16. Mid-Year Momentum: How a Look Back at the First 6 Months Will Elevate the Next 6 Months

Can you believe that we're officially halfway through 2023?! How is that even possible?! One of the things that I do every year at this point is a mid-year review. I spend some time taking stock of what I've accomplished so far, the lessons learned, and what I still need to do to end the year on a high note.

In this episode, I'll walk you through how to complete a meaningful review of the first 6 months of the year so that you can finish the year accomplishing everything you set out to do. Don't forget your notebook; you'll want to take notes on the 10 questions to ask yourself! And you should download this one because you'll find yourself coming back to it again and again.

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Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the School of Midlife podcast. I'm Laurie Reynoldson, former award-winning attorney turned high performance coach for midlife women. I designed this podcast is your go-to place for weekly midlife inspiration, where I'll be sharing, inspiring stories, providing step-by-step actionable coaching and introducing you to some incredible women who are absolutely crushing it at the midlife game. And you'd better believe we'll also be having candid conversations about mid-life relationships, career moves, money, menopause, and so much more. So take out your reading glasses and notebooks. My friends, because the School of Midlife is in session. Well, Hey there, welcome back to the school of midlife podcast. Today's episode is one of those tactical coaching episodes. It's been a little while since we have. Really gotten into the weeds on a step-by-step process on how to do something. So I figured it was time. This is certainly going to be one of those episodes that you're going to want to download. I mean, listen to it now, but make sure you download it so that you can come back to it again in the future. And you probably also want to have a notebook or Google docs open or something so that you can take some notes along the way. At the time this podcast drops, it is the 26th week of the year. How do I know that. On my office wall. I have a. Framed print. Of. Little tiny black boxes. And there is a black box for every week of every year that I have been alive. And the ones that I have already lived, those are colored in black. The ones that I have yet to live. Those are white. So, or they, they haven't been filled in yet. So it's this. Visual reminder. Of how much time I have lived and how much time I have to go. It's called my life and weeks. I've talked about it before. I'll go ahead and link. Um, a. All I'll drop a link to the website where you can pick up your own my life and weeks if you're a visual person. And that sounds like something you'd be interested in checking out. I'll make sure to drop the link in the show notes. But if 26 weeks are done, That means we are halfway through 2023. At the time this episode drops. We are halfway through the year. And I don't know about you, but for me it feels like I take a lot of time in the beginning of the year to get settled and get in the groove. And it, there's almost this feeling like there's a lot of time left to do the things I want to do this year. Um, Not to mention the weather sucks. The days are short. I feel like I go to work and it's dark. I get home and it's dark. And other than that, Kind of beginning of the year, optimism, spurt, excitement. Let's make all the things happen. I feel like. By the time we get to February and certainly well into March. It just feels a little tired and lethargic and. I don't feel terribly motivated. I mean, yeah. I, I think a lot of us start the year with this idea that this is going to be my year and this is the year that I'm going to, I don't know, run a marathon or finally write the book. Or, um, leave the job. That's sucking the life out of me or, um, and the relationship that has run its course, whatever is on your list for the year, whatever you think will make your year And we always start strong, but. Then kind of those late winter, early spring doldrums settle in. And by the time we get halfway through. Then it seems like summer is here. And of course our schedule is jam packed with things to do during the summer. And then the next thing we know, it's time to go back to school. And that there's that beautiful. Fall reset of, um, getting back in the routine, starting to, you know, feel like ourselves again, because we're back to a routine, which a lot of us get out of in the summertime. But so all of a sudden it's September and then it's the holidays. And before we know it, It's the end of the year. Which. Makes us freak out a little bit. And because the back end of the year seems too. In my opinion, it just goes a little faster. We also tended to try and cram a lot into the back of the year. Right. Because. We have, we've told ourselves that we're going to do X, Y, and Z this year. This is going to be the year that we, you know, whatever we want to do. And we get to. Say that the latter part of the year. And all of a sudden we look at the calendar. We realize that we've been in this autopilot mode for much of the year. And we're kind of out of time. I mean, we. I do this. I think a lot of people do it where we almost get to the point where we resign ourselves. That okay. This was going to be the year that I did X, Y, Z, but next year is going to be my year. Next year is when I'm going to make the big changes. Which sometimes works sometimes. Doesn't but if you're somebody who finds yourself. Getting to the end of the year, every year. And you don't necessarily feel like you've accomplished much or that the year didn't go quite the way