Reflect to Thrive: Mastering Year-End Business Goals

Welcome to the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. My name is Angela Mondor, also known as the Geeky Girl. In this podcast, we're going to be talking about some amazing things to help you get over overgiving. Hi, and welcome to this episode of the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. My name is Angela Mondor, and I'm here to talk to you about something. I get it. Maybe it's not quite winter where you're at. And frankly, you can see I'm still in October Halloween mode anyway. But winter is coming for us in North America anyway. For those of you in South America, of course, summer is coming. Yay for you guys! But for us in North America, winter is in fact coming. And regardless of where you live on this planet, the end of the year is coming too. I'm not trying to shit all over you, and I'm certainly not trying to give you any kind of extra stress, but you do have a beautiful opportunity right now, and that's about setting some goals and some ideas of what you want to accomplish in this new year that's coming up for your business. I used to love getting new school supplies. I don't know about you, but the beginning of the school year meant that I got new school supplies. I got new books, I got new pens, all those kinds of things. And that hasn't stopped. I love, love, love office supplies. I also love new books, and it's nice to be able to start a new year with a new planner. So Let's just get that out of the way. That's fun. I love it. I hope you do too. Got some things I wanna just recircle about that later. But you know, it is definitely starting to look like goal setting season. At least it is for me. So I want to welcome you and bring you into this concept and see how you're feeling about your business right now. And maybe, just maybe, if it's starting to get a little chilly where you're at, maybe you can snuggle up with like Warm glass of cocoa, or maybe some tea, and maybe some coffee. Whatever does your thing, right? Whatever works best for you. That's what's important here. Maybe a blanket, warm socks. I don't know. Let's snuggle down and really get into it. Okay, this is a perfect time of year for reflection. I think that it is one of the biggest pieces of planning out what you want to do next is reflection, and that just doesn't happen at the end of every year. That happens for me. throughout the year as well. But at this time of year, I get to reflect on what my business has been in 2024. What has changed? What's different? What things have moved, not just in terms of what I want, but also what has changed in the industry or what's changed about my clients? What are some things that have moved and changed even in technology or in, you know, the overall world of what's going on? And of course, we're sitting at this being November 11th, and I also want to recognize that it is also Remembrance Day here in Canada on November the 11th. So no, I'm not giving this to you live. I definitely did this ahead of time, but I didn't want to not put this out just simply because of the date. I like to make sure that, that this is consistent. You don't have to listen to it on that day, obviously. But for me, it's very important to recognize the fact that this is Veterans Day, or it is Remembrance Day here in Canada specifically, where we remember the people who have fought And who have worked for our freedoms. And it is— I'll just take this one moment because it's very important to me that we are not done fighting for all of the freedoms for all of the people, and that it is a time to remember those who have fought the hardest for what we have now, and a reminder that it is important to continue to fight for what we feel is right. That being said, let's dig into this concept because You're going to be fighting for what's important and right in your business. And in order to do that, having some tools at your disposal will be valuable for you to do that. And let's get into that. The reflection piece of creating these goals in your business. I talked a little bit about thinking about what has 2024 brought me. Clearly, we're not done 2024, and lots could still happen. Unfortunately, or fortunately, but I can see a big picture of what's already happened. So we're sitting, when you're listening to this, you're probably in November at this point, which means that at least 10 months have passed. That's 10 months of data. What has your income been this, this year? Is it on track to be what you anticipated it being? Are you ahead or behind? Those kinds of questions. Not just about money though. How have things occurred inside your business? What has changed? When I think at my business, I look at the relationships that I've built with people over the last year. I've even— there's relationships that have actually come into my business that have— that were previous relationships. Now here's where the fun bit comes for neurodivergent people, because when a neurodivergent person loses touch with somebody in their life and then they pop up 3 months a year or more, We just assume time starts where we left off. Most of us. I, I'm not gonna say all of us, but like most of us, which is, I just assume that's kind of normal, but it isn't. I've learned years ago that that is not normal. Normal's the wrong word for it, but neurotypical people, when time passes, they feel the time passing, whereas I typically just pause that person where they were and assume we can just pick up where we were. Now, when I do that with a neurodivergent person, it in fact works that way, and it's beautiful. We both paused, we came back, we're in the same place. Yay! I always get surprised when it hap— doesn't happen with a neurotypical, and I, you know, say, oh geez, blah blah blah, and they're just