I was texting my friend Marisa the other day, and at the end of our convo, her last text to me was, “What a difference a year can make, right?”
It got me thinking about just how true that statement is for me.
Our perspective about our accomplishments can easily get warped. Many of my clients forget how accomplished they are because they’re consistently onto the next thing. It’s so much of a pattern that one of the first exercises I often have them do is write a list of their accomplishments—big and small.
We tend to overestimate what we can get done in short periods of time and underestimate what we can achieve in longer periods.
For example, I can’t think about last week without having a part of myself I lovingly call, “the Judger” come up. She’s the part of me that wants me to be at peak productivity all of the time and last week was not a week of peak productivity, so she has a lot to say to me. I’ve had to learn how to quiet her voice because when I look at what has happened in the past year, I can’t help but feel total joy.
A look at what can happen in a year. (Hint: A lot!)
Exactly one year ago, the Make it Mentionable summit wrapped its first airing, which means most of you have been with me on this rollercoaster of life for a year. I’m immensely grateful for that, and I’m excited about what’s to come for the rest of this year.
In the spirit of possibility, I thought I’d share a look at all the things that can happen in a year because, again, everything comes down to perspective. It’s easy for perspective to get warped by the constant drive for productivity in modern Western society.
Here’s a brief look at what has happened for me in the past year.
I…
- Walked away from a six-figure contract with a client I loved to pursue creating my own body of work
- Planned, launched, and ran the Make it Mentionable Summit
- Grew this community from 0-~1000 in two weeks
- Ended a 5-year relationship
- Completed a 160+ hour training to became a Master Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, and practitioner of Hypnosis
- Went on a spontaneous camping trip that led to me moving to Denver on a whim
- Met Geoff
- Created and launched a 9-month group coaching program (this was such a joy to create and wraps next month)
- Completed a 180+ hour training to become an NLP Trainer
- Began privately coaching leaders who wanted to improve their relationships
- Moved in with Geoff
- Traveled ten different times
- Became good friends with some of the experts from the summit (which is one of my favorite reasons for running it)
- Turned 30!
- Read 10-ish books
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t note that all of this happened during the pandemic.
That’s not even mentioning the personal transformation that has taken place over the past year. These subtle accomplishments are the most notable but also the most difficult for me to articulate. They’re the shifts that happened through the many triggers, tears, and triumphs involved in being human.
In an attempt to share some of those breakthroughs:
- I’ve shed years of conditioning that led me to consistently taking up less space than I desired. (Still a work in progress).
- I rewrote previous decisions that led to blocking intimacy with people I loved. (For the first few weeks of my relationship with G, I had the most challenging time making eye contact with him, and it drove him crazy. That discovery led to a rabbit hole of things I was grateful to unpack).
- I healed a piece of my relationship with my dad that I’d been hanging onto for quite some time.
- I made a new group of friends.
- Throughout all of the excavating and examining thoughts, values, and beliefs, I became one of the most joyful people I know.
So what now?
That’s been the question on my mind for months. As I was going through the many personal transformations and location changes, it was painstaking trying to force an answer to that question.
I had to surrender before any insight would come.
Once I did, I landed on what I know is one of the most impactful ways I can turn what I’ve been learning over the past year and the past 7 I’ve been in business into something of impact.
But holy hell, it was painful getting to this point.
There’s no sugar coating it; the human condition is one of paradox. I’ve simultaneously had the most joyful and the most painful year, and that has been such a gift.
So really, what now?
Well, I’ve also spent a significant amount of time thinking and sending ranty Voxer messages to some of my friends in the online world about what’s wrong with the industry and how I want to operate differently.
One of the things I realize I hate is predictable launches, funnels, and sales pages designed to exploit our insecurities.
So what I thought I’d do, is take you on a journey with me this week as I create what’s next. An expose of sorts as I finish building it out in public for you to see. I’ll share the questions I’ve been answering, the doubts that have come up, and why I’m making the decisions I’m making—all answering the question, “so what now?”
I had to chunk this question down into bite-sized pieces so that I could get to my answer. The first question I asked myself in this series will land in your inbox tomorrow along with the guides.
I’ve also designed the quick series so that if you’re in the process of asking yourself this same question, you can follow along and use some of the questions I’ve been asking myself to reach a point of certitude for yourself.
I’ve made two guides for this process—one for if you’re asking this question personally and one if you’re asking this question professionally.
See you tomorrow!
xx,
Alyssa
P.S. TLDR; I’ll be breaking down the behind-the-scenes of what’s coming next over the next few days. 😉
