My 2016

I thought it was pretty crappy until I watched this video by Marie Forleo.  I liked the 3 questions she asked, and when I started viewing my 2016 that way, it actually wasn’t so bad.

1. What did I do, create, or experience that I’m really proud of:
   1. Personal Finance: My personal finances were an absolute mess.  They were a shit show and a half.  I am so proud of the strides I have made there (which probably now brings me up to “potentially-maybe- functioning”, but I will take it). And I have two of my cousins to thank for that- Aarthi and Bharath.  They were kind of like…dude.  Ok we have a lot of work to do. Lets pull it together.  And they showed me how.  I appreciated it so much, because I feel so much more empowered now.  It was really embarrassing at first asking for help because then I had to admit that I was really really terrible at this stuff (which I figured most people know already and somehow I missed the boat), and they could have made me feel really bad about it, but they never did.  They helped me so much and were so non judgemental about it, I hope I can pass the favor on one day.  I have a long way to go but I sincerely appreciate all the help they’ve been, and their inspiration.
   2. My relationship with my boyfriend: Yeah that was really tough.  It was a tough year for both of us.  But I’m proud of us for sticking it through and working through the tough times.  I usually cut and run (which I can’t say I didn’t try to do, or consider doing), but this time I stuck with it, and I’m so happy I did.  That was real work, but I think the best relationships are.  Because through that work, I feel like I’m a better, less judgemental, more understanding person (or at least I hope I am!)
2. What mistakes did I make that taught me something:
   1. Pivoting the business sooner: I knew deep down something was wrong way before I acknowledged it logically and did something about it.  Now, I know that if it doesn’t feel right, it’s not right.  Period.  Look into it, and figure out why.  Then change as fast as possible, or you will see massive explosive failures which light up the sky like fireworks.  Of your own pain and embarrassment.   Better sooner, and smaller fireworks, than later and large public displays for everyone to see. Yay.
   2. Don’t put out crappy work: You know how they say it’s better to put out something than nothing? That’s not always true.  I didn’t realize there was an important caveat: the caveat is that it has to achieve a certain level of excellence.  It doesn’t have to be perfect (i.e. better than nothing), but it also can’t be crappy- because then nothing really is better than something.  I’m guilty of totally putting out crappy work. And it’s really shameful and awful and I’ve been trying to turn it around the latter parts of this year.  But a good lesson.
   3. My word should be my word: I’m so guilty of being flakey, it’s kind of insane.  I have good intentions, but a lot of times I don’t exactly monitor what comes out of my mouth and suddenly I hear myself making these promises and I”m like..wait what? Can I actually do that? Yeah.  That bites me in the butt.  So I’m working on not saying things which I can’t actually do.  At least to the best of my knowledge.
3. What am I willing to let go of: My limiting beliefs.
   1. “If I work too hard, my friends and family won’t love me”- I didn’t even realize I was thinking that until recently.  But that is such shit. Of course they will love me.  I think they’d rather I not be broke.
   2. “If I create a successful company, I won’t have time to spend time with people I care about”- uhhh…how about we create a successful company first and see what happens, huh? Also, I’m free to let go of anything I don’t want to do.  So at any point, if I don’t like something, guess what.  I don’t have to do it. How about I get myself in a position to actually make this choice, instead of pre-deciding these things?! Sheesh.

That was my year in review.  What does yours look like?