How To Review Your Year

In this episode, Coach Chris Rodriguez guides listeners through a soulful approach to reviewing the year. 

He categorizes life areas for reflection, from personal well-being to spirituality and finances.

Chris also shares personal wins, obstacles, disappointments, surprises, and discoveries that have impacted his year.  Tune in for an insightful session to foster a more soulful, balanced, and productive year.

Click here to take your FREE Inner-Soul-Child Assessment.

For all episodes and info about my coaching program, visit me at www.coachchrisrodriguez.com.

Connect on Instagram at @coach_chrisrodriguez and on TikTok at @coach_chrisrodriguez.

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Transcript

0:05

Hey friend, welcome to the soulfully you podcast with coach Chris Rodriguez. I'm a movement and mindset coach, and I believe in a deeper way of living a more soulful way of being. Join me each week for conversations about how to put a little more soul It's our work, our relationships, and our every day lives. You remember back in middle school, when you started learning about the laws of physics. The one that we always remember the most is Isaac Newton's law of gravity. What goes up, must come down. These are universal principles. And here on planet earth. On land. You can't defy that law. Unless there's a greater law. And that greater law is the law of lift. You can give that thing. Some wings. A little combustion. And the law of lift we'll make something fly. And in the coaching and career world, there's some universal principles. One that you've probably heard a lot is a failure to plan means a plan to fail. But here's a greater principle. Your ideals once you get them. We'll never look the way you imagine them. Behind my desk. There's a poster from Bruce. Lee's enter the dragon. And there's this scene. Where Bruce Lee is talking to one of his students. And they says it's like a finger pointing at the moon. He holds out his finger and the student looks at his finger and he slaps him. He says don't pay attention to the finger or you'll miss all the heavenly glory. If you hold on too tightly, see your ideals of the way you think things are supposed to go. You'll miss out on all the beautiful parts of your life. That you actually have. And this context of viewing our lives ourselves. All the areas of our lives in the right perspective. What is the right way to look at your year? All the wins, all the losses. All the unexpected circumstances and hold it without judgment. And be productive. And move forward with your life in a soulful way. And today's episode, I'm going to teach you some of the tools and practices that I teach my clients and I use for myself to review. The year. While looking forward and making plans. And a soulful way. So there's a lot of very smart. Very productive people out there who have all these different ways. That you can review a year. Some of those ways are more detailed than others. I tend to borrow from a few different people, few different ideas. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. Unnecessarily. And. When you decide in the right way to review your year. One thing you have to consider is am I a detailed person or am I a person that's just going to round it up? Right. I'm around it up kind of person. I don't need to break down every single category. There are times when I do that, there's times when I offer that to my clients, because I know that's what they need. What I find for myself as I kind of get stuck in the weeds a little bit with that. I could be a person to a fault that can plan. Plan plan. As a way to avoid actually making decisions and doing the work. If that's you. Maybe we ain't doing the detail plan. Maybe we be doing the, we rounding it up. All right. Another aspect to consider is the different areas of your life. I'm just going to call out a few of them. Now, again, if you're one of those more detail oriented people, you're going to break down all those different categories of your life. And you're going to work through these pieces one by one. I like to just group it all together. And I'll. Break that down in a second, but I'm going to say some areas and. If you got a pen, go ahead and write it down. Take a note, take a mental note. See, which ones of these areas stick out for you? Maybe you're not going through all these categories. Maybe you're like, ah, man, I just want to work on this one area. Or I want to pick a few of these. So one is your personal wellbeing. Another one is your relationships. That's going to be both romantically. And then your community. Another category is your self image. Self-identity. Another category is your spiritual practices, right? Whether you are. Religious or non-religious, I define. Spiritual practices as. The practices, disciplines and community that connect you to something greater than yourself. i.e. Higher power? If that's God for you. If that is. Your connection to. The ecosystem. Earth. People. Purpose. All of those things. Kinda go into spiritual practices. A separate category from that. In some people. Work life and purpose go together. But I separate work life and purpose as two separate categories. Now my work life and my purpose work, they kind of do go hand in hand together. I'm a coach, right? That's what. That's what I do. It's a lot of purpose work in what I'm doing. But it might be helpful to separate those two out. Finances. Um, another way to say that is financial health. Some clients I have, they like to look at it in the terms of financial freedom. Whichever one of those serve you to look at. Finances. Here's one that I think we