The End-of-Year Reset High Performers Actually Need for 2026

What's up, you guys? Welcome back to the podcast. I am so excited for this episode because we've finally made it to the final days of 2025. But before we jump into vision boards and shiny new goals, we have got to make some space to properly close this chapter. And that is exactly what we are going to do in this episode. This is going to be a little bit of a different episode because it's basically going to be sort of a guided practice. So I will link in the show notes below for you guys the actual downloadable guide workbook that you can grab so that you can go through this whole process together with us if you want to. You can also just listen into this episode and sort of do your own, like, reflecting and introspecting as I'm talking about these things. But we have created a physical workbook guide for you that you can download. You can look at it digitally, you can print it off, or you can just take notes on some of the things that I'm saying that stand out to you. Most that you're like, oh, I want to do that, or I want to answer that journal prompt. You can like jot some things down while you're listening. So however you want to go along with this episode is totally up to you, but it is going to be a little bit more of a guided practice, and it's going to help you with your end-of-year reflections. And I'm so, so excited. So let's dive in. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shift happen. So I of course think that it is powerful to close the year in a really intentional way and do some reflecting every year, but especially this year because of the fact that it was a year 9 in numerology. And you're probably hearing everyone talk about this. I know I've been mentioning it quite a bit, but it does feel sort of significant. And I think the reason why this year in particular has felt maybe a little bit heavier than expected for a lot of people is because of the fact that it was a year 9 and it also was the year of the snake. So 2025 was the final year in our kind of 9-year cycle that continues to happen over and over in numerology. You have years 1 through 9, and so once you finish year 9, you are completing a chapter, an era, a cycle, and then you start fresh with a year 1, and that just keeps going on and on and on. So this year was a year 9. It was the year of the snake, the final year in numerology. It's a year of endings. Not necessarily like acceleration, right? And I think a lot of us felt that in, in different areas of our life. Where the Year of the Snake comes in is, you know, the just the idea that the snake represents shedding, right? Shedding old skins and integrating wisdom, becoming new. But before you can become new, you have to like let go of everything that you are no longer. And so that was a big experience for a lot of people this year as well. Maybe you resonate with that, whether it was in relationships, finances, things in your business. But so many things we were being forced against our will in a lot of ways to let go of, to shed, to break old patterns, to stop cycles, to really look at the old versions of ourselves that no, no longer resonate with us and say, oh, it's kind of uncomfortable to realize this, but that's no longer really me. Maybe your friendships have been changing or evolving, or you're realizing some people in your life you used to be super close with or have a ton of things in common with. But now, because you've been growing and evolving so much, you're like, these relationships are starting to feel not as fulfilling, not is reciprocal. Like, people don't understand me as much. That happens a lot in your growth journey. But this year especially was a year of shedding. It was a year of letting go, of realizing all the parts of yourself, your life, your patterns that truly you're being asked to say goodbye to because you're graduating from them, because you're meant to move on and to ascend past those things. So this year wasn't really meant to be this kind of like fast and furious transformation year. It was meant to help you wake up to the things that aren't in alignment with where you're headed next and to, you know, outgrow the things that you've maybe been forcing, to release the old patterns, like I said, to release people, places, and especially integrate all of the lessons that you've learned over the past almost decade of your life and of your growth. And so that's why this year didn't really feel like an explosive growth season for a lot of people. In a lot of ways, it felt like endings, and that's okay because I think we just have to remember that some years are gonna be about like the becoming and other years are gonna be about the unbecoming. And so that's what this year has felt like for a lot of us. Us, myself included, in, in a lot of ways, right? So I talked about this recently on an episode, but the different seasons of business, as I was kind of like recapping my year this past year and going over everything that happened from January through November, what I was working on in my business, all the things that I was building, all the things that I was burning. And in that episode, I talked about these 3 different seasons of business, right? Where you have kind of your explosive growth years, you have your maintenance years, and then you have your building years. And so I think that's also another interesting interesting thing to just bring back into this conversation and reflect on as we close out. If you are a business owner, an entrepreneur, someone who's building something, what do you feel like this year was for you? Was it one of those explosive growth years? Was it a maintenance year for you where you're kind of like holding the momentum, maintaining a lot of what, what you've built and riding those waves? And it, it's going well and you're figuring out new ways to like iterate, but you're like holding everything that you built. Or was it a building or rebuilding year where you're like, damn, I have a lot of work to do. I'm gonna tear this down. I'm gonna rebuild this. I'm gonna make this new program. What was this year for you? For me, it was definitely a building year. And I talked a lot about that in that other episode. If you wanna go listen to that for more of the business stuff and just a recap of those different seasons and kind of what they've looked like at various points in my life and in my business. But one thing that I, that I wanna say is that I think endings can oftentimes feel like a failure when you are someone who is naturally ambitious and wired for expansion. And so the end of the year hits, and if you didn't accomplish all that you wanted to, it can be really easy to let yourself fall into lack or judgment or overwhelm, or to go into overdrive of like already trying to plan for how you'll outdo yourself next year. And sometimes we do that before we've even properly closed this chapter and pulled all of the juice from it. Because no matter what this year was, every single year happens for us on purpose and there's valuable lessons to be pulled from it. So that's what we're going to do in this episode. But I think when we think about reflecting on the year, normally what people assume that to mean is like, let's go over what you did well and where you can improve. But I don't think that that's enough. Like, I want to go so much deeper. And I also don't think that just like making a list of things that you are grateful for from this year feels like a sufficient end-of-year reflection or like an activity for high performers specifically. Why? Because if you are someone who's ambitious, you're a high performer, you have a big mission, you wanna do, you wanna create big things with your