166 What You Tolerate is Costing More Than You Think

Welcome to the Treat Your Business Podcast, the show for clinic owners who want real, honest advice and tried and tested ways of doing things.

Episode Summary 🎧

If you’re listening as this episode drops in January, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. The noise ramps up fast: “Nobody has any money in January”, “It’s Blue Monday”, “The world is a mess”, and it’s easy to slip into fear based decisions.

In this episode, I’m joined by Philippa Aldridge to unpack the money stories that show up for clinic owners at the start of the year, how they get reinforced over Christmas, and how to reset your money mindset so January doesn’t set the tone for the whole year.

Key Takeaways ✨

• Many clinic owners fall into the story that no one has any money in January, and it can quickly become a belief if you keep collecting evidence for it.
• Fear based decisions shrink your actions: you market less, avoid conversations, and assume people will not buy.
• If you stop showing up, your numbers reflect it, and that becomes the proof your brain was looking for.
• Christmas can trigger old money beliefs, especially when you spend time with people whose mindset is not aligned with where you are now.
• January is a powerful time to pause, reset, and reflect, rather than rushing into big decisions.
• Start with curiosity: write down the money stories you are telling yourself, then ask, “Is that definitely true?”
• Use the phrase “A part of me believes…” to create space and stop the story running the show.
• Take a 92 second pause before decisions to let stress settle so you can respond, not react.
• Look for evidence of money around you to support a new belief, because what you filter for is what you will find.
• If gratitude and meditation feel too woo, keep it practical: write things down, ground yourself, and do something different from your usual January pattern.

Episode Sponsor:

Today’s episode is sponsored by Jane, clinic management software and EMR. Jane’s online bookings and secure client portal help you reclaim your evenings and weekends by taking admin off your plate. To see how Jane can support your clinic, head to the link in the show notes to book a personalised demo. If you are ready to get started, use the code Thrive one mo at the time of sign up for a one month grace period on your new account. 

Come and join me over on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@thrivebizcoach?sub_confirmation=1  

Resources & Links

Clinic Growth Live: https://events.thrive-businesscoaching.com/cgl-tickets-2026

🔗 If you are ready to get ahead, you will find all the essential resources and links you need right here: our Linktree

• Leave a review!: https://ratethispodcast.com/tyb 
• Subscribe to our Channel on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivebizcoach?sub_confirmation=1

Transcript

Philippa Aldridge: [00:00:00] you've gotta take some time to reset your money mindset in January. Otherwise it is going to ruin the year.  

Katie Bell: Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast, the show for clinic owners who want real, honest advice and tried and tested ways of doing things. I'm Katie Bell, and this is the new era of bigger insights and bolder conversations to help you grow a clinic and a life you love. Let's dive in.

Speaker 2: Today's episode is sponsored by Jane, a clinic management software and EMR. The Jane team knows that when your workday is spent providing care to your patients or your clients, it can feel like there aren't enough hours in the day for the rest of your admin tasks. This can mean scheduling appointments become.

Speaker 2: The hours tasks turning what should be restful evenings into extra long work days. That's why Jane has designed user-friendly online bookings. You can give your patients freedom to book their appointments at their own convenience. Patients can also manage their appointments, fill out intake [00:01:00] forms, and enable SMS and email reminders.

Speaker 2: From their secure online portal, which saves you from having to do it manually to see how Jane can help you reclaim your evenings and weekends. Head to the link in the show notes to book a personalized demo. Or if you're ready to get started, you can use the code Thrive one mo at the time of sign up for a one month grace period.

Speaker 2: Apply to your new account.

Katie Bell: Philippa, welcome back to the podcast. 

Philippa Aldridge: Thank you, Katie. Thank you. 

Katie Bell: Always a favorite. Favorite one on the podcast. Always. Episodes are always very well received, so thank you for being here. We have decided to talk about money stories. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yes, 

Katie Bell: and if you listening to this episode as it releases in January.

Katie Bell: This is, I guess even more or we're getting more evidence of people talking about their money stories and that nobody's got any money in January and it's blue. What was it? Sad Monday or Blue Monday or something the other [00:02:00] day. And we hear a lot. We see a lot. We look for evidence to support money stories that we hold.