overlook a lot. But your joy. I think it's important to assess and. Unpack. The qualities of the joy in your life. Another one you can think of is your citizenship. That's kind of your politics. Your duty. As a human being to other humans. These are not all the categories. And again, you can use all of them. And use some of them, but I'm just spitting them off. So that you have some ideas. Some things to kinda. Get your head cranking. All right. So if you're doing the detail out or the. Rounding up. This is the one that I want you to definitely. Do all of them. So. The questions. I'm going to list out the questions and I'm going to break it down and as I'm going through these, I'm going to do it for myself. So I'm going to tell you, like, My wins, my obstacles, all that stuff. All right. So here's the list. Number one, what were your wins? Number two. What were your obstacles? Number three. What disappointed you? Number four. What surprised you? Number five. What discoveries did you make? Specifically about yourself. About the things you're doing. And then maybe about the. People around you and in your life, what discoveries did you make? Another way to ask that is what lessons did you learn? Number six, what things responsibilities or people do I not want to take with me? Into this next year. And number seven, this is the most important one. What is one micro change I can make in my life? To make the rest of this year. Better then it started. All right. So we're going to break these down. Uh, starting with myself. And you can do it yourself. One practice I like to do with this is quick, right? Bullet points. Sometimes we get to in our head and narrative. So. Sometimes I'll set a timer. Maybe like one minute, two minutes and just bullet point. answers. So word. Phrases things that I'll know that I can refer back to getting that brain dump. Doing it on a piece of paper. So I can get out of my head and just kind of let it flow. And not overthink it. So. Here are my list of wins. First one as we celebrated my son's first birthday. That's pretty incredible. We kept a human alive for a year. He's amazing. And. I think that's the biggest win of the year. With that it's been. A year. With that it's been over a year since I. Transitioned from. My previous job. So that I can have the flexibility. To be at home with my son. That was. A huge win to be able to do that. I celebrated my 11th wedding anniversary. That's huge. How did we do that? How did we not murder each other? I don't know. Man. Well, we still here. wild paid off my student loans. That's huge. This is the first time in my adult life that I haven't had student loan debt. And it just opens up so much. One win that I've been hoping for is. part of transitioning. Out of my previous job as I've been able to get more involved in a local community in Oakland. Shout out to barbershop yoga. Shout out to black, to yoga. And. All of the different organizations, bananas. Early education and parenting support. I started coaching with them. It's been beautiful. They're based out of Oakland. And the last one is starting this podcast back up. Before this season. The last episode was 2021. And. Let me tell you. It's been hard. I ain't gonna front. Trying to find quiet time to record. In between. Baby's naps and bedtime. Taken on more of the production. Of the podcast myself. Oh, man, it takes work. But. I'm grateful to be here. I'm grateful to still be doing this. These are my wins. Obstacles. Okay. So usually what I found in my life is. Most wins, have obstacles attached to them and that's what makes the win beautiful. So if you're not assessing your obstacles, As well as your wins. Man you, you know, the finger pointing at the moon you missing out on. You know, all the beauty. Of what's going on. So man, what were some of those obstacles? Well, some of the obstacles is. To do some of the things to make some of the financial goals that we had to make. We had to really tighten up our budget. One of those. Things was I had to transition to like, yo, like, how much of this work for. My podcasts for my social media. Just kind of. My media and production in general. How much of that can I do versus, you know, paying somebody else to do it. And I know. There are some schools of thought or like, yo, but you're doing something that you can have somebody else do. Yes. Yes, that's true. AI is a great tool. and this is specifically, if you like, yo, I am trying to do some things with my money. Well, you know, There's AI tools. There are ways that you can. Think outside the box that you can get creative to do it. So for me, Again, I had these financial goals. So. I had to do this, but that didn't necessarily make it easy. I had to fight for it. I had to get a little bit more organized. I had to get a little bit more disciplined. And every second mattered. Right. So. That's one obstacle. I mean, another obstacle is. You've heard me talk about this, but my father-in-law. We celebrated. Or honored the year of him passing. So it's this weird thing of. Seeing such beautiful thing, seeing success, seeing some wins, but also holding this heavy grief. And what I found is that. Joy and wins. They almost always come paired with some kind of. Loss or suffering. And I'm not saying that. You know, you have to experience loss to experience good things. I'm just saying that there's very rare situations. There's very rare. times in your life where everything is just green, green, green. Where there's no loss where there's no disappointment. So we take that loss. We take that disappointment. We take those obstacles. We hold them in the right perspective. Right because everything