It’s almost the end of 2019, and before we dive into a new decade, I wanted to share my 2019 Annual Review with you, where I highlight my epic fails, lessons learned and all the awesome things that came out of this year.
This process of reflection is something I highly recommend BEFORE you dive into your 2020 goals.
Why? Because in order to know what will work for you in 2020 you need to first understand the why, what and how of everything you did, didn’t do and who you became this year.
Luckily for me, I captured my goals and intentions for 2019 in the very first episode of the Untapped Podcast where I shared 19 Things I Will and Will Not Do in 2019.
I also did it as two separate vlogs on my YouTube channel if you prefer to watch my entertaining videos.
And for the first time ever since putting it out, I have just looked back at these.
And I’m not gonna lie, it’s not pretty.
I think I pretty much missed almost everything and there’s a very good reason for that – because I never reviewed them!
So let me run through these quickly, and then give you a recap of what actually happened this year. And why it’s totally fine with me that I missed so many of these 19 things.
I also reveal to you what really happened this year, I think you’ll probably have a pretty decent understanding.
And I have a lot of compassion for myself in this moment as to why so many of these got missed, and even reading them now, I must admit, what the heck was I thinking?
In this episode you’ll learn
- Why reflecting on your year can help you envision what you want for the next year
- What worked and what didn’t work for me in 2019
- Why it’s okay to not achieve every single one of your goals
- How to plan your ideal 2020
If you prefer to read the full review, then here it is!
How did I actually fair on the 9 things I opted NOT to do in 2019?
1. I will not sign up to any more newsletters or opt ins.
I actually have to say that this was pretty much on target as for the first half of the year, I didn’t. And then as the year went on, I found a few people worthy of my email and reading time.
I also continued to unsubscribe ruthlessly from lists I had been added to without my permission or were not adding value to my learning.
Top Tip: Only sign up for something that is absolutely useful and going to move the needle on learning for your business or your personal growth.
2. I will not check my email every day.
I literally want to snort out loud, what a joke. If anything, I think I did more email checking in 2019 than ever.
In fact, I’ve been quite frustrated at my lack of ability to disconnect from my phone.
It’s become such an extension of my hand and such a trigger to just flip through the apps, particularly email but just flip through stuff as if I’m achieving something when I’m usually not.
I mean, I’m pretty specific about what I’m doing on my phone, but it’s gotten out of control.
So not checking email everyday – that didn’t happen.
Lesson Learned: Put the damn phone away and use an app like Freedom to limit when you check your email, Internet and any other platforms you frequent too much.
Also tune in to the very end of my podcast episode where I reveal the ONE game changer I’m introducing next year to put an end to much of this.
3. I will not sign up for any webinars.
I did really well on this and believe I signed up for three in total and attended part of one.
But on the whole, if I registered I did it to watch people’s sales funnels and how they created the flow from the registration as well as follow up.
The ones that I did sign up for were quite useful.
Full disclosure: I had forgotten that that was one of my goals!
4. I will not buy any more online courses.
I did awesome on this until the last four weeks, when I intentionally bought courses on topics I want to master in 2020 and beyond.
One of these was during the Black Friday sales (total bargain) and the other ones came pretty much in the last four weeks in November, when I specifically enrolled in courses on SEO, Facebook Advertising and solidifying your offer and funnel.
I then put them ALL into Asana under learning, and have earmarked all seven of them to go through over the next 30 days.
In January I’m going to absolutely blitz and go through these courses and upskill like crazy and implement and test so that I can then transfer that knowledge to you.
So that felt really good.
I must admit I did pretty much stick on course with this goal (pun intended)
Amusing moment: This one was a bit ridiculous looking back on it now since I’m an educator and I’m a prolific lover and advocate of launching courses and supporting people who launch courses.
I’m especially excited about the SEO course through Shane Melaugh who was actually a guest on UNTAPPED earlier this year!
