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Episode Description
Happy New Year! We’re kicking this year off with lessons learned and how they are shaping our goals for the next year.
Lauren shares her accidental word of the year and what it means to her. Find out how what she’s prioritizing in 2024 is an act of rebellion.
Jess discusses what skill we need more of in the profession and the one person she hopes to work with to dig deeper into the economics of law and access to justice issues.
While we love a big goal, we explore how small tweaks can be equally impressive. We explore embracing the gray, finding fulfillment over chasing accomplishments, and being open to where the year ahead will lead.
Listen now!
Episode Resources
The Legal Market Landscape Report (2018) by Bill Henderson
Episode Transcript
LAUREN: [00:00:00] They’re not maybe smart goals. I don’t have timelines or measurable things. Having done that for almost four decades. I feel really good about not doing a goal like that this year.
Welcome to a different practice.
We’re your host, Lauren Lester and Jess Bednars, and we’re obsessed with all things, business well being and optimizing the practice of law for solo and small firm lawyers.
Lauren started her solo practice right out of law school, built it from the ground up and now works. four days a week while earning well over six figures just approaches the profession as a whole to identify opportunities for growth and help implement systemic improvements. We’re here to share tangible concrete tools and resources for ditching the legal professions antiquated approach and building a law practice optimized for growth and enjoyment.
Think of this as grabbing coffee with your work besties mixed with all the stuff they didn’t teach you in law school about how to run a business, pull up a seat, grab a cup and get ready to be encouraged and challenged. This is a different [00:01:00] practice. Happy new year, everyone. And welcome to another episode of a different practice.
I love this time of year. It feels very fresh and new and all the possibilities are in front of us. We hope that however you celebrated your holiday season, it was one full of joy and magic and lots of time with friends and family, we wanted to kick off 2024. Like many of you might be doing, which is looking towards the year ahead.
Maybe taking some lessons from the past year and figuring out how we want to incorporate them into the next 12 months. So today we’re going to chat a little bit about what our goals are and give you some insight into what we’ve been thinking about and the challenges that we have been working through and trying to figure out a way to move forward in a productive manner.
When reflecting on 2023, this Word kept popping up for me. I didn’t have a word of the year. I think a couple of years [00:02:00] ago, just you and I chatted and I figured out that my word was like yet, because we were talking a lot about growth mindset and I am wired as a perfectionist. If you listened to the last episode and you were curious, I’m an Enneagram one.
And so getting into that, I don’t know how to do it yet, or this thing isn’t working yet and kind of working through that. That was a really powerful word. for me a couple of years ago, and I didn’t come into 2023 thinking of a word. Some people do that. They’re like, this is my, my year of growth or warrior ness or whatever it might be.
I don’t tend to do that. That doesn’t resonate with me as much. But throughout this year, I kept having moments where I kept coming back to a certain word. And I realized I think it has been my word of the year, and it has helped so much in so many different ways. And so I’ll give a little bit of a background as to how this came to be for me.
I read a book a couple of years ago called Good Inside [00:03:00] by Dr. Becky Kennedy. Phenomenal book. It’s a parenting book. completely changed the way that I approach parenting. I’ve heard Dr. Becky on some podcasts, and they have said it also allows you to sort of reparent yourself, which having read it, I can also see.
But one of the core tenants of Dr. Becky’s approach is she always comes back to two things can be true. And for me, who’s traditionally a very black and white person, I’m Learning more to embrace the gray and, and seeing this actually play out in the real world has helped with that. But she would constantly say in parenting, two things can be true.
Like your child can be upset that they are not getting candy and they’re not going to get candy. The two things that may feel opposite can exist at the same time. And so I have constantly come back to that. Like my husband and I say it all the time. I think it to myself all the time. Like two things can be true.
These two things that might feel like they [00:04:00] can’t coexist can coexist, and so probably about the fall of this year, having said that to myself for the 600th time, I was like, you know, I think my word is and this year, and I try to catch myself when I want to say, but like, but also approach and say, yes. And, or, and both is another way that some people will approach it.