Katie Bell: And you particularly work on. A lot with our clinic owners because it gets in the way. So much.

Philippa Aldridge: Yes. 

Katie Bell: Philipp, first of all, what are you hearing a lot right now from our clinic owners? 

Philippa Aldridge: So things like. No one has any money in January? Yes. Okay. People need to be paying off credit card bills in January, so they're not going to prioritize that sort of thing.

Philippa Aldridge: That they're feeling the pinch in January, that January is quieter. Yes. And so therefore they must have done something wrong. Yes. That they haven't got the money coming in Possibly that they wanted to come in. Yeah. And also money stories that around this time of year and what people do with their money and how it sets people up [00:03:00] for the year with their money.

Philippa Aldridge: And if they're not spending money now, then that means they won't be spending money the rest of the year. And so it goes on. Yeah. 

Katie Bell: Okay. And so when we, when that is. At the forefront of somebody's conversation or they're leading with this conversation, how does that then impact the actions that they then take in their business?

Philippa Aldridge: Then what they're doing is they're taking action and making decisions from a place of fear. So we're already in that stressed place at that point. So this is about survival, it's about avoidance of threat at this point, but it's also a really good way to. Excuse yourself from not doing certain things as well.

Philippa Aldridge: So the actions that they take are reactive, fear-based from a place of survival rather than thriving. But also, quite often they are like those holding patterns that they repeated last year that feel comfortable for them. [00:04:00] Yeah. Yeah. 

Katie Bell: So that's interesting that. They could have finished the year in a certain mindset around money.

Katie Bell: Then they hear things and see evidence that supports an old money story and that money story comes back to bite them again in January. And is that the pattern that you see quite often? 

Philippa Aldridge: Yes. See quite often because obviously. Like you said, they finished the year on a high and then we have Christmas, which for a lot of people is quite an emotive time anyway.

Philippa Aldridge: They may spend time with people that they don't normally spend time with. Yeah. Who have money stories and money beliefs that are now not in alignment where with, where they have moved to, as it were or evolve to. And so they then, because they haven't taken time to reset themselves before they go back into business in January.

Philippa Aldridge: They have just, if we use a buzzword, been triggered by all of that family stuff, friend stuff, what Christmas means to them, judgment about presents, judgment [00:05:00] about experiences, all of that jazz. And then we have, we are bombarded with January sales. Yes, we are bombarded with the idea that we've just had Blue Monday and everybody needs to be sad.

Philippa Aldridge: Yes. And so it just feeds into us connecting because at this point it raises stress. So we then connect with things that are comfortable, that are familiar, that are metaphorically a place for us to rest our head and take a little breather, as it were.

Katie Bell: Yeah, it's so interesting. I'm just reflecting on erm.

Katie Bell: My, my mum is chief Nana Officer, obviously is here today looking after Alphie. And I was asking her about my, my dad has some shops and had this tailor come back to let this particular shop that was available and mom said, no, no shake. He hasn't come back because nobody's got any money in January.

Katie Bell: And I went, [00:06:00] nobody. She said, no. And there's wars going on all over the world. I went, oh, all over the world. Yeah, all over the world. And Trump, Trump. Just Trump. I was like okay. Trump. And it was blue Monday, on Monday. And so that's why I, Philip had, I don't buy into any of that because I don't watch the news.

Katie Bell: I don't listen to all this crap. I don't spend hours on social media. Buying into or apart from the Beckham saga, I'm fully bought into that 'cause That's hilarious. But mum's seen this 'cause she watches the BBC news. 

Katie Bell: This is, that's now been the reason why this tailor hasn't come back to take on this shop.

Philippa Aldridge: Yep. 

Katie Bell: And it's wow, that's really interesting. Now if I spent a lot of time with my mom, absolutely love her, she's amazing. Her money stories would really sit with me and influence how I would make decisions in. Maybe for the rest of this week. Yeah, if I let it. So I never even thought [00:07:00] that the people that you spend time with around Christmas, whether you want to or maybe not wanna, could then infiltrate.

Katie Bell: The work that you've done on resetting and upleveling your money stories and knock you back a bit. That is so interesting. 

