&!

It's New Years Eve.   Most of you are off of work today and getting ready for a night of festivities and pulling back the curtain on a new year...the dawn of a new beginning.   Yes, I know many of you are making resolutions and setting goals - that's a good thing.  Fitness, finances, family and fun should be a part of what you plan to be, do and have in 2015.   Can I give you "the secret" to achieving all of your goals?   It is the symbol to the left.  Its real name is Ampersand, it common name is "And" but many know it by it's symbol...   "&".   Handy little symbol that does a lot of neat things.  Its primary job is to combine things.   Peanut butter & Jelly, This & That, Yin & Yang, To & Fro, High & Low, Rich & Poor...ok, you get the picture.   How is this symbol the key to achieving all of your goals in 2015?  Its other job is to connect things.  As it relates to your best year ever it connects...   Before & After     Lets take a look at "Before".  Before is easy.  It is what we look like today with no effort.  The bank account could be $0 (or overdrawn!), the scale could be enemy #1, our marriage could be on the rocks or we could be addicted to libations on the rocks. Before doesn't require anything...it just is.     But "Before" is not what we want...we want "After".  More often than not, we try to hide our "Before".  We don't want people to know how bad things have gotten.  That we have allowed things to erode, living our lives along the path of least resistance. Deep down, we know what is wrong with our "Before" and what we allowed to get there. That also means we know what it will take to get out of it! That is why we make resolutions and set goals...to get to "After".  The "After" we are eager to show gets us positive attention.  It always basks in the light of adoration...a testament to the human will and the crowning achievement of persistence in the face of overwhelming odds and circumstances.  The Horatio Alger "Rags to Riches" story is always applauded - from the welfare mother who gets her first house, to Sara Blakely (Spanx) going from nothing to millions.  Jared is still famous (and rich!) from losing weight eating Subway sandwiches.  Millions of people still watch the "overnight success" opportunity presented by American Idol, The Voice and others. We all love a good "Before & After" story.  While we focus on the difference between the Before/After, it is what happened between them that really matters.  That is where the "&" comes in.  The "&" is where we put in the work, fight against old conditioning and habits. It is where we toil and struggle without fanfare or applause.  We have to encourage ourselves.  Do more squat, run one more mile, make one more phone call, write one more chapter, go on a date with your spouse, take your daughter to lunch...it isn't always glamorous, but the "&" is not supposed to be. The "&" represents time, energy, effort and focus.  It is a cocoon of safety and anonymity, where you can succeed, fail...and try again as many times as it takes to get to "After" - without peering eyes of judgment. It is the place of metamorphosis.  I am not interest in what you looked like "Before".  Not to burst your bubble, I am not that interested in your "After" either - though I will clap with everyone else.  I now understand that my mission in life is to cheerlead you through the private, inner battles of your metamorphosis. To exhort and encourage you when you want to give up, when the price of achievement seems to high and when you are looking for inspiration to make another go of this precious thing called life. Make 2015 The Year.  Take a real look at "Before"...set an audacious and bodacious "After" and know that you have more than what it takes to achieve it and make it through your    &!   For 2015 and beyond, I wish you Money, Power, Success!