One of the tools that has truly helped me start this 2015 with the most momentum, energy, enthusiasm, focus and alignment EVER is Leonie Dawson’s 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook.
If you haven’t heard of it, or even if you have heard of it and have never used it, you’re in for a great treat!!! 🙂
Who is Leonie Dawson?
Leonie Dawson is a mentor, author, visual artist and dedicated wife and mother. She is an inspiration to her 50K+ subscribers. Her yearly workbooks have been annual bestsellers for the last half decade.
What Is The Purpose Behind The 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook?
The 2015 Create Your Shining Year workbook is an incredibly popular and useful tool to increase the probability of making your year highly productive and impactful by helping you plan it out.
Over the last six years, thousands of women have used this workbook with the most amazing results.
When you place your order, you’ll also get a colorful free digital calendar that you can print out and that will allow you to have monthly check-ins with yourself to make sure that you’re on track for reaching your goals.
The workbook itself consists of beautiful and colorful pages that explain the exercises briefly and in an inspirational manner and which are followed by worksheets for you to fill out.
What Makes This Workbook Special?
You know the saying that says that you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover?
Well, in this case, you should judge it by its cover.
If you think this workbook is beautiful and magnetic on the outside, wait until you see it on the inside. It’s gorgeous! There are literally splashes of color everywhere….but it doesn’t detract from your ability to focus.
On the contrary, your creativity is heightened no matter how “anti-planners” or anti-calendars you are.
And using a plain pencil or pen to write on this beauty seems almost like counterproductive. I mean you couuuuld use those utensils, but in my case, I found that colored markers were the best thing that I could use to enhance the beauty of the workbook itself.
They Are More Than Just A Workbook
It may seem like I’m just trying to convince you to buy one, but really, I’m just trying to convince you to give yourself the gift of experiencing it. Not for my sake or benefit, but for yours.
To me, this workbook is more than just a workbook.
It’s a piece of my life…. it’s where my life, my dreams and my goals are plastered.
It’s my to-do list for my life.
It’s where the seeds are planted.
And these workbooks are so special that I plan on collecting them like if they’re diaries… because I’d like to look back one day, and say to myself “wow, you’ve really come a long way!”
And I have.
And you can too… especially when you honor your inner voice.
The Workbook Isn’t Special Just For Me
In the internet marketing world, having 50,000 subscribers is amazing, but having 80% of those subscribers and/or followers buy this workbook (because after all not everybody who is her subscriber buys and not all of her buyers subscribe), is mind—blowing. Yep the “poooof!” kind of mindblowing.
And honestly, 40,000 workbook users can’t be wrong.
Is It Normal To Feel Hesitant About Buying This 2015 Workbook?
It is very normal to feel hesitant.
As a matter of fact, I have a confession to make. I’ve been a Leonie Dawson subscriber for a couple of years but I had never purchased anything from her.
The freebies that I had gotten from her on her site were great, but I still didn’t take the plunge.
I had seen and heard rave reviews about this workbook.
And I still hesitated.
It wasn’t until 2014 was winding down, that I noticed that I really needed to spark some love into 2015.
And after doing some research I decided to buy it.
It wasn’t because of anything that anybody said in particular, because you’ll find both support and lack of support for Leonie and her work out there, but it was because I actually felt like I needed to tune into myself in a unique way.
Do you feel like that?
If so, honor that feeling.
Because in my case, purchasing this workbook was definitely one of the top 5 purchases that I made last year.
And the best thing is that this gift, which I gave to myself as an early Christmas gift, is a gift that will keep on giving both in 2015 and for the rest of my life.
Because planning or failing to plan impacts your entire life.
What Type Of Workbooks Are There?
Before we get into what type of workbooks there are, let me ask you:
What do you want help with?
Your life in general?
OR
Your business?
OR
Both your life and your business?
There are two formats of the workbook that you can get: either digital or printed.
But there are more choices than that. Let’s explore what they are and what their cost is.
What Do The Workbooks Actually Cost?