like, we haven't talked in like a long time. What are you doing? So for me, when I look back at my relationships in the business and see those people who you know, I hadn't talked to for a long time are back again, or maybe people who I've wanted to be in connection with and who now all of a sudden we have found our way to be in connection with each other, or some relationships that maybe just didn't continue through 2024 the way that we thought maybe they would. Those are all important pieces in the reflection. We can look at those relationships with our people and say, what's been great about those relationships or what hasn't been great with those relationships? We get to learn about ourselves and we get to learn about other people around us, which then helps us to create plans for the new year. We get to integrate those things into our new plans. So, you know, when you think about the people that you've worked with, for example, you might have some people you're like, oh, you are a hell yes, I'd show up all day long and I would do extra work for you because you're an amazing human. And then you might have other people who's like, you were a lot of work and the relationship kind of sucked a little bit. And I'm not sure if the energy versus money exchange worked really well. Huh. Then you can look at those 2 people in that relation, those 2 relationships you have, and then start to choose how you wanna move forward about who you wanna work with, right? Who do you wanna attract to work with? So those kinds of reflections are important. And then of course, the reflections on how you handled the year. What were some of the brighter moments and what were some of the darker moments? What were some of the things that happened where you thought, oh, you know what, I've totally got this. I feel like a total queen. And other times when you went, I feel like I should give up and just like, never mind, because I'm not good enough for this. You had all those moments throughout the year, and hopefully you've recorded a few and you've celebrated some. You've also learned from a few others. This is a really good time to do those things, to see where is it, what works for you and what doesn't. I got caught the other day. Somebody had said, why, why isn't it you don't do X, Y, and Z? And I almost said because I didn't have time. And I'm like, you know what? No, it's not that. I just don't like it. So when we are honest with ourselves, then it's really— that allows us to be able to make choices that make things better for us and also better for our clients, the product we deliver, those kinds of things. There is never a day when me being on a video call with a client at 6 o'clock at night is a good idea. I have done it when my clients have traveled to like Australia. We've done it as a onesie-twosie. It's never been an entire relationship. And I know there's a difference and they know there is a difference, right? And we honor that before we walk into that situation. But I need to put those boundaries around what's going to work because I don't want to show up in a not great way for my clients, right? So what is working for you and what isn't is a great reflection as well because it helps to set up how you want to move forward in the new year. Then think about your business. What are the things that you loved doing for your clients and what are the things you didn't like doing for your clients? Or what are the things you love doing inside your business Or are the things you didn't? For me, it's accounting. Straight up, I really just don't like doing accounting. It takes a lot of energy. Some of those things are looked after by other people now and some aren't. There's some things you can and some things you can't offload. So when you're thinking about these things in your business, these are some choices you're making. So how can I make this so that it's easier for me? What are the steps that I can take? And then you can start to think about that plan as to what you want to do. So this is why reflection is really important because it allows you to be able to make really great ideas come to life in ways that won't crush you or cause you extra stress. Because when we dream big, it's fun, it's exciting, but then the, the entire world might crumble if we build incorrectly. Okay, so for example, there was a few years ago, I think it was 20, I was thinking about becoming a professional speaker that traveled. I love being on stage. I love communicating with people and training and, and providing value. you, there is nothing about that job that I don't love. And so I thought this would be kind of cool. So I started to take some gigs, started to do some stuff, and then I realized that this is going to require me to travel a lot. This is the part I didn't think of. I'm going to live out of a suitcase a lot of the times. I'm going to be in a whole bunch of hotel rooms. I'm going to be constantly looking for Ubers and taxis and things in different cities all over the place. And airport security is never my friend. I'm like way overprepared going in, but I'm super stressed all the way through. So when I started to look at the different pieces, I went, this is really not a cool idea for me. How can I still deliver my training? How can I still provide value but not travel like that? Hence my business evolved and changed. So it's important for you to understand about, you know, what you are doing for your clients or what you're hoping to do for your clients and be able to look at it and say, does that make sense for me? Is that something that I am going to want to do, essentially? Okay, so then you can dream big, and you can start to say, here's all these amazing things I want to accomplish. And then you can really dive into the concept of creating these things. Once you start