New Year, New Focus
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Hello? Hello. It has been a hot minute since I have sat in the podcast chair, but I am back and I am excited. I'm going to make a few changes this year and my intention, whether I stick with it or not will be another story. But my intention is to keep the podcast. To be about 20 minutes long so that you don't have to spend. Hours listening to me. So today I want to kick off the brand new year. Uh, with a podcast around a word for the year. So that's going to be for me. I look at it as my. Uh, feeling for the year. My focus, my direction, and my intention with this is to look at this word and make decisions based on this word. For me, it's actually two words because, you know, I can never follow the rules. Um, but it is to, uh, have a direction and something to come back to when I'm feeling maybe that I have gone off track. So, um, I really want you to consider that you could use this too and find it a worthy tool for you when you're having those moments where you've lost your mojo. You fell off the wagon. Uh, you got a little bit behind on things something's happened to knock you off center a little bit. All of those things that come into it so that you can pick yourself up and come back with. A bit of focus for yourself for your business. So that's what we are going to be talking about today on this episode, new year, new focus. Hello? Hello. It has been a hot minute since I have sat in the podcast chair, but I am back and I am excited. I'm going to make a few changes this year and my intention, whether I stick with it or not will be another story. But my intention is to keep the podcast. To be about 20 minutes long so that you don't have to spend. Hours listening to me. So today I want to kick off the brand new year. Uh, With a podcast around a word for the year. So that's going to be for me. I look at it as my. Feeling for the year. My focus, my direction, and my intention with this is to look at this word and make decisions based on this word. For me, it's actually two words because, you know, I can never follow the rules. But it is to have a direction and something to come back to when I'm feeling maybe that I have gone off track.
So I really want you to consider that you could use this too and find it a worthy tool for you when you're having those moments where you've lost your mojo. You fell off the wagon. You got a little bit behind on things something's happened to knock you off center a little bit. All of those things that come into it so that you can pick yourself up and come back with. A bit of focus for yourself for your business. So that's what we are going to be talking about today on this episode, new year, new focus.
I'm like, Hey, so I went to a planning session with my business coach Tina tower at the end of last year. And like, we've always said, as long as I've been with her, we've always said a word of the year is a bit of a focus, but this year was really, really good because Tina's shared a. Was at her cousin's place, her husband's cousin's place on the back of the toilet door. Was this beautiful It's not a poem, but I don't even know what you'd call it.
So it's just a statement, I guess. And I'm going to read it to you because I thought it was really wonderful, encapsulated so much. And I thought it would be one of those things that I shall now take into my life to get meaning from and to help me find focus and clarity when I lose my way. And it goes like this. The courage to be myself. I have the courage to embrace my strengths.
Get excited about life, enjoy giving and receiving love. Face and transform my fears. Ask for help and support when I need it. Spring free from the superwoman trap. Trust myself. Make my own decisions and choices. Befriend myself, complete unfinished business. I realize that I have emotional and practical rights. Talk as nicely to myself as I do to my plants, communicate lovingly with understanding as my goal on a, my own needs. Give myself credit for my accomplishments. Love the little girl within me. Overcome my addiction to approval.
Grant myself, permission to play. Quit being a responsibility sponge. Feel all of my feelings and act on them appropriately. Nurture others because I want to not because I have to choose what is right for me. Insist on being paid fairly for what I do. I have the courage to set limits and boundaries and stick by them. Say yes.
Only when I really mean it. Have realistic expectations. Take risks and expect change. Sorry. Accept change. Grow through challenges. Be totally unapologetically, honest with myself. Correct. Erroneous beliefs and assumptions. Respect my vulnerabilities. He'll old and current wins. Savor the mystery of spirit. Wave goodbye to guilt. Plant flower, not weird thoughts in my mind. Treat myself with respect and teach others to do the same. Fill my own cup first, then nourish others from the overflow. Own my own excellence and magnificence. Plan for the future, but leave in the present. Value my intuition and wisdom. No, that I am lovable. Celebrate the differences between men and women. Develop healthy, supportive relationships. Make forgiveness a priority. Accept and love myself just as I am now.
The courage to be myself. And that really sat with me because there was so many of those points that. Really resonated with me and I thought, Ooh, hoo. There's a little message there for me. There was actually a big message in some of those as well. And I'm sure there's quite a few that resonate with you too. And I just really wanted to start that because I want us as women and business women, family daycare, educators who have these massive responsibility in providing care for children. And we do a disservice to them. When we don't fill ourselves up first, we do a disservice to them when we don't know who we are as educators and human beings from the beginning, like. How can we teach other people how to be in the world when we aren't comfortable with how we are in the world ourselves. And I'm not saying that that's for everybody, but there is definitely aspects of our being. That we, we probably question and don't feel confident in.