- You can get the digital version to help you improve your life for $9.95 (which you can immediately download to your computer and print to start working on it)
- You can buy the digital version to help you improve your biz for $9.95 (which you can immediately download to your computer and print to start working on it)
- You can get the digital version to help you improve both your business and your life for $17.90 (By ordering this combined version of life and business you save 10%, which is a $2.00 savings). You’ll be able to download it to your computer and print and start working on it.
- Lastly, you can get the Life+Biz Printed Book for $24.95 (which is a hardcopy of the book that will be delivered to your home)
- Guess what? If you buy the printed version, you get 2 bonuses!!!:
-
- Bonus Foldout A2 full color 2015 wall planner
- Free access to Life + Biz digital workbooks as a bonus to start working on right away (which is an extra bonus this year)
What Does The Cost Break Down To?
Before you think that you don’t need an extra and expensive workbook or planner when you could just use any generic calendar or planner that isn’t necessarily focusing on moving your business and life forward, let me do the math for you:
- If you buy the digital version to help you improve your life for $9.95 the cost for it is actually 3 cents per day
- The digital version to help you improve your biz for $9.95 also costs 3 cents per day.
- You can get the digital version to help you improve both your business and your life for $17.90 which is 5 cents a day for both versions.
- Lastly, you can get the Life+Biz Printed Book for $24.95 which is 7 cents a day for both versions as well.
Where Can You Buy Leonie Dawson’s 2015 Workbook?
You can buy them directly from Leonie’s website by visiting this page.
Leonie has informed us through a January 2015 newsletter that the workbooks have been flying off the shelf this month (January 2015).
And since she had shared when they were first available for sale that they were selling faster than they had in prior years, I was sure to grab mine as soon as I decided to treat myself to one.
Just so you know, Leonie did sell her workbooks for prior years on Amazon and her site, but this year, she is only selling her 2015 workbook on her site.
Insider Tips About The Digital Version
If you’re planning on buying a digital version so that you can type in your answers and then print out your pages on your mobile device or on your computer, that’s great, but I would recommend that you price the cost of printing out your pages first.
If money is not an issue for you, then you don’t have to worry about doing this.
However, if you’re planning on printing yours at home, let me tell you that the pages inside are in bright colors. You can always print them in black and white, but honestly, having the pages in color adds a lot to the experience. It makes filling up the workbook more inviting and more uplifting. The downside to printing in color, as you know, is that it can be more expensive.
Just so that you know how to factor in the price of ink let me share that the:
- Life ebook is 100 pages
- Biz ebook is 80 pages
- Life and Biz ebook is 180 pages
If you’re not going to print these pages at home using your own ink, I HIGHLY recommend requesting a pricing quote at your local print shop by providing them with the total number of pages you’re looking to print and whether these will be in color or not.
Why?
As strange as it seems, in my area, by requesting a quote, I found out that it was less expensive for me to buy the actual printed workbook than to print the workbook at my local print shop.
The benefit of buying a digital ebooks (or getting them for free this year) is that you can print any of the pages that speak to you the most and put them up on the wall or even frame them. Yes, they’re THAT pretty! =) Most importantly, they invite you to write things that you’ll want to revisit.
The digital version has a caveat that I’d like for you to be aware of and that is some people may experience issues in being able to type in their information and have it saved even after they click save. But it may work for you.
Besides, even if it doesn’t, you can either print out all the pages and fill them out by hand, OR you can fill out the pages digitally and immediately print them out OR you can use the mobile apps that Leonie recommends which are:
- Adobe Reader (which, by the way, you will also need in order to try to fill out your workbook on your computer)
- Good Reader
- Notability
- Notes Plus
As a bonus, let me just say that I recommend that you try out NoteShelf. It’s my favorite app for annotating, which means writing on the PDF, highlighting it, and even adding pictures to whatever it is that you want to remember via a mobile device.
If you use a mobile device to fill out your workbook digitally, you can then send it to yourself as an email attachment, download it onto your computer and then print it out, whether at home, or at a print shop, with your OWN writing on it. How cool is that?!
My First Impressions Of The 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook
I was so happy that I had ordered the Leonie Dawson workbook, that it made me happy just thinking about the day that it would arrive.
