I originally posted this on January 9th but lost a few posts in a hosting transition.

As I mentioned, one of my goals this year is to listen to a lot of the Philosopher’s Notes by Brian Johnson.

Basically, his deal is he goes through 100 of the BEST personal growth books and gives you the “Big Ideas” from each of them.

It’s super-awesome because he has .pdf formats AND audios, so you can look at both to really integrate them (or just one, depending on your time).

I’ve been listening to the audios as I’ve been cellercising in the mornings.

Anyway, one of the books I just listened to was “Authentic Happiness” by Martin Seligman. It’s a book by a dude who has been working to make the state of happiness a SCIENCE… and he’s come really, really far.

You can use his information in either your personal life or in your business.

Seligman talks about how there are certain virtues or characteristics that exist to make people happy. There are 12 in total I think, and they range from things like curiousity, love, justice, wisdom, etc. His premise is we ALL have a core set of 5 strengths, and the more we use them, the happier we will be.

He also believes we should spend time working on what we’re strong at, not trying to fix what we’re weak at. A LOT of top thought leaders subscribe to that thought and I totally agree. Unless a weakness is really hurting your quality of life, why not just outsource it to someone else?

Anyway… the book mentions a FREE test you can look at to find out what YOUR 5 core strengths are. From there, you can use them to mold your life, business plan, whatever.

Click Me For The FREE Test! (No upsells or anything. )

Here’s What To Do With Them:

In the Philosopher’s Notes, Brian went through his top 5 (well, he had 6) and explained how he was using each one in his business. You can do the same thing for YOURS (and also in your life).

I’ll give you an example with mine. Here they are:

• Forgiveness & Mercy
• Fairness, Equity, And Justice
• Gratitude
• Love Of Learning
• Capacity To Love And Be Loved

So to take those with my business plan, I guess I could do something like:

I use forgiveness and mercy in my business as I understand that not everyone is going to “get it” right away. I will treat them with love and work patiently as they come to results of their own.

I believe in fairness, equity, and justice… so I am moral and ethical with my pricing of things, will only put out quality products, and will treat everyone I work with with respect. I listen to other people’s ideas and try to make everyone feel as if they’re my equal (because we ALL have stuff to teach each other).

I am a totally grateful person. I remember to count my blessings every day. I have an amazing fiance, business partner, best friends, client base… an amazing life, really… and the more I remember to count my blessings, the more of them will come into my life. I make it a point to thank customers by offering excellent values and really doing what I can to make sure that they get benefit from my products.

To support my love of learning. I will continue dabbling in lots of different business models, as well as take myself offline a bit. This is integral to me and I know I’m so much more productive and better at what I do when I get to go learn new things.

As far as my capacity to love and be loved, I will continue to love people I work with, even when it’s not the easiest. I will understand that people are normally cranky because there’s an underlying issue, and I will look at everyone as innocent children doing the best they can with the resources they have.

Well… that’s my first shot, at least. I’ll continue to improve upon it.

I’d Love To Know What YOURS Are!

If you don’t want to do the full exercise (though it does make you think!), just shoot down your 5.

This is so super-fascinating to me, so please leave a comment and let me know!

I originally posted this on December 31st but lost a few posts in a hosting transition.

Wow… it’s been an absolutely incredible year this year. I’ve really loved 2010 and think 2011 is going to be even better.

I’ve been reflecting back on this past year and I’m just so grateful for some of the things that have happened.

First, Dennis and I partnered, which has been amazing, to say the very least. I remember when Otto and I were driving up to Ashland back in August. We were moving into our new house and I told him “We’re driving up to a new life. Everything will be different from here on out.”

Sure enough, it has been.

Before Dennis, I always the classic entrepreneur up and down income. It’d be feast or famine. With a consistent income now, there’s a huge weight off of my shoulders. I feel freer than I ever have before. I’ve been able to do some absolutely AMAZING things, like:

* Rent an incredible 4 bedroom home with absolutely stunning views…
* Hire a chef to come in every day and make Otto and I fresh juices, smoothies, and salads
* Give my family Christmas presents of $2,000 each to just blow… and then an extra $5k to my parents for bills (the best $15k I ever spent)
* Take Otto and I on an amazing trip to Paris and Amsterdam… we had such a beautiful time…
* Tell my mom to quit her second job

It’s not necessarily about the money, though that has been great. It means so much to me to know that I’m helping people. REAL people. To be honest, I still don’t know that the “make money” niche is who I am and what my greatest gift to the world is… and I plan on doing more with my meditation site, juice feasting stuff, etc… but I do know that at the very least, people have been doing better in part to the information I give, which I am 100% grateful for.

