114. New Goals, No Guilt: Your Mid-Year Wake-Up Call

Where do you want to be on December 31st and what version of you will you be celebrating on that day? And what will you need to believe now and focus on to really embody and become her six months in the future?

Are you a woman in medicine, feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from the personal fulfillment that you desire? You're in the right place. Join doctors Joanne and Erin as they rewrite the rules for women in medicine. Let's begin.

Welcome to this episode where I'm going to be interviewing my Amazing Co host, Dr. Joanne Sotelo, and she's going to lead us through the importance of scheduling a mid year review. And we know it's a little bit beyond the first of July. It's not too late and I would love to hear from you. Joanne, what do you mean by a mid year review?

Thank you, Erin. And I love doing this kind of reviews at any time of the year. And it's good to remember January isn't the only time to set meaningful goals. And we have these times that can be arbitrary. But July, Summer, whichever time of the year that you're listening to, this can also be a very powerful and often overlooked kind of like a second chance, right? It's like a natural midpoint to pause and reset and decide intentionally how do you want to finish this year? And like I think of it also kind of like permission to begin again. Like, we don't have to wait until the next year to think about our goals or what we want to accomplish. And it's also kind of a neat way to also look back and celebrate some of the things that we've done so far and then check in and then say, okay, what are some of the things that I haven't done and why? And realign it with where you are right now, what's important, your priorities. And then kind of resetting some of those goals that feel good to you and can also give you that feeling, that emotion and energizes your action plans.

I love that reminder for us to celebrate where we are and no matter how far we make it on our goals that we might have set at the beginning of the year, there's always more room to celebrate and that gives us that momentum to carry us into the second half of the year. Love that. So, Joanne, I know from my perspective this type of mid year reset was not even though I was in leadership roles during my medical career, it wasn't necessarily on my radar. It wasn't something embedded into my routine as a physician as much as as it is now as a Business owner, I would love for you to stress to our listener, why is it important for them maybe as a practicing physician or healthcare provider, to implement a mid year review?

Yes, I agree. I remember it was in my leadership role that I also listened to all these people in management go Q1, Q2 and I'm like, what are they talking about? I guess we don't think about it that way of we just show up, we see patients, we do our work and it doesn't matter what, what time of the year it is. And it's like, oh, it makes sense, right? Like we're, we're dividing the goals in this 90 day segment or beginning of the year, mid year, depending on, on how you, you measure. And for us, I, I think it's important to also, like, I think about it with my psychiatry hat on a little bit, where it's really good for our brain to feel like we have fresh starts because it, it feels like a clean slate. You're not stuck as much of in the things that you haven't done. It's also kind of hopeful in, in a sense, right, of thinking of what can we done instead and using the calendar as a tool, not necessarily as time per se, but then thinking about it in a way that feels like that fresh start that energizes you. And then also our brain craves milestones and clean slates. So that's why, you know, we talk about baby steps and the tiny habits and all those things. And it's not necessarily just because we need to make it small, is because we kind of, it's like those dopamine hits when we are achieving those goals. And then particularly for us women in medicine, we carry so much guilt of things that we haven't done, the things that we haven't accomplished. And this can also help us in this restart, get rid of some of that guilt. And sometimes when, when we don't do this reset, it feels like life is just slipping by. And I know we both coach women in medicine and how often do we hear, then we feel like there's nothing good going on. Life is boring. I just do the same thing over and over. I've lost my purpose. And this is a way also to kind of check in with that and feel it like as a reset, not just in goals, but then also in terms of purpose and how you want to show up. And it can also be psychologically very powerful. Kind of the same way that we think of fresh starts as with birthdays or Mondays or new seasons, we can use this very Symbolically, in a way that serves us and in, in how time can feel more precious now. And it's an opportunity to course correct.

So much wisdom there. One of the subjects you touched on that stood out to me is that clean slate. And I've been in many conversations recently, one person who's getting ready to relaunch their business in a different direction, another person who has shifted significantly. And I was talking actually with Candace Vanderlothen, who is our in our sessions, the next two sessions, number 115 and 116. And she helps people address energy levels and she talked about the importance of that, clearing out one type of energy. If you're dealing with some negative energy, with things that you haven't resolved, if you can clear that out first, it makes way for the fresh new. And what I hear you saying is we have the ability to do that in these seasons, in these cycles, during the year, at the beginning of the year, in Q2, in the middle of the year, Q3, the end, you know, all of these times where we can reset and refresh, as you said, start over. And to me that sounds so inspiring and that we don't have to be stuck where we were before. And then my other question for our listener is what else do you need to do to maybe create that fresh slate? And I, I would bet, Joanne, that you're going to help us find some approaches where we can construct a template or a scaffolding to create a mid year review. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

