December is always a time of reflection for me. It’s also the time of year with the final year-end push, holiday commitments, and lower bandwidth.  

And as I transition from year-end chaos to year-end reflection, I wanted to share with you some of my top lessons from this year. And not only my biggest lessons, but the ideas and concepts that grounded me throughout 2024 as I navigated lots of change and growth. So here you go! 

Don’t push the river + be where your feet are: these two mantras have been my guiding principles this year. “Don’t push the river” reminds me to release control and allow my life to flow as it should. It reminds me that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. It reminds me to practice patience and trust. “Be where your feet are” has been my inner compass this year, as I’ve navigated a growing business and adjusting to life one-year postpartum. I traveled every week this fall, and this mantra gave me permission to be present with my work when I was with clients and keynoting at conferences and gave me permission to be present with my boys when I was home. These two mantras were critical to my mindset and the success I had this year.  

Agility over perfection: I heard Adam Grant say that ability is no longer the most important competency in the workplace – it’s agility. Ability is about your experience, skills, and potential. Agility is about your willingness to make a mistake, admit you were wrong, express regret, see things from a different perspective. In my journey as a recovering perfectionist, I have found that you cannot be both agile and a perfectionist – it’s one or the other. And this year I chose to really focus on agility. Seeking outside perspectives, trying new things, being willing to fail, and admitting when I’m wrong. This has been a game changer for me. Also embracing humility in the learning process.  

Contrast over comfort: we live in a world where comfort rules over discomfort. We find ourselves doing the same thing over and over again – the same morning routine, evening routine, the same experiences, the same people. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone this year – going to NYC for a women’s summit in an effort to meet new friends; taking a culture change class at Harvard; speaking at new conferences; making a decision to renovate our home; hiring our full-time Chief of Staff Taylor Davis; launching a mini book on overcoming perfectionism in the workplace; creating new programs for clients; hosting a women’s conference in January; saying yes to invites from friends to do things I would normally say no to. Life is full of rich experiences if we allow it. Contrast is the key to life and it’s the key to growth. Trying new things, getting outside our comfort zone, growing, choosing new perspectives – this is the richness of life.  

Humility over pride: for me this has been about the willingness to learn from others. Sometimes my perfectionism shows up as a need to prove my point and always having to be right – mostly in my personal life (lol ask my husband Stan). And this year I’ve been choosing to learn from him, to find empathy, to express more kindness. This has required a lot of ego death – but in my marriage it has brought us closer together, and I’m grateful for my willingness to do the hard thing and choose learning and open-mindedness over pride. I didn’t like looking at this part of myself – but doing so has transformed my marriage and myself.  

Energy management over time management: this is a recent focus of mine and will be a continued focus for 2025. With all my work travel and competing priorities this year, I realized I wasn’t managing my time or energy well. I was in an overcommitted mode all the time – constantly hustling. I had allowed my old friend workaholism to take the lead in my life. I didn’t find the answer to this one this year, but it’s a top focus of mine as a step in 2025. I will be choosing my commitments more thoughtfully and managing my energy.  

2024 was a pivotal year for me. It was a year of foundation building in my business and life. It was a year of practicing patience and trust. It was a year of choosing trust over control. A year of truly being present in my life and for my loved ones. I’m proud of me this year. I chose to do things differently and grow instead of staying the same. And I cannot wait to see what 2025 has in store.