Is 2012 Your Transformational Year?

I do solemnly promise as I write this today:

• I will not wish anyone else Happy New Year – it’s over
• I will not ask anyone else how their holidays were – that’s over too

I will, however, begin to ask:


How are you planning to make 2012 your year of transformation?

The quote below states it clearly:

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer”. – Zora Neale Hurston

Over the past 2-3 years, people have been asking themselves questions given the most difficult of times we have experienced. “Where am I going?’ … “Will we ever see our money again” … “What is happening in our country” … What is happening to our jobs and careers?”. The questions have been many; but the answers few.

This is the year of the answers.

Many I have talked to most recently feel strongly that 2012 is the year to discover and commit to one’s true hopes and goals – not resolutions – but rather aspirations – private, personal and professional. It is the year to make changes and not be afraid to do so. It is the year to put fear in the closet and move forward boldly.

What it takes is trust in yourself and giving yourself permission to make the bold changes you have desired to do. It is taking a leap of faith and beginning this new year by believing in yourself and that you can achieve whatever you set your mind too.

A few inspiring examples …

I’d like to present a few stories --- and they are inspiring – of those who trusted in themselves to make a significant change in the direction they were going.:

The story of Pat …
Hopeless caught in layoff after layoff – to no fault of her own but certainly just tired of it. Pat was so ingrained in one industry (she thought) that she didn’t give herself permission to think outside of her industry, which was contracting and not growing. Her family told her she could not go elsewhere; she was listening to those who thought “small”.

We worked together to get her mind unblocked and open to new ideas and opportunities but it was a real challenge for me, and I am certain, for her. Then a chance discussion with someone she hadn’t seen or talked to in years – a wake-up discussion of sorts – happened. The light went on – she opened her mind to possibilities and began to trust her actions and judgment . I will never forget that phone call. Prior to this revelation, every action was vetted among family and friends and sadly went nowhere. Within just a few weeks, with new vigor, she was interviewing and then employed in a brand new industry with significant growth opportunities. Her world changed – in just a few months. She made her year one of transformation. She accepted.

The story of Bill …

Bill seemed to have it all. A great job with a notable company in the area and a great salary and well connected in the community. On the outside, all looked good but on the inside, he was miserable, bored and unfulfilled. The money lost its enchantment; he found it to be a grind to go to work. But he had a special technical talent that was in demand and out of boredom, starting doing private client work “on the side” while working – a concept known as Employedpreneur – working in a business while working on a business. His clients were happy; they wanted more. But Bill continued to fell shackled by his responsibilities to family and his company.

Then it hit him – he knew it was time to break out on his own and he finally gave himself permission. He was tired of just dreaming. He needed to act. One day his boss treated him with disrespect – that was it, game over. He came to me in the fall and wanted to be out of his job on his own by the end of winter, a 6-month window. He accepted the transformation he was about to make and we worked on a plan to achieve the same. Postscript – he quit his job two months later and his business launched like a rocket. Was it luck – no – it was accepting, believing in himself and going after his aspirations.

Can you achieve your aspirations and make 2012 your transformational year – you absolutely can. Believe in yourself, trust in yourself and give yourself permission.

And thank you for reading this. - Dan