FTF241: Leanne Hughes’ Unofficial 2023 Annual Report

Leanne Hughes’ 2023 Annual Report podcast/video episode, where I share my favourite UNOFFICIAL business metrics, and quarter by quarter highlights/lessons learnt.

Some of my unofficial metrics include:

• 📈 # of countries visited
• 📈 Clients I loved partnering with
• 📈 New topics explored
• 📈 Messages about the book and its impact 
• 📈 How often did I wake up, look at my calendar and get excited about the day?

What unofficial metrics do you like to report on at the end of the year?

Offers launched:

• Book: The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint
• Sentient Strategy
• Leanne Hughes’ Red Carpet Experience
• Leanne on Demand

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the show. I'm your hostLeanne Hughes, and I'm here to help you design fast, deliver strong without the stress. 

This episode is kind of like an annual report. Just sharing a bit of the highlights lessons learned from the year, starting with some metrics that I think are important that aren't really official business or accounting type metrics, more likely anti-D metrics. That you might use to refer to. Ah, for your business or you might even make up your own. 

And then I'll share a bit more around, just do like a quarter by quarter breakdown on things that I learnt, things that, um, I sort of discovered projects that were pushed out . And a bit more sort of behind the scenes of what goes on in terms of how I think, how I plan, what work I was doing and how I reflect on that as well. I'm so excited to hear how you do this, how you reflect. And get ready for your 2024. 

You can always send me an email. And he's dot com. Follow me on Instagram at Leanne Hughes or connect up on LinkedIn. I'm all over the social platforms. Uh, so just find me on there. Okay, let's jump in.

. I always get excited this time of the year because of Spotify and how they bring up their rap, which is like all the data from what you listened to through the year. 

How many minutes you listened, what artists, what were the top five songs, that type of thing. And even from a podcast perspective, you can get into stats in terms of. What are your most downloaded episodes? This is obviously a very good time to stop and reflect on the year. 

That was. And I think of these metrics related to business, we all know the ones that are like our accountant will talk to us about. Uh, your cashflow, your profit, your gross profit net profit. , overheads, all that sort of thing. But I think for me in my business and because I am a personal brand and my business is really me, there are other metrics that I didn't really think about explicitly, but I definitely know. That are important to me as a business owner. And a facilitator and a consultant and all of that. 

 For this episode, I got a piece of paper. I just wrote down a different quarters, went through my calendar, but also write down some of my key metrics. Which may be surprising, but the first one, and again, this is in no particular order, but number of countries visited or the countries I did visit. I, one of the biggest things about the work that we do as facilitators is, and. It gives us an opportunity to work with different clients all around the world. And we can do that virtually from. I'm recording this from my spare bedroom in Brisbane, Australia, or we can actually step on a plane and I am so lit up by getting on a plane. And just traveling to faraway places, even if it's a domestic flight, only an hour away, that's kind of fun, but just different times zones and running workshops there and learning all about the people in those groups. 

And so very lucky early this year traveled to Malaysia and also it was in the U S Y S lost twice this year. I'm saying last year already, twice this year, San Francisco. Uh, north of that in Sonoma for a conference and just got back from New York city. I guess one of the biggest fears I had when I left my job. In 2019 was never being able to travel internationally again for work. And the opposite has happened and I've gone to some really cool places. 

So that's a really key metric for me. I think working with clients that I love and clients that I resonate with. When you kick off a business on my closing into my fifth year, next year. And I, I do try this path of accepting work that I'm not too sure that is going to fuel me. But I also think that creates a really good challenge as well. 

Yeah, I'm in two minds around this. So I do want to work with clients that I love and resonate with. But at the same time, working with clients that you don't love or problems that you don't. You're not particularly sure. You know how to work with that. Isn't excellent challenge as well. 

I don't know if work should always be. Sausage dogs and butterflies and rainbows and all of that. I think the challenge and the struggle. Is what keeps us honest and real. And that's where we get most of our growth and learning opportunities. As long as I can still be myself and all those interactions where I think this metric around clients I love is. If I'm struggling in a relationship with a client, it's usually because I'm not able to be myself from a masking parts of myself. 

