Episode 60: 2020: What did you learn and what will you leave behind?
Episode summary introduction:
2020’s over and it’s time to look back and reflect on the important things the year has taught us - considering the pandemic, the climate change and the political unrest that made this year unforgettable. In this special episode, Fiona shares her top questions to help you reflect what you’ve learned and how you can make 2021 a better year for your business.
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Thank you message
The highs of Fiona's year
The lows
Reflecting on 2020
2020 - A year in review questions
1. What is your overall feelings for the past year?
2. What is the best professional decision you made?
3. How did you spend time with your partner, family or close friends?
4. What's the one thing you changed about your business that had the most impact on its success?
5. What's the biggest impact on your health or your mindset?
6. What are the ways in which you nurtured your values or your core beliefs in 2020?
7. What's the one thing you stopped doing to please other people this year?
8. What are three things that you want to reduce or remove altogether from your business in 2021?
9. What are three habits will you need to cultivate?
10. What are you most scared about when it comes to your business in 2021?
11. What are you most excited about when it comes to your business in 2021?
12. What's the ideal day in your business in 2021?
Conclusion
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Episode transcript:
What have you learnt from this year, this year that has given us all heartbreak, joy, laughter, sorrow, experiences that we never thought we would have both good and bad? What can we take from this so that we don't just fall into normal again and forget all of this incredible experience, all of the incredible activism, all of the incredible change that's happened in the world. And we actually use that and harness all of that incredible power to make 2021 and every other year afterwards more meaningful and a greater global community for ourselves and the world at large.
Welcome to Episode 60 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast.
Oh, my goodness, if you are listening to this in real time, it is New Year's Eve. It is the end of probably the most challenging and surreal and bizarre year that most of us have ever lived through. Today's episode is obviously then the very last one of 2020. And this has been a huge year for me personally and professionally. I've put a book out Passion, Purpose, Profit. I started this podcast which has just done more than I ever imagined it would do for my business.
But also I've built up resilience. I've built up more of an understanding of what my values really are and not just, you know, the things that you put down on paper when you're doing your brand exercises. I really understood you know what I'm going to stand for? What I'm not going to stand for, what I'm going to accept and what I won't accept anymore. And I hope that this year has been as enlightening for you. I know some of those enlightening moments don't seem very enlightening when you're in them and some of the education perhaps you would rather not have been forced to get this year. But this year has been an incredible learning lesson. And I guess that's what I wanted to talk about in today's coaching session.
So if this is the first time you're listening to this, thank you so much for choosing to spend your time with me and with this podcast. If you've been listening since I started earlier this year, thank you so much. I just cannot express how appreciative I am to every single person who chooses to listen to this podcast. And who then has also chosen to connect with me.
I've had so many people on Instagram DM me. I'm just at @mydailybusinesscoach and we've gone on to have conversations and I've been able to have these incredible conversations with people all over the world, not only about their business, but about their lives, about how the pandemic has impacted them, how they've totally switched up their business. They've pivoted to use that word, or they've decided to do away with their business altogether or they've decided to create something entirely new.
I think this year has been one of such awakening on so many different levels. We've talked so much about climate change and things that really, really matter in the world, racism, privilege, so many important things have come to the fore this year in sometimes horrific circumstances in order to get to the fore and get to, you know, really having people have honest conversations about what's happening. And I hope that as the next year comes on, we actually take that education and we execute and we create action out of what we have learnt.
So I guess the first thing I wanted to mention in this podcast episode is thank you. You know, a massive, massive thank you. And I'll probably get a bit teary as I say this, because I'm just riffing today. I have no bullet points. I'm just, you know, kind of talking honestly and openly. I really started this year not knowing how my business was going to unfold. Actually, today, as I'm recording, is a one year anniversary of my father's death. So I started 2020 with just a real sense of loss and a sense of things changing outside of my control. And of course, with the bushfires as well here in Australia. And so there was so much going on and I think I started this year really kind of uncertain. And then,flash forward to March when we were put in lockdown where I am in Melbourne, in Australia, and childcare was closed, schools were closed. And I just thought, how am I going to keep running my business? I genuinely thought for the first time in five years, I'm not going to have a business. There is no way that I can continue talking to people at Zoom being there for business owners when I've got to also be there for my young family and my two young children.