life. Most of us, we've been in this game. We are actively grateful all year long. Like you've probably done a lot of personal development in your life. You probably have built for yourself a steady state of gratitude most of the time, if not every day. Right? I close every single night of my life with the deepest gratitude. I lay my head on the pillow, I talk to God, and I thank him for all of the things that are beautiful and right and well in my life. I rarely ever in prayer, like, ask for things. Sometimes I will, but a lot of my prayer is just expression of gratitude and being so, so thankful. And so I think if we're like, oh, just, you know, what, what were you grateful for this year? It's just, it's not enough. For us as high performers, cuz we're already really tuned into our gratitude. And also we want more, duh. Like no matter how good, amazing, abundant, successful, fun, loving, nourishing this year was for you, like all of us as high performers, as high achievers, like we want more. Duh. Of course, that is the game of life. It's the game of entrepreneurship. We're always seeking the next thing. And that's what makes us so addicted to growth. And that's why we change and evolve at lightning speeds because we are, we're always looking for that next thing for better or for worse. Sometimes it's a really big positive thing and sometimes it like can be a detriment to us, right? But whatever the reason is, we all know that we want more. If you're not starting this next year being like, all right, what is the next evolution of who I'm becoming? And more means something different for everybody. It can be more softness, it could be more success, it could be more visibility, it could be more money, it could be more time with your family, it could be more quality time spent with the people that you love and deepening of relationships. More means different for everyone, but we all want more. And so what we're going to do is we're going to go a little bit deeper, and we are going to tackle this end-of-year review from several different angles. So throughout this kind of guided practice, we are going to talk about doing— how to do like a life audit and pull out your core focuses for the next year. I'm going to give you some journaling prompts, both for life stuff, general end-of-year reflections, and also some prompts specifically for business. If you are a business owner or an entrepreneur, and we'll talk about a cost versus capacity audit and kind of go through different areas of your life there. And then we're also gonna talk about productive rest and the 7 systems of the body and how to productively rest in each of them, because that is something that's really important for us to reset ourselves before we jump into the next year being like, okay, go, go, go. And now I'm ready to be this new person and create all these new things. So like I said, grab a pen and paper, grab your reflection guide if you've downloaded it, whether it's digitally or printed or just your notes app, however you want to follow along with this episode. Jot down anything that stands out to you, take some notes, or save these prompts for later and come back and go deeper into the journaling and all these things. For now, if you want to, you can just listen to me talk about this stuff and sort of absorb it, and then you can do the practice later with your guide or with your own notes app. However you want to is totally up to you. Up to you. So let's dive in, starting off with the life audit. What I'm going to suggest before you do this, if you can, if you want to like pause this, maybe you want to do this piece later, but before you do this, I really think it's helpful to go through your camera roll from January to December. Scroll open your phone, go all the way back to January of this year, and just do a little like meander, like scroll through your camera roll from this past year to jog your memory about all the things you did, the places you went, the people that you hung out with, the moments that you shared, the food that you ate, the trips that you took, like all of the things, because it's so easy to forget. So I highly recommend at least doing the scroll through of the camera roll to jog your memory. But if you want to go a step further, make a list of the things that you did, the trips that you took, what your like work or personal focuses were in each month of the year, maybe as you're scrolling through the camera roll. This is what I did when I was getting ready to record that episode that I talked to you guys about that I published around my birthday, where I was reflecting on this whole last year and going through everything that I did every single month, I really used my camera roll to assist me in that. And it was so helpful because so many things I forgot that I did where I was like, oh my God, this year was so full and it was so powerful. And all of these places that I went and people that I met and, you know, work things that I did and trips, and, and there's so much in there. So if you want to like make a list, just go like January, February, March, and then under each one just write out like the biggest highlights of anything that you did or what your work focus was that month or if you went on a trip or if you had like a really fun, like, friends weekend or anything. Because when you look at that in summary, you're going to really feel like your life is so much more full and beautiful than you give yourself credit for. And you're going to be really, really proud of yourself. So first, do the camera roll scroll, do the summary of what you did every month of this year. And then let's walk into the life audit where you're going to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each category. So there's, I think, 8 categories here. And for each one, you're going to give yourself for this past year, what you think. Okay. So I have something I think you're really going to love and your business is going to love it even more. Do you want to steal the strategy I've been using to seduce premium buyers and sell out my offers on Instagram stories? Chances are you're already posting, you're already making sales, but if your Instagram stories aren't working as hard as you are, you're leaving money on the table. Sold Out Stories is going to teach you exactly how to change that so that you can sell out any offer at any price point. And even high-caliber coaches miss this because selling on stories isn't about how much you post or how frequently you show up face to camera. It's about psychological sequencing. And the way you're posting right now might be giving the premium buyers in your audience the ick. Documenting your day and hoping it builds trust, posting look at me content and calling it authority, sharing client wins as soon as they drop in instead of strategically weaving weaving them into a story selling sequence designed to drive demand and convert sales. We both know that you're not here to learn how to show up more. You're here because you know your content could be converting faster and more effectively. Sold Out Stories is going to give you 5 high-converting story selling frameworks built specifically for premium buyer psychology. Inside, you'll get over 6 hours of deep dive video trainings, real IG story breakdowns, and live walkthroughs that show you exactly how to elevate your slides from authority building all the way to offer flow in than 10 slides. My clients have already been using these frameworks to pull 5-figure sales days while posting less. One client generated 14 premium leads from a single story sequence. Another sold out her event in under 6 hours with just 8 strategic story slides. No sales calls, no paid ads, just the right