EP 077: Business: Year in Review Episodes

Over the weekend, I had a friend over for dinner.

This time of year, I enjoy having people over for a dinner party and getting reflective on the year that has been.

My go-to questions are:

Out of 10, how would you rate your 2022?
What was your biggest win?
What did you learn?

I find it sets up a high-quality conversation, and I tend to learn something.

As you can imagine, I was eager to get my questions out early in the evening and take up the entire night’s conversation unpacking them.

A much more enjoyable conversation than, “How’s this Melbourne weather…”

Anyhow, 

I opened the first bottle of wine and launched into question one.

Out of 10, how would you rate your 2022?

As I said it, I could see his face drop.
It was like I had just given him bad news.

All the excitement of the evening disappeared, and the mood changed in an instant.

He paused for a moment.

Looked around the room.

Then just launched into all these stories on how the year went terribly for him.

And when I say stories…
All the excuses on why he had not done well this year.

… The economy 
… Marketing changed
… It was hard to recruit people
… I had to let go of some C players

He even called 2022 a write-off and was ready for 2023.

It was noticeable that he had checked out for the year.

He kept going on and on, trying to convince me why it was okay for him to have had a bad year.
Wanting me to justify it for him.

I could see he was wanting me to say it was the same for me or validate that it was ok to do poorly this year.

I nodded along and changed the topic of conversation as soon as I could.

I knew if I challenged him or offered suggestions to close out the year strong, he might break into tears.

I felt deflated by the end of the night.
It’s draining to hear someone whinge and complain all night while they sink booze.

I was relieved when he left.

But I couldn’t get this conversation off my mind.
I was still thinking about it when I went to bed.

The year isn’t even done, and he has already written it off…

As my head lay on my pillow, a thought hit me.

The stories we sell ourselves on are dangerous.

I faced most of the same challenges my friend did, but I had an excellent year.

One of my best on record.

I’m not any more skilled than he is.
My friend is super talented at what he does.

But my story was:

All this uncertainty and change in the world creates MASSIVE opportunities for me and my business. 

I’m going to seize it!

Anyhow,

I hope this story gets you to check the stories you are holding as fact.
Changing the story might just be the most powerful thing you do.

And to be careful of those negative nancies in your network.

They will drag you down if you give them the chance.

Anyhow, this week on the podcast, Grant and I are releasing our “Business” year in review.

As you might have guessed by this intro, I had a great year!
(I hope you also did.)

If you want to hear all the details on the year that was 2022, make sure to stick with us until the end of this podcast!

DISCLAIMER:
All information we share is NOT financial or investment advice and is purely intended for entertainment and educational purposes only. Always seek professional advice before acting on any financial decision.