Get Closer to You
This is a series of questions, I don’t know how many. They are the ones I ask when I help folks get closer to their personal identity.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in 2008?
I’ll answer first to get things started.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.
Related< Branding: 5 Ways to Help You Find Out Who You Are
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 23
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 22
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 21
Questions to Get Closer to You: Question 20
Questions to Get Closer to Your Brand: Question 1
You’ll find the entire series of Questions to Get Closer to you on the Successful Series page.
I’ve learned there are many ways we discount what we know, but there’s only one way we can show what we’re worth — to be fully invested in where we want to be.
Hi Liz,
Hope you’re well today. π
The most important thing I’ve learned is that money isn’t what is important in life. Since I was 14 years old I’ve been battling in business to create successful businesses that bring in plenty of money. I was successful in many of the businesses I have setup, but this year I realised that I didn’t need money to be happy.
In fact, that constant drive to earn money was tiring and boring.
So I decided to go at blogging without the adverts. I decided to focus on the community and friendships, as opposed to the dollar signs.
I also decided to step down as co-owner of my Web design business and go travelling. I decided to put a smile on my face and the face of others, rather than focus on money.
Hi Liz,
The most important thing I learnt in 2008 is that – after a heavy personal loss in 2007 – life is kind to me again, that I am able to enjoy it again, that it offers so much to me – new people, new forms of communication.
Hi Jamie,
Sounds like you’ve found another aspect to life — one that’s adding dimension and more than money can buy! π
Hi Ulla,
My 2007 was a hard one as well. I’m finding the same thing is true . . . life offers much, especially when we see.
The most important thing that I learned was that I do not have to work for someone else to make a living.
The second most important thing (it’s related) is that I need a lot less stuff to be happy.
Hi Stephen,
Yeah, it’s great when we figure out that we can earn our way to be happy too. π
Hi everyone!
The most important thing I’ve learned is perspective. Planning a wedding will do that to you — whether you like it or not.
In every sticky situation I encounter now, I try and ask myself, “Is this REALLY that important?” More often than not, in the grand scheme of things it isn’t.
It’s done wonders for my stress level.
Baby smiles are the best things ever. I honestly wasn’t expecting to be so enamored of my daughter. There are all sorts of other things I could have picked, since I’m doing a great deal of learning this year as I seek to transition my career from the lab to marketing, but they just don’t seem as important as this one, sappy as it is.
Hi Kristen,
Yeah, perspective is a great mechanism for sorting stress right out the door. Will anyone care about this 10 years from now changes lots of thoughts. π
Hi Beth!
Not sappy at all. Imagine how hard it would to raise a child if you didn’t feel that way about her right from the start. I’m smiling just to remember . . .
Hi Liz! One lesson beating me over the head this year is the power of admitting my mistakes and issuing apologies. I’m a stubborn gal who likes to think I’m right, but the simple act of apologies has been important in a few key client situations, and with my significant other. Suck it up and say you’re sorry (oh god, my mother would be so vindicated) π
Hi QRW,
Learning how to say the first apology is the hardest . . . the rest come easier with practice and the reinforcement they bring.
I speak from experience that sounds a lot like yours. π
Hi Liz, one of the many things I have learned is that the “perfect moment” rarely happens so you have to embrace where you are and work what you have now rather than waiting for that magical alignment that almost never comes.
Hi Liz
For the moment (‘cos 2008 still goes on for another 5 months) it would be:
what goes up, must come down – but if your foundation is sound you’ll be alright
Proper growth in business last year = up, up, up, this year is a bit of a struggle = down a bit, down a bit – for many of us, but by sticking to your hedgehog concept you’ll survive. Our hedgehog concept proved its value last year and it continues to do so this year! Perhaps not at the rate of growth we experienced last year, but hey – we just keep at it. π
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Hi Karen,
Inspiration is fleeting. So can motivation be. Get them at the same time and it’s best to go, go, go. Yep I’m with you. π
Hi Karin!
I love how you said that . . . what goes up, must come down – but if your foundation is sound youΓΒ’Γ’Β¬ÒΒΒ’ll be alright
I’ll be thinking on it all day.
In 2008 I have learned that the universe is grand and that synchronicity is an understatement. So much has happened this past year for a reason. Ask and it will come.
( Liz, I landed my first writing gig!!)
It’s been a very emotional year however I have never been alone. Care, kindness and compassion is everywhere.
Liz,
The most important thing I’ve learned in 2008 (personally and through watching clients) is the immense power of reaching out. It’s a lesson that comes back to me over and over: do it and hearts and minds open; don’t do it and you wander around looking for something to blame, when the ability to change your circumstances may have been inside you all along.
It’s amazing how few people are willing to take that step in real life (and I have to catch myself all the time when I’m feeling “shy”!).
Regards,
Kelly
Hi Mother Earth!
Yeah, you’ve made a name and a career this year. Fabulous!
Hi Kelly!
These are powerful words the ability to change your circumstances may have been inside you all along.
Managing against our shyness is something worth learning. I know. I know.
The most impoortant thing I’ve leaned in 2008 is that success has a great price. Sometimes it is not measured with money. Sometimes it is a great loss of a close person or a serious change you have to go through. And you always have to ask yourself if it is worth it, if you are on the right path.
Hi Mike,
Success is an investment, which is why some folks never reach their goals. You point out something that we all need to remember. It seems that’s why we need to follow our hearts.
What an insignificant and strange species we are.
Scurrying around on this tiny little planet,
consumed with the minutiae of fleeting moments,
and nearly oblivious to the rest of the cosmos.
Beautifully said, Trisha.
That’s poetry. π