So when we're teaching other people and it doesn't matter the age we are, we are always learning. And it's okay to accept that we're not always going to get things right. But we want to have something to come back to like a central fugal point that we can come back to. I apologize. If you can hear that in the background, it is my washing machine.
It will go forever and a day I thought I had 16 more minutes. It must've only been six. I looked at it. So it is a little bit distracting. You all know, I get distracted so much. So I keep trying to talk. Like anyway. So when we want to look at having something to come back to, we've kind of got to take a helicopter view and look at all the different aspects of our lives. That can come into. This word, this focus, this energy, this vibe that we want to bring into 2024 with us. So those areas are family health. Vocational purpose, mental space, like your mental health and the way you think and view things. How you're stimulated in your mentor. As the mental aspect of your life, finances, spirituality.
And that's not necessarily, God, it can be good for you, but it can also be how you look at your energy, how you. You look at energy of other people. To be connection to universe. So whatever you kind of put into that category for you is the right thing. Then friends and time. And these are all really important aspects that make up a whole life.
And when you're focused just on business or you're feeling a huge amount of guilt around your business, Then this is out of balance or you might be feeling like you don't have enough time for your family because your business is overtaking your family time and you're not able to be fully present with your family. Or your not allowing enough time for your health. Or you don't really get any professional development.
So you kind of feel a little bit stale. Like all of these are plates that at some point we need to spin. In order to maintain an equal balance. And how do we go about doing that with one isn't just overtaking everything else. It's they've all kind of got to have their. Moment to shine. And it's really important to have some goals for each of these because when we have goals for these. Then we really solidify our direction. So I went through part of the process with Tina, whereas we went through and we listed goals for each of those areas. And you might want to do that again in the show notes of the podcast I'll list all of these topics for you. So that you can copy them and write some goals for yourself in each one of those.
I don't have to be massive. They don't have to be grandiose. It could simply be. You know, Sunday night dinner with my family every Sunday without fail. Come, what may, no matter what happens, we're having a Sunday night roast and we all come together and we talk about the week and that could just be enough to keep your family, family plate spinning. Your vocational purpose, you might really commit to, if you're part of the essential elements or you know, something else you might commit to attending some of the zoom meetings that happen with that, or you might commit to listening to certain podcasts every week to expand your knowledge base or understanding. Friends, you might say, well, you know, I've really kind of neglected. Time with my friends. And that was something that came up for me. And it was understandable because we had the big event in our family.
The year prior. There was that big accident and I just needed to come in word and just focus on Brian and helping him through that process. And. Keeping the businesses going. So a lot of this other stuff fell by the wayside for me, because I just didn't have the energy or the capacity to be able to facilitate spinning those plates.
But what I realized when I was sitting there looking at my friendship circle, It has really contracted massively. And I used to be a really social person in that field, a lot of my cup up. So. For me, I wanted to be able to you know, you, you means change as you get older, too. I used to be quite social because I was social taking my children to. To school events and to sporting events. Now we don't have that.
So I don't really, you know, I don't have to get up at stupid o'clock every Saturday and go do the netball run anymore, you know, and I made the best of it because I had a great group of women that I would hang out with and we'd have coffee together. And, you know, I, I met that need for friendship and connection there, but that I don't do that anymore because my kid's 20 now. And my business kind of filled that a lot, but. It's not always going to be enough and not everything can be business related. I need to have things outside of my business too.
So. I decided that I would do. Once every six months ago I was weekend. And then I decided, well, who were the people that I wanted to hang out with that were going to fill my cup. And those group of women have changed now. So I will do one up here on the coast and one down in Sydney with some friends down in Sydney.
And some of those, all of those. Relate to business. But that's, that's what I have a massive passion for. So for you, it might be different. You might have your girlfriends from high school that you hang out with, but, or used to hang out with, but you haven't anymore. So, you know, you could consider having. Creating and prioritizing a weekend with them. Or even a night. You know, so whatever works for you, but it's really important that you have these. The think about these goals, because they're going to help you with your word. Or words.
So my words for 2024. Are. Purposefully strategic. And for me that really fits because when I do things. Like making time for friends. I want it to be purposefully strategic. I want to, and that's not. That's not like saying, you know, I've got to get something out of it. Well, the intention is to get something out of it.
