Sue Arden ...................................................................................Success in the Year of the Horse...........
With 2013 behind us and a fresh year ahead, ‘reflection time’ is at hand.
Firstly, reflect on the past 12 months and what worked well? What would you prefer to not repeat? Knowing how you
performed against your 2013 goals or aspirations is amongst the most powerful ‘motivational meetings’ a person can
have with themselves. Perhaps calling this a personal EKG to establish a ‘base line’ of the last 12 months makes more
sense.
If you haven’t done this before, it may be an awaking time of more clarity. If you didn’t set any measurable goals, 2014
can be your starting point to fine tune your future.
Goals can be personal, family, health, educational or creative like singing, painting or charity work if that’s important
to you. So get out your laptop, iPad, or notebook and jot down your past. It doesn’t need to be a ‘War & Peace’ novel,
just review, clean up what didn’t work and get refocused. Honestly, I’m on this same path. I was so busy from the start
of 2013; I never defined my strategy or deployed it very well. Yes, 2013 was a good, but I want 2014 to be great.
In reflection, I have assessed that I have been blessed with tenacity, talented friends and great family support.
Tenacity: Google’s definition is ‘strength but not often the best approach - without focus you can kill yourself trying’. I
have used this approach at times when told, ‘because of my age, I would not be able to achieve that management
position’. Yes this was a red flag to a bull; yet I did learn valuable lessons with this approach which earned me career
promotions and country leadership roles.
Professional / Personal Friends: No need for Google - these are your ‘trusted friends’. We need people who inspire us
and can offer strength during challenging business times. Perhaps those who can see gaps at a distance, can offer
‘training, strategy or encouragement’ and believe in you.
I have a close girl friend named Carolyn. She lives in the North Sydney area, owns a successful executive consulting
practice and over many years, has been very helpful to me. She doesn’t solve my business issues yet she offers varied
approaches in which she lets me decide what is best for me.
Her monthly inspirational messages via e mail and video are brief, yet powerful. A recent topic she posted was on ‘The
Secret to Raising Self Esteem’ and hit the mark for me that week. It also gave me tips I could use to help a colleague in
my company who needed some support and ideas.
Inspirational Mentors: Madonna, Julia Roberts, Dame Judi Dench and public figures like Michelle Obama can be
inspiring. Known for re-inventing herself and pushing the envelope in her industry, Madonna was the 2012 to 2013
highest paid female entertainer worldwide (again) earning well over $130 million.
Julia and Judi have been in iconic movie roles and defining performances in their long careers while Michelle's dress
sense and style is her own. She doesn’t wait for the latest trends; she sets them. Comfortable with her decisions, once
saying when told fashion guru Oscar de la Renta questioned her fashion sense, she responded ... what does he know?
Family / Close Friends: In this area I am blessed as I have the love and respect from people who I care about. They
encourage me to improve, be me and I help them whenever I can if they need me for something.
Assess your past, design your future and know what you want to achieve...time to get cracking on the year ahead.
Sue Arden MBE is known for hiring, training and developing high performing sales,
service and major account logistics teams in the South Pacific, Asia and Middle East
regions. Experienced in B2B, front line to senior level with a solid track record, she’s
spoken at numerous Logistics Industry Conferences in SE Asia, China, Germany, UK,
Austria, UAE, Greece, Australia and the United States over the last two decades.
[email protected]