What have you done with your year and are you pleased with your outcomes?
I ask this question of myself every year during December. I swing back and forth between reflecting on the outgoing year and planning for the incoming year. I get obsessed with doing both well. I write out my plans, I analyze the year’s successes and failures, major decisions and challenges, my own growth and evolution, and my shortcomings along with it too, and I constantly re-evaluate the master plan until the dawn of the new year.
Perhaps you do the exact same; perhaps you think it all a silly exercise as December is just another month and the new year is just another point in the same continuous timeline. I can’t blame you for either really!
Last year, my good friend Srini suggested that I do a 2010 year-end wrap for the blog, and I’m very glad that I listened. Not only was the post useful to others, it did wonders for me in terms of clarifying the achievements and instilling more confidence in me for the year ahead. Whether you blog for pleasure or business or simply write in your personal journal, dedicate a piece to your year-end wrap, it does wonders for the spirit.
So today, I am marking the 300th blog post with a year-end wrap here for 2011 with a peek at 2012.
Trust me, it has not been easy at all to reflect on the year past or look ahead on the year in store in any structured fashion because I feel glued completely to the minute at hand. In this paradise in the South Island of New Zealand, staring right into the crystal clear waters of Lake Wakatipu, there is so very little sense of time. This lake’s rapture has thrown me off balance and into a state of relaxation that is at best foreign to me.
Staring at this body of water has been my favorite activity since we arrived here in Queenstown last week. We have daylight from before 6am until well after 10pm. It is also summer, albeit a cooler one, so I have happily set aside all thoughts of winter, and with it, the natural association I make to it being yet again that time of the year when we bid the old year goodbye and start anew in January.
The most jaw-dropping scenery on earth is packed here in New Zealand, the crown jewel of Mother Nature, and my beloved Hawaii now has a worthy competition! The mountains, the lakes, the fiords, the waterfalls, the ocean, the rivers, the trees, the flowers, the purity and the serenity, the most delicious tap water, the most stunning landscape. It is easy to believe you have left planet earth and arrived in heaven, a place where you have all you need and miss none of what you left behind.
May there be a heaven after life and may it feel and taste like New Zealand because it is the place to spend all eternity!
Here next to this lake, I think I can find true inner peace and grow happy into my old age. Here, I can forget the meaning of jealousy, loneliness, pressure, unhappiness, fear, sadness, worry and anxiety. Here, I can detach from my beloved material life, from concerns of everyday living, from the nonsense and the rubbish that boggles the mind and weighs down the spirit. Here, I can finally begin to understand the lust behind the prose of poets and authors with Mother Nature.
I wish I were exaggerating; on the contrary, my darling readers, I think I am hardly doing it any justice. You just come and visit. You’ll see for yourself because this experience has to be had first hand. You’ll call me and say, “Now I know. Now I see what you mean.”
My productivity naturally has slowed down considerably since leaving Australia, and it is still a wonder how I managed to finish the launch of the Green Juicing Guide for us because immediately after that, I fell into the spell of this miraculous beauty around me. I want to do nothing but to be in the very present moment, something that back home is only the fleeting result of the best meditation practice.
Oh and I have been reading The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; if ever you think yourself prolific as an author, check out the almanacs and encyclopedias worth of material that Tolkien produced in one lifetime and within the capacity of one human being’s imagination, the least of which was The Lord of the Rings and then set the bar higher for yourself.
Now we must reflect on 2011 as that is what I promised so here are the highlights:
January through April: Created and launched Prolific Living’s first product, Fear-Crushing Travel Guide, learned about digital product creation process and put together my exit strategy from the corporate world.
May 2011: Walked away from my corporate job. Became a full-time writer, blogger, podcaster and digital entrepreneur. Honored to speak at Blogworld in New York city on “Motivation for the New Media Professional”.
June 2011: Wrote and self-published my first Kindle book: “Motivation: From Goals to Greatness”. Made it also available in several other formats.
July 2011: Released Writing Manifesto for the Kindle.
August 2011: Launched the 10 Minute Daily Invigorator, the most popular product to-date as well as the Green Juicing guide newsletter with regular tips and advice to keep you going on your green juicing journey.
September 2011: Launched The Daily Interaction podcast. Just released Episode 21 in the weekly series because consistency is key to podcasting.
October 2011: Launched the Exit Blueprint newsletter series and started working on the upcoming 2012 course in enabling you to leave an unhappy job and create fulfilling meaningful work and careers in your life.
November 2011: Threw a Twitter-Teleseminar Party, thanks to Karl Staib’s great service. Release new packages for life and business coaching with 20 minute free consult for each potential client to ensure a great match.
December 2011: Launched the Comprehensive Green Juicing Guide from New Zealand.
Contributions and Interviews
I was thrilled to contribute 25 guest posts, 14 more than 2010, and was delighted to write for Problogger, Jonathan Fields and Copyblogger this year. I was asked to 14 interviews, with the 15th being cancelled due to bad internet connection, the only downside of being in NZ. I was honored to have a TV interview on the Motivation book on Chicago’s Channel 6; it aired 3 times during the mid-November weekend.
A Few Numbers and Stats on Growth:
The subscribers from Prolific Living grew into the 3100+ numbers, with majority of those in the various email newsletters. The income went from nothing to double five-digits annually and growing. Prolific Living grew from being a popular blog to a thriving business with growing list of products and services that have proven to be helpful and useful.
Most of all, I learned and grew so much from meeting so many wonderful, fantastic, brilliant minds this year. Too many to list; you know who you are, and how special I feel for knowing you and having you along the way with me. THANK YOU for your presence and support!
On Clarity of Focus and Purpose for Prolific Living:
The focus this year for Prolific Living was on the smart habits that evolve around your health, both physical, spiritual and mental, from crushing fears, tapping into inner motivation, meditation and conscious eating, learning to take excellent care of your bodies and mind and focusing on clear daily interactions and healthy relationships.
The focus next year is the smart habits that evolve around your work and your careers, your passions, your skills and talents and how to create work that is meaningful and profitable, and work that you will love to do every single day. That is the main focus of the Exit Blueprint course.
My wishes for you
If you have a business, be proud of it because you are making a difference and money is one of your many just rewards and with it, you can do as you please. You can create a lifestyle that brings you inner peace and with that, you empower yourself to truly create your best work for this worl.
If you have a blog and want to use it as a means to earn money, do it but do it all the way, with all your heart and without apology and hesitation or don’t bother – stay true to your own values and standards and turn a deaf ear to whomever may criticize you because someone always will.
If you are helping others in areas that you feel skilled and accomplished, then you are doing your world a service. Good on you and good for those who receive your service. All the very best to you in 2012.
And if you fall under neither category, I wish you the best, the very best in whatever your goals and aspirations may be for 2012. May you do it all while being true to your values and your dreams.
A Thank You with A Question for You
Sometimes, the most obvious needs to be stated yet again: I would be nowhere without my readers. I would be doing none of this if it did not help and prove useful to you. THANK YOU for being here and for sharing your struggles and triumphs here in Prolific Living community. If you want more participation, join the Facebook page and the newsletter.
My question for you: What did you like most from Prolific Living this year and what would you like to see most from it next year?
I am Farnoosh, the founder of Prolific Living. So glad you are here. My mission is to empower you to unblock your creative genius to live your dream life.