The year I lost focus...

In this week's video I talk about how I described a situation this year as 'losing focus', when the reverse was actually true - I was focused on the appropriate things at the time. But the conversation led me to question what I should be doing differently and how I think you might need to reframe your year AND question what you should be doing differently.

In the video I mention my goals mini course, which you can learn more about HERE and the My Financial Adulting Plan Waitlist (the link is below.)

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Of course, if you know that you need more help check out the My Financial Adulting Plan via the link below. Next round starts May 2023.

Transcript

Hey and welcome to Mel's Money Musings.

Clearly we're at the end of another year cause I'm in my Christmas shirt and today I wanna talk about something a little bit different. I want to talk about language and how important it is when we are reflecting on the year that was to really understand what it is we are saying, but also to understand what we want to do as a result of the year that was.

And the reason that I want to talk about this is because I had a conversation with a friend recently who I incredibly admire in business and she was asking me how my year was and I said to her, oh look, we probably didn't hit some business milestones that I wanted to, but I really lost focus earlier in the year. So, you know, I guess that's to be expected.

And this friend knows what went on for me. She knows that the period I'm talking about was a period of three to four months when my husband was incredibly sick. Um, to the point where we are going to cardiologists, neurologists, um, and we were quite seriously looking at, well what does, what does this mean for us going forward? You know, the gravity of it was, God, I still can't really talk about it.

And this good friend pulled me up and she said, you didn't lose focus. You focused on what was important. And that really hit me cause she's right. And yet I had been describing that for months when people asked, I said, oh, you know, I lost focus for a while, but you know, we're back on track now. And it was that reminder that I didn't lose focus. I focused on what was important and I would make that same decision again and again and again.

But what I also did was look at that and go, okay, so if I know I made that right decision and I want to make that decision, if ever that happens again where I need to give the correct focus, then what do I need to do in my business and with my finances so that it is less impacted? That is meant bringing on contractors, automating more, um, and making sure that the business as it stands is less reliant on me and I can show up with the energy that I need for my community no matter what happens.

What about you? As you were describing the year that was, whether it's a great year or whether it's a shocker like what I had, I want you to be really careful of language when you are describing how that year was, whether you achieved the things that you wanted to or not. So that's the first thing is to be really careful of language and how you are framing that year. Because for a lot of us this last year was really hard. We expected to come outta Covid with a bang and suddenly for everything to just be okay. And we were hit with rising interest rates, rising inflation, and so much uncertainty. And a lot of people that I've talked to are really, really tired. And it's understanding that that's normal.

And then the second thing is asking the question, but what am I gonna do as a result of that? What am I gonna do differently? Because for me it wasn't enough just to say, oh yes, I focused on what was important. It was to say, well what actions do I wanna take to make sure I can focus on what's important and everything will still drive the way I want it to. For you, that might mean setting up automations. It might mean automating your saving, automating your bills, automating your investing. It might be having regular money date nights either with yourself or your partner so that you know that these things happen. It might be setting up a buffer and really getting clear on that as a goal. Because when hubby was sick, I tell you what; being able to grab cash and throw it at the problem and I'm talking thousands of dollars meant that we weren't still in a system now where we couldn't get answers. I was so grateful that we had the choice to do that. It might be finally choosing to do with debt.

Or if you are in no man's land, it might be having a look at my financial goals course or jumping on the wait list for the My Financial Adulting Plan so that when the doors open in Jan 23, you are ready to go.

Reframing language, being aware of how you describe things, and then just importantly deciding how you want to behave going forward. As I said, I would, I would make all of the same decisions, but I've now put in place things in my life so that if that was to happen again, it wouldn't have the same impact.

What about you? As we close 2022, this is a really great opportunity to reflect, to be aware of language cause you are gonna get asked a lot over the next couple of weeks, how was the year for you? And I want you to be careful with how you answer and then I want you to figure out what you are going to do differently in 2023.

If you know you need help with that, check out my resources of the goals course or jump on the wait list for the My Financial Adulting Plan.