Creating 2020

Hello, and welcome to episode number 18 of The Strategy Corner, where our goal is to get you to take action. I’m your host, Michelle Zink, the owner of Intentional Solutions Corp. Today’s strategy is creating 2020. Now just a reminder, all of December is devoted to helping you my listener, plan, dream and develop your 2020 plan. I have shared a lot this month about different strategies you can use to create your best 2020. It started with a look back at 2019, then building your foundation questions, dreaming and determining your one thing, and then today, we’re focusing on the perspective of as it is December 31st, 2020. So, we’re utilizing the technique of going to 2020, excuse me, utilizing the technique of going to 2020 December 31st, to visualize what we’ve accomplished. So, I’m going to ask some questions to get you thinking, but before we do that, I want to dive in and just let you know my thinking behind sharing all of this information.

Today when I was thinking about creating this podcast, I questioned if I should just jump to bring it all together and having you guys determine your first quarter goals and objectives, but when I really thought about you guys and thought about the people who listen to this podcast, which are executives and owners, I know that you all learn differently. I know everyone learns differently. And I know that for some, this might be a lot of information, a lot of journaling, a lot of thinking that they don’t want to partake in, and that’s okay. But for those of you who do love all of this can go back and listen to all of the December podcast and do all the work. Or for those of you who feel it’s too much, you can pick and choose the work that you wanted to do and actually sit down and do that. And that’s exactly where you’re supposed to be.

So, when I really thought about being intentional about this podcast, I realized that bringing it home today would be the right thing for my listener. The listener who wants selection, the listener who learns differently, the listener who wants to take it all in and do it all and the listener who just wants to do the piece meal stuff as well. All of you guys listen and learn differently, so I wanted to offer everything up to you on a plate and you guys get to choose what you want to do. So, this might, again, be a lot for some and might be just the right about for some. So, I just want to give you the what I was thinking and how I came about deciding if I should share these questions today and I realized that it is important for me to share the information, especially in this first year of my podcast.

Next year I might be a little bit more constraint, constrain of or have a little bit more constraint and not share everything, but for right now, I know that this is the best thing for you my listener so that you get to choose and decide how you want to look at 2020 and what things you would like to do from December’s podcast to determine the best 2020 for you. So, I just wanted to go ahead and just share that with you. And again, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be right now. If you decide to do everything or if you decide to do none of it, you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. Okay, so now we’re going to go ahead and dive into creating your 2020. Reminder, we are imagining it’s December 31st, 2020. The year has already ended and we’re going to answer these questions based off of that mindset.

So, for some of you, you might need to write down on your piece of paper December 31st, 2020 so that you remember this, and others of you will just go ahead and be able to transport yourself there and start answering the questions. You do what’s right for you. So, here are the questions. Number one, thinking about its December 31st, 2020, what is a particularly satisfying achievement that I’m proud of this year? Okay, let me go ahead and read that again. What is a particularly satisfying achievement that I’m proud of this year? For me, when I did this work, it was doubling my revenue for my business. I’ve shared in the last episode that my one thing is growing my business. So, for me, my proudest moment sitting in December 31st, 2020 is that I doubled the revenue of my business.

Number two, what wasn’t on my list last year, but was this year? So, for me… Let me repeat that one more time. What wasn’t on my list last year, but was this year? For me it was hiring an assistant. I don’t believe I shared this before, but if I did, I realized recently that I needed someone to help me with some admin stuff, so I hired an assistant in 2020, and that person is helping me out at three hours a week up to 10 hours with admin items. And that wasn’t on my list in 2019. So that’s really exciting. Number three, I loved acquiring this skill and or getting back into this hobby, it brought me joy because… Okay, number three, one more time. I loved acquiring this skill and or getting back into this hobby, it brought me joy because… For me, it was golf. I wrote down golf because you’re outside in nature with friends, family and work constituents. So, I know that a lot of people golf and I used to golf, and I really enjoyed it because I do love being outside.

But once I had my daughter, I gave it up, and so I want to get back into that in 2020. So, sitting in December 31st, 2020, I have brought golf back into my life and I’m really enjoying it with not only my friends and family, but I’m able to incorporate it with work as well. Number four, a dream or big goal that I realized this year was… Number four, a dream or big goal that I realized this year was… For me, what came up was you can have everything you want and dream if but only you plan, use constraint, focus on the one thing and follow your plan. So, I’m reading exactly what came up for me and it’s a little bit, as you can see, it’s not perfectly written, but this is what came up for me when I did this work. So, for me it was learning that I can dream and plan and get everything I want, but I’ve got to use constraint, focus and follow the one thing.

Number five, the risky, generous acts I accomplished this year were… Number five, the risky, generous acts I accomplished this year were… For me, what came up was being. Being more ahead of time through giving more to my clients and prospects, offering them bonus coaching to get them to see the value ahead of time, creating value added podcast and blog posts, and surprising them with books, audios, videos when relevant. So, for me again, this year of 2020 is all about being. So, when I get to December 31st, 2020, I’m going to be able to look back and see where I truly was living and breathing the whole concept of being instead of doing, and for me, it’s all about over delivering. I want to serve my clients, my family, my life to the fullest and I love doing that. So that’s what came up for me.

