If you don’t know me and the journey I’ve been on since 2017, I’m a mom of 3 boys under the age of 14 (my oldest just turned 13 on January 9 – we officially have a teenage in the house!). In 2017, I was working for a large corporation in software, and I woke up one day realizing I was tired of the daily grind. I felt like I was in the movie Groundhog Day (you know the one – with Bill Murray) getting up answering email after email, fighting fire after fire, and ending my week drained, unfulfilled, and feeling stuck.
It was around this time that I decided it was time for me to find more meaning, to rediscover who I really was after 5-6 years of feeling in survival mode. As a new mom and mom of toddlers, I can’t think of any other way to explain the way I felt. It was survival mode when I was home, and it was a hamster wheel when I was at work. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything with meaning, I cringed at the word “passion” because I thought it was a made-up word used by “gurus” to convince me to buy their products.
Back then, as a corporate employee, I didn’t have a major vision for where I wanted to go, who I wanted to become, or a vision for my future. I was just going with what my managers or other corporate people were telling me I “should” want – climbing the corporate ladder, taking on more responsibilities, becoming valuable to the company.
But I still wanted something more. I wanted to feel fulfilled at the end of the week. I wanted to be excited about something when I woke up. I was tired of feeling tired. What I didn’t realize back then was that the problem wasn’t my job, and it wasn’t because I was a corporate employee – the problem was me.
So, I started the long, painful journey of figuring out what I wanted, who I wanted to become, and how I was going to get there. Of course, I’m still on this journey – I likely always will be to some extent. It’s evolved ever since, but the momentum I’ve developed has me excited for Monday’s again, looking forward to goal setting, clarity in my vision, and having fun on a weekly basis.
This journey has allowed me to develop routines and rituals into my years, months, weeks, and even days. These help me stay on track, and I truly believe they are why I have managed to build not only one small business, but two. They’ve also helped me stay focused on what’s important to me, helping me take the steps to get my first book published in 2024, and I am sure all the momentum I’ve built is why I’ve been asked to publish more books this year, teach workshops, and be involved in more collaborations within each of my businesses. The momentum is building, and I’m loving the journey!
Of course, this isn’t to say that everything is perfect. The first week of January was an important reminder of how important it is for me to keep up these routines and rituals no matter how well I think things are going.
This past week, I was sitting down to do my weekly review routine, which I’ll add some details about below in case you are interested in learning more about it. All week, I’ve felt overwhelmed, plagued with headaches and nervous energy. Every night, my sleep was sporadic, and I knew that something was off. On the last day of my week (January 7), I realized I was allowing other people influence my mindset a little too much. Something I thought I had learned from years ago …
If you’re like me, you might subscribe to various productivity email lists. I also am subscribed to email lists for marketing tips, small business tips, etc. because you never know when there’s something new to learn, even in an area you feel confident in. Plus, you may have the odd naysayer in your life, trying to tell you that what you are doing is wrong and trying to bring you down to their level.
Needless to say, my first week of 2025 was NOT what I thought it would be. Thankfully, I still had some fantastic progress in this season of my passions and pursuits (I firmly believe we have seasons of passions, and not just one for life – but that’s another blog post topic). However, I didn’t end the week feeling amazing and motivated like I had hoped. Instead, I felt tired, unsure about my direction, and wondering if I should just back off.
It happens to all of us, even when we feel like we are on the right track.
Thankfully, I have two very important rituals in my schedules that I prioritize:
My Weekly Planning & Review system
My Sacred 7 Sisters monthly group meeting
The combination of these two things lined up so well I feel like something bigger than me made sure to have them happen together. They both helped me step back and reassess what I was feeling – to dig deeper into the exhaustion, disappointment, and uncertainty.
Do you know what I realized?
I was allowing the hype of New Year’s hustle culture, and the naysayers, influence my mindset and my actions.
Like REALLY?!?!
