We’d like to wish all of our clients, prospects, friends, and readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Purple Ink experienced tremendous growth in 2018 – both in team members and in revenues – and we are planning for continued growth and new services in 2019! We are grateful to each of you for trusting in our services, for referring us new opportunities, for reading our blogs, and for listening to our JoyPowered podcast! We appreciate you!

A few thoughts and reminders as we close out 2018:

1. Review your 2018 goals.

Celebrate successes and learn from both the goals you reached and the goals you did not. Were they set too low or too high? Did the course change throughout the year? Or did you just not devote the time, energy, and/or resources to get them accomplished? Regardless, move forward by establishing goals for 2019.

2. Reflect on how you discovered joy in your days in 2018.

Which events, projects, tasks, or successes brought you the most joy? How might you repeat those moments again tomorrow? How might you plan for them more intentionally in 2019?

3. Articulate and aim your strengths and talents.

We recommend articulating them by taking the CliftonStrengths assessment at gallupstrengthscenter.com. Consider training or coaching to help you aim your strengths to:

• Keep you focused
• Make your life/work simpler
• Find more joy in your days

Gallup research has proven that those who focus on their strengths:

• Look forward to going to work
• Have more positive than negative interactions with coworkers
• Treat customers better
• Tell their friends they work for a great company
• Achieve more on a daily basis
• Have more positive, creative, and innovative moments

4. Remember that joy is deeper than happiness.

Happiness is dependent on a situation or someone else; it’s based on immediate gratification, achievement, or philanthropy, but if you stop here, there will be something missing. That something is a union with God – giving yourself over to the mystery of God and allowing yourself to be shaped by that mystery, because that union alone can lead us to true joy. How beautiful will it be if at the end of our lives we can say what Jesus said: John 17:4 “Father, I accomplished everything you sent me to accomplish” What a beautiful time of year to share in this!

5. Focus on what’s right with people.

Ask yourself, your team, and/or your family on a daily basis: “What will happen when we think about what is right with people rather than fixating on what is wrong with them?” – Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D.; psychologist and business executive (1924-2003)

6. Set yourself up for a joyful 2019!