Hello Friends!
Can you believe it is already the end of the year again?! This year has absolutely blown past – I can’t believe it’s time for the annual Best Of edition of the newsletter!!
I do really love this time of year, with its emphasis on slowing down and spending cozy time with loved ones. It’s the perfect time for reflecting upon the year that has passed.
For the last few years, I have also written myself a letter on my birthday, and sent it “into the future” via FutureMe.org. It’s actually my birthday today 🥳 and I’m curious what last year’s birthday letter will hold!! We don’t often realize how far we’ve come or how many steps we’ve taken when looking backward, and I find having that letter really brings home the changes that a year can bring!
QUOTE OF THE YEAR...
One of the topics that comes up most often in my coaching is Clarity. It is something everyone wants, and so few people (think they) have. As someone who talks a lot about reflection and awareness, clarity is an important goal!
So when I read this quote in Brendon Burchard’s brilliant High Performance Habits, it really stopped me in my tracks. YES! I cried at the book. THIS!!!
“You don’t ‘have’ clarity; you generate it. […] It’s not as though you walk outside one day and the Piano of Purpose falls on your head and all things become clear. Clarity is the child of careful thought and mindful experimentation. It comes from asking yourself questions continually and further refining your perspective on life.”
This quote really sums up the year for me.
Do you have a quote that guided or summarized your year?
GROWS & GLOWS…
As I wrote last year, a friend of mine makes a “Glows & Grows” list: what she did well, and what still needs work. I love that, and here is a snapshot of some of mine:
Glows:
😊 I spent a lot of time outside doing sports – hiking in Austria, triathlon training on Mallorca, skiing in Italy, cycling in Slovenia. Lots of monotasking time!
😊 I worked with a fabulous business coach at the start of the year, and learned a lot about the financial side of my business. With that newly acquired knowledge, I hired a second assistant to take on calendar scheduling & emailing, which really helped with work-life balance.
😊 I recognized my craving for community in my coaching work so I reached out to a number of coaches I know and admire, and we are co-creating a Coaching Community together. ❤️ I am so excited to explore this!
😊 I put a full year calendar on the wall in my office so I had the overview of my business trips and workshops. It is amazing just how much having that visual of my schedule helped me with keeping boundaries!
Grows:
😐 I learn best through reading – but also through writing down my thoughts on what I have read. I didn’t journal about any books this year. And I can feel that the information didn’t stick nearly as well!
😐 I am still one minute late to almost every meeting. This makes me crazy! I find it so embarrassing (I used to pride myself on always being punctual) but I haven’t managed to shift this terrible habit. Definitely a goal for 2025!
😐 Prioritizing regular during-the-work-week sports is still a work-in-progress!
If you were to make a Glows & Grows list for 2024, what would be on yours??
REFLECTION…
This article continues to guide my Year in Review reflections. The questions are timeless and really help me to see clearly where I put my energy and focus in the past year, and what I want to prioritize and learn in the coming year. Questions like “What were the gifts of 2024?” and “What do you need to let go of to start 2025 fresh?” are great journaling prompts too.
It’s also fun to recapture some of the key moments of the year – are there any themes? Reviewing the year and setting intentions for the New Year is something we have done as a family for the last 10+ years! Our New Year’s Day tradition is to do a review and then to re-read what we wrote last year. It’s been fascinating to see the development of the children’s goals and it has also been a really useful motivational tool throughout the year. Kids do well with accountability too! 😉 This is the family-friendly Year in Review we use.
BEST OF FICTION 2024…
There was a definite theme to my fiction reading this year! 😉 It was a lot of mystery/thriller/crime novels! There were a few other genres mixed in, but I didn’t read as much historical fiction this year as I usually do. I’m aiming to mix it up a little more in 2025! (That being said, reading fiction is the #1 thing you can do to improve empathy so at least I’m doing my part for that!)
My top fiction reads for the year are:
1. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
2. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
3. Bury the Lead by Kate Hilton & Elizabeth Renzetti
4. The Switch by Beth O’Leary
5. The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding
6. Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
7. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
8. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
9. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
10. In a Thousand Different Ways by Cecilia Ahern
I got loads of excellent fiction recommendations from you recently dear readers, so I am curious what will make it onto 2025’s Best Of List!!
BEST OF AUDIOBOOKS 2024…
Although I am a huge fan of monotasking, I love having a story accompany me while doing tasks that don’t require any brainpower! (Think: household chores). And listening to a novel has the same impact on your empathy as reading does, so I’m all over it! 😊
My favourites not only had good stories but excellent narrators. In a number of cases, there were different narrators for different characters (books 3&4). That really made the stories come to live even more!
These were my favourites:
How to Solve your own Murder by Kristin Perrin
1. How to Solve your own Murder by Kristin Perrin
2. Funny Story by Emily Henry
3. Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
4. A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh
5. The Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith
6. The Beryl & Edwina series by Jessica Ellicott
I even managed to get my husband to listen to the Cormoran Strike series with me this year, and he is hooked too! A fabulous narrator really makes the story!
BEST OF NON-FICTION 2024…
HThere was definitely a theme to my non-fiction reading this year and it was really about communicating: with myself, and with others. Having Time to Think, and Daring Greatly, leads to wanting to have High Performance Habits, one of which would be Smart Brevity, and Supercommunicating. 😊 And the search for self is encompassed in my #1 favourite from this year, Miranda Hart’s I Haven’t Been Completely Honest with You.
1. High Performance Habits by Brendan Burchard
2. I Haven’t Been Completely Honest with You by Miranda Hart
3. Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
4. Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen & Roy Schwartz
5. Time to Think by Nancy Kline
6. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
BEST OF PODCASTS 2024…
No newsletter best of would be complete without some podcast recommendations! 😊 I am still a huge podcast junkie and these were my favourite podcasts:
1. The Long and the Short of It
2. Wiser than Me
3. How to Fail with Elizabeth Day
4. Politics Girl Podcast
5. Woman Owned: The Growth Podcast for Women Entrepreneurs
6. HBR Coaching for Real Leaders
And if you like True Crime, Kill List is brilliant too!!
I hope you enjoy these lists! Perhaps it might stimulate a bit of interest in a new topic, or rekindle interest in an old one. I am already looking forward to diving into my TBR pile over the holidays!
Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season, and an auspicious start to the New Year!!
Be emotional. Stay healthy.
Hugs,