When I received it, I was just pleased with the packaging, the condition and seeing the product live.
Other than the fact that I would prefer the cover to be thicker and sturdier, it was love at first sight.
The workbook is truly beautiful.
How I Filled It Out
I started filling the workbook out after Christmas, when things had settled down a bit.
The pages that I thought were THE most important to accomplish prior to the last day of the year were the 2014 Closing Ceremony workbook pages, which invite you to release the previous year with love and gratitude.
But then again, it’s never too late to reflect on the past to improve the odds of a more glorious present.
Filling out this workbook is a great activity that you can do with family member or friend on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Or alone. It’s so refreshing. And that’s what I like to do. I like to fill it out when I’m alone, because when I’m doing something as enjoyable as this, I certainly don’t want to be distracted.
My #1 Tip For Filling Out The Leonie Dawson Workbooks
My #1 tip for filling these workbooks out is to enjoy the process.
If we don’t enjoy dreaming about, envisioning and planning out how we’ll achieve our goals— what makes us think that we’ll LOVE accomplishing them?
We might be able to do them, most likely, we won’t love the process fully.
My Approach To Completing The Workbook
Since I have limited alone time, which is when I feel the most creative, I actually have the workbook on my desk open to the page where I left off… with my colorful markers next to it, so I can work on it:
- Whenever my computer is slow
- When I’m starting up or shutting down my computer
- When I need to take a break
- When I need to gain more clarity
- When I want to have fun
Even though I’d like to sit down and fill it all out, in a way, filling out little by little is like enjoying a decadent dessert… one bite at a time.
The #1 Objection You Need To Get Over
If you’re a go-getter the #1 objection you’ll have is that you’ll think that you don’t have time to plan.
That’s not the case because usually, when you don’t plan you waste more time trying things out that don’t work.
You could have actually saved yourself some time by actually thinking about what you want to achieve ESPECIALLY if you’re a go-getter and you have a bajillion things that you do, that you want to do and that you need to do.
Surely, you can watch or read 1 less show, movie, YouTube video or social media post.
How Long Does Filling Out Each Page Take?
Each page takes roughly 5 minutes, it depends on how willing you are to listen to your intuition (heart and inner voice) and just letting that voice express itself.
Plus, as Leonie says, if something about an activity doesn’t speak to you, you can choose not to do it. It’s no big deal.
Me? I’ve been filling every page out… and I’m still making great progress.
What Have I Learned From The Workbook So Far?
I have confirmed what I propose on my Love and Treasure website and that is, the importance of asking the right questions that make you reflect on your life, so that you can feel in control of it.
It’s a great resource.
Here’s Why I LOVE The 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook
- First of all, it’s the perfect “excuse” for you to sit down, breathe, reflect on last year and plan for 2015.
- In a prior post, I mentioned that my core desire feelings from Danielle LaPorte’s The Desire Map were:
- Love
- Freedom
- Peace
- Metamorphosis
- Expansion
- By planning, I get to increase ALL of my core desire feelings and my feeling of satisfaction.
Taking the time to reflect on my life in 2014 and what I envision for 2015 is absolutely useful. It allows me to live more consciously.
4. Looking at the workbook makes the creative part of my brain light up.
5. I love analyzing and reflecting and the workbook fuels my need for introspection.
6. I use the colorful markers I bought at Erin Condren to ensure that my writing is bright on the page, but that my writing doesn’t go through the page.
However, I recently came across these erasable pens that I might switch to. Why?
- They’re colorful
- If you’ve used erasable pens many moons ago, you’ll love these because they actually do erase completely
- They’re retractable, so you can just write without worrying about putting the cap back on
Who Would I Recommend The Workbook To?
I would recommend this workbook for:
- YOU, of course, as long as you have an open-mind to artsy. You may thiiiiink that you’re really linear and systematic, but trust me when I say that that may be one of your issues that prevents you from moving forward.
- Your sister
- Your best friend
- Your mom and YOU, if you’re a mom
- Artsy people in your life
- Entrepreneurs (which hopefully includes you)
- Friends who have birthdays in October, November, December and January…. especially those in December (it must be tough having a birthday that month…and a little extra something as nice as this wouldn’t hurt). I personally know A LOT of people who have a birthday in January.
