My New Year!

My New Year

Monday, December 26^th, is my New Year. That’s right. It’s not the same as everyone else. It doesn’t begin on January 1^st but it begins on December 26^th. That’s when I make my resolutions. That’s when I begin planning for the next 365 days. That’s the day when I decide how I’m going to work each day, to get myself to that point in life where I become the person that I want to be in the eyes of my fans, friends, family and loved ones.

Monday is my new year. My birthday. The beginning of my new year. I’ll probably take December 31^st to reaffirm the resolutions that I make on my birthday. I’ll take the month of January to decide if I made the right decisions. I’ll decide if I need to tweak anything in order to reach the goals that I want to reach. I’m going to do the things that I need to do, to be successful this coming year and be the best person, the best writer and the best businessman that I can be.

I know that no one can change overnight. I understand that change, no matter how well intended, needs to be planned out, prepared for and executed in such a way as to ensure success. If you don’t do that why even bother? I’ve seen so many people who decide that tomorrow is the day when they will begin a new behavior. They do so without any preparation, and they end up failing in their efforts.

I’ve taken this past year to try different things just to see what would work, and what wouldn’t, and now I’ve come up with a plan. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be the most difficult year of my life, but in the end, it’s going to be worth it, and every year after this will be the best, the most fun and the most wonderful years of my life.

I want each of you to come with me on this journey. I will keep you updated on my progress and I would love to hear from you with your thoughts, suggestions and comments. You can post your thoughts here, or feel free to Email me at author@drewbankston.com.  If you go to my website (drewbankston.com) and sign up to be on my mailing list as part of my team, you’ll most likely have the opportunity to get free books, free other stuff and help me get this year underway. So, yeah, tomorrow is the first day of my new year and a year that’s going to be incredible. Tomorrow will begin the best of all years that I’ve ever lived. Come. Join me. Let’s make this year the very best, together.

Preparing for 2017

It’s really interesting to me, that at the end of 2015 people were saying what an awful year it was and how 2016 will be the best year ever! Now I’m seeing posts on social media echoing the sentiments of last year. People are talking about how 2016 was terrible and how 2017 will turn lives around.

For me, 2016 was an amazing year. No, I didn’t win the lottery and I didn’t inherit millions of dollars. But, I did decide to make each day a wonderful day, and I was able to maintain that thought everyday. I started each morning by encouraging others to have the best day ever. In doing that, I feel that I was encouraging myself to do the same. It worked! Even though, as with every road, I encountered bumps and ruts and daily discouragements, for some reason they didn’t seem as bad as they might have been. I found myself focusing on the solutions to the problems rather than the problems themselves and looking for answers rather than dwelling on the difficulties in finding them. This type of attitude made each day, when the day was over, a joy and a blessing. Life became something that I looked forward to each moment of each day, and the next day was anticipated with great zeal.

At the end of the year, just like the end of each day, I’m able to look back and say that this was an incredible year. I can see where my shortcomings cropped up and the parts of my life that need work for this coming year so that I can make 2017 even better than this year has been. I can honestly say that 2017 will be amazing. I can already see it coming. I know where I want to be at the end of the year and I know how I want to get there. Will I make it? I hope so. I want to be a well known author. I want to be even more successful than I was this year. I want to be a better person. These are big “wants” and will only be realized through hard work, daily evaluations, goal setting and ever changing action plans. I believe that I’ve laid down the foundation to bring it all together. 2017 will be a year for change. This will be a year of progress. This will be a year of realizations. Better than 2016, which was amazing. So yes, 2017 will be a better year, but 2016 wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad at all. It built a runway to launch my dreams to new heights and from there, I’ll be able to see for miles. I’m prepared for 2017. Are you?

Drew~

Holidays in Alternative, Colorado. A Christmas Story

Holidays in Alternative, Colorado. A Christmas Story

I wasn’t sure what to expect from such a small town as far as the holidays were concerned. There wasn’t a lot of snow and, in fact, there didn’t seem to be much snow in any of Colorado this year, but still there was a small dusting. There was just enough to make the sidewalks a little icy and it turned cold enough to let you know that winter was getting close.

I bundled up and went for a walk. I’m not sure why I like to walk through this quaint little town, but I do and somehow I always manage to see something a little different each time. Today as I was walking, I passed by the Downtown Hardware Store. Joseph Benjamin, the proprietor of the store, was out in front putting up some Christmas lights and hanging a few other decorations on the store front. He didn’t go by Joe, just so that you know this. He insisted that everyone call him Joseph. It had been that way all of the 46 years he had been alive. He didn’t want his name shorted at all, Something about being a tribute to his great-great-grandfather. Joseph’s ancestor was the first in his family to come to Colorado in his family. Joseph decided that he would carry on his great-great-grandfather’s name and, on this particular holiday, he decided that he was going to carry on the Christmas traditions of his relative by decorating in an old fashioned way. He was even putting the stenciled snow scenes on the window of the store.

