Make This A Great Year For Your Clients and They Will Return the Favor

Amazingly it seems like we just celebrated New Year’s Eve and in the blink of an eye the first two months of ’09 are almost behind us.

I have found over the years that this is a good time to go back through my planner pad from last year. Yes, in addition to the digital variety I still use the paper version. Actually I continued with the planner pad notebook so I could look at what was due and create visually a track to keep myself focused.

There are a couple of reasons I like to let a couple of months go by and then take a look back. From past experience I know that it is easy, in my haste to clear the decks and embark on some new goals for the New Year, I have been guilty of overlooking item I should have forwarded along to the next year.

As I have been reminded many times before the difference from one year to the next is only a single day. It should not be used to draw a line and forget a promise made or an excuse for not following through on something.

Now, two months into the new year I can spend a few minutes to think about the things that went well for me during the past year. Engagements that went smoothly, recognition I received, people who helped me achieve success, etc.

I have a few pages in the 2009 planner pad where I can make a note of what went particularly well for me over the last 12 months. Then, I do my best to note the various reasons why these things worked so well. This list should help me remember to “rinse & repeat” the approaches that worked well in the past year for the upcoming year.

Conversely, I try to think about things that did not go well for you this past year, even though I usually set them aside and move on. I write these things down as well along with the reasons why I think they didn’t work out. Did I learn from these miss-steps? This list has already kept me from repeating an unprofitable engagement this year.

As we all know, if we don’t learn from our mistakes… Writing them down after the fact keeps me from forgetting the pain from the last time I made the same decision.

An look forward optimistically – our futures must go one, no matter what else is happening. We are more in control of our futures than we think, certainly a lot more in control than the media and the politicians give us credit for being!

A positive outlook influences our clients, helps them see the up side of things – because they respect us!

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