is more. It’s something I tell myself time and time again, but being such a creative, I find it hard to do less.

What is the ONE thing I will focus on in 2018?

Working with groups. One day masterclasses. Online groups. Leadership groups. Networking groups. What about you? What are you grateful for in 2017? What is the ONE thing you will focus on in 2018? Leave me a note in the comments below.