[youtube]https://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R9z2ELaBVJY[/youtube]

I delivered my first public talk of the year a few days ago and it felt great to be finally back in that precious and privileged space amongst people. My brief was to outline how people can make the most of 2009 and be successful with their New Year resolutions.

Whilst preparing this talk, I thought long and hard about the message I wanted to deliver. I deliberately chose to avoid yet another seminar about goal setting, focussing and taking massive action. It is clear to me that such a message has been well overdone and also it would have not felt authentic saying the same things again.

In the end, to be really authentic I chose to speak from my life experiences and shared some stories about contribution, forgiveness, helping others and of course my favourite, having some joy and fun in our lives.

I shared my 4 C’s to make 2009 a year of fulfilment and success. We all the challenges and change in the world today, I invited the audience to see this as an opportunity.

The current time of economic downturn is really an opportunity for all of us to review and revisit how we all lead our lives and to get clear about just what is important to us.

To start the interactive session, we brainstormed a number of C words to avoid in 2009:-

Credit Crunch
Clutter
Calories
Cigarettes
Casinos
Cholesterol
Criticism
Chocolate!

So ask yourself – what C’s and indeed other things will you avoid in 2009?

Here are the 4C’s to apply in 2009:-

1 Contribution:-

We have all had moments in our lives when we felt really connected, fulfilled and in the flow. Quite often this is when we have been in service and helping others.

Ask yourself:-

How can I serve the world?

How can I help others through my work?

2. Connection:-

Connecting and networking with the human touch is key in the world today.

Ask yourself:-

Who do I know in my life that I can connect to others?

Who do I know needs help?

3. Completion:-

Sooner or later comes a time when we all have to move on to make things happen in our lives. Forgiveness of others is actually a great gift for yourself.

Use the first few weeks of 2009 to clear out your physical clutter and also reduce your time commitments.

Ask yourself:-

Who do I need to forgive?

What do I need to let go of?

What clutter / mess can I clear up?

4. Celebration:-

Celebrate your life with dance and love every day.

Ask yourself:-

How can I celebrate life today, no matter how small?

What am I grateful for today?

To end the evening, we all did the Gratitude Dance!

If you have never seen this video clip before, then you are in for a treat. Clear the space around your computer, turn up the sound and celebrate life! Go for it full on and don’t hold back!

Here’s to an amazing year of fulfilment, success and celebration.

And in case you didn’t see and do the gratitude dance earlier on, here it is again:-

[youtube]https://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R9z2ELaBVJY[/youtube]