But somehow we made it through. And this year has been one of such high highs really, big highs, you know, being able to spend more time with my children. Yes, at times, home schooling was incredibly hard. And having a toddler baby in the house as well was very, very hard. But on the flipside, I had so many incredible moments with my children that I would never have had if I was not in that situation. I also had my husband at home. It was something that we talked about many times, kind of, you know, you have these fantasies of wouldn't it be great if we, like, both worked at home and then and then, you know, the universe brings that to you in a somewhat different package. And it was really great. Definitely there were times that was friction. And, you know, you put any two people in the same place for 24 hours non-stop for months and months, and add to that stress and changes at work and all of those things and home schooling. But overall, I loved having my husband at home and I loved being able to just chat with him over a cup of tea and kind of talk about our days. And I think it definitely brought us closer to.
And another one of the highs of this year was launching this podcast, you know, it's had 50,000 plus downloads. I've just had so many people reach out to me across the world of all sorts of backgrounds. And it has just really been an incredible connection point for myself and other small business owners. So thank you again for listening.
This year also brought, like I said, the first business book that I had, the first book I've had published by a traditional publisher, and massive shout out to Hardie Grant for making that happen. I didn't have a launch. I was in lockdown and I didn't even you know, I still haven't seen it in very many independent bookshops. I'm off to do that tomorrow, actually. But again, the groundswell of support and the amount of people that came out to, you know, take a photo in a bookshop where they were in a different state or in a different country and send that to me. I just felt an overwhelming sense of support and community. So thank you again.
And just, you know, I started again at the start of this year, a little Facebook group. I thought it would be little I thought it would be a place just for my clients really, and some business friends together to share ideas, to share support, to share positive news, uplifting things that we'd seen, things that would make us laugh, things that we could get through this pandemic together. And it's now grown to almost 900 small business owners that are in there and showing support. And I literally feel like I'm going to start crying.
I'm overwhelmed by how caring and how genuinely supportive that group is to each other. And a lot of the people in there are "competitors". They're working in the same space, in the same city, and yet they've shown up for each other and they've been so open and honest. And, you know, here's what's worked for me. Maybe it could work for you and sharing so many resources. So, again, if you're part of that good business group on Facebook, thank you so much. And if you're not, feel free to come in and join. But, yeah, a massive year of highs.
But on the flip side, there's also been a huge, huge amount of lows and flat times this year, moments where my mental health wasn't great. And I'm sure as you're listening to this, probably maybe you also felt that you felt challenged and stressed and wondering what the hell was going to happen with the state of the world, the horrors of racism that came to the fore globally, where ginormous and heartbreaking and gut wrenching and also forced people like me - I'm what to look at the privilege that I have to really analyse it and think about every single. Yes. That I've heard in my life and how many times that has come and been born of a huge amount of privilege that an access that I've had, that even unknowingly I've had, that other people have not said. That's been, you know, a really huge thing to unearth globally.
Also, the lack of change here in Australia for indigenous people. We are still seeing huge numbers of incarceration for indigenous people. We are still seeing massive lack of equality for indigenous people in this country. And again, it really is a hard thing to talk about. Not hard for me. I'm not indigenous, but hard to see that in 2020, this shit still goes on. I mean, come on. But from that, I've been able to again, you know, reach out, talk to people, make changes in my business, make changes to the things that I support. And I would urge you to do that yourself as well if you haven't already.
