How to Reflect, Reset & Refresh for the New Year

Hosts Emily Merrell and Lexie Smith look back on the past year and walk through different exercises on how to reflect, reset, and refresh heading into the New Year. From personal growth to business achievements and more, this episode is packed full of helpful takeaways, tips, and challenges for all listeners. 

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• Different accomplishments that your hosts had in 2022
• How to challenge yourself to reflect outside of your defaults
• Reflection questions to ask yourself 
• Tips on ways to reflect 
• Tips on ways to then physically and mentally reset after that reflection 
• Exercises for how to refresh for the new year both personally and professionally
• And more! 

Transcript

How to Reflect, Reset & Refresh for the New Year - Podcast Transcript

SPEAKERS

Lexie Smith, Emily Merrell

Lexie Smith  

Hello, hello.

Emily Merrell  

Hello. How's it going? What if I talked in an accent the whole time?

Lexie Smith  

You are ethnically ambiguous. So pull it out your boy.

Emily Merrell  

Okay, challenge me on an accent? Which one? Do you want me to talk?

Lexie Smith  

It should be New Zealand.

Emily Merrell  

Oh yeah. So I was I was giving some avocado toast the other day. But that's my British. I'm sorry. That's my British accent and that's my British accent. Australia, Australia and I can do Oh god. It's like a Southern

Lexie Smith  

what? Crocky me? Um,

Emily Merrell  

yeah. Crikey. Crikey that I found an alligator in my toast.

Lexie Smith  

This is terrible.

Emily Merrell  

I'm sorry. I'll stop.

Lexie Smith  

I'll stop. You Irish.

Emily Merrell  

I was I was going to the pub the other day. And I found some some some elves and some the proponents and they were they were doing symmetrical things

Lexie Smith  

much better. Okay, one more deep South. Hey, y'all,

Emily Merrell  

y'all want to come over to my house tonight? We're having some delicious food. I made some catfish and I made some fried chicken. And we're gonna we're gonna go and we're gonna eat some drinks and sweet tea.

Lexie Smith  

Oh, you're good. You failed at New Zealand but the rest were on par. When I was in fifth grade. I was Oliver Twist and Oliver Twist. I think you know that. But that also required me doing an entire musical theater play and a British accent.

Emily Merrell  

And can I hear it?

Lexie Smith  

It's been a minute. It's been a minute but basically I went around town the entire Nope. Now I'm shit. Okay, preset. Basically, since I was 10 years old. Now I'm giving Irish

Emily Merrell  

in your brain? How did how does it know? How does it know? Well, I actually lacks I feel like this is a good segue into what we're talking about today.

Lexie Smith  

Reflecting. And now we need to reset and refresh guys. That's what we're talking about. Today. It is. We're recording this before the holidays. But as you're listening, you just went through Christmas. If you celebrate any other winter holidays, whatever you celebrate, we want to talk about how to reflect on this past year reset and refreshed headed in to 2023.

Emily Merrell  

And we're going to reflect that we probably shouldn't be voice actors. And that's that's that's a reality right there.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah. Oh, harsh, harsh reality real quick. So I didn't finish. I went around town to say this in an English accent. I went around for half the school year just talking about a British accent.

Emily Merrell  

That's adorable and a little concerning. But I like it. If you were a method actor, like before, method acting was a thing.

Lexie Smith  

Yes. Okay. Anyways, Emily, I want you to put your coaching hat on and lead us through some good reflection exercises. Yeah, so

Emily Merrell  

first and foremost, I'll give a little backstory on this one. Because I want to shout out my friend Lauren Danziger, who led me through this a few years ago, in 2019. And it was an exercise that she does every single year with a group of girlfriends. And she writes them in a journal or you can write them up on a Google Doc, I like a Google Doc, because it's easy to find, and you can, it's easy to really quickly reflect back on things. But so lacks, I want you to think about 2022 or 2022 was a big year for you. So what did you accomplish in 2022?