5. I will not fall victim to the comparison game.
Again, shocker.
I wrote here:
“I will not. This one’s gonna be tough, as 2018 I fell into a hole of comparison and it was not pretty.”
I must admit it was better this year, and that was in huge part thanks to you and my community for believing in me and all the beautiful feedback I’ve received, that has absolutely restored my faith in everything that I do.
So even though I still had imposter syndrome, I definitely was doing a lot less comparing.
Lesson Learned: This is something that I think we constantly need to work on because fear, comparison and imposter syndrome will never leave your side as you continue to stretch and challenge yourself to grow.
6. I will not spend more than one hour a day on social media.
Again, laughable.
However, I think the main culprit for my social media time spent has been Instagram and I have been putting in a lot of effort this year to understand that better to get better engagement.
Given I’ve made sales from Instagram and gained new clients, new community members and even new friends from it, that time I’ve put in as been pretty well invested.
Facebook I dropped off for most of the year for ethical reasons, and only near the end of this year did I start reengaging with my friends and community. I don’t think I was alone.
From what I’ve read there’s been a general drop off in engagement and activity across the board. Next year I’m strategically upping my game on this platform.
For LinkedIn, it’s been sporadic.
YouTube started off well at the beginning of the year but videos were the hardest thing to keep off with my almost full time role, triathlon training and other business.
But, I’ve got big plans for next year because I’ve missed it making them – plus my channel and engagement continues to grow without me doing anything (and I want to get that CAN$2K in Google Adsense revenue I recently found, into my bank and then make more of that in 2020!).
And then outside of that, I hired a lovely lady Kaila to do my Pinterest so I don’t do anything on there. But she’s doing a great job in driving more traffic and getting more engagement.
So I certainly do not spend a lot of time on social media and it’s quite specific, but it was a heck of a lot more than hour a day.
Fact: The stats on your phone for screen-time and your computer just don’t lie. Look at how much time you’re spending and radically reduce this for your own benefit!
7. I will not buy any coffees.
I am unsure where this came from.
I think I’d been reading a Dr. Libby book at the start of the year, which was about how, especially as a woman, going without coffee for a month was a fantastic way to reset your system and give your parasympathetic nervous system a rest, reduce your stress levels and anxiety and improve your skin etc.
I also knew I’d probably be starting an experiment in a job, and that as a business development person in that role, I wouldn’t actually be buying the coffees – the company would!
Which, in effect, did actually happen quite a lot.
I didn’t buy as many of my own coffees. We also had a coffee machine at work and you could make barista quality coffees.
But you simply can’t NOT buy coffees in New Zealand.
It is the land of amazing coffee and there’s a cafe every 50m that sells great coffee.
So that one was interesting and not my smartest move. And I think a few people commented on the blog post about that one saying, “Are you sure?”
I did, however, reduce my coffee consumption for the first three months of the year.
Lesson Learned: There’s a theme here that a lot of these goals and intentions I set at the start of the year fizzled out in the first three or so months because if you don’t come back and regularly revisit them you forget them!
And if you don’t have an action plan and reflection process like we do in LifePilot, you won’t achieve them or make them a reality.
I should know this.
If you haven’t yet, make sure to sign up for my Plan Your Ideal Freedom Year workshop! Life Pilot is included in this mini course, and this will make coming up with and staying on top of your goals super easy.
8. I will not hide behind any preconceived identity.
I didn’t hide behind any preconceived identity this year.
But in many ways, I changed my own preconceived identity about who I was by getting a job for four days a week and cramming my business into a day a week.
And then realizing as the year went on that my business was getting more successful and I couldn’t possibly try and just squish that into one day per week.
I definitely have been very raw and unfiltered and completely me as much as possible, especially with my friends and my relationships and my family.
I don’t know if I did enough of that with my community, which is something that I really want to work on in 2020.
