2010 – Farewell or Good Riddance?

December 31, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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A couple of days ago people gathered in New York’s Times Square for the fourth annual Good Riddance Day.

A giant shredder and sledgehammers were available so that people could destroy mementos of 2010. Participants were urged to take items that held unpleasant memories from the past twelve months so that they could obliterate them and start 2011 with a clean slate.

For those who couldn’t make it to Times Square, there was an online opportunity to shred your 2010 memories.

I reckon that most years are a mix of good and bad. Some years seem better than others but even the dark years have glimmers of hope throughout. 2010 was no exception for me. It was a mixture of joy, sadness, tough times, amazing experiences, love, dissapointment and lots more. I don’t reckon I’ll look back on it as a standout year but I know that I’ve learnt lessons and moved forward.

What are there things you’re looking forward to leaving behind when the clock strikes midnight? What hopes does 2011 hold for you? I’d love to hear what you have to say so please leave a comment or two below.

When the curtain comes down on 2010 tonight will it be farewell or good riddance to the year for you?



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New Year’s Resolutions or a Wish List?

December 30, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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You might think you’re making New Year’s Resolutions but are you really just compiling a wish list?

Did you make a well intentioned list of resolutions at the start of 2010 which have failed to bear fruit? Could you take last year’s list and simply change the 2010 on the top of the list to 2011?

How do you make resolutions that work?

What’s the difference between New Year’s Resolutions and a wish list?

I’ve had an Amazon Wish List for quite some time. It’s a list of things I’d like, but simply listing those things doesn’t mean anything unless I, or someone else, decides to take action and buy something from the list. Wishing doesn’t make it happen.

If I say I’d like to make family time more of a priority this year, it’s a wish. If I book time in my diary and plan to give up activities that would otherwise get in the way of that happening, that’s a resolution.

If I say that I want to lose weight in 2011 that’s a wish. If I set out a sensible weight loss strategy with achievable short and long term goals though the year it’s a resolution.

If I say I’d like to read more over the next twelve months, that’s a wish. If I select some books, create a reading plan and then move other activities out of the way to give me the time to read, that’s a resolution.

Resolutions need a concrete action plan with achievable, measurable goals.

It can also be helpful to find someone who will keep you accountable to your goals. Maybe there’s someone with a similar goal or resolution who will work with you so that you can both achieve your plans. It might be someone who is already doing well in an area in which you’d like to improve. Ask them to help keep you moving towards your goal and to give you any advice you need to get there.

The other thing to keep in mind is that if we’re making lifestyle changes we’ll probably fail now and then. The aim is to keep going rather than just throwing in the towel the first time you trip up. Even if you don’t reach your goals at the set time, you’ll still be further down the track if you get up after a setback, dust yourself off, and start moving in the right direction again.

Sort your resolutions into categories.

If you are going to see 2011 as an opportunity for change you might like to break down your resolutions into various categories such as Health and Fitness, Spirituality, Family and Relationships, Finance, Career and other areas that touch your life.

Who do you want to be on the first of January 2012? What will you do during 2011 to make that a reality?

As 2010 draws to a close, are you going to make resolutions or a wish list for 2011?



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2011 – Towards Perfection

December 29, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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By this time next year I’ll be perfect. I’ll have achieved my perfect weight and be 100% fit. I will have attained a perfect work/family balance. All my thoughts and actions will flow from absolutely pure motives. I will have absolutely no faults. In short, I’ll be an all round great guy.

Why do I get the feeling you don’t believe me?

Do any of us really think we’re going to achieve perfection in the coming year? I guess not.

The strange thing is that some of us act as if that’s the goal and nothing less will satisfy. We create New Year’s Resolutions that tend to fall apart within weeks and then beat ourselves up, considering ourselves as failures. We set the bar way too high and then end up crushed that we didn’t go the distance.

Our failure to achieve the goals and resolutions we set results in us becoming discouraged, before walking down the same path the following year, or giving up on setting goals completely.

I wonder if there’s another way to look at our goals.

If I want some New Year’s Resolutions for 2011 I could always adopt last year’s. After all, most of them are still in brand new condition. They haven’t been used at all. But I’m not too discouraged.

I set myself a goal to read a whole lot more. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked but I did read more than I had the previous year.

