Hi Peeps! Last week I posted a blog sharing the first five things I learned in 2009. If you didn’t read the first post, please click here. This week, I want to share my last five reflections. Enjoy!

6)   I CAN be organized! Earlier this year we held a biz-e-chicks meeting lead by organizing diva, Tina Fischer (www.yourbusinesseditor.com). She asked us to send in ONE organizing question we had ahead of time, to which I quickly responded – with 5 things (I follow directions well huh?). Needless to say my disorganized chaos dominated the conversation that night and I remember feeling “I’m such a mess. I will NEVER get my life in order!” The meeting was in March and although things are not, and never will be, perfect I’m happy to say I’ve put some items in place to slowly help me on track and it feels great! Baby steps… One thing I learned last year is I have to make “mission organization” a daily task. If I fall behind one week, it takes that much more effort to get back on track. If only I’d take a few minutes each day to write out my “to do” list, update my financial spreadsheet, or organize one small portion of my house, things would be more manageable. Tina, and her counterpart Heather Lambie, are such great resources to have in our biz-e-chicks family. They’re not only organized but are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. If you’re ever run into them at one of our biz-e-chicks meetings, be sure to introduce yourself.

7)   I’ve accomplished a lot in five months! I started business coaching back in August and I remember in my first session I came across as one hot mess. I was frazzled and frustrated. I’m sure my coach thought I was a lunatic. However, she stuck with me. We first created three major goals, then created action steps for those goals. If we needed to, we could break those action steps into smaller, more manageable tasks if I was still feeling overwhelmed. Seems simple right? It really is. Maybe this is something you can do yourself, or maybe you’re like me and need someone to hold you accountable for the action steps you need to take – maybe you’re so organized you don’t need to do this at all. Everyone is different. However, for me I’m proud to report that in the last five months I’ve put myself on a path to financial independence, have a plan and goals set for 2010, and have found a way to carve out more time for myself. Not bad for five months of work. It’s more than I’ve done four years in business! Sometimes I focus so much on the items I still have left to do that I forget to pat myself on the back for the things I’ve recently accomplished. What have you done this year that you’re proud of?

8)   The importance of taking care of yourself. July/August/September were difficult months for me health wise. Nothing major – I just went from being extremely active, to extremely NOT active. The stress of work/life caused me to lose weight in an unhealthy way, I wasn’t sleeping well and I definitely wasn’t exercising. Although I was happy to fit into some of my “skinny” clothes again, I felt run down, tired and completely unhealthy. I remember trying to take a run with some friends one day and had the absolute worst run I could remember. I was tired and cramping constantly. That day, I made the commitment to snap out this funk I was in and put myself back on track. We all get stressed and there’s things in our lives we can’t control. However, we can control how we deal with them. For me, being unhealthy does nothing but make me depressed, discouraged and negative. Lord knows I don’t need that! There’s many ways to deal with stress including yoga, meditation, walking or just sitting outside for a few moments. Do you need to change how you deal with stress in 2010?

9)   It’s ok to be selfish sometimes. Like most women, I have a tendency to put others first more often than not. While is a sweet gesture, I’ve realized that’s probably not how I want to live the rest of my life. If there’s something that isn’t going to benefit me, why can’t I say no? What’s the big deal? Honestly it’s not a big deal so I’ve decided 2010 is the year of ME. I’m going to do things that I want to do. Things that make me happy, help me further my career, help me gain new experiences and if it pisses someone off along the way – so be it. I realize this is not an attitude that comes natural to me so it will be an interesting journey this year but I’d love to look back on 2010 and say that the decisions I made and the actions I took are ones that I wanted to make and not because I was afraid to say “no” or I’d hurt someone’s feelings, or I was afraid to take a risk (grrr that word again!). Wish me luck!

10)    Tomorrow is another day and it’s not the end of the world if I don’t accomplish everything in one day. This has been the hardest challenge of 2009. I’m a perfectionist, and as I said in #9, in 2009 I was afraid to tell people “no.” However, late this year when I started putting my new schedule in place it slowly made me realize I’m not superwoman and I can’t accomplish everything on my never ending “to-do” list. So slowly I made a more manageable list and when it was time to go to bed or spend time with family, or friends – I did just that. Or, if I wanted to devote all day on Friday to working on GDBD items and turned my phone/email off for the day – so be it. So I tried it. And you know what? I haven’t heard one complaint. The work was still there the next day, the deadlines have still been met and I’m still here – in one piece. More importantly it saved me from becoming a burnt out business owner. So, I encourage and challenge all of you to find a schedule in 2010 that works for you. You might not get it right the first time, but I can guarantee once you do you’ll feel much better.

Whew! This was a long entry and I thank all of you who have read my posts. I’m not much of a writer (as all of you can probably tell) but as I journaled these thoughts I felt it was important to share them with my fellow peeps. I realize we all share similar frustrations so if anything I’ve discussed above can strike a nerve with any of you in order to help start 2010 out on the right foot, I’m happy to have been of service.

I hope all of you have a successful and prosperous 2010!

PS: Please feel free to share any comments, suggestions or additional tips you might have. We look forward to hearing from you!