Donna Hann
It's a fresh new year. It's a clean slate, it's a new beginning. And you might be thinking about mapping out all of your goals for the year ahead. And I love that for you, and it is 100% What you should be doing right now. Now, I'm not a fan of holding on to past experiences, except for when you're planning for the year ahead, because I am a huge advocate for learning from mistakes. And I think it's really important to really take stock of what you did and things that didn't didn't work in the previous year, and also to tune into your heart and reflect on what felt good, and what areas of your life you'd like to change moving forward. So, before he start to plan ahead, it's really invaluable to look back on the year that was, and in this episode of the podcast, I'm going to be sharing my tools for self awareness and reflection, and five tips for making a fresh new start in the new year.
Hello, I'm Donna Hann, a business coach, and an online course creator. And this is the She's in Business Podcast. You can think of me as your business bestie, who's a few steps ahead of where you are right now. As a monk fueled with ambition and determination, I've created and sold three businesses. I've learned the lessons made mistakes, and I understand the daily juggling the hustle. I also know what it's like when relationships fray and burnout taps you on the shoulder. That was my world until I reshaped and transformed the way I ran my six figure business. Today I help women to transform their businesses and go from being the overwhelmed entrepreneur to becoming the thriving entrepreneur feeling energized, empowered and fulfilled within their business lifestyle. I want to inspire your business journey and help you to stop spinning your wheels, because I want you to burn bright instead of burning out. And I'll invite other entrepreneurs to share their real life stories to because I want you to know that you're not alone. You can be the savvy entrepreneur that you are born to be, and enjoy the freedom to do the things and be present with the people that mean the most to you. So if you're ready to rise to the next level and build a business by design, this is the shiz in business podcast for moms who are made for more.
So thanks for tuning in to the She's In Business podcast, I am kicking off season three. And I'm very excited to wish you a very, very happy new year for 2023. And at the time of recording this podcast, I am preparing to take my family to visit my husband's family farm which is in country Victoria. So when this goes to air, we will be returning from that trip. And my kids love going down to the farm and riding on the four wheelers and jumping in the tractor with grandpa. And you know, just really enjoying time with their cousins and the farm animals and all that kind of stuff. And we drove from Queensland to Victoria with our caravan. And what that does is it gives me lots of time to reflect and plan for a brand new year. So I thought it would be helpful to share with you my annual Fresh Start routine that has had such a positive impact on my business and on my life. So I've mapped out five tips for making the most of a fresh new start. But before I go into those five tips, I want to first share with you the most important part of my process, which is actually the opposite of planning for a new year. It's actually reflecting and looking back on the year that was and to support you with this process that I'm going to share with you. I've created a one page worksheet, and I will be sharing that with you in a moment. And it's a worksheet that helps me to make sense of where I'm at, and why I'm feeling the way I am about different aspects of my life. And I shared this with lots of my clients. I run workshops throughout the year using this tool. And it is a very simple yet effective way in taking a bird's eye view of your life and figuring out what's working and what's not.
So if you've listened to my podcast for a while or you maybe you follow me on socials, you'll know that whilst I am a business coach and a strategist, I do things differently, in that I work with women in business to build and help them to create a strong, profitable and sustainable business. And I support them in creating that business with freedom and flexibility.
So that they can be present with the people who mean the most to them, and also have time for self care. And I'm so passionate about this area, that it's part of my signature group coaching program ready to rise. In fact, it was created for that very purpose, to reshape your business to grow to its potential without burning out in the process, and having a healthy work life blend. So I'm going to walk you through my one page worksheet, and you can go and grab it, it's the thing that you should do when you're planning out a fresh new year, right. It's the thing that you do first, before you create the plan, and the vision and the goals and all of that kind of stuff. So if you want to go and grab this worksheet, I want you to head to Donna hann.com, forward slash New Year. Now before I get into it, I feel like I need to say, to make the most out of this worksheet and this activity, you have to be unafraid to be honest with yourself. When you're doing this activity, it is really about getting clear on where you're currently sitting within your work life, blend what's working, and what's not. And you have to be really honest with yourself. So the first thing that we do is we look at our career. So in this one page worksheet, you'll see that it's kind of a big circle. And the circle is divided up into eight different sections. So we're going to make our way around the circle, by rating, each area, each of the eight areas of our life out of 10. And the first section is Korea. And we're talking about how fulfilled we feel in our Korea when it comes to the growth and the purpose. So when you think about your business, your career, how fulfilled Are you on a scale of one to 10, one being not very fulfilled at all, and 10 feeling like it is absolutely what you were put on this planet to do.