Mrs. Esther Williams walked by and had to point out a few things to Joseph, being the proper English woman that she was. At least, she came from a family who, several generations back, lived in England before migrating tot he states. But still. Esther fancied herself a proper English lady and attempted to carry on the traditions, as she saw them, that her distant family would do, although she really didn’t like the thought of such things as blood pudding. She preferred to enjoy the Christmas cakes and cookies along with the fudge that her neighbor, Barnaby Costello would bring by. Barnaby wasn’t really a person who celebrated Christmas. He didn’t celebrate much of anything, but he was lonely and enjoyed Esther’s company, so he would either bake or purchase holiday treats and wrap up a plate with plastic wrap and a bow on top and bring it by to Esther’s house. It would give them a chance to sit and talk and perhaps have a glass or two of a rum punch that Esther was so fond of making to go with the cookies.

Esther’s house was always decorated nicely for the holidays and, if he admitted the truth to himself, Barnaby enjoyed the festiveness of it all, almost as much as he enjoyed Esther’s company. So when she pointed out a few things to Joseph about his decorations, like the fact that he needed a little more holly around the door frame, he ready agreed, nodding his head as if listening tot he wisdom of the Christmas sage, and hurried off to gather a little more of the plastic holly.

I like walking through town this time of the year, because the lights are mostly the old fashioned kind, the plastic manger scenes are older and Joseph always has a few spots where the paint is missing on his cheek. Rick Jones has three plastic life-sized choir boys on his lawn, and he plays music that makes it seem like they’re singing. There are no competitions here in Alternative as to who will have the biggest and best display. The Swensens decorate in a Swedish motif. Their neighbors, the Goldsteins, put a menorah in the window. Everyone decorates modestly but sincerely as they see the holidays and each family stands out in front of their houses or businesses and they smile and stand close to each other to admire their work. Us? We just put up a tree, a few lights outside, and made sure that we had firewood to burn in the fireplace each night while we drink hot chocolate and watch the old Christmas shows on TV. Family and traditions live on in this small town, and our family will share in the diversity of those over the next few weeks.

And that’s the news this week from Alternative, CO., where people think about different things.

Blink of an Eye

Life is an amazing swirl of, well, everything. Nothing in life is static. It’s constantly changing and ever evolving. Often, life takes twists and turns that can make us high as a kite one moment and lower than low the next. It’s a lot like jumping on a trampoline. Yup. That’s life.

Often we hear of people who just can’t see beyond the next moment. Those people, sadly, choose to move on and away from this life. We all have different beliefs about what happens after this life, and this blog is not to talk about that. This blog is being written to talk about the changing moments in this silly little thing that we call life. You never know when that big break, or that million dollars, or that new love will be there. It could be years away, yes, but it could also be on it’s way only to manifest itself to you in the next few minutes. Everything that you’ve hoped for and everything that you’ve ever dreamed of, could be waiting for you right now, just a few centimeters away. Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever stop believing that your dreams can come true. I have been in that low place. I have looked at that brick wall and wondered how I would ever scale it. I have stared into my future and wondered if it was really as bleak as it seemed to be. Then, the next few moments arrive and bring a peace and a joy that I didn’t think could be there. Sometimes it happens in the blink of an eye.

If you reach a point where you don’t think life is worth it, and you don’t feel like you have the strength to go on, please take one small moment to speak with someone. There really are people who care. You might not know who they are, but they are there none-the-less. Reach out and give yourself the benefit of that one more moment in your lifetime. The fact is that no-one knows when our lives are supposed to end. Why rush it? Once that final blink happens, there’s no turning back. Your life is forever changed as are the lives of those around you.

Take a moment to see what’s in store, Smile a little more. Love a little more. See what comes back to you. 


Drew

Keeping Up With Life

A little over a week ago, I started a new full-time job outside of the house. After 8 years of only working for myself, it’s been different to now be following the scheduling of someone else. To be honest, it’s really thrown me into a tailspin, trying to get used to the new schedule while maintaining the other things that I’ve grown used to doing, for example, writing my weekly blog. Yes, last week I missed that opportunity and yes, it was because of the interruption of my usual week’s routine.

But tonight, I remembered that it was Sunday and time to write something fun, witty and/or educational.

The job that I started was being an Asset Protection Detective. Impressive, yes? It basically means that I’m a professional security guard. The detective part is actually pretty interesting. It is detective work. I get to solve mysteries and figure out “who done it” while maintaining a large bubble of secrecy. I also get to catch shoplifters and help the company prosecute them. This is not my most favorite part of the equation, but a necessary part to keep the company assets safe.

