End-of-the-year planning doesn't have to be a long, painful process.

In this episode, you'll learn a simple 4-step process to reflect on the highlights of the past year and make plans for the new one. Plus you'll discover a powerful exercise to help you visualize and manifest success with everything you're planning for the new year.

Don’t Miss Inside This Episode:

• 4 simple steps + a bonus exercise to help you reflect on the past year and plan for the future one.
• Tips to help you keep your personal Word of the Year or theme for the new year top of mind.
• The important difference between the words implement and execute.

Links and products mentioned in today's episode:

Interview with Connie Ragen Green, episode 13 of She's Got Content podcast.

Books mentioned in today's episode:

Business Made Simple by Donald Miller

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Join the She's Got Content Mastermind and enjoy a 35% discount with coupon code NEWYEAR when you join through the end of December 2022.

About Your Host

Melissa Brown, MD - Coach, Author, Speaker, Teacher, and Podcast Host.

After leaving medical practice in 2009, Melissa discovered the online world and never looked back! After coach certification, she began a healthy lifestyle coaching practice online and quickly fell in love with blogging, writing, and content marketing.

Melissa believes that coaches have the power to change the world. Unfortunately, too many coaches get discouraged by the amount of content they need to create for marketing their business and this can lead to overwhelm and giving up on their dreams. There's such a ripple effect when a dream dies, so Melissa is on a mission to help coaches and solopreneurs overcome the overwhelm when it comes to content creation so they keep those dreams alive.

Your content can impact massive amounts of people and positively change the world. You've got content in there inside you; let's get it out into the world.

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If you struggle to come up with a word of the year

for yourself, just keep it simple.

I think it's easy at the beginning of a new year to get overwhelmed by

planning to take on way too much and set your expectations as if you're going

to morph into Wonder Woman overnight.

And we all know that only serves to set you up to burn out, and then

you give up on your resolutions and goals, and your word of the year.

Hello there, Content Creators.

You're listening to the She's Got Content podcast where it's all about creating

content for your coaching business.

I'm your host, Dr.

Melissa Brown, and I'm here every week to help you get your content out of your

head, out of your heart, and out there into the world where that information and

your services can impact the most people.

Get ready to take notes today and then take action, Content Creators.

Let's dive in with today's episode because you've got content to get out there.

Hey, welcome back to another episode of the She's Got Content Podcast.

Before we get into our topic for today, I want to give a big, thank

you and a shout out to our Content Creator of the week, Thousand XD,

who left a review on Apple Podcast.

They wrote this review,

"Melissa truly gets it, when it comes to content marketing, we're shaping

the world with every word we publish.

I love the podcast and I have really enjoyed the guests

sharing their experience.

It's inspiring."

Well, thank you so much for those kind words, Thousand XD.

That means so much to me.

And I have to tell you, you inspire me too!

Now let's get into our content for this week.

And this week is that weird week or what I call a limbo week where it's sandwiched

in between the Christmas holiday and the start of a new year on New Year's Day.

You've probably got kids home from school and maybe you've got grandkids

doing a sleep over, or you might have relatives still staying with you.

And some of you may be lucky enough to be getting away from it all and

you're out of town on a holiday.

And somewhere in the midst of all of this post-Christmas and pre New Year's

Day, you're likely doing some end of the year reflections planning for the

year ahead and mapping out a roadmap for where you'd like to be in 2023.

All the emails in my inbox this week, they're talking about

goals; setting goals, smart goals, money goals, launch goals.

And new year's resolutions, big projects, small ones.

And well, Friends, you could reflect back on the year that's ending by going

through a very extensive checklist or a lot of journal prompts about important

lessons you've learned during the year, creating a list of the people

you met, people you collaborated with, and those you're grateful for.

You could go through all your business numbers and run

reports and fill up notebooks.

And while that's all well and good to have all that information and that

data, I like to keep it simple with this traditional year end transition.

I can run all those other data points at any point of the year.

Here's what I like to do during this very last week of the year, even though this

year I confess I've already started some of these steps in the past few weeks.

So it's not all waiting until this limbo week.

Here are my four steps to make my year end transition, and I

have a new bonus one at the end.

Step number one for the year end transition is when I reflect on my

outgoing year's word of the year.

And I ask myself how it went with that word.

Did it help me improve things in my life.

And how did that happen?

I then choose a new word for the upcoming year.

Sort of a theme for me to focus on for the entire year.

I'll use that as a lens to filter all my planning and all I do in the coming year.

My word for 2022 was simplify.

And yeah, that didn't go over so well this year as an overall theme.

Somewhere after about the first quarter or so of 2022, I more or

less set aside and forgot all about that word and the theme for the year.

Sorta went the way of most new year's resolutions.

It was just left by the wayside and not really adopted.

The way this usually works best for me to keep that word of the year top of

mind is to keep it in my visual sights.

For instance, the year I made a laminated bookmark with my word

drawn and colored as artwork on that bookmark, that year, I was constantly

reminded of my word whenever I picked up the book I happened to be reading.

I also usually write the word on sticky notes to remind myself, and

I put those around my computer, on the bathroom mirror, in my car,

although I rarely drive anywhere anymore, especially in the winter.