Philippa Aldridge: Which is also why in Thrive, our Success Accelerator themes in January are money on purpose to help people sit, reset themselves. This is why with, on mindset calls with people, this is what we have talked about.

Philippa Aldridge: So let's reset where your money mindset is right now. Yeah. What's coming up for you? Yes. Just tell me and then let's talk about that. And also I think what is a major factor here as well is because everyone's got to the end of the year. They're tired. Yeah. Yes. And so sometimes their guard is down.

Philippa Aldridge: And everybody wants to see you at Christmas, people you haven't seen for a year, let's get something in the diary. Let's sit. And then they ask you, how's your business going? [00:08:00] Oh, you look tired. You, and it all starts too, if you're not careful. Snowball. And then, because everybody wants to get back into the business straight away in January, they don't take any time to decompress and go, I'm gonna let that go.

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. And this is who I am and this is what I believe and this is my money story. We then carry that stuff with us and. It's a time of year, which lots of people don't enjoy traditionally. Yeah. It's dark, it's wet, it's a little bit rainy where I am. So it adds into all of that. And then we are told that we should be sad 'cause it's blue Monday, which I just wanna remind everybody was that was a marketing ploy.

Philippa Aldridge: Remember that? By travel companies. So the whole point is it's, yeah. So just remember that everybody, and it works beautifully well. Yeah. 

Katie Bell: It's amazing how much media can have such an impact on us, isn't it? So [00:09:00] with these money stories at this time of year 

Katie Bell: What does, how does that show up in their business?

Philippa Aldridge: So with that then, so especially if they're saying things like, nobody's got any money in January, or Nobody's spending money. They are then reducing their own spend. Yeah, their own investment as well, so they're not putting themselves out there as much because no one's gonna buy anyway. So they start to shrink their actions.

Philippa Aldridge: They're not marketing themselves they're even not having those conversations of sharing the opportunity with anybody new because they've already means tested. People who've walked through the door thinking they're not gonna have any money in January. They've just told me that they've had everybody over for Christmas.

Philippa Aldridge: Or better not say anything there. So then in business we are then seeing, manifesting exactly what they believe is that no one has any money in January. So if they're not marketing themselves, they're not [00:10:00] showing up, they're not having those sales conversations. And what do their numbers show? Nobody has any money in January.

Philippa Aldridge: So they then collected, and if they're reds, reds love some evidence. They've just collected a lovely bit of evidence. To hook into that belief. And so in and that story, 'cause it's moved beyond now, the story has now become a belief. Yes. So we then need to work on that to provide evidence against it.

Philippa Aldridge: And if you don't catch it soon enough, that then goes into February and into March. And before, the first quarter of the year is gone and you're like, how did that happen? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of reactive behavior as well. Sometimes as well comes into this panic because we haven't got the money, so I'm going to try and throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. 

Philippa Aldridge: Rather than. Doing what they did before Christmas, which was taking time to be, to make considered [00:11:00] decisions from a place of abundance rather than, and faith and trust, rather than from fear and lack and scarcity. 

Katie Bell: And isn't it funny how the human 

Katie Bell: brain is wired to think from a place of lack? Scarcity first.

Philippa Aldridge: Before it needs to 

Katie Bell: a place of abundance. In fact, we're not wired to just instantly go into an abundant thought. We're always wired to what are the reasons I should say no to this? What are the reasons why I should not do this? What are the reasons that this won't work for me before you think, but this could go well and this could go well.

Katie Bell: And maybe if I do that, that would happen. We are like hardwired. 

Philippa Aldridge: That also comes from our education system in the nicest possible way. Yes. About not wanting to fail. Yes. About making sure that, we are not the one that's gonna get told off. Yes. Traditionally in the, we are brought up in a slightly more pessimistic narrative as it [00:12:00] were within the uk.

Philippa Aldridge: You wouldn't necessarily find that in other countries depending on how their education system works. Yeah. So it all feeds into that as well. And then the problem is that neural pathway is the strongest pathway. So everything is going to be processed along that pathway, rather. And this is why when people are trying to change so that their first thought is positive, it's hard work.