I have to say, as a completely vulnerable moment here, that I just don’t do that enough because frankly, most things kind of go great in life because that’s what how I show up in the world.
That’s how I see life.
That’s how I view life.
That’s how I go out intentionally into the world.
And life kind of loves me back.
And we have this beautiful symbiotic relationship where usually good stuff is happening.
I’ve also been blessed to have a awesome family upbringing – not perfect, but really good in the scheme of things.
So, yeah, I often find that I am just me and I love life.
And I always see opportunities and goodness and I’m grateful for things all the freaking time.
So I don’t know how I can be much more vulnerable because stuff is usually going really well.
But, I was very clear this year on being very raw about my burnout, which was an epic moment of realization and massive learning.
Listen to: 5 Ways to Spot Burn Out Before it Bites You in the Ass
I’ve shared quite a lot this year about the trials and tribulations behind juggling all this work, taking on too much, getting burnt out, triathlon ups and downs, getting my ass kicked with training, having the dream home and then selling the dream home, and finding another lovely home.
A lot of things actually that went on this year that I think I put out there.
I’d love to hear from you if you feel that I was sharing enough of that because that would be really useful feedback for me.
9. I will not launch any more courses.
And that was 100% completely true up until September when I felt inspired to produce the Launch Your Damn Course Accelerator.
And I’m so freaking glad that I did, my friend, because that went incredibly well.
That was when I totally fell in love with my business again – when I realized I launch courses super well.
So well in fact, I ended up running not one, but three cohorts over the space of four months
And they were epic, and the people were amazing, and they launched their damn courses, and they made money, and they grew their lists, and they built their confidence up.
And it absolutely inspired me to carry on and do more of that in 2020.
So I’m really happy that I didn’t do anything until September.
I think I kept that creativity within my business building and then it was time to pounce and strike, which I did, and I’m super grateful for that.
So more of that to come in 2020 and very strategically!
So now, let’s go into things that I said I would do in 2019.
1. I will focus on deep work sessions.
At the time that I wrote this, I had been reading Cal Newport’s Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
I only read two thirds of it, but I was so inspired that I was like, yes, absolutely will do more deep work.
Deep work is essentially when you book in about two to three hours a day, at least, where you just lose track of time.
You switch off all distractions, and you focus in on one thing.
And it’s something that apparently we have become incredibly poor at doing.
We can’t not have 17 different distractions going on browsers, open music, on videos on people around all that sort of stuff.
Cal says we’ve lost the art of just being able to focus on one thing, and when you do, you actually become so much more effective and do really powerful important work.
You get to think more deeply.
To expand your mind you put your best work forward.
Book Review: “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World” by Cal Newport
I’m going to give myself a five out of 10 on that because there were many pockets of time I think I did a pretty damn good job of this.
Then there was a point midway through the year and later when I was constantly busy in my mind and in the huge work load I’d taken on, which led to my burn out.
By that stage, I was definitely not doing deep work.
I was doing just way too much work.
2. I will meditate daily.
I meditated almost every single day of January, continued on solidly in February and March and regularly through until May – so I did pretty well.
Then for whatever reason, probably over winter, things being a bit colder, more work on my plate and less ‘time’, I slackened off for around one to two months where I was doing it more intermittently.
Then I picked it up again around August and was pretty damn decent with it.
And right through until this last month around when the final Launch Your Damn Course cohort started and I got a little bit burnt out…up until then I was really enjoying meditating and getting a lot of benefits from it.
Read or listen to: Meditation is the key to everything.
In the last month however, I have not been able to keep up with it that regularly – big work targets, competing in my first Half Ironman, selling our house, buying a house and moving house – all pretty MASSIVE things.
Yet ironically, making time for meditation during all this would have been hugely beneficial.
That said I’m very proud as this was the best year for me meditating
But, it is probably my best year for meditating regularly.
Top Tip: Use the Insights Timer app to enjoy guided meditations and meditation courses right from your phone.