frameworks. You'll walk away knowing how to sequence for desire, transition into your offer seamlessly, and sell daily without ever feeling salesy. You already know your offer is incredible, so now it's just time for your stories to sell it like it is. Grab Sold Out Stories today and turn 10 slides or less into your highest converting content. Let's make your next story your most profitable one yet. Click the link in the show notes below and I'll see you inside. That category sort of like represented on a scale of 1 to 10. So the categories are health and fitness, money and finances, romantic relationship, career and work, family, fun and recreation, which can also include like relaxation and self-care. Because sometimes like my idea of fun is like getting a massage, you know what I mean? Or it's like other people would be like, that's not recreation, that's not fun. But like for me it kind of is. Then you have friends and also spirituality. So those are the categories. In each category you're going to give yourself a score from 1 to 10 for how you felt like you did in that category this past year. Don't overthink it. Just as you look at each category and you're also going to see this in your guide, you're going to actually be able to color this in. There's like a wheel of life where all these different categories are, and you're going to be able to shade in and color up to the number that you felt like you are giving yourself for that thing. So if you're like health and fitness, you're like, I was kind of like a 5 this year. You're gonna shade in like 5 rungs of the little like piece of pie on your physical guide if you have that and you're using it. So give yourself a score, don't overthink it. Just as soon as you like see the category and you marinate on it, you've already gone through your camera roll, you've already written down everything you did for the year, so you have like a kind of understanding. Then give yourself the rating and just go with it. The next part of this is for you to pull out your focus areas for next year. So now what I want you to do is I want you to pick your core 4. This is something that one of my business mentors taught me, and I've been doing it for the past couple years as part of my end-of-year reflection and sort of preparation for the next year. And so we also put this into your workbook for you guys, but you're gonna pick out the 4 categories of the above, like, 8 that you just went through that you are deciding that you intentionally want to work on improving in 2026. So some people will look at this and they'll be like, okay, I'm gonna pick the 4 that had the lowest scores in 2025 because obviously these— those need a lot— the most work. And So those should be my intentional focuses for 2026. And I think that's a fair enough way to do it, but I don't think that it necessarily always has to go with like whatever ones where your lowest scores have to be your core 4. Use your intuition, know yourself. Also know if you're avoiding a certain category just because you don't feel like working on it, but you know you actually should. And pull out your core 4, like the top ones that you wanna really, really intentionally focus on. Improving for 2026. And then for each of those 4 categories that you're setting as like your core focus for 2026, you're going to set 1 to 2 intentions or goals under each category. So I'm going to share an example with you from a real client of mine who did this exercise with me just to kind of, you know, show you what that looks like. So let's say your core 4 for next year are health, finances, relationship, and spirituality, because those are the areas you want to work on most. Under each, you're gonna set 1 to 2 goals or intentions. So this is what it looked like for this client. Under health, she said she really wanted to work on getting 8 hours of sleep per night and going to bed by 10:30 PM and getting movement 3 times a week. Those were like her 2 things. Then under finances, her 2 things were creating a budget with her brother, which was something that they had agreed that they were gonna do and like hold each other accountable to, and then meal plan every week to save money on Uber Eats, and she wanted to break patterns with that sort of stuff. And then under relationship, she wanted to practice being more open in public settings with her body language and her eye contact because she is single and she wants to really be open to talking to people, going on dates. And she recognized that she needed to shift something within herself to welcome that, to open that, and to actually open her energy to the people around her. The other thing she did under relationships was the two-thirds rule, which I don't know if you guys have heard of this, but it's like hair, makeup, outfit. Of those 3 things, you need to try to always have 2 out of the 3 done. And that's just like a thing that girls will do when they're like wanting to feel more put together or like get their life together. And so that was something that she wanted to work on as it relates to dating and relationships and just feeling more put together in her life. Then under spirituality, the 2 things she said was having a monthly meeting with her group of Christian girlfriends and meditating in the morning and praying at night. So hopefully that gives you some inspiration of like how to really go about this and what to set as your intentions or goals underneath your core focuses. But it's literally like 1 to 2. It's not like 5 things underneath health and like 5 things under— like, don't go too hard. We all love to make the dopamine hit of making a giant list of all the ways that you're going to change your life is so enticing. It's so high. But we know that it never works. You want to keep it like as concise as possible. Now we're going to go into end of year reflection. These are things for you to journal on. So I'm gonna read out the prompts for you, and then this is gonna be stuff that you can go into deeper and really just journal on your reflections of, of those things. We're gonna start with the general ones and then we'll go into the business-specific questions. So starting off with some end-of-year reflections to journal, I want you to describe 2025 in one word. Then what were some of your favorite things that you did this year? Do you have any disappointments? Accomplishments with this year? What are they and why? What were your biggest lessons learned this year? What were some of your favorite places that you spent time or the best trips that you went on? Then reflect on any major personal milestones. What were they and how did it make you feel? What did you think this year would be like versus how it actually unfolded? And what are your takeaways from this. What were the biggest changes or challenges that you faced this past year? Who in your life were you super grateful for this year? Any old or new connections that were particularly special for you this year? What were some of the key things that you learned about yourself this year, and what areas did you really grow in? Next, we have our business reflection questions. So we've got 10 of these, starting with number 1: Where did I overcomplicate what wanted to be simple? Number 2, where did I underprice my proximity or value? Number 3, what scaled and what kind of quietly broke in the background as a result? Number 4, what did I do this year that I would never tolerate again in business specifically? Number 5, what am I proud of that no one clapped for? 6, I had the most fun this year in business doing blank. 