Another massive blow was the gut wrenching bushfires. I've had a close family member of mine lose their house in previous bushfires, and I've seen just that impact on one family, what it can do, let alone this ginormous, unforgiving bushfires that happened in Australia. So massive, massive low trump. And I'm just going to say it and put it out there. Maybe you'll stop listening. But I'm not a Trump supporter and I never have been. And I, as a parent to young boys, really felt sick so many times when I'd listen to him speak and think this is what is being portrayed as one of the most powerful people in the world. And this is what they're putting out there. And I really sympathise with I think it was an anchor in the US who cried on the day the bottom in and said it is much easier now to talk to your children that a good person will get into power. That's what's happened.
So I know I have been blasted by people in my Facebook group for speaking out about this and saying, you know, you talk about small business, you don't talk about politics. I don't go there. But that was a huge blow this year. I think it was also globally for everybody to see what can happen when you have people like that at the top. So, you know, and it did. It was very depressing, even though I'm not American. But to see that because the impact is global, I also thought, you know, it was yes, there were some great things out of lockdown, but being in continuous lockdown and probably one of the strictest in the world in Melbourne for six to seven months was hard. It was really hard. I think we had at one stage, we were only allowed to go within five kilometres of our homes. We were only allowed to go out one hour of the day. You had just this sense of doom and uncertainty and when is this going to end? And, you know, very privileged again, to live where I live, to have access to beautiful bushland around me. But it took its toll at times.
The other big low of this year was my father dying at the tail end of 2019 and going through this year, one of so many highs that I wanted so badly to share with my parents. And neither of them were around, you know, and I know a lot of people, whether you've lost your parents, you know, physically or you just weren't able to be with them this year. It was a really hard year for families, and especially if you have a tight knit family, if you're very close with your parents, as I was, it was an incredibly tough year to go through that without that kind of sounding board of somebody who's been there, who's wise. You know, you talk to people in their 70s and 80s and 90s, and they're some of the most wise calm souls because they've gone through everything before and they're able to give you this knowledge and this wisdom and this advice that comes with decades of experience. And that was a huge loss for me this year. Not having that.
Another big loss for me this year was sleep. I had a huge amount of sleep loss and not through stress or worrying about things sometimes. Yes, but majority because I had a 15 month old, my husband and myself have a 15 month old who didn't sleep. He's now 18 months old. And three months ago we made the decision to work with a sleep consultant and she was incredible. So if you're listening to this and you are based in Australia, definitely get in touch with me or go straight to the source. Her name is Amy Huebner and she runs hushabyebaby.com.au. Today, you sleep consultant and sleep solutions for babies and children. Incredible total game change. I went from being a loss to being a huge game and a high this year to be able to have a child who actually sleeps.
So I guess I'm touching on all of those things, the highs and the lows and not in a way of saying, oh, my gosh, look at me, poor me. I mean, I've had an incredibly privileged year, but by most accounts but I guess I'm sharing it because if I'm to look back throughout 2020, the one common theme that ran throughout it is learning, you know, learning what I want to stand for, learning what's important in life, learning what I want my business to be, learning how to teach a child when I am definitely not cut out to be a primary school teacher, learning how to really be there for my clients and, you know, learning what a great husband and relationship that I'm lucky, lucky to have. Also learning who do I want to surround myself with in 2021 and beyond.
I learnt a lot about my friends this year. I learnt about people that are genuinely going to be there and be the cheerleaders and I learnt about people that were not going to be there. It's just been one giant year of learning and I'm sure I'm not alone with that. I'm sure when you're listening to this, you may be nodding along being like, yeah, yep. Got my hand raised here.
I've also been on the learning train and I had a lot of conversations this year with friends that, you know, made me laugh and cry in equal measure. I've gained friends, I've lost friends. And I realised that as hard as it is, people are not always going to be happy for you when they perceive that you're "doing well". And I've also learnt through this year through people contact me from the podcast through all sorts of different avenues, that sometimes there'll be people that are strangers at first that you will actually deeply connect with and who remind you of all that's good and all that's possible in this world. And I've also been reminded this year of amazing lifelong friends that, you know, they have the courage to stay in the arena, to work through challenges with you, to have awkward conversations. And hell, there was a lot of those awkward conversations this year, but those people are to be savoured.