Philippa Aldridge: You've gotta train that metaphorical muscle as it were. 

Katie Bell: And some people, I'm reflecting on conversations that I might have some people within my team 

Katie Bell: I have to work harder at getting them to see what could go well than what is gonna go wrong. And that is often a reflection of how much work they've done on themselves.

Katie Bell: So if you are surrounded by people that when you present an idea or you think, oh, we're gonna do this, they instantly find the reasons why we shouldn't do it, or what's not gonna go well, or we haven't [00:13:00] got this, or we need more detail, we need more process or what it can make you then go, Ugh.

Philippa Aldridge: That's what happens at Christmas where the friends and family go, tell me about your business or what's your next big project? I know that you did X, Y, and Z. What's your next big project? Oh, I'm gonna do that. Do you think you should do that in this climate? What not. Oh, that sounds amazing. Go for it.

Philippa Aldridge: That sounds like a whole, a lot of work. Do you think you're gonna be able to pull that off? Yeah. Or do you think people have got the money and money is such an emotive subject. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. 

Philippa Aldridge: And for some people they will have spent all of their Christmas or interacting time with friends of not talking about anything to do with money.

Philippa Aldridge: 'cause we don't talk about it. And then you come back to your business in January and you've got to think about it and you've got to talk about it. But you have just been triggered to some old, familiar, loyal stories from your family unit where we don't look at the money and we don't think about the money and we don't talk about the money.

Philippa Aldridge: And unless you take [00:14:00] that time, and this is one of the biggest things for anyone to take away from this podcast, is you've gotta take some time to reset your money mindset in January. Otherwise it is going to ruin the year. 

Katie Bell: It just railroads you, doesn't it? And then you struggle to break outta that cycle.

Katie Bell: What how do you actually do that then? Philippa what would you advise people listening to this actually do if they need to reset? 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. So obviously as or always advocate for, is that phrase a part of me. A part of me believes no one has any money in January. So it's also then taking that step back for yourself right now, taking 30 minutes and just be curious about.

Philippa Aldridge: The money stories you are telling yourself in January and just writing them down, that is the first thing that I would go for. Yeah. And then I would be thinking about, is that true? Is that definitely true or is that just something that someone's told you? Yes. Have you got evidence where you can stand up in a court of law and say [00:15:00] that no one has any money in January?

Philippa Aldridge: Probably not. Yeah. So what would we like to think instead? What would we like to believe instead? And then we put that in and then we need to give it some evidence. So we then need to, if we want to believe that there is more than enough money to go around in January, or my ideal client has got the money and is ready to invest in their health right now, so let's give that some evidence so the new people walking through the door, whether that even if it's just from a very, a slightly more peeled back point of view. Start looking for the money around you where people are buying things. Like the person across the street has got a brand new car. The people down the road who are having an extension done, whatever it might be. Look for that evidence 'cause it is all around.

Philippa Aldridge: But while you believe that no one's got any money in January, that's what you're filtering. Yeah, it's that no one has any money in January, so I would take yourself through that process, use the phrase a [00:16:00] part of me, and then you've got to then work on what is my money story, what do I believe about money?

Philippa Aldridge: And write your own manifesto of what I believe about money I would. Make sure, just in terms of in January, is always making sure that you take that 92nd pause before you make any decision in your business in January, just 90 seconds to allow any physiological stress that might be remaining from a.

Philippa Aldridge: These money stories that you might have picked up over Christmas to dissipate. So the, it's, you are then making sure that you are not then feeding that stress further and then be like, okay, then take it. 'cause when we are stressed and when we've been triggered, we then tend to be so reactive rather than responsive.

Philippa Aldridge: So definitely a 92nd pause. I would be making sure that in January you were doing as much as you possibly can to signal to your nervous system that you are safe. Yes. [00:17:00] So lots of grounding work. Yes. Whether that be so for some people that would be sitting on a chair feet flat on the floor and just thinking about connection.

Philippa Aldridge: Yes. With the ground. For some people, they'll want to be walking barefoot out on the grass. Depending on how weather it is, you know I'm going for it people. Or you might be wanting to take some deep breaths, going for some abdominal breathing just to signal to your nervous system that you are safe because many stories can trigger a lot of feeling unsafe.

