It’s the end of the year and 2020 is just around the corner so happy holidays from me and the entire Live Your Message team!

 As we close in on the final few days of 2019, I wanted to take this opportunity to look back over the hard-won lessons I’ve learned over this past year…

They’re mostly about building a business and life that’s meaningful to me and focusing on the things that matter.

So here are my 5 game-changing lessons from this past year.  

Hard-Won Lesson #1: Learn to Surrender So You Can Do Great Work

Honestly, this has been the HARDEST year that I’ve ever experienced in my 8 years as an entrepreneur.

I hit burnout and I experienced some serious adrenal fatigue. I just didn’t have the energy to create at the level that I was used to in my business and for me, that was a very hard thing to accept.

But I had to learn to surrender and I had to learn that I can’t do everything on my own…

 I had to learn that my message and my vision in my business is SO much bigger than me and that I need support not just once in a while, but every, single day if I want to continue to do great work in the world.

So, 2019 is when I feel like I finally accepted my limits at a new level.

 I’ve become a little more vulnerable, a little more deeply human, a little more aware of not just what I could do in the world, but how I want to live my life.

Hard-Won Lesson #2: Your Value Doesn’t Come from What You Do

Sometimes, in the early stages of building an online business, you’ve got to hustle and you’ve got to grind it out a bit.

You’ve got to work hard to get to that escape velocity where you can leave the gravitational pull of your life behind and get out there in a much bigger way.

But at some point, you’ve got to stop the hustle and you’ve got to stop the grind and you’ve got to start enjoying your life.

You need to recognize that the design of your life is so much bigger than what you do in your business.

And while Live Your Message is a HUGE part of who I am and what I do, it’s not the only thing.

While intellectually I know that my value and worth as a human doesn’t come from what I do in the world but from how I’m showing up and how I’m being every single day, I don’t think I really accepted and understood that at the deepest possible level until this year.

 And it’s something I’m so grateful for as I look forward to new goals and dreams in 2020 and beyond.

Hard-Won Lesson #3: Start Asking Who You are Beyond Your Business

So, there was a part of me that was always overcompensating.

A part of me that was always striving and trying to prove to my family and to everyone else, that I was worth something. 

That kind of ego-driven desire to prove something and make it BIG in the world and to succeed and have an impact… led me to burnout.

 So, I’ve finally started to listen to myself and ask, “Well, who am I beyond what I do? Who am I beyond this business that I’m building?”

And I’ve started looking 5 and 10 years out to the future. It’s something that I’ve never been able to do before this year — that I’ve been reluctant to do it — because I always thought, Why bother? You can’t predict the future!

But I realized that without an end game and a bigger vision for my life, I was losing touch with the why behind my work in the world.

So, I asked myself, “Am I really going to be doing what I’m doing, forever?” 

Chances are I will be writing and I will be speaking and I will be facilitating and I will be mentoring and coaching because I LOVE all those things.

But I want to have the option to not do that sometimes, if I don’t want to.

I want to have the option to travel the world, to hunker down and write a book, to pursue projects related to film or my other passions and interests like public art. 

Hard-Won Lesson #4: Forget “Fly by the Seat of My Pants” and Build a REAL Business

This year I’ve also come to realize that I need to look at my business differently.

It’s not just the expression of who I am but something that could potentially be sellable one day (even though I don’t think I’ll ever sell Live Your Message!)

So often online businesses start out as a “fly by the seat of my pants” type of thing. 

But at some point in the road, you need to choose to be a real business owner.

And so often, with many of my students — and it’s true for me too — it’s tempting to want to take shortcuts and hold everything together with super glue and duct tape.

So often, we don’t take the time to build real systems and a loyal, long-term team.

These are some of the structures you need to give yourself a break. These are the things you need to take a REAL vacation without having everything fall apart because you’re not around!

Now imagine what would be possible when you can have a massive impact on the world and complete financial freedom…

AND have freedom of mind and freedom of time to do whatever you want to do — whether it’s for work or for play. 

If you want all of that, it means you need to start building a real business with systems and processes and long-term support from the best team you can find.

Hard-Won Lesson #5: Stop Doing Business by Default or Obligation

This might sound strange but I’m grateful that I ran out of steam for my business and here’s why…

That whole experience of feeling burned out allowed me to turn inward and take a good look at who I really am and what I really want.

It got me to stop doing business by default, to stop doing business out of obligation and — because of that — the future that I see is so much brighter.

It gives me freedom… freedom to go back to what I really love to do, which is creating every single day.

I’ve found that when I’m not creating and I’m busy managing and scaling things, I lose my inner compass, I lose my happiness and my satisfaction with what I’m doing.

Now I know that all I should be doing here on this earth is writing, speaking, making videos like this and just creating on a bigger and bigger scale. 

I’ve committed to give myself the freedom to create over the next 5 to 10 years…

And I want to help you create YOUR vision for 2020 and beyond!

I’ve got a little New Year’s tradition that I’ve started where I hold a free online workshop on New Year’s Day.

 So on January 1st  2020, from 1 to 4pm Pacific, you’re invited to a very special workshop where I’ll walk you through planning your BEST year… ever!

This is about creating a future vision that will allow you to stay true to yourself and how you want to show up every single day, and creating all the other things that are important and meaningful to you.

I want you to be pulled forward by a powerful vision and find your internal motivation to be the best version of yourself and create your best year yet!

I know when you’re fully aligned, nothing can stop you… and that’s what I want for you 🙂

I look forward to seeing what 2020 brings for you, for me and for all of us, because together we can change the world from our living rooms. 

Before you go, I’d love to know… 

What’s one beautiful, powerful vision, goal or dream that you hold for yourself or your business in 2020?

Share in the comments below 🙂 

Take care and have a happy holiday!