As you may have heard me mention before, I’m not really much of a New Year’s Resolutions kind of gal. (Though truth be told, it wouldn’t hurt me to make a couple. Like a vow to take a daily vitamin. Or a promise to myself to do some core-strengthening exercises that will alleviate my nagging back issues.)

But I digress…

When the New Year rolls around, I do sit down and do some reflection on the past year, and some deep thinking, planning, and intention-setting for the year ahead. (If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can grab a copy of The Gutsy Girl Annual Review Worksheet, which will help you through your own annual review/planning process).  So I thought I’d give you a glimpse into setting the theme for last year, and a preview of what’s in store for the upcoming year.

Last year, my theme for the year was all about connection and building relationship.

See, by nature I’m an introvert. I can do the extrovert thing extremely well and if you just met me out and about, you might not guess that I thrive on solitary, quiet time. So the coaching profession suits me well, in many ways: I get to work from home, with no one around except my two laptops (the computer one and the feline one), and my human interaction takes place mainly on the phone or via Skype with my clients.

What I realized, however, is that while I love the peace and solo endeavor, it’s not where I do my best work. Alone, I do lots of thinking and pondering and contemplating, all of which is good–but when I interact and collaborate with others, magic happens. It becomes that old adage about 1+1=3. When I am with others, not only do I shine but some kind of synergy happens within the group where everyone gets out of it way more than they might if they were to be making the solo effort.

I also have realized that I want to reach more women than I can if I’m just going it alone. I have dreams of reaching thousands of women and helping/inspiring them to live gutsier, more fulfilling lives. I want to champion women on the verge of taking their own personal best leap, in whatever way that shows up. I want to spread the message that leading the life you want, the life you are capable of, takes guts—and that you HAVE the guts that you need already! You don’t need to find it, fix anything, or change—you just need to start tapping into what already exists inside of you and start leaning in.

And to spread that message on a large scale—well, let’s just say it won’t happen with me, alone, on my computer. Connection, collaboration, community—this is what I set out for myself as my intention last year, and I carry it with me as I begin 2012.

(Side note: part of that community and connection for me takes place on Facebook and Twitter, so if we’re not connected there, take a moment and reach out, won’t you? Thanks.)

So what is my intention for this year?

This year, my focus boils down to one thing: take bigger risks.

Now, as a life coach who positions herself as “helping gutsy women do cool things”, you might assume that I am fairly fearless, and thus in a position to speak with authority on being gutsy, living courageously, playing big, and so forth. You might be correct, depending on which measuring stick you use.

Compared to some, I have taken many risks and done quite a number of what might be considered gutsy things.

But what’s gutsy for one woman is completely different than what’s gutsy for another—using that measuring stick is like comparing apples to oranges.

Really, the bigger question is: what’s gutsy for ME? What would be risky for me?

Several years ago, I got some pointed feedback from a woman in my graduate program that zinged right to my core.

Her feedback was this: Kristy, I think you only take risks that you’re pretty sure you’ll succeed at.

What she was saying to me was that those things I “risked” had a high probability of success—there was very little down side, and no real chance of failure, rejection, or falling down.

And unfortunately, she was right.

In other words, yes, I do things that might look like a stretch, in a way. Like solo travel to a foreign country. Or strapping on backcountry ski gear and climbing up a small mountain.

But the risks I take, at least in many cases, have a pretty large safety net underneath them. And they’re not very far outside of my comfort zone—they’ve been things that don’t require me to truly test my own mettle.

My version of taking risks, then, has historically been to not take very big ones.

Until now.

That, my dear, is what I’m intent on shifting this year.

Because if I want to reach thousands of women, to help raise the bar for women and courage everywhere, I’m going to need to make bolder moves, think bigger, ask for more, and plant a larger stake in the ground towards that vision. Baby steps might get me there eventually, but I’m too impatient to wait for “eventually”.

I’m beginning by taking a workshop on public speaking, which frankly gets my heart beating a mile a minute and conjures up all those nasty inner critics. I want to reach out to people whom I admire, and see what kind of collaboration I might be able to forge with them. I’ll be looking for bigger places to put my time and energy, ones with a higher risk/reward ratio.

I’m still working on the tangible parts of my plan for the year. I don’t have concrete milestones or goals set quite yet, though I’m getting the broad brush strokes laid out.

But I’m clear that I intend 2012 to be the year that I take bold risks. And just that thought thrills me and gets me slightly nervous, which says to me that I’m in the right space.

Now over to you: what do you have your sights on for the upcoming year?