7. My best month in business energetically this year was blank. And why did it feel so good? Number 8. My best month in business financially was blank. And what made that possible? Number 9. Who are the people that lifted me up or encouraged me in business this year? And number 10. Summarize your year in business into one statement. This was the year I— All right, next up we are moving into our cost versus capacity audit. So again, all of this is in the end of your reflection guide if you want to download it so you can see kind of the visuals of these things a little bit more. But basically when we're talking about cost versus capacity, what we're talking about is for anything meaningful in 2025, whether it was your business offers, relationships, goals, routines, you can essentially ask yourself yourself two questions. What did this give me? And what did this cost me? And so we can kind of do this evaluation of like, did it cost me too much? Did it expand my capacity? Like, what would I repeat? What was worth it? What wasn't? And we're sort of doing an assessment of those things. So when you think about the cost, it's not just the financial cost of doing something or saying yes to something, but other potential costs are like time, energy, identity stagnation, something that keeps you stuck in an old version of yourself, the load on your nervous system. Maybe it cost you your creativity or intimacy or your presence or peace. And so when we're thinking about these different categories, I'll give them to you in a second, there's 6 of them. We're not just judging if the things that we decided to do were like plain old good or bad. We're just asking what they cost us versus what they we expanded our capacity for. And so it's not like a black or white, like, that was good or that was bad. There's always going to be pros and cons in everything that we decide to do or not do. And so this is where we're just building a lot more clarity around those things. So you might think about, like, what were maybe programs that you created that worked, but maybe they really drained you? Or relationships in your life that looked good, or it felt good to hang on to them, but they were actually really heavy or hard to maintain, or they didn't feel aligned anymore. Or maybe there was something with revenue where it's like, yeah, you got to make more money from it, but that kind of came with these like hidden consequences or weird energy, or you didn't feel like it was worth what you had to pour into it in order to get that money. And so we're looking at those types of things. So the 6 categories to audit for your cost versus capacity audit is the ways you made money, the opportunities you said yes to, your relationships and those dynamics, ways that you spent your time and energy, the identities that you clung to, and strategies that you ran on autopilot. So we're gonna go through each one. The first one being the ways that you made money, right? So offers, programs, especially if you are a business person, this is gonna be really valuable, but you could do this for any sort of career, probably side hustles and other things like that as well. Maybe it's like a, you're thinking about like a signature program or a mastermind, or you had some major launches this year. We're thinking of all the ways that you made money. What are the ways that you brought revenue into into your life and your business. Quick cash products, side hustles. Maybe there was like a partnership or an affiliate deal or a revenue share, or you had brand deals or service exchanges, or you do high-ticket one-on-one or whatever, right? You wanna like run this audit on each major income stream that you had this year. So these are the prompts that I want you to ask yourself for each major income stream that you had this year. What did this give me financially? What did it cost me emotionally? What did it cost me creatively? Did this expand my leadership capacity or shrink it? Did this require me to contort my messaging or my values? And would I be proud to repeat this exact structure next year? So you're gonna go through and ask yourself those questions based on all the different ways that you brought money into your life and business this year. And really what we're kind of uncovering and unearthing in this process is the understanding that some money is clean and some money is just loud. And there's a big difference between that. And so we're always trying to refine and figure out what do I actually value? What are my priorities? How do I want to lead my business? Where are the places that I want to say yes and actually repeat these things and do these things again because it's worth it? And sometimes shit that actually feels hard and heavy can still be worth it sometimes. So this is where you get to like do that dance with yourself and really consciously evaluate, hey, would I do this again? Is it worth what it takes for me because it gives me more back? Or maybe you're playing a long game strategy for some things in your business and you're like, well, it's taking a lot from me now, but I know that there— it's gonna bear so much fruit for me down the line. And so you always have to use like your own intuition throughout these processes as you're auditing yourself and looking at like, was this worth it? Essentially, category number 2 is opportunities that you said yes to. So some examples like I went on a podcast tour, maybe you had speaking gigs, collaborations that you did, brand deals, new projects. Maybe you were building a new offer or, you know, doing something in the back end of your business. Maybe you had some travel-heavy opportunities, maybe visibility opportunities that sounded good, but now you're like not so sure or wanting to do some reflections on that. So pull out a few that come to mind for you in 2025, opportunities that you you said yes to. And then you're gonna ask yourself these audit prompts. Did this opportunity expand my visibility, credibility, or reputation, or just my calendar? Did it require more preparation than it actually paid back? Did I say yes from desire or from fear of missing out? Did this position me as a leader or just a performer? Did it actually open doors? Or just keep me busy. And so as you're going through this audit of the opportunities and things that you said yes to, just remember that not every opportunity is an expansion. Some of them are just distractions dressed up as growth. And that's kind of what we're trying to get to the point of with reflecting on the opportunities that we said yes to. Category number 3 is relationships and those sort of dynamics, whether this is, it's an interpersonal relationship. So it could be romantic, it could be friendship. Relationships, whatever. So maybe there was a friendship in your life this year that shifted, or your romantic relationship, or a specific dating pattern that you've noticed yourself in. Or maybe it's like a mentor or coach relationship that you had this year that was really relevant, or it's relationships with your team members or your contractors, or maybe a client relationship that lingered too long. Like, what are the relationships and dynamics that kind of stand out to you from this past year? And I want you to pull out one or two that felt the most significant for your 2025 and do these reflections for those specifically. So the audit prompts that you're going to ask yourself for these are: did this relationship regulate me or dysregulate me? Did I feel safe telling the truth in this relationship? Did I grow more confident or more cautious in this relationship? Was I in any way overfunctioning just to keep the harmony or keep the peace? Did this relationship expand my emotional capacity or drain it? So as you go through this, just think about this. This is really important. I think more people need to really recognize this. If a relationship