Lexie Smith  

I birth the baby that was a kind of a big deal, to huge accomplishment. Yeah, I've also kept her you know, healthy for eight and a half months at this point. So that's also a big deal. And managed to still have two businesses as I head into

Emily Merrell  

2023. And you breasts you've been breastfeeding this whole time to

Lexie Smith  

then go on that journey. Yep. Which is a

Emily Merrell  

very wonderful but taxing emotionally and physically journey to be on. What about for you? Personally, besides Bibi related things, besides business related things, what's something that you accomplished that you feel really, really

Lexie Smith  

proud of? Outside of being a new mom and outside of work? See Emily is really good at challenging me guys, because those are my defaults.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, so Lex. I know this is a hard one because I think a lot of our identity is wrapped in our business and our kids. And sometimes it's hard to see beyond those accomplishments. But how did you fill your cup? Yeah, I

Lexie Smith  

think it's changed throughout the year. And pregnancy, I did a lot of reading, reading is something that absolutely fills my cup. And it's changed my amount of time and space for myself has changed as a new mom. But something I guess I'm proud of this sounds so this sounds so whatever, no judgement, I really thoroughly enjoy going to the store HomeGoods I do. And I have managed to hold up that routine and bring action into that every Friday pretty much or every other Friday. So I've still managed to have some me time but with her and go to home goods, why it makes makes me happy. I'm not sure. But that's been something that I've maintained for myself, and I think fills my cup a little bit. I like that

Emily Merrell  

you've always talked about home goods and your desire, a lot of a lot of your business has even been built around the home goods on a Tuesday, two kind of things. So I love that. And I also want to point out to it, I think one of the beautiful things about our friendship, both personally and in business is we get to see the holes that the other person sometimes can't see for themselves. And one thing that I think has been really amazing is you've taken time and carved out time to work out your body to get outside to be in nature, that's been a big priority for you, be it going into a winery or going to the beach for a few minutes. But just being not just in your house and in your space. But moving your your body forward.

Lexie Smith  

I've been really consistent with my stroller walks, which has been a fun new tradition that's both for me and something I can enjoy. My daughter so yes, thank you. Thank you, Emily. Appreciate, appreciate that. I'm gonna ask. Okay, so I'm gonna take take a roll on from your hat and put the hat on and ask you the same question.

Emily Merrell  

Well, no, this isn't about me this time. This is no no, no, no, this is about Lexi this timer. No. Ah, okay, what did I accomplish, I had this huge desire to rock climb when I was pregnant. Like it was disgusting, how much I wanted to rock climb, and my friend would be like, You are not rock climbing while pregnant. And, and I took this fantasy of me rock climbing. And I made it a reality, even though none of my closest friends would go with me, my husband's terrified of heights. And I was able to find a friend too, as a Yes friend. And then also the other thing I did was take classes or start taking classes that I'm historically would have defaulted and said, Well, I'm not good at fill in the blank, I'm not good at drawing, or I'm not good at painting, or I'm not good at yoga, or I'm not good at a million other things that you'd put forth and I, I went with it in my reframe was like, I'm really enjoying myself and doesn't matter if I'm good at it, I'm having a good time doing it. And and that was really fun. And I liked that challenge. So literally everything from beer pong going to joining a bar leagues when I had a three month old, and every Thursday committing myself to being at a bar filled with people, which normally would sound like my version of hell, but really embracing this like inner child within me and in that playfulness. So I'm really proud of myself for that

Lexie Smith  

you are incredibly inspiring with the amount of ways and the amount of time you do manage to carve out to fill your cup and it's something for me as a friend that is inspirational and maybe aspirational a little bit as well. And so it's been really cool. I mean, you've also tried yourself or tried yourself dipped your toes and new things like Gene keys and you've like expanded worked on expanding your mind as well which has been really cool to

Emily Merrell  

see. Definitely something that I'm investing in me not just in my business but in me in things that I want to get better at or learn even going back to therapy was a big thing too. Or like this is a commitment and I'm very resistant sometimes to feedback I'm I'm terrible at that. Getting having someone tell me what to do, which is ironic being a coach, but I was just changed my mindset a lot this year and was a lot more open to possibilities. Okay, so you know, Lex, we got a taste of like some reflections with what what did you accomplish in 2022? But some other things that you can also reflect on? Or what were some of your biggest disappointments? Or what did you learn in 2022? And then also, how did you limit yourself, we all have ways in which we limit ourselves, it could be like, not pitching yourself for that layup for press or not, you know, shooting your shot with a client, and then think about what had been the cost of these limitations. So really expand on it a little bit more like, okay, you know, I passed up this press opportunity. And because I pressed it up, that meant that I wasn't featured in that, that publication I really wanted to be in, which then would have been really cool to put on my website and made me feel more validated, and really dig deeper into like, what the cost has been for those limitations.

Lexie Smith  

If you're an ambitious, professional, consultant, or business owner, who is feeling called to do more, be more or make more, we'd like to invite you to learn more about Ready Set coach,

Emily Merrell  

do you feel called to create change, help others do something outside of your day to day that generates true impact.