isn't ruined. Because of obstacles because of suffering because of some pain. But if I can hold that. Then the winds become even more beautiful. Some other obstacles. I got a toddler. Man. This dude is wild. It requires a lot of attention. He requires a lot of time. Um, He's a blessing. He is a gift. And. I guess the biggest. Way to reframe. That of like, oh, I got a kid now. So that's an obstacle. Is. I have a kid. I have someone who requires and needs my attention. He needs my love, my support. He needs my guidance. And I can give him all the stuff. That maybe I can't give to every client right now. Maybe I can't give to every student right now. And also. This is a season of him being at this phase in his life. Independence is coming for him. And when that comes. The things that I might've thought I'm missing out on or. We're not seeing right now. Uh, those things might be there. At a different point in time. But maybe when they come. They might not mean the same thing. That they meant. Right now. It's perspective. So for me more wins than obstacles. That might be different for you. All right, disappointments. Oh, disappointments. Disappointments are heavy. This appointments are hard. This appointments are hard to acknowledge. Because for some reason, There is. a, weakness that we have, societaly attached to expressing that I am disappointed. in some weird world. People have taken this concept of gratitude, which is something that is necessary. Something that is so useful. Something that is so healing. And turned it into this thing to shame people. For expressing that they are disappointed. It's important to acknowledge. What disappointed you. When I think of disappointments and in my life, or just in general. I think one disappointment that I find is. And we're in this post pandemic. World. And. I talk about this. I don't shy away from it. The landscape of the relationships in my life. Look so different. And sometimes I just look up and I'm just like, whoa, I didn't. I had no idea. That this person had a problem with me that they. That I was like offensive or did anything. I don't know, harmful or hurtful. But I find out that. That's how people feel about. My ideas about. The way I walk about the people I walk with. The people I choose to serve. And so there's a level of disappointment and loss that I feel. Relationally with people. And then sometimes. That's also an honest. It's also a disappointment and like, Humanity. I don't mean. to be. So like dramatic. But. When I find. That people are upset because. I choose to love. Queer folks or. Because I choose to love. Black men or champion women. And it's like this. Weird. Oh, man. He's. Oh, he's woke or whatever the new label is of people that. I don't know, can be villainized is. Yeah. Um, I'm that? And it's like, what? What are we doing? So there's a level of disappointment. And it's easy to take that disappointment and say, I want to destroy. I wanted to, I want to blow up the system, you know, it was like, what's the point and just kind of get cynical. My disappointment is balanced with the amount of humans. That I meet. We're doing good work. Who are caring for and loving people. And. Showing up. And making a difference. And when I get to partner with them, work with them. Live and do life with them. It's like, oh, okay. This is not. Indicative of the whole. Landscape of humanity. a, micro disappointment. There are communities of people that I want to serve. And. I would love to just gear everything I do towards. Helping and supporting these people and. And sometimes I find that they're not ready. Like, that's great. But they don't necessarily want the support. So I end up finding myself. Serving. Other groups of people, because they're like, all right, well, we want what you do. And. I feel like sometimes it's hard to have a heart for some groups of people. Or individuals who just aren't ready to receive. Um, What's she got going on. So. Micro disappointment. But. We express how we feel. It's good for the soul. What surprised me, this is super important. Um, to say like, oh, I didn't expect that. Good or bad. The surprises for me are, are, are pretty. Good ones. I've been surprised by the different. Services and coaching offerings that clients. And folks and community have asked me for. So. I don't really like marketing. I don't really like sales. I like the science of it. I think the nerd in me, the teacher in me. Likes to teach it. I don't like to do it. All right. If I could just show up coach teach. Be with folks being community folks. That's what I do. Right. But marketing sales, it's a thing and it's a necessary thing and it's not dirty. It just doesn't energize me. doesn't energize me while I'm doing it for myself. Love it. Well, I'm doing it for other people. And that's just kind of a me thing. Um, very others oriented. Right. Probably to a fault. A lot of us in this. Care given or healer. Coach mentor. Rol Yeah, this is kind of one of our pitfalls. But that being said, One of the asks that people have been. Contracting before it's like, Hey, help me with my content. right helped me launch a podcast. Um, That video you made. That's incredible. Can you do that for us? And that's been just. Surprising, but also beautiful to flex this thing that. I learned out in necessity for me, but it's given life to somebody else's business. And it's helping them grow. So, yeah, that's excited. So I've been leaning into that. Content creation for other folks. I spent pretty dope and not just creating it for them, but also teaching them. The tools and. All the things that you learn as a small business owner. Um, all the information that