requires constant self-management, it is costing you so much more than you think. Whether it's a business relationship, a romantic relationship, if you feel like you have to constantly like audit yourself or be less of this or more of that, or be careful how you say things. That is costing you way more energy than what you might think. All right, let's go to category number 4, which is the ways that you spent your time and energy. So this is where we're gonna see some of the hidden leaks that maybe happened throughout the past year. Maybe this has to do with, for business owners, like your content creation and how you went about doing that, your social media presence in general. Your travel schedule, working weekends or nights if you've been hustling, being constantly available for your clients or the people that you serve. Maybe it's like your admin, your operational tasks. If you want to take like a business lens to this, you can easily think about like the ways that you spent your time and energy and where are we seeing that there might be some leaks in that so that we can correct it for next year. So pull out one or two that feel really significant or that, you know, stand out to you as being like, oh yep, that's something that I should definitely audit in terms of the way I spent my time and my energy. And then ask yourself these questions. Did this particular thing that you spent your time or energy pouring into, did it make my life feel bigger or smaller? Did it support my nervous system or fight against it? Did it, or what did it prevent me from doing, if anything? What did this open doors of opportunity for? More, if any? Was this good for a specific reason or a specific season, but it won't be carried forward? And if so, why? And would I design my days or spend my time in this way again? So if you are someone who's using social media to build your business, I highly recommend that you do this for your content creation cadence and the way that you've been showing up on social media. I think it's a really relevant one for all of us and for you to really consider and think about, like, is the way that I'm approaching content creation and posting and my schedule and my cadence and whatever whatever. Is that actually working for me? Would I do this again? And to do like a really good reflection on that one. So another thing to just think about is this idea that like auditing your capacity in this way isn't about like, how can I hold even more? It's really about identifying what is not worth your precious time, or where are the, the places that you need to switch things up and create a new structure. Because structure is not bad, but sometimes we do outgrow old structures, we outgrow old processes, and we have go through the shedding where we're like, hey, this actually isn't working for me as well as it once was. How do I want to innovate? How do I want to change? How do I want to adapt this so that it does actually give me more for what I'm pouring into it moving forward? Category number 5 is the identities that you clung to this year, and this is the most advanced layer of the cost versus capacity audit. When we think about like identities that we might still be clinging to So some examples are maybe you are the strong one, or you are the leader that's like always on. Hey, don't forget that every month we are picking a listener of the month to win $50 in cash just for showing love to the show. All you have to do is leave an epic review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, screenshot the review before you hit submit, and DM that screenshot to us on Instagram @makeshifthappenpodcast, and That's it. I want to thank you for being such a loyal listener and show my appreciation by putting a little extra cash in your pocket. I know it's super easy not to do it, but every single rating and review seriously helps the show rank higher and reach new people, so we appreciate them more than you know. We'll announce the next winner at the end of the month and slide into your DMs if it's you, so keep an eye out and good luck. Love you guys, and thanks for supporting Makeshift Happen. Or you are the activator, or maybe you're like the low-maintenance friend or the chill girlfriend who, you know, never really needs too much. Maybe you are the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants CEO that you like— that's been an identity for you where you're like, I just figure things out on the go, I do whatever, I have no plans, I don't know, blah blah blah, no structure for me. Is that an identity that that is still actively serving you. Maybe you are someone who's like, has this identity of, I'm the girl that's like seen at every event, right? If you've been like a networking queen and that's been part of your thing is like you're at every single thing, every business conference, every everything, like you're, you're that. Is that still serving you? Do you wanna carry that into next year? Maybe there's a, uh, an identity or a version of you that never asks for help. And so we're, we're wanting to find like 1 to 2 identities that sort of feel significant to your 2025 because maybe you notice that there's a pattern of some sort there and you're wanting to evaluate. Maybe it's an identity that you once held and you're starting to get that little inkling of like, I feel like I'm outgrowing being that type of person or being that type of girlfriend or being that type of friend or being that type of CEO or having this belief about myself or telling myself that I'm just this, or I can never do whatever. What are the 1 to 2 identities that feel significant to your 2025 that you feel and you sense that you are now starting to outgrow? And with this, you might also think about not only old versions of yourself that you're outgrowing, or old versions of like your inner world or your belief systems that you're outgrowing, but maybe also old perceptions of the world or of how all of this works, or things that you were— you had delusions about in the past that you're starting to see more clearly now. Or maybe old versions of your, like, brand and your public persona that you feel like you're outgrowing, but also versions of success that maybe you no longer want, where you used to be like, oh, I used to think, like, if I could have this or my life looked like this, then that would be success. And you might be like, like opening yourself up to new, a new vision of that where you're like, actually, that version of success doesn't resonate with me anymore. Or it, like, the veil has kind of like fallen on that. Maybe there's survival patterns in your life or in your relationships that are no longer working for you, and you're like, I've gotta outgrow that part of myself. You can also think about who you are in other people's lives, like not just who you are to yourself in terms of inner world and beliefs and identity and whatever, but also the role you play in other people's lives? Like, do people look to you to be the peacemaker or the strong one or the one who always organizes everything or whatever? And again, we have so many identities and roles that we play, so it's not about doing this for every single one ever, but I want you to pull out just a few that feel significant for whatever reason. You, you can know from within yourself that you are outgrowing a part of that, or it's time for you to outgrow it and you want to inspect it a little bit. So here's the audit prompts for this category of talking about the identities that you have clung to this past year. What did this identity protect me from? What did this identity cost me? What is the hidden benefit of holding this identity or not shedding it, not letting it go yet? Does this identity still