It’s a massive thank you from me this week, for watching, for listening, for being part of my community. Whether you’re working with me already or planning to do so in 2022, you’re commenting and engaging on my videos and posts, or you’re simply watching from the shadows – thank you!
*Resources mentioned during the episode*
1:1 coaching and mentoring: If you’re looking for support in getting that all-important clarity on what it is that you want from the next stage of your career, let me help you do just that in an individual coaching programme. www.onestepoutside.com/coaching
A personal review and reflection
Transcript:
Hello, hello and welcome to the final episode of 2021. 2021, it’s been an interesting one to say the least. Better worse than the previous year, I don’t know, it’s been interesting, I think is the word and absolutely a difficult one for many of us. For me, it’s meant learning to manage the family with two kids. I had my second little baby in a November last year, so I’ve got the two now and as much as possible putting my mental and physical health at the forefront. It’s definitely been needed, but also quite challenging of course, and managing my business alongside as well. So I recognise that I’ve been very lucky and I’m grateful for this past year for the support I’ve had for my family, for our health. And I know it’s been so, so tough in so many ways. So whatever you’ve been through this year, here’s to a better, a more positive, lighter, easier, optimistic future, I guess, 2022 and beyond.
Now, if you’ve been part of my community for a while, if you’ve listened to the podcast or been in my group or used any of my resources, you’ll know I talk about the five Ls of a balanced life, a balanced definition of success. And this is not intended to put pressure on us to try to achieve, achieve, achieve in lots of different areas of our life. I’ve got to run a marathon and we’ve got to have the successful business and, and, and right. It’s more to shift our focus away from the usual focus on only the work domain, because that tends to be where we get obsessed by the nature of I think society’s expectations. And that’s what we do most of the time, if we have a job, if we’re working now out of obligation, I guess sometimes, we shift our focus away from say certain areas, what we want to make sure though, is that we’re doing it with our eyes open I suppose.
We’re doing it because we know why we’re doing it. Okay. Right now I can’t focus on a massive career push because I have the kids and I’m homeschooling, for example, because of COVID, let’s say. Or right now I can’t start a new business because I need to be taking care of my health, my family’s health and so on. And those are really important priorities. All we need to, we have to, because we have no choice. So whether it’s by choice or not, at least being aware of those decisions we’re making and the shifts away or towards different areas. Now the five Ls as a recap, if you’re new to the community are live, love, learn, lead, laugh. So live is health and wellbeing. Love: relationships, belonging. Learn: development and growth. Lead: career and impact and laugh, fun and spontaneity. And for this last one, by the way, I came across Eve Rodsky’s book Fair Play. I’ve just bought it.
I haven’t read it yet. Or maybe I will have by the time you listen to this episode I’m recording, I haven’t. But she talks about unicorn space. And this is something I’m definitely going to be trying to make more time for next year, because it’s that magic, that thing that is interesting, that makes you interesting, that is the essence of who you are, whether it’s a sense of spirituality or creativity, having fun. It’s something that you’re not just doing for, you know, oh, I’m going to the gym or exercising, or I need to learn because of my work or whatever. It’s really that unicorn space. It’s magical. Right? So I love that idea. And I hope you do too if you haven’t come across that before. For me looking back, of course, this is a time of reflection and we’re doing so in the Facebook group. I’ve been running a free workshop on this as well.
Hopefully you may have seen around. I’ve been, I think quite successfully, I want to say, and I use that term lightly focusing on these different five areas. So I’m pleasantly surprised because it hasn’t been quite with intention and it has been a tough year, but actually if I take the health and wellbeing, I’m actually fitter and stronger and at a lower weight than I’ve been in over a decade. Now, it’s not about the weight on the scales, but certainly I feel really good. I’ve been working with a personal trainer and nutritionist, and I don’t feel like I’ve been doing any kind of hard diet or anything, being really just managing nutrition and moving and so, and I feel really good about that. So that’s something I’ve really focused on, of course, after the two pregnancies, I like to think I’ve got a strong relationship with my partner.
Community, we’ve moved to a new area, so we don’t have so many friends. We’ve got some family nearby. We’ve got some really lovely friends and that’s been an important one. In terms of learning, I signed up to positive psychology course last year during lockdown and I finally finished that this year so I’m really thrilled with that. It took a lot longer than I’d hoped, but certainly a good investment of my time and money in upskilling for my coaching. I’ve also as ever worked in a business mind this year, business mastermind rather, meeting other experts, other personal brand entrepreneurs and learning from someone who’s further ahead in the business than I am. Now, there’s been so much I’ve done in the business action, a lot of it’s been behind the scenes in terms of lead, the career and impact because I’m so impatient about making a bigger impact and reaching more people.
