So there’s about 90 minutes to go until the new year begins here. I was going to do one of those really cheesy end of the year posts, but I just can’t bring myself to write one. Lucky you, eh.

One thing I did want to do is mention that for the woman whose home we were trying to save before Christmas (see A Christmas Story in the Making), the goal was met. In a truly beautiful symphony of teamwork and togetherness, the members of the Warrior Forum raised enough through sales and donations to help Tina save her home. I really do love happy endings.

I love happy beginnings to, and will be posting something tomorrow about that.

For now, I want to wish you all the love, laughter, peace, and prosperity you can handle and then some. May all your dreams come true in the coming year.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Love ya,
Lena

There was an interesting comment made on a post over at Divine Purpose Unleashed last night. It got me thinking about accountability partners and the role they play in productivity.

In the original post which talked about making a commitment to living your purpose this year, CK Reyes asked us to find someone to support us and hold us accountable.
One of the commenters said that she didn’t agree with the concept of an accountability partner because it was like giving your personal power away.

Now, I have serious issues with giving my power away that stem from my background as a victim of abuse. I’ve been working for years to reclaim my own power and get my life back. So the thought that I might be giving it all away again was pretty disturbing, to say the least.

I ended up chewing on this for most of the day today, trying to figure out just how I feel about the relationship I have with my accountability partner, and whether it’s an empowering or disempowering relationship. Thinking about the whole issue of accountability and responsibility made me realize that for me, being accountable to someone in this way isn’t giving my power away, it’s empowering me to be better at what being who I am and doing what I do.

It’s like knowing that there is someone there who I can tell what I got done in a day and who will encourage me to do more is really freeing. By the same token I know that if I’m trying to do too much she won’t hesitate to tell me to slow down a bit either. I know that I work better to a deadline than I do when I just have a list of stuff to do. And even though I still set my deadlines for myself, just knowing that there’s someone else who knows that deadline is enough for me.

The fact that it’s MY choice to share my goals and deadlines and to ask for support and encouragement is what makes the difference. In recognizing that I have issues with procrastination and focus and asking for help to deal with those, I would classify an accountability partnership the same as I would classify a relationship with a coach or trainer — as someone who is there at my request to encourage me to meet my goals and to get better at what I do, not to usurp my power and impose their own opinions and deadlines on me.

I love the relationship I have with my accountability partner. We keep each other focused, and I think we’re both more productive for it. Maybe in light of that, a better term for it would be a productivity partnership. What do you think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Please feel free to leave them in the comments or share them with me on twitter.

So, it’s time for changes again. And yeah, I’m probably starting to sound like a broken record on this but I am so determined to have a better 2009 and to make some serious changes in my own life.

One of the reasons that I’ve never had a lot of success in making changes stick is the way I prepared for them. I was always in the new year’s resolution mindset of I’ll try this, start on New Year’s Day, and if it works fine, and if not there’s always next year. This year I already have a written plan, and goals set out for both the personal and business sides of my life. And I’m not waiting until Thursday to start.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting a major purge and declutter session here. One of my main goals for 2009 is to complete a cross-country move. And there’s no way I’m carting everything I’ve got hoarded up here 2000 miles. We went to Home Depot yesterday and grabbed some big plastic packing bins to put the stuff in that we’ll take with us, but that isn’t absolutely necessary for living right now. We’re stocked up on recycling bags and trash bags for the stuff that’s getting thrown out, and I’ve got boxes here to store stuff in that’s going up on E-bay over the next few days. I’m prepared for change this year, and prepared to take action to make sure it all happens.

Once our cleaning and decluttering is done, all the desks are getting rearranged. My big 3-sided office station is getting broken down into two parts. One for my son’s room, and one for mine. I find trying to write out here with the tv and other distractions really hard to do. I’ve wanted a desk in my bedroom for the actual pen and paper portion of my writing process for ages, and am finally going to have it by the end of this week. Another of my goals is this year is to write a novel, and by moving these desks around I’ll have a place to write where I can actually go and shut the door.

I’m really excited by the prospect of a new year and a new life… Bet ya couldn’t tell, could ya?

What about you? Are you making any changes in the new year, and are you prepared for them?