16. Spring Is the Real New Year: How to Create a Powerful Fresh Start
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[00:00:00] We are told that January is the time for New Beginnings, but if you really think about it, January is dark and cold and most of us are completely exhausted coming off the holidays, we're running on leftover Christmas cookies and the pressure of a brand new year staring us down . Before we have even recovered from the last one spring on the other hand, is when everything in nature ~actually starts to ~actually starts again.
Trees grow new leaves, flowers come up from the ground that looked completely dead two weeks ago. The days get longer and it feels like the whole world is waking up again. Maybe the real new year is spring. I talked about this on episode six, ~the history of making January, ~the history of making January 1st, the new year ~and today I wanna talk about how you can use the start of. ~And today I wanna talk about how you can use the start of the spring season as a powerful [00:01:00] reset in whatever area of your life needs it most.
~Hey friends. ~Hey friends. Welcome back to the Household CEO podcast. It's Calista Anderson, and I'm so happy you're here. Real quick before we dive in. If you've been listening to this show and getting value from it, will you do me a favor and hit the follow button? ~And leave a rating? ~And leave a rating? It genuinely helps more families find this podcast.
~And that is the whole point. . And that is the whole point. ~ Thank you in advance. I appreciate you. Now Spring, I have been thinking about this episode since I did episode six,
~as I talked about earlier. As I talked about on that episode, Jen. ~As I talked about on that episode all about January and why it is actually one of the worst times to make massive changes ~and if you're list ~and if you listen to that one, you know, I went deep on the history ~of why our calendar.~
Of why our calendar starts in January in the first place, which spoiler has nothing to do with biology or nature, ~or when humans actually are built ~or when humans are actually built to launch new things. [00:02:00] This,
and if you haven't listened, go back and listen. It will change how you think about New Year's resolutions entirely. But today I wanna talk about the flip side of that conversation because if January is not the real new year, then when is spring? Spring is, and I think this season is one of the most underused opportunities for a genuine reset.
~So that is what we are doing here today. So that is what we're doing. So that. ~So that is what we are doing today. ~Let's get into it. ~Let's get into it.
Okay. I wanna start here because I think this is the part that actually stops most people , before they ever get to the practical stuff. There is a story a lot of us carry that goes something like this. It's too late in the year to start something new. I already fell off my goals back in February.
I'll [00:03:00] just wait until January and try again. And I understand that story. I have told myself versions of it, ~but I wanna offer you something, ~but I wanna offer you something different today. A new beginning does not require a new calendar year. It requires a decision. That's it. That is it a decision that today or this week or this season is when things shift, not because the date said so, because you said so, and here is why Spring is such a powerful time to make that decision.
Okay. Everything around you is already in motion. Nature is not sitting around waiting for permission to start again. ~The trees do not look at the~
the trees. Do not look at a calendar in March and think, well, ~it is not. ~It is not January, so I guess I will just stay dormant. They just begin. ~The conditions are right, ~the conditions are right, and they move. Your [00:04:00] conditions are also shifting Right now. The days are getting longer. There is more light, literally more hours of daylight in your day.
Energy tends to come back in spring in a way that almost effortless compared to the heavy slog of January, February. ~Your body is