you had planned. I think one of the biggest gifts that you can give yourself. Is to take time to do an end of your review. Just just like in business, right. Where you can't learn from or build on what you don't measure. And I'm not saying that you need to have a very detailed spreadsheet here, or you don't have to go through. Xcel you know, you don't need to dial down to KPIs or key performance indicators. Um, unless data is your thing, then by all means, do that. when I talk about a year and a review, what I'm really. Thinking about there was, was this was this. Was this your, uh, That's hard to say. Was this a good year? What was good about it? Is there room for improvement? And when I say improvement, You know, we don't approach things with that old. Black and white success or failure rubric to anymore. It's what were the lessons? Are we learning them? What were the good lessons? What were the things that we were successful at? What are the things that we still need to work on a little bit? So while I love me a year end review, I got to say, I also love a mid-year review. And this is the perfect time to do it that end of June before. We get back to work after the Independence Day holiday. most of us have some additional time off around the 4th of July holiday. Um, we at least have the 4th of July off. Most of us. And this is the perfect week. To take some time. And do a mid-year review. Y, well, one, you can take a look back and figure out how far you've already come from the beginning of the year. And. You're not done. but you are well on your way. In fact, I guarantee you have made more progress on the things that you were planning to do this year than you even think. And I'll tell you how you can figure that out. And just a couple of minutes here, but. If you take the time to look back right now. You're going to be amazed at all of this progress that you have already. Hat. The things you've already accomplished, you are, you're going to be blown away. So because you're looking back and you can see how far you've already come. You can then use that momentum. To help you finish the year strong. It's kind of like that same new year's excitement that, that feeling we get at the beginning of the year, you know, when we said this is going to be my year, Well, you can do the same exact thing right here. Right now, halfway through. And because you get that same kind of jolt of excitement or that. Excitement about. Where you've come. You can use that momentum as a springboard. To finish the year on a good note. Another reason. I love me. A mid-year review is it's the perfect time to recalibrate. And what I mean by that is there are two ways you can go here. You can either change how you are approaching the thing that you're working on, because maybe you started down path a. Thinking that that was going to get you to where you want it to go. But. You've started down path a and it's not really working out. And I know as high-performing women, we always want to finish exactly what we've started. So if we thought it was going to be patho, then by God, we're going to see path a through to the end. But you don't have to do that. Because you are learning to trust your instinct to trust your experience. And if path a isn't getting you to where you want to go. You just go to path B simple. Here's the other thing. So you either can change how you're approaching the thing that you're working on or. This is what's really freeing You can decide that what you thought you wanted this year doesn't make any sense to you anymore. And again, it's that whole idea that as high-performing women, we say something, we, we draw a line in the sand. We stake our, our flag in the ground. And by all means we're going to accomplish the thing that we said we were going to do. But here's the gift. If it doesn't make sense to you anymore. You don't have to keep doing it. And you don't have to finish it. Before you can say, you know what? This, this isn't. This isn't what I want to do. I mean, it's not serving you anymore. So. Why wait until the end of the year. When you can make that change right now because you still have six months to go in the year. So there is a ton of real estate that you can cover. There is a ton of time at your disposal. If you use it correctly. Which means. Why wait until the end of the year to make a change. If. You can. Pinpoint things that are working or not right now. And recalibrate so that you are heading in a. Better different direction. Makes sense, right? So practically, how do we do a mid-year review? I would say at the very minimum, I would set aside an hour. I think. Two or three hours are probably the sweet spot. But I realized that not everyone has that amount of time. So at least an hour, if you, if you can find an hour, in fact, not even if you can find an hour. Find an hour. Because this will be. Such a good exercise for you that it is worth at least an hour of your time. Could you do it in 30 minutes? Sure, but the name of the game here isn't necessarily finishing early or finishing fast. It's putting in the meaningful and mindful work to. Give you some good. Information. To figure out what you have learned to figure out what you've accomplished to figure out what lessons you have already learned. And how are you going to take that foundation? And use it. Two. And the year. On a very good note. So the first thing that we're going to do after we've set aside the time is we're going to take out our phone. Because that's where pretty much our entire life is anymore. And also our calendar. So, if you keep your daily calendar on your phone, then just take out your phone. If you. Keep voice notes to yourself and photos on your phone, but you have a. Paper planner or a different calendar that you use. if you use my best life daily planner and habit tracker. For six months, you probably have two of them. So take those two out. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I will link some information in the show notes so that you can get yourself a copy of the best life, daily planner and habit tracker. I promise you it will change your life. There are plenty of women who told me to begin with. You know what? I just, I'm not a planner person. it's interesting to me. I hope it does well for you, but that's just not how I plan my day. And they have, they are total advocates. Now. They have been. It's just the way that it's set up to help you approach your day in a more meaningful way. And help you. Kind of accomplish things in sort of a sneaky way. I know that that doesn't make sense, but there are some videos on my website. You can learn more about it. There I'll drop the link in the show notes. So We've we've taken out our, our phone. We have our calendars, the first thing you're going to do. Is look through every photo from the beginning of the year. Because there are so many things that you took photos of different experiences you have had. That guarantee. You have forgotten about. It has been six months. You think that you have pretty much been living the exact same day every single day? Maybe there. You know, maybe there was a quick trip. Um, to Palm desert for spring break, maybe, um, there was maybe a family member had to have a surgical procedure. Maybe you had a job change. I. You know, there are some big things that that would be a little out of the norm, but for the most part when you look back, you think there's really nothing special that has happened this year. But. By looking through every photo for the last six months, you are going to be amazed. At how you have spent your time, who you've been with experiences you've had. And it's, it's really an incredible look back. Same with your calendar. Because you feel like all I've been doing is I've been going to work Monday through Friday. You know, we've got the weekends. We would go skiing in the winter time. Um, maybe we did some gardening on the weekends. But there's so much that you've forgotten about. So read all the calendar entries. Remember how you've spent your time. Remember the things that you have done because you don't remember. interestingly several years ago I was listening to NPR and gosh, I wish I remembered who the doctor was. He had just written a book though. And his premise was the reason. That. Time seems to go so much faster as an adult. Is because we get into this. Routine this our days are routinized. We go to the same places. We do the same things. We're not. Really learning a lot that's new or having different experiences. And because of that. We feel like. The year goes by very fast. I mean, almost every year without skipping a beat, I say to Mike didn't we just take down the Christmas lights. So, you know, it's, it's like all of a sudden we're decorating for Christmas again. And I feel like we just took it down. But according to this doctor, That it's the routine. And the fact that we are having the exact same experiences. So it's really hard to differentiate from one year to another. He, he used this analogy, which I think is brilliant. Think back to your first year in college. You remember mixers, you went to different classes. maybe you were living in a different city, so you moved somewhere else. So you had to figure out how to get from point a to point B. So you were constantly like navigating a new bus. Route or a different way that you were driving. You were meeting new people, you were going to new classes. Everything that first year in school was new. So you've got very vivid memories of everything that happened that year. Similarly, you also likely have very vivid memories of your last year in college because you're applying for jobs. Um, friends of yours. maybe getting married or moving away. You yourself might be moving to a different city. you're defending your thesis. You have big projects that are due. Because you are learning new things and having new experiences, you also have very vivid memories of your last year in college. But the ones in between. The two or three years, depending on how long it took you in between there. They all run together because you get in that routine, you get in you, you start doing the same things every day. Same as when you're an adult. So because so much of our life. Is very similar to what we did last year and the year before, probably not 20, 20, 20 20 was one of those. very interesting years for everybody and which is why we've got such vivid. Recollection of because everything was new. There were, there were different pain points. We were learning how to navigate. And, and how to work differently. And what do we do with the kids and are we homeschooling? And there were just, you know, We couldn't go to the grocery store for awhile. So some of us couldn't even leave our homes for a very long time, because are the towns that we lived in were locked down. So. We've got very vivid memories about that. But we might not about 20, 19 or 2018 things before that. So. By going through our phone and our calendar and looking at what our appointments are, what our experiences have been. it gives us the opportunity to relive those experiences. And. Two. Figure out. What we've done for the first six months and how that can set us up for the next six months. So when you are going through your phone and your calendar, Here are Some questions that I want you to answer. And this is where if you've got your notebook out, You want to write these down? If you're downloading the episode to listen once and then come back. This is. This is where you