Yeah. So this is a good time that if you are not driving that you can get your pen and paper because, you know, I love good journal prompts. So the first thing that we can do is I'm going to sound redundant, but literally a mid year reflection to think of what did I hope to accomplish this year? Like looking back to, you know, if you set goals at the beginning of the year and then of course ask yourself, what progress have I made? Sometimes our brain thinks very black and white. So if we haven't fully accomplished, it feels like we haven't done anything. So it's good, like you were saying earlier, Erin, to really celebrate that and ask ourselves what challenges derailed me? And it's good to check in because sometimes we set goals and then we add. We're experts at just adding more things to our plate, saying yes to other things, having conflicting interest, and we get busy doing other important things. But then it doesn't always stay in alignment with that goal. So really being very honest with what or some of those challenges that get you off track or bigger obstacles. And then asking what am I most proud of? So you really get a good honest view. And like we always talk here in terms of awareness of what you want to do, how far have you gone, what's going in the way, where do you want to go? And then celebrate the things that you're proud of. So that's an overview of kind of that first step of mid year reflection. A good second one is once you do that, then you think of do I want to keep this? And you recommit or release? And then you again with a lot of honesty. Here are some more journal prompts. Which goals still light me up? What are you still excited about? That you really want to get going. And then just give yourself the pressure of time. And then you say okay, now six months, let's go. And then you ask yourself which ones no longer serve me with a lot of honesty. And like I always say, no judgment. This is all with a lot of self compassion. And then another good question here is what can I release with gratitude to make space for something better? I have been doing a lot of that assessment of saying if I really want to be successful in one or two areas and I really want to focus on that, are the things that I'm doing, are they going to serve me in that big goal or not? And then there's things that I'm letting go of that I really love, but then they might not necessarily serve me to propel that bigger goal. So that's that second one, right? Recommit or release, then a third one if you want to, you can set a new bold goal. Who said that you had to keep all the ones that you set up at the beginning of the year just because you set them up? And we hear so much information about the impossible goals or creating this dreaming big. But there's some science behind that because it kind of forces your brain to think outside the box. So it's not just doing a little bit more of the same thing. You almost have to become someone else to achieve that bold goal. So think of one thing that would deeply move your life forward in this next six months. And if it makes you a little bit nervous or if your brain says oh no way, then you are doing it right. So give yourself that gift and then let it be meaningful, a little bit uncomfortable, but exciting. You can also then create the smaller chunks. We have six months so you can divide it in again like we were joking on quarters in those 90 day sprints. Or, or monthly, weekly, just have something that gives you those milestones that you can plan for and then check off and feel really good at it. And of course with the check ins and then the, the fifth one, which is so important is visualize that finish line. I love this question. Where do you want to be on December 31st? In what version of you will you be celebrating on that day? And what will you need to believe now and focus on to really embody and become her six months in the future?

So powerful. Wow. I took some notes in summarizing what you've shared, Joanne, and there's some recurring themes here. So you talked about what you mean by a mid year review and you pointed out it's a time to celebrate, reflect and recalibrate. And the importance for women in medicine is it gives you a clean slate. You talked about the neuroscience behind some of this. Our brains create or crave milestones. So you're looking at things halfway through the year and using those milestones to work with the way our brains work. And then as usual, you shared some framework with us where you're using the power of reflection, which I can't, you know, stress that enough to our listener. You and I both use a planner system that gives a time to weekly review. And what I love about that is it gives us the power every week to look back and say what went well from last week and what didn't. What am I going to bring in from last week into my next week and you know, what serves me and what am I going to take out? What's relevant now? And it is such a powerful tool and certainly doing that six months into the year is helpful. And then kind of cleaning out what is no longer serving you. What you thought might have been relevant in January may no longer be relevant in July. It's time to take inventory and see what you need to let go of. And then also what might you want to elevate with your goals? Is there a new goal or do you need to make your goal bigger? And then I love what you said about visualizing the finish line. How do you want to end the year and pause and what does that look like? And what are the other things? What do you, you know, what are the emotions you're feeling? And the power of that visualization, again, I don't think is a tool we use enough in medicine. And I love that reminder to don't minimize that power of visualization. So critical. And Joanne, I would bet you have another piece of wisdom for our listener to take Home. On this topic of setting mid year goals, what else would you like to share with our listener?

Yes, and I wanted to mention as I was hearing you reflect on in what I had said about, talked about. I remember the first full marathon I did many, many years ago and I read some book. It was marathon for beginners, something like that. It's like a. The book that everyone reads and the thing that that book stressed the most was you have to visualize yourself crossing the finish line literally. And that was so powerful. I remember in training those long runs and then visualizing and I think I've shared before that I have a funny picture of me so proud of that moment and then this old guy right in front of me and I'm like so proud anyway of all the time it it took me to, to cross that finish line. But I've used it as a kind of formula that I, that I think of whenever I want to accomplish something big. Like I remember the steps I had to take to train for that marathon and, and all the help I needed and, and how I. The conviction I had and the discipline I had. And then very importantly vis visualizing that, that finish line and, and with that the one thing I wanted to add it'. Love. I love, love, love this. Here it goes. What does my December 31st self need from me today? In that you can apply that question to almost anything that you want to accomplish. Visualize yourself there, already accomplished and then think of what do I need to do today to support that visual, that future self. I want to be very powerful.

As always, thank you so much for your wisdom, Joanne and I can't wait for our listener to tee up for the next episode. We've got a two part series with Candace Vanderloth and she's going to talk about energy and just such an amazing topic. Stay tuned because the next episode is coming right up.

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