Smart Business Growth with Nicky & Ness

F*ck New Years Resolutions. Here's what to do instead!

• Nicky & Ness • Season 3 • Episode 1

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In this episode of the Smart Business Growth Podcast, hosts Nicky and Ness explore the concept of New Year's resolutions in the context of both personal and business growth. They discuss the challenges and pressures of setting resolutions, the importance of understanding one's 'why' through vision and mission statements, and the power of selecting a theme or word for the year. The episode encourages listeners to shift from superficial goals to maintaining a sustainable, reflective planning process throughout the year. Tune in for actionable insights and tips on achieving smart business growth.

Research on new years resolutions - https://www.finder.com.au/insights/new-years-resolutions-statistics

Learn more about Nicky and Ness https://businesstogether.com.au

Buy a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life www.healthyhustle.com.au

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Instagram - @b2businesstogether
Facebook - @B2BusinessTogether

Connect on LinkedIn
Nicky LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/connectwithnicky/
Ness LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamedling/

Give us a call
Nicky Miklos-Woodley 0403 191 404
Vanessa (Ness) Medling 0400 226 875

Or send us an email hello@businesstogether.com.au

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Nicky:

Welcome to the Smart Business Growth Podcast with Nicky and Ness.

Ness:

We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country, the Turrbal and Bunurong people of Brisbane and Melbourne respectively, where Nicky and I both work and live both work and live.

Nicky:

Hello, hello, welcome back and happy new year. Everybody, it is so wonderful to be here with you again. Whether you are joining us, listening, whether you are watching us on YouTube, we are thrilled to be here for another year to bring you all of the smarts, insights, frameworks that we know, the people that we know are living healthy hustle and really embracing this world of smart business growth. You are going to really love what we have in store for you this year. We're continuing that trajectory.

Nicky:

Of course, of healthy hustle, because, as you know, we are slightly obsessed.

Nicky:

Hello, of course, of healthy hustle, because, as you know, we are slightly obsessed.

Nicky:

Hello, we have written a book and we really want to keep delving into understanding how do we keep the hustle healthy, and this time of year is so important to really look under the hood, look behind the curtain, as to how can we set ourselves up for success and a big way of doing that, a key part of doing that is smart business growth.

Nicky:

Of course, if you have read our book, if you have taken on some of the insights and frameworks we would love to hear from you, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, because you're new here, welcome. It's great to have you here and you can always go and check out healthyhustlecomau to see what the heck I'm talking about. So we want to kick off this new year because a lot of what we see around us in social media, in conversations, and we say happy new year and what about your new year's resolutions and what are you doing differently and honestly, it is exhausting, it is overwhelming. Ness and I were having a conversation about how we feel like it's just being shoved down our throat at any given moment and everywhere we turn.

Ness:

What are you saying so true, so true. Just, my sister was saying to me the other day she's going. Oh my God, my whole social media feed is full of people start your new year, new year's goals, goal setting workshop. You know, come in and do all of this. You know 50 page reflection and all the kinds of things around that pressure. And she was feeling the pressure of having not done something yet. It's like, oh, it's the middle of January and I'm feeling like, ah, so I wonder. You know, there's probably a pocket of the market that is feeling that pressure and wondering if it's too late. And then there's others who might have already done their New Year's resolutions, but maybe some of them have fallen off already.

Nicky:

Well, that's right, and you know like a lot of what we talk about is this whole releasing the weight of expectation about how we should do business or live our life, and I think the New Year's resolutions have now become this expectation of should and a really good key, like the quickest tip possible to know if we're falling under those weights of expectations, if we're falling victim to what other people around us are telling us what we should be doing is actually our language. If you find yourself saying to another person or saying to yourself oh, I really should do this, I really should do that, actually get curious about what's driving that, because we need to release the weight of expectation. And Ness you alluded to, you might be already falling off the radar with your news resolutions. If you are one of the 74% of Aussies that do set news resolutions, we know that research shows the 12th of January is where news resolutions start to break down, where most people actually are starting to go ah, too hard, not motivated, because we rely on motivation.