It's to fill my cup. But I want to be strategic about who I spend that time with, because I don't want to talk about. Nothing like that. Like that just doesn't fill me up anymore. I need to have soul conversations. I need to have really deep. Conversations about, you know, things that have happened in my life and finding meaning from those.
So for me, I've, I've got friends that I could just go and hang out with, you know, and, and go and drink champagne with. And. You know, just chew the fat. Like I can do that, but for me, if I'm going to take a weekend away, Because of the way my business is structured. Now I'm already away for 10 days of the month.
So I feel like I get enough time away. So for me to really invest in having a girls weekend, I want to be purposeful about who I spend that time with and strategic so that it fills my cup, but it also inspires me and energizes me again. And so that's what I've decided to do with my friends to keep those back plates spinning is just investing that bit of time in them because the conversations will be wonderful for them as well as for me. So in terms of my family that has to change this year because my children don't live at home anymore.
They've both got significant others now. So we rate pretty low. On their, a list of, or there, there, you know, the way they want to spend time with us now. So we want to make that meaningful. And for us, that is the Sunday night dinner. So if they're around, they can come. If they're not, they know they don't have to, but that Sunday night dinner is always there for them.
And that door is always open for them. So that's how, how I'm going to keep that. That plate spinning my health. I recommit to three days a week, Jim. When I'm here. And the other days will be the 21 minutes of morning magic with the beautiful Emma walking shore. She runs the 21 minutes of warning magic and it is three.
So it's eight minutes of meditation. Of yoga, sorry. Seven minutes of yoga, seven minutes of meditation, and then seven minutes of flow at tree. And that's like journaling and she gives us a prompt. So that runs my lead Tuesday, Wednesdays, and it is phenomenal. And for me, that is enough when I'm away because I work really hard and I drive a lot. And, and I. I'm in coaching mode with my team.
So, you know, there's a lot that I can't do when I'm away, but there are ways of finding movement and time for health. And when I am away, I am on my own. So I do get a lot of that me-time and so it feels very nourishing. To commit to the morning magic. The 21 minutes of warning magic with Emma. So that's how I will keep that that, that plates spinning our vocational purpose.
I just signed up for another course. To, to keep my brain active and to keep myself going. And, and it's all around words and the psychology behind words, because I'm interested in that. And that will help my business and it will help me to be able to shape and grow what I do. It's it's strategic.
It was a purposefully strategic decision. To do that the same with my health. Like I've got goals that I want to achieve with my health. So I have a PT, that's going to help me towards those. And every three months, we get together and have a little conversation about how things are tracking and where things are going, and I'm monitoring those things and I'm watching them.
But I'm still eating chocolate.
And then that's a tricky one. And I got recently diagnosed with adrenal fatigue too. So. You know, I have to be strategic with my energy. That was another reason I have to be purposefully strategic with what I do. I want to work smarter, not harder. I can't work the way I did. Last year, keep putting out without putting back into myself.
And it felt like every time I went to have time off something happened and it happened again this year. It happened over Christmas time. You. We had 10 days with no power. So I didn't feel like I had a break. We lived through a tornado and heat waves and then for our 500 mils of rain in less than in, just over 24 hours, like it was just nuts.
It was like, what on earth is going on? So it was really interesting. My mental space too. I have gone and got myself a mental health care plan from the doctor because I realized supporting Brian through his journey with PTSD and the aftermath of that accident. Has taken a toll on me. Like, I don't know how to deal with that stuff.
So me. Maintaining my mental health ability and flexibility. I need to learn skills with how to deal with that. But also uncovering things that have come up for me. Through that journey of, of, you know, massive trauma for Brian. It's really highlighted trauma in my life that I've just walked past and not dealt with.
So that is another thing that I'm going to undertake and find ease and grace within. Is that, that mental health component. Finances. I've chosen not to focus a great deal on that this year. I have some goals for that, but that plate is just going to keep slowly turning. I guess with my purposefully strategic decisions in all the other areas that eventually will have an impact on there, but there's only so much you can have focus on at one time. And, you know, I will keep monitoring them and maintaining them and watching my finances. But I'm at a position where I don't have to have that Eagle eye on it, and I'm not trying to necessarily. Overly increase it this year. I feel like my health and my mental clarity is more important than that financial side, because once I clear those things up, That will have a positive flow on effect.