will want to start. Taking notes. So. In no particular order. What have you done this year that has brought you the most joy or created positive feelings and memories. And when you look at those moments of joy or positive feelings and memories, What were you doing? Who were you with? And we want to look at these because to the extent that we are able. We obviously want to do more things that, and have similar experiences that brought us joy and positive feelings and memories in the next six months. Right. I mean, if we liked what we were doing before we get, assume that we're probably going to like it again in the future. So what brought you the most joy in the first six months of the year? And what do you have very positive memories about. Then we'll move on to what were your biggest wins? What have you accomplished in the last six months? What have you achieved in the last six months? And these can be. Big wins that anyone would recognize, you know, you, um, you landed a new job. You earned a PR in a running race, maybe you even placed in your age group in that running race. But they can also be. Big wins. That you feel personally that no one else will notice. Like you finally got your sleep in check because you've stopped. You know, you have a new habit. And you're not scrolling social media. When you go to bed. I don't know. You've swapped that Afternoon, diet Coke for water. Maybe you have started. A habit where you count to five or 10 before you reactively respond to your kids or your spouse or your coworkers. what have been your biggest wins in the last six months? And again, they can be big wins. Or only things that are important to you. Write those down. When you're going through your phone in your calendar, you also want to take note of. What have you done in the last six months that has caused you the most stress? Or negative feelings. And just like we looked at with the positive feelings in the joy. I want you to pay attention to. What you were doing. And who you were with. And we also need to recognize that there are differences in the type of stress. So there is some stress that will come with doing something. Like you'll feel stressed out because something is new or hard. That's not necessarily what I want you to pinpoint here. I think it's more important to focus on. You have stress or negative feelings as they relate to certain people or situations. Maybe it's something that causes you anxiety, maybe it's something that upsets you or, or has made you angry. Maybe it has to do with something that your kids did or your coworkers did, or your spouse. Um, other relationships in your life. Um, Instances where you were in a meeting, you just finished a great presentation. And one of your colleagues, maybe a male colleague. Ended up taking. All of the credit for everything that the entire group did. And that really stressed you out. Not because he took credit in that instance, but because it's this pattern that continually happens. And it frustrates you and it causes you stress and it makes you have kind of these negative feelings about that person and your work situation. But you, you get the idea. So the more. Specific you can be about things that have caused you stress or those negative feelings. Then. what we're going to try and figure out is how can we have fewer of those? Experiences and those instances and those. Things, whatever that we were doing, how can we minimize the amount of time that we are spending on those things that causes stress or negative feelings? Then we'll move on to. What haven't I finished yet, right? Because we still have six months of the year to go, which is plenty of time. I know we have talked about Parkinson's law on this podcast before, but as a refresher, as a reminder, The job that you're working on will expand or contract to fill the amount of time you have available. So if we started the beginning of the year thinking. This is going to be the year that I train for and run a marathon. Well, Maybe we haven't even started running in the first six months. No problem. We still have six months to go. It should take us about four months to train for a marathon. We can go literally from being on a couch, to running a marathon in. 16 to 20 weeks. So four to five months, we have plenty of time. And because now we have a, a deadline. Of the end of the year, say we don't have the luxury of preparing and thinking about it. And assuming that we have plenty of time. Parkinson's law is going to make sure that we kick it and gear. And finish what we have said that we were going to finish by the end of the year. So. What haven't you finished yet? But. What can you put together a plan? What are the things that you still, that are still important to you to finish by the end of the year? Make sure you are listing those out. I also want you to take a look at. What are the things that you are most proud of? It can be something like. You know, you finally worked out. Consistently. And that doesn't have to be every day. That can be three days a week. That can be four days a week. That can be five days a week, whatever consistently means to you. And you can be proud of that. Even if the number on the scale hasn't moved. You can be proud that you finally splurge on the first class airline tickets, even if you haven't planned any other portion of the vacation, right. You, there are things that you have done already that. You should have some ownership in that should make you proud that make you, you, you should have some pride that you have already accomplished them. And then on the flip side, Think about if you could go back. What are some things that you would do differently? Um, maybe there was a work project that turned out differently than you expected because either