Nicky:

We've got this, you know this. We're coming out of Christmas. There's this pain we want to move away from and just digging around a little bit in preparation for today, I was curious about understanding a bit more around news resolutions. So we know that 74% of Australians do set New Year's resolutions and actually the majority of them are more the younger generations. And what we also know is that the top three types of New Year's resolutions are around health, fitness and weight loss. Really, interesting.

Ness:

I can relate, really interesting. Well, yes, I can relate after Christmas, exactly.

Nicky:

The timing after coming out of Christmas? Yeah, for sure.

Nicky:

Nine percent. So, with this research that I was looking at through from findercomau insights, we'll put the link for the there's heaps of stats in there in the show notes. But what was also interesting is nine percent of people set goals around, or news resolutions around, working less and having better work-life balance. So certainly not the top three, but still made the list as to something that people want to focus on. Only 8% of people actually fulfill their news resolutions, so that's quite a small number out of people who do so. We wanted to dig a little bit around this and understand. Well, if we know that the majority of people don't follow through the 12th of January, people already now are starting to walk away and break their promise to themselves. You know why do we set news resolutions and maybe what could we do instead. So, Ness, why don't we start with? What do you think are some of the reasons that people do fall into this whirlwind of news resolutions?

Ness:

I think, because it's so out there in society, you know, there's so many different. Like I said earlier, our social media feed is full of people talking about their New Year's resolutions. There's probably a sense of pressure by some people. It's like, you know, everyone else is doing. I know, in business communities, when you are hearing about other people who are doing all their resolutions, you kind of feel like, oh, I should be doing that too. So we're back to shooting all over ourselves.

Ness:

But I think in some other ways, you know, there's this whole mental thing around the 1st of January. It's a new year. It's like that new year, new me. People see it as an opportunity, I think, to be able to create difference around what they don't want in their lives that they've experienced last year. Some of the funny memes that I've seen are around you know, the shit show that was 2024 and bring on 2025. So I think there's an energetic shift around the first of the month. I think the other thing is we're on holidays, so it's that whole thing around.

Ness:

We probably had the opportunity for me anyway, like Christmas was nuts and then the beginning of the year was just a nice fresh start, a nice fresh break. So it's an opportunity to have a clean slate. It's about wanting to perhaps go. I'm going to do things a bit differently, and this is a good opportunity because everybody else is doing it, so why don't I? And I think we have more space and time at this time of the year for those that do take a break to do that reflection and think about you know, how was my year? Do I really want to live that kind of lifestyle again? Be that, you know, too much work or too much partying or whatever it is, whatever the extreme is for each person. I think it's an opportunity for us just to pause, catch our breath, reflect and think about what we want to do differently. I know in the dating circles when I was doing dating, I think the first Sunday or the second Sunday of the new year is the most active on all the dating sites because people go okay, I'm ready.

Ness:

It's a new year. I'm ready to go and find love. So I think there is something out there in the world that does bring us to this. But I also know the flip of that is the being in that you know percentage that don't continue on beyond mid-January, the sense of failure can sit really, really, really heavily and that sense of well, everyone else appears to be doing an amazing job of things. What's wrong with me and what I want us to really do is to shake that up today, because this isn't about if you don't set New Year's plans, you're going to fail at life, but it's around understanding, when it comes to business, what is important for us to look at at certain times throughout the year and I think you know particularly those who resonate with our message around healthy hustle and wanting to create more healthy in their hustle. This is a really good opportunity to actually set up the year and decide what you're going to do differently.

