Latest / Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design / 172 | A Simple Year End Money Review Exercise for the Female Entrepreneur

Transcript

172 | A Simple Year End Money Review Exercise for the Female Entrepreneur · Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design

0:00
Erin Gray: Today I want to reflect on 2025 and also use a term that I got from one of my coaches years ago.
0:09
Erin Gray: Not sure where she got it.
0:10
Erin Gray: Maybe she created it from her mind, or maybe she got it from another coach, but I feel like that it's helpful when you're reflecting on things.
0:17
Erin Gray: And I suggest doing this weekly or monthly for your business, your money, your life.
0:22
Erin Gray: Like you can do this in all areas of your life, but I suggest you get in the habit of doing this on a more consistent basis so that you can gain more knowledge and information and data.
0:34
Erin Gray: So we are going to talk about and look at what is worked, what didn't, and then what would you do differently?
0:41
Erin Gray: And then shift into who you want to be, right?
0:45
Erin Gray: What do you want to move into 2026 that you love about yourself already?
0:50
Erin Gray: What do you want to let go of as you move into 2026?
0:55
Erin Gray: So I like to always start with what worked because I believe that everything is always working.
1:01
Erin Gray: Like what, and I know I talked about we're going to talk about what worked, what didn't, and what would we be doing differently.
1:06
Erin Gray: And I do think that that has its place when you're going to sit down and you're actually going to look at some things from a neutral place.
1:13
Erin Gray: But also I want you to look at it as like, I'm always thinking, everything is always working.
1:19
Erin Gray: What do I want to tweak?
1:20
Erin Gray: Because when I think of something isn't working, if I'm moving from the energy of it's not working, I'm creating more of it's not working.
1:29
Erin Gray: So I want to really have you hone in and first focus on what is working because I believe that has us coming from the place and feeling of having, of moving from the place of sufficiency and gratitude.
1:44
Erin Gray: And it really conditions our minds to focus on the good things.
1:47
Erin Gray: And Emma, you're quoting the good things first, right?
1:49
Erin Gray: That really has us focusing on what are the things that are happening to give us that evidence list.
1:56
Erin Gray: And, you know, when I first started this work back in 2019, I was so, I would call it in the negative, right?
2:03
Erin Gray: Like I was always thinking about all the problems because that is how I was taught growing up.
2:08
Erin Gray: Like, what are the problems?
2:09
Erin Gray: We got to fix the problems.
2:10
Erin Gray: I didn't know, and I don't think my parents and people around me knew that like focusing on the problems creates more problems.
2:16
Erin Gray: You know, it's kind of like always focusing on our expenses.
2:19
Erin Gray: We're creating, we're focusing on, you know, more expenses versus what is working, focusing on our income, having gratitude and praising the income that we have generated.
2:31
Erin Gray: So make a list in your journal.
2:32
Erin Gray: This is one of those podcasts that pause it.
2:35
Erin Gray: It's really going to be like get in the weeds, really pause it, do it, come back to it, listen to it, you know, keep going back and forth versus just passively listening to this episode.
2:47
Erin Gray: I said podcast, but I meant episode.
2:49
Erin Gray: So make a list in your journal.
2:52
Erin Gray: Or maybe you're a Word document person.
2:54
Erin Gray: I personally like to sit down with pen and paper and use my journal, but that's me.
2:58
Erin Gray: Whatever feels good for you as to what did you love?
3:02
Erin Gray: Really start to get into that framework and that feeling like, what are you so proud of yourself for for 2025?
3:09
Erin Gray: Like just rattle them all off.
3:11
Erin Gray: And you can break this down in several ways.
3:13
Erin Gray: Like, what were you thinking the most, like most of the time that worked and that you loved and that you want to lean more into in 2026?
3:24
Erin Gray: You know, I think a lot of us sometimes are like, oh, this isn't working.
3:26
Erin Gray: So I'm ready to change all this.
3:28
Erin Gray: But I want you to start with like, what do you love about yourself?
3:30
Erin Gray: What do you love about some of the qualities, your self-concept that you already have?
3:34
Erin Gray: What are the things that you did in your business that you loved and that that worked and you want to continue and you want to focus on those in 2026 and expand those?
