Green Apple

26 Days In

I love January, a good month for an Aquarius because we get to put our heads up in the clouds and think big picture.  I also love the feeling of the clean slate.  And after 2009, I think most of us were craving one.  So, now 26 days in, how does that slate look?  There's a lot on the slate, but as Bob Dylan sings:  "It's all good."  I'm feeling hopeful for 2010 and as I said recently at a WPO retreat in Greenwich, CT, I think that 2010 is going to be a pivotal year. The kind of year that we look back on and recognize it as a year when many things gained momentum and hit their tipping points.  Yes, it's true that there is a lot happening quickly and spinning around us, but now more than ever, we have to make sure that we give ourselves "the white space" for thinking, pausing, rejuvenation. You can't reinvent anything when you're out of breath.  So, take a deep one and make room for a little peace within today.

Working in the Woods

Good Fortune -- in this case an article about me in Fortune Small Business -- has given me a lot more than my 15 seconds. Since this article appeared on 9/11, I received almost 50 beautifully written emails from entrepreneurs and kindred spirits all over country. I've been touched by the stories and grateful for the opportunity to hear them. It made me realize that we entrepreneurs are indeed a force. We are making our own rules and doing it our way. Of course, I read the stats and know we're out there, but there's a lot less written now about the free agent than there was during the dot com daze. Maybe it's fear. When that bubble exploded, were we afraid to put our dreams back out there again and admit we still had a big dream? I think I was a little afraid of being too bold or too hopeful after 9/11. But, I'm over that now! It's 2007 and there's talk of recession, but recession doesn't kill dreams and vision. Recessions may slow a dream down, but they don't kill them. So all you entrepreneurs out there (this includes entrepreneurs who are in cubicles ready to break out), vocalize that vision, then write it down, and put together your own personal visual map that communicates your dream to YOU. Look at it every day. As Buddha said: "All we are is a result of what we have thought." So let those thoughts take flight! I'll see you in the sky, as you fly over my deck in VT. I'll be the one rocking in the cedar rocking chair, smiling.