Make a success journal

In my recent post on an article on creating your own luck, I mentioned one of the action items the author suggested...creating a success journal. It was a great reminder for me of a tool I had used early on in my Passion Catalyst work, but which had fallen of my radar screen.

As rich and rewarding as it is, sometimes pursuing your passion is just plain hard work. Because you are by definition blazing your own trail and not just running placidly on the established treadmill, it can occasionally be hair-pullingly frustrating. In times like that, having a success journal to refer to can bring a positive perspective back to things.

I'm just coming off a couple of months like that. In the months during and after the holiday season (December and January), business slowed to a trickle - and so did my revenue. By the end of January I was starting to scratch my head and wonder. Self-doubt was beginning to creep into the picture as I sat and wondered if I was just blowing smoke up my wazoo.

I started to get traction again towards the end of January (I realize that this happens every year, and I seem to block it from my mind each time). This exercise is really helpful for reinforcing my positive outlook.

In the spirit of practicing what I'm preaching, here are some of my recent successes, in no particular order...

• Lined up two speaking engagements for February


• Three new clients in one week


• Contacted by a major media journalist for a story she is doing (she found me via this blog!)


• Great, and very helpful conversations with two well known business authors, Bill Jensen and Bev Kaye


• Former client took a huge step, leaving her job to explore new opportunities for Occupational Adventure


• Interviewed for nationally syndicated radio show The Career Clinic (coming up March 12th)


• The Career Clinic host Maureen Anderson told me "Most of the people I talk with inspire others for a living, but you distinguished yourself among even that fired-up group. You do an excellent job of putting this process into words."


• Links to my blog from the Fast Company Blog, Monster.com's blog, and The Boston Globe's Job Blog.


• Feedback from publishing company on my book proposal..."I've enjoyed what I've read so far and hope
  to circulate the proposal with some of my colleagues next week." (funny how lack of rejection begins to qualify as success when you're trying to get a book published)


• Occasional feedback from people telling me, "You're making a difference."


• First new client who found me via this blog


• Two potential client inquiries from Europe (prompting me to start exploring online possibilities for my Passion Catalyst work...still in exploration mode on that one)


• First inquiry about bringing my Passion Catalyst work to a corporate environment (a step toward my Passion in the Workplace idea)

Great to be reminded to pull my head up on occasion and see that I really am making progress. An added benefit is that making the list also called my attention to the things I want to focus more on.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Comments

[Retro Girl]

Wow! What fantastic things you've done! Yay for you!

[Greg Lunger]

Thank you for linking to me, very cool !

I really like what you just wrote here about a success journal, I'm going to start one.

I will be linking to this, great idea !

Take care...