So one way that this has shown up is in personal interpersonal relationships, whether you’re working with a coworker or opposing counsel, there’s a disagreement and the other person will say, well, it wasn’t my intention to. say it that way, like how you interpret it wasn’t where I was coming from. And I’ve gone and said, it was not your intention to be mean, let’s just say, in how you came across, and it felt mean.
So both of those things can be true. And so I think about, you know, with [00:05:00] my clients, I do the same thing with them. Like the other party is sending some rude message and I’ll say they’re asking about parenting time and they’re asking it in a rude way and it hurts your feelings. And so that approach of two things can be true.
I have just found has helped me so much in the last year and I’ve incorporated a lot into my practice and just my interactions with other folks and I’m. Not entirely sure how I will do anything differently this year, but I think just making sure to stop myself every time I want to say, but because, but I think makes.
Two things can’t be true. So that’s my my work. My continued work for this year is to focus on and and not a but also approach.
JESS: Yeah, I think when you say but, and I’ve been on both sides of this, you know, maybe instead of trying to keep or bring someone into conversation, you’re really pushing them away.
So it seems like a more inclusive way to just [00:06:00] continue conversation, have discussions, et cetera. So you and I, as we talked about right before we jumped on, had the very similar first one. So I just said holding two opposing truths at the same time, which is what you talked about. So yes, exactly the same thing.
I’ve seen this. really show up both in my personal life and my professional life this past year. It’s definitely something that’s going to be on my radar for this coming year. And I like the idea of using, and for me in the professional setting, it’s come up a lot where we’ve had differences of opinion.
You know, 1 person is coming at it from another direction. Maybe they’ve had a personal experience or more local experience. That doesn’t necessarily align with the experience that I’m drawing from, whether it be from research or my own experience. And instead of I’ve been on the receiving end. I feel like a lot of times instead of, using and and trying to be inclusive about the conversation and recognize that both perspectives are valuable and probably true, but [00:07:00] different. It’s gone the opposite way and it’s left me feeling like my ideas don’t matter or. just kind of lesser, not having the knowledge, et cetera, which I don’t think probably is the person’s intention and the reality, but that is how it feels.
And I’m not saying I’m perfect at this at all, but it is something I’ve actively tried to work on this past year. We’ll continue to actively work on for years to come because it is really, really valuable. I’m just curious about how we bring others into this conversation who might not realize. that they’re doing this or maybe think they’re really good at it.
So maybe a goal for me in 2024 is trying to figure out a productive way to make that known when it happens or when I feel like I’m on the receiving end to kind of bring people into conversation and And again, this kind of, we talked about this in the last episode, it just, for me, it comes back again to empathy, like to me, empathy really is at the core of this, like understanding that, like you said, the [00:08:00] world usually is not black and white very few times, is it?
And there are oftentimes really good reasons why people have a difference of opinion and just a understanding at the outset that that’s a thing and finding value in that. And then, I guess, kind of, I think everything comes down to habits too, like how then can you form the habit of instead of, you know, right when you’re ready to say, but, or when you just recognize you’re in this situation, like taking a moment and then trying to think about, okay, well, what are the different reasons why this person might’ve said this?
Just trying to have a broader understanding of all the different possibilities, I think would go a long way. So developing the habits, you know, read atomic habits. If you haven’t read that book, it’s something we can all do.
LAUREN: Another challenge. I’ve had in 2023, and still have, so this is like a work in progress, I don’t have a solution for it yet, but I found myself [00:09:00] towards the end of the year in particular feeling like I was just running faster and constantly had to get to the next mountain. So I said, what is a big revenue goal for myself based on what I did last year in my practice?
And then I hit that goal in early October. That was like my goal. I was pretty confident I could do, but my really big goal is this other goal. And based on the numbers, I think I could actually do that this year. So then I said, let me go for it. So I hit the really big goal in early December. And just the act of doing that.