Lexie Smith  

While you may or may not be content with your day job or existing business? Do you feel called to dip your toes into something more? Whether it's tapping into another zone of genius or the side hustle is calling your name? Are you ready to explore what being more would look like?

Emily Merrell  

Do you feel like your business or career is leaving money on the table or you're looking to launch a new revenue stream or side hustle,

Lexie Smith  

turning your expertise into a coaching revenue stream or side hustle is rewarding, impactful, and a great business model. It's the triple threat, multibillion dollar industry that Perhaps you've been looking for this whole time,

Emily Merrell  

if you want to explore more on how to add a coaching revenue stream into your life, we invite you to explore our website. Ready Set, coach program.com

Lexie Smith  

applications are now open for our 2023 cohort. I love that. Okay. So as you guys, by the way, we're going to sprinkle your homework throughout this episode. So that's part one in by the way, full permission to pause right now pull out those journals and reflect I'm gonna give you like two seconds, which is indicating you're going to journaling. Okay, now come back to us. likely what's happening is you're going to have felt a whole mix of emotions, you're going to have some regret, some celebration, you're going to you're going to feel the highs and lows, all within that one journaling. Exercise, right. And that's what often happens when we take the time to reflect. So the next step is really, really important is to reset, we're going to talk about some ways to reset. So here are a few things you can do. And a couple of ways I want you to think about this. When you're going into the reset phase, the first thing I want you to do is forgive yourself, forgive yourself, let go of anything that didn't happen in 2022 Missed goals, missed opportunities, you know, those down moments, they're in the past release. Now, release could be like screaming into pillows, it could be reading on a piece of paper and burning it. It could be having a heart to heart in the mirror. It could be calling a friend and venting. What are some other ways to forgive yourself am

Emily Merrell  

I think journaling and writing and out and just having a really candid conversation with yourself. I love the burning of something. I think that's just a really poignant thing. Moving your body always helps me to just to reset and be like, okay, you know, what happened in the past is in the past. And now this is the future and present version of myself.

Lexie Smith  

Perfect. So you're going to release as much as you can. And then we're going to really work on getting neutral and getting ourselves back to neutral both mentally and physically. So here's where we also want you guys to take note. The holidays are also really really busy. Right? So what are you doing to to fill your cup mentally and physically? Are you getting outside every day? Are you sleeping enough? Are you drinking enough water that water reminders for me? No, I am not. Right. Like what do you need to do to bring your mind and your body to a place of nourishment and neutrality?

Emily Merrell  

Yes, I love it. Think of it like a chia pet you want to make sure it's it's as healthy as can be. And you want to clear the I think we're so so so good at getting hard on ourselves and being hard on ourselves. It's like the things that we didn't accomplish. So the reframe that we want you to have is there's always tomorrow and tomorrow is a new year where you can start fresh.

Lexie Smith  

Yep. And that's what we're gonna do after we reset our final face here, right so we reflected reset. Now we're going to refresh. So Emily, I'm going to lead you through a row Are you fresh exercise, okay? You've reflected, you've gotten a massage, you're feeling good. You've done some burning rituals here feeling all sorts of neutrality. Tell me first, one year from now December 13 2023. What you will be wanting to look back at this year having accomplished high level

Emily Merrell  

I level I want to accomplish pitching myself for money on big stages. I want to Lexus writing this down. So she's going to hold me to this. So we have a little accountability buddy happening in real time. And I want to pitch myself for big stages. I've always been on little stages and I want to be on big stages. I want to be the main attraction, I want to be the draw. Another thing I want to accomplish is revamping my own my six degrees society brand and making my website is going to be revamped, the whole community is going to be living on circle, just like refurbishing things, giving it a little bit of a facelift, as well as making sure that all of my offerings speak with one another and feel really aligned. Both in serving the community and my clients and the clients being the community. I want Ready Set coach to scale to a whole new level, I want us to sell at least two cohorts and potentially create an introducing whole new offering. And then those are all business related. And then the other thing too I will add I want to convince my husband that for us to live abroad for a month. I know I know. Yeah. Alexei is like what?

Lexie Smith  

ordination is going to be great on that one.

Emily Merrell  

It'll be in a timezone that's the same as here, don't worry, but I was thinking Mexico for a month like this is our chance to live abroad and do something different for our lives. And yeah, that those are those are things that went

Lexie Smith  

okay, I love it. So we have our big greens, our big greens, our big actually a lot of three, our green related Money Money Dolla dolla bills for categories, I want you for the sake of this exercise to pick one. So pick either big stages your STS revamp, RSC scale or living abroad, which one do you want talk about

Emily Merrell  

STS scale, STS scale.

