A Running Start

Happy New Year! 2010 has been off to a running start. In Japan it is the year of the Tiger and you can feel a tempered optimism in the air. I say tempered because the Japanese are a fairly reserved people. Unless of course the sake is flowing and then all neckties become headbands as the warriors P-A-R-T-Y but that is another story.

I hope that your New Year is off to an amazing beginning. I was blessed to be able to watch the first sunrise of the New Year from the roof top of my good friend's 3-storey home and company. I stumbled up there early and was rewarded with the silence and stillness of a perfect winter day. In fact it was more like night as a huge waxy yellow moon hung off in the distance. It took me a while to make out the "Mon" peaks of the temple walls below.

My eyes were drawn down in that direction when an old man of about 90 teetered into the garden riding an antique bicycle. He zigzagged along the temple's pathway. He was laden with bags of gifts to welcome in the Gods. By this time I had jammed my frozen hands under my armpits so that I could keep enough blood in them to open the rooftop door and get back down after sunrise. And sure enough there it was. At first just the teasing rays appeared along the roofs and houses, then the full blown orb bobbed above the cityscape. I gave a quiet prayer for the year past and the one ahead, and turned to go back down. As I did I was astounded to see Mt. Fuji glowing behind me, luminescent with the sun glinting off the snow.

Later in the morning we all went up to the rooftop together and looked about. The old man in the temple below had been joined by five or six of his buddies. As it turned out not all of the gifts were for the Gods. Within the bags a few mikan oranges and sake had been tucked away for his friends.

I needed alarm to get up early on New Year's day. Today and yesterday, however, I woke up about 5 minutes before my 5:30 am alarm call. Why? Well, I gathered some info and it turns out that humans have an internal mechanism much like honeybees do. Combined with Pavlovian conditioning and "circadian rhythms", our body is able to get up before the alarm.

You are probably wondering why am I talking about this. Well, back on New Year's day we did our annual goal setting for the year. It is a basic overview of the four categories in our life and business that we set out to focus on for the year ahead. It's really much like setting an alarm clock isn't it? You make a plan, imprint it upon your conscious and allow your subconscious to drive it. With action and attention, you'll hit those targets. You decide on a time, set the clock and wake up when the alarm rings.

Revisit your dreams and goals for this year and see where you can add attention and let your natural energy work for you. It might be that extra bit more that helps you hit the ball out of the park in 2010.