And then also, I love being in the entrepreneur space and community and talking with other lawyers who have that same mindset and reading books about it and listening to podcasts, but it can also be really hard to not fall into the trap. Of more, which I think is what I was getting at [00:10:00] towards the end of the year of like, okay, 2024 is coming up.
What are going to be my goals? And it’s so easy to go, okay, I hit this number this year. I’m just going to go 10 or 20 percent more next year. But I was like, but is that what I want to do? Like, is every year I’m just going to keep upping the revenue goal and then work more. I mean, at the end of this year, I was Tapped out like I was maxed out and went, okay, this I’ve hit the ceiling like this.
This is the revenue goal. If it’s just going to be me, that is just going to be me. I’m not, I’m not going to be able to do anything more than this. And I’m pretty efficient and automated. Like it really kind of came down to, I just need more. Output, which would be another person. And did I really want to do that?
But I, I, for like a couple of weeks was like, well, how can I bring someone on? And then maybe I’ll work during December and create these templates and have this whole system in place so that when I bring someone on, they’re just kind of plug and play and I’ll have all the trade. And like, I just got. on the hamster wheel.
And then we have conversations again, which I [00:11:00] love with other lawyers who want a big firm and want all these people and want to be across the nation. And I love that. Like I love talking to them and they’re so inspiring. I think it’s so easy to fall into. Well, that’s what we all should be doing. Like that’s a successful lawyer.
So I guess I go down that path if I want to do it. And we talk so much on this podcast about what is your definition of success? And we ask every guest that. And so my reminder, I guess, is even though I’m somebody who deeply believes that success is individual and mine is not a number, it’s being able to support my family and.
Take weekends off and not have to ask for permission of how I spend my time and take my kids to school every day and do Girl Scouts, which I’m doing in this next year with my six year old like I want to be able to do that and not think twice about it. That’s what’s important to me. It’s not a number and two things can be true.
[00:12:00] I get caught up in what I just call the culture of more like, it’s just, and I think this is our society, right? You build this business, then you build the next one, or you hit that revenue or that salary. And then you go to the next one, you run that race and you got to rate the next rate. It’s all around us.And I found myself at the end of last year, caught in that. And you and I had a discussion of like, I don’t, I don’t know what my goals are going to be. Cause I almost wanted to push against it. Like I didn’t want to make. More goals like, well, I did this revenue. I guess I’ll do that revenue next year, or I had this many clients.
I want more clients, whatever it was. So I really struggled to create goals because I didn’t want to fall into that trap and it was really easy to do it. Even being a person who. Doesn’t believe it and wants to be off the treadmill and helps other lawyers get off the treadmill. But when you’re in that environment, it can be really challenging not to fall into that trap of you’ve got to do the next thing.
You climbed that mountain and now there’s the next mountain that you got to go climb and then there’s [00:13:00] the next mountain. And so I think I’m just going to sit on the mountain, which feels very odd to me. But I don’t know if I want more, but it’s hard to then be like, is, am I? Am I unsuccessful? Like, is that failing?
Which is really weird that that’s how our psyches have been programmed in not only, I think, the American sort of capitalist culture, but I think in the profession too. That, you know, you talk to folks of like, well, if you’ve done really well, maybe you should get an associate. Well, I don’t want an associate, but I’m good, but that’s the constantly the feedback I get.
So it’s really hard to push against that. So like I said, I’m, I’m doing it in real time. I don’t have an answer yet. I’ve just identified. I don’t want to keep going for the next thing, next thing, next thing, just to keep going for the next thing.
JESS: I love so many things about this conversation because it is a real thing, and I started laughing when you actually brought up the, you know, the mountain metaphor, [00:14:00] because the way this has actually shown up for me, my personal life, is that there have been individuals who have come into my life who have literally, their goal is to climb mountains, it’s like that type of stuff, like literally like, I climbed that one, let’s go on to the next one, and I found this.