And I've also met, you know, throughout my work this year, I was lucky enough to keep my business afloat, to keep clients and customers coming in. And I've been able to meet some of the most spectacular business owners through my work, people who were able to move through incredibly challenging circumstances and who've been able to make these next level breakthroughs in their thinking and in their actions. I am in an incredibly privileged position to be able to hear and speak with business owners when they're in a state of transition or when they're in the state of growth. And it can be scary. It can be scary for them to go through that and to. Whore out there sold to somebody, but so many of them did this year, and I had people turning up, you know, crying, sometimes with joy, sometimes with sorrow. And they still though they turned up, they came back session after session to keep doing important work.
And I want to say to any one of those that people that are listening, you know, thank you so much for trusting me and for bringing me on your journey. And like I said before, I've just seen so much kindness and wisdom being shared between small business owners, strangers in the good business group, on Facebook, on that group. Often I suggest to people or it's in the welcome note, please introduce yourself and tell us about, you know, what you're doing and your challenges and your wins. And just reading some of those introduction posts saying what people have gone through, seeing the resilience that they have and just their vulnerability to be open with, you know, hundreds of other small business owners has been incredible to watch. And so I guess I'd also love you to think about as you listen to this podcast, what has this year taught you most? You know, what will you leave behind from 2020 and what will you carry forward with you into 2021?
Each year I spend some time on December 31st, I literally spend not that long, maybe 20 minutes max, and I sit down with a notebook and a cup of tea and I literally write my answers to the same questions every year. And then I'm able to look back on that and be like, "Oh, okay. You know, well, sometimes you think that you haven't really come that far." And then you look back on maybe yourself writing from a year ago or two years ago and you're like, "Wow, I really have grown. I've developed." I've matured in certain ways or, you know, maybe there's still things that are still not working quite the way that you'd hoped.
But I like to sit down on December 31 and I record my answers to particular questions in a notebook, or you can do it on a computer. But I do have a PDF that goes with this. If you want to download that at work through this yourself and you can find that over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/60. Of course, we'll leave that in the show notes. But basically I have this PDF. I've shared it every year on my Sunday email for at least the last three years. And it's a quick PDF that you can work through that has a series of questions. So I just wanted to go through those questions now in case you're at a place where you can write down some notes or just even think about these if you're out on a walk or you're at the gym. So these are all really about kind of putting down in words on paper, if you can, or digitally the ideas and thoughts and learnings that you've had from the previous year and then what you hope to take into the next year.
1st Question: Literally write down your overall feelings for the past year when it comes to your business.
So it could be things like fulfilled, excited, challenged, worried, stressed, overwhelmed, excited. You know, so many different things can come up for different business owners, but it's just about capturing the putting a word to them and and getting them out. So it's the first one.
2nd Question: Write down the best professional decision you made in 2020.
So the best professional decision you made in your business now for me this year. Oh gosh. There's so many of them. But I definitely say this podcast is a big one. My book putting out the book was a big one. Saying no to some clients was a big one, putting boundaries up. I mean, gosh, there's so many, but this is about you and me. So that's the second question. What was the best professional decision you made in 2020?
3rd Question: List out things you did to ensure that you spent quality time with your partner, family or close friends.
Now, again, you might be like "Pandemic. Hello. I was forced to spend time with people." But it could be other things that you did. So it could be, you know, a simple thing. Like we had a zoom meeting or we went, you know, started going for walks together with a friend or, you know, I made the effort every Tuesday night to call that person or I made the effort with my partner to switch off our computers and not talk about work after a certain time of the day. So that's number three.
4th Question: The one thing you changed about your business that had the most impact on its success.
