2014: The Year of Listening

I was sharing with my daughter the other day the fabulous axiom "we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with." When you're an entrepreneur, you end up spending the most time with people you choose to hire. 2013's hire was Leah, and I'm grateful that she's one of my 5. She has a completely different perspective and experience of life, money and health than I do, yet we share a focused intention to make our own lives the best we can and to support others in doing the same.

It's the beginning of the new year. In an accountant's world, that means new budgets. I've spent much of the last two decades spending this time of year helping others create their budgets for the upcoming year. But "budget" is just an accountant's word for "goals": [a framework within which to operate.] So with all the talk about budgets and goals for the New Year, Leah went and threw down the gauntlet. She put her own goals in her blog (for everyone to see) and then looked me in the eye and told me I had to do the same (for everyone to see).

That left me with 3 options: fire her, make up fluffy goals for the blog, or tell the truth.

And the truth is, I don't know what my goals are. Well, that's not true. Of course I know. I have a huge goal to change 1,000,000 people's financial lives. I've had that goal since 2007. And it's a SMART goal: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based. While I'd love to accomplish it in 2014, I know that it might not be attainable within the time-based framework of 2014. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I am sure I'll accomplish the goal, eventually.

What would I coach another business owner in my position? Break your goal down. Make it an attainable goal for 2014. But that's where I circle back to "I don't know." What I learned in 2013 is that I haven't yet cracked the code of how to get people to step up and say "yes, I want to join the gym, I want to work out on my finances, I want to change my financial life." And because I haven't cracked the code yet, I don't know what my core goal should be. I hate saying that, but it's my truth.

So, as I mull over my potential goals (and you know I have a spreadsheet of them!), my truth is that my overarching goal is this: Listen.

That's all I've got. My 2014 business and professional goal is to listen, and keep listening until I hear and see and feel what the right path to reach my 1,000,000 person goal is. 

I will not do the things that keep me from listening: I will not be driven, I will not implement 50 new strategies to see which one works, I will not work 60 hour weeks over and over and over. 

I will simply listen. I will incorporate into my weekly schedule more time listening to podcasts and audiobooks, talking with other leaders in my field, and simply listening quietly to my own intuition. I will keep a journal and title it "The Year of Listening." I will share that journal with one of my mentors.

I will create personal goals that will support and accentuate my ability to listen. Those goals?

The pertinent ones are:

• My body and soul: I will begin and sustain a yoga practice.
• My creativity: I willl schedule monthly blocks of time to draw, garden and paint my home.
• Fun: I will schedule something special every month; a vacation, a weekend getaway, a drive in the country, a walk by the river, windsurfing, paddle boarding, a long bike ride.
• Prosperity: I will build an additional $6,000 in my personal reserves.

I've never had an annual plan like this before. I'm an accountant and by nature, a bit driven to accomplish and succeed. But after 2013’s very driven year of two major accomplishments: writing a book and selling my first business, I feel called to listen to my intuition and simply: Listen

-Stacey Powell

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