fit who I'm becoming in 2026? And what would've happened if I dropped this identity a little sooner. Some of your exhaustion from this past year genuinely wasn't from doing too much. It was from continuing to try to be someone that you've already outgrown. And that is a very hard-hitting truth for a lot of us, especially in the closing of this year 9. So sit with that. Also think about like if you are feeling tired or there's any level of exhaustion or burnout from this year, sometimes that really is coming from a place of not, not doing too much or not doing all the wrong things, but from actively trying to maintain and uphold identities and versions of yourself and continuing to be someone that you know you've already outgrown. And that's that uncomfortable in-between where you're straddling the two worlds of who you used to be and who you're working towards becoming. And we wanna get really clear on what that is, who we are letting go of and who we are stepping into before we cross this threshold of really like grabbing the bull by the horns, if you will, for 2026. Category number 6 is the strategies that you kept running on autopilot. And this is another perfect one for business owners, cuz I know I have a lot of you guys in the audience. So some examples are like the way that you launch, like launch models, uh, your content strategy, sales systems, client delivery structures, your team processes, backend stuff. Like what are the strategies that you've kept running on autopilot that maybe you're starting to feel like that's not working so well anymore. This is a little bit outdated. So pick 1 to 2 of your business strategies that kind of stand out to you from this past year that you've maybe been rinsing and repeating, and you're like, actually, this needs a little bit of inspection. I don't know if I'm gonna do this again. So the audit prompts here are, was this strategy still aligned or just familiar or just easy? What did it give you and what did it cost you? Did it require force to maintain? Did it scale your peace or only your revenue? And is there anything that broke quietly in the background? While this strategy, quote unquote, continued to work. Because sometimes we got to look at the definition of like, what does it mean when something's working? Just because something's still like making you money doesn't necessarily mean that like on a holistic level it's working. So if a strategy only works when you override yourself or you override your values or override your intuition, then it's already expired and it should really be coming to a complete stop and close at the end of this year. Victoria Ward. So what we're really pulling from this cost and capacity audit is like anything that has a really high cost to your peace or your values or your quality of life or the things that are, are really important to you and are your priorities, and it has like low capacity, meaning like you, there's not a lot of space for you to hold this anymore, then that gets to be something that you're completed on and we get to close that and end lot as we end this year. So for the last piece of this end of year reflection, I want to talk about how to productively rest. Because if you are feeling at all worn down or burned out at the end of this year, sometimes we think like, oh, this whole next year, like, I now need to go into like a slower season, or I need to shift up my energy, or I need to become like the soft girl. And sometimes there might be seasons like that, but it's not always necessarily the truth. So I think this is going to be a valuable part of the conversation for because we talk about rest like it's, you know, sleep and vacations and working less and doing less all the time and like unplugging. But honestly, the most burnout that I see isn't really from doing too much. It's from resting in the wrong places for too long. Like what we were just talking about with the identities. It's like if you're exhausted, it might just be because you've been overriding a truth that, you know, an evolution that you've been resisting stepping into, a shedding that you've been resisting letting go of things in your life in your life or your business that you're afraid to drop, but you know that you need to. And so rest is really not just one thing, and exhaustion doesn't always mean that you need to like sleep more or work less. It often means that there is a specific system inside of you that was starved out for whatever reason this year. So we're gonna go over the 7 systems. The first one is the body system. This is like your physical capacity, stamina, safety. And so ask yourself, did my body feel feel supported by my goals or sacrificed for them? My physical body. Did my physical body feel supported by my goals this past year or sacrificed for them? And then some ways that you can deepen into physical rest if you feel like this is one that you really need to lean into. Of course, sleep, but maybe you wanna start taking naps. Like, love Spanish culture, take a little siesta, right? I'm gonna be taking naps this Christmas season. My parents are coming in town. I'm not working. I'm not like trying to overextend myself and race through the finish line of, of this year of like hustling for the last 2 weeks. I am making my investments for next year, locked in mentorship. I know I'm gonna be supported. So excited about that. Ready to go. Have lots of plans and ideas and, and all the things. I know a lot of stuff we need to work on in 2026, but for now I want some physical rest. I am gonna nap. I am gonna spend time with family. Other ways to rest. Rest the body physically, doing things like yoga, stretching, massage, taking baths, any self-care rituals. If this is one that you know you need, fill your cup. The second is the mind system. This is your cognitive load, decision fatigue, mental noise. So mental exhaustion isn't always about just like thinking too much or like quote unquote overthinking, but it sometimes is about like never really letting thoughts land enough, like like you have a thought but you don't integrate it. You don't take action on it. You don't accept it as truth and move from that place. So you have all these thoughts, you have all these tabs, you have all these ideas, all these, all these things, but you're never actually letting them like land fully. You might have content overload. Maybe you're constantly strategizing without the integration. Maybe you are constantly learning doing without the embodiment and actually doing something with it. So ask yourself, did I give myself space and put myself in the right circles that held me accountable to integrating the things I learned this year? Or was it just constant consumption of info? Was I actually embodying, integrating, and doing? And if I wasn't, like, okay, do you need to be— do you need to put yourself in a different circle, a different space, maybe you need some mentorship. Like, how are you going to be held accountable so that you can actually take this overload of thoughts and ideas and strategies and creativity and blah blah and actually land it, land the plane? Because that is oftentimes what creates the cognitive load and the decision fatigue is like there's so many open tabs and you're not actually actioning anything. So if you know you need some mental rest in this season, meditation, journaling, Reflection time. Doing this exercise is amazing, um, cuz you're doing something with all the, you know, swirling thoughts and ideas that you have about this past year. Deep breathing, grounding exercises like getting out, walking barefoot. If you live somewhere in the snow, probably not gonna happen for you, but here on the beach we can still do that. Connecting with nature, even