#418: Be Awesome to Somebody (Friday, January 2)

Happy New Year! I'm thrilled to be with you for another year! As you know, the first Friday of the year, I usually reveal the year's theme.

This year, I had a choice between two really good themes and I debated up until the last minute. My decision was made for me when I learned about a barber on Instagram who uses his one day off each week to give haircuts to the homeless. He uses the hashtag #BeAwesometoSomebody to chronicle his volunteer work.

I'm sure we're all awesome to the people in our lives. But imagine how much more awesome you could be (and to more people) with some purpose and intent behind it. I've learned that it is really the simple things that make the most impact.

How will you be awesome to someone this year? You have 52 chances.

And speaking of awesome, I ended the year with $1,378. It felt so great, I'm going to do it again - in reverse

#417: Kindsight (Friday, December 26)

Hind Kindsight is always 20/20.

Here we are, the last Friday in another year. I hope it was a good year for you, and that you pushed yourself to the limits and really "acted up" as we planned in January.

This is also a time of evaluation, to take stock of your goals and plans and objectively chart your progress. If you're like me, you probably spend more time on the things you didn't accomplish, rather than looking at your year from a more balanced lens.

This week's action: View your year with kindsight. Focus equally on your accomplishments and the goals where you fell short. For the goals you didn't accomplish, instead of beating yourself up ask these questions:

• Did I learn something? (If yes, what?)
• By not accomplishing this goal, did it put me in a better position to accomplish one of my other goals, or did it open up a new opportunity that I might not have had?

I hope you can answer "yes" to both questions. 

Have an outstanding end to 2014, and a fantastic beginning to 2015.

#416: Mirage (Friday, December 19)

I found this on the web. I'm not sure who the author is,
 but I think it's the perfect depiction of a mirage.

This week's action: Question everything.

Why we're doing it: Because things are not always as they seem.

#415: Deja Vu (Friday, December 12)

Doing the same thing repeatedly with the expectation of different results is the definition of insanity.

There is some debate about who originally said the words above, but no one can argue with the sentiment. When you find yourself in the same situation multiple times, it must be due to either insanity or stupidity.

I like to think that we find ourselves in the same situation because there is a lesson to be learned. Some blind spot or weakness that is making you unable to move forward until you get the message.

This week's action: Think of an unfavorable situation that you often find yourself in (constantly broke, can't keep a job, relationships consistently failing for the same reason, etc.) Find the lesson.

#414: Dig Deep (Friday, December 5)

"Dig deep into your soul and pull out some new shit that no one has ever seen before." -De La Vega

The Gold Rush of 1849 started because one man found flakes of gold in the American River. The gold wasn't hidden, he didn't have to dig for it - it was there for the taking. The first people who joined the gold rush didn't have to perform much labor to find the gold either. It was pretty close to the surface.

But as more people came and took the gold on the surface, latecomers had to dig deeper and expend more effort to be rewarded. So it is with life; the older you get deeper you have to dig and the more you have to challenge yourself to be truly inventive.

This week's action: Dig deep and pull out something new.