Philippa Aldridge: As well. And obviously if you are thinking that there isn't any money, that there are all these wars going on and all this political stuff happening, you are going to be stressed. You are, then you are in survival mode. And at that point, remember, oh, I'm off on one now, Katie. I can't help it.

Philippa Aldridge: I'm off on one. Remember, at that point, when you are stressed. Your executive functioning part of your brain is completely gone at that point. The two parts can't work together, and so you can't even fight your way out of a paper bag at [00:18:00] this point, so you have gotta do something about that. This is where the pause helps with that 92nd pause, this is where the grounding helps.

Philippa Aldridge: Just taking even 30 minutes to reflect and work yourself through that sort of process that I talked about. It's just enough sometimes for you to go, whoa. Where's all that come from? That's really interesting. So you become what I would refer to as the observer, rather than the participant of your own drama at this point.

Katie Bell: And 

Katie Bell: I guess that's where people say, gratitude work, being out in nature. 

Katie Bell: That can all help. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. 

Katie Bell: Shift you outta this fight or flight survival instinct 

Philippa Aldridge: for some people in, for some people it's, you've gotta go for a run at this point. We also see this a lot this time of year as well because we are now in this reactive, the story is fed the stress.

Philippa Aldridge: We are now in reactivity. The one thing that. [00:19:00] Loads of our business owners do to help them to complete that stress cycle. To be able to see the wood for the trees is exercise, and loads of them. They let it go in January because I've gotta do this and I've gotta do that, and there isn't any money, so I've gotta do this action, I've gotta do that.

Philippa Aldridge: But actually it's the exercise that helps them to ground themselves and to help them to be able to see clearly as well. Yeah. 

Katie Bell: It's fascinating because we've also got loads of energetic shifts going on at this time of this year in particular. In terms of the Chinese year is we're moving from the year of the snake to the year of the fire horse, which is massive energetic shift.

Philippa Aldridge: Yep. 

Katie Bell: We are, the Feng calendar changes on the fourth of. February. So that energetically is a big shift. 

Katie Bell: Excellent. 

Katie Bell: We've got, 

Katie Bell: remind me now we're going from,

Katie Bell: we've gone through our nine year cycle. 

Katie Bell: We're [00:20:00] back to, is this year one we're going into? 

Philippa Aldridge: I'm unsure to be fair, so 

Katie Bell: I'm sure it is. I'm gonna find that out. But all I, there's just masses of energetic shifts happening. Yeah. And it can feel. If you bought into this kind of woo stuff, I love it. All that this next few weeks, particularly in January, on top of the normal January feeling, because we're moving from the year of the snake, which is all about shedding and getting rid of things that don't serve us anymore.

Katie Bell: Before the fire horse energy kicks in, which is all about momentum and movement and go and pace and that kind of big energy, this next few weeks feel a bit weird energetically. Yeah. And you don't wanna be making massive decisions in your business and in your life at this point. If you were to talk to any of the energy experts out there, they would say, sit with it.

Katie Bell: Hold off ground yourself. Be patient. Allow what is clearing to clear and the new energy to come through. And then you're gonna feel [00:21:00] like you're ready to go in your business. 

Philippa Aldridge: But also what's important is what you've just talked about is some people will be picking up on that energy Yeah.

Philippa Aldridge: And not realize what it is. Yeah. And so feel unsafe with it, which will then feed into reactivity because. They're not used to. And a lot of business owners are doers, obviously. They are the people that get stuff done, and so when it feels a little bit uncomfortable because they're not aware of the fact that there are these energetic shifts.

Philippa Aldridge: The fact that we've moved from the year of the snake into the year of the fire horse. Yeah. Then at that point they're like, this feels uncomfortable. This feels unstable. So what do I do? I control, I handker down. Yeah, I hold onto money really tightly. Or for some people at this point, they ignore it completely.

Philippa Aldridge: Because that feels better to them. So it's also being curious about how are [00:22:00] you treating money? What's your relationship with money like as well at this time of year? Is it a respectful relationship? Are you giving it the attention it deserves? Is this a relationship that has great communication, great trust as well?

