It’s crazy to think we’re almost through the first week of 2020.
And while I’m more excited for the new year than I have been in a long time, I’ll be the first to admit…
… It’s been more of a “roll out of bed and drag yourself to your feet” kind of week than a “launch into the new year with gusto” week.
Who’s big idea was it to put BOTH Christmas AND New Years on a Wednesday?
Talk about disruption.
Personally, I’m considering Monday the 6th the REAL start to 2020.
It’s the first full week without any mid-week holiday interference – PLUS the 5th is my birthday so I can take off at full speed knowing ALL the new year shindigs are dusted and done with.
One thing I’m really excited for this year, is going after some specific, targeted goals I’ve set with my business coach and mastermind buddies.
Believe it or not, I am terrible at setting serious goals.
Sometimes, I get to December and realize I’ve been pushing my Asana task titled “Set New Year Goals” back week by week consistently for 11 months. (*cough* 2019 *cough*)
When I do set goals, I always start off well – writing down things I want to achieve and outlining a plan to make it happen…
… but usually these goals are either:
A.) Too overwhelming or unrealistic
B.) Things I think I should want…
…. but don’t actually know why I want them.
(Ohhhhh that nasty little “should.” Nagging at you from its high horse of external expectations. In my opinion, deleting “should” from your vocabulary SHOULD be one of everyone’s 2020 goals.)
But this year, I got serious about setting goals and creating a plan – breaking the big-picture down by quarter, and then by month.
And I also got serious about building an army of accountability buddies around me to help me stay on track.
Looking back, I think the motivation to double down on goals setting this year was just that – “looking back.”
Thanks to the mid-week holiday schedule, this was the first year in a long time that I slowed WAY down for 2 full weeks before the new year.
Usually I work like a crazy person all the way up until Christmas, then take 2-3 days off, and am back at it again with a slight pause for NYE.
But this year, I dedicated 2 full weeks to looking back on 2019.
I dug into what I did well, what I failed at, what filled me with energy, what threw me off course.
I broke down my numbers – looking at where my money came from and where it went.
It was a big year. With big changes. And I learned a lot.
All great stuff, but if you’ll excuse my French – 2019 was fucking hard.
I moved across the world – leaving my best friends and beloved European lifestyle to settle back into a semi-“normal life” in the USA for the first time in nearly a decade.
I started several new partnerships with entrepreneurs, mentors, and friends who I respect and admire.
I had a serious health scare that made shit real, REAL fast.
I completely changed the way I do business and the clients I work with.
And my Mom died unexpectedly – throwing my world and entire BEING into chaos in a time where the momentum I worked hard to build in my business was peaking at it’s highest.
That stuff wasn’t easy. And I didn’t want to waste the lessons I learned from slogging through it.
So I forced myself to slow the F down, and reflect.
So if you’ve gotten to the first Thursday in 2020 and thought, “Crap. How is this week going so fast already.” – then let me urge you to take a hot second and sit your patootie down this weekend.
It doesn’t have to be an epic deep-dive into your year. And you don’t have to take 2 weeks off to do it.
But take a notepad and go somewhere that makes you feel either centered or affluent (I like to ‘dream big’ in big places), leave your electronics at home, and just reflect on everything that happened in 2019.
Walk through your calendar month-by-month. What happened? What did you do? What didn’t you do? What went well? What sucked balls? What gave you energy and what depleted you?
Use those lessons to arm yourself before thinking about how you want 2020 to go differently.
Because the “new year, new me” nonsense is all b.s.
You were you in 2019, and guess what? You dragged you all the way into 2020 too.
So don’t discount what you went through and rose above last year. Use it. Build on it.
And use those disgustingly-positive new year platitudes being thrown at you from all directions to truly make 2020 your best year ever.
Let’s do this.
P.S. – Want to listen to a ‘behind the scenes’ convo I had with my podcast partner Laura Gale about what we learned in 2019?
We recorded a little “couch chat” (complete with wine) all about last year’s biggest business shifts, and get personal about our own challenges and growth.
This is the stuff we’ve been talking about in private for most of last year, and we recorded it hoping it helps you launch into 2020 with more clarity.
