My “Secrets” for Living Life Fully Can Work for You Too!

“Excellence is the result of caring more than others think wise, risking more than other’s think safe, dreaming more than others think practical, and expecting more than others think possible.” ~ Ronnie Oldham

We are at the dawn of a new year, so it’s a wonderful time to reflect on the highlights of this past year and reassess life to make sure we’re living life fully. I love that every new day gives us opportunity to grow and change and enjoy a life of our own making.

As I have always encouraged my clients to do, I’ve also been making baby steps toward a rich, full life that keeps evolving and expanding before my eyes. I know this is happening because I’ve opened myself up to taking risks and seeing opportunities where once I would have dismissed them as impossible. For example, I’m co-hosting our second annual “Women, Wisdom & Presence” retreat in the Grand Canary Island. I am so excited!

During my year-end reflection, I’ve discovered that there are specific transformational thoughts and actions that have helped me, and my clients, firmly grasp the concept of living life fully. I’ve shared many of those with you over the last year, on my blog. To help you review these, I’ve created a roundup of them here, so you can use them as a roadmap to make sure you are living life fully in 2019. (You can use the links to read older blog posts – their information is timeless.)

1. Improve the quality of your life by heightening your mindful awareness of actions, thoughts, speech and emotions and how they are, or are not, serving you.
2. When you make daily choices, you’re just “adjusting your dials”; each dial represents family life, career, physical well-being, spirituality, recreation, etc.
3. Somatically connect with yourself and others to become more joyful.
4. Develop mental, emotional, spiritual and physical strength for you are the sum of all of your parts.
5. Care about what other people think, but don’t worry about it to the point you doubt yourself.
6. Not everyone is going to like you. Accept it!
7. Get out of bed a little earlier and do something truly meaningful for you.
8. Prepare yourself each morning to make each day special.
9. Take time each weekend to create a roadmap for the coming week.
10. Think in terms of creating life-transforming microhabits instead of “going on a diet” “getting fit” or “becoming a more effective leader.”
11. Organize your home and life so you’re ready to grasp a great opportunity when it comes.
12. Day-to-day baby steps produce huge results in time, so be patient with yourself. (If you set three daily goals every morning and achieve them, you’ll have 1,095 wins by this time next year!)
13. Hold on to optimism, hope and resiliency to see you though seemingly impossible situations.
14. Relationships are more important than expediency. Take the time to listen and express kindness, politeness and thoughtfulness.
15. Identify your zone of genius – the thing that you do especially well – and totally own it!
16. Kick fear to the curb. After all, fear is an emotional reaction that signals a new growth opportunity.
17. Strive for excellence, not perfection, in everything you do.
18. Spend time improving all aspects of your life. Health is wealth.
19. Love yourself, but make sure ego doesn’t take over.
20. Be mindfully grateful. Every night ask yourself: “What ten good things happened to me today?”
21. Keep a journal. Your life is worth recording.
22. Become skillful and make every project, every interaction, and every situation better than you found it.
23. Despite what you may hear from others, it’s okay to be ambitious.
24. Everyone can use leadership skills.
25. It’s a privilege to model excellence and to help others become leaders.
26. Leave others breathless because you pay attention to details.
27. Push yourself and keep the promises you make to yourself and others.
28. Regularly turn off your electronic devices, go outside and participate in life.
29. Reach out to someone who models the excellence you wish to attain.
30. If you aren’t doing what you love, change it so that you are.

The key to using this information to live life fully is to put it to work in your own life. I know my community is made up of courageous individuals who are up for the challenge. I’ve seen the changes you’ve made already, and I am celebrating them with you, as we close out one year and welcome in another. Join me on Facebook and share your triumphs in 2018 and your concerns for 2019. Let’s speak up and empower each other to reach greater heights together.