you had the wrong approach. Wrong wrong. Probably isn't the right word. But you approached it in a way that you would do differently if you had to do it again. Maybe you waited too long to start. So, if you had to do it again, you would start quicker. Um, Maybe there was a conversation that you had with your mother-in-law at Easter and the way that that went and the impact that's had on your relationship. Maybe you would do that differently. Um, maybe, maybe you just didn't stick up for yourself in the way that you would like to stick up for yourself and advocate for yourself when it comes to your mother-in-law. Could also be that. Maybe there was a night where you had gone out with friends and you would. Call an Uber next time instead of driving, that doesn't mean that, you know, the, the night ended up with. Uh, DUI or with a car accident or something like that, but you have made certain promises to yourself that you're going to be responsible. And looking back, maybe there was one glass of wine, too many. So if you, if you could go back and do it differently, He'd call an Uber next time. buy you making a note of that now, When you find yourself in a similar situation in the next six months of the year. Then you can reflect back on this and remember that. You're going to do it differently. Next time. You're going to call an Uber instead of driving home. Then we're going to move into what were the biggest lessons learned? These. Could be the most important lessons you've learned. They could be. You know what didn't turn out like you'd hoped for or planned. you can define lessons. However it is you want. It can be. Something. That. a previous version of you, you, you know, Five years ago, maybe even just a couple of years ago would have looked at that lesson and thought I failed at this. But because we don't look at things as success and failure anymore, we look at. Success and lessons. What have been those biggest lessons that you have learned in the first six months of the year? Moving on to habits. What are some new habits? That are serving you. Maybe you have started going on a daily walk in the morning. Maybe you dial up a sleep meditation before you go to bed at night. Maybe you have started writing out Mondays to do list before you leave the office on Friday so that you can enjoy the weekend without having to constantly remind yourself. Okay. I have to remember to do this on Monday. I have to remember to call this person on Monday. I have to remember. Two. Finish this document because it's due at five o'clock on Monday. And the reason why writing out those to-dos that, that new habit of writing those to dues before you leave the office on Friday, is it clears your head and it clears up all of that energy that you are using to remember to do the thing. Write it down. But what new habits have you started in the first six months of the year that are serving you? Well, Take a note of that. Adding onto that. Are there new habits? That you want to focus on in the next six months? It could be just continuing to do the habits that you started. In the first six months of the year. Or maybe you started meal planning in January. And then you went on vacation for spring break and you haven't started. Backup with the meal planning, but you loved the meal planning because that meant that you only had to go to the grocery store one day a week. You knew exactly what you were going to have for dinner. So you weren't spending a lot of time. After you got home from work being very tired and like, oh my gosh, you know, everybody's asking you, what is for dinner? But you liked. How that habits started and the time it freed up for you, the Headspace you were in. So it could be something that you started doing at the beginning of the year and then fell off. So maybe you want to refocus on adding that new habit back in, in the next six months. And then once we have done, we, you know, we've gone through and we've answered those. I don't know, 7, 8 questions. This is where we get into the meat. Right. What do you want more of in the next six months? And what do you want less of in the next six months? These are both very broad by design. They, it really is. What's good. And what do you want more of that? What isn't as good. And you want less of that? And then after you have filled out those, then I think any other thoughts that come to you about the first six months? You know, Just thoughts that you have about how you have spent the first half of 2023. after you have answered all of these questions. I figured out what you want more of in the next six months, what you want less of in the next six months, and then Ask yourself. What is one decision you could make? Or one action you could take that would have the biggest impact. On your life this year. Oh, I'll ask that question again. What's one decision you could make, or one action you could take. That would have the biggest impact. On your life this year. So that you finish on a high note so that you feel accomplished for the year. So that you feel kind of settled. And it could be starting something. It could be stopping something. I will say, when you are thinking about this. Pay special attention to anything that scares you, and what I mean by that is it's something that maybe you don't want to admit or say out loud, Because hear me when I say this. Whatever it is that scares you a little bit. That is likely a calling or a nudge or. A truth that, you know, deep down. That you haven't wanted to admit because you feel like. You might be judged or you might not be able to complete it, or it might not end the way you hope or expect it to. Pay particular attention. Two. Those things that bubble up because. More often than not. Those are the things you should be paying attention to. And they are truly the one decision or action. That will have the biggest impact on your life. if you were someone who starts your day with my morning, 5, 10, 5. I will say the one thing that you could add to. Your six month review. this is also the perfect time to take stock on how you're coming on your 10 dreams. I achieved. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about with the morning, 5, 10, 5. It is the morning. Ritual that is part of the best life daily planner and habit tracker. I actually, I did an episode on this, several episodes ago. I'll make sure to link that in the show notes here. But. Every morning, start with five things. I'm grateful for. 10 dreams I achieved. And those are the big things that you were working on in your life. Written as if they have already happened. Five things I'm looking forward to today. The five things. You're grateful for the five things you're looking forward to today. Those change every day. What doesn't change or the 10 dreams I achieved. And it's such a great start to your day because of the science behind it. Again, Go listen to the episode. If you haven't already listened to it, I will link it in the show notes. But for those of you who know what I'm talking about. This is the perfect time to add a mid-year check-in. On your 10 dreams. I achieved. So for me, that would look like, um, and I'll just run down through my 10 real quickly here. Number one, I am a number one New York times bestselling author. Well, I haven't written the book yet, but I did hire. And then quit working with, um, gosh, I guess you would call it a literary consultant. It wasn't an editor, but it was someone who helps people. Get books published. So in the first six months of the year, I hired and quit working with that consultant because the focus for the consultant was on me, building my audience for the next three years. I want to write the book now. Because I want to be able to use that book as a teaching tool with my coaching clients. So I have decided to self publish. I'm going to write the book and I'm a self publish it. So while I haven't. Written the book in the first six months of the year, I feel like I've definitely made progress on my number one. My number two is I own a lifestyle brand and media company that employ employees five to 10 women. Probably. Three or four years ago, I was working with a business coach who told me. That. My focus was too broad. That I should get rid of producing any content that doesn't relate to coaching. And of course my coaching has always centered on midlife women and giving mid-life women the tools to make midlife their best life. And part of my vision for doing that was to talk about, you know, Provide holiday shopping guides or what to wear or recipes that were. Easy and delicious to, to make. what should you buy at the Sephora sale? What, what should you stock up there? Um, this is a great book I read that may have something to do with coaching and it may not, but I wanted to. Give women, all of this information. That I was curating for them. It's it's kind of like, I've always been somebody who. When I drink the Kool-Aid or I get really excited about something, I want everyone in my circle to know about it because. I just feel like if it's that good. I want to share it with everyone. So this coach told me I had to cut back on all of that kind of content. And only focus on coaching. Well in the first six months of the year, I've decided, you know what, that's bullshit. That is not at all the type of vision I have for. What I am doing the mission that I am on again, to give. Midlife women everywhere, the tools to make midlife their best life. So I've gone back to creating content of all the types. this week, I am hiring. My first virtual assistant. So I'm, I'm starting to build that company. And when it comes to owning a media company, This podcast, I launched it in. March March, I think, but that is the start of the media company that I am envisioning will be the go-to for all things. Midlife. Um, Actually that, that brings up an interesting question to me. Will you do me a favor and send me a message either DM me on Instagram, email me. I'll all of those will be in the show notes where you can get in touch with me. If this podcast were a video like on YouTube. Would you watch it? I I have, I think I know what the answer is, but I'm curious. How do you prefer to consume something like this? Is it listen to. A podcast while you are out for a walk or doing the dishes or making dinner or driving to in your car or going to the office, whatever it is. Or do you prefer to consume content? Uh, on a video feed. Will you please let me know what that answer is. Listen to a podcast or watch a video. okay. Let's go through the rest of these very quickly. Um, my, my number three is I am a thought leader paid to write, speak, and coach. My longterm goal, in addition to having the school of midlife and this media company and coaching is when I close my eyes and think about. My best life and where I want to be. I see myself. Delivering talks. In an arena. Um, I have. Jeans on. A nice pair of jeans. I've got a blazer on, I've got a graphic tee. So very much in my, you know, daily uniform. And delivering talks to midlife women. In a, in an arena. So a large setting. I also see that I am sitting at a desk signing my own book with a line out the door that snakes down the street. Right. I see myself on the today. Show talking with Savannah and Hoda about my mission. So while There's so much rose that I have to plow and wrote a ho. Yeah. That, whatever that is. Um, whatever that saying is. So much road to hoe. As it relates to becoming a thought leader, paid to write speaking, coach. I did in the first six