This week's quote hits home for me. I've been very inconsistent in creating videos because of all the "imperfect" reasons I had bouncing around like a superball inside my head. In November, when I jumpstarted my YouTube Channel, I knew that fearless had to be my word of the year. Fearless action means: Done is better than perfect.

Got your one word? Find out three ways to leverage your one word in 2021 in this week's video issue. I've included a few examples as a way to get the most out of your #oneword365.

Have you created resolutions for the new year? Or have you given up on resolutions because you found they haven’t worked in the past? If resolutions work for you, you are in the 20 percent category. Go you!! For those of us who found resolutions usually don’t work, we’re in the 80 percent category according to U.S. News. Either way, it’s okay.

As we put the old year behind us, we always have high hopes, goals, and expectations for the New Year!

As we close in 2020, I wanted to express my gratitude to you personally.

Click the video for my mini message to you and something new for 2021!

It’s time to start fresh. It’s time to Power Up, Play-Up, and Bounce-Up in 2021!

Mj

We wish you the happiest of holidays. During the past nine months, your feedback and support have been a gift to us here at Team Mj. We are very grateful to have you in our Bounce-Up Chronicles Community.

How do you prepare for the new year? My colleague Robert takes life by the horns. He ends December with an intentional plan in a warmer climate. First, he enjoys a week with his family celebrating the holidays. In the second week, he evaluates his year and maps out his business plan and goals for the following year. It’s on his schedule and in his budget. Another colleague, Marquesa, goes “underground,” which is her terminology for going off-the-grid. In a similar way to Robert, Marquesa devotes her time off to her lifestyle business.

In addition to our usual December overload, we have the craziness caused by the ongoing pandemic and mandates this season. Talk about energy zappers.

When we’re concentrating on work tasks, solving problems, processing data, watching TV, and scrolling through social media, our brain remains in action-oriented mode. We think the more we do, the more productive we will be. Unfortunately, it’s the opposite. A full-throttle lifestyle hurts productivity and creativity.

Two weeks ago, I participated in the fabulous Retention Summit for Manufacturers. During the Q&A after my session, someone asked “Mj, how do you keep sales teams motivated as we head to the end of the year?” Before I could answer, the woman continued, “It’s been a hard year and not everyone will hit their quotas. What do you do about it? How do you keep them motivated? What do you say?”

During this month of thankfulness, we are extremely grateful for your support with Bounce-Up Chronicles. Thank you for your wonderful comments and topic suggestions. We genuinely appreciate you!

Have you read a social post that brought a smile because you knew somewhere along the way you had a part in making someone’s goal come true? Over the weekend, one of my former private clients, a young insurance agent, posted that he and his wife were expecting their second child. When we started working together, I asked, “What do you want to achieve by working with me that you can’t do on your own?”

Have you ever thought about the difference between “start over,” “fresh start," and “jumpstart”?

A few days ago, a talented colleague who had his best year in 2019 called. “I’m getting nowhere, and I don’t have the energy to start over.” I understood and felt his battle cry. (Story shared with permission.) If the pandemic struggles have zapped your energy, you get it.

Like many companies, Lisa Ryan’s Grategy™ speaking business came to a screeching halt by the end of March 2020. Without in-person conferences being held, there wasn’t a need for keynote speakers. How many people do you know that have been caught in a similar Catch-22?

In this fluid economy of unexpected changes with commerce, mandates, and buyer’s buying behaviors, Lisa knew she needed to rethink her business model. Not one to remain in the status quo, she searched for ways she could blend her expertise, remote programs, and opportunities together. And what she had in her pocket was a large list of incredible experts that she had built strong relationships with in the past eight years. How could Lisa Bounce-Up™?

We’re in the last week of what has been coined “Pinktober.” Four years ago, this month, I faced the battle of my life with a 20 percent chance of surviving the diagnosis. As life tossed lemons fast and frequently, I found a way to make pink lemonade with the support of my business family (dubbed by my friend and colleague Renee Thompson of Healthy Workforce Institute) and my Power Teams.

Do naysayers have an impact on your decisions or outcomes? Research shows adults are more prone to allow naysayers to influence their behaviors/actions than children. At five, Josh Rulnick’s orthopedic doctor shared the prognosis that kids with hip perthes disease struggled in sports and would never be good. This was crushing as Josh had been ice skating for three years and played on a mini-mite hockey team. For the next six years, this grade-schooler could not run, hop, skip or jump because the hip would deteriorate more until the disease ran its course. During the healing process, he became a competitive backstroke swimmer—the one sport he could participate in safely.

Has a startup ever grabbed your attention so much that you followed its path? In 2014, a campus tour led by college students Brian Kelly and Zachary Quinn caught mine. Two years earlier, Brian and Zach met during an entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. For their class project, they needed to start a business that made a profit by the end of the semester. Since the Minnesota winters were cold and there wasn’t a lot of fashionable headwear, the duo focused on beanies.