Then we're moving around to the next section, which is around wealth and finances. So how satisfied are you? When it comes to reviewing your wealth and your finances on a scale of one to 10?
We're also going to look at reflecting upon our health and our wellness. So if I was to ask you to rate your health and wellness out of 10, where would you put yourself on that scale? Are you really looking after yourself and your health, making sure that you're eating? Well, you're exercising frequently, you know, you're really paying attention to what's going on in your health rather than putting it to the bottom of the priority list. The fourth section, the fourth section, that I like to look at when I'm reviewing my life holistically is my relationships. So when I think about family and friends on a scale of one to 10, how satisfied Am I in that? How often do I socialize? How often do I make time to really be present with my extended family and friends? And when I think about my extended family and friends? Am I surrounding myself with the type of people that actually make my life better? Or are they unfortunately people that maybe drag you down? So out of a scale of one to 10? How does that fit for you?
And the fifth section of the circle? Is the relationships that you have regarding your life partner, your love life? How does that sit for you? How engaged are you? In your relationship? How How, how do you feel when you are really honest with yourself about how your relationship feels and whether it fills your cup? Now you may have made the conscious decision to be single and that is absolutely okay. That will put you on a scale of 10 If that's what you are feeling in regards to that. So it doesn't necessarily need to be that you have to be in a relationship to complete that section. It's absolutely up to what you feel that you need at this moment in time. And the sixth section is around self care. So this is about when you think about self love and respect. When you think about your boundaries and how well you honor those boundaries. When you think about you know really making sure that your energy levels are maintained at a level where you don't feel like you're burning the candle at both ends on a scale of one to 10 How well are you doing at the moment with that and when you look over the last 12 months of the year that was how did you manage that? What did it look like for you on a scale of one to 10.
The seventh section is around connection. So when you think about your spirituality in regards to how grounded Do you feel? how connected do you feel to something other than yourself? And your immediate surroundings? What does that look like for you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be around religion, it can just be that sense of feeling like you're connected to a greater good in some way out of a scale of one to 10, how connected are you to a sense of spirituality and soul.
And the last section that I like to review before I then go into starting to plan out what I want, the new year to be, is I think about the contribution when I think about how am I making a difference to the world around me, and out of a scale of one to 10. How well am I doing that right now?
Then what I like to do, in the circle, that I have, the worksheet that you'll see, when you go and download it, it will become so much more clearer is to actually join all those dots together. And it makes like a web. And this and this concept was actually developed by a guy called Peter J. Meyer. And he created this and called it the wheel of life or the eight areas of life. And it's something that I have taken inspiration from and then kind of created my own version of that. And this is the tool that I use every year, before I go and create the plan for the next 12 months. I also use this throughout the year, if perhaps I'm feeling like things are maybe not quite aligned, or I'm feeling a little bit off kilter, I'll come back to this and I'll go, Okay, what's working, and what's not right now. And it gives me a really great sense that bird's eye view that holistic view of what's really going on for me in my life. And then it allows me to make really smart decisions in moving forward to re align, whatever it is that's happening either within my business or within my life, to my core values. And that's really, really important. Now, when I come back from the break, I'm going to share with you my five tips for really planning the year ahead and making sure that you're doing it in a way that is making the most of a fresh new start. And also tying in to your core values, that being really aligned with what you are trying to achieve in your business and your life and making sure that at the end of the new year, you're feeling fulfilled in that space.
If you're tired of spinning your wheels, and you're hungry for success within your business, but you wish you had clear direction of how to achieve it will very soon I'm opening the doors to the ready to rise group coaching program. And it could be just the thing that you need to get off that hamster wheel and start making real progress. Not only that, but it'll also help you to establish a healthy work life blend between working on your business, they present with your family and taking self care time for you. For more information, go to Donna hann.com. And make sure that you sign up to the waitlist to get early bird access and a stack of extra bonuses get ready to rise when I open the doors on Tuesday, the 14th of February. Now let's get back to the podcast.