Anyway. Spirituality. I am a bit woo. So for me, I've committed to attending the tent talks that happen up near me with the other women and sitting in ceremony with women. And it's a beautiful thing and I haven't done it for well over a year. Because business prioritized everything else for a while. And then I just couldn't go and sit in that space. When we're processing all the accident with Brian.
So as you can see, that accident has just changed. Trajectory of our lives, my life, absolutely completely. So yeah. It's been really interesting and I've learned a lot through that process. So spirituality that's where I'd meet that connection, that connection with women, that connection with the universe, that connection with God. I and that connection with myself. First and foremost. That's how I'm going to be keeping that plate spinning once a month, the first Friday of every month.
When I'm home, sometimes I'm not going to be home for it, and I will miss those months. That is for sure. So friends I've, I've discussed that. Time. Purposely strategic with my time. That's a massive one. And I realized that I've not held boundaries. Like there's just been this spread with my time and how I do things and what I do with my time. So I really want to have more of a focus on being purposefully strategic.
When I do things, why I do things, how I do things and the amount of time that it takes me to do things. So. I can be one that sits in my office all day and be pottering along and feel like I never get anything done. I know on the outside it looks completely different, but I trust me, I am running. I'm running to get all things done.
So I've completely planned out my year. I had so that I can be very strategic with my time and purposeful when I do things. So I've blocked. Big parts of my calendar out to do things this year and chosen to not. Look at things from a space of oh, Got to get it done. Stressful. I just don't want to do that anymore.
I really want to be purposeful with my time and know that these things are coming up. And when these things come up, I want to get done in them. The things that I intend to do. So for you as an educator that could look like. Joining in on online planning, seasonal planning. I know a lot of you have been gifted, the seasonal planning. As a bonus when you've joined something that we've done, I really encourage you to jump in and utilize it and make use of those blocks of time to get yourself organized. Because that's going to really help you. To be able to really make the best of, you know, the time that you have and to be organized.
So just so that you're aware our next online planning session. Is, and I'm trying to find it now. Hang on, let me go back into there and it will come up here. The next online planning session is drum roll, please because it's coming any second now.
Here it is. The next online planning session is on. Saturday the 3rd of February. So if you want to be able to jump on that and you haven't Got a free ticket. Then you can jump onto our website. I'll put a link into the show notes. You could also go on to Instagram via the link tree. And you can purchase your ticket there. That will be up in the next couple of days.
I'll also start promoting that over stories and via posts as well. So yeah, that will be happening too on the 3rd of February. So that's only sort of three, three and a bit weeks away, but I really encourage you to start blocking time out to do things in your business. Because having blocked time to do things. Really means that you can get a lot more done than if you're distracted, trying to do things with the children, trying to plan and organize things with the children. Is it always going to be the best use of your time? Because you're going to be distracted and have to stop and start and stop and start and stop and start.
And it's the worst way to work and try and get things done. Because you have to get back to where you were and oh, it's just a bit of a pain. So yeah. So, so hopefully that might give you some ideas and thoughts and a little bit of focus to think about what your word, what your focus, word, or words might be for the coming year. Because it's just going to help you, you know, when you get a little bit lost and you get a little bit off track, you can come back to that word and I encourage you to maybe. You know, make a pretty put it in a pretty. Drawer it in a pretty way. Put it in the front of the front of your planner, stick it on your fridge, make it your phone, screen saver, whatever, put it where you're going to be constantly seeing it so that it constantly you're constantly reaffirming that word and that vision for yourself.
So that is. The word of the year, the new year, the new focus. You're going to see a lot more strategy for me this year. And you know, like there was so many times last year, I was like, oh, we got planning next week. Ah, Ah, and so many people were like, what? I missed it. I didn't know. And that's because I didn't have a strategy.
I wasn't purposeful in how I was doing things. I was a little bit all over the show lasted last year. Understandably and I can be gentle. I know why it happened and I know what happened to make it that way. And I just really want to have this ease in this grace this year, moving forward. Because I want to manage my time more.
I want to be purposeful in the direction of the things that I'm doing. So I hope that gives you a little bit of. Inspiration, maybe looking at things in a different perspective. It's always good when we can do that. So thank you so much for joining me. And I did get to 24 minutes, so not too bad. So I hope that this short and sharp little conversation was a gift to you to give you something to think about.
And please let me know what your word of the year is going to be. If you decide to make one, all right, friends, have a beautiful day. Thank you for joining me. And I will see you next time on the beak. Hotard education podcast by.