I thought I had gotten over that. Just goes to show you, even when you think you’ve combatted a bad habit and won, it can sneak back in on you when you are least expecting it. Thankfully, after having a wondering monthly group meeting with my “soul sisters”, who reminded me that my alignment to my own path, and the synchronicities and momentum and intuitive pull that I feel, is more important than what anyone external to me is telling me to do.
To clarify – my “soul sisters” (aka the Sacred 7) – is a group of beautiful, magical ladies from all walks of life and ages. We connected over Soul Coaching® and business, and we continue to catch up on Zoom once a month to celebrate our successes, offer tips during our challenges, and hold space for each other to be heard and understood. If you haven’t found your inner circle (which I am grateful to have more than one), then I highly recommend making that a mission of yours this year. I would not have my clarity and confidence without my inner circles. (*love you Sisters if you are reading this!*)
Now, back to my weekly planning and review system – this is a system that has evolved and grown since 2017. It helps me check back in with not only my goal progress, but also keeps me aligned to what I truly want to achieve in life, who I want to BE. This system helps me to make sure that the goals I set out to achieve at the start of the quarter are ACTUALLY WHAT I WANT/NEED.
Sometimes those goals we set at the beginning of the year, or quarter if you’re like me, are shiny and exciting. But then, as we get into the nitty gritty of the quarter and things start cropping up, we realize that the goal we thought we wanted is turning us into something we DON’T WANT to be.
That’s what my system helped me realize at the end of week one this month. I was returning to that hustle culture – the culture I left years ago to embrace the “harmony” culture that I love and now teach others to embrace in their own lives.
So what did I do?
I finished my review and said “thanks” to my past self for setting up these fantastic rituals to remind me of who I am and who I am becoming. Then I reflected on my original goals I set only the week before and adapted my plans to better suit who I want to become by the end of this quarter. The connected, present mom and business owner that has freedom and harmony in her schedule and achievements.
Now I feel more on track, more aligned, and more confident in what I’m hoping to achieve. I’m also releasing the energy of the naysayers that have tried to bring me down. I’m putting back up my “shields” to not let their energy become my energy. I refuse to dim my light, quiet my voice, or stop my mission. I feel good in what I’m doing and will continue forward no matter what others say.
My Weekly Planning & Review System
You may be curious about what it is I do each week to keep on track and stay aligned to my mission, the smaller piece of my overall quest to that future identity I envision when I close my eyes.
First, I sit down and review my schedule for the past week. Thankfully, I try to keep track of my wins and things I am grateful for happening on a almost daily basis. This helps me go back and remind myself of the fantastic things that happened during the week, so that I start off in a more grateful, happy mindset.
Next, I reflect on questions like:
What were my top 3 wins / grateful for moments from this week?
What were the top 3 things I learned (about myself or about my mission) this week?
What was the biggest challenge I face this week (mentally, physically, emotionally)?
How could I have done better this week? OR did I try to take on too much?
How did this week make me feel? Were there moments I felt my energy drained, extinguished, or negatively impacted? What activities, people, or energy was I allowing in my space at those moments?
How do I want to feel in this upcoming week? What could I do to make sure that happens? Do I have to release something, reschedule something, or adjust my goals to stay in harmony?
Once I’ve done a really deep dive into my weekly reflection, I have other rituals and routines that I do to help me fully let go of the week. All of which I tend to share on my Instagram and in my weekly newsletter (Quest to Harmony). After all that is complete, I review my responses to my reflection and then start planning for the new week.
If you want more information about my goal setting and “Quest to Harmony” frameworks that I’ve been building since I was that tired, unmotivated, burned out corporate employee in 2017, I will be sharing all of this information over the coming months in my newsletter, Quest to Harmony, as well as on my YouTube channel and with ebooks and guides on my website. I’ll also be launching a free online membership on my Wix Spaces app soon! Join Quest to Harmony if you’re interested – my subscribers always get to know what’s coming up first!
If you found this article helpful, please share this with someone you care about that might be looking to achieve big goals and dreams (or maybe they need help figuring out what those are!). I’ve committed to sharing my journey for all of 2025 across my platforms on a weekly basis (or more if I can manage it).
Comment below if anything resonated with you!
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