Reflections - What are you doing to make 2020 stronger?

Captured in the Imperial Gardens of the palace in Tokyo, this image hangs as a 30 x 60 canvas on the wall of our home. It was captured with a $249 point and shoot, but a good friend, using NIK software gave it just a little bit of magic for me. I've always loved the reflection across the top.

​by Skip Cohen

​It's Sunday morning, and if you follow me regularly, then you've noticed a pattern of me whining about the puppies and being up at 6:15 am every morning. And while I was always an early riser, Lucy and Belle have created a new pattern in our home. And Sunday mornings, which used to be outrageously quiet with Molly the Wonder Dog asleep at my feet, are long gone - but that's not bad.

I want to go right to my point this morning...we're down to the wire. Christmas is only three days away. Chanukah starts tonight. And the start of a new year is in ten days. What are you going to do to close the year differently than you have in the past? What's the plan to kick off the new year differently than you've done before?

There's that old line about if you do what you've always done, you'll never get more than you ever got. Well, I don't want New Year's day to just me another morning. I want 2020 to be a different kind of year. One of my most favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar goes:

“Your attitude, not aptitude, will determine your altitude”

​Here's what I've already started doing:

• My day ends and starts with a look at my calendar. The longer I'm in this business, the more things I forget. It's the equivalent of traveling a lot and never remembering where you parked the car!
• Then comes a run through my email. I'm using flags more often and trying hard to only touch each email once.
• Next on the list is checking Facebook and Twitter for responses and to see what activity happened around the industry while I was asleep. Then it's the birthday list on FB. It might seem like a small thing, but it's important to me - and I hate when I miss a good friend's birthday or anniversary.
• And here's the BIG one - I stop to read something entirely outside of the business. For me this morning, it was Melody Beattie. I'm finishing off this year and starting 2020 with The Language of Letting Go. What do I want to let go of? Bad habits - reactions that make mountains out of molehills; attitudes that drain energy and block my ability to focus on the positive.

I've written about this so many times over the years - you've got to feed your brain and your heart with more than photography and business. You'll never keep your perspective if the only thing you feed every day is your stomach! 

And there you have it, the way I hope to build a daily foundation that has a routine of predictability combined with a quick super-charge. And if you hate the idea of reading Melody Beattie, then hit google for inspirational quotes, YouTube for motivational videos, or pick a few of your favorite artists to follow. 

Oh, and there's one more great ingredient - there's always music on in our house. There are five Alexas playing all day long, and our musical tastes range from classical to Celtic Women to James Taylor and Crosby, Stills and Nash - you never know what Sheila and I are going to need to help keep our energy focused.

Wishing everybody a terrific day ahead, whether it's Sunday where you are or Monday. Make it a day that helps set the stage for the new year, but keep things in perspective. You're only one person, and there's only so much you can do. Most important of all - don't be afraid to ask for help when you seem to hit the wall! Always go for those eleven-second hugs with the people most important to you.

​Happy Sunday, everybody!