And so maybe that should change a metric to. I'm not gonna use the word authenticity because I think that was like the. Webster's dictionary is word of the year, kind of over the word authenticity, but just stepping into who I am and a hundred percent of that. When I'm 95% or even 90% with a client. It's not going to go, well, sorry. 

Even on this podcast, I try to really go into a hundred percent Leanne. And like, I just imagine that we're having a coffee or having a drink. Uh, this is the stuff I'd say to you, regardless of whether it's being recorded or not. So maybe the metric is. , even in our initial scoping conversations with clients, can I be myself? 

Do I go there? Do I actually say the things that Leanne would typically say, or my masking myself, because I want to win the work. Or impress them or I don't know. You know what I mean? Hopefully. Okay. And on the metric is, new topics explored or I guess new processes. Where again? In an interesting pivot point in my career. 

I kind of sometimes think I want to just blow up my business and do something completely new. I don't think that's the case. I think I'm on the right path. It's more about. What are the topics or what's the area of expertise I really want to step into. , and being a facilitator, being a consultant, you tackle a lot of challenges, but typically things can follow a similar process and they will really fall down to, I guess, Yeah, those big buckets of expertise or communication leadership, resilience, that type of thing. I know there's different experts in those pockets, but I think a lot of the work we do actually travels across those borders. 

So that's why I really struggled stepping into an area of expertise, because if you want to solve for innovation, Often that's a leadership challenge or it's a culture thing. These are not segmented things. And that's where I really find that challenge. But in terms of stepping into new topics and new processes, am I solving different things? Because I think once you've worked with clients on particular projects, You kind of like rinse and repeat that. I mean, some people like that, but it's not me. 

And I know I'm very self-aware that I want to do new things. The people that I met were interesting. And that doesn't mean as clients. I mean, as people in general, did I meet interesting people this year by built up my network of like really cool people, people that I enjoy having conversations where people that I learned from. I made them in real life as well. 

Uh, I guess we've all learned from 2020. We've seen the stats on travel this year. People are investing more on experiences that they may are on things. You can tell that from just going to airport, seeing the, the price surge of hotels, accommodation, , all of that. I really just turning a lot of the, um, my virtual friendships into. In real life and making me making that time to do that. 

That's again, being a business owner. I have that flexibility. It's my decision. Do I make that choice to do that? So those are few of my metrics.

So I'm going to now it's just go through each quarter by quarter and just share some of the highlights. 

Maybe some lessons learnt. 

But another activity that I have shared on this podcast previously, He is doing this activity and also going back and going and whatever the gigs that I did not enjoy doing, what were the meetings that I did not look forward to? Showing up for, so I guess another metric I'd like to add an unofficial metric for 2024 is, did I want to wake up today and I looked at my calendar. How excited was I at about the day? 

Was it a 10 out of 10? Like I can't wait. And usually that involves a boat. And saxophones and things like that. Or traveling, right? Like that's a 10 out of 10 day or working. Maybe like opening a conference or hosting a one day event. I'm just so excited to do that one out of 10. Maybe I'm going to have a difficult conversation. , I've got to do some admin work, right. 

 Like what I wake up in the morning? I see what's being scheduled 

in. Am I excited about that? I think if I can get over. Jeez. If you get over 60%, you're totally winning. Totally winning. So maybe that's what I look forward to next year as well. And I'm curious to hear from you as you're listening to this, what are the unofficial metrics that might drive your career and your business leading into 2024? What type of workshops do you want, want to run? 

What areas of focus, what type of clients, where do you want to host them? And that, that became that theme of where do I want to host a workshop? Stood out really strong for me in 2023. 

 This whole sort of format of reflecting on each quarter, it kind of reminds me of when I was working internally for a global mining company and get to the end of year performance review and. Was leading the process for our company, but I wasn't, role-modeling the right thing and taking notes and collecting evidence all through the year. That's what I had to do is like check my email and my calendar invites to see what did I actually achieve in the year. 

So done the same thing as I reflect on, on this year. So in quarter one, Quarter one. I kicked up the year thinking, um, January the first I started writing my book, the two hour workshop blueprint, and I knew that I was speaking at a conference at, in Sonoma, my friend, Andy Storj hosts, the talent management development think tank conference. Invited me to speak over there. 

