Reflecting on 2023, Planning for 2024

I want to invite you as you're looking at wrapping up this year, I want to invite you to pause and I want to invite you to reflect and I want to invite you to take time to consider where you really want to be going for next year. And not only where you want to be going, but how you actually want to get there. Because there are a lot of ways to get where you want to be going, but what's the right path? And I really want to encourage you to not explore and not walk down all of the paths. Because if you're walking down all of the paths, that vision that you hold is going to take you a lot longer to get to because we're dabbling and we are stretched way too thin and there is way too much on our plate. We've got to clear our plate a little bit. Keep it simple, keep your goals visible and consider doing less with more quality. Hey there. Great to see you Amber Q Here welcome to another episode of the Right On Time podcast and this is our final episode of 2023 and I was thinking through some of the updates and the strategies and the topics that I had to share and talk about. Then I was resetting. Just before I hit record, I'm like, you know what? I'm going to put all of that on pause and just say hello and catch up for a little bit and share a little bit about what's going on over here and some thoughts and ideas and some post it notes I have had just as reminders of things that I've been thinking about and things that I am embracing and considering and reflecting on as we end this year and move into a whole new season. Season. I don't know about you, but many of my friends and colleagues in the small business owner world and entrepreneurial community are reconsidering and re evaluating what they want to be doing in the next season of their career. And it's so interesting because I'm making some changes over here myself, which I'm very excited about. My team and I are working very, very closely together and we are collabor collaborating on our next adventures and our next offers and our next strategies that we want to share with you and collaborate with you on very openly. A hint, very not much of a hint. It's going to be very much more overt is we have not ran live experiences of how to clone yourself, which the name kind of says it all, in a long time. And we're going to be running some live experiences around how to clone yourself in 2024. Which we're really excited about. But how this came to be and how we're thinking through it and what we're thinking through and how we're redesigning some of our systems so we can deliver incredible results for our clients, for entrepreneurs, for small business owners, is that we've been thinking about a few things. The number one thing and the biggest post it note that I have in front of me is from a presentation that I listened to from Anthony o'. Ne. And Anthony was really giving a sermon. And he shared this, these words, and he asked this question, are you stewarding the gifts and the talents that I have given you? And I popped this up on a post it note because you know how sometimes you identify like, man, this is. This is where I'm supposed to be going, or this is how I can really serve and this is how I can really help. But then all of these other things come up and pop up that you could also serve and show up. But is it aligned with your inner voice? Is it aligned with that thing that is your greatest motivator, your money? Oh, this is also interesting. I'm just literally taking a peek at this post it note from my notes of Anthony's presentation and a few other tidbits in here in case this sparks anything of you. Oh, my gosh, this is a big one. The caliber of your future depends on the choices and you make today. So as we are thinking through strategies and plans for the new year, okay. The choices that you are making right now are going to impact your future. Great reminder, a few more from this presentation. Enemy. The greatest enemy to your success is your excuse. And, you know, sometimes we're making an excuse and sometimes life's just showing up and, you know, the difference. You know, the difference in your heart, you know. And then this last note on my post it notes from this presentation was, yes, help others with their vision, of course, but steward your vision, too. So are you stewarding the gifts and the talents that you have and that so boldly you are called to deliver on, or are you allowing yourself to get distracted by any number of other things? And a client this week asked me, what do you do when fear starts creeping in, when fear is coming? And, you know, I had to dig a little bit deeper when she asked this question because fear can look like a lot of different things to us and it can feel like a lot of different things and it can show up in a lot of different places. So I asked her, what do you mean by this? What does this look like to you? And it came up for her as, what if someone takes my idea? What if I train someone and they take this idea and they go do it? What if I can't deliver on this big vision that I have? And so we talked more and we went down some more paths and some more ideas and some more, more things that were coming up for her. But in these two examples, you know, we can pause right there because one of them is very much it's mindset and it's also, there are practical things we can do to move forward and to address some of our fears. So there's mindset, there's feeling, there's emot that comes up for me as I think about, am I stewarding the gifts and the talents that I have? And when those fears come up and there's something like, oh, what if I train someone and they take it? They go do something like, well, okay, let's play that out. And I play out those scenarios, because in a moment you can get some solutions and some answers to address those