2018 Reflections and Blessings

I started 2018 with a theme and that theme was to simply, strip back and be more INTUITIVE in my life.

It’s been a pretty amazing year I have to say.

I stripped a lot of my life back and decided to ask myself more questions. One of my biggest questions was, Am I happy doing what I do every day?”

The answer was NOT really.

I had lost touch and need to get more creative.

That need a plan without a plan. I decided with Tamuna to get rid of a lot of things – this reduces mental clutter for me and then as good as start again from a different level.

Now I don’t mean start absolutely from the ground up but I do mean reset my mental thinking.

Also, we wanted a baby. That’s a long story in itself. I’d had a vasectomy in 1998 so clearly, this was a problem. Could it be reversed? I finally had 3.5-hour microsurgery by one of the world’s best specialists to reverse the previous damage.  

Not only did it work but I had a super sperm count that made twentysomethings look like old men. I can only put that down to diet and zero alcohol consumption for well over a decade.

But it still wasn’t happening and I am not getting any younger. So this year we decided that whilst we were doing something so radical we would also go away for the whole summer and do IVF whilst in Tbilisi.

That is what we did.

Not only was my mind being reset we also went for IVF privately, and this eventually gave us the pregnancy resulting in twins. We lost one early but the other this morning is kicking like crazy and now at 22-weeks.

It’s too long a story to tell you here but we are having our baby.

So, I began the year with clarity but it wasn’t clear enough for me. I need and wanted more peace. The only way I can get that kind of peace is to stop doing what I am doing so I can have time to think.

Also, I needed a radical rethink on my businesses. Orange Beetle and marketing has changed so radically I know it needed a radical rethink. That rethink is still in progress and I am thinking about going into filmmaking – maybe!

So, we bought a one-way ticket to Tbilisi and then spent the summer creating a baby and renovating our 5th home for rental. Five months to the day we flew back home at 12-weeks pregnant and my mind mentally refreshed and ready to move forward.

I still don’t feel clear on Orange Beetle but I am clear on my own accomplished skills and what huge service I can offer my partners and clients. So, this year I stepped back a little from Orange Beetle and focused on one secret project, finishing and publishing a new book (which is a best-seller), my new publishing house, a new philosophy book and a plan for my new year.

By the way, I don’t give any weight to new year’s resolutions so I start when I start and keep going until I get my results. I feel a new year resolution is a pack mentality action that most do because they are expected to do it.

I do have a feeling 2019 will be one of my best years yet.

2018 gave me a new kind of (business) peace I hadn’t seen for some time. 2019 feels like new energy and an increase in my own inner power.

This year has been truly amazing. New baby on its way, a new home, new fresher and clearer perspectives, more peace, more clarity, bigger thoughts.

I also had a huge lesson in 2018. That lesson was the power of having multiple businesses because one of my background businesses became my highest turnover business this year and I just didn’t expect that at all. It was a bonus for us but also a shock at some levels. It again reveals of having more than one business that doesn’t devour time wholesale.

I do wonder why most business owners rarely have a backup business?

I will share this with you.

When I create focus I put my focus first on my needs. My needs also include money. No money means no anything.

Nothing airy fairy just what pays for everything and leaves enough excess so I can enjoy life with my family.

Next is do what I love to be doing. If I don’t like doing it the energy is negative and if the energy is negative nothing gets done. My energy has to go into something I enjoy doing but of course, not everything is enjoyable.

I am excited about the new year but I did begin 2018 a little stuck. That’s fine that happens at times and those are the times you must move forward and past those moments as fast as you can.

I never stop believing any year can be what you create and mould it into. The real question is this, are we doing what needs to be done to make those real changes for yourself?

Every year we start with a theme. This year’s theme for us is a theme we named – FOUNDATIONS (2017 was Deliberate Recreation, 2018 was INTUITION).

That means more change, that means more new directions and that means leveraging my current skillset and mastering new skills sets if I need them.

I love change. A mind that no longer creates is a bored mind. A bored mind is a dying mind. A dying mind leads to one place and one place only and it’s the place most don’t want to visit.

Finally, …

I know an old 84yr old guy that wishes he had done everything. His reality is he never did a lot apart from work. I spoke to him just the other day and he repeated what he always repeats and that is how his life wasn’t what it should have been.

He stands and complains but really never did a lot to make the changes. At 84yrs his changes are all a bit late but there is a good lesson there that’s for sure.

What have you planned for 2019?

More of the same or are you finally going to make the changes you need and also try and lay down some new foundations?

Life is as exciting as you make it. MAKE IT being the words you need to think through. I didn’t say others make but what YOU MAKE IT.

I can be what you want it to be. That doesn’t mean it’ll happen in a day or a week or a month or even a year – it’ll happen when it happens but you need to prepare right now to make sure those changes take place and you are ready when they arrive.

Thank you for supporting me all of these years on my email lists. I know some of you have been here since the very early 2000s.

Let's work hard and create a year to remember, a year of real and lasting changes.

My wife Tamuna and I wish you all of the very best for 2019.

Peace, love and more happiness.

Alan Forrest Smith