Nicky:

So a couple of things I want to kind of pull out from what you've said there, because some really powerful points around. For example, it's an energetic shift and I think what's really, because, as you said, there is an upside, there's a positive side to New Year's resolutions. If we kind of pull back and go, well, what's the purpose of this? But there also can be that downside, it's an energetic shift. That's interesting to me because it is an energetic shift. But it's an energetic shift because we choose it to be. What is the date? What is the 1st of January? You know there's seasons and cycles in business, in life, in nature, and there's energetic shifts in nature in the different seasons. You know, when we look at the difference between the energy behind winter and summer. So absolutely, I agree, there's an energetic shift and also let's be aware that we're choosing for it to be. So we can actually proactively and consciously choose for that energetic shift to happen at different times of years. It's just a number. It's like we talk about, you know, time. Time is a man-made concept. Naming days of the week, this 365 calendar year. We consciously created that and I don't know the history of that, but it's a man-made concept, besides looking at seasons and cycles, right. So I think what's really powerful about that is you get to choose, and if this is the right time of year, like Ness said, and for us, it is because we do close down over Christmas. There is space, it's summer over here, so there's a blooming, bright, sweaty energy to it, you know. So a really important point there. And the other thing I want to pull out from what you said is that you know other people can appear to have all their shit together. They can appear. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. It really is the thief of joy. I'm going to say that again Comparison is the thief of joy. Wow, I didn't even say it properly when I said it. Way to make a punchy, powerful moment.

Nicky:

But when you're in business, and especially if you're an established business and a lot of business owners and leaders are looking to the next, what's the next, what's the next goals, might not even be an issue for you because you're all over your goals, or maybe there's an opportunity to change how you do your goals, which we'll talk about in a moment. Constantly looking at the next, it can be really easy to look at others around you that have that next level of success and think I've got to keep go, go, go, go, go to get there, or why not me? Or whatever the narrative might be. But remember, just like the person that has the fancy cars and the fancy houses, they might be in a fancy load of debt as well.

Nicky:

We don't know. We don't know the full story. So look to others for inspiration. As soon as you start to see that comparison piece, remind yourself we don't know the full story. So look to others for inspiration. As soon as you start to see that comparison piece, remind yourself we don't know the full story. Come back to where am I now and what am I focusing on?

Ness:

Have you heard? Our book Healthy Hustle the New Blueprint to Thriving Business and Life, is available right now to purchase. In Healthy Hustle we take you through real world, practical and achievable steps to move you away from unhealthy hustle to a place of happiness and living, whilst continuing to achieve incredible business results. Order your copy now at healthyhustlecomau.

Nicky:

Ness, what do you think? What is a new? Let's actually take a step back and define what a new year's resolution. Let's define it Well.

Ness:

It's interesting because it is whatever you make it mean. So in society, I guess a new year's resolution is a desire to make a change. Like you said, it's about losing weight, it's about getting fit. Whatever it is, it's a goal that you want to set, which is interesting because in business, certainly, the way we do business and our clients do business is we are setting goals consistently throughout the year. We're doing a, we do our game plan, our setup for the next quarter, every end of the quarter before. It's not something that's different for us. So a new year's resolution, I think for me it's a personal, perhaps, resolution as opposed to a business one, but I think they do carry over. I don't know what do you reckon?

Nicky:

Yeah, I mean, nothing has meaning except the meaning that we give it. So you know, for you I definitely see that you really start to focus on your personal side of things. I think for me as well, you know, like Jules, and I will say what's our theme for the year, personally, which this year it's health and fun as we enter a new era of aging and life, separate podcast episode for that.

Nicky:

So it is about that personal aspect. There's a couple of things we'll do, and you and I do, from a business front, on top of the BAU quarterly. But here's the thing If you're listening or watching this, it might be different to what Ness and I, it might actually be nothing. It might be the busiest time of year that you possibly have. So it is literally business as usual BAU in business and life. It could be a chance to reflect and refine. It could be a clean slate that you're consciously choosing.

Nicky:

This is going to be the energetic shift that I need. You know there's no rules to this and I think that's probably the main thing we want you to get out of this podcast episode is that you get to make the rules of what this means for you. You can do a new year's resolution at any time of year and in fact I've got my sister, just from a life point of view, doesn't do anything at New Year's because they celebrate her and her husband celebrate middle of June. I think it's Yule New. It's like the it's with the seasons, because seasonally it actually is New Year via nature. It is New Year at the end of June. So, again, what are the rules that you make? You get to choose, and if you've never consciously popped the pause button and thought about this, this is your chance to do that as well, as we'll share with you what we do instead of New Year's resolutions For sure, for sure.