3:43
Erin Gray: Think about your feelings.
3:45
Erin Gray: What were you feeling on a consistent basis?
3:47
Erin Gray: What was some of the action that you took that you loved and that you want to continue doing?
3:53
Erin Gray: So, like, think about it from that place of like, what is already working and where do I want to double down on that?
3:59
Erin Gray: And think about those results that you created in your business and with your money.
4:03
Erin Gray: What are those things that you loved about what you did?
4:06
Erin Gray: And so you want to do this for each area, right?
4:10
Erin Gray: So do this first and foremost for what worked.
4:12
Erin Gray: Do it for what didn't work because you're gonna have thoughts and feelings around what worked.
4:16
Erin Gray: You're also gonna have thoughts and feelings that created around what didn't work.
4:20
Erin Gray: You're also going to have thoughts and feelings around what would you do differently, right?
4:24
Erin Gray: Because you're gonna take the things that you didn't feel like were were working.
4:28
Erin Gray: And then, so then what were the thoughts that were creating wasn't working?
4:32
Erin Gray: And then what do you want to do and think and feel differently to create what would you do differently?
4:37
Erin Gray: And so ask yourself what thoughts drove most of my decisions in 2025?
4:44
Erin Gray: Were they thoughts of faith?
4:46
Erin Gray: Were they grounded in trust?
4:48
Erin Gray: Like I continue to read the book.
4:49
Erin Gray: I was just reading it again, God works through faith.
4:52
Erin Gray: Faith in God Changes Everything by Robert Russell.
4:55
Erin Gray: Like this book, Power of Awareness and Working with the Law, I probably read, I definitely read like each one of them, one of them, a certain one, you know, every day.
5:04
Erin Gray: But I just think it's like I was reading it again today, and I just was like, oh my goodness, like such at a such a deeper level.
5:11
Erin Gray: And I was reading around, like basically he was saying surrender, you know, and he was talking about letting go of your needs and wants and your ambitions and your aspirations and your fears and your worries and your obligations and your responsibilities and your claims and your desires in perfect trust and abandonment, knowing that God takes hold when you let go.
5:35
Erin Gray: And when I read that this morning, I was like, oh man, that's so good.
5:38
Erin Gray: Like, how can I let go even more?
5:40
Erin Gray: How can I like just allow it and just know that it is done and that it is already on its way to me and that I am just the vessel and I am here to, you know, have God work through me and to serve humanity and like just being in joyful anticipation of like, how is it going to show up?
6:00
Erin Gray: Okay, I know I got on a side tangent, but I just I wanted to say that because I think so often we say we have faith, but we actually don't embody faith.
6:09
Erin Gray: Like we think about it intellectually, but we don't actually do it.
6:13
Erin Gray: So think about what were your how often were you in the feeling and the thinking of faith?
6:19
Erin Gray: How often were you in trust?
6:21
Erin Gray: Were you assuming?
6:23
Erin Gray: You know, I talked about the law of assumption on a couple of the past episodes.
6:26
Erin Gray: Were you thinking or power of assumption?
6:29
Erin Gray: Were you thinking that it was assuming that it was going to work out?
6:32
Erin Gray: Or were you assuming that it wasn't?
6:34
Erin Gray: Think about how you were, if you were feeling pressured or urgency, or like how often were you in scarcity?
6:41
Erin Gray: You know, if you're thinking things like, I need to catch up, I need to hurry up, it's taking too long, I'm behind, I have to hurry up and figure this out.
6:49
Erin Gray: That's not coming from the place of it's done.
6:51
Erin Gray: It's not coming from trust and calmness and confidence.
6:55
Erin Gray: So those thoughts matter.
6:57
Erin Gray: Like being aware of that, it matters because they shape how you feel.
7:02
Erin Gray: And then they create whether they create more pressure or they create more behind being air quotes, being behind.
7:08
Erin Gray: I don't believe anyone is ever behind.
7:10
Erin Gray: But like if you're thinking that, you're gonna create more of that.
7:13
Erin Gray: You're gonna create more of like, I gotta catch up, versus hang on a second, how often was I saying that to myself?