Philippa Aldridge: Again, stuff that we've talked about on the Thrive Success accelerators as well in January. Being curious about that. But again, it's, and we've said this before in a podcast, if you want something different, you have to do something different. So again, taking that time to step back and go, is this my same normal January pattern or am I doing something different this year?

Philippa Aldridge: Okay, that's interesting. I'm doing the same old stuff that I did last January okay, this is not where I wanna be. This is not me in December or me in November. This is. A part of me, a past part of me that has shown up and running the show, which is possibly being triggered by family narratives, the social or the cultural narrative.

Philippa Aldridge: Whatever people [00:23:00] see work colleagues they haven't seen for years at Christmas. And if you worked in the NHS and you have just spent an evening with your ex NHS colleagues who all still work in the NHSI would be really curious about where your mindset is around money. And how it's been impacted.

Philippa Aldridge: It's just teeny little micro things will make a massive difference. 

Katie Bell: And I guess that's where leaning into gratitude can really help in those situations. In 

Philippa Aldridge: that, 

Katie Bell: I recently spent some time with a friend who does work in the NHS actually, and somebody who works at university and I, whilst ever they have.

Katie Bell: A relative level of security and stability in what they're paid every month. They don't have a lot of freedom. They don't have a lot of flexibility. They don't have the ability to make any more money than they're earning really without having to significantly change their job title and 

Katie Bell: probably do more, take on [00:24:00] more.

Katie Bell: They, they have to get back at a certain time. They 

Katie Bell: couldn't leave until a certain time because of all of this kind of structure. It may it made me come away even more grateful for what I am creating in my own life. That I am the master of my own destiny when it comes to what I do with my time, how I spend my money, how much money I earn.

Katie Bell: So sometimes when you are, with family members or with ex work colleagues or whatever it is, it will really allow you to sit into. What you can be grateful for. Absolutely. What you are creating that they might not have the ability to, what they do, they've just chosen a different path to create it.

Katie Bell: And that can I that certainly helps me. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. And I think it the gratitude is something, as we know has a massive impact. Our brain as well. This is where other things like for those people who enjoy things like meditation, mindfulness, that can help with, obviously we [00:25:00] know that that has an impact on the layout of the brain.

Philippa Aldridge: Neuroplasticity can change the layout for your brain, it can shrink your amygdala. So any of that sort of stuff comes in here. But for, so I'm also aware of the fact that for some of the people listening and some of the people that I've worked with. To gratitude and meditation and mindfulness, and that's it's just too woo too soon.

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. 

Philippa Aldridge: We need something practical. I need a 92nd pause, or I need that little way of going through things that I've just said because they still need to feel like they, there's a doing element and that's why with the gratitude, you can probably sit in the car and say out loud what you're grateful for.

Philippa Aldridge: I would highly recommend writing it down. As well then, especially if you've been quite stressed, because it moves it into a different part of your brain. It connects with a different part of your brain. And if you wanna take it to a whole nother level, you write that gratitude list with your non-dominant hand.

Philippa Aldridge: [00:26:00] Okay,

Katie Bell: Philippa, 

Katie Bell: What do you do in January to help overcome perhaps money stories that you have been? Surrounded by, in, in December. How what strategies do you do now? You are very woo, so you can tell us the Woo version. I'm interested to know how you manage that. 

Philippa Aldridge: So I do take time to reset myself to decompress and reset my money mindset and my entire money mindset if I've spent a lot of time with people who may have different beliefs and values to me and who may trigger old stories for me.

Philippa Aldridge: Yes. And that's okay that they're triggered because it then reminds me about that part of myself. Yes. So I can again be grateful to that. And I then rewrite my money story. This is my money story. This is what I believe about money. If it's something that's gone a little bit too, it's too much.

Philippa Aldridge: And maybe I've been involved in saying things like, there isn't any [00:27:00] money in January. Yes. And maybe I've agreed with some things. I actually write to money and apologize. So I'll actually write Dear money, I am so sorry that I spoke badly of you. Because I know that you turn up in January and that is, not how we work together.