I accepted as I flew over in February. But I said to myself, I can not go to this conference without a book. I must have a book. I blocked up the first three weeks of January. And I just got into deep work of just collecting everything I'd done about workshops. The hardest part about writing a book is actually getting a real focus point. 

 I sort of. Was in between direct the workshop playbook, which would be super general. Do I wrote, write a book on how to write a, run, a lunch and learn, which is extremely specific. And I can still do that off the back of the two hour workshop blueprint. But I thought the 12 workshop was quiet. It was specific in terms of it solved a very specific problem. But also, if you can run a two hour workshop, you can run an all day worship. You can run a two day workshop based off the principles in the book. I think once I had that title and scope, it became very clear and obvious in terms of what would go in the book and what went out. 

 Yeah, I've spoken about the book. Print process. Quite a bit on the podcast. So I won't go too much into that. That really was a focus of. January was getting that out, getting words on a page. Getting the ideas out, creating some sort of format. And the exciting part was actually when I was in California. In Sonoma the morning, that's about to get a coffee with Andy and my books that arrived. Version one. 

Right. And then to see people take the book off, like at the conference, just like grab the book and. That was amazing, even though it's a very early version and probably I don't want it out there. 

It validated the idea and it gave me momentum to really launch it later on that year. I'm not gonna talk about every single workshop I ran, but what I really did enjoy was working or partnering with Tom Scantlebury. Uh, he's been a guest on this podcast previously, and we did some workshops down the gold coast, all about strengths-based leadership. 

And that was really funded, actually quite a few of those, maybe three different sessions on strengths-based leadership for different teams. Really nice way to kick off the year and start the year on a really positive note, positive psychology leaning into your strengths. Getting that self-awareness. And I definitely think there's like seasons for things and yeah, you could run a string session in August. Uh, maybe that makes sense in the Northern hemisphere, but I think, strategy, strengths, any type of like, Ida eating. Uh, divergent thinking type of activity in acute Q1 of a year is, is a good idea. Now the highlight was actually seeing Jimmy carb, comedian play in Brisbane. 

What play, tell his jokes. I really love and recommend his book. Um, but he just really talks about the work ethic and we often see people on stage and think, wow, they're so natural. And this came easy to them. But. The amount of gigs, like, and the amount of miles traveled by Jimmy, like I think in a year, I'm gonna pull this. 

I don't know how accurate this was, but it's 365 days in a year. And I think he was on the road for like two hundred and eighty two hundred ninety of them, or like some huge amount, two or three gigs a night driving all around the UK when he was just starting. And so it really hones in that point of. Yes, you can listen to this podcast and you can read the books. But it's all about getting time on your feet, getting your time on your feet, reflecting on your practice. 

And that is how you improve. You just have to get out into the ring. So, um, that was QR. I also want a few different things, I've got little Leanne on demand, voice note coaching. Did it. Quite a bit of that. So that's what a 30 day voice note coaching program. Where we connect on WhatsApp. , For 30 days unlimited access to me. 

And we've always known each other about sort of podcasts or whatever you want to build your workshops, your business, your marketing. I really loved that. And then I introduced Leanne's red carpet experience. Um, as well, which was, I just started auditing what would be really helpful for someone what I want more than ever this year. Is the importance of having to fall in love with the process. This kicked started with the book. 

It's like when I was stuck with a book, I thought. How do I get myself out of this? How do I let myself fall in love with it again? And that didn't usually involve taking myself to a cafe, ordering some great food, getting out. , in beautiful weather. And just moving and shifting the environment made me love it. 

And I thought, how can we create this for someone else? Make it a red carpet experience, have champagne, have a long lunch, have a great coffee. Great. To get the post-it notes. I get into that and I think. Let's just make it fun for ourselves. Just wanted to shout out to Joe that flew over from New Zealand for that is just incredible. 

Hanging out with you. The rata also ran that virtually with her. And I've got a few more red carpet experiences. It seems that they come through. Again, like quite a few books for the end of the year. And then for the beginning of the year. So I think it's a nice way to either bookend as you're like, you might be one of those people that wants to just start. Like, I just hit it in, in, in January. 

