After 20 years of personal growth work, I don't have to think about it. It just happens. As December draws to a close, my thoughts automatically turn to the year ahead and I find myself setting goals and making plans.

I was fully engaged in this process the other day when I heard my wife Marianna's voice: "Andrew, come quickly." I raced into my daughter's bedroom to find Marianna pointing at the growth chart pinned to the wall. "Look, Daddy. Tiana has grown 3 inches since we adopted her in July." A huge celebration ensued. Marianna and I danced around praising Tiana while she stood there looking very pleased with herself.

As I returned to my office to continue planning the year ahead, I realized I was going about things all wrong. We celebrate everything 17 month-old Tiana does. "What a good girl. You ate your dinner!" and "You're so clever. You climbed the stairs all by yourself!" We cheer and high-five dozens of times every day. Why? Because we want her to have confidence and high self-esteem.

Meanwhile, the past year was one of the best years of my entire life, both personally and professionally. Yet I was overlooking my accomplishments and putting all of my attention on where I was going. I had forgotten to celebrate my progress!

Sound familiar? People in our society, especially those of us that are "success seekers", tend to focus on the future. Ironically, this can actually hold us back.

I am sure you would agree that having genuine confidence contributes greatly to one's success. So, how do you increase your confidence? One answer is, by acknowledging and celebrating your wins. When you downplay or ignore your successes, as most of us do, you miss a valuable chance to build your confidence. You also lose the opportunity to experience your momentum. (You may believe you do not have any momentum, but I challenge you to document your progress. I suspect you will be amazed!)

I was surprised to catch myself overlooking my successes, because I know better. Celebrating progress is a core part of the ProCoach Success System and we have our members do it every week. I find it interesting that I am so used to celebrating on a weekly basis that I forgot about the significance of reviewing my entire year.

The analogy I like to use in my seminars is that becoming successful is like building a fire. Each time you experience a win, no matter how small, it adds fuel to your fire. If you make it a habit to identify and celebrate your successes, before long you will have built a red-hot fire and become virtually unstoppable.

How can you bring more attention to your successes? One way is to track your results. Do you keep accurate records of your annual income, your net worth, time off and other indicators that are important to you? If not, I recommend you start. We ask ProCoach members to monitor this information and frequently they get surprised. Over and over again we hear, "I had no idea I was doing so well." Even if the results are less than you were hoping for, at least you know the facts!

Returning to the "year end" theme, here is what I suggest you do. Before you begin working on your plan for 2006, take 15 - 20 minutes to write down and review your successes in 2005. Try going through your calendar month by month. Guaranteed you will remember major successes you had forgotten about.

To help you do this, I have posted a "Progress Review" sheet you can use to our website.
You can download or print it at: https://procoachsystem.com/review.html.

Whether you use my Progress Review sheet or document your year in another way, I expect you will be surprised and delighted when you see how much you have accomplished in the past year. When you are finished, don't forget to do something to celebrate your success!

Wishing you all the best in 2006,

Andrew Barber-Starkey, Master Certified Coach.

Announcements

Book the ProCoach to speak to your group

Master Certified Coach Andrew Barber-Starkey will be traveling to Edmonton, Calgary and Seattle/Bellevue during January and February 2006. If you belong to a networking group or other organization in these areas and would like to have Andrew speak to your group, please call the ProCoach office at 604-983-8041 or email .
Andrew is also available to speak to groups in the Vancouver area.

ProCoach Price Increase

Recently ProCoach has been offering a discounted "Introductory Price" of $179 per month to new members. After two years in business we are now well established and our members are consistently achieving phenomenal results. Meanwhile, the costs associated with delivering our program continue to increase. Therefore, effective February 1, 2006 new members will pay our full price of $197 per month. If you are planning to join ProCoach, be sure to submit your registration before February 1 to receive the discounted $179 per month rate. If you wish to discuss the benefits of membership with Andrew personally, call our office at 604-983-8041 or . Note that prices for our existing members will not increase at this time.