like if you have a dog, like quality time with your dog, you guys, I'm not even kidding. That is like, I consider that like connection with nature. And decluttering your space. That does so much for the mental capacity and actually resting your mind. So you can have mental rest in a lot of different ways. It's not just like going on a silent retreat. So number 3, the emotional system. This is your expression, your emotional processing, honesty, things like that. A lot of women did not burn out this year. They just bottled shit up. Okay. Where were your emotions postponed? For the sake of productivity? Are you in high-functioning emotional suppression? I was just watching an episode of the Kardashians the other day where Kim is talking about how she went to this very famous brain doctor and she finds out that she has a brain aneurysm. It has not ruptured, but that is what happens. Like, people die from their brain aneurysms rupturing. She finds out she has this brain aneurysm and they're talking about, okay, how is this created? Where is it Oh, it's from stress. Well, she's in law school. She has a crazy ex-husband who is always going off and saying things and threatening the family and doing all this shit and, you know, publicly embarrassing them. And she's starring in her first acting role in a major TV series. She's also filming for Keeping Up with the Kardashians. She also had to go to Paris to relive the trials from the robberies where she was, you know, taped up and held at gunpoint and robbed. And there's like a lot going on in her life where it makes sense. You have so much stress and like you have a freaking brain aneurysm. Well, because she's like high-functioning emotional suppression. She was talking about how she doesn't ever— she doesn't get overly emotional. She doesn't freak out. She said she always feels calm. And I would venture to guess that a lot of the calmness that she feels is from intense emotional suppression. So are you doing that in some way at all? And when did strength mean self-abandonment for you this year? Like abandoning your needs, your desires, what you know to be true, because in the name of like actually just holding the strength that you felt like you needed in order to get through. Where did I override my emotions in the name of being professional or strong? That's your prompt. And ways that you can rest emotionally, having an emotional release, like actually taking yourself through. Maybe it's like a somatic, like, shaking process or something that's going to allow you to like bring the emotions forward. Maybe it's a breathwork because you know that helps you get emotional release. Maybe it's like sitting in the bath playing a playlist of songs that are really sad. Honestly, I stand by this. I've had clients do it before. It changed their fucking lives. Take a bath, get in water for the feminine energy, put on a playlist of really sad songs and make yourself cry. If you know you've been in emotional suppression, you're like, but I don't feel like I need to. You got to find a way to like bring it forward and make yourself. Other ways to rest emotionally: forgiveness, like letting go of the, the burden that a situation or a person or something is holding on your life, not for them but for you. Alone time, really like focusing on being in your authentic energy and not giving a fuck and not caring and really just being yourself. That is so relieving to the emotional system. Honoring your boundaries, self-compassion, Writing down your feelings, journaling, and having supportive conversations with people in your life that you can trust, or a therapist, or whoever. Number 4, the social system. This is connection, mirroring the people around you, relational safety, reciprocity. So there's an important nuance here that I want to mention, which is that social rest doesn't have to mean being alone, right? It's about being around people that you don't have to perform for, and there's a big difference. So you might think like, oh, in order to rest socially, I need to isolate myself or be alone. Not necessarily the case, but sometimes that can be helpful for sure. But think about like the rooms where you felt like you shrank versus expanded, relationships that drained you versus the ones that really kept you regulated or like gave you life. Are there any friendship dynamics that you feel like you outgrew this year and why? Prompt to ask yourself is, who did I feel most like myself with this year? And that's a really, really beautiful question. So ways that you can rest socially is to give yourself a few days with no social media. Obviously we all need that. Maybe take a full day with no phone. That is such a fun experiment. Like, literally live your whole life for a full day outside the house doing whatever you're going to do, like no phone. Like, lock it in a drawer and like don't look at it for a full 24 hours. Clear your calendar. Maybe arrange a few days where you have no social obligations. Um, maybe you want to do that for yourself and spend more time on these end-of-year reflections. And it's like you have a 3-day stint where you're not really hanging out with anyone, you don't have any plans. Like, really be intentional about it. You can also have meaningful one-on-one conversations again with those people that you feel in your life like they give you life and you don't have to perform for them. Quality time with loved ones, nourishing time with friends that you feel safe to be yourself with. So lots of ways to socially rest. Number 5 is the creative or intellectual system. This is like curiosity, play, expression. So creativity doesn't die from lack of ideas. We— that's what a lot of people think when they don't feel creative anymore. They're like, oh my God, I don't have any ideas. Creativity doesn't die from a lack of ideas. It dies from pressure. When you're putting too much pressure on yourself, the ideas like get paralyzed, or it turns into that thing where you have all these open tabs and all these thoughts and all these things that you want to do, but you never end up doing anything about it, like we were talking about with like the mental overload. So think about like the hobbies that you've turned into monetized skills, maybe, or if you're creating anything but it's only for an output or an outcome. Or if you've lost joy in things that used to feel fun, ask yourself, am I putting too much pressure on myself with this? Even if it's not the pressure to make money from it, but it's like, have I somehow made this like way too pressure-filled and like less free and flowy? The prompt you can ask yourself is, when did I last create without needing it to become something? And for intellectual rest, things like reading, but like read something that makes you feel intellectually intellectually rested. So if you're someone who does personal development all the time, maybe you wanna read a fantasy novel or you wanna read like a smut book or just like a romance book or something. Podcasts that are, oh, I love like a pop culture-y type podcast where it's like girls chit-chat, like what's happening with like celebrities or reality TV shows, like that sort of stuff that just makes me feel actually intellectually rested because I'm not trying to like learn and consume and integrate and whatever. If you have any creative hobbies, like music, painting, dance, anything like that, board games, puzzles, cooking. Like this time of year over the holidays with family and stuff is such a good time to be able to do these things and actually give your creative and intellectual system some quality rest. Okay. The sixth and final system is the sensory system. And this is where we get into like overstimulation and what's happening