So you came to like, get that in this year or you might be someone in. Keywan you've got your ideas and you sort of land them and get them out there. And I think I got the idea of that by running a strategy session for a legal practice. They booked a beautiful hotel sort of boardroom. And by lunchtime, I thought, oh, I think we need. Some different energy. 

So we went up to the rooftop bar and we sat there and the conversations that emerge. Were incredible. And from that, I realized back to my thing about in place. This is also related to falling back in love with experiences. How do you shift that environment? And so fast forward, a few quarters in quarter three this year. When I flew to Perth, I just said I'm only going to run and experiences off rooftops. 

So that is going to continue. That is a good insight. That's going to continue. And luckily we have the climate in Australia to mostly get away with that all through the year. 

Okay. Quarter. To to this so going from April through to June of 20, 23, highlight, definitely it would be, uh, getting to run a workshop with my dad. How crazy is that? And how cool is that? The dad actually has retired, which makes him like a free agent, but he's still involved. He's in. Uh, asset management. 

So we spoke at the asset management conference in Sydney. We ran a workshop together. It was all about. Um, hit the ground, running how to get your contractors up to speed really quickly. When there are, various sites work sites. So we talked about sort of that onboarding process and rep made it really interactive. I guess not many people can say that they've done that. And so, yeah, that was really fun. . Definitely a highlight. Did a lot of this key quarter two was really about virtual. Like I went, you know, Q1 was a lot of in-person workshops. 

Q2 was. What a behind the scenes working with global audiences, but doing a series of webinars and mainly international. I launched a series of different webinars. So one was, had a host explosive group workshops. Um, and from time to time, I might actually bring these back. 

So last year, I did webinars on, I had a credit private podcast, how to run a group coaching program. And what I tend to do is my friend Brendan gave me this feedback. He's like, Leanne, why don't you. De Laurentiis again, like it just cause I always do like a one-off and then I think, oh yeah, that's done now let's move to a new topic, but there's like a whole backstories of webinars that I might start bringing back maybe on a monthly basis next year. 

I'll I'll think about it. If you aren't interested, just jump on the mailing list. Leanne hughes.com. Forward slash subscribe. I can't believe I didn't kick off QT with this, but yeah, I actually launched my book in Q2 at the end of may. And it was really hard actually. Just like doing that final step. 

I think you get it so far and you can continually iterate it. You can just go on and on and on. And I think many people do this. And they haven't really said books into the world because you want to kind of get it. Perfect. And even now, when I look at the book, oh my God, there's actually many things that I would change about it. 

But at some point you just have to hit, go. It's very similar with our workshop design. I know that in the early days I would continue iterating my slides until up to up until the moment, like the night before the morning of a changing, tweaking things. But at some point, you've just got to stop and like Seth Godin would say, you've got to get it shipped, like ship it. The podcast. 

I brought the podcast back first time facilitated for a limited season, Ron. And like I explained on a previous episode recently, Um, I don't know, I'm going to maybe monthly do an episode, but I will let this sort of, it won't be as consistent as weekly because I want to move on to new things. And I don't really know what that is yet, but that's why I'm doing this reflection piece in terms of what really. Uh, let me out, what do I enjoy? What I did enjoy was again, uh, Brendan, I mentioned him before Brandon Baker. 

He's been a guest on this podcast, partnering with him. What I really miss about working internally is. The team dynamics, even the drama sometimes, but just being, having a sounding board. At your level that you can talk to about certain things. And so Brandon brought me in for a consulting gig. Sort of less workshops and more sort of advisory, which I really enjoyed. 

And so when I look into next year, I really want to build up the sort of behind the scenes support for clients. That's why I love the red carpet experience. It's why I love Leanne on demand sometimes. . I do like running workshops, but I also like helping other people create ideas to. 

I think when I moved my methodology in terms of my delivery to more keynote speaking, these webinars that I ran for global companies were keynote speeches, but they were very contextualized to the company that I was working for. And I think it's time for me to put sort of a stake in the ground and really create a killer keynote speech. There's a book I'm reading. 