My stats on this app say I’ve done 200 days of meditation this year, which is freaking awesome!
I have so much more that I can learn about this and understand and implement and master.
And I definitely felt like it was more fun for me this year.
It was particularly useful around my time of burnout, as I listened to and used a meditation course specifically related to easing stress and anxiety that made a huge difference in my life.
3. I will write down three things I’m grateful for each day.
I didn’t write it down, however I said it almost every single day.
Josh and I would say our three things to each other when we first woke up in bed or before we went to sleep.
We often did this too during our weekly Life Pilot reflection.
And actually, most of my gratitude started happening when I was doing triathlon training, especially when I was out on like an hour run, or I was in the swimming pool for 40 minutes.
I actually started doing more than just three gratitudes and then I’d start sending gratitude to my friends and peers and people around the world.
It’d be neat to know if anybody kind of picked up on that, if they felt the love and the energy that I was sending them.
4. I will read every day.
You know, this should have really been a more specific goal because technically I have read every day.
I read a blog post. I read an email. I’ve read Newsroom Pro almost every single day, which is a great daily source of news in New Zealand and around the world written by independent journalists.
I’ve read pretty much all of those.
And then five days a week, I have read several books.
I’ve also listened to many audio books while I was out on my triathlon training.
But if I meant I was reading a book every day, that was pretty poor this year.
I’ve done a lot more audiobook reading, which I love.
Watch: The secret weapon to help you read more books in less time
And a big part of that is going to change in 2020, because I share with you how I’m going to read more books, right at the end of my podcast. In fact I’ve already started doing it and it’s going to make a huge difference to my life.
Have you heard? My best-seller, The Freedom Plan, is now on Audible! So no excuses for not reading books in 2020.
5. I will paint once a week.
I don’t think I actually painted at all.
If I did, it’s the one painting that was sitting on the easel all year…but I have a feeling I did that last year.
And this was probably just a real eye opener to me that painting is not something that just comes naturally to me or that I feel inclined to go out and do.
I think it’s one of those things that feels like something that I should want to do, and I absolutely know it’ll be beneficial for me, but I made zero effort or intention to make it happen.
And I’m kind of disappointed about that.
But I’m also okay with it because this year has been immense and it wasn’t a priority.
6. I will write every week on my personal blog no matter how brief.
I kind of thought I failed at this epically.
Until I realized I actually have written on my blog every single week, because I have edited the podcast posts that Ria or myself have written up.
But, I certainly did not get into the habit of writing.
And I did not write blogs very often at all.
And again, that is being rectified in 2020.
But I’ve got a big ass game plan and I’m also going full time (well 4 days a week) into my business, which will help.
So this goals is going to be implemented!
7. I will join at least one mastermind and 2019.
That didn’t happen.
I did however, create my own mastermind of sorts called the Thrive Board.
It’s a bunch of local women entrepreneurs (four or five of us), and it was actually incredibly hard to get us together once a month for dinner.
Way harder than I thought.
I had a really good, honest, open conversation with the women at one point and they were all like, yeah, this shouldn’t be so hard.
But I absolutely love the time that we’ve spent together throughout the year. And we’re carrying that on.
In that sense, this mastermind of sorts was kind of my board of advisors and friends so that has been fantastic but not regular enough.
I didn’t join any other mastermind but excitingly, I have joined one for 2020.
I did my due diligence, jumped on calls with people I admired who had paid masterminds, did all the research and joined Hilary Rushford’s mastermind.
I’m really excited.
And I’m also going to be starting my own mastermind later in 2020. So that feels really good.
And interestingly, I forgot that I had that as one of my things to do so glad that it’s been a little bit late, but better than never.
8. I will podcast weekly.
I’m going to give myself a big fat tick for that and give myself a 9.9 out of 10.
Because apart from last week, I haven’t missed a single week.
And I think doing my first half Ironman and moving house was a pretty good reason to miss it!