in your environment around you. So the reframe I wanna give you is your nervous system didn't necessarily need more motivation. It needed fewer fewer inputs. So if you're feeling overstimulated, it's probably not like, oh, I just need to like willpower through this and like be able to get over and work hard. You probably need less inputs. There's probably a little bit too much going on. So are your notifications giving you a form of chronic stress? Do you have too much news inputs? If you are someone who has been watching the news a lot, or maybe you don't typically watch the news but you feel like it's, it's bombarded, like it's in your space a lot more— I know this happened because There's been so many major horrific tragic news events that have happened this year, and it feels like even if you're the type of person who like doesn't necessarily watch the news a lot or seek it out, it has been way more in our face and down our throats. There's been so many events this year that have really rattled us in one way or another and kind of taken over our feeds and our brain space, and it's been a lot. And so just kind of evaluating like, do I have too many news inputs and how can I start to like curate that so that I'm not bombarded all the time with that? If you have constant background noise going on in your life, whether it's like listening to things, or music, or podcasts, or whatever? Are you always with like the keep me company content? Like you can never be without a YouTube video playing, or a podcast, or you always have to have some form of like entertainment while you're doing anything? I'm raising my hand for this because I'm so guilty of keep me company content. I fucking love it. I love it. But sometimes it's too much. You realize, you're like, oh my God, I'm not even capable of like doing the dishes or like doing my makeup in silence. And sometimes we gotta refresh and back to that. And I want to get back into my non-stimulation walks because those are so helpful. No inputs, no music, no phone, no nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Just complete non-stimulation, going for a walk outside. The prompt you can ask yourself is, why does silence feel uncomfortable? And for sensory rest, there's a lot of different things that you can do, but silence is going to be a big one. So if you can give yourself some silent time, maybe even just a little bit every day, dimming the lights is a really big one. If you have red light bulbs that you want to put in your bedroom lighting at night, that can be a really nice way to like have sensory rest if you're still winding down and you don't want it to be fully dark yet. Turning off your notifications, turning off your digital devices, maybe having a screen-free hour before bed, or like recommitting yourself to your sort of digital boundaries where you're like, I'm not going to look at my phone after this hour and I'm not going to pick it up in the morning until I've had 30 minutes or an hour to yourself recommitting to those types of things, because we fall off and on with that all the time. Maybe you want to get some blackout curtains for your bedroom, or even just like a bougie little silk eye mask. Meditate in nature. If you've never done a float tank and you're down to like literally do something extra for sensory rest, go find a sensory deprivation float tank place and try it. It's wild. You float in this tank of salt water and like there's true— like it's truly like zero inputs. Like there's nothing. It's wild, wild, really deep meditation. And I'm sorry, I lied. That wasn't the last one. There's not 6, there's actually 7. So we have the final one, which is the spiritual system. This is your belonging, your purpose, greater meaning, inner peace. The spiritual rest isn't necessarily reframing your beliefs, you know, so that you can achieve and, and do more and be anything that you want. It's like remembering that you're already part of something bigger. Than just your to-do list and the shit that you think that you have to do in order to make progress in this life. Like, you are already part of something so much bigger. So the prompt to ask yourself is, what did 2025 ask me to release that I kept trying to carry? And this ties in beautifully with the whole theme that we've been talking about, obviously with the year 9 and snake energy, but really, really considering like, what did this year ask me to release that I kept trying trying to carry, because that is going to weigh you down spiritually. And if you feel and you sense that you need or want some spiritual rest, there's so many things you can do, right? Go volunteer at your church or temple, do some sort of community service, give back. Like, people think of spiritual rest, I think, and they think of like, oh, I've gotta like meditate or pray. And those definitely are forms of spiritual rest. I'll recommend them right here— meditation, prayer, highly recommend. But I also think one of the best ways to feed your spirit is to give to others. So if there's any way that you can do community service, you can give back to your community or your church or anything like that, that it's always going to fill you up so much, especially in the holiday season, especially around this time of year when there's so many people in need. There's like infinite ways for you to give back, and that is the deepest form of spiritual rest. Of course, prayer. I've been getting back into reading my Bible, which is exciting because I haven't read the Bible since I was like a kid at Sunday school. But I really, really want to try to read the whole Bible this next year. I've been reading little pieces of it here and there so far this year, but I want to like actually set a goal for myself to read the whole Bible in 2026. So any way that you can go deeper into your own faith in some way, if you want to do something like a silent retreat, like that's so cool, a vipassana. I have friends that have done it, they said it was really amazing. Affirmations, practicing gratitude, all those things are going to help you rest spiritually during this season. So in closing, the final thing that I want to leave you guys with as we wrap up these end-of-year reflections that have been so thorough. I hope you've enjoyed this. I want you to write down one final sentence, and this is in your workbook as well. 2025 was the year that I learned blank. You're not going to write down a big paragraph, like 5 long lessons, just one simple truth. Whatever comes to mind, allow your intuition to lead it. 2025 was the year that I learned blank. And then to close out this practice, I would just ask you to this past year, even if it was brutal, no matter what it was for you. Thank this year. Let's close in gratitude. I am so excited for the year to come. Thank you guys so much for closing this year with me, for starting the new year together. Thank you so much for tuning into the podcast, for listening, for sharing. If you enjoyed this episode, if you loved this practice, if there's anyone in your life you think would also want to do this, please copy the link to this episode episode, send it to them, share the reflection guide with them. Let's bring more people into the fold of doing this deep work because it is so, so important. I love you guys, and I will see you in the new year. Bye! If you loved this episode, make sure to check out the show notes where I've linked a few similar episodes I know you're also going to love. You'll find them under the similar episodes section in the description down below with direct links so you can dive in and start listening right away or add them to your queue for later. Binge away for even More growth, expansion, abundance, and fire motivation.