Lexie Smith  

Okay, so I want you to get a little bit more clear what what's the end outcome of STS revamp? What does success look like for you their

Emily Merrell  

real question lacks. So for some, for me, success means memberships that are annual, so rather than three month memberships, during the pandemic, we pivoted to a three month membership minimum. And because I wanted to be cognizant of where people were, but here, I want to make sure that I'm changing it from monthly to people can pay quarterly or annual. Also, I have three tiers of membership currently, but I want to I'm going to consolidate it down to one tear of membership exclusively. And then I want a super lively and engaged virtual community. So one of the blessings of the pandemic was it really taught me the power of an online community. So with six degrees, I want the membership to be really lively in the virtual components. So not only are we offering now virtual and in real life events, but also have this this community that lives digitally that people can learn from one another, seek advice from one another, promote to one another, and have that be really robust.

Lexie Smith  

Okay, so I'm going to challenge you here because what I'm still not hearing our end games so cool, you get an annual membership. Do you want to sell any annual memberships?

Emily Merrell  

Yes, I would like to be selling 200 annual memberships

Lexie Smith  

200 annual memberships? And what does an engaged Live community look like

Emily Merrell  

to you? An engaged Live community means that someone is posting more than one person is posting in the community daily. That is not me.

Lexie Smith  

So I'm going to pause because the first thing I want you guys to pull out is she started with getting some high term goals. The next she picked one to start with. She got very, very clear with what success will look like. Alright, now we're going to backtrack and we're going to go micro. So q1, okay, what is your first step? In q1 towards that larger goal? What is the first thing you need to do?

Emily Merrell  

Make the circle community live?

Lexie Smith  

When are you going to make this circle community live by this before q1? Or for q1? So what Day,

Emily Merrell  

December 14, tomorrow,

Lexie Smith  

December 14, tomorrow, Jesus? Yep. Okay, well, then we'll check that off tomorrow. Then what what's your next step?

Emily Merrell  

From there? I email existing members who have three different tiers and I communicate to them the changes.

Lexie Smith  

Great and when I mean, you're gonna do that by

Emily Merrell  

I'm going to do that the first week of January, 1 week of January, by what day? By? Let me see the third, if it's once a third. Yeah, the third, the third feels good.

Lexie Smith  

Great. Okay, so um, you have some micro goals and they'll hold you accountable for. So this is guys, I'm going to pause because obviously this can turn into a very, very, very long exercise. But I want you guys to see the way we work through those goals.

Emily Merrell  

I love that Lex and I think it's helpful. Again, if you have a friend, you can do this with maybe a sibling or you know hiring a coach or working through this with your coach to have that accountability. And also to have that to do list. I think the biggest challenge when you have these big goals, is figuring out the steps to take in which to start.

Lexie Smith  

So for those listening, this is obviously a very specific podcast targeted at coaches, we can feel like it's safe to assume you're either a coach or you're coaching curious, or you're interested in potentially launching a side hustle, we want you to ask the same questions, kind of what we went through with them, but in the frame for your coaching business? And also, what does that look like for your life? If you are able to have the coaching business that you finally want? What does that mean? Is that mean you can live abroad for a month? Does that mean you can pick up your kid every day to from school? Right? So we want you guys to think about this really specifically as it pertains to your coaching business.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, and I think that's a, that's a great place to start. And also to, we'd be remiss not to remind people, if you are curious about your own coaching business, or one of your goals for 2023 is to start. We are launching our next program, our next cohort I've already set coach in February, where we are committed to help you do the damn thing and get that coaching business that itch that you have inside of you from an itch or a you know, kind of half ass thing into a legitimate business.

Lexie Smith  

Boom. Yes. So you guys were given homework throughout today's episode, quick reminder, step one, reflect, pull out those journals. Step two, reset reset will probably involve something physical, figuring out what you need to do to reset and then go through a refresh exercise just like we did live here today.

Emily Merrell  

And I'm just gonna add lacks some questions that you can ask yourself at the end of this once you've done the exercise. How did the exercise feel to you? What were you surprised by like, why was it so hard for you to get started? Where did you struggle the most? And where do you think you need the most support?

Lexie Smith  

Well, perfect. All right, guys. Thank you for listening to the ready, set coach podcast.

Emily Merrell  

See you next time. If you're enjoying the ReadySet coach podcast, please leave a review wherever you are listening. For more information about Ready Set, coach, Visit Ready Set coach program.com