Ness:

So do you want to go there now? Let's do it, let's go there. Well, I think that, in keeping with the theme around what we talk about, for any kind of business planning, our vision has to be really strong for our business. And then we also need that emotional connection to the business vision to understand how that impacts our life. Why are we in business and what flow on impact is that having to how lifestyle and how we choose to live? And so I think that January for us is a really good opportunity because there's more downtime in Australia, like I think about, you know, in England and America it's winter and they often just they don't have six weeks of school holidays and not a lot of places close down over this period of time. But for us in Australia it does, and for you and I, we make time in our calendar to do this reflection. So it really is reconnecting into why do we do what we do. So we have our combined business vision, but for us separately, there's a connection, an emotional connection, to that vision. So it's a really good opportunity because as the year goes on you know we've gone through 12 months under the vision that we had last year and what we notice is sometimes it needs tweaking or changing.

Ness:

Sometimes, if we can reflect on a year where perhaps we didn't achieve that link back to what we wanted to get out of our personal vision, things might need to change, in that we look at our mission and we go is that still on point? Are we still committed to what we said we were committed to 12 months ago? And also looking at our business values and our personal values, because I believe that certainly for personal values, they can actually change over a period of time, because it's what you focus on. What are your top three? Are you living that? Is that impacting how you turn up in the world?

Ness:

So I think that for us, it's a great opportunity for us to go back and just check in and we don't change it every year and we don't change it a lot, but sometimes it just needs a little bit of tweaking. So I do feel like it's a really good opportunity if you're in business and well, if you haven't done your vision, your mission, your purpose, your values, you know understanding that big impact, that big picture, why, then, now is a great time to start? Anytime you haven't done them, the next day is a great time that day is a great time to start.

Nicky:

Don't wait to do these Exactly.

Ness:

But if you've done them, revisit, because if you don't look back on this in five years past, you might find you're really, really not aligned anymore. So that's one of the things we do. Do you want to focus on another one?

Nicky:

Yeah, the other thing that we do is we set a theme or a word for the year. So I mentioned that. Jules and I do that from a personal point of view, ness and I do that from a business point of view, but still individually. So this is something that we love.

Nicky:

Well, I say we, I assume but, I, know I love running this workshop for clients and all you have to do is think about, you know, reflect on the year that was which actually is a part of another thing that we do so reflecting on what did you love, what did you not love, what do you want more of, what do you want less of, what was missing for you?

Nicky:

They're probably the key things to just sort of think about, to help come up with what could be my word or my theme for the year, and it can be any word that you want it to be, but it becomes your anchor point, it becomes your source of truth. It's the thing that you come back to. Some people like to then create a vision board from it or do a mud map of words to remind them of how this plays out in different areas of business, of life, and it really, really works. We've been doing this for a number of years and the clients that we do this with, even the ones that are a bit sceptical at first, like, oh, it seems a bit woo-woo or wishy-washy or whatever they love it because it really does serve as that anchor point to come back with. Back to you, ness, do you want to share what your word is for the year.

Ness:

Yeah for sure. So this year my word is intentional and that, for me, is about making decisions that move me closer to what the goals that I set are. So it's just in all aspects of my life, so choices that I'm making on a daily basis. If I go in with intention, then I feel like I'm really looking at is this going to move me closer to where I want to be and who I want to be, or is it going to move me away from that? And I find that as a really great anchor point for determining. You know, what is it that I want to take on? What do I want to do differently?

Ness:

And for me, it stops that the 12th of January thing where motivation dies. You know that whole. Well, I could be three months in and making choices about what I want to eat or you know what work I want to take on. It could be any aspect of my life that I really want to come back to, having that intentional piece and making sure that my decisions and choices are aligned. So for me, this year that's what it is. I did grounded last year. That worked really, really well and I'm ready. I'm ready for this. What about you?