scenarios. For example, if someone takes this idea, okay, do you have non competes in place? Do you believe that they'll be able to create the same thing you have created? So we walk through some of the those scenarios. Another thing that came up in conversation was, what if I post this cool idea, this thing that I have, this thing that I do, and people attack me? Okay, yeah, this is something that comes up. It has come up in the last year for myself, for my clients. So this fear, it's a reality. It has been a reality for people that we have talked to, people that I'm connected to. And we said, okay, what are you going to do then? If you post this thing, if you share this incredible story, if you serve in this incredible way and someone says this or that and they attack, what are you going to do? Take a minute to do what I call right, sizing risk and what is also called scenario planning, and just, all right, what am I going to do if that thing happens? If that fear that I have comes to be, what will I do? And that really reduces the anxiety around it, because you've already gone to that place and time where that thing is happening and you know exactly what you're going to do. So you can walk forward with less fear because you've got a plan for knowing how you will address it. And I am certainly not saying spend hours upon hours on this scenario planning, but I am certainly saying, okay, if that happens, what am I going to do if someone attacks? I'm going to Reach out to my PR consultant friend. If that happens, I'm going to reply in this way, and I'm going to map it out and write it out right now so I've got it ready if. When that thing happens by chance. So give yourself that space to do some scenario planning. But there is another example that we talked about, and that what if I can't get all the way there? What if that's overwhelming? What if that's hard? As we pick up this vision that you may have that is here, and if you are watching or listening on video, you can see that my hands are down low. They are down low in one corner of the screen. And the place you want to be going, you are here now in the place you want to be going. I move into the upper side of the opposite side of the screen. So on the one hand, we are here right now, and we've got to climb this hill. We've got to get to this place on the upper, opposite side of the screen, so to speak. And it's a. It feels like a big stretch. How can I get there? What if I can't get there? I'm going to hit a million obstacles along the way. I can't fully see the path. The beauty is, you do not have to get from here all the way to there in an instant. We're going to take steps to get you there. And the Harper walking in and saying, I want to be there. Why is she there and I'm not there? It doesn't happen in an instant. We've got to talk to people. I've got to ask the mom. I've got to check what other plans might be going right. If you want to get from here to there, what are those steps you have to take? And we take each step at a time, baby. So I know you've heard this before. I know this isn't new, But I even have to remind myself as I think about my goals for next year, I'm like, whoa, we're just up leveling. We're. We're going a little bit bigger than we usually do with our goals, because I take those stairs, I take what I can see. I'm like, no, we're gonna go a little bit bigger. And I know that we're gonna break it down one step at a time. And then eventually, we're gonna get to that place that we ultimately cast the vision for. So if fear is kicking in, it's like, whoa, this is big. What if I can't get there? What if I Stumble. Where do I go? I don't even know what to do. Overwhelm all of the thoughts, ideas, coach yourself and INV to go back to that place of what is the first step I need to take and the second and the third. And we're taking one step at a time. So we went from this idea on a post it note of listening to Anthony o' Neal speak, and then we stepped into this idea and this space of when fear creeps in. What do we do? And you can do scenario planning to counter that. And you can also map out one step at a time because the early steps are easier to take than steps that are a little bit further and a little bit closer to our vision. But the beauty is you don't have to worry about those steps yet. Start where you are. And the third post it note that if you see my eyes moving around, I'm looking, where did that go? Because I was shuffling some post it notes around and moved this one. And there's a quote that I want to share with you. And the quote is, when. Oh, there it is. When you have too much on your plate, you will never reach the top. And I want to invite you, as you're looking at wrapping up this year, I want to invite you to pause and I want to invite you to reflect and I want to invite you to take time to consider where you really want to be going for next year. And not only where you want to be going, but how you actually want to get there. Because there are a lot of ways to get where you want to be going, but what's the right path? And I really want to encourage you to not explore and not walk down all of the paths. Because if you're walking down all of the paths, that vision that you hold is going to take you a lot longer to get to. Because we're dabbling and we are stretched way too thin and there is way too much on our plate. We've got to clear our plate a little bit. Keep it simple, keep your goals visible and consider doing less with more quality. Do less better. You've heard it before, but really consider what that means for you and how you can weave this idea into the end of the year. Do less with quality. As I personally pause and evaluate right now where I am going and where how I will be working with my team to get where we collectively want to be going. One of the things that we are