#30: Your 2024 Plans WON’T Work Without This
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The Key to Successful Planning…
Connect with your why!
I've got something truly special to share with you today. Everyone’s talking about planning for 2024 and making their business plan early so you’re ready to go as soon as 1st January 2024 rolls around. And that’s great! I’m a huge fan of planning and I always map out each year to make sure I get the results I want for my business.
But… There’s something I think that’s far more important than your plan. In fact, it’s the key to making your plan come alive!
This week, I’m sharing a heart-to-heart chat. I want to take you on a journey through some of the highs, the lows, and the comebacks I've experienced in my personal life that have shaped how I approach business and are exactly what we need to achieve our goals.
You see, life isn't just about bouncing back when it throws you a curveball; it's about forging ahead with an unshakable spirit and a crystal-clear vision of where you're headed. 🚀
So, I'm not holding back; I'm getting real, raw, and vulnerable, sharing my very own rollercoaster of a story.
Many years ago, I was a gymnastics instructor, living my dream until fate stepped in and threw me a massive curveball. 💔 I suffered a severe back injury that didn't just hurt me physically but shook me to the core emotionally. I faced pain, battled depression, and even tussled with addiction.
But my story didn't stop there. No way! It's a story of transformation, resilience, and rediscovering myself. 🌟
I've gone through it all – the loss of identity, the tough road to recovery, and the exhilarating journey back to myself. And I'm sharing every gritty detail, so you know you're not alone if you've ever felt like life's punches just keep coming.
Why am I sharing this with you? Because it’s the essence of this story, the message behind it that will be key to enjoying success in your business and living your life with joy and authenticity.
I want you to feel inspired, hopeful, and ready to run into 2024 with your eyes wide open for a fabulous ride!
I'm all about staying laser-focused and setting goals that truly align with your core values.
So, I’m sharing struggles, triumphs, and those pivotal moments that made me rethink my life's priorities.
Here's the golden nugget: Adversity doesn't define us; it's our response to it that shapes our future. 🌈
I'll get you thinking about your 'why,' that burning passion that fuels your dreams. 💪 Perseverance, self-belief, and creative problem-solving are the keys to unlock life's challenges.
And here's the kicker: Life might throw some crazy curveballs, but there's always a path to recovery and success. It takes grit, daily action, and sometimes leaning on the pros when things get tough.
As the episode wraps up, I'll invite you to do some soul-searching, to uncover your 'why,' and to commit to chasing it down with unwavering determination. 🎯
With 2024 just around the corner, this message couldn't be more timely. It's your call to action, your nudge to start the new year with resilience and intention. 💥
In a nutshell, my journey isn't just a personal story; it's a roadmap for anyone who's ready to rise above their greatest challenges. I'm living proof that life's curveballs can lead to incredible discoveries. 🌠
So, grab your favourite cozy spot, get your earbuds out and get ready to be inspired.
This episode is an invitation to live with intention, to boldly chase the essence of what gives your life meaning and is exactly what you need to do BEFORE you start your business plan for 2024.
So, you can strut into 2024 with a heart full of purpose and a spirit that is unbreakable! 💃🎙️💫
(full transcription below)
Main Points
00:04 – Overcoming Loss and Rebuilding After Injury
16:02 – Believe in Yourself, Find a Way
22:19 – Focus on Your Why and Commit to It
22:43 – The Secret to Achieve Your 2024 Plans
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of your dreams!
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Hi, I’m Samantha Bell
I’m all about helping you build the business – and life – you’ve always wanted.
Listen in for the simple, actionable strategies, mindset shifts, and practices you need to make your business thrive. Plus, a healthy dose of self-care, health, and wellness so you can live the life you absolutely adore while building your beautiful business.
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Transcription
00:04
Welcome to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast, where we share simple, actionable strategies plus the mindset and wellness practices you need to build the business and life you love. Head to 16thavecreative.com/playbook and download your free guide to design the business and life you deserve today. I'm your host, Samantha Bell, and this is the Brilliant Business Beautiful Life podcast. Are you ready for the business and life of your dreams? Let's get started. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast.
00:39
Today I've sort of slipped out of the scheduling. I actually missed last week because the wheels fell off life and this week is late, so I wanted to deviate from my planned podcast and just not talk about planning for 2024. Everyone's talking about that, and I think there's something actually far more important to do before you start putting plans in place for your business for next year. So I wanted to chat about that, and it's a bit of a story. It's a personal story, so I'm going to share that with you now.