- In sum, it’s for people who have visions and dreams they’d like to achieve
Who Would I Not Recommend The Workbook For?
As much as I love it, I have actually had to put a break on myself when sharing this workbook with others.
It’s sad to say that some people may be turned off by the allusions to spirituality. They’re gorgeous, though!! Besides, it’s just an image that we’re talking about!
So, for that reason, the people whom I wouldn’t recommend this workbook for are:
- people that you know who are “too” religious
- people that you have a gut feeling could be offended, or worse yet, ignore this workbook completely if you gifted them one
I wrote an article about the lame misunderstandings that we run into when it comes to religion and spirituality, when in reality, we should be focusing on love.
When I Recommend Filling The Workbook Out
I purchased the book in early December to ensure that I had enough time to write in it before 2014 ended as a way of putting a mental end to that wonderful year.
I highly recommend that you sign up to Leonie Dawson’s newsletter so that you are the first to know about when the 2016 Workbook comes out. You can sign up to Leonie’s newsletter by clicking here.
My Favorite Sections Of The Workbook
One of my favorite sections in the book starts off on page 2. Why so early in the book? For 2 reasons:
Leonie dedicates the book to “you” and she also says that:
A portion of the profits from this workbook will go to a range of charities that support the world to become an even better place.” -Leonie Dawson
She adds:
Fantastic years don’t happen by chance however… we need to vision it, dream it, map it out, plan it and MAKE IT HAPPEN” -Leonie Dawson
Here are some of my favorite pages from the Life and Business Printed Workbook:
- I enjoyed the 2014 Closing Ceremony greatly because it was nice to take inventory of the wonderful things I accomplished in order to rev up 2015
- I especially liked pg. 21 where I got to put pictures of what I’m grateful for…which of course included my family
- I like pg. 25 that asks about what I want to feel and experience in 2015 because it shifts your mind from a “do” mentality to an “enjoy” mentality
- pg. 28– things that I’ll do when everything sucks (I hope I don’t need to reference this page often)
- pg. 29- Affirmations that I can turn to
- pg. 30- Ritual Days that invite me schedule in things that I love into my calendar (love that!)
- pg. 31- What I Want To Gift Myself This Year (and in my case it wasn’t things, but feelings)
- pg. 31 (on this same page) what I’d like to release this year (It’s an insightful exercise that helps you bring up the lame stories you tell yourself year after year and that just get in the way of expanding the radiance you can give.
- pg. 37-40 100 Things To Do where you write down 100 things you’d like to do whether they are big or small (it’s easy to fill this list out)
- pg. 42- My Mottos– 5 mottos (how powerful short phrases can be)
- pg. 43 10 Things To Celebrate Yourself For (you don’t often get encouraged to celebrate yourself and this is a perfect excuse to applaud yourself for all that you are and all that you do).
- pg. 51 Amazing Habits that you’ll incorporate as much as possible into your day but won’t penalize yourself if you don’t… because even a handful of these habits can move you forward
I’m still working through the workbook. I’m sure I’ll come across more valuable activities that I love.
What Are My Expectations Of The 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook?
Even though this workbook has yielded wonderful results for thousands of women, I am aware of the fact that I have to do the work.
So, I’ll:
- fill it out in an enjoyable way
- reference it often
- have monthly check-ins with myself
- incorporate the to-do’s into my daily planner
- do the work
I am looking forward to putting a colorful and proud check-mark next to these items.
Am I Fan For Life?
You betcha! I am planning on buying this Create Your Shining Year Workbook for years to come.
So check it out! Even if you decide that it’s not for your (which I highly, highly, highly doubt) I can assure you that there will be someone in your life that would LOVE and treasure it.
Now It’s Your Turn
- Have you used these Create Your Shining Year workbooks?
- What are your thoughts on them?
- What results have you gotten?
Leave your comments below! And after you do, grab a copy for someone who you think needs to see life on the bright side! 😉
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