Nicky:

Yeah, I love that you can see as well how, as a business owner leader that's listening to this, this is an exercise you can do with your team members, because how amazing for you to know. Ah, okay, ness is in my team and her word, her theme, her anchor for the year is intentional. How can I support that? How can I help bring that to life? So my word is evolution. So for me, this year is really about what is that next? Evolution of the book of speaking, you know, having done the TEDx last year, which was amazing, the next evolution of speaking, the next evolution of health relationships again aging, as I alluded to before.

Nicky:

What is Nicky's next evolution in all of the different areas of my life? And it's exciting. And the thing is that the word doesn't have to be sexy or cool or interesting to anybody else. It just has to have meaning for you and that's it. You know, some people have words like lioness or courage, or they have a phrase or they think of a famous person that inspires them, or like there's actually no rules around this, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it's amazing. So we've got the word and the theme of the year, we've got the reconnecting to the why, the vision, mission and values. They're the two things that we absolutely annually, whether it's at this time of year or sometimes in the past, we've done it in the middle of the year as well. Again, we get to choose the energetic shift and when we have that, they're the things that we really build on at this time of year or June. What else do you think is important in terms of getting that clarity of direction?

Ness:

Well, you touched on it earlier the reflection and projection. So I think that there is great opportunity for us to go back and just ask some of those questions to reflect on last year, because I think you know the pace we move in business and life can go very, very quickly and some people who are high achievers, they want the next thing, the next thing, the next thing. We've got to pause and just take that reflection around. What worked, why did it work well? What didn't work? What is it that I want to change? We do those stop, start, continue decisions around every quarter.

Ness:

What do I want to stop doing? What do I want to start doing? What do I want to continue to do? So I think it doesn't really matter what the actual questions are, as long as they're getting you to come back and reflect on where did I have success, how did I get that and is it sustainable? And perhaps, if I didn't hit my goals, that reality check and the tougher questions I know that that sort of came up for me when I was reflecting back over. You know some of my my things from last year and I'm like, yeah, actually, if I, if I, was more consistent in that activity, I probably would have got different results. But until you sit down and look at it and take that time out, I would just move on to the next thing, and there's a learning there to be had that would have been missed had I not taken that reflection.

Nicky:

So what I'm hearing in that it's not just about setting a goal, it's about understanding our patterns of behavior that have led us here, what has worked and what hasn't worked. And I think this is why news resolutions probably don't work, because people get caught up in a hype. It's like I've got to set a goal, I'm going to have this goal, but there's no maybe meaning behind it. There's no connection to the why. There's no reflection of what's the patterns of behavior and action that I can take, that I have taken that will lead me to success. So it's very surface level and it doesn't have to be complicated, like even we've shared already on here.

Nicky:

You can rewind it and listen to the questions that we've put out, you know. Another good question to add to the list is what could get in the way. You know what do I want to achieve. So I like to look at this as think about it and I'm keen to get your thoughts on this but maybe 20, 30% reflection of the past, 70% setting what do I want for the future? So, whether that's the next 12 months, or because we need to look at the past to understand what worked, what didn't, wins, learns, patterns of behavior, like you said, so that we can set ourselves up for success for the future.

Ness:

Think about it like driving a car we are looking towards where we're going, but we do have to occasionally check the revision mirror. We don't spend our whole time driving a car. We are looking towards where we're going, but we do have to occasionally check the revision mirror. We don't spend our whole time driving a car looking in a revision mirror. Yeah.

Ness:

I love that. Same with planning. We don't want to spend all our time looking back. We've got to look towards the vision of where we're traveling, where we want to go, our destination. But we also can learn a lot about what's going on around us from our revision.

Nicky:

So, even to continue that awesome metaphor, sometimes we need to pump the brakes, sometimes we need to refuel the car, sometimes we need to get a service, sometimes we need to put water in the windscreen wipers, sometimes we need to accelerate to get to, you know, get through the green light, not the orange light. But I love that metaphor because it is such a good reflection of actually what we're talking about here, even beyond you know, checking our mirrors and looking in the review mirror, and so really we could look at this as, instead of setting news resolution or a superficial goal that won't last, actually how are you taking care of the vehicle that is delivering you to your goals, which is probably your body and your business?