So I know there's just so many people listening that have pivoted this year. I kind of well, it's just a very overused term, but have changed things up. And I definitely know for even one of my clients, they were doing, you know, physical events and they had to change that up. And actually they changed it up and they were like, my gosh, this actually works so much better for our family. So this is what I'm going to keep doing regardless of this pandemic or not. So really thinking about things that have changed that had a really great impact on your business.
5th Question: A daily practise you made, which had the biggest impact or the biggest impact on your health or your mindset.
So for me, I was already going for walks quite a bit, but I definitely during the pandemic, basically, you know, I'm going to be really real, you know, to help with my mental health. I went for a walk by myself most mornings around where I live, which is in North Warrandyte, and sometimes my son would come, but often I would go by myself. I would choose to go by myself just with our dogs, so that I had that time out of the house by myself and I was able to just really think things through or listen to a good podcast, listen to some nice music, see the scenery, see the bush that I'm lucky enough to live in and just have that space. So I want you to think about what was a daily practise you made, which had the biggest impact on your health or your mindset.
6th Question: The ways in which you nurtured your values or your core beliefs in 2020.
And they might be reaching out to certain people, it could be reading material, you know, really getting deep in education. It could be talking to people, having really uncomfortable conversations, particularly around Black Lives Matter or around equality or about sexism or around corruption or power or climate change. I mean, God, there was a whole gamut of things to talk about this year. And so it might be that you really value something and you were able to stand up and have that awkward conversation or that uncomfortable situation with somebody, because it was true to who you are and the values that you want to guide your business in your life by. That's number six.
7th Question: What was the one thing you stopped doing to please other people this year?
So, again, you know, so many things you could say or maybe you were like, I actually just ended up being the biggest people pleaser ever. And I'm really tired and exhausted now. And I'm definitely not going to take that into 2021. So that's number seven. Think about one thing that you stop doing or that you might want to stop doing to please others.
8th Question: Think about three things that you want to reduce or remove altogether from your business in 2021.
And then think about why. What is the outcome of removing or reducing those things?
9th Question: To achieve what you want to achieve in 2021, which three habits will you need to cultivate?
So it could be, you know, setting boundaries, it could be saying no, it could be going for a walk, it could be time blocking, you know, what kind of habits will need to be there to be able to support the goals and the dreams that you have for the next year in your business. That's number nine.
10th Question: What are you most scared about when it comes to your business in 2021?
Now, again, when you're answering this, whether you put it in a notebook, whether you download the PDF and just work through it or you just do some digital version, no one's going to see it except you unless you want to share it with people, of course. And so be really honest and real here.
You know, this is one of the questions I ask people whenever they work with me. They have a questionnaire before they start working with me. And one of the questions is this what are you most scared about? What's your biggest fear? And it's really interesting to read those things. And often people will say, you're the first person I've shared this with and they might have had a business for ten years plus. And they all say you're the first person out loud that I've said this fear to. And I think there's some power in putting things down on paper and sometimes reading it and realising, well, if that happened, it wouldn't be so bad or it's not going to happen because I'm being paranoid about something or, you know, where's the truth in that or how can I work to make sure that it doesn't happen? So that's number ten.
11th Question: What are you most excited about when it comes to your business in 2021?
What lights you up. What are you just thrilled about. Maybe it's you're hiring somebody, maybe it's you're moving into your own space. Maybe it is you're going to travel more domestically, maybe it's you're going to go into partnership with somebody else, you know, maybe it's you're going to reduce your hours, cut down on different categories of products that you sell to.
12th Question: Describe an ideal day in your business in 2021 from the moment you wake up to when you drift off to sleep.
And you know, it's not about guarding yourself here or making it perfect, but it is about putting as much detail as you possibly can into this, even down to what kind of tea or coffee are you going to have? Where do you have your cup of tea in the morning? Who's around? Maybe you've got music on. Just make it as detailed as possible, because the more detail you can make it, the more real it can feel. And then sometimes just, you know, incredibly, these things actually manifest. And of course, you have to do the work as well. The universe shows up one part. You also have to meet it. But sometimes I think just putting the detail in, it's surprising what can come out of this.