01:18
I was having a virtual conversation with one of my beautiful clients in the United States recently and she just injured her back and was having a really tough time, and I just felt so bad for her especially because I could really relate, because it reminded me of a time many, many, many years ago when I was much younger, much fitter and stronger and I used to teach gymnastics. And one particular day I was teaching gymnastics to a kindergarten class and they were actually my favourite classes to teach, because those kids, they were there for the pure joy of moving their little bodies and exerting as much energy as they could. They were just so full of life and went at every single thing I asked them to do with such joy and enthusiasm. It was so amazing. And compared to classes of older students who may have been there because their parents thought they were going to be the next Olympic gold medalist, or it was an activity they were forced to do, or they were maybe sometimes some of them were obsessing over themselves because they wanted to be the next Olympic athlete but weren't quite at that level yet, so it was causing them some stress and anxiety.
02:39
Anyway, I was teaching this beautiful kindergarten class full of five and six year olds and I was on the beam, the balancing beam, and I was teaching them a new routine. It was very simple and one of the kids said to me Miss Sam, Miss Sam, can you please show us a trick? Can you do a jump? Do a jump, do a jump. And they all started yelling out do a jump, do a jump. So I did a jump, and they all laughed and clapped and thought it was amazing. And then they're like, do something else, show us another trick. And they're getting all excited as only little kids can. So I kept going through and showing them different things on the beam and mucking around and having a bit of fun.
03:20
Now I had set the beam up for me, not for them, so it was far too high for them. So they were just watching me and I probably forgot that and I got caught up in the moment and I was making them laugh and I decided, oh, I'll do a flip on the beam, which I had done many, many times before and nothing bad had ever happened. But on this occasion it went a little differently and I wasn't concentrating on what I was doing. I wasn't focusing on the beam or on my form or anything I should have been focusing on. I was focusing on the kids and I was literally showing off. So off into the air I went, and I came back down, did the flip fine, but it was the landing that was wrong. So, instead of landing beautifully on my feet on the beam, I landed badly on my lower back across the beam and I actually broke my back. It was horrible. Long story short, for the next few years they were some of the toughest years of my life. And it was a period of time where I was told by many, many experts that I was actually not going to be able to walk properly again, or if I did, it was going to be very limited. It was going to have limited mobility. I was going to be restricted to a wheelchair for most of the time, and hearing that news for me was devastating.
04:50
I was your typical Aussie outdoors girl. I was always at the beach. I was always horse-riding. Now, when I was growing up, I used to have a horse. I'd go riding a few times a week. I just loved my horse. Her name was Candy and she was beautiful. She was a retired stock horse, so she was super fast, light on her hooves, and I just had so much fun with her. I loved to bits, but anyway. I'd go horse-riding, go to the beach, go roller skating all the time. That was another favorite thing and of course, I was always taking my kids everywhere with me and they loved doing all these things as much as I did and we had an awesome time together.
05:33
I did athletics at school, I was a great sprint runner. I loved my gymnastics. I did ballet, I did ballroom dancing. I was always doing something with my body. I couldn't keep still and if I wasn't out and about, even at home, I'd be dancing around the house or practicing my gymnastics, or out in the backyard I'd be swimming or running or jumping on the trampoline, you know, just doing whatever we could to be active, getting out on our bikes, things like that. Lots and lots of activities.
06:08
So for me to hear the diagnosis that I was going to be chained to a wheelchair and not be able to do any of the things I loved to do, that was devastating. But more devastating to me was not being able to do any of those things ever again with my kids. That just broke my heart. And because I was in such pain. I was in intense, intense pain. I was on very, very strong opioid medication prescription medication and I got very depressed. I eventually became addicted to the medication and I just completely lost myself.
06:51
It was a very dark, dark time. Thankfully, I had absolutely wonderful friends around me and they were so supportive. I have a beautiful girlfriend, Vicki, and she would come over and she would actually massage my feet and she always made me laugh and just, she's a beautiful human, she always brings joy everywhere she goes, so she'd bring joy into the house and it was just lovely having her there. And her husband did natural therapy and he tried to help me with my back too, and other friends kept checking in on me and doing what they could, and my mum was amazing, but you know, I had two little children at that time. They were three and six years old, so it was really tough for them as well as it was for me, seeing Mummy not able to do all the fun things anymore and seeing Mummy in pain, seeing Mummy cry, seeing Mummy upset, so that was hard for them. I think it also contributed to the breakdown of my marriage. Eventually, it contributed to that not the cause, but I don't think it helped and, like I said, I was in depression and I was addicted to the drugs and going through pain.
08:08
Rehab was such a long, hard road. What got me out of it, though? What got me out, was this innate sense that this was not how my life was meant to be. I wanted more. I knew that I could have a better life than this. I knew I needed to get off the drugs. I needed to move my body, even though they told me that I wouldn't be able to, even though it hurt like hell. So I started trying to move around. Eventually I could crawl across the floor and then I started using a walker and I'd try and walk with the walker as far as I could, and you know that was tough, that was painful, but I wouldn't touch the wheelchair. So it didn't matter how slow I was going, how long I took, how painful it was, I would not get the wheelchair. I just got on the walker and hobbled along.