That those people really annoy me. And so I, I’m trying to strategize in 2024 on my personal life. Like who are the type of people I want to continue to hang out with and who are the type of people I need to spend less time with, because that just does not work for me and it annoys me and stresses me out and I don’t need that energy in my life, but in the, in the professional side, that totally makes sense.
I liked how you then brought in success. I was hoping you would. Tie it back to that, because that was kind of what was going through my mind at the end of the day. It should come back to our personal definitions of success. That doesn’t take away the outside world and that pressure and always being in it and feeling like maybe you should be reaching for more.
So it is, it’s a [00:15:00] real struggle. I mean, half the battle I think is recognizing it. So I think that’s great.
LAUREN: The awareness I think is key. I’m guessing for many of our listeners might feel the same way that I do, and many lawyers do, is we’re goal oriented and driven, ambitious people. We went to law school and passed the bar exam.
Like, you don’t do that without having some of those DNA chromosomes in you. Like, it’s just sort of innate in who you are. And I think where I struggle is Once you get to what your definition of success is, I feel like I’m living that and I’m not done in terms of life. I’m not done in terms of my profession.
So I think that’s where the struggle comes into is like, do I just like phone it in now? And that’s so foreign to me. I’ve always had a goal and something I was working towards and something I was passionate about. And now I’m like, maybe I just like do the same thing this year. I don’t do anything new. I just kind of.
Coast, [00:16:00] which is the fact that I would say that is very weird and it kind of against my nature. And I wonder if that’s what plays into it is that we’re just such, I say competitive. I’m not a really competitive person, but an ambitious, I’ve always worked towards something in the next thing and law school and the bar exam and opening the business and then hitting that first revenue goal.
There was always something and now it’s, I’m, I’m just kind of good, but. I’m 38. Like, is this it? Like, did I, am I done? Like, I just, okay, great, cashed it in. Thanks so much for that ride. I want my practice to be until I retire, which is not for a long time. So I think that’s the part that I’m struggling with is like, well, then what does it look like for the next?
10, 15 years. Like, is it, do I want it to be just this over and over again? Or does it maybe look like something different, but I don’t know if I have to figure that out today.
JESS: I don’t think so. I mean, just my personal opinion is that the fact that you are going through this evaluation process, at least [00:17:00] once a year, my guess is much more often than that.
Hey, I’m just curious to see how you feel about the next year. Just being. You might find that you like it. You don’t know. And I’m sure you’ll evaluate it. 12 months from now we’ll have this conversation again because you’re so aware. My guess is that the universe will present ideas to you. And as long as you’re open to it and willing to accept it, I think it’ll point you in a direction.
I think it’s okay to just, I don’t know if coasts is the right word, but just to kind of be and be open to the possibilities that might come your way. And I think Possibilities will come your way and you can decide, do I want to pursue that? Yes or no, but eventually you will find things I think that you’ll want to pursue.
LAUREN: Yes, I appreciate that. I’m glad that you’re optimistic.
JESS: I think it’s to be good. I’m curious to see how the next year goes. What am I thinking about in 2024? So on the professional side, one thing I really want to take a deeper dive in into that is paired with [00:18:00] something we shared in the last episode with the above the line network is really just what I will call and I think what.
Bill Henderson has called -Bill Henderson is a professor Indiana university law school -the economics of law in a way that provides more data and understanding to people when we’re having this conversation in my world. I spent a lot of time focusing on how can we. Make sure that every American has access to legal help when they need it.
And as we discussed in the last episode, it’s not just low income people. That’s people all the way up to making 140 plus thousand dollars a year as an individual. So how do we do that? And I’ve learned over the past year as I’ve watched people give presentations about the economics of law and just watched and been a part of discussions where we talk about The economics of law, the average lawyer don’t spend a lot of time thinking about business, but the legal profession is a business.
And when we have discussions about the challenges and how to solve those challenges, we need to [00:19:00] think about it through that lens. And I’m just not seeing sophisticated conversations about that. And maybe part of that is we have some data, but not a ton. And so Bill Henderson in 2018, he put together a legal market landscape report for a committee in Arizona that was looking at changing the ethics rules and the unauthorized practice of law rules are considering making changes that might allow for more business models and providers and.
