The Year In Review

Now is a great time to review the 2017 calendar and see the postive progress you have made in life's transitions, challenges and changes.

What have you accomplished?

What is on track in your life?

What is new and a positive addition to your life that you did not see or imagine last year?

Take some time to do this exercise so you can be aware of your accomplishments. You may want to consider creating an accomplishment journal. This is a great tool to see your life's transitions and changes.

Achievements and Accomplishments

I have kept an Accomplishment Journal for close to thirty years. This is a small notebook that contains a running list of my life’s accomplishments and achievements. This is a very personal but powerful tool.  Think of it like a running “to do list” but one that has been done.

Accomplishments are personal goals I have achieved (Distinguished Toastmaster Award), business developments (designed initial NSGCD/ICD Certificate and Certification program), new skills I have learned (begin blog – Transition Your Life) , developing my website www.terryprince.com, books I have read and finally finished (Bleak House), big or special trips I have made (Sweden/Italy).

Sometimes the accomplishments I list and record are private acknowledgments I have received (emails, letters, small tokens).   These accomplishments however, are not all tangible awards, promotions or credentials. Instead the accomplishments I list are often conversations I have had, times when I have been fully present or times when I supported my family members, business partners or friends with certain activities, ideas, actions or inaction’s.

The accomplishment journal provides me a sense of my life’s history, patterns and of stretch. When I want to venture into something new, I often spend a short period of time reflecting on my achievements and accomplishments. This gives me the strength and courage to proceed and go forward toward new projects or goals.

Consider taking the time to locate a small attractive book to become your accomplishment journal. Make your first entry –

• 12-17 Purchased an Accomplishment Journal

Eking it out

When we reach the near end of a project or activity, distractions seem to find us. In our eagerness to move on to the next thing, we may lose focus on the current assignment and spend too much time concentrating on the next thing. Staying focused is often hard towards the end.

The reasons we have difficulty are: 

1) We want to move to the next project, adventure or assignment. In some fields, this is called "short timers syndrome". 

2) We know moving on means changing our daily routine or work patterns. We may like our current day and this new upcoming day or life may be hard to imagine.

3) We know moving on will mean new or different relationships with people, places or things.  


Some strategies for moving on at the end of a project or assignment are:

Strategy 1 - Stay focused. Think about the present, not the future. 

Strategy 2 - Enjoy your last days or weeks with your present situation and acknowledge and appreciate the familiar routines and daily patterns.

Strategy 3 - Avoid procrastination activities and bring the best you can to the current work or assignment.

Strategy 4 - Take care of your physical self. Get enough sleep, drink plenty of water and maintain a healthy diet. 

If you have just finished eking it out, what advice or strategies do you have to offer?

See also: Muddled in the Middle

You might also enjoy reading Sluggish Starts - How to Get Going.

Being Positive in a Negative World

It is hard to stay positive when we are filled with negativity. Recently I've noticed more negative conversations around the world's water coolers. How can we remain or become positive?

Balance Out your Media 
Avoid watching too much daily news.  Reduce your media consumption by 20 percent. Seek out positive blogs or select an uplifting book instead.  Listen to some soothing instrumental music instead of listening to talk and dialogue.

Look at Nature
Put down the cell phone or pad and look at the sky, feel the wind, savor the weather.

Smile More
Individuals who smile are more likely to be received in a positive light. In others words, we get what we give.

Be Positive where you can
Say thank you, your welcome and really mean it . Work on your inflections.

Appreciate and Play with your Pets
Pet's are great stress relievers. Spend some time watching or hanging out with them.


Realize you can't necessarily change the world, but you can change yourself and your attitude.

Traffic Light Thinking

The traffic light is a great metaphor for reviewing where you are in terms of  creativity or project development. 

Creativity – Everyone is creative in their own way. You can look at your personal or professional creatively in terms of the traffic light. Are you being creative and flowing, as in being in the green light? Or are you in a cautionary or transitional phase as in yellow. Maybe you are at a stopping point and are at the red light waiting for time or inspiration. Again the secret is to be aware and clear on where you are in terms of the traffic light.

Project Development – Are you at a standstill? Have you come to a red light? Did you hit a full stop?  Are you at a transitional time when you are in caution mode? Are you in the flow with the green light going full speed ahead? Knowing where you are on a project, in terms of the traffic light,  is a helpful tool for monitoring your activity and progress.

Where you are at the traffic light is a great tool for understanding your productivity and creative status. Green may be good, but too much green may be exhausting and unhealthy.  A long time at yellow may mean you are in a transition and may need to try other things. This could include seek help from others such as a coach or make some required changes. Being in the red may be frustrating, but it can also be the well-needed rest. Red can also be the warning sign to make some changes

Try using the traffic light metaphor in measuring or examining some of your projects or activities. Let me know what you think.

This is a post from my blog Terry's Thinking 

A Decade of Blogging

How can it be ten years since I first started blogging? Where did the time go? What have I learned? What should I have learned? What is next?

I started my blog in 2007 as a holding place for my thoughts on transitions.

This Site is for testing ideas and thoughts before setting out on your next journey, whether it be a career change, new family, or even post-retirement.

The goal of my site is to keep it simple, keep it short -- occasional postings under 300 words.

Where did the time go?

Over these 10 years, I have moved from the valley flatlands to the mountains, watched my children graduate from various educational programs and thrive and face challenges in their own career paths. I have changed my client focus to be more phone and virtual, taken many courses and classes, taken care of my amazing father through his passing in 2013, traveled across the USA, Europe, the Caribbean, and Mexico. I have even served as a bridesmaid at a BFF's wedding.  I have celebrated big birthdays and anniversaries with my loving spouse. I have lost some friends and family as well as our beloved dog. I have made some new friends in my new residential community as well as in some new business ventures. 

What have I learned?

What have I learned, life is full of twists and turns, life is change, and everything is subject to change. Change is inevitable,  but how you go through change and transition is the real challenge. You can go with grace and tenacity or you can fight and complain. Grace is better, but finding grace in moments of change is what makes you need the tenacity to persevere. 

What should I have learned?

I should have put photos or drawings on my blog, and I should have learned photoshop. I should have used an editor to proofread and perfect the grammar on my blog.  I should have commented on more blogs on a regular basis to build my audience and create a community. I might have learned how to monetize my blog so as to create passive income. 

What is next?

Well, maybe all of what I should have learned is what is next. In addition, I will start to learn to count. My blog can be over 300 words, but never more than 700 words. Maybe I am slow at learning all this, but I am sure the future holds more promise if I remember to be tenacious and live with grace.  

Say No Now to Move Forward

Do you have looming deadlines? Now is the time to say No! You don't have to be mean, you just have to be firm. Say no to the unnecessary and the unneeded. You can also say no to the much later and not required now.

Focus on what is needed now. Don't look for new projects or let them find you. When you have looming deadlines it is just the nature of the beast that exciting shiny projects will come charging in. This is always the time they will come looking for you, they really will. Be prepared.  Don't let them in your head. Don't put them on your desk or desktop to distract you from your deadline.

Are you about to finish up the school year? Are you almost three weeks away from deadline? This is truly the time to take the words above in the top two paragraphs to heart. Say No now to move forward.

This is a best of post from 2014