2020 has been an interesting year. Thankfully there were more ups than downs. This year forced me to pivot and reevaluate my life and business.
It was such an emotional roller coaster thanks to Covid, a wild presidential election, the Great Solar Flare, Quarantine, and much more.
This is my third year creating a blog post reflecting on my year. You can read my blog review of 2019 here.
Let's review some lessons I learned in 2020.
Fear can cause chaos. This year started out feeling like it was going to be a great start for a new decade. Then Covid happened. A global pandemic. This country went into a lockdown in the middle of March. People were scared because no one understood what was happening. Out of fear, some people decided to buy up all of the toilet tissues, hand sanitizers, alcohol, and so much more.
It felt like we were living straight out of a movie. A lot of people lost their lives around the world. Hospitals were overcapacity. Schools had to shut down, kids had to do their learning from home.
During this time my husband and I decided to try to keep a strong front for our kids' sake. We kept ourselves informed and also our kids because as we educated ourselves about what was happening we had to educate our kids as well.
This year created a dramatic shift. Everything had literally come to a halt and it felt surreal.
With all of this going on, It forced me to make a big pivot for my business, and personal life. All the goals, that I set for this year had to be re-evaluated and altered to fit into my new reality.
Being home more called me to use this time to go within and remain calm when everything else around me was chaotic. I was able to center myself and become an anchor my family needed.
Facing new fears head-on allowed me to change my outlook for the year. I shift my focus on things I could control versus stressing over the things I could not.
Helping others helps. There were many ways people stepped up to the plate this year to help others. A lot of people started to use their sewing machines to help create face masks for hospital staff and other essential workers. It created an environment that made a lot of people find ways to get creative. As a teacher, I helped my students focus on making self-care a priority and celebrate small and big victories to keep their spirits lifted.
Boundaries are important. Working and having school remote meant new boundaries needed to be created. We had to re-prioritize a lot of work and set boundaries for quiet spaces to complete classwork and zoom meetings and break up screen time and get some type of movement.
Stay Flexible. Every month was different, by staying flexible we were able to still find ways to enjoy ourselves and be prepared for constant changes.
Cherish the little things. Walking became our favorite thing to do. It provided an opportunity to get fresh air and focus on spending quality time together. Something we did not do as often.
Here are some of the things that helped my business for 2020
the following allowed me to be more successful, productive, and creative than I have been in the previous years.
Facing my fears. Since 2019, this has been my goal. I was able to continue with this goal this year by doing the following.
Become a Yoga Professor and teaching larger groups for a community college
Created more yoga tutorials for Youtube
Created Instagram TV Video series
Hosted two yoga challenges on Instagram
Added new Courses to my Online Yoga School called Elevated Yogi Academy
Published my first Yoga Guide on Amazon called "Your Yoga Journey: A Great Way to Start"
Recorded 2 new seasons for my podcast called "From My Mat to Yours" Available on iTunes, Google podcast, iHeart radio, and more...which now has 1500 downloads!!
Doing these things allowed me to build more confidence to talk and engage with more people and share my expertise.
Plan. Execute. This actually helped for this year. I started creating videos for my online yoga course for beginners and was able to use those videos and content when I needed to switch to remote learning in the middle of the school semester. Planning ahead prepared me for unforeseen situations. I still need to improve on this more. For 2021 I will continue to Plan. Execute that plan. Repeat.
Get organized. Planners are the key to my success. Using a planner and having multiple calenders has helped me juggle a lot this year. I have created a new planner that is now broken up into quarters to help me dial in a little more and get more organized.
Self-care is a necessity. It is extremely important to make time for yourself. It does not have to be lavish. Sometimes it could be as small as taking a 10-minute walk alone or writing in your journal to collect your thoughts. Writing in my journal for just 20 minutes the first thing in the morning has been extremely helpful for me this year.
Unplug. I cannot express this enough. It is important to unplug yourself from all technology for at least a few hours a day and pick up a book or do something that will give your mind and eyes a break. This year I spent less on social media because I was able to schedule my post using the Facebook creator. (Facebook creator studio allows you to schedule out all of your posts on both your Facebook page and Instagram accounts, as well as IGTV.) This has been a lifesaver this year and saved me so much money.
Networking and Connection. Networking and making connections have helped me grow my business ventures. Thanks to the courage I build up from my visibility goal, I was able to approach other businesses and collaborate. This is something I will be more energy into come 2021.
Using a Vision Board. Being a visual person. I decided to revise my virtual vision board along with using the power of the law of attraction to achieve 2 major goals for 2021. Which is to expand my business and create a wellness community. This technique helped me reach my previous goals of obtaining a new car, a new house, and a new job. All three goals were reached by December 2019.
Last Podcast of the Year: Lessons from 2020
What to expect in 2021?
I will continue to Plan. Execute. Repeat.
I will be publishing a Journal and two books.
More Courses and tutorials.
Q 1 (Jan-Mar) Elevate Your mindset and How to Elevate Your Business will be released.
Q2 (Apr-Jun) Spring into Yoga part 2 will be released
Q3 ( July - Sept) Elevate Your Mindset Program will be released
and much more...
I already started to fill up my 2021 planner. If you are not sure which planner to get check out my selection on amazon.
“Simplyfitandcurvyyoga is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”
About the Author:
Kenya Marsh is the founder of SimplyFitandCurvyYoga (SFCY) and Author of several books including Your Yoga Journey: A Great Way to Start. As a wife, stay-at-home mom of two, and yoga teacher. Kenya knows how challenging and beneficial a steady yoga practice can be. She understands it can be hard to start a new yoga journey alone. She created this website, along with courses, books, and more materials to help provide support to busy yogis elevate their yoga practice. You can now listen to her new Yoga Podcast called "From My Mat to Yours" available where you get your podcast.
Follow her yoga journey on Instagram @simplyfitandcurvyyoga