And I write it in my planner and my calendar, where I look at it all the time.

I forgot to do that last year.

Some of the things that I also plan to add to keeping that word top

of mind is to have it appear in my writing journal this year-- like on

the cover of my writing journal or on a sticky note, or written on an index

card and just placed in the journal.

I can create a sign with the word and put that inside my closet so it's seen

every time I open up the closet and I pick out my clothes for the day.

So in this new year, I'm not going to drop the ball on my new word.

So I've got plans to keep that word top of mind by doing those things and

making sure I'm constantly reminded.

That way I can continue to just check in and see.

Am I remaining true to my word of the year?

If you struggle to come up with a word of the year for

yourself, just keep it simple.

I think it's easy at the beginning of a new year to get overwhelmed by

planning to take on way too much and set your expectations as if you're going

to morph into Wonder Woman overnight.

And we all know that only serves to set you up to burn out, and then

you give up on your resolutions and goals, and your word of the year.

For 2023, the word of the year that came to me immediately was implementation.

And that's because I feel like I've spent a lot of time learning the how

tos for a lot of things, although I put less time putting those into action.

So I recognize that that needs to change.

And while I'll never quit learning, there comes a time to slow the roll on lots

of new courses and instead, take aligned action and implement what's been learned.

Now to add a little confusion to this process of choosing a word, last month

my mastermind group read a book by Donald Miller titled Business Made

60 Days to Master Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Execution, Management,

Personal Productivity, and More.

I know that's a mouthful.

Let's just call it Business Made Simple.

One of the final chapters in the book was about execution.

So this concept of execution gave me pause with thinking about,

well, what's the difference between implementation versus execution?

And I think the distinction between the words, those two words is worth noting.

According to dictionary.com, implement means to put into effect according to or

by means of a definite plan or procedure.

So basically implement means to begin to put into action to set

on, to start a course of action.

To begin.

According to that same source, dictionary.com, execute means

to perform or accomplish something as an assigned task.

So, the word execute means to see through to completion.

I've been thinking about that distinction as it might apply to the chosen word of

the year implement or implementation.

And I think I really intend to implement and execute this year.

It's not just about putting into action but to also see it through to completion.

And so because of that, I actually have two words for 2023.

The root word, implement and implementation.

And the root word execute and execution.

I feel like I'm really excited about these words and by keeping them top of

mind, I know that's going to help keep me focused on the doing and completing that

I want to accomplish in this next year.

In addition, I've also started to pick out a skill to focus

on during each coming year.

In past years, I focused on improving skills like copywriting, email marketing.

In 2023, I want to focus on building habits.

Two habits I want to get down solid this next year are the

exercise habit and a writing habit.

I really got off track with exercise over the past year.

And I feel it.

So that's going to become a big focus for me in 2023.

I want to write even more than I do, so starting a habit or a

routine for writing is the way I'm going to be able to do that.

Connie Ragen Green was my guest on the podcast in episode 13.

And she spoke about how she developed her writing habit by sitting

down to just write every morning.

And over the years, Connie has written over 25 books and she's still going

strong writing at least a book a year.

She writes blog posts for multiple blogs, regular emails to her

audience, screenplays and more.

So I'll tap into another book that my mastermind group read this

year to make these habits stick.

And that book was Atomic Habits by James Clear.

If you haven't read that book yet, I highly recommend you run

out and you get your hands on it.

If you've already read it, now might be a good time to reread

it and use these principles.

The principles inside that he teaches to set yourself up for inevitable success.

Now onto step two.

It's easy to describe step two, but it usually takes a lot

more time than the other steps.

In this step, I spend some time reflecting back over the year, month by month.

I usually have to jog my memory for each month, especially

earlier months of the year.

So I need to pull out my calendar or my planner and go through the pages.

I go through emails I wrote for the year.

I look at products, coaching and courses I signed up for.

When and where did I do speaking engagements?

What products did I release for sale?

And going back through my business expenses and income for this too.

I started out in January 2022 doing this look back at the end of each

month and writing a summary for myself.

But somewhere in the second quarter of the year, I got away from doing

that at the end of each month.

I just sort of forgot about it one month and much like the word of

the year for 2022, it just sort of faded into the background.

So this is something that needs to be inked into my calendar, part of

working on some habits so it becomes routine at the end of the month.

That's going to make it easier to do the year end reflection so I can just

look back at each monthly summary.

Once I go through each month by month, I ask myself, over the

course of the year, what went well?

These things need to be acknowledged and celebrated.

These are the wins.

We, or maybe I should say I ,do too little of that thing.

Really standing back and acknowledging and celebrating.

So only after that's completely savored will I list out all the

wins as something I'll consider doing more of in the coming year.

And then I ask myself, what didn't go well?

And if I can figure out the cause, why didn't it go well?

Why did that happen that way?

And maybe I've already done the analysis at the time if something didn't go right

but by reflecting back and having a little distance of time, sometimes it's

easier to see why things did not go well.

I can then decide whether to tweak it or improve that thing and add it into the

coming year to see if I can improve it, or is it something to let go of and move on?