And in the PDF, I have that you can get at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/60. I actually have a whole page for you to just write to scribble whatever comes to mind. Like I said, I did the same exercise back in 2015 and what I found from that was what I wanted most was not that crazy. It wasn't this over the top lavish lifestyle. I wasn't going to end up on a beach in Bali with a laptop. I just wanted more freedom. I wanted. More time I wanted to be at home or I wanted to appreciate the Bush, the area that I live in more and I remember writing that I remember this woman that was running a workshop sort of said to me, you know, how do you feel? And I said, I want that life. Like, I really want that life. I just want to jump into this page. I want that life now. And she said to me, well, you're the only one standing in the way. And I was like, hell yeah, I am nothing about it. Like I said, nothing about it was outlandish. It was very simple. It was about, you know, having time to have a cup of tea outside in the morning and watching the gum leaves blow in the breeze and just having that time and that space and that freedom and feeling like I went to sleep each night knowing I'd actually helped somebody.
And so, yeah, that was a huge catalyst for me starting my own business. So that is definitely part of the questions that I ask myself at the end of each year. And it's definitely a question that I think you should also think about. What does an ideal day from start to finish look like and just go free, go nuts? You know, again, nobody's necessarily saying this unless you want to share it with them.
So that is the questionnaire that I put in. And again, you can find that at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/60, and it's just called 2020 Year in Review. And I again, like I said, I put that out every single year through my email on Sundays and I've had so much feedback over the years of I've used that I've kind of got into that ritual as well on December 31 to sit down or close to December 31, sit down and take the time to really think about what do I want from the year ahead and what have I learnt from the year that's just passed and what kind of lessons and education will I take into the next 12 months?
Now, I'm a huge fan of music. I have very varied musical tastes from like Metallica to Mahalia Jackson, Chaos, Pink, Iron and Wine and Nick Drake. You know, I love country music. I love Dolly Parton, The Highwaymen, so many different musical tastes. But I was thinking about this year a lot and thinking about everything that we've learnt. And a lyric came to my mind and it just kept playing over and over in my head. And it is from a song by Pink. I can't remember what the song is called. Well, maybe it is called actually this this is maybe where the lyric comes from, but in the chorus she says we're not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again. And I think 2020 has bent us. It has bent us into so many weird and scary and at times wonderful shapes.
It's stretched us, stretched us so far, and it's forced us to see new views, bigger horizons, alternate ways of seeing things. And it's also forced us to see the impact that we can have in our own homes, in our own neighbourhoods and in our global communities.
And I think that line really spoke to me because, yes, we may feel broken, but we're not broken. We're just bent. And we need to maybe move and embrace this new shape or maybe come back to where we were before. But either way, 2020 has an impact on us that will be lasting for many, many, many years to come and for some of us for life.
So I know it's kind of a long one today, but it's really about thinking, what have you learnt from this year, this year that has given us all heartbreak, joy, laughter, sorrow, experiences that we never thought we would have both good and bad. What can we take from this so that we don't just fall into normal again and forget all of this incredible experience, all of the incredible activism, all of the incredible change that's happened in the world, and we actually use that and harness all of that incredible power to make the 2021 and every other year afterwards more meaningful and a greater global community for ourselves and the world at large.
So that is it for today's episode. I wish you the happiest of Happy New Year's. I know the pandemic is far from being over, but I hope that wherever you are, you are safe, you are healthy, that your loved ones are safe and healthy, and that you have a business you're proud of. And most of all, that you have a life that you absolutely love. I wish you nothing but the best in 2021. Thank you again for coming on this journey of a podcast with me. And don't be a stranger. Please reach out to me any time I'm on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach. All right. That's it for now. And I'll see you next episode. Bye.
Thanks for listening to My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you want to get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram at @mydailybusinesscoach.
Download 2020 - Year in Review here.