Even if I stayed on my bike for the next couple of days I can’t reach my goal to cycle 12 000 kilometres in 2010 but I have passed last year’s total and won’t miss the mark by too much.

I’ve battled with being overweight most of my life and in 2010 I failed to drop the kilograms I wanted but I am ending the year fitter than I started it.

I could go on but I think you get the idea. I created some goals and then set about achieving them. I’ve fallen short in many of those goals but I’m not completely discouraged. I made progress in many areas that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have those goals. That doesn’t mean that I go into a new year with no intention of reaching my goals. What it does mean is that I know I’m not perfect but I am moving forward.

Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars. – Les Brown

Will you be making some New Year’s Resolutions for 2011? Can you look back on 2010 and see progress in some areas of your life?

I hope that you’ll set yourself some goals that will stretch and grow you and that you’ll be able to celebrate the wins along the journey even if you don’t quite make it to the destination.



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Happy New Year

January 1, 2010
by Rodney Olsen
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2010.jpg

It’s now 2010 here in Perth, Western Australia.

I hope that 2010 is a wonderful year for you with more highs than lows.



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A personal look at 2009

December 31, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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2009.jpgBefore moving into a new year it’s good to reflect on the ups and downs of the previous year.

A lot has happened in 2009. There have been some extreme highs and some tragic lows.

Pauline’s sister Carina passed away from cancer on the 8th of February at the age of 41. She had battled cancer back in 2007 and had later been given the ‘all clear’, but very early in the year she was diagnosed with more aggressive forms of cancer and we knew that she wouldn’t be with us much longer.

Our children changed schools and we all changed churches as we prepared to move from one side of the city to the other. While our move didn’t happen anywhere near as fast as we would have liked, we can still see God’s hand in the process and we’re so thankful that on the 5th of August we moved into an eight year old house that instantly felt like home.

In February I took our son, James, to see the opening night of Phantom of the Opera. Considering that he was only ten at the time, I really wasn’t sure how much he would enjoy it but he seemed pretty pleased that I’d taken him along. It was only later when he kept raving about it to anyone who would listen that I realised how much he loved it.

In the middle of the year I became the father of a teenager when our daughter, Emily, turned thirteen. Unfortunately, Emily is as as gorgeous as her mother and so the next few years are sure to involve a plethora of teenaged boys and me beating them off with large sticks.

In September we were devastated by the death of close friend Mark Simpfendorfer. We’d travelled half way across Australia together in 2003 as he videoed a team of cyclists I was leading on a marathon fund raising ride from Perth to Hobart. Earlier in 2003 we had travelled to India together. Mark was there to capture my ride from Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, to Delhi. It was an amazing experience for both of us. We loved our time there and were more than happy to return two years later with a small team of Aussie cyclists. We were talking about returning next year around the time of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Mark was also a major part of one of an extremely significant day for Pauline and me. He agreed to video our wedding back in December 1992. The resulting video, as expected, was spectacular. He was just 45 years of age and left behind four remarkable children.

In October I cycled from Perth to Albany with six other amazing cyclists, raising money for Cancer Council WA and broadcasting from a different town each day. It was a bold experiment for 98.5 Sonshine FM and a huge boost for Cancer Council with over $15 000 raised by the team.

Speaking of cycling, over the past twelve months I more than doubled last year’s cycling total. I finished 2009 clocking up just over 10 500 kilometres on my bike. (Now I have to decide what target to set for next year.)

I’ve interviewed a wide range of people during my morning radio programme in 2009 including Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson, Guy Sebastian, Paul Potts, Kate Miller-Heidke, Tina Arena, Sam Kekovich, and many others, but perhaps my favourite interview for the year was with Australia’s first world road race champion and Tour de France contender, Cadel Evans. I’m a cyclist but Cadel is cycling royalty.

Time has moved on. My hair has got a little thinner. My skin has gathered an assortment of wrinkles. My eyes don’t see as clearly as they once did. But thankfully there is much for which I can be thankful. Wisdom keeps growing. Life experience is becoming richer.

I’ve got so much to celebrate.

I’m the husband of the world’s most wonderful woman, the father of two thoroughly amazing children and a son of the God who put this incredible world together.

I think I’m just about ready for 2010.



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