And I haven’t necessarily had the time, made the time for that this year with the two little kids at home and so on. However, I’ve done all sorts of things. I did a new photo shoot, so I’ve got new photography, new brand design for both my business, my company, and my personal brand, restaged both of my websites. Again, both onestepoutside.com and annalimbo.com. I’ve been running live workshops. I ran the escape plan challenge five days. I’ve done a new masterclass live. I did a personal brand session. I did a business model session. I’ve created new resources, lead magnets as we call them in the biz, email sequences and I have site much confidence now in what I have to offer. So although it’s been a lot of behind the scenes stuff, I really feel like I’ve laid the foundation, spent a lot of money, and that is really an investment.
And next year, I’m really planning on hitting the ground running and getting that into the world.
And this unicorn space, I think, has been the final one. The laugh, the fun spontaneity has been a challenge. I’ve chosen to focus on fitness in terms of running and weights and so on. I believe Eve Rodsky says I’m not allowed to count that as unicorn space, but it has been important for my own mental wellbeing and I do enjoy it. I’ve had a few little one girly dinner. I’ve started having baths, maybe that’s more wellbeing. So the unicorn space is definitely an area where I’d like to make more time, make more of a focus. But I think hopefully we can all do that in the coming year. As the kids get a bit older, both of them are starting nursery.
And also COVID of course, lets up a little bit. Now comes to the podcast, reflecting a bit on the podcast, we’re at over 160 episodes, many thousand downloads. And again, it’s so easy to be impatient. I’m learning to enjoy the ride and value the process. I talked about enjoying the journey just a few weeks ago. It’s really easy to get caught up in wanting more downloads. I see these people who have 7 million downloads and oh my goodness, how on earth is that happening? Of course, they’ve been in business for 10 to 20 years longer than I have, right? But of course we want to get higher in the top 100 list. We want to be that best selling author and top 50 marketing podcast, whatever. As I record this, actually I was just reminded I’m in the top 5% of podcast globally. And that’s amazing.
And to be honest, whatever the number I want to take this opportunity to say I’m so, so grateful for each of you as a listener who takes the time to tune in.
I know how valuable that time is to trust me, to listen, to apply what you’re learning and maybe also taking that next step, joining the Facebook group, joining one of my workshops or moving on to work with me. So I want to say, thank you. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for being a part of the One Step Outside community, it means so much to me. And again, it’s so easy to lose sight of what is right in front of you in that rush to get to the next level, to get to more people, and you forget that if you’ve got a hundred people in your group, a thousand people, 10,000, can you imagine having those people in a room?
My goodness, if I had, I think it’s, let’s say, I don’t know, 20,000, 50,000 downloads, I can’t even begin to picture what that means in terms of minutes, hours listened, people listening and engaging and hopefully making changes, whether it’s using the five Ls model or using the five pillars of that business and life outside the nine to five beginning to redefine success. Whatever lesson you are taking, I’m so, so grateful again to you for tuning in listening, trusting me. So thank you so much for this year, for 2021. Thank you for being part of the community and I wish you every success in 2022, whatever that looks like for you. Thank you so much. And I’ll see you in the new year. Take care.
If you’re ready to start to reimagine what success could look like for you, here are some of the ways in which Anna can support you:
Get private mentoring for your business – Partnering with a business coach can help you see those blind spots and get both external accountability and expert guidance to take your business to where you want it to be. www.onestepoutside.com/freeconsultation
Get private career coaching – Individual coaching is fully tailored to your specific goals and desires so we can create the programme that works best for you, with the support that you need to move forwards. www.onestepoutside.com/claritycall
Grab a copy of Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5 – After interviewing 50 people who have left the corporate 9 to 5 to forge their own path, Anna has collected their stories in a book that will inspire you with the possibilities that are out there and reassure you that you’re not alone in looking for an alternative. www.leavingthecorporate9to5.com
Join the One Step Outside the 9 to 5 Business Incubator – This is your roadmap to transitioning from a corporate job into setting up a meaningful business that will bring you more freedom, flexibility and fulfilment outside of the corporate 9 to 5. www.onestepoutside.com/9to5
Level up with The Outsiders Business Accelerator – This is a mastermind for entrepreneurs, freelancers and small business owners who want to create a long-term sustainable brand and business. www.onestepoutside.com/accelerate
