Stephen Covey would call it “sharpening the saw”. I call it “rejuvenate & refocus”. Whatever you call it, take the time to take care of yourself this month. Celebrate the progress you made this year, and then start ramping up- perhaps by gearing down.

Here’s what I’m not doing this month:

• Getting all tied up in what I’m told I “should” & shouldn’t” be doing vis a vis online marketing and relationship building (turns out this was a significant energy drain for me, entirely self-inflicted)
• Feeling forced to post, tweet or update my status and stressed about making each interaction “valuable” and unique
• Changing my website copy
• Filing anything to read later, email or paper
• Worrying about holiday cards, shopping or baking I’m never going to get to
• Feeling guilty about “wasting” time
• Making commitments that interfere with my rejuvenate/refocus priorities
• Regretting anything I can’t change

Here’s what I am up to this month:

• Coaching, doing some extra pro bono
• Throwing things out
• Learning - reading list below
• Playing with ideas
• Thinking about what’s important, what isn’t; what works for me, what doesn’t  (yup, not planning, not making lists, just thinking about my focus)
• Figuring out how to get healthier - is 2009 the year of ice skating?
• Connecting with people I miss and people who inspire me
• Staying in the now
• Wasting time
• Blocking January so I know what it looks like (& don’t have to worry about it while I’m in this December hiatus)

My current reading list:

• Meatball Sundae & Tribes, by Seth Godin. I’ve skimmed them, but I want to read and rethink my business at the same time.
• Reality Check, Guy Kawasaki’s latest, which I’ve already sent to two clients because it was such a great fit for our coaching topics. I love this book, I want to spend time with it. (It’s fun! It’s educational!)
• Change or Die, by Alan Deutschman. I want to check in briefly for another look at his methods and examples of change. Some great “keys” to changing. Validates coaching.
• The Back of the Napkin, by Dan Roam. OK, this is pure fun and inspiration! I’m hugely interested in changing all of my speaking materials to visuals. Not as easy as you might think. This book’s about visual thinking. Solving problems and selling ideas with pictures. If all of the text on my website is replaced by hand-drawn stick figures next year, it’s because of this book.
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith.  Great book on leadership, great format, actionable, solid examples. I want to revisit for inspiration and ideas. Anything he writes is good stuff.
• Something new on self-confidence. I do a lot of work on confidence, in one way or another, and I’d like to see if there’s anything new out there.  Haven’t researched it yet, this might be a book or an ecourse, not sure. Ideas? Let me know.

Give yourself permission (and a mandate) to be good to yourself as the year ends, even if it means ignoring the “shoulds” in your life today. Do what it takes to start the new year with a big intention and lots of energy.

You deserve the best!  Barbara