Important Lessons I Learned in 2015

It's that time again, folks. That time of year when everyone is excited about a fresh start, and ready to take the proverbial clean slate the new year brings and create something fantastic.

And, since the new year also brings with it the need for new planners and a solid excuse to buy new office supplies (yay!), I am of course, all about it. But I confess, I get a bit bored with the cliche "I'm-going-to-make-these-resolutions-and-stick-to-them-all-year!" nonsense that I see so often, particularly because those types of resolutions only last for like.....a month. Maybe.

This year, I am changing up my strategy in 2016 by not making any goals or resolutions for the year until the end of the month. I am going to spend January reflecting on 2015 - what was awesome, what went wrong - and then create an actual plan for 2016, one that incorporates everything I've learned, and sets me up for success.

So without further ado, here are some of the lessons I learned in 2015:

1.) Don't over-commit.
This is probably the biggest one. I had these grand plans of weekly blog posts, an email newsletter every two weeks, writing a course, writing some ebooks........ Obviously, that really didn't happen. I found that I was unable to keep up with all the client work I had, plus keep up with all my own writing and business marketing. I got burned out on trying to keep up with everything I thought I needed to do, and lost my inspiration. The task of taking care of my own business fell to the wayside.

The lesson: Only commit to what you can keep consistent.

2.) Stop trying to do everything.
Part of the reason I ended up so burnt out at the end of the year was because I was trying to keep up with everything. Periscope came out, and I saw people killin' it all over the place, so I thought I had to do it, too. But every time I did it, I felt awkward and uncomfortable. I felt myself talking too fast, felt my face getting red, heard myself stumbling over my words because even though I had planned out what I was going to say, I was so uncomfortable that I lost my train of thought. I got anxiety every time I saw a notification that someone I knew was doing a scope, because I felt like such a failure because in my head, I couldn't measure up.

The lesson: Just because someone else is doing it, doesn't mean you have to, too. It's okay to not be on every single platform.

3.) Taking care of yourself is more important than taking care of your business.
I'll be honest - I have been away from the office occasionally, but I haven't had an actual vacation, where I wasn't checking emails or available for anything my clients needed, in almost 3 years. Running a business, supporting myself, trying to figure this all out as I go along is hard. It's stressful, and mentally and physically exhausting. I have been spending so much time working - evenings, weekends, holidays - that I've lost any kind of healthy work-life balance. I believe in being supportive of my clients, yes, and I will always do everything I can to help them....but at some point, I will become so burnt out on everything that I will be completely useless to everyone.

The lesson: Self-care is important. When you make that a priority, your work and business will be better for it.

4.) Never stop learning.
I used to hate anything that had to do with numbers. I've never been very good at math, so I threw the baby out with the proverbial bathwater. Then a client needed some bookkeeping help, and much to my surprise, I fell in love with it! This year, I pushed myself a little bit farther and got certified as a QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor! I still have a lot to learn, but it's been really fun for me to dig into QuickBooks more. I am loving everything I'm learning now, and really looking forward to learning even more in the next year.