So I’m giving myself some slack.
I do LOVE podcasting.
I love how my UNTAPPED podcast has grown.
I’m loving the feedback that I’m getting from people.
And in particular, in the last probably four or five episodes, I’ve upped my game about the quality of people coming on, how I’ve interviewed them, and I have been getting that feedback from you.
So thank you. Really glad it’s resonating.
I already have some awesome guests lined up for next year.
And I think big guests too, but even though big names are great, what’s more important is that I’ll have people come on that I’m really excited about.
So let me just check the stats for this entire year.
This year, my friends, we have had 1264 episodes short of 100,000 downloads.
So thank you so much.
That is incredible, absolutely incredible.
It’s around 7,500 downloads a month and when I started at the beginning of this year after having a little bit of a break from it and sort of switching over from the other podcast, it was down around at 3-3,500 downloads.
So that is huge.
Thank you so much!
Expect more goodness coming to you in 2020 with more amazing guests.
And if there’s anybody that you would love on this show, please comment below and let me know.
Incidentally, my podcast is also going to be much more strategic. I appreciate it’s called UNTAPPED and that it’s about how to tap into your potential.
And I think there’s a beautiful mix between the mindset piece and then the specific how do you get paid to be you and grow an awesome income and life that you love, with more inspirational interviews merged in with some of the highly practical episodes teaching you the how.
9. I will get a professional qualification or certification in 2019.
I could still hit this actually!
I did actually go through a brilliant course on Coursera by the University of Sydney about the future of work and designing for that.
I did the whole course but I have still have to do my essay part so once it’s written, I will come out with a qualification in that.
So that has lit a fire under my ass to finish that off and get it done this year, which will be really exciting.
So yay. Good for me to review!
10. I will LIVE write a book in 2019.
Ha, that was an absolute epic miss.
And I’m not going to say fail because I just did not have any intention of writing that book.
I think that became pretty clear early on once I got my job and I was doing four days a week.
I was barely able to manage my business in a day a week so writing the book on top of that and training for all triathlons and other various things that I took on this year, there was too much going on.
That was just not going to happen.
However, I love the idea.
You know, I’m going to give myself a nine out of 10 for just having the kudos to even write that.
There is a famous saying of how people often overestimate what they can achieve in a year, but underestimate what they can achieve in a decade (there are variations where some people say on what you can actually achieve in three years).
Either way, it’s very true.
So I am holding back on saying when the next book will be out, but I kind of like the idea of not pressuring that because a book is a very personal thing.
And you have to be 100% willing and ready to write it.
And I’m not meaning you have to have the most amazing idea and that you have to have all the space in the world because you’ll never get it written in.
But it does have to be a gut instinct and a very much a motivational piece from you inside in order for you to turn up and write that.
Then I think you could write it in 30 days or 60 days or 90 days easy.
But you have to really want it.
And I’m not feeling that right now because I haven’t quite got the core of the next message, but it is bubbling away!
Have you done your 2019 Annual Review?
We’re heading into a new decade.
This is exciting and this calls for more celebration.
I think it’s fantastic for you to reflect on the year that you have had, and I’ve been working my way through the lovely Australian Leonie Dawson’s, My Shining Year workbook.
And the first third of that book is the closing ceremony for 2019 before you even get into planning your vision for 2020.
It’s a little in depth, I’m not gonna lie.
This book is like 120 pages and it’s all beautifully illustrated, and there’s lots of fun pictures, etc.
I have to credit Life Pilot as being a massive guiding star for me and Josh this year, and I do have big plans to get Life Pilot out to the world in a much bigger way next year.
I keep getting feedback from people on how valuable it’s been to them, no matter how much they’ve changed it or morphed it or merged it with their other kind of systems and goal setting that they do.
And I do believe it has a unique point of difference in that set and built reflection.
So please do go back over your year.
I would highly encourage you to take my Plan Your Ideal Year Workshop.