Ness:

Yeah, and also, where are you sitting? Are you in the driver's seat? Yes, in the backseat, or are you in the boot?

Nicky:

Or are you that passenger? What do they call it? Like backseat driver? Oh yeah, the person that's not in the driver's seat, but you're telling someone else how to drive, mate. No, can you not do that?

Ness:

Exactly.

Nicky:

I get that a lot, which is really annoying, I don't know what that says about my driving skills, but it's really good. Hopefully you're reflecting. You're thinking where am I sitting? Am I in the boot? Did I lock myself in the boot?

Ness:

Denial for what's to come, absolutely.

Nicky:

Okay. So we've got word and theme for the year, We've got the reconnection to the Y vision mission values. We've got reflection and projection. So reflection in the back, projection to the forward. What else? I feel like there's another fourth one here, Ness, to add to the mix.

Ness:

I would say, looking at your top three, maybe five maximum goals, business and personal. So goals are best delivered as SMART, you know which is I'm going to forget the acronym specific, measurable, actionable, achievable, realistic and timely. But the reality is, you know and we often work with clients on this because unless you're doing it on a regular basis, it can be hard. You can sort of like I want to lose weight as an example, but yeah, what, by how much and by when I want more clients?

Nicky:

And also why? Why, like that's the other thing why that goal? Is it that you want to lose weight, or do you want to feel fit, good, healthy, strong? That's right. Do you want more clients? Why? For what purpose? Sorry, had to jump in there, of course. Of course You've got to question that, right.

Ness:

Why, what purpose and all the other things. So we want to make sure that we can measure it so that, remember, this is not a one and done. This is what we do every quarter, just setting up so, but you may have the bigger goal sort of, is what you're working from and towards as you go through each of those weeks.

Nicky:

So what I really love about this is notice that we had set your goals as the last thing. Now you can mix up the order of the first three. You can mix up the order, like you know. Probably reflection and projection is a good one to start Reconnecting to why vision, mission, purpose, values, and then setting of word or theme. Do those three first, then set your goals, because that is going to be what sets you up for success. So tell me, ness, what's a good action, actionable action for our listeners and viewers to take?

Ness:

Well, I would say, if you haven't already set aside time in your calendar to do this, that's the first action. Already set aside time in your calendar to do this, that's the first action. You're going to want to take a good day, maybe two days out, depending on you know how much you are used to doing this and whether you're doing this kind of work on a regular basis or not, but take time out of your business to be able to do it. I think that that's the first step. And then, of course, once you have that time scheduled and you're sitting there going what?

Ness:

do, I do next, you know you could try what we do the theme, that sort of reconnection to your vision, missions, purpose, values, the reflect and project, and then setting the personal and business vision and I oh sorry top five goals, three to five goals. So they're the things you can do in the time, but unless you have the time scheduled it's not going to happen.

Nicky:

And also, as you said before, we do a version, a smaller version, of this every quarter. And if you do have a copy of our book or if you want to have some guidance on how to we actually outline the True North framework in the book, so you can oh, we're recording the audio. That's going to be out very soon, the audio book, but you can get that on Kindle, hard copy, et cetera. The other thing I'd just say I feel like it's remiss that, if you do want to hand with any of this, we do VIP days where we work with you just for one day to get it set up. So I'm not going to turn this into a big sales pitch, but if that's something that piques your curiosity, just reach out to us. Whatever you do, please, please, please, do something. Don't rely on a new year's resolution. Go deeper than that. Set up an operating rhythm in your business that will serve you for the long term. Have fun with it. It will be more enjoyable and you'll probably stick with it if it's more enjoyable.

Ness:

Excellent. Thanks for listening. Bye, Thanks for listening to today's ep. If you loved what you heard, connect with us over on LinkedIn and let's continue the conversation over there. Did you hear you can now buy our book Healthy Hustle the new blueprint to thrive in business and life, at healthyhustlecomau. Want us to speak to your team or run a workshop on healthy hustle in your workplace? Send us an email or go old school and give us a call to discuss. Until next time, happy listening and here's to thriving in business and life.