Another year has flown by and this particular year has had its share of headaches, heartache and economic impact virtually everywhere on the planet. Although hindsight is 20/20, reflecting back on this past year I have become mindfully aware of my biggest mistake of the year, have you?
For anyone hoping to change their life, improve their successes and just make things better it is critical to look back and perhaps review what he or she could have possibly done differently.
For me this year was a financial nightmare. The losses we took will impact us for several years, but in hindsight, if we didn’t take chances originally, we would never have been in a solid enough position to weather this setback.
We have had some very successful years and we owe those years to taking some very significant action. When we started over six years ago there were many months of using advances on our credit cards to cover mortgage payments, hoping, begging, pleading that a property would sell before we ran out of room on the card! Knowing we had to take action to get things done.
During 2009 and even most of 2008, we never felt that same pressure, we never took enough of the action to get things done. Sure, we have had bursts of it, but we never ramped it up to the point where we were taking massive action.
In my mind and in my review of the year, this lack of massive action is directly responsible for our lack of forward momentum this last year and for us moving backwards rather than forwards. Our biggest mistake was simply a lack of massive action.
Historically the downturn of the economy has resulted in the creation of some of the biggest strongest companies out there. Companies like Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, GE and FedEx all began during downturns.
Many much smaller companies also started up during the downturn and have also succeeded. Much of this in part to the owner not being able to get a job and having to fall back upon him or herself to put food on the table. Failure simply wasn’t an option!
If you haven’t reflected on this past year yet, take a minute to look back, reminisce about how things could have been instead of how they are. Think about what you can do and must do in 2010 to make it a success.
This upcoming year will be a turning point. A time when things finally are starting to get back on track. So you can just roll along for the ride or you can step up and ensure you make things happen.
I know I have personally let tenants and partners take control of my life and our business, but this year will be different, it has to!
As a side note, I put a post up yesterday that I didn’t send out to everyone. If you aren’t aware, Jim Rohn passed away earlier this month. Jim Rohn was an incredible influence on many people’s lives with his incredible views on everything from motivation to success.
I found a video of one of his seminars on Frank Kern’s blog and enjoyed it so much I thought I should share it with my readers. The post is available here, Jim Rohn Video
Tell me what you think, both about the Jim Rohn video and this post. Tell me your stories about 2009 and any stories you may have about your successes or what you hope to change to make 2010 successful! I look forward to your comments.
Well I’m glad that you are really not beating yourself up because some learning can’t come from books and comes from the school-o-knock-downs. I love the fact that you are honest and yes, I think most people have been affected by the economy. For all of the negative that has happened in my life in the last 4.5 years—oh my gosh–I could write a book–and maybe I will—but learning from it and all the positive that has come out of it is amazing!! I have never felt so peaceful and “free” with that peacefulness–and hopefully my kids will pick that up from me:0) I don’t know that I believe that everything happens for a reason–I have a hard time with that. But I do believe that we can make the good and great things come out of the bad—that is what we are supposed to do!
Insanity: doing the same thing over & over & expecting different results;{