I was indulging in a little social media surfing and came across this simple little video that really resonated with me, so I thought I would share it; this was put together by a lady called Gretchen Rubin, a best-selling author and exponent of mastering living more effectively http://www.gretchenrubin.com/.  As usual it got me thinking and at this time of year it seems an appropriate topic to dwell on.

Watch the video (it is only 1.57’ long) and you will get the point – life is too short to discount daily activity and not to make the most of what appear to be the most mundane of tasks; in this instance taking the bus to school with her daughter.  Now it just so happens that travelling home in the car today Andrew Marr the political columnist and author was being interviewed by Jeremy Vine on Radio 2.  He is a fascinating chap and it was truly compelling listening – a self-confessed ‘lefty’ work-aholic who was almost killed by a stroke early last year.  Jeremy asked him what the near death experience taught him – and Andrew’s response “suck the juice out of the moment! Stop looking for the next deadline and be more conscious of the moment!”  For Andrew this means that he is no less ambitious in his desires and plans to write and publish his work, he is just more relaxed about the journey and less focussed on the goal (a blog topic we discussed in May). He knows that he needs to complete 20 000 words by Christmas, but is not spoiling every moment by worrying that he could be spending it writing a contributory 2000 words today.

That also resonated and as we approach the Christmas and New Year period it seemed like an apposite topic to reflect upon and the perfect time to think about the things that are really important.  2014 will be gone very soon, never to be repeated, so what will you take away from this year? For me getting Kili Consulting off the ground has been a huge achievement and one that I am justifiably proud of.  My daughters have moved up to senior school and started GCSE years respectively with great confidence and determination.  I finally passed my bike test and demonstrated to myself that I have the patience, perseverance and tenacity to succeed when I had failed so many times.  On the less positive side 2014 has also seen some downs; I have found myself spending too much time on the same ‘operations treadmill’ that I chastise clients for, this has meant that I have not spent time on some of the things that I wanted to and that would have added greater value this year.  Unfortunately my father passed away which has left an enormous hole that will never be filled.  But I must reflect positively and look forward to building on the success of 2014 in order to make 2015 even better.

To that end I am trying to adopt some of the medicine I prescribed in my last blog and have started to explore mindfulness and meditation.  I have just discovered www.Headspace.com which I cannot recommend enough as an easy on-line route in to the challenges and opportunities associated with meditation.

It genuinely does feel like it was only last week that I was getting ready for Christmas 2014 such a short time ago and so much has happened in between.  The Gretchen Rubin video really does hit the nail on the head.

Writing these blogs has been a challenge in its own right , but it has forced me to take stock, reflect and seek insights at a particular point in time, which I have found very valuable and would otherwise have missed opportunities to learn from. I am aiming to build on this discipline in 2015 and write more regularly, but for now will look back and share my top three learnings and insights from this year.

1. If you do not have a passion and use it fuel your life then you are truly missing an opportunity to be so much better: Business Lessons from Lambing
2. You must always look where you want to be if you are going to make progress, look ahead, think ahead but be aware of the moment: Look Where you Want to Go Not Where you are Going
3. When you have lost something or someone that is precious or you love, you have to accept and look forward using positive memories rather than ‘what if’!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!