Philippa Aldridge: That's not our relationship. So I will do that. I will meditate on, on, on abundance. Yes. And I will also make sure that I have my vision board of the abundance that is coming into my life. Yes. On display or reset, depending on whether or not I have done it, because sometimes I do it at the end of the year, but I take time.

Philippa Aldridge: January is not a rush for me. 

Katie Bell: Yeah. I guess that's 

Katie Bell: what we wanna encourage our clinic owners to do is the energy that we come back into January with is often rush back to routine, get back to a schedule, need to be, doing all of this stuff. And actually I always [00:28:00] think February is a great time to do that.

Katie Bell: I February brings with it that renewed energy. 

Katie Bell: Things in nature. Starting to change in February and and it provides that feeling of hope, doesn't it? And that kind of fresh energy, whereas January can still feel quite heavy and you still feel exhausted from what Christmas is.

Katie Bell: Yeah. And a fried sugar 

Philippa Aldridge: coma still, possibly, maybe depending on what you've done. Yeah. Yeah, there is an element of great kindness. Yes. Within January for me, because, january can always be such a New Year's resolutions, new Year, new you. Obviously, my background is in the fitness industry. A lot of pressure about what you're gonna do with yourself, set, all of that sort of stuff.

Philippa Aldridge: And so we would go against that and we were more about February being the time when we would see most of our new members join us. Yeah. January is an opportunity for a pause, and if you go with like things like wintering, this is a, [00:29:00] we are still wintering at this point. This is not spring energy. This is energy of reflecting, of taking your time, of not rushing.

Philippa Aldridge: This is still that opportunity to decide what you want the year to look like, not just start it and hope for the best. 

Katie Bell: Yeah, 

Katie Bell: I, I use January very much as a reset month. 

Katie Bell: Physically and mentally and environmentally as well. In fact, my environment is crucial to how I perform. Yeah. So I, or I upgrade things, I renew things, I freshen things up.

Katie Bell: I clear out, I declutter, I organize, I put systems in place. 

Katie Bell: I, I lay the foundations almost for the intentions that I have for the rest of the year. 

Katie Bell: You know that is. That I think is 

Katie Bell: more important than making big business decisions and big things that you're gonna move forward with.

Katie Bell: It comes from that wrong place. And I know many clinic owners might be thinking, oh, this is really [00:30:00] woo and I'm not buying into this. And it's how's that worked for you so far? Yeah. 'cause the quick you can allow yourself to be curious about this stuff, 

Philippa Aldridge: the 

Katie Bell: more you can see. You're just trying to fight and work against it rather than work with it.

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. And just practically, if never, no. If you are not on with the Woo thing yet, and we will get you, don't worry. If you're not there, how on earth do you think that you can go from not taking any time to plan, reflect on what went well, what you would change, all of those sorts of things before you make any big decisions in your business, you have to have that reflection time just as standard.

Philippa Aldridge: So that you are not making the same mistakes again. So January becomes your planning month if you wanna go with a very logical thing, because December, at the end of the year, it's not the greatest energy there. It's not the greatest energy in January, but at least you're not making big decisions and then coming from the wrong place as it were.[00:31:00] 

Katie Bell: Yeah. And I've recorded three episodes before before we jumped on Philippa, and I showed this screen in my last one. This is my new my new phone screen. Yeah. 

Philippa Aldridge: Beautiful, beautiful. Nothing changes if nothing changes. 

Katie Bell: Yeah, exactly. And do you know oh, Anna told, asked me to tell you this story.

Katie Bell: Philippa. Okay. You Philippa are on next week. So then they hear from Anna, anna pulled a card because she's into cards because she's been working with you and you've made her all. Woo. She pulled a card for her day to set her intention, and she put it just down on her desk before she came on the podcast.

Katie Bell: It was quite a big thing for her to step into and do and joined the podcast. I said the phrase, nothing changes. If nothing changes twice. And at the end she said, can I tell you something though? I said, yeah. She said, you've gotta tell Philippa. And she said, do you wanna look at, do you wanna see the card that I pulled today?