09:11
So eventually I got strong enough, I didn't need the walker and I was on a walking stick. I walked the kids to school on my walking stick and I remember one day I got a lift to the local gym because I couldn't drive, because my legs didn't work properly at that point yet. So I wasn't allowed to drive. But I got a lift to the gym because I thought I need to get off this walking stick. I just can't do this anymore. The pain was so intense still, it just wouldn't leave my body. But I knew I needed to do something, so I got dropped off at the gym. I stumbled into the gym on my walking stick and I thought okay, what the heck am I going to do here? I had to sign so many waivers and things before they even let me in, because they took no responsibility for me. And why should they?
10:07
After what felt like forever looking around this gym, feeling absolutely, completely out of my depth, totally in the wrong place, surrounded by all these gorgeous fit bodies and people who could do anything, I chose to go to the bike. I chose the bike because I could sit on the bike and I thought, oh, I can just gently pedal. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. It was more difficult than I anticipated, because the bikes are electric and they need you to power them with your feet, pedaling at a basic speed to turn them on, and my legs didn't have any power. I couldn't use them properly, so I couldn't even turn the bike on. So what I did was just sit there on the bike and try to move my legs. I tried to pedal, and I did this every single day, for hours and hours, every single day and eventually I remember with such joy the day I finally turned the bike on by pedaling with my feet. I literally cried with joy because I could pedal this bloody bike, I could turn it on and even though it was going very, very, very slowly, I didn't care. I turned it on and that was a huge milestone for me, that was a breakthrough.
11:39
I took that win and then I focused on the next milestone, the next milestone I realized I needed help with. I needed an expert to help me because I didn't know what to do next to get me where I wanted to be. I didn't know how to help myself. I hadn't dealt with this type of injury before. You know, as a gymnast, as an athlete, whatever, you get lots of injuries, but I had never had an injury like this one. So I didn't know what to do. So I got professional help.
12:16
I started working with an exercise physiologist who understood that, despite all the advice from the doctors, I needed not to listen to them. I needed to do things my own way, and it was actually very difficult to find someone who would listen to me and not the experts. So I am forever grateful to that man. We were in that gym every single day and he was amazing. He got me walking, he got me off that walking stick, he got me strong. And it was literally him and working my ass off every single day, being completely focused, being completely dedicated, not listening to the pain, not listening to my body screaming for drugs, not listening to people who said you shouldn't do that or you can't do that, or the doctors. I was stubborn and I was single-minded and I was pigheaded about ignoring all the people who said no, because I knew better. I knew what was right for me, so I did what was right for me. And the long, long, long, long, long story short. There's many, much more to that story.
13:32
Eventually I was off all the pain medication and that was another brutal journey. I went through extreme drug withdrawals. I literally thought I was going to die. Seriously, I thought I was going to die. That was such an intensely painful, physical, emotional, mentally-wracked time. I was racked with guilt and shame of being addicted to pain medication In the first place. I didn't admit it to anyone. I didn't tell anyone not even my husband at the time didn't even tell him that I was addicted to the medication because I was so shameful of it and I hid it from everybody and I went through cold turkey all by myself. I didn't get any help, I didn't go to rehab or anything to get off it, and that was tough. So when the kids were at school I was at home in a shaking, sweating, vomiting ball on the floor until eventually I got off that medication that I was addicted to. I had to fight that myself. It was incredibly intense but again, me and my kids we got through it. I got through it and it all worked out.
14:58
So I got off all forms of assisted walking and I got to the point where I can actually sort of run. Can't run properly, it's too painful. It's probably more of a shuffle and I don't do that very often because it really damages my back. But I can do so much more than they ever said I'd be able to. I can even roller skate now. As long as I don't fall over and hurt myself, I can get on my skates. I haven't been able to get on a horse yet and to be honest, I'm a little bit scared in case I re-break. But I can get on some roller skates and not fall over at all I can now do lots and lots of things I was told I would never do again. And the way I look at the things I can't do, instead of being sad or upset or a bit jaded about not being able to do everything, I've decided that I will just remember them with fondness instead. So think about those memories of doing all those amazing fun things and just love the memories. Be grateful for them, because life is still good.
