Key Lessons Learned in 2017
Did you invest time to capture your key lessons learned, as 2017 ended?
As we take a closer look at how the year unfolded (both in our businesses and in our personal lives), we can clearly see there are key lessons that we learned (or should have learned) that can make a big difference in the new year.
As we try new things, we learn. Lessons learned are here to help us keep moving in the right direction. Take a look at this excerpt from a great article by Katherine Eion about lessons that successful people have learned from what we may call “failures.”
“Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” Certainly, Edison would agree. You’ve just learned all the wrong ways toward that particular success, as Edison did with his “ten thousand” wrong attempts. Every lesson learned, every failure, is a movement in the right direction.”
Here are my top 12 key lessons learned in 2017. I share these with the hope they will help you as you move forward in January.
- Surround yourself with successful and success-minded people who are making things happen. We rise to the level of the company we keep. Be careful who you hang out with!
- Invest in your own personal and professional development. Continuous learning is how we improve both ourselves (from the inside) and our skills so we can serve clients on a higher level.
- Be grateful daily for all of life’s blessings. Being grateful for what we have now allows for expansion and bigger things to show up.
- Give more to your clients than they pay for. Go over and above the proverbial “call of duty” to help them succeed with whatever problem you solve with your products and services. They will love you for this! (And refer you and help you grow your business).
- Nourish your mind and spirit with positive, uplifting, empowering thoughts, feelings, and people. Guard what you feed your soul and spirit. Avoid negativity in its many forms.
- Take care of your physical body and health. In order to have the energy and clarity to run a successful business, we must feed our bodies healthy food, get enough rest, and move every day.
- Assess what is working and not working in your business. If you tried different marketing strategies that didn’t yield the results you’d hoped for, decide if it is worth the effort to tweak and test the strategy or replace it with a new activity that seems a better fit.
- Do more of what worked in 2017. Assess how your best clients, customers, and opportunities came to you. Keep doing (and even expand) on the activities that generated great results.
- FOCUS (Follow One Course Until Successful.). Avoid chasing shiny objects and the latest sales pitches, looking for the gold nugget that will miraculously change your business. Stay with one chosen course of action and assess your results.
- Know when it’s time to move on (from people, situations, and projects). Some people come into our lives for a reason and a season.When it is time to move on, let go and allow room and space for the new to come in.
- Serve with integrity and from your core values. Let us strive to be a person of our word, who does what we say we will do, in the way we said we would do it, in the time frame we committed to doing it. Nothing builds trust and credibility faster that this! And we all know others buy from people they know, like, and trust.
- Seize the opportunities to give those you love experiences that bring joy. Say “I love you” more and hug those you love often. Remember we are all part of the “circle of life” and life is precious.
What are your key lessons from 2017? Add them in the comments below so we can help each other make 2018 an amazing year.
Prefer to watch the video? Here you go!