7:20
Erin Gray: Which actually isn't even true.
7:22
Erin Gray: Behind who?
7:23
Erin Gray: Like, we only have ourselves that who we're comparing ourselves with.
7:26
Erin Gray: Like one of the things I've really been talking to my daughter about lately is because she, her little sweet ego, does want to know, like, well, well, how did I compare to someone else in the class?
7:34
Erin Gray: I'm like, I don't care.
7:35
Erin Gray: I don't care about anybody else in the class.
7:37
Erin Gray: I care about you.
7:38
Erin Gray: And not that I don't care about anybody else in the class, but I care about you.
7:41
Erin Gray: I care about you comparing you to you.
7:44
Erin Gray: That's all that matters.
7:45
Erin Gray: Someone else in the class needs to compare themselves with themselves, right?
7:49
Erin Gray: It's all relative to how we are doing, not to somebody else.
7:53
Erin Gray: So really start to think about what are those thoughts that you were thinking about in 2025?
7:58
Erin Gray: What are the thoughts that you loved?
8:00
Erin Gray: What are the thoughts that you want to keep?
8:02
Erin Gray: What are the ones that you want to, you know, change?
8:05
Erin Gray: Think about your feelings.
8:07
Erin Gray: What was your emotional state that you lived in the majority of the time?
8:11
Erin Gray: And I am gonna be honest here with you, right?
8:14
Erin Gray: Like, I don't think I'm in ease and calm 100% of the time.
8:18
Erin Gray: I don't think that that's normal or, you know, what is even normal.
8:22
Erin Gray: But I don't think that that is like the human, the humanness in us, like we're gonna have ebbs and flows.
8:27
Erin Gray: That's just part of it.
8:28
Erin Gray: Like the goal, I envision the goal for each of us is to not just feel calm all the time, right?
8:34
Erin Gray: I don't want to feel calm when my daughter is having frustrations with her friends.
8:38
Erin Gray: That's not calm, you know.
8:41
Erin Gray: I care, right?
8:42
Erin Gray: But allowing myself to feel the feelings and then decide, okay, how do I want to respond to this?
8:49
Erin Gray: So think about your primary emotional state.
8:52
Erin Gray: Like, what are the top three feelings that you were feeling on a consistent basis?
8:55
Erin Gray: Or maybe you can go to five or 10.
8:57
Erin Gray: Like, were you mainly calm and confident?
9:00
Erin Gray: And then sometimes you would see where scarcity or doubt would creep in.
9:05
Erin Gray: Okay.
9:05
Erin Gray: Or were you primarily in doubt and worry and fear, right?
9:08
Erin Gray: There's a difference between those two.
9:10
Erin Gray: So, what were those, what I call like, what were the feelings that you bathed yourself in?
9:16
Erin Gray: You bathed your nervous system, you bathed your cells in this year.
9:21
Erin Gray: Were you feeling feelings of gratitude and love and compassion and joy and ease and fun?
9:28
Erin Gray: And like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be so fun.
9:30
Erin Gray: I can't wait to see how this is gonna work out.
9:32
Erin Gray: Or are you like, oh my gosh, I know it's not gonna work out?
9:36
Erin Gray: Like, what was the energy that you were in?
9:38
Erin Gray: Are you feeling proud of yourself of what you've created and accomplished?
9:42
Erin Gray: Are you feeling successful and a leader?
9:45
Erin Gray: Like you are the leader of your business, whether you are a solopreneur or you have employees, you are a leader.
9:52
Erin Gray: You know, were you coming from the energy of feeling confident, or were you feeling more anxious or rushed or avoidant?
10:00
Erin Gray: Or maybe you were inconsistent.
10:03
Erin Gray: Like just really start to get micro here and really start to write down and gain that awareness so that you can make changes.
10:14
Erin Gray: And then from the action place, from that state, right?
10:20
Erin Gray: Like, what did you do?
10:22
Erin Gray: You know, your actions are always going to reveal what you believe about yourself.
10:26
Erin Gray: If you believe that something will not work, you will not take action towards it.
10:32
Erin Gray: It's okay to say, I, you know, I want this to work out.