I will then filter any of the things I want to keep and put

into 2023, filter it through step three, before I schedule anything.

Now on to step three, I answer this question; what do I want to create more

of in the world in this coming new year?

So that gets incorporated into my big picture for the year.

I'm more of a quarterly planner, but I like to have the big picture in

place for the year as an overall goal.

That's why I create that theme or word of the year first too.

To complete this step three, I start with planning annual goals for income.

And look at the different events or products or

offerings I'm planning to make.

I can then break down and estimate income through each quarter, based

on the projects I have planned.

Further breaking down the projects, the events, the offerings into

quarterly, monthly, weekly, or maybe even daily actions to reach

those goals is the next step.

In 2023, I'm going to be using a new spreadsheet for these goals.

That's a stretch for me since I don't usually use one for this type of planning.

I often say I'm allergic to spreadsheets.

So, wish me luck with this piece.

I'll let you know how it goes.

And then we come to step four, the last step.

That's where I ask myself, what did I let go of during the past year?

And that's followed by, what else do I still need to let go of?

And for me, this is more about a personal letting go since I've already looked

at the things I wanted to let go of in my business offerings in step two.

There's been a recurring answer in the letting go category for me and that

has to do with clutter in my office.

This past year has seen a huge change in that space as I did let go of a

lot of old papers and memorabilia, and I cleaned things out from that room.

Have to admit it's still got a ways to go, but little by little,

there is, and has been improvement.

In addition to possessions, letting go might look like releasing

weight, letting go of relationships, letting go of the need to be

right, or setting old habits free.

I'm still thinking about this and doing some reflection on what else

I think I might like to let go of.

And that's it for my year end planning process during this last week of the year.

It's simple.

It's effective for me.

And it doesn't usually take tons of time to go through the steps.

Okay.

Let's recap.

Step one is to review the last year's word of the year and choose a new word

or a theme for the upcoming new year.

Step two is to do a month by month review of the year and answer the question, what

went well and what didn't go so well.

And why.

Step three is to ask and answer, what do I want to create more of in the world?

And step number four is when I ask myself, what did I let go of in the past year?

And what else do I still need to let go of?

And I promised you a bonus.

So this year, there's one more thing I'm adding to this year-end reflection.

I did this in a planning session earlier this month with a group

I'm in and it totally blew my mind.

This is so powerful.

After all your planning for this next year is over.

Write yourself a letter.

Well, you can write a letter to yourself or just it could

be a statement to the universe.

And use this prompt, oh, my gosh, it's December, 2023.

Can you believe

. . . . ? And then you just fill in stating

out as if they've all been hit.

And more.

And then just go through them and how you feel having reached all of those

achievements and allow for even more.

And when I say, allow for even more, let's say you set your yearly income

goal for a hundred thousand dollars.

And you would say during this letter to yourself or the universe,

Can you believe that I have earned over a hundred thousand

dollars in the year of 2023?

So you want to allow for even more abundance with this goal setting by not

just saying you hit a specific number.

Hope that makes sense.

Okay, so there you have it.

A simple way to transition from the current year to the next.

And by all means, go ahead and adopt this year- end transition plan if you'd like.

If you already have a planning process, keep using what's working for you though.

And keep this in mind with all of these plans and goals you're making,

there's one thing you definitely want to make sure you've got in place.

And that's to make sure you set yourself up with accountability.

You'll drastically increase your odds for success when you create a regular check-in

with an accountability partner or a group.

This way, things aren't slipping through the cracks and you're less likely to

procrastinate and put things off when someone is holding your feet to the fire

to do what you say you're going to do.

If you'd love some accountability for 2023, consider joining the She's Got

Content Mastermind before the end of 2022.

And that's because there's a 35% discount available until

the beginning of the new year.

So get yourself set up for success in 2023 with a coupon

code NEWYEAR for the discount.

All those details for the mastermind will be at shesgotcontent.com/group G R O U P.

And I'll be sure to include all of that info in the show notes too.

Just don't forget to use the discount code NEWYEAR, all one word.

Okay.

That's it for this week and this year.

Happy new year to all of you and may 2023 be everything you plan for and much more.

See you next week with another episode in the new year.

Thank you for tuning into this episode of the She's Got Content podcast.

I hope you got at least one nugget to take action on this week.

If you got value from today's episode, I would be so grateful

when you leave a five star rating wherever you listen to podcasts.

It only takes a second and it really helps me get my message out

to impact even more people so they can in turn, keep the ripple going.

If you're listening on Apple Podcast and leave a review of the show, it

would really make my day, and you just might receive a shout out on

the show as my content creator of the week when I read out your review.

And last but never least, if you want an endless supply of just right ideas for

content, you can write about for your blog post, your emails, your videos,

podcast episodes, all the content things, then you wanna head over to my

website at shesgotcontent.com/content and pick up your free workbook,

Never Run Out of Content Ideas.

Look for that link in the show notes today along with the other

links mentioned in today's episode.

Until next time, content creators, you've got an audience waiting to hear from you

and you've got content to share with them.

Stop being the best kept secret and make a bigger impact when you've