With the idea of hoping to close that justice gap and make sure more people can access legal services. So we put together this report. It has a lot of interesting information in it. I’ll just say one thing with respect to the average person. I think we already know that I think the number is the average person has like 400 for an emergency.
Like that’s the average person in America. So I kind of think of that as like 400 of truly disposable income, which is not a lot. We also know from Bill Henderson’s report that The average American prioritizes medical and educational expenses over legal [00:20:00] expenses, which makes total sense to me. I would 100 percent do the same thing.
And we know that 50 percent of the people who have legal problems don’t even identify them as legal. So those are just like Problems with the average person, but then we also know from his report, things like the inefficiencies of court of the court system in a lot of areas have really added to the cost of delivering the legal services.
And there are other things that have done the same thing, including we have antiquated ethics rules, unauthorized practice of law rules that are very restrictive. And basically what this is all meaning is that in a lot of situations, the underlying. value of a claim is less than the cost of delivering the service.
And so when you have that gap, how do you build a profitable business around that? And so it really causes you, I think, to rethink about the delivery of legal services and the different models that might be needed because we need to close that gap as a profession. And so I think a goal for me [00:21:00] is I’d really love to work with Bill Henderson, Bill Henderson.
If you’re listening to our podcast, I want to work with you. My organization has worked with him in the past. So I’m feeling confident about when I reach out to him that a, he’ll probably be working on something amazing that we can build upon. We certainly can build upon this report, but I’m hoping to. In some way, 2024 conducts some more research and really dig into this issue more so we can just have a more productive conversation around this as a profession.
And I think once we have this data, I suspect, I don’t know how lawyers will receive it and practice shares in our listeners, but what I hope it will show is that we really like there’s, there’s so much need. There is plenty of room in this sandbox for all of us, but that’s what I want to spend a lot of time in 2024.
LAUREN: I love the business perspective in my time in the profession. It’s stark to me that we don’t think of it as a business. Because we exchange money for services, like any [00:22:00] other service based business does. And I wonder if taking that perspective will actually move the needle on some of these things.
Because we’ve just tried pro bono, for example. We were just gonna volunteer our way out of the justice gap. Well, we’ve done that for decades now, and we still have a justice gap, if not a bigger justice gap, because of all these factors you’re talking about are coming into play. I would hope that if we can say we have a business problem here, how do we solve it as a business, as a industry like that?
And yes, everybody’s got a seat, right? Like, There’s several people you can go buy your favorite cookies at. There’s not one way, we don’t want a monopoly in one way to practice, but we have to understand the business model of it more and treat our clients like consumers and figure out what they want and serve them.
I wonder if that will actually move the needle, finally.
JESS: Probably not in [00:23:00] 2024, but
LAUREN: we can start, we can start
JESS: sometime before I retire, that would be great.
LAUREN: It’s a long runway. I like it. It’s a long term goal, but I think starting this is the place to start. I’m really excited to see where this comes up and yeah, a year from now, like what have you learned and what movement has there been and how have these problems been made more clear so that we can actually find the solution because we understand the problem a heck of a lot better.
My goals I think at this point for 2024 are to, in a strange way, although I feel like I generally did this, but got away from it towards the back half of last year, is to prioritize resting. And I think this is my initial reaction to that culture of more. I just thought I don’t really want to get into that.
I don’t want to get on that hamster wheel. So how can I [00:24:00] sort of push against that? And I think just continuing to prioritize rest. I think the last couple months of 2023 got really busy. And I thought I had a really good system of like going to the gym most days and taking weekends off. And I generally don’t work on Fridays.
And like I had that in place. And then come like October. That all seemed to go out the window. So that system or habit I thought I had built that would be able to weather a more intense storm of busyness fell apart. So I don’t want to beat myself up too much because that might just be life and that just happens sometimes and it’s not always.