10:37
Erin Gray: I'm taking steps and I still feel a little like my nervous system feels a little shaky right now.
10:44
Erin Gray: It feels unfamiliar.
10:45
Erin Gray: That's okay to feel that way, right?
10:46
Erin Gray: We don't want to gaslight ourselves.
10:48
Erin Gray: But when you're just already stopping the train before it even starts to go on the tracks, like what are we doing here?
10:55
Erin Gray: Like, really start to pay attention to our language.
10:58
Erin Gray: So if you've been feeling pressure, if you are coming from pressure, you're probably gonna be rushing your decision-making skills or decision-making, I should say, you know, your decision-making process.
11:09
Erin Gray: You know, when you feel pressure, it's like hurry up and get this done.
11:12
Erin Gray: It isn't, hey, let me sink into my intuition even more.
11:16
Erin Gray: If you're feeling doubt, you're probably going to be waiting.
11:20
Erin Gray: And waiting creates more waiting, or you're going to be hesitating, or you're going to say, maybe next time, or I'll wait and see how it goes, or not yet.
11:29
Erin Gray: Now's not a good time.
11:30
Erin Gray: Why not?
11:31
Erin Gray: Like, make yourself answer these questions.
11:32
Erin Gray: Why is now not a good time?
11:34
Erin Gray: What we only have now.
11:36
Erin Gray: So really start to be like, how much am I allowing fear and worry and doubt?
11:40
Erin Gray: Run the show.
11:41
Erin Gray: And listen, I'm not sitting over here over on my high horse saying, like, I do this perfectly.
11:46
Erin Gray: No, I don't.
11:47
Erin Gray: I noticed where I was not traveling as much this year.
11:51
Erin Gray: Like I kind of did this whole, I did what this podcast is about, right?
11:56
Erin Gray: And I'm like, you know what?
11:57
Erin Gray: I say that I'm a world traveler.
11:59
Erin Gray: I haven't been traveling as much as I want to.
12:01
Erin Gray: Like, no, right.
12:02
Erin Gray: So I've already gone through the first three months of the year and made, you know, decisions and taken action of like, where am I going for those first three months?
12:12
Erin Gray: And so when we say, like, as our identity, when we say we are something, we move from that place.
12:18
Erin Gray: So where are we not in congruence?
12:20
Erin Gray: And it's okay if we aren't.
12:22
Erin Gray: It's the awareness and noticing, okay, this is where I'm not, I'm not honoring that, and I am going to take action from that place.
12:32
Erin Gray: So look at all of this information objectively, right?
12:37
Erin Gray: This is not a place where we are now pile on the shame and the guilt.
12:40
Erin Gray: This is all just data.
12:42
Erin Gray: Think about what are the thoughts, what are the feelings, what are the actions that worked?
12:48
Erin Gray: What are the thoughts, the feelings, the actions that didn't work?
12:54
Erin Gray: You know, what are the things I'm going to do differently?
12:57
Erin Gray: What am I going to think differently?
12:58
Erin Gray: What am I going to feel differently?
12:59
Erin Gray: What am I going to practice?
13:00
Erin Gray: Like, this is a practice.
13:02
Erin Gray: This is a constant coming back to.
13:04
Erin Gray: Like, this is not a, oh, set it and forget it.
13:07
Erin Gray: Like, this is a constant evolution of what we have to come back to.
13:11
Erin Gray: Of like, where did I kind of go off?
13:13
Erin Gray: You know, I always make the analogy of like when the pilot puts his GPS to go to Hawaii, he doesn't go in a straight line, right?
13:21
Erin Gray: He's constantly off course.
13:22
Erin Gray: But what he does is he constantly comes back to and be like, okay, I'm going back.
13:26
Erin Gray: And then we end up in Maui.
13:28
Erin Gray: And so where are we just needing to guide ourselves a little bit back, continue to go back and back?
13:34
Erin Gray: You know, when I say continue to go back and back, what I mean is like continue to make decisions and thoughts and feelings and actions to course correct.
13:42
Erin Gray: That's the word I'm looking for.
13:43
Erin Gray: To course correct.
13:44
Erin Gray: Like the pilot is constantly course correcting.
