Note: This is the transcript of a video I posted on 8 Jan 2020. It has been slightly edited for improved readability.
What is the one word that is going to propel you toward your goals this year? How do you even begin to choose a word for 2020? Let’s talk about it!
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Hi, I’m Leslie and I am a Life Coach based here in Brisbane, Australia. Now, I haven’t uploaded a video in a while and that’s because I was overseas for a bit and some other business and family-related things popped up that took precedence over my filming schedule. But, I am BACK, and with perfect timing because it is currently the first week of 2020!
In mid-December, I conducted a half-day workshop here at Leslie V. Coaching HQ and the whole first section of it was all about reflecting on 2019. Going through that reflection process was really important because it helped the attendees do a thorough, honest self-assessment of their situation. And that is crucial for anyone planning for the new year.
Evaluating what sort of foundation you are starting with is necessary for outlining goals and strategies that are relevant to your life and that are realistic for your context. By writing down things like the most important people and events you encountered in 2019, positive ones and negative ones, you can get a much clearer picture of how well your year aligned with your values or what kinds of needs from 2019 you’ve left…unfulfilled.
When I choose a word for a year, I don’t choose wishing words. I always choose something that will guide my everyday decision-making and keep me on track towards whatever my main goals are for that year. My word for 2020 is self-discipline. And I’ll tell you how I arrived at this word by first outlining my words for the past few years.
My word for 2015 was Resilience. At that time I was really struggling to keep my head straight because I had been trying to have a baby but instead I kept having miscarriages….So every time I took a pregnancy test I was seized by this awful anxiety. That was whether the result was negative OR positive. So I had to be prepared to bounce back over and over again. And repeating that word in my darker moments really helped me remember that each negative test result or each pregnancy loss did not mean that I was a failure…it just meant that with each one, I had to become stronger and stronger to maintain the will to keep trying to keep a pregnancy.
My word for 2016 was Mindfulness. I started that year pregnant…and that was the one that stuck! But it was not an easy pregnancy by any stretch of the imagination. I had a lot of complications, I was in and out of the hospital, told 5 separate times that I was going to lose that pregnancy too and the one most important thing that kept me feeling…okay…through that time was practicing mindfulness. I had completed a 3-week Mindfulness meditation course here in Brisbane and whenever I felt that awful anxiety creeping up again I would stop what I was doing…find a comfortable place and really focus in on my immediate reality. I’d meditate on what I was really feeling within each centimeter of my body…from my toes to the top of my head and back and forth. And in those moments, I had relief and I’d come out of each session feeling…good.
My word for 2017 was minimalism. I was a new mother, so I had a lot of challenges relating to clutter. Not just the physical clutter that comes with taking care of a newborn, but also a lot of mental clutter. I had a lot more responsibilities, I had very little time to myself so I had to make a deliberate effort to rid my life of the STUFF, the situations, the people, the thoughts…that were not empowering me to do the best I possibly could in that completely new reality. I had to keep the relationships and the things that still served me and get rid of everything else, which was a lot easier said than done, but…I did what I could…at the time.
My word for 2018 was Diligence. My previous year’s minimalist ambitions didn’t quite pan out the way I had hoped, for many reasons, so I decided that my main focus for that year would be to really attack my daily goals a lot more carefully and with more energy. And I needed it, I had a toddler, I was teaching at a university and I was also deep into my studies to become a Life Coach. So time management and commitment were extremely important if I had any hope of getting anything done in a timely manner.
In 2019, my word was…Clean. This was different from ‘minimalism’ because I didn’t need de-cluttering, I needed to remove… dirt. To really cleanse. My last couple of semesters teaching at the aforementioned university in 2018…were not good. Even when they WERE good, it was often for negative reasons. There were a lot of counterproductive changes taking place. I was on the Academic Board, as the single representative for all of the educators in my department but little by little I was being disempowered. Disincentivised from being innovative or creative. I was becoming a person who I mostly felt sorry for. So I thought 2019 would be about transitioning away from a devolving workplace culture but then it hit me. I didn’t have to be there…AT ALL. So, I made a clean break. I began the cleansing process, launched my coaching practice as a full-time gig from the start and every decision I made was with the aim of not letting any of the dirt from 2018 back into my life.
That brings me back to my word for 2020: Self-discipline. One reason I chose this word is that I am turning 39 years old this month. For me, that’s a big deal because I’ve always told myself that one thing I want in life is to wake up on my 40th birthday feeling absolutely amazing. Right now, I have just about everything I’ve ever wanted in my life, and then some. I have a gorgeous little family. I have 3 citizenships. I’ve lived, worked and studied all over the world, and I’ve created a business that I absolutely love. But there are areas where I want to level up and this is going to be the kind of year that I’ve always promised to create for myself.
On my 39th birthday, I am officially launching Leslie 4.0, my own little personal project to smash my business goals, get back to the level of fitness I had when I was a Parkour instructor and practicing bullet-proof self-discipline in all of my day-to-day decision-making is what will keep me on track. So, when I wake up on my birthday next January I will be a version of the self that I already love; just…upgraded.
So, what is YOUR word for 2020? I’d love to know, so leave me a comment and get in touch so we can talk about what your goals are and how we can work together to help you have your best year ever. You can book a free consultation with me by going to my website leslievcoaching.com and be sure to follow me on my socials, give this video a big thumbs up and, of course, subscribe to my channel.
This year, I will be putting out more content on personal development and coaching and there will be more verbatim videos, where I analyse frequently used language in personal development. I am also going to produce a series of book reviews. I read a lot of personal development books because I am a Life Coach who does her homework. I stay on top of what people are reading because I have to become a resource for my clients. So it’s about time I shared some of my thoughts publicly about some of the books I’ve read.
Alright, here’s to 2020! Have an awesome week, and I will see you next time.
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