Number six, the obstacles I overcame this year were… Number six, the obstacles I overcame this year were… Okay, here’s what came up for me. Capacity my mind for the things I wanted to create. I was able through constraint, planning and taking time to truly think through issues, to produce more at a higher level and less time. So, this goes back to my idea of planning and playing with time and how you can make things either be as long as they should be or shorter as they should be. So truly utilizing my time in a more effective manner. I also had balancing a family and friends. So, for me it’s hard. Again, I work all day, I have my own business like everyone. We all have work and family obligations, and I know I’m really good at focusing on my family, but in 2020, I want to also be better about focusing on friends and making sure I’m cultivating those relationships that I’ve been growing through the years and have really realized that I’ve been lax about it and so really want to focus on building and balancing family and friends in 2020.

Number seven, my single biggest business building success this year was… Number seven, my single business building success, say that 10 times fast, was… this year. And for me, it was creating space for me to grow my business. And that’s the big thing for me. Like you all know, my one thing is growing my business. So that’s the big thing that was my business building success this year. Okay, moving on, we’ve got three more questions. Number eight, new or different beliefs and behaviors I adapted were… So again, we’re thinking of December 31st, 2020, new or different beliefs and behaviors I adapted were… The ones that came up for me was the more I can be, the more I can serve. So, this goes back to what I shared just a few minutes ago. I’m all about being in 2020 and how that will help me actually create and build my business, help me create and build better relationships, just create and build everything that I want to.

The second thing that came up for me was I don’t have to do everything for my business. And this, again, I’m sitting at December 31st, I’ve hired an assistant. I’m also looking at how I can outsource some other things to create space so I can be with my clients and serve them at a high level, and so I’m realizing I don’t have to do everything for my business. And then the last one is, I don’t… Actually, the last one is I can find others who are passionate about my business as well and will put a lot of effort into making it succeed. Sorry, I hesitated there for a minute. I was reading the same one twice. So when I said I don’t have to do everything for my business, the next thing that came up was every small business or every owner worries that you can’t find people who are as passionate as you because obviously when you own a business you put a level of passion into everything you do for your business.

Every interaction, every communication, everything. And so, what I adopted was, and the belief I adopted was I can find others who are passionate about my business as well, and will put a lot of effort into making it succeed. So that helps me to find amazing people to work for me. Number nine, the biggest challenge I handled this year was… Number nine, the biggest challenge I handled this year was… For me it was creating, cultivating, and sustaining clients. That’s my biggest challenge. And number 10, what I said no to this year was… So, this is a big question. We’re all about saying yes, but in life we really need to determine what we need to say no to because that creates the space and the time so that we can focus on that one thing and the activities that we truly enjoy.

So, number 10, what I said no to this year was… For me, what came up was activities, people, ideas, thoughts that don’t align with my one thing, growing my business through creating clients and serving my current clients courageously. So, the one thing I said no to was activities, people, ideas and thoughts that don’t align with my one thing. So that’s it. That’s what I said no to. And I say that’s it, it’s not that easy. Every day, every minute, every hour, it takes intentionality, it takes me looking at the activities that people I’m going to meet with, the events I want to go to, and really truly see if I, or if it aligns with my one thing. And then having the constraint to say no if it doesn’t. I might be disappointed, I might miss out on things that sound fun, but if I truly want to build this business, I’ve got to be focused on what’s most important.

Okay, so now it’s your turn. The time in the show where your calls to action come up. So, the first thing is set aside time to work on and journal each of these questions. I’ve shared in previous episodes that writing down things is the best. You could type it, but I find that I write it first and then I type it. Something about the hand and the paper and how ideas pop up. So, the second thing is sit down with the questions. So, you’re setting aside time and then you’re going to answer these 10 questions. I’m going to read those to you one more time. Number one, again, we’re looking at December 31st, 2020. We’re coming from that perspective.

Number one, a particularly satisfying achievement that I’m proud of this year was… Number two, what wasn’t on my list last year, but was this year? Number three, I loved acquiring this skill and or getting back into this hobby. It brought me joy because… Number four, a dream or a big goal that I realized this year was… Number five, the risky, generous acts I accomplished this year were… Number six, the obstacles I overcame this year were… Number seven, my single biggest business building success this year was… Number eight, new or different beliefs and behaviors I adopted were… Number nine, the biggest challenge I handled this year was… Number 10, what I said no to this year was… And that’s it.

So next time, we will be bringing this all together. We will utilize everything we’ve created, dreamed of and documented over the last month and get it into a manageable format for your first quarter 2020. So be ready for it. I know I am because this year is going to be your best year. Why? Because you’ve planned. You’ve really taken the time to think about in 2019 what you accomplished, in 2020 what you dreamed of, your one thing, your foundational questions. You’ve really taken some time to think about you and what you really want to focus on. So that’s why 2020 is going to be your best year yet.

Okay, so here’s where I have my asks. If you could please go to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and subscribe to The Strategy Corner, I would love for more people to learn about the simple strategies that they can utilize in their life. And then also go to my website, intentionalsolutionscorp.com, so you can sign up for my weekly blog post and the link to the podcast so you’ll never miss out on any of the content that I’m sending out. Okay, until next time, remember, through action and growth, progression happens. Let’s take action together. Thank you so much and create an amazing week.