13:48
Erin Gray: And that's what we're doing too.
13:49
Erin Gray: But we have to be aware so that we can course correct.
13:53
Erin Gray: And then finally, just look at like all of like, just do almost like a gratitude rampage of like all of the things that you created in 2025.
14:02
Erin Gray: Like 50 things.
14:04
Erin Gray: I don't care if it's money.
14:06
Erin Gray: I don't care if it's clients.
14:07
Erin Gray: I don't care if it's, you know, more time and more space, like in your calendar, like that is creation.
14:14
Erin Gray: I think so often in the business world, we think like creating is money and revenue and clients and business and all of this.
14:22
Erin Gray: And yes, that is true.
14:24
Erin Gray: And also creating more space, creating more space in your home, right?
14:28
Erin Gray: Like clearing out things.
14:30
Erin Gray: That is creation as well, right?
14:32
Erin Gray: In order for more things to flow in, we have to, you know, expand and allow things to move out.
14:40
Erin Gray: And so, did you create more time for yourself?
14:42
Erin Gray: Did you create more time in the calendar?
14:45
Erin Gray: Like one of the things I've recognized is like I like 15 minutes in between my client calls, you know, so creating that system so that, you know, if I have an 11 o'clock, then I have a 1215.
14:57
Erin Gray: I want to get up, I want to go move my legs, I want to go to the restroom, I want to grab more drinks.
15:01
Erin Gray: So create what are you, what have you created this year?
15:05
Erin Gray: Like just list all of it and just be in just pure gratitude and satisfaction and appreciation for what you have done.
15:14
Erin Gray: And if we take ownership for everything in our lives, then we truly get to embody our power.
15:21
Erin Gray: So if instead we see something that we wish were different, it's not something that we need to beat ourselves up around.
15:29
Erin Gray: It's just data, it's just info.
15:31
Erin Gray: We get to look at it neutrally and we get to decide, okay, so now I know this.
15:36
Erin Gray: Who am I going to be that's different to create something different?
15:41
Erin Gray: And it are always starts with the who.
15:44
Erin Gray: Who over the how.
15:46
Erin Gray: Who we are being is what creates what we want.
15:49
Erin Gray: Yeah, I was having this conversation with a client last week, and she was like, okay, you know, I really need to focus on the what.
15:54
Erin Gray: I'm like, no, you don't.
15:55
Erin Gray: You need to focus on the who, because the what and the how will work itself out if we talk about and we work on the who.
16:04
Erin Gray: The who is our identity, it creates everything.
16:07
Erin Gray: So as we are returning back to ourselves in 2026, I always think it's like not who we're becoming because we already are who we already are, right?
16:16
Erin Gray: We're just peeling back the layers and letting go of the of the things that really don't serve us and taking them into 2026.
16:26
Erin Gray: And like I mentioned, you don't have to wait until January 1st.
16:29
Erin Gray: You can start today.
16:29
Erin Gray: So ask yourself these following questions.
16:33
Erin Gray: What do I believe about myself?
16:35
Erin Gray: Not just in my business, but with money, with my energy, with my identity.
16:42
Erin Gray: Because when we shift our identity, our actions are going to naturally follow, right?
16:46
Erin Gray: Like I'll give you an example.
16:49
Erin Gray: This is what I used on a client the other day.
16:51
Erin Gray: I was like, listen, you we either are or we are not.
16:54
Erin Gray: There is no in-between.
16:56
Erin Gray: You know, I am not a smoker.
16:58
Erin Gray: I've never smoked a cigarette.
16:59
Erin Gray: No shame on anybody that has, but that's just me, right?
17:02
Erin Gray: So if someone were to ever ask me, do you want to smoke?
17:06
Erin Gray: I mean, I can't even be in the same like area of people smoking.
17:09
Erin Gray: It bothers me, my lungs and stuff.
17:11
Erin Gray: But like, if someone were to be like, Do you smoke?
17:13
Erin Gray: I wouldn't answer them with, well, sometimes, because sometimes is a smoker.
17:19
Erin Gray: So I'm not a smoker, right?
17:22
Erin Gray: That is my I that is one of my identities, is I am a non-smoker.