Okay, so the first tip out of my five is to celebrate your wins. So once you've taken the time to review the past year, the year that was when he just celebrate the wins that you've achieved. It's human nature for us to want to focus on setbacks and disappointments, to really hang in on those challenges that we've experienced. So now that you have clarified where you'd like to improve, you've taken the lessons from those challenges. Let's leave that behind. And instead, let's celebrate some of the things that you are really, really proud of what was the bright spots what were the big and small things that happened that you know, deserve some love and deserve to be celebrated? That's my first tip. Really, really important. The second tip that I like to do as I go into the new year is to clear the clutter. So I commit to getting my space and my life in order before really, you know, allowing the new year to really get going. And this includes like editing and organizing and filing the paperwork that has been built up over time, I like to make piles of paper that need to shred, I like to be as paperless as possible.
So I take the time to freshen up our filing cabinet, ditch the stuff that doesn't need to be retained anymore. Maybe box up old records that do need to be retained and put some nice labels on them, file them away. And you know, it can sound worse than going to the dentist. But I promise you that streamlining your paperwork and your filing system can help you to feel really spacious in your mind, by having a clean work zone, it is really worth the work. And, you know, sometimes I also get fired up and I do a bit of a clean sweep of the entire house. And I encourage you to try and do that for you as you move into the new year. Even if you just pick one area to tackle, it will make your life so much more efficient in the long run. And if you do it within your workspace, of course, it will make your work so much more efficient as well.
My third tip for you is to pick our word. So try to pick a theme or a word to focus your energy on for the new year that really resonates with your personal family and business goals, and also aligns to your values and your priorities. I want you to try and visualize what it is that you want to create, and hone in on how you want to feel. So some really popular options that might work for you, when you're picking a theme or a word might be like simplicity, or abundance or wellness or creativity connection. It could be ease, intentional, there are so many different words. And sometimes it can take a little while for the word to find you. I do think that often, you know if you can kind of create a bit of a theme and then just allow the Word to find you a word will pop up and you'll be like, that's the one. That's my word for the year. And what it does is it serves to guide you to help you make decisions. When you are perhaps faced with a decision that you're unsure of, you can ask yourself, does this contribute to the feeling that I'm wanting to create? Or does this contribute to my theme for the year or my word for the year, it really helps with decision making, it helps with sticking to your boundaries. And I know that not only has it helped me a lot over the years, but it's helped a lot of my business buddies and clients as well.
Now my fourth tip is to set this specific. So when I write down and share my big goals, I feel so much more committed to making them happen. So if goal setting for an entire year feels a little bit daunting, when you're sitting down and creating specifics around your big goals, then perhaps try setting smaller goals for the first quarter of the year. Maybe focus on the first 90 days, three months is a really good chunk of time to set some big brave goals and to make a lot of progress in achieving them. So think about how you are going to set your specifics when you're creating your big goals moving forward. And My fifth tip is to plan and shedule. So if you're committed to making your dreams and your goals become a reality, which if you are a regular listener to this podcast that I'm going to presume that you are committed to making your dreams or your goals and dreams a reality, then it's imperative that you break down each goal into tiny micro steps and shedule each of those steps into your actual calendar or, you know, if you've got a planner that you you know, map out each week of the month, put those small achievable goals those micro steps into your planner or your calendar. And make sure that your scheduling not only business commitments, but also social plans and time off and self care and family time. You might like to block out an hour in your calendar that literally says read and relax because when it comes to goals and habits, it's really important and helpful to commit to a minimum baseline of self care that you will commit to every day, even on your hardest day. And it could be as simple as a daily cuppa, where you Don't multitask where you just sit and enjoy the moment and be 100% present and get out of your head and allow your nervous system just to relax. The main message that I really want you to take from this episode is that a new year is an amazing gift that sadly, some people don't get to have.
And so whilst we have this incredible opportunity to go forward and create a new plan for a new year. We also need to acknowledge that we can't do the same thing and expect a different result. And in the same way that What Got You Here Won't Get You There before you go and start creating a new plan for a new year. Take the time to reflect First, figure out what you can do differently this year that will get you the results that you want. And then my lovely, go for it. Dream big, make those fabulous plans and take action on making it your reality. So go grab my free worksheet go to donnahann.com/newyear and make sure you have the best day and the start of the best year.
Happy new year.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The She's in Business Podcast. If you enjoyed it, please share it on Instagram and Facebook and I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a review on iTunes. Be sure to include your business name and Insta handles so I can give you a shout out to if you want to know more about what I do the programs that I offer, then head over to www.donnahann.com and follow me on Instagram at Donna underscore Hann underscore SIB. I hope this podcast inspires you to be courageous and take action in carving out your very own business by design where you can avoid burnout and shine like the universe is yours.