It might take me some time to get a new routine down so that I can continue to get everything done that I used to in a timely manner, but in the end, I’m sure that I’ll be able to do that. It’s like other things in life. Things happen to us each day in life to change what we had planned, even if it’s very minor. We learn, throughout our lives, to adapt to these changes and make them work. These moments prepare us for such things as what I’m going through now.  So, as this week flies by, I’ll be documenting, planning and scheduling so that next week, my blog will be up on time. Much like this one, but with more information about whatever it is that I’ll come up with for you then. Make sense? Good. Have a great week and let’s chat again next week, shall we?

Changes Push Through like a Storm

At the end of last week, I had major changes in my life. It’s been interesting and will take some time to get used to. Many of you who know me, know that for the past  8 years, I’ve run a video production company. It’s a full-time job with wonderful monetary returns as well as great emotional high for the wonderful people that I work with. The problem that I encountered with it, was that it wasn’t a steady paycheck. It actually came in waves. If you’ve ever experienced that, you understand how difficult it can be. Bills pile up until a payment comes in and then that payment is used in full to pay those bills. That leaves precious little for things like food, gas for the car and other necessities for the family. As a result, this major change arrived in my life. I haven’t given up my video production which is still a wonderful part of my life, and I haven’t given up writing. Instead, I’ve procured a new job. A full-time job with a company outside of my house. So now, 40 hours each week will require my presence elsewhere while I’m still working on my full-time video and part-time writing job. It’s going to be interesting. What’s going to be the most challenging of all of this will be working on time management. I’ve never had to really manage my time like this. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to make my own schedule without regard to another employer’s schedule. 

My family was all for my change at first, but now they’re beginning to realize how much they’ve come to rely on my flexible schedule for transportation on a daily basis. I can’t provide that now and ,in fact, we need to begin some financial planning so that we can purchase a second car. It turns out that no matter what changes happen in life, there will be parts to which we need to adapt. Good points and not so good. But this is life, isn’t it? 

Life brings us surprises and changes each and every day. Some good changes and some not so good. These changes help us grow stronger and learn to adapt to each new day in our lives. Change, to me, is not something that should be feared, but something to be embraced. I embrace every change that comes my way and learn from them all. Learn to do this and your life will change for the better. I expect that it may get stressful, but I’m going to try hard to not let it get that way. Look around and be the one to make a change. When you do, keep the momentum going so that your life will always be filled with surprises!

Adding a New Chapter When You're Older

Adding a New Chapter When You're Older

We all go through change. It’s inevitable. No one experiences a life of no change. This past week I realized that it was time for a change, and because change needed to occur, and because I wanted to have control over that change, I went about doing my best to create it by applying for jobs all over town. Yes, that’s right, the change that I needed to have happen was an increase in base income. Now don’t get me wrong, our household income has been pretty good for years. We can pay all of our bills, make our rent payments on time, and even go to a movie from time to time. But the place that we couldn’t focus our money was in our savings account. Yup, the time had come to begin padding that monster.

Now, I’m not as young as I used to be, and to make things worse, I’ve worked for myself for over eight years. As most people do, I looked at the worse case scenario and pictured that no one would contact me. No one. But because I’m a positive person, I decided to canvas my area with job applications. Eight years ago, when I was working for someone else, applications were submitted at the business. Now, things are different. I can sit at home and apply for jobs all over town. I can see who’s hiring without even walking out the front door. So I did both. I applied for five jobs and guess what? I got phone calls back from four of them asking me to come in for an interview. I was curious about the fifth one because it was, actually, the one I was hoping to get the most. It was the movie theatre down the road. Cinemark. I went it to follow-up on the application. I went to the cashier and told her that I was here to follow-up on an application. She got on her radio and started talking in low tones and actually walked away from me, only looking back from time to time as she spoke. After several minutes, she said, “Someone will be with you in a minute.” I felt odd about the fact that the cashier, even though she had nothing else to do, continued to stay out of sight. The woman that came out was probably in her twenties. She walked straight up to me and said that she had gone through my application and I seemed to be overqualified. I told her that I just needed a steady paycheck and had always wanted to work there. She then told me that she couldn’t give me enough hours. It suddenly seemed to me that she was coming up with excuses, and I had to wonder if it was because I wasn’t the median age (about 22) of the others working there. When she told me that I wasn’t a good fit, I pretty much knew that was the case, even though she said that she would keep my application for a year. (Wondering to myself how I would be less qualified in a year, lol.) Oddly enough, Target had just offered me a job as an over-qualified cashier, and Old Navy asked me to be an over qualified sales person. So, a little grumpy, I left but knew that something better would come up.

Sure enough, I ended up getting a really cool position with, of all people, Macy’s. So, it worked out for the best. But still, the fact that someone didn’t want me to work for them because of my age was a little off-putting. I’ll still take my family there, but not cool Cinemark.

So, my change is underway. Monday I go in for training. Looking forward to see how this will help my writing, and I know that it will. The main point being, don’t let anything dissuade you from making a change or reaching a goal when you know that it’s the thing to do. In the meantime, perhaps I’ll see you at Macy’s!