I am not a psychic. Or a seer.
I cannot predict the fall of Rome or whether or not the fields will be overrun with locusts this summer.
And no one comes to visit me in some shrine in a cave in the deepest darkest corners of the Peruvian forest.
I am, however, a well-trained and highly-skilled intuitive…and with that comes some pretty useful insights, some of which I want to share with you today as I know that they will help guide you through this coming year.
So here it is…my Top Ten Things You Need To Know About 2017 that will be of most use to you in the weeks and months to come!
1. We will enter 2017 with a lightness in our step. After the chaos and “wonkiness” of the months of October through December 2016, this lightness will be very welcome indeed. (If you would like a refresher on what you just went through, check out my post “Why The Last 8 Weeks Were So Messed Up” here.) This will not be a “let’s jump for joy oh boy it’s all better now” feeling, but a more cautious sense of optimism than we’ve felt in recent weeks. This feeling will allow us to move forward, make some small and “softer” decisions than we’ve been able to do recently, and begin to build gently for this new year.
2. The feeling of softness and lightness will prevail in our environments. We will gently begin to clean out our closets, purging stuff both physically and mentally. We will find ourselves continually letting go of that which does not serve us, gently, as the year unfolds. This may be old sales pages, people on your mailing list, “friends” on your Facebook page, paper, old clothes, and old ways of doing things that simply feel heavy or cumbersome. There is no room for feeling heavy or tied down in 2017…there will be enough external factors that cause us to feel heavy in our hearts (political and world situations being what they are) that we will need to feel light in our homes and our offices and our routines.
3. We will no longer shout when we market. (And you all know the service professionals that SHOUT…yeah…I know you know who I mean.) From here on out, our clients are coming to us because they are savvy, smart, and tired of the bullshit ways of being force-fed formulas and coerced into working with people out of fear of “missing out” or not “knowing enough” or needing to be let into some Secret Club wherein all the answers will simply be found. No more of that. Our clients want quality. They want to work with us because we know what we are doing (we are Masters of Our Craft, are we not?) and they want to journey with us by their side. It’s just that simple.
4. You, too, are going to re-evaluate your own team. If your assistant isn’t growing alongside you, then you’re going to let him or her go. If your social media manager doesn’t “get” that you want to stop shouting, then you’ll release him or her, too. Your coach will need to reflect your own values — which don’t always include making more more more money — and you’ll find yourself drawn to those who understand at a deep level that life is about so much more. Partnership with your team and your coach will be critical for 2017 because the desire to connect more deeply with them is what will drive your success for that is the message you’ll also want to send to your own clients (which brings me to number 5…)
5. You will naturally find yourself going deeper in your relationships with your team, your clients, with the people at the coffee shop…with your money, with food, with your family...It will not feel forced or heavy, or like something else you Need To Do, but instead you will find joy in giving and being at a higher level of service with all you meet and all you know. You’ll make phone calls to clients on random days just because you were thinking of them…and wanted them to know. You’ll buy coffee for the guy behind you in line at Starbucks just because you liked the way he made you and the staff laugh at something silly. Everyone around you will feel this, and it will return to you with ease.
6. When the shizzle hits the fan (because it will…it always does) you will find that you move through it faster and with more grace than in the last few months. It is not that we will become complacent or “lay down and let life/people/events trample us,” but there will be quiet resiliency vs loud screaming indignation. There will not be as many days of shaking our fists at the heavens (we’ve done a lot of that in 2016 and for good, good reasons) but with our cautious optimism that good things are indeed in our midst, and that the greatest impact we can have in the world is to Be The Change We Wish To See, we will do just that.
7. We will become more street-smart with our money than ever before. We won’t hoard our money, but we will not allow it to slip freely from our fingertips with nary a thought, either. We will be looking for value — real, actual VALUE — from what we spend our money on whether it be a new office chair or a coffee mug or a new bookkeeper. We won’t be investing in crap any more, plain and simple (nor will our customers…so…just a note: don’t produce or offer crap either!)
8. We are going to start to steer away from technology. It will begin with an effort to stay off our phones at night and in the early hours of the morning…and it will ebb into a desire to look at email only 3 times a day vs 380…and we will notice less interest in social media…and less desire to be “ON” 24-7. Don’t be surprised to find yourself reading books again (real, actual books) and watch as your tendency to talk to people and network becomes more vital to your business development strategy than it has been in the past.
9. You will feel, at times, like the world around you is a fucking mess…and in some ways, it will be. But I promise you this: While there is destruction in our midst, there is also a movement for reconciliation. Balance exists. And I will remind you of that in your darkest days if you will also remind me, dear ones.
10. There has never been a more auspicious time to be an entrepreneur in recent history. Entrepreneurship is the very thing that drives the economy and fuels growth, innovation, and change. And our entrepreneurial spirits drive Us as individuals, they fuel our growth and our inner innovation and our own personal evolution. The stars, if you believe in such things, are aligned in such a way in 2017 and the next many, many years to come, so as to support the development of our inner selves and the work that we do for the world. If ever you wondered when it would be “your time,” allow me to assure you that This Is It.
So here’s to you…to your health, your joy, your success (as only you can define it)…to your clients and customers (how lucky are they?!?)…to your families and your friends who love and support you…and here’s to the world around us…the energies that we can and cannot see…and all the glorious ways in which we will serve in 2017. Happy New Year, my friends.
Fully completely,
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Rebecca Liston helps her clients predict, pivot, and compete in an increasingly complex global marketplace. Her clients quickly uncover the root of their challenges and know the actions to take to overcome them. A six-time nominee for the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award, Rebecca combines business strategy with intuition, giving her clients the edge on forward-thinking, elegant answers to their most complicated problems. Her clients are entrepreneurs with CEO-mindsets and executives with entrepreneurial instincts. She is based in London, Ontario. What if you could get the answer to your biggest business challenge, in one sitting? Visit rebeccaliston.com to find out more.