It's called the referrable speaker. And they say the best thing of it. It obviously. The best thing you can do is craft a referral, speak to people like love it. They talk about the share about it. It's memorable. And you've rehearsed it, right? It's not, it's like, you've just created this keynote speech and you're delivering a one-off you want to. Yeah, again, through that time, when you feel like what Jimmy Carr was talking about, rehearsing it, blocking it. Getting the stories. 

Right. Getting the humor. Right. All of that. , getting a signature move. So I talk about in that book. That's what I really want to work on. Uh, on for next year. , I was brought back so twice as he, of one of my favorite clients, a company called Orion, they do Payroll technology for companies across Australia. And the challenge I've just come back from delivering a session with them last week. 

That was the third one. And the challenge with that is you always have to keep reinventing yourself. That's why I like it because. Sometimes it gets it's facilitators. We can get used to running our favorite icebreakers and our favorite activities, but once you've done that, Like, and you call back a second, third, fourth time. 

You have to reinvent yourself and find new things. So that keeps me on my toes. Our qto also went to Thailand. Uh, I ran a webinar from there, which was fun, except for when the electricity went out. But the irony was I was teaching people all about. Like preparing and virtual workshops. And so the good news is I had to zoom producers on that. 

So shout out to my friend. Uh, Jan in the Philippines has been producing my master classes on zoom for since 2020 now. And to have that backup and support is incredible. 

 So it was a really big quarter with a book and a lot of the focus was on the book, release the marketing of bag, getting on podcasts and mailing lists, launching it, doing a series of webinars, getting the reviews in. I still need to get more reviews for Amazon. If you haven't reviewed the two hour workshop blueprint yet on Amazon, please, please, please do that. 

I'd love to hit a hundred. I'm currently at 75. So 25 more to go before it's viewed as legitimate on Amazon. Sorry, that is something I need to keep working on. But yeah, I mean, And the sense of relief of doing that and being an author is incredible and having a book. And honestly, I just want to write another one now. 

 I've in whatever new directions I, the book, the two hour workshop blueprint was a legacy project. Really not capturing everything I've learned on this podcast. And over the years of workshopping, I think I'm ready to step into like Leanne 2.0, whatever that is. And I think the new book will have to launch that new direction. Um, and how am I discovering that new direction? 

I'm using conversations and content. I creating content like this. Just to get me out of my own mind to just. To riff and see what's landing. Okay, so that was Q2 big one Q3. I turned 40 and that was big too. And I ended up being more of a party animal this quarter. Still working. So I coined this phrase. H double IP hip. A high intensity interval performer. 

, I realized this is my work style. Like there's a lot of people that are consistent out there on the street. Like they have this routine and they're so good every single day. Not me. And I think that's okay. And I'm, but I really kind of over-indexed on me having a lot of fun. Part of Q3 doing a lot of travel, a lot of in-person events. 

I ended up hosting my second. Business breakfast. So this is the client. And also people were like, sort of within my network within like senior leadership positions. So I want to see more of those. I'm actually switch it from breakfast to more of an afternoon sundowner networking type of activity. Um, I ran in Q3. 

Interestingly enough, ran a lot of webinars on virtual presentation skills again. So this is stuff that's still coming out of COVID and was getting better at running these and how to make virtual sessions more engaging. So yeah, clients all around the world, one of that. It was also the first time, shout out to the high courts academy in Brisbane. 

. I hired me for my first ever two hour workshop blueprint workshop. So it was a two hour workshop based on the book. And that was the first time we've ever actually. I to go in and then deliver your, all of your own IP and all of your thinking and to hear people using your framework and your ideas. I was the most amazing, amazing, amazing thing. 

 I took that workshop over to New York. I've run two hour workshops for clients virtually as well. And it's so funny. Like I know it sounds completely obvious now, but when I wrote the book, the two hour workshop blueprint, I actually wasn't expecting for people to book me for two hour workshops. But I love that like two hour workshop. 

I think it's the perfect format. Cause you can go in, you can do a few things and then it's a half day. It's fun. Uh, people have time. It's not a massive stretch out of their day to come along as well. And it's really amazing the kind of conversations and the depth you can get into in a two hour workshop. So such a fan of that. 