Katie Bell: And she showed me and her card was, nothing changes. If nothing changes. [00:32:00] So there you 

Philippa Aldridge: go. Beautiful, 

Katie Bell: beautiful. The whole the point, the reason I mention that is because. I if you, I think it was my New Year's Eve episode actually. I talk about a framework of how to do this year of reflection before you then set your intentions year ahead, and I would encourage you to go back to that if you haven't.

Katie Bell: But if you don't take that time, what you then see cycle round is basically the exact same version of what you've just left behind. It might have some slight variability to it, but you don't. You don't, because you're not changing the energy around it. You're not changing your intention around it. 

Katie Bell: You get to June, July and you've just basically created more of the stuff that you didn't 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. 

Katie Bell: That you didn't want and you don't like. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. And I think, and I dunno if you've spoken about this on podcasts before, but you've set your energy for the year, haven't you? With certain words. And that's something that I do every year.

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. It's my North Star word. And what is my, my, my leader for the year? Because it [00:33:00] makes a massive difference if that is there. That is your energy. Mine last year was the energy of choice. I brought that choice that I have, that choice always that is the ultimate in terms of power and and empowerment is that choice.

Philippa Aldridge: So yeah, it, but if you don't take that time, you will just repeat the same patterns and then when it doesn't work, you will be triggered in some way and be taken back to loyal and familiar stories. And a lot of them for a lot of us are to do with money because it's such an emotive subject. 

Katie Bell: It's powerful, isn't it?

Katie Bell: It's really powerful. And it's the year. Everybody's got tax bills to pay it. The month tax bills are going out. Yeah. Tax bill. It's all a feeling of ugh. It can feel very heavy. It can feel but you are in ultimate control of how. What energy you put around that. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. You choose the decision is yours, just as Cilla would say on blind date for those [00:34:00] of you of a certain age, no.

Philippa Aldridge: Can you do, it wasn't Silla, it was R Graham. It would say, the decision is yours, r Graham. 

Katie Bell: I used to love that program. Yeah. Yeah. 

Philippa Aldridge: Beautiful. 

Katie Bell: That 

Katie Bell: followed by, was it Gladiator? So I had a lineup, I think it was Baywatch Gladiators blind date. Was that how it went? Was there anything else? 

Philippa Aldridge: We're showing our age now, brilliant. Yeah. Fabulous 

Katie Bell: tv. I know. Absolutely amazing. Because we might have weirded people out, and I hate we have because it will only help people move forwards. What would you say to listeners is your parting message or your parting advice around them really leaning into this subject, this topic in terms of how many Stories is 'cause it is impacting how their business and their personal life [00:35:00] is running.

Philippa Aldridge: So I would invite them to keep being curious about the stories that are coming up for them and to then do something with it. Don't just go, I say this, it's then taking it somewhere and it, this is not about shaming the story, it's about going, oh, a part of me believes this, then take it somewhere. Take E.

Philippa Aldridge: Either be grateful for the money that you've got. Do something different than you would normally do. That is really the biggest advice here with all, with any money story, is do something different with it than you would normally do. Rather than just ignore it or push it to one side, or hope it goes away.

Philippa Aldridge: Or try and, overdo through it. 

Philippa Aldridge: Yeah. 

Philippa Aldridge: Let's take a different action here. Even if that action is paused. 

Katie Bell: I love that Ra. Thank you. This has been really 

Katie Bell: it's very topical. It's very relevant for this time of year, but it always I work on this shit all the time. Like it's something that, and you do,

Katie Bell: [00:36:00] We are always working on, on.

Katie Bell: Oneself being 

Katie Bell: really self-aware. But even when I have these conversations with you, it makes me go back to, okay, what have I picked up? Because new level, new devil, like we are going for big things in Thrive this year. And in my clinic. And that requires a different focus. It requires a different mindset.

Katie Bell: It requires something that I haven't ventured into yet. And so there will still be many stories that crop back up and hold and could hold me back if I'm not aware of them. So thank you because it always makes me really stop and reflect as well. And I'm sure the listeners have got great value from this episode.

Philippa Aldridge: Thank you for having me. 

Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Treat Your Business podcast. Hit subscribe now and keep joining me for bigger insights, older conversations to help you build a clinic and a life you [00:37:00] love.