By: Betsy Hayden
It’s that time of year, New Year’s resolutions (NYR), when we start to think about what more we want to accomplish. Personally, I have never been a NYR girl. At the age of eight I had adopted the Olympic Motto of “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” which translates to “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” I’m afraid of heights so I modified it to Faster, Better, Stronger.
Living this motto means there is no need to have a NYR. However, a few years back I was at a crossroads in my life. I had been wallowing nine months since Good Friday, the day my husband killed himself. If you can imagine standing outside your body and seeing yourself go from crying missing him to if he were standing in front of me, I would shoot him myself. You can imagine how crazy I felt, and I thought I might be losing my mind. I knew I needed something, anything, to get me out of that state. Perhaps a NYR? What could I do? What could I change? How to change?
I thought and thought and I could NOT come up with anything! I mean, when you are wallowing for that lengthy of time, there must be 100 or even a 1,000 things one could do to improve your life circumstances in the coming year. I had joined the John Maxwell Team just a few months prior, and I was studying for my Leadership Speaking Training and Coaching certification. I already knew public speaking was going to be my new career, but I still needed something to focus on to give me a jump-start in the New Year, so to speak.
I began to take inventory and reflect on my gifts and talents. What was I good at? Art, sports, cooking and designing. I have a degree in Architecture and Mechanical design, but it no longer seemed like a good fit. Finally it hit me. I had a clean slate, a blank canvas, on which to design a new life! I get to design my life! Perhaps this year instead of making the same old type of NYR, make a NEW LIFE RESOLUTION.
Ask yourself: What am I passionate about? What inspires me? Who inspires me? And, here is the big question: Why? Why do they inspire you? When we know what our “why” is, it keeps us going through the rough and tough times. It keeps us focused forward and focused on our fabulousness. Interview the people who inspire you to find out what inspires them. You could ask: How do you stay focused? How do you bounce back from challenges, and what tools do you use to do so? Oh, and that NYR motto I embraced in 2012? It has since become the tag line for my business Awesome Focus. “I believe we design our lives by the choices we make. Cheers to a beautifully designed life!” I texted this to everyone I knew on New Year’s Day.
Betsy Hayden holds a degree in Architecture and a minor in Drafting & Design. Working for 5 of the largest engineering firms in the world Betsy used John Maxwell’s Leadership principles to lead successful teams. She is the CTO (Chief Thriving Officer) of Awesome Focus. She is a Certified Speaker, Trainer and Coach of The John Maxwell Team and Appreciation At Work. As a professional speaker she focuses on: Leadership, Team Building, Communication and Recognition. Betsy can be reached at: 843-597-6555 or emailed at: 2awesomefocus@gmail.com