I read something the other day that encouraged professionals to write down their major accomplishments by quarter or month so they could more easily update a resume. I do this weekly because when you work for yourself, it’s hard to keep track of your year. Our to-do lists are so long and those of us who are deadline driven just push from project to project. At the end of the year, I feel I’ve accomplished little – until I did in and realize what a transformative year it was for me!
I drove forward on some big goals – and had a blast doing it! I left some finished projects behind, handled a few odd situations, and did a lot of work of which I’m terribly proud! All in all, 2021, well, I got a lot of stuff done and I really made some changes that have been great.
As is my usual habit, I write a quote each week in my planner and at the end of the year, I love to share them with you.
January:
“Being human is enough. You are enough.”
“If you feel something calling you to dance or write or paint or sing, please refuse to worry about whether you’re good enough. Just do it.” Glennon Melton
“You are tired – not because you’ve done too much, but because you’ve done too little of what sparks a light in you.” Alexander Den Heijer
“At some point you have to deactivate survival mode. You have to relax so you can learn how to live again. Unclench your jaw. Relax your shoulders, open up to the life you’re living now. You survived. Now thrive.”
February:
“There is a cult of ignorance in the US and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding throughout our cultural and political life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” Isaac Asimov
“When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to rock is that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” MLK, Jr.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” MLK Jr.
March:
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he not the same man.” Heraclitus
“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” Mark Twain
“We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.” Anaïs Nin
“The happiness of mankind, as well as of all other rational creatures, seems to have been the original purpose by the Author of Nature when he brought them into existence.” Adam Smith
“Life is an echo. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others exists in you.” Zig Ziglar
April:
“The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is to have no fear at all.” Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
“He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.” Epictus
“Armored Leadership: Being a knower and being right. Daring Leadership: Being a learner and getting it right.”
“The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.” Simon Sinek
May:
“The little details tell the world that we are not invisible.” Quiara Alegria Hudes/Lin-Manual Miranda, In the Heights
“To be happy is a duty which you neglect.”
“I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care for other people.” Dr. Anthony Fauci
“Surround yourself with people who push you to do better. No drama or negativity, just higher goals and motivation. Good times and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other.” Warren Buffet
“If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does it have? Four, because calling a leg a tail doesn’t make it one.” Abraham Lincoln
June:
“Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.” Thomas Hardy
“I eat ‘no’ for breakfast.” Kamala Harris
“’Approfondement’ is a French word that means ‘playing easily in the deep.’” Tom Rollins
“If you say that story is about conflict, that plot must be based on conflict, you’re limiting your view of the world severely. And in a sense making a political statement that life is conflict, so in stories, conflict is all that really matters. That is simply untrue. To see life as a battle is a narrow, social Darwinist view.” Ursula K. LeGuin
July:
“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I want to do.” Georgia O’Keefe
“Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.” Albert Einstein
“Waves are the voices to tides. Tides are life.” Tamora Pierce
“In order to kick ass, you must first lift up your foot.” Jen Sincero
August:
“Stay close to people who feel like sunlight.” Xan Oku
“Remember that done is better than perfect.” Jen Sincero
“Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you.” Ovid
“Right is right even is no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.” Augustine
“What cannot be said will be wept. Sappho
“I’m beginning to suspect that the second half of life is about learning to let go of everything I’ve collected over the first half that wasn’t loving or human.” Michael Xavier
Sept:
“I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand but because joy is what the Earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.” Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Imagination is like a muscle. I found out the more I wrote, the bigger it got.” Philip Jose-Farmer
“If I’d know the Roaring 20s would be three weeks in June, I would have done more.” Nicole Paulhus
“New knowledge and new skills can help you re-energize when you’re having trouble getting motivated.” Dr. Art Markham
“I hate when people confuse educated with intelligent. You can have a bachelor’s degree and still be an idiot.” Elon Musk
“If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.” Katherine Hepburn
October:
“When God put a calling on your life, He already factored in your stupidity.”
“When a leader walks into a room, the followers feel intimidated, the snakes feel threatened, but the next leaders feel inspired.”
“Sometimes you second guess yourself because you were taught that it was your job to be responsible for how would react to your choices.” Yasmine Cheyenne
“Time won’t make you forget. It will make you grow and understand things.”
“The rule is, you have to dance a little bit in the morning before you leave the house because it chanes the way you walk out in the world.” Sandra Bullock
November:
“I don’t know how other writers feel but I’d rather live precariously in my own office than comfortably in someone else’s” Peter Mayle
“True self-care isn’t salt baths and chocolate cake. It’s making the choice to build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from.” Brianna Wiest
“Know your own happiness. Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” Dalai Lama
“It is not what we think or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do. Or fail to do.” Jane Austen
December:
“We need to just stop pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” Desmond Tutu
“The biggest concern for any organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet.” Tim McClure
“Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” Nelson Mandela
“I don’t have a short temper. I just have a quick reaction to bullshit.” Elizabeth Taylor
“I am often struck by the dangerous narcissism fostered by spiritual rhetoric that pays so much attention to individual self-improvement and so little to the practice of love in the context of community.” Bell Hooks
Connecting. Creating. 