also going to pause for a moment is the Right on Time podcast. So we created a lot of incredible episodes in the year 2023, and I was so grateful for every single conversation we had on this podcast. And as you may have noticed or you may know if you've been listening all year, we had a lot of interviews this year. And as this started, it was more of a solo podcast. And I was in a season this year where I wanted to be in conversation, exploring, considering, evaluating, listening, learning, sharing things that we had in conversations with our incredible guests. And next year, we aren't sure what that's going to look like. So we're reevaluating, we're re examining. And instead of re examining and reevaluating while we are in flight recording, we're gonna hit pause for a minute and then we'll be back in Q1 2024. Oh my gosh, it is so weird to be Honestly, I say 2024, like beginning in July because we host multiple planning events that we're preparing for beginning in July. But now that it's almost here, I'm not quite ready. So it feels a little weird saying 2024. And as I say I'm not quite ready, I am so very ready at the same time. So we'll be back in Q1 2024 sharing. What's it going to look like? What will we have a podcast? What will that podcast be? How can we engage and support you? And if you have any asks or recommendations around this, as you're growing and building your business and navigating all of the challenges that come with leading a business in a unique and different way, like you are doing business, do not hesitate. I would love to hear from you. Email me back and say, you know what, I think it would be cool if you did an episode on this or these topics or if it looked like this, whatever it may be, whatever pops into your mind if you had an intuitive hit that may be there for a reason. So I would welcome a message from you or an email from you. Please feel free to reach out at. On Instagram, I'm at Amber McHugh. Easy to find and you can always pop me an email as well. So with all of this, I hope there was a nugget in here that helped you. And it's funny, as I was flipping through to find the final quote, which was when there's too much on the plate, you will never reach the top. I saw the original outline for this podcast episode that I had planned and it was about being in a busy season and I'm going to end with this now in case you are finding yourself in a Busy season. It's going to be a little micro segment because I was actually planning on a whole episode for how to plan when you are in a busy season. But the few notes that I have is plan for reality. If you know it's going to be a busy season, give people a heads up. This might be a really beautiful thing to talk about with people as you end this year, in fact, and roll into 2024. If you know the beginning of 2024 is going to be busy for you because you're taking a break, you're reflecting, you're refueling, you're re energizing now, okay, talk with people and say, hey, when we get back in January, here's what I have planned. It's going to be busy. What does that mean for your family? What does that mean for the people you typically spend time with? Let them know, give them a plan for reality. Now maybe you've got some other things in your life in January as well. You're like, okay, I'm gonna be busy. I gotta make sure I fit these things into. Plan for that. Get super realistic scenario planning if this happens. You know, we talked about scenario planning. But when you're rolling into a busy season, think through those things that might come up. Because when you're actually in it and you're moving and you're making a lot of decisions, you got a lot going on, it is hard to think, okay, what am I gonna do? What should I gonna do if something unexpected pops up like a nasty gram from on social media or someone attacking you, it to deal with that in the moment when you have so many things going on. So do a little bit of scenario planning. Okay, if this thing comes up when we are in this busy season, here's what we're going to do. Execute. If you have a team that's going to help them take care of things so you can stay focused and they can stay focused on the things that need to be done in this season. And okay, I can't even read the rest of my notes. So plan for reality. Plan for your 2024. Less is more. You've got this. And keep the focus on that right on time. Nudge calling voice that you are hearing to step into your next version of you in 2024, whatever this looks like. And if you haven't set your goals yet, if you have not set your resolutions yet, this is also a time of year when people start to make fun of resolutions. I don't set resolutions because they don't work. You know, if you don't set the goal. There's no chance and no way you going to get there. So don't let people shame you into not setting a goal or not setting your resolutions. But what you are going to do different is that you are not going to have so much going on in your life that you can't focus on that resolution and that goal. And you are going to keep it simple and keep it visible. Keep those goals front and center. So when shiny objects or other things come up and try and distract you in the air and pull you away from your goal and your vision, no, you've got it right there in front of you and if it's not in front of you, it is much easier to get distracted. So keep it front and center and you are going to plan to do less with more quality in your season ahead with that. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here in our final episode of the 2023 Conversations that we have had here on the Right on Time podcast us. I appreciate you. I wish you happy holidays and a Happy New Year and I cannot wait to see what comes to life for you in 2024 and where we go together in 2024. Happy New Year. You're right on time.