How to Forget About 2015

For me, 2015 was fantastic. We doubled the size of my company, I put a book on the NYT Bestsellers list and Betsy and I settled into our second year of marriage. I wish every year could be this good.

The truth is, it wasn’t always this way, though.

It’s hard to believe that just a couple years before Betsy and I got married, life was a complete mess. I remember not-so-fondly coming to the end of 2011 and being grateful the year was over. I’d lost almost everything in an insecure financial investment, was alone, confused, and behind a deadline on a book.

Some years are better than others.

I’m writing to let you know if you had a bad year, things can and likely will get better. Much better.

Not long ago I interviewed the owners of Canlis Restaurant, a fine-dining restaurant on the west coast. The restaurant has won 17 consecutive Grand Awards from Wine Spectator Magazine and is considered one of the best restaurants in America. The owners are brothers, Mark and Brian Canlis, and the third generation in their family to run the restaurant.

And they’re continuing a legacy.

Canlis has been at the top of the fine-dining scene for 64 years.

When I asked what the secret was, the answer they gave that caught my interest most was “change.” They said they knew how and when to change. Mark and Brian said life should be viewed similarly to how we look through the windshield of a car. They said the windshield is much larger than the rearview mirror.

Photo Credit: Christopher Michel, Creative Commons

People who spend too much time looking back at their failures tend to repeat them. Mark and Brian’s advice was this:

Keep looking forward.

Know where you’re going and steer the car toward something new and exciting. And you can’t do that if you’re always looking in the rear-view mirror.

As I’ve already mentioned, later this week I’m going to start a blog series called Start Life Over. The series will start this coming Friday and covers 5 things every person needs to know if they want to start their lives again.

We all get tons of advice this time of year. But this isn’t advice. These are the 5 paradigm shifts I’ve encountered that have changed the way I’ve viewed my life.

Read the blog each day, will you? We’re growing this community by inviting more and more people to completely change their story and live out of their strengths and passions. We want you to join us.

If you don’t think you’ll remember come Friday morning, I’m offering the entire series as a free PDF right now. The whole series. Download it and pass it around. Let’s explore these ideas together.

If you want more help planning an incredible year, I highly encourage you to be a part of Michael Hyatt’s online course, 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever.

On January 7th, that course goes away.

If you’ve not taken the course, now’s a great time to start. People have loved it.

We hope you enjoy the Start Life Over series. If you’d like to read it all at once, here’s the PDF now. To get the deal on the life plan, click here.

Can’t wait for 2016! See you back on Friday.