Perfect, but I’m wondering if I need to put more structures and scaffolding in place so that when I do have busy times, it doesn’t totally blow up, but you know, maybe I go to the gym two or three days a week instead of every day set better boundaries with clients or whatever it is. I’m not immune to any of that, but I think prioritizing rest and the end from that.
Flows, all of those [00:25:00] things will help me kind of reset in the new year and try and build a system in place that I can use that even if things do get busy at some point.
JESS: Well, a few things on my list kind of to pair along with what I was just talking about. We have strategic plans for the focus areas that we work on.
And so I’ve been spending some time on that over the past couple of months. I think it’s really coming together nicely. So I think honestly, one of the goals is just to execute on the plan, which at first sounded easy, and then suddenly sounded very overwhelming because there’s a lot that goes into that.
And so the reason I’m sharing this is the tip that I’d like to share that I just use for myself is when you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, or at least when I am, I just take a step back and just chunk it down like Really, then just try to break it into segments. What is the first step in the process?
What is the second step? Maybe start with just larger milestones and then just the, the tasks that will get you to the next milestone. And then you compare that with a timeline. And so [00:26:00] then once I’m like, okay, I just actually need to sit down and spend some time doing that. And recognizing, I think that once when I once I do that, I’m actually going to feel less overwhelmed.
And then it’s just kind of like, okay, I just I need to execute on these things. Not that that makes it any easier. But now I have a plan and now it’s associated with the timeline. I can just go step by step. And as long as I. Stay within the timeline, then theoretically, by the end of the year, I think our strategic plan will actually be longer than that.
But by the time I reach the end of it, then I’ve done what I’ve set out to do. I don’t know if we’ll ultimately accomplish our goals, but at least I can feel. Satisfied that we executed the plan that we set out to execute a second goal. That’s kind of been an ongoing goal for me, which is really creating community.
And I actually touched, I guess, on this a little bit too, like examining the existing communities I’m a part of and do I like that? Do I not? What parts do I like? What parts don’t? I like making some adjustments there, but also just continuing to [00:27:00] look for new opportunities to create community, both personally and professionally.
But really professionally, I think, because it’s just been really hard, like I’ve moved past year and a half. I had existing connections and friendships, which is great. And I’m very thankful for that. But the move combined with the pandemic has led to just. Less opportunities for and I’m looking more so for in person community.
I recognize you can be in community in many ways. And I think the area I’m lacking in is that really those in person connections where I feel like I get to know people better. We just have less of those. I know we’ve talked about this, but they just less of those exists today. And so what to do with that?
Should I try to create my own communities? Maybe? So I’m just, I’m still trying to. To figure that out because I recognize that as a need that I have. And then on the personal side, just some fun things like one of my goals has always been to go to all 50 states. And that definitely has been put on the back burner during the COVID years for good reason.
But now it [00:28:00] seems like it’s the time to return to that. So I have plans to go to New Mexico and Oklahoma. And so those are two states I have not been to yet, which I’m really excited to visit and then check off my list. And then this is a goal. I don’t know if this is, and this is my last one. I don’t know if this is a 2024 goal or 2025 goal, but I really would, I think, like to work remotely for a few weeks, either from somewhere in the U.
S. or maybe another country. I think I would love to take advantage of the opportunity to work remotely and just stay a little longer in a place just so I can experience the culture of that location. So that’s something I really want to do. I just have to figure out, one of the issues is I have to figure out like.
What is a two to three week stretch or maybe even longer, where I’m not going to have to go to a conference or actually be somewhere in person. And then also it’s costly. So I just need to find other people potentially to do this with. So if you’re listening to this podcast and this sounds like an interesting idea to you, please do reach out to me.
But I would love to do that.
LAUREN: I think that’d be really fun. I like the [00:29:00] idea of taking a small tweak to how we generally work. You’re still going to keep your job. You’re not looking to make a huge change. It’s just like, can I go do it somewhere else for a couple of weeks? I think that small tweak is in line with the other.
general goal I’ve had at this point, which is to not focus so much on the lawyering and law firm part of my business, which I love. But that’s, I think where I was like more, more, more next thing, more revenue was like, what if I keep that the same, but I tweak another piece of it. And so I want to work.
