Christmas - Reflections, New Year Resolutions & Richard Branson

*And no, Mr Branson nor Virgin in no way endorse me, or my website, or my face, or my book or my feet. I get nothing. Not even an invite to Necker Island. He doesn't even return my five calls a day or acknowledge the lingerie I send him in the post. Unbelievable*

It's been an immensely busy year in terms of personal experience and ticking goals off that I'd always wanted to achieve.  I'll write more about one of those in another space, but to cover off my year:

• Firstly I published my long awaited book (long awaited by my family, that's about it) which was a massive learning process and something I'd highly recommend. Itis available on Smashwords here and Amazon here. Everyone has a book in them I think, although the reward is...well...a book. There is little to no chance that anyone is going to read the bloody thing! Consider it this way - Van Gogh was one of the best painters the world has every seen, physically abusing the canvas to illustrate the heartfelt suffering he was going through in his personal life. He died penniless. Write a book because you're passionate about telling your story, don't bother if you think you're going to make money out of it. 
• I planned and booked my way across Central America and entered South America for the first time in my life, visiting such amazingness as natural parks in Costa Rica and Galapagos. The latter falls outside of the bucket-list category, much like Komodo Island, but not because of desire: there are a few places I've travelled to in life that I thought I'd never even see, not that it was beyond me travelling to, but just that it had never entered my head. Like what kind of t-shirt I'd wear after waking up in bed next to Beyonce...it's just not something that even entered my mind! Although now I think about it…
• I experienced a not so lovely hiccup in my mental fortitude and well-being which wasn't in any way enjoyable but invaluable in terms of life lessons. Oh and I lived, so that's always a plus. A single bullet point doesn’t do it justice so will write more about it later, but I'm very happy that I have enough support in friends, family and a loving partner that helped me through it
• I started a website called the TheRealtyReview.com which enables tenants and landlords to rate real estate agencies in Australia based on their rental experiences. It's a bit of a journey into the unchartered, and a bloody costly one, but one that is extremely rewarding in regards to putting into action everything I've learnt about big business over the years. And then applying it to the smallest business you can possibly have: a business of you alone. Board meetings are brief, put it that way. You can follow me on Instagram (@threaltyreview), Facebook (@threaltyreview) and contact me via the website - any feedback would be most welcome!
• Learning that Richard Branson is a sage amongst men. There are two things I've loved about him this year: the first is that in a world obsessed with customer satisfaction and customer centricity which quickly leads to customer-focused eccentricity, Richard has been adamant that putting the customer first is wrong - your employees come first, if they feel the love then they'll look after the customer. That's pure poetry. The second piece I love from this man is that he had a horrific pushbike accident where he almost died, falling down the side of a cliff face and being absolutely battered and bruised. This gave him the chance to air one of his own favourite proverbs - that even when you're falling flat on your face, at least you're moving forward. Love it!