16:02
The moral of this story is that you will have unexpected obstacles. Some of them will be life-shattering, some of them will nearly break you and some of them you will think you will never recover from, and that will happen in your life and in your business. But I want you to remember there is always a way. People will always tell you that you can't do things, but people are wrong. You can do whatever you put your mind to, and it's important that you remember there is always a way and that you focus on that Now. The way may not be the way you want it to be, may not be how you intend it to be, may not be in your grand plan, but you will have to think about it and try to have to pivot and change and find a different way, just like I did in getting off the medication and healing my back and still trying new things, not being scared to try new things, not losing your joie de vie, not letting things break. You Keep that vision that there is always a way.
17:18
I had my dream and my vision to be able to walk through pain in a way that made me happy and make sense for me. I chose to listen to my heart, to go with my intuition, to go with my gut, but, importantly, to try and to fail to fall but to keep getting up and to never stay down, because this is my one wonderful, glorious life and this is your one wonderful, glorious life. You are the only person living it. If you've got big dreams, if you have big goals, if you know what you want for your future, if you know where you want to go in your business, if you know what it can do for you, what you need it to do, what you want it to do for you and what you want it to do for your family and what is your greatest heart's desire, that's what you need to focus on, not the no's, not the you can'ts, not the you shouldn'ts, not what anyone else says is right for you. Only focus on what you know to be true, what you know is right for you.
18:23
Your biggest, boldest, scariest dream that needs to be your why. That is what you need to focus on, your why. And then you need to work backwards and work out oh so how am I going to get there? And you're not going to reach those lofty heights overnight. Those overnight success stories are not true, as I keep telling you. What you need to do before you take your first baby step is you need to crawl across the floor, then you need to find a way to get off the floor and onto the walker, then you need to get off the walker and onto the walking stick. And then you need to get on the bike and keep trying and trying and trying until you can turn it on. And then, when you can turn it on, you need to throw away that walking stick and learn to walk unassisted. And you can only do that if you believe in yourself, if you take bold action, if you seek out the help that you need to get there. Remember I needed an expert to help me to get where I needed to be, to get off that walking stick to be able to be strong and healthy and walk again.
19:29
And in your business, it's important to also take that approach Recognize where you need help. Recognize where the growth needs to come from in your business and who can help you get to where you need to be in that area and make that happen. Seek out that help, that professional help that you need. Seek it out and then commit to taking daily action, every single day. Push through the pain, feel the pain, do it anyway. See the obstacles, jump over them, find a way around them. Don't let them stop you. You'll hear no a million gazillion times, but say yes. Say this is what I'm going to do, this is what's going to get me where I want to go. Say yes to you. So this is what you need to focus on when you're moving into 2024.
20:20
Don't focus right now on doing your big, bold plan, nutting everything out. You can, if you want, of course, but I think more importantly, before you do that, you need to focus on where you're going, your dreams, your goals, your why. Where do I want to be? What do I want to achieve? Does this dream mean enough to me to do hard things? Am I going to tackle it with all of my whole heart. Am I going to do what it takes to get there?
20:49
You need to do whatever it takes to fulfill your dreams, to live your dream life, to take control of yourself, your mind, your body, your situation, and the reward will be never regretting a thing. You will never have regrets if you do that. You might have wrong turns, things may not pan out the way you expected them to or want them to, but you'll never have the regret of not trying. You'll never have the regret of not moving forwards. The only thing you will regret is listening to people saying no, is listening to people telling you you can't, is listening to people who are holding you back or the voices in your head that try to stop you. If you listen to that, you will regret it every single day of your life.
21:33
So, as you start thinking about moving into 2024, I want you to focus on your dreams, your goals, your desires and where you need to be for you, for your future. Your big, hairy, audacious goals. Even if they don't make sense to anyone else, you need to focus on them. Focus on your why. And remember it's not a competition. Do not compare yourself to anyone else, because your journey is uniquely yours and it is beautiful. So just take every amazing step and find the beauty and find the joy, and find your resolve, even among trials and hard aches, in those days where you think you just can't do it. Because, guess what? You can and you will.
22:19
So make that the most important thing you focus on as you move into 2024 and then work out your plan, because all the planning in the world will not work unless you do this first, unless you get crystal clear and fully committed to you and your why, knowing you're worth it, believing you're worth it and acting like it's already yours.
22:43
So go, be brave, be bold, live brilliantly, and I look forward to chatting with you again in the new year and I'd love to hear all about your plans next year, but I don't want to hear about them now. All I want to hear about now is your why and your commitment to your why, and next year in January, that's when we'll start talking about the plan. Merry Christmas everyone. Thanks so much for listening. I'd love to know your biggest takeaway from today's episode, so leave me a comment below or send a DM on Instagram. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast and feel free to share it with someone else who'll love it too. I look forward to seeing you for the next episode and remember the time is now for your Brilliant Business and the beautiful life you adore.