to create these big dreams, you can then quantify it by the reflections that you've just gone through. Does that really make sense, or is there another way to do it? Because Let's be honest, there is a cornucopia of ways that you can do any one thing. There isn't one way to build an email list. There isn't one way to public speak. There isn't one way to be a consultant or a coach or whatever. There's so many different ways to do all of those things. So it isn't just a one-way street. Okay, choose what you want to do and then say, hmm, this is how I've seen it done and I really don't like it that way. Or here's how I've seen it done. I'd like to tweak it right now. You get to dive in and look at this. So this isn't about This isn't about the typical goal setting. This isn't traditional corporatey kind of stuff. This is about building a life and a business that suits you. This is about taking your needs and your desires and turning it into a life slash business that you actually want to get up for every morning. Once you start to make those big dreams, then you want to start thinking about how do I break that down? How do I take that large, overwhelming whatever it is? Because maybe it's I want to make $100K this year, or maybe it's I want to make $40K this year, or maybe I want to hit the million mark. Whatever the case may be, it's a big thing because we've dreamed big, right? Maybe it's, I want to add X amount of people to a program that you have, or, you know, membership or something. Ooh, that's a big number. Might feel that way, and it should feel that way. Here I am shitting on you. But when we dream big, those dreams can be overwhelming after we've dreamt them. And so then we talk about how we can break those down. We break the yearly goals down into quarters. We take those quarters and we break them down to months, and then the months We just have every week, what do we have to accomplish based on that month? Now you're working on the pebbles, right? That little bits of sand. It's not, it's not as big deal as thinking of that great big huge issue that's up there. So in that way, it makes it way less stressful. You're way less likely to burn out and you are now feeling way more accomplished because when you check off that list at the end of the day, at the end of the week, the end of the month, the end of the quarter, you're rolling up to those bigger dreams. Okay. So when you are thinking about this, it's important to check in. I often say that, you know, we plan that year, but then we should plan each quarter and then we should plan each month. And every time you do this, you check in. Remember I said we can reflect often and we do. I do. I reflect every month and I reflect every quarter because then it allows me to say, hey, what's working for me right now and what isn't? Am I still on track for those goals? Do those goals still make sense to me throughout the year? Because sometimes it's important to pivot. Sometimes we're not pivoting. Sometimes we're just off the beaten track a little bit and we come back on again. There's lots of things that happen in our lives, and we need to be prepared for those things because they're not predictable and they can be overwhelming. So let's give them some space. Okay? So if you're somebody who's like, oh my God, Angela, this all makes sense and I got it. Thank you so much. I'm gonna go get myself a planner and make it happen. And this is fantastic. Go for it. Have a blast. If you're like, This all still sounds so, so complicated. I got you. No problem. I got your 6. We have the Rockstar Success Circle where we do all of these things together as a community. We actually have a brand new planner every quarter, which is nice because we get a brand new shiny empty planner every quarter. You know how much I love empty planners. So we get to focus on 90 days at a time, a quarter at a time. And in here we have all the planning tools you need for planning your year, your quarter, your month, and your weekly non-negotiables as well. And we do it together. So we meet for all of our— we have a yearly planning party, we have quarterly planning parties, and we have monthly planning parties. Notice they're parties. They're not, they're not planning sessions. We have fun when we get together and we're very supportive. So everybody in the community is super supportive, helping each other out to see different ways that they can accomplish things. People giving ideas on how somebody can break something down a little differently. The ahas that come out of these calls are phenomenal. You wouldn't want to miss one of them. But that community is absolutely brilliant. So if that's something you're like, you know what, I like what you're saying. I like what you're doing, but I need help. This is the best way to get the help. We'll help you with your entire 2025, making sure you plan it, but also check in on it, the reflections all the way through. At the end of the day, I hope that what you got out of this today is that you understand the value in reflection and that you also understand the value in planning so that you don't run into great big hiccups at times where you go, oh, why did I do that? Why did I choose this? I hope you have a fantastic week. I hope you keep your momentum going, and I look forward to talking to you next week. Have a great one. Bye now. Thank you so much for listening to the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. Your support means the world to me. You can find show notes for this You can find this episode and other goodies at overgiversanonymous.ca. And if you enjoyed this episode or you enjoyed the podcast in general, why not join us in the Overgivers Anonymous Facebook group where you can connect with overgivers from all over the world? Head on over to geekygirl.ca/group.