And of course just knowing Dennis has been incredible. I’m so grateful that he accepts who I am. He’s OK with my traveling, with my weird quirks, with listening to me… there have been so many times that I’ve been scared to tell him something, and he was just 100% ok with it.

I appreciate that so, so much.

They say you’re the average of the 5 people closest to you and I’m glad Dennis is one of them.

Then there was an absolutely incredible year with Otto. Ever since we got back together, it’s been like Relationship 2.0. We’re a completely different couple. Our communication has been absolutely incredible and I know we’ll be able to get through anything together.

Otto gave me a Commitment Ring over Christmas. I’ll be honest — at first, I was upset. I was hoping for more of an engagement ring (I know I said I didn’t want to get married, but my emotions tell a different story). I still would love the engagement ring… but you know, thinking back on it… he was SO excited to give me the ring. He went through such an ordeal of putting in a box in another box in another box, with other gifts along the way so I wouldn’t know… calling my mom to tell her about it… video taping it… he’s just such a good man. He loves me so much, and I love him so much too. I feel really blessed to have him in my life.

There were some other great highlights in this year. I visited my family a few times. I got to go visit Jaime for her birthday in Las Vegas, which was awesome. I love her so much. Every time I’m around her I feel inspired. Brian came out and visited me for a week or so, which was awesome. He’s always laughing… it makes me feel funny. Hehehe… I love him too.

I’ve joined an awesome “Goddess Mastermind” with some incredible people. One of those is a wonderful woman named Jena, and I’m so glad to have gotten to know her.

I made some amazing friends – both in Scottsdale (Piperlyne! Joshua! Chris!) and here in Ashland. I’ve also met some incredible people through the Eben Pagan seminar circuit and I’m afraid to list any names because I don’t want to forget any… but I will say I’m ridiculously thankful for everyone.

I sold BYTDL, which I’m really happy about. The new owner hasn’t had the 100% easiest time adjusting, which I don’t love, though I’ve made it clear I’m happy to help him however I can. That business was not for me. He’s done such a better job than I ever could have done as far as making sure work is done in a timely manner and expecting great performance from people.

I think this year I’ve gotten even more comfortable with speaking my truth, and I know that will continue even more.

I also just got off a fantastic juice feast that I ended with a renewed passion to learning more and figuring out even more what my greatest gifts to the world are.

Overall, 2010 was absolutely fantastic.

I’ve started writing out my goals for 2011 and I’m very excited for them. I can’t wait to make this the best year ever.

Here’s what I have so far:

* Incorporate a daily routine that includes deep breathing, meditating, reading/listening to a different Philosopher’s Note, and rebounding.

* Become fluent in face reading (how to tell people’s personalities by their faces, how to read people’s emotions, and even how to look at their face and tell what ailments they may have…there’s a LOT of wisdom in the face.)

* Rent a villa in Italy with friends

* Have a 7 figure business (without putting any junk on the web. Dennis and I also want to make sure we have a lot of our own products from now on. We both think we were mailing too much without enough content and want to find the right balance. I trust we will.)

* Drop to a comfortable size 6 (I’m an 8 now)

* Go back to Europe

* Go to the Monroe Institute

* Have a week without internet

* Earn $83,333 every month or more consistently

* Start my 7-12 lifestyle again, where I work from 7am to 12pm and spend the rest of the day learning, reading, going out, doing whatever… and maybe working more at night. That’s been sporadic lately and I’d love to get it back so I can have my balance again.

I also want to spend a lot of this year figuring out more about who I am and what gifts I have for the world. It’s been an interesting year. I’ve started remembering things I’d unconsciously blacked out for 20+ years… things that I’m so glad I blacked out, but I am grateful for, because I know they’ll eventually be a big part of my message.

I’m going to invest in a high end mastermind this year, which is a big step for me. I’m considering two different ones right now (and I might end up getting both of them) – Marie Forleo and Bryan Franklin. Both of them seem to have an incredible sense of self, and I really think they’ll help me uncover what my greatest gifts are.

Anyway… that’s what I have for now. If you’ve read this far, thank you. I’d love to hear what YOUR goals are for this year, and any key takeaways you had from 2010… so please leave a comment!

Either way, I wish you the best year of your life this year… you deserve it.