I had to go out and get and scavenge, and I can just like, yo like, I'll show you that or, yeah, I got you on that. And. People appreciate it. And. Showing me that they appreciate it with their pockets. Sometimes that's the best form of appreciation. Discoveries. This is one that we don't think about a lot. What am I learning? What am I learning about myself? What am I learning about? What I can do. What am I learning about my people? What am I learning about life? I think the biggest discovery that I've learned is. I've talk about how. My family has made some choices financially to kind of really focus and some choices with our time, how we're gonna use that time. And put some limits and restrictions on things. What I discovered is how beautiful life can be. And how unrestricting it can feel. Even when you put these constraints for your goals. There's a level of ease that I feel in the midst of constraints, time constraints, financial constraints. Self-imposed constraints. And. The different areas that are blossoming and that are enhanced. That's a discovery of. Yeah, I thought this was supposed to suck. But it's actually enhancing my life. All the moments with my son are. More beautiful. The few moments that I get with my wife. Are beautiful. Hmm. I'm sitting with that as I'm describing that to you. The powerful thing about discoveries is. Discoveries are linked with your resilience. And if you're not reflecting on what you're learning, what you're discovering. that, oh, I didn't know that I could. Do that, or I didn't know that I had that in me. It's like your. With holding. This vehicle for, for a confidence. Motivation and inspiration. Hmm. I just want to reflect to you that as I started talking about discoveries, This. Urge to breathe with ease. I came over me. I would definitely encourage you to add this and see a reflection practice. All right. What needs to change? Okay. So one thing. That needs to change, and this is something that comes back every few years. Sleep. And more routine. Around. Nutrition and physical movement. Now. I'm a movement coach. So. There's a lot of movement that I do. But it's not the same level. And I can't do it at the same level. I can't train at the same level. I used to train two to six hours a day. All right. This is before the baby. This is before the pandemic. Okay. 37 years old. Got different responsibilities now. Can't be doing all that. Can't do six hour trainings a day. That ain't it for me. And my physical movement is probably higher than most people. On three walks a day. One of them is usually carrying a baby. On a hike somewhere. Every day. Well more intention around like, all right, this is my time. That I am not with my family. Focusing on my physical wellbeing. Just designated time and, and the duration doesn't have to be long. It could be 20 minutes, but it has to be. This is a time. Uninterrupted. And it's not something that I'm doing with my family. And then sleep. One of the restraints. I told you is a time. So a lot of times, I have to work into the evenings. And then I need to get up early. With the baby. I needed to not work into the evenings. Um, beyond how much I have to. So I need to put some parameters and some constraints in place. Some of them. I have some I'm still working on. But sleep. Man. I can't go into the rest of this year. Lack of sleep. Baby sleeps a lot of the way through the night. I need to sleep to. Side note a few years ago, before baby, we're doing vacation to Hawaii. Uh, once a year. And every everyone of those trips, Hawaii is a magical place? And I know I'm talking about it from my privilege of being able to vacation. Once a year to Hawaii. But. Me and my wife would have these conversations. And one of those conversations is like, We're we're just asking. You know, what needs to change. A couple of those conversations were around our work. And we came back and changed jobs. Change roles. Another conversation was around our bed. Like yo, the bed we're sleeping on. Sucks. We came back. One of the biggest priorities was getting a new bed. That. I need to sleep better in this new year. That has served us. For years. Random story. I know, but we got a new bed. Better sheets, better pillows. Few years ago. And it changed things for us. Last one, one micro change that can enhance everything. For me. It's a moment. That's mine in the morning. A moment that is mine in the morning. Before my son wakes up. Away from my wife. Again, don't gotta be long. that thing could be 15, 20 An hour would be great too. But a moment. In the morning before any responsibilities. Before any relationships? There's a moment for me. A moment. Not in my head. Focus on. What I need, where I am. And. Nourishing my soul in a way. That I can give of myself. to my clients. to my family. And to the world. Thanks for being here and listening to. Me. Give just some updates on me where I'm at. So many times I see coaches. Coach. From a place of. I have information. But not from a place of Yo. This is where I'm at. So I just want to give you that. Use what works for you? And. Yeah, let's make your year just a little bit better. Thank you for listening to the Soulfully You Podcast with Coach Chris Rodriguez. If you like the show, help others find me by subscribing and leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don't forget to connect with me on Instagram at Coach Chris Rodriguez. For more episodes along with all of my coaching programs, visit me@www.coach chris rodriguez.com Special. Thanks to my team behind the scenes, music by Dan Smith and remember, whatever you do, wherever you find yourself today, make sure you put some soul in it.