And if I only ever got hired for two hour workshops, I don't know. That's pretty, that's a pretty good life. That's a pretty good life. I also went to Hobart based on my, you know, who do I want to be? I want to be a keynote speaker. So I went to Hobart. This was a four day event on, on how to do that and how to be a world-class speaker. 

And I've done podcasts episodes about that experience. What has not happened is I haven't come home and actually made, take an action. I think that's okay because I got stuck into delivery and there's, like I said, there's times and seasons for things. I have the notes. I know what I need to do. And this time between now and sort of end of January, this is like my peak times where, I mean, the sun gets like it's bright at 3 45 in the morning. I'm up early, I'm out running. 

. This is it for me. Like, so no pressure on myself, but yeah, it's where ideas sort of land for me is this time of year. So I'm cool with that. Um, I was simply down to see Dr. Jason Fox and Michael Bungay Stanier speak in Melbourne. That was a really great, really great night to, again, just trying to turn a lot of my virtual friendships and really invest in people and see them in person. It is hard, like, cause you've got to take that time, but I think it's always worth it. 

Like I've never, ever regretted. Doing that and investing the time. It was also, I got, I'm invited to a corporate box for the AFL and I realized I just felt totally in my zone of genius. And I think what I'm. Inquiring about next year is how do I get more into sport live events? Um, And mix that with media and workshops. 

Like what's the Venn diagram there that I can bring into that. 'cause I, that just fueled me up. Like that would be a 11 out of 10 day. If I could look at my calendar, I'm like, oh, Leanne's going to an event. She's going to be interviewing so-and-so at the game. Like whoa, best ever. So that was good insight. And 40 has been pretty fun to be honest. 

Okay. Moving on to Q4. And I guess this is really, I mean, this episode is entirely self-absorbed, but I hope it gives you some sort of interesting insight into, I don't know, behind the scenes of a business. And I'm also happy to answer questions if you've got them following this in terms of planning or how I navigate my day is whatever you're interested in. 

Like let me know. And I'm happy to do some episodes or content based on that. Um, But I think keep always exciting. I actually bought a new car. And. Sounds lane. But I remember getting into my Toyota thinking I don't, I just don't feel aligned in this. And I think this year has really been about what, where do I feel comfortable back to how do I be a hundred percent not 95 or 90%? 

How do I get a hundred percent? I just walking to the cars does it did not feel right. It's not a bad car. Like it's, it's kind of cute. It's not even that old. It's like maybe 2016. It's reliable. It's reliable at sound, but that's not me. 

That's what my brand, and I don't think I've shared this, but I got a number plate on my car. The number plate is the word. Bangkok is in the city of Bangkok. 

 And I don't get asked, like, why Bangkok? Why is that my. I'm a plate. Um, and it's because, well, at, first of all, I love going to Bangkok. I've been every year, apart from 2020 for the last, maybe 10 plus years, every year I go there say at the same hotel run at Lumbini park. Go to chatter, chatter market, eat great food. 

Got a rooftop bars. The second reason is because it reflects my values. So Bangkok is a city that is unpredictable. It's fast. It's crazy. It's hectic. But somehow it just works. And I think that reflects who I am. In my Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder, it said. Like I have ideation number one. And it said just don't don't share your process. 

 Your process is messy. And so it's interesting that I wrote a book about my process, cause I actually cleaned it up a lot and I needed to do that for my own sanity, to be honest, actually it is nice to have a process to follow sometimes, but even I will break my own blueprint to just do things a bit differently. 

So. Um, I'm curious, like, what is your spirit city or what is your spirit place? But I got that number plate, and , since I was a kid, I've just loved convertibles. Um, a boss at my old company, the spectrum was 25. 

Let me his Porsche convertible for the week. And had a total blast in that, just the feeling of the top down and this car, I've got to say, it's, it's a mental health car without even exaggerating. I feel like I've got two cars. The kind of Clark Kent car, which has like the top is up. The second I take that roof down. 

It is Superman. I feel invincible. So I could wake up and maybe you'd be looking at my calendar thinking, oh, I've got a three out of 10 days today. But then I go grab a coffee. I put the top down. I put on some music. It has a nightclub in the car. I feel invincible. Um, and this is another reason, like falling in love the process. 