This year on leaning more into passive income opportunities, I have a DIY guide that I built years ago. So updating what’s there and maybe adding some new courses for folks that I get a lot of questions about. So really working kind of more on that. Which is not necessarily a huge revenue generator, but that’s to me, not the point.
[00:30:00] Like it’s not always about some big number, but I like doing it and I think it creates a good resource. I think it helps folks who maybe don’t think they could ever have any help at all. So I feel really good about doing it and it feels fulfilling. So I want to lean into more ideas for passive income and potentially like partner with other attorneys in different.practice areas. And then I’m really excited. I want to focus on coaching and support work that we’re doing. I’m like thrilled about our mastermind. We have such a great group of people. I’m excited to go through this year with them and support them, but just figure out other ways that I can offer some business coaching for lawyers and lean into that a little bit more.
And that’s. because it feels like I’m starting over. Like the law firm is such a well oiled machine, man. If I wanted to put in some more coals, like we could be seriously cooking and it’s hard to go, I don’t want to do that easy thing because that feels like I’m just asking for more stress, but to come to something that’s not [00:31:00] as developed, that is not as huge of a revenue generator, but just gives me so much joy and fulfillment and is such a passion project of mine.
I think that that, if I had. extra time this year, which hopefully I will, because I’m not going balls to the wall with the law firm, is to lean into that. So I like that idea of if you don’t want to go for another big goal, or you really don’t want to kind of keep ratcheting it up, how can we look at what we do every day in a slightly different way so that it’s new, like working remotely?
How can I go work in France for four weeks? That sounds amazing. Or how can I do more of this passive income? Or how can I productize more things? It may feel like you’re starting over, but I actually think it’s. It’s just a really refreshing way to make a goal rather than what feels like just the natural next more thing.
JESS: Well, and as you’re being over this next year, you have other ideas too.
LAUREN: Yes. I think I’m just [00:32:00] gonna meditate. That’s all I should do. You’ll just see pictures of me like just being.
JESS: That’s your button.
LAUREN: I am just, I am being, I am being, I love that. I think I’m gonna, I’m gonna incorporate that. And that’ll be a question.
I asked myself, as you say, I’m, I will certainly check in on my goals more than once a year, because that’s just how I’m wired. But I think that’s a good way of like, am I just being, am I just enjoying This bit of it, but I think creating goals and having something at least that you’re working towards or feels like you’re making progress.
It doesn’t have to be something huge. It can be I want to start a garden or I want to read a book this year, or I want to read one more book, or I want to listen to a new podcast, whatever it is, like it doesn’t have to be something insane. If you want to go and train for the marathon, Go for it. You do you we would cheer.
I mean, if you want to go for the big thing, go for the big thing. But if you’ve done that for years or decades, and maybe it’s feels a [00:33:00] little bit more refreshing to do a small goal. I think that you and I are both on that same page of 2024 is going to be a little less big, and we’re just going to focus on being and continuing to make impact.
So hopefully, you as our listeners have some of your own personal goals or professional goals that you’re working towards. If there’s any way we can continue to support you in either. That is what we’re here for. If nothing else, at least you heard what ours are and how we’ve worked through them and they’re not maybe smart goals.
I don’t have timelines or measurable things necessarily, but having done that for almost four decades, I feel really good about not doing a goal like that this year, and I think that’s totally okay. So whatever your 2024 looks like, whatever you’re working towards, we hope that this month kicks it off well, and you get to start taking those steps as just said, making the little steps towards progress.
And then the big picture will come together on its own. Thanks [00:34:00] for spending a little bit of time with us. We hope that whatever you’re working towards in 2024, you get there. And we will certainly as always be here supporting and cheering you on. Thanks so much for listening. We’ll see you next time.
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