This particular blog is a personal exercise in reflecting on the year and all it’s accomplishments. If you don’t have a process at work that allows you to do the same, I recommend journaling about your year and reflecting on all it brought to you in work and in life. Here are some prompts to help you get started (and also the questions I’ll be answering below!)
- What were the highlights?
- What were the lessons?
- What are you most proud of yourself for this year?
- What are you looking forward to in 2020?
- What do you want to tell the future you of December 2020?
Ready to hear what I have to say about this year? Here we go!
What were the highlights?
2019 was a major year of growth for me personally as well as for the business. I was heavily focused on training and education in 2018, and 2019 was the year of implementing everything I had trained for and learned while continuing to grow my knowledge and experience.
My highlights were working with some amazing clients who saw some great life transformations and in that process, I grew as a coach and a person:
- I had a client leave a job that was lacking purpose and fulfillment to pursue a career path that was more in line with what her life needed at that time, along with the flexibility to be a present parent to her kids.
- I had a client overcome many life challenges associated with the stress she was taking on everyday. She implemented a daily time for reflection and affirmations while giving herself “me time” in order to decompress and release the stress from the day, which helped her show up as a better mom, wife, and co-worker.
- I had a client release the burden of trying to adhere to a strict diet and re-work her definition of wellness in her life. She was able to release the “guilt” associated with emotional eating and started focusing on daily activities that helped her feel her best without focusing on her weight. As a result, she did lose weight, but she also was no longer worried with the number on the scale, and identified “healthy” with a new set of values that served her better.
- I had clients stop having panic attacks and feel a sense of accomplishment and inner peace with the vision of wellness we created for them.
I could go on and on with these stories because each of these successes were as deeply meaningful to me as they were to my clients.
On the content side of things, I published out the most articles and blogs that I have ever done in a year. That meant being able to provide more value and resources to busy moms.
Our most read articles this year were:
- Want more balance in your life? Ask yourself these questions
- How to set goals that will change your mama-life
- 5 Things that surprise moms about working with a wellness coach
In addition to our own content, I also added on the ability for other moms in the community to have their voice heard. I did this through adding an opportunity for guest bloggers as well as featuring a “mama of the month”, which highlighted their life and share any tips or life hacks they had for managing their own personal well-being.
Our most read guest posts were:
- From one grieving mom to Target: I need your help
- I want you to know: My one piece of advice
- Mama, it’s okay to ask for help, even when you think you can “tough it out”
From a business growth perspective, I went from having a virtual assistant to having a team of 5 helping to publish out new content, do research and serve our clients in a way I would have never been able to do on my own. I’m so incredibly proud of The Driven Mama team and it was a small glimpse into the future of possibilities when it comes to adding additional team members to the business.
I found that putting the right people in the key roles I needed to fill in the business, I was able to show up better for my clients and have the ability to see the bigger picture of the business, which I know will only serve the business well in the future.
Reflecting on these highlights gives me so much excitement for what’s to come in 2020 with a focus on being able to get The Driven Mama name and brand out to more moms so we can help them live their healthiest, happiest and most fulfilled lives.
What were the lessons?
My biggest lesson from this year was pretty personal. The business has opened up awareness for me on some of my personal growth opportunities. For me, overcoming that ever notorious impostor’s syndrome has been a big focus and stepping into the feeling. It’s been about re-framing my own personal beliefs on what that moment feels like and what it means.
Being a “beginner” at anything has never been a strength for me, but embracing that we all have to start somewhere and that learning is part of the process has helped me to try new things in the business and be a little more compassionate with myself when things don’t work out the way I expect.
Time has been another lesson to learn. As the business has grown, so have the opportunities to get involved and take on more, which means booking myself to 120% at times, which is a quick path to burnout. So, managing my own boundaries, knowing when to say “not right now”, and not jumping on every opportunity that comes along.
In this next year, I’ll be better able to see when I’m maxing myself out or when I need to bring in additional team members and resources so I can take the needed time to manage my own well-being (because working with a wellness coach that doesn’t feel “well” is just ironic).
What are you most proud of in 2019?
When I look back on the last year, I’m proud of myself for being able to step into some uncomfortable situations and grow with it. I allowed myself a little more self-compassion than I have in past years (which is an ongoing journey for me.), and I brought on an amazing team, which has challenged me to find my inner Elsa and “let it go” in places of the business that felt hard to do.
What are you looking forward to in 2020?
Because of all the work, time, and effort we put into growing the content and audience on The Driven Mama this year, it’s already allowed us to open up to the opportunity of partnerships with other brands and I’m so incredibly excited to see where that will go this year.
In addition, I’ve had so many other wellness professionals reach out to me this year which has allowed me to offer some consulting to those businesses and I’ve really enjoyed it. But, in order to adhere to my lessons learned from this year, it means doing the necessary planning and “letting go” so I can fit these new opportunities in.
With that, I know continuing to build out The Driven Mama “dream team” will be a major focus as well as something I’m so excited to do. As I’ve listened to you about what you’re looking for from The Driven Mama, some key themes emerged around meal planning with ease and having solutions that allow you to merge your work life and home life with better ease. So, we’ll be focusing on launching new programs focused specifically on helping moms do just that.
I can’t wait to share more soon. 🙂
What do you want to tell the future “you” of December 2020?
If I could tell my future self one thing, it would be to let yourself slow down and enjoy the journey. I see such a big vision for helping moms that it can be hard to not be 5 steps further than where I see the business going, but everything will come at the right time.
Final Thoughts
2019 has been a great year, while it has had its share of growing pains and moments of learning. Even with those moments in consideration, I wouldn’t trade the client breakthroughs, the encouraging comments, and the outreach from our readers letting me know how helpful our content is, or how much they needed to hear something today.
Those are the moments I live for, beyond anything else in the business, which is why I cannot wait to see how The Driven Mama will continue to grow in 2020 and be able to help even more busy moms to create wellness in their lives.
Last but not least, I’m so thankful to you. You are our reader, our community, and the reason why I wake up every morning to do what I do. We wouldn’t be anywhere without your support. If there is every anything we can write for you, help you out with, or any way we can support you, reach out and let us know!
Cheers to a great 2019, and an even more amazing 2020!