It is now an online course for you that you can access anytime, and I take you through this in four steps.
The first one is all about envisioning your perfect year ahead but it also gets you to do some reflection on where you’ve come from so that you know where you want to go.
Because without looking backwards, we can’t possibly see how we’re going to change and do things differently in 2020 and beyond.
I promise that you’ll get a ton out of it and that it’s the best investment for you as we close out 2019.
There will be one more podcast before the end of this year over all the things I’ve learned this year.
This has been one of the most challenging and stretching years I’ve ever had.
I learned the biggest lesson of my life, which is that I am not superwoman.
I have limits, and I need to create more boundaries.
And I certainly need to focus 100% on the things that I want to do and be really committed to those and not say yes to all the other opportunities that are bright and shiny and wonderful.
This year, I was open to doing more of that because it was an experimental year with the job and the business and the triathlon.
And I’m really proud of myself for what I’ve achieved.
As I said, I competed in my first ever Half Iron Man.
And to put this in perspective, in February this year, I did my first sprint triathlon, which was a quarter of the distance of the half Iron Man and I had my ass kicked.
I found it really difficult trying to swim 750 meters, cycle 20 km, and run 5 km.
It felt challenging.
And then strike forward to December 7, 2019 and I did four times that distance and I made it and it took seven hours and 10 minutes.
The longest freakin thing I’ve ever done in my life and I am immensely proud of that.
I have also spoken at many events this year.
I have taken on a four day a week job, grown my business lots, made a decent amount of profit considering I only did a day a week on my business.
We’ve pretty much made almost $200,000 profit on our house and we bought an investment property. So that’s been huge.
I launched the Launch Your Damn Course Accelerator, which was my proudest moment and most amazing learning experience.
So, thank you for reading to the end of this and the one thing that I wanted to reveal because I said I would is what I am going to do in 2020 that I think is going to dramatically changed my life for the better.
1 Thing I Will Do in 2020
I am no longer having my iPhone at the side of my bed.
It is already being put on the shelf in my new walk in wardrobe, which is approximately two and a half meters from my bed.
It sits on a charger there in airplane mode with the beautiful new bedtime alarm that comes on.
That means I’m have to get out of bed to switch off that alarm.
And I’m not going to take the phone back to bed with me in the morning. In fact it’s my cue to go and do yoga or get moving!
But more importantly, every evening, it gives me time to rest, to meditate and to read and to not be connected.
Because I found myself especially for the last six months or so just aimlessly checking apps and checking in on things in the evening for sometimes up to an hour.
What a freakin waste of time of my precious time that I really value.
So that may seem really simple to you.
But if you’re nodding your head, I would encourage you to try it out for all of January.
I am super pumped. I’ve actually already been instigating it.
And it felt so weird the first night.
Then the next night, there I was reading a book, and I slept better.
And this is only like two days into my experiment.
So I know that is going to make a huge difference.
That is just one of many small but hugely significant changes I’m going to make in 2020.
And I’m not going to stack them all in there. I’m going to do one at a time.
I’m super excited to share more of the goals for 2020 and how I can help you make your dreams a reality in the next episode.
I hope you enjoyed and learned at least ONE thing from my 2019 Annual Review.
I frankly cannot believe we’re heading into a new decade, but 2020 has the best ring of all about it.
2020 vision. Let’s get crystal clear baby.
Let’s go after our dreams and make them happen!
Podcast Resources
Take a look back on my first episode of UNTAPPED where I made my list of 19 things I will and will not do in 2019
Check out the Plan Your Ideal Freedom Year course that will help you head into 2020 with crystal clear vision!
Learn more about how Life Pilot can help you to reflect regularly throughout the year
Want to build a kick ass business that lets you create the income and impact you desire? Then download my 'Get Paid to Be YOU' Guide to learn 10 ways to monetize your skills and knowledge and do the work that matters today!