Just top-down spaciousness. Ideas, like all of it is. Like, it was a big thing for me to do that. Cause I didn't think I usually, I am very conservative with where I allocate resources and money and I think just turning 40, you kind of have that. There's a sense of like, oh, I'm not going to be here forever. 

So when do you, when do you get the good car when you get the car that you love? And I thought I'd just do it.. My most downloaded episode this year was my episode around my 40th birthday and the lessons that I've learned. 

And one of those is just remembering every day, we're all going to die. So life is a really interesting challenge where you're navigating, like what are the short-term wins? Uh, Versus the long-term. But the car , like best thing ever, no regrets. 

It's turning every day into at least a five out of 10 now.

The other thing that's happened is more, uh, people sort of booking in to pick my brains. I don't know if this is like, again, a Q4 thing. Uh, or season in our lives where we're all looking at, what is the next level for me? What is my next version of me? Certainly is that for me? 

And I think because I'm on that path, like navigating it, I'm talking to coaches, I'm booking people's brains. I'm getting out there, making sure I'm having conversations, journaling a lot, paying attention to where I feel aligned and where I feel most like myself. And so I guess people say that and sends that in and then they maybe picking my brain to see you, like what I'm doing, what. What exercise I'm doing to get some clarity on where I'm going. . And I still have that balance of working with corporate clients and getting sucked into meaty challenges. But also working with individuals like yourself, if you listening found is people in their careers that are just want to live a bigger life is what I'd say. Um, and just live their potential, whatever that looks like. Has been very fueling in Q4. 

New York city was definitely the highlight of this one. I can't believe that I ran a workshop in New York city. 

The client was working with a wet with them virtually for a few years. They are wonderful people. Uh, healthcare. They've had a really tough time and to come in and to bring some energy and to energize their staff and help them connect with each other and just have those conversations. It was pretty cool. And then to then have like four days afterwards to be there for New York city marathon week and attend some of the shaked shakeout runs. But Nick held that new balance held. To go to central park to see some Broadway shows. Like that's that is it. And I think, um, one of my poles on the flip chart Facebook group was, uh, do you see yourself as a multipotentialite? 

And I think it was an overwhelming 90% of people said, yes, I feel like it asks the question. Do you enjoy traveling in the flip chart? And I'd say there would be like an overwhelming majority of people. We are so lucky that we have roles where. We can get paid to share our message with people globally, whether that's virtually or in-person. I think that is for me is a highlight of the work that we do is having opportunities to meet people from all walks of life. Uh, just from those conversations and encounters. You learn so much more as well. 

 I never take that for granted. And if you're listening, you might be in Australia, but you might be somewhere else. And thank you so much for taking with me on your commute to work on your dog walk while you're cooking dinner. Uh, it really means a lot. And so in terms of this year, I think. How would I describe it to you in a word? 

I think it would be that phrase. 

I coined it at the hip, our high intensity interval performer. I used to resist that used to try to be consistent. Now I've just gone into it's. Okay. It's okay. If I wake up on a Tuesday morning and things aren't rolling, like what else can I do? And it's not putting that pressure on myself to be so consistent. 

There's elements of my life, where I have to be. So fitness is one way that I have to be, if I don't exercise in the morning, I'm I just can't do anything. So that's one element of my life. But in terms of work, I've come to the conclusion that the stuff that we do is highly creative. 

When you're designing a workshop, when you're formulating a speech, we're doing marketing. These are really, really creative endeavors. This content itself. I wanted to create this episode a few days ago. Um, and I just couldn't get into it. So I gave myself the grace and said, all right, there'll be a time. Time, and this is ready. And, um, Today I had that space. 

And so here it is. I think hip was the word of last year, I think was word of 20, 23 for me. High intensity interval performer. What would I like it to be in 2024. Maybe all in. I don't know if that's very similar to this year, but all in, in terms of like a hundred percent. Like not skirting around. 

I'm not just being a hundred percent of who I am. Like all in. Would be, is what I'm thinking at the moment. Yeah, I'd love to hear what your word is. If you thinking about that. If any of this has resonated with you and how has your year been as well? Let me know how you choose to reflect on the year that was. 

 Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. 

And I'm hope you have a wonderful and relaxing end of year and a very exciting. , and opportunity field 2024