2009 Lifework Review

Before I reveal the secret details of my personal goal setting process and the success (or lack thereof) of my work in 2009, I need to clarify something:

I love strategic planning, but my preferred working style is to go with the flow and let my mood dictate what I do. I am motivated by comfort. Setting goals and deadlines makes me feel anxious.

One of the reasons I dislike setting goals is because I suffer from “indecision syndrome.” This stems from having a highly imaginative mind that loves to drop exciting new ideas into my life on a regular basis. My creative inspirations often overwhelms me. As a result, I have a hard time making up my mind and deciding what to pursue, and since I can’t do everything at once I must eventually choose.

Unfortunately, these habits get me nowhere, so I’ve learned to make decisions, set goals, give it my all and do my best to stick with what works. If one or several of my goals don’t work out, I change them.

Despite my reluctance to setting and sticking with goals, the process works wonders!

It is with this in mind that I share with you my 2009 Lifework Review. I hope it inspires you to do the same.

2009 Review

My “Observations” journal page.

In December 2008 I created the following plan for 2009:

• Start six new GEM groups with twenty people each. (GEM is my 12-month marketing program.)

• Write two ezine essays a month and email them around the 15th and 30th of each month

• Have three website clients throughout the year

• Have ten spiritual direction and/or supervision clients a month

I created a timeline for each category, deciding when to launch various GEM start dates, but almost nothing happened the way I planned.

Here’s what actually transpired:

• I started two new GEM programs

• I wrote two ezine essays a month through April then realized I needed to refocus my brand (identity), so I cut back to one essay a month through December (and my website traffic plummeted as a result of sending fewer ezine…)

• I had more website clients than anticipated, although I haven’t actually counted how many

• As the year progressed, I started a completely new field of work called Lifework Direction which is like spiritual direction with the specific focus of discerning where Spirit is leading you in terms of your lifework. This new service changed my goal, so instead of having ten spiritual direction clients a month I ended up with a combination of spiritual direction, spiritual direction supervision and lifework direction clients (and I love it!)

Despite the fact that my goals didn’t match my reality, 2009 turned out to be a year full of successes. For awhile, though, I was a bit upset that I didn’t even try to launch the other 4 GEM programs, but unexpected circumstances changed my plan mid-year and I consciously decided to shift directions.

Expect the Unexpected

One reason my goals differed from reality is because I spent most of 2009 creating original content for my GEM program. I forgot to take that into consideration when I planned my goals, and creating the content took far more time and energy than I thought it would.

In December, feeling like I hadn’t accomplished much, I decided to “take inventory” by recording everything I did work-wise in 2009. I discovered that I:

• wrote 180 articles (including curriculum content, ezine essays and blog posts)

• created 30 video tutorials

• designed a 7-day ecourse

• hosted several teleseminars

• wrote a few short ebooks

(I would have been overwhelmed by this list if I’d put everything on my goal sheet in January 2009!)

As an aside, it’s really easy for people to feel like they haven’t accomplished much, especially if they don’t review their work and lives every once in awhile. At least that’s how I felt until I ”took inventory.” After I sorted through everything, though, I was actually quite proud of myself for accomplishing so much!

Divine Caroline

Another unexpected event occurred in June when Divine Caroline, an online women’s blog, contacted me to be one of their writing “partners.”

At first I hesitated to commit and sign their contract because I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of adding more writing to my schedule, but they encouraged me to use articles I’d already written, specifically What Animal Dreams Mean and 7 Actions to Grow Your Lifework. They also told me I don’t need to create original content for their site and can re-use my blog posts.

Note: Writing for other blogs and websites is a great way to accomplish two tasks simultaneously: 1) It can enhance your reputation in a particular field and 2) it can generate traffic for your own webiste. Every time I submit an article to Divine Caroline they post my website address in my byline (I think this is one of the “perks” partners get versus others who submit articles, but I’m not sure.)

Anyway, visits to my site have increased as a result of partnering with Divine Caroline and I’ve only submitted two articles so far!

Why Have Goals if They Aren’t Met?

Being self-employed means I have to rely on myself to generate an income. Without a plan this is very difficult to do. With goals I have structure and something for which I am accountable, even if I change my plan halfway through the year.

From what I’ve observed, people who don’t do well in self-employment often don’t have a plan (or don’t stick to it if they do have one). Many are like me and prefer to “go with the flow” and some even feel that planning takes away from being in the present moment…but if this is your modus operandi, and if things aren’t going well for you, then I suggest getting out some paper, colorful markers and start brain storming (it’s much more fun that way!)

Here are some questions to ask yourself if you haven’t already reviewed 2009 and you’d like to:

• What did you intend to create, do, offer, etc. in 2009?

• What did you actually create, do, offer, etc.?

• If you didn’t accomplish something, why? Were your goals too high? Off track?

• What might you change for 2010?

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for Part II.