17:28
Erin Gray: I am a non-drinker, right?
17:30
Erin Gray: That's okay.
17:32
Erin Gray: And it's okay if you are, it's okay if you aren't.
17:35
Erin Gray: But what I'm saying with that is like standing in it, right?
17:39
Erin Gray: The identity, identity of someone who is bold is someone that speaks their mind when they ask themselves, does this need to be said?
17:50
Erin Gray: And if they get a yes, then they speak up.
17:52
Erin Gray: So think about what would you love to continue?
17:55
Erin Gray: Maybe it's structure, maybe it's more consistency, maybe it's boundaries that you set in place that you loved that supported you, you know.
18:04
Erin Gray: Is it continuing with CEO time?
18:08
Erin Gray: Is it you loved how much you slowed down?
18:11
Erin Gray: Is there ways that you can slow down even more in certain areas?
18:15
Erin Gray: What ways can you support yourself even further?
18:17
Erin Gray: And think about also like what have you outgrown, right?
18:21
Erin Gray: Maybe it's proving energy, you know, which that always comes typically from a feeling of inadequacy.
18:27
Erin Gray: You know, if it's undercharging, same thing that might come from inadequacy or just lack of like capacity to receive more, you know, there could be several things, but like just think about like what are you over?
18:39
Erin Gray: What are the things that you're like, you know what?
18:41
Erin Gray: I'm gonna leave that in 2025.
18:43
Erin Gray: So if you are someone that has been making decisions from fear instead of moving from confidence, this is the time to really start to look at and change your identity.
18:55
Erin Gray: You know, one of the things like I mentioned before is like one of the things I wanted to embody this year was being more bold.
19:01
Erin Gray: Like that was a self-concept I wanted to embody.
19:05
Erin Gray: Bold with my words, not beating around the bush, bold with my actions, bold with clients, like just saying, like if a client, I've always, you know, talked to clients in a very loving way and also called them out on, you know, where their ego is.
19:22
Erin Gray: And also, you know, when if I've had clients that are just were kind of repeating the same thing, like being more bold, being like, listen, this is what's happening here.
19:33
Erin Gray: You're not taking steps.
19:35
Erin Gray: What's going on?
19:37
Erin Gray: You know, so just think about in every area of my life, so I wanted to be more bold.
19:43
Erin Gray: So when we say we want to be more bold as an example, we have to take action from that place to fuse the belief.
19:50
Erin Gray: I can't say that I want to be more bold and then not speak up when I feel like I need to.
19:55
Erin Gray: That's not that's not in congruence.
19:57
Erin Gray: So I think that the biggest thing that I want To take away here and that I haven't yet said is that how connected are we to God or source?
20:08
Erin Gray: How much are you moving from that space?
20:11
Erin Gray: How much are you listening and following your intuition?
20:14
Erin Gray: And are you closing the gap between when your intuition speaks and when you take action?
20:22
Erin Gray: Or are you still letting your intuition, you know, say what it needs to say?
20:26
Erin Gray: And then your brain is driving the bus and you're not taking action.
20:30
Erin Gray: Like you've really got to be on to yourself and start asking yourself, like, why am I not doing that?
20:34
Erin Gray: Why am I, if my intuition is saying do this or don't do this, why am I not?
20:41
Erin Gray: Okay, I'm so stoked for 2026 for all of us.
20:45
Erin Gray: Take some time to do this work.
20:47
Erin Gray: Pause this episode, journal on it, journal on the questions, get into the weeds here.
20:53
Erin Gray: Like you're gonna have so much insight.
20:56
Erin Gray: This is like hours of coaching with me.
20:58
Erin Gray: Like, saves you hours.
21:00
Erin Gray: Just get into the weeds here.
21:01
Erin Gray: Like, do this work.
21:03
Erin Gray: You're gonna have so much clarity when it comes.
21:05
Erin Gray: Like once you've like done it and when you go into 2026, and then what you want to do differently and all the things, think about all the things that you loved about 2025, and you want to take them with you into 2026.
21:18
Erin Gray: Okay, I love you.
21:19
Erin Gray: I'm rooting for you, and I'll see you in the next episode.