Imagine finding the key to a year of unparalleled success and self-fulfillment. We delve into the transformative power of self-care and goal setting. Our conversation takes you through the intimate process of self-reflection, teaching you how to break down your biggest dreams for 2024 into achievable milestones. I share a personal ritual that might just be the game-changer you need – isolating myself to meticulously plan the year ahead. We open up about our own journeys, touching on the critical role of nurturing peace within and the profound impact of positive self-talk on our overall well-being.
This episode isn't simply about ticking boxes on your new year's resolutions; it's an invitation to weave the essence of self-care into every facet of your life. We explore the delicate balance between professional ambitions and the health of your wallet, body, and soul. Whether it's aligning your career with your financial goals or ensuring your personal well-being isn't sidelined, we provide actionable insights for making 2024 a harmonious blend of ambition and peace. The Self Care Society podcast is committed to guiding you toward a year where taking care of yourself is the foundation for every success.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Self Care Society podcast with your hosts Celia Williamson, ashley Kutcher, louis Guardiola and Carrie Shaw, a podcast devoted to those whose job it is to help others get or remain mentally, physically and emotionally healthy, but who also need to take care of themselves. How we're going to do this? By first showing you the filtered, pretty version of success, and then the real struggles, real work and raw grit it took to get there, how they took care of themselves and also achieved their goals while doing it Together. We will work with you to improve and maintain your internal health and growth, while helping you achieve your external goals and your next professional achievement in life. And we're excited to show you how to follow your own individual and unique path and achieve the dreams you have while taking good care of yourself. So let's get started.
Speaker 2:
Welcome back to the Self Care Podcast. I am LaShanna Alfred. Happy holidays, merry Christmas. Can you believe? We are embarking on a brand new year, 2024.
Speaker 2:
And with that in mind, I wanted to come and talk with you or share with you some of the things that I did to help me prepare for this upcoming year. I actually went and got a hotel and I do this often and some people may not can just go and get a hotel room but I literally went and got a hotel and I brought sticky pads, markers I have my books and I wrote on each sticky pad what my goal was my financial goal, my personal goal, my fitness goal, my spiritual goal, my emotional goal and I wrote it all down, kind of did this data dump, wrote it all down and then I broke it down even further. Well, what do I need to do for my financial goal in order to reach it? Okay, so I began to. Under that, I began to write any debt that I may have. And what did I need to do? Paying bills down on time limiting, dining out and unnecessary spending. And then, under my fitness goal, I didn't want to just say I wanted to lose weight, I wanted to get in shape. I said, no, I want to really work on my weight and my health, as evidenced by I was going to go to the gym so many times a week. I was going to reduce how much I eat out right so fatty foods. I was going to limit certain things that I knew was going to hinder me from reaching my physical goals right, my fitness goals. And so I'm sharing that with you because I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to really sit down and see what would you like to see for yourself in 2024? What financial goals would you like to reach? What spiritual, emotional, physical goals would you like to reach? What mental goals and what hindered you from reaching those goals in 2023?
Speaker 2:
So the way we do that, we literally sit down and evaluate this year, 2023. We literally evaluate and we say, okay, what did I do? Did I pick up some weight? Did I drop some weight? You know what happened when you're looking at the physical goal or fitness goal Financial you'll say, okay, wait, did I overspend here? What did I do? Right? And then, as you evaluate and assess where you currently are, then you write down where do you like to be? Where would you like to be this time next year, and then you reverse engineer it. So then where would you need to be six months from now? And then where would you need to be three months from now? And then what do you need to have accomplished one month from now in order to be successful in reaching your goal Right? So if you say, you know, by the end of 2024, I want to have said that I'm in the best shape of my life and listen.
Speaker 2:
When we're talking about fitness goals, please do not get caught up on the scale, because everybody is not designed to be 120 pounds. So don't get caught up on the scale. Focus on how your clothes are fitting and focus on, you know, blood pressure. You know more of the health benefits of just being healthy. When you're looking at your financial goals, I want you to see do I need to do? I have anything saved for a rainy day? Did I pay myself first this year, and is that something I want to incorporate in the upcoming year? So here's the goal I want you to sit down, even if you can't go to a hotel room, even if you can't, you know, get away for a day, or anything like that. I want you to pull yourself away from family, friends, even if it's just being in your room for a few hours. And I want you to write down any personal goals that you have, right?
Speaker 2:
So one of the things that I put on my personal goal list was my peace. Right, my peace is mandatory, and oftentimes people say, oh, don't disturb my peace, or our peace is mandatory, and we think that it's about pushing people out of our lives. But no, it's about pushing negative thoughts out of our mind that may disrupt our peace. Now, don't get me wrong Some people in our lives we may have to set healthy boundaries, but most of the things that I've noticed that begins to disrupt our peace is what we tell ourselves, right? So, pay attention to what you say to yourself. That can disrupt your peace more so than looking at outward people outside of us. That's one of the things I put on my personal goal, right. And so family connection what am I doing to make sure that I increase, enhance the family connection? That's how I want you to really sit and think about your personal goals.
Speaker 2:
Again, when we're talking about self-care, it literally means us taking care of ourselves. Remember, when life is happening, we wanna put the mask on ourselves first, and then we want to assist others. So if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, feeling overworked and underpaid, I want you to pause and say wait, hold on, let me reevaluate where I am and let me really see. Do a full assessment? Is what I'm doing currently going to get me to my financial goal? Is this job that I'm on currently going to get me to my financial goal? And if it's not, it doesn't mean you say, oh, I'm going in and I'm going to quit my job. No, it means you have to sit down and say what else do I need to do? Do I need to go back to school? Do I need to learn to trade? Do I need to get a certificate? What do I need to do that's gonna help me position myself better in 2024?
Speaker 2:
So, again, as we're embarking on this new year, 2024, don't allow what happened last year, in 2023, to distract you or to stop you from pursuing your personal, financial, physical, mental and spiritual goals, whatever that may mean for you. If you want to go out to the park more, get more air, whatever that is, make up in your mind that you're going to begin to put you on your schedule Just as we go out and some of us chase clients, some of us is trying to make sure everybody else got what they need, and then, when we sit back after the day is done, we realize that we too are in need of things. And so, again, happy new year. I pray that you would take self care seriously this upcoming year. So again, make up in your mind that 2024 is going to be a year that you focus in on you. You make you a priority as you're seeking to help everyone else. Remember you're just as important as you've made others in your life, and that concludes this week's episode.