months of the year, wrap up a course with my speaking coach and I created my first keynote talk. So when the time comes to actually deliver it and see myself on stage, I have a talk that I can deliver, which is very, very exciting. Number four on my tender evens I achieve list is I went all in on act three coaching and the school of midlife media and replaced my income in year one. I think most of you know, that I'm essentially working two full-time jobs right now. I'm a commercial real estate broker. And I also am obviously doing coaching and the school of midlife media company. So whenever I leave brokerage, I am giving myself a year to replace my income. So I went all in on coaching and speaking and writing and replace my income and your one. Here's a little teaser for you. I will say that there might be some fun announcements and Q3 related to replacing my income with writing, speaking, and coaching. But you'll just have to keep tuning in. Um, to see what happens when it happens. Number five. I am an exceptional life. This is a forever goal. There is no end date. It will never be achieved. It is just literally something that I write down every day, because. It is a good reminder to me, of how I want to show up in my relationship. Um, when I look back on the last six months, I can definitely see some things I want to improve on. Times when I was quick to criticize or maybe sometimes focusing on the wrong things. So every morning, writing that I am an exceptional wife. That helps to refocus. And remind myself. How do I want to show up in this relationship? Number six. I vacation annually in Europe and at the beach. I am super excited to say that I will be in London and Paris. We've got that scheduled for the end of September and the beginning of October. I need to get the Mexico trip on the calendar. It was supposed to be. Right after Thanksgiving. I now have a coaching summit. I need to be at. During that time. So I still need to get the Mexico trip scheduled, but I am working on that. Uh, number seven, I only fly first class or private. Um, That's aspirational. I don't always fly first class. I don't always have the option to fly private, but I would like to get to that point. So in the first six months of the year, I did start using a Delta American express You know, I I'm going to be spending the money anyway, so I might as well get the points. To use for upgrades while I am traveling overseas. Makes sense, right? Or even if I'm traveling in the U S. Um, a lot of times with us travel, I fly Southwest because I had their credit card for so many years. I have a bazillion miles on Southwest. So while that might not be first-class or private, it is free, which is also not a bad way to travel. The last three, I haven't really done any work on. Um, Uh, I want to own a home in a warm climate. I'm not sure where that is yet. I have appeared on CBS Sunday morning, obviously that hasn't happened. And I want to keynote some big conferences with some big name, thought leaders in my industry. Those haven't happened. I mean, No big deal though. Obviously these are long-term goals. And just because I haven't done anything to move the needle further on those in the first six months. Of the year. I'm not worried about it. Long-term goals of where I want to see myself, but. When I look back on the 10 dreams I achieved and what I've accomplished in the first six months. I feel like there's a really good foundation laid. So if you are someone who uses the best life daily planner and habit tracker, and you are writing down your 10 dreams, I achieved every morning. Make sure as part of your mid-year. Review. You also take stock of how you are coming on the 10 dreams that are the most important to. Get you to the point where you are living your best life. I will end by saying. The beauty of doing a six month review a mid year check-in. Is not only that you can change course if you need to, or that you can. Refocus your time. You can. Get busy finishing some things that you really want to work on. But when you go to. Complete your year end review, which we'll talk more about when it gets to be the end of the year, but you know, that spend some time that week between Christmas and new years. To do a look back. You only have to look six months back because you already have your mid-year review. So when it comes time to looking back on the whole year on all of 20, 23 and asking yourself. All of the same questions, you know? what did I do that brought me the most joy? What caused me the most stress? What am I most proud of? What were my biggest lessons learned? What habits did I start? what do I want more of? In the coming year. What do I want less of. You've already done half the work. So your going to have a huge leg up. On finishing the year and finishing that. End of the year review. You're going to do it quicker. It's going to be more meaningful. I would love to hear from you. After you do your mid-year check-in your six month review. I'd love to hear what takeaways you have. You can always email me, send me any questions, DME. I love to hear from you, but I am a hundred percent convinced that this is worth your time. And I really hope you find some time in the next week. To do your mid-year check-in it is always a worthwhile exercise. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the School of Midlife podcast. I'd love it if you would take a moment and leave me a five star review so that we can spread the word to other mid-life women. Then join my mailing list. The link is in the show notes. And if you're ready to make midlife your best life, you can also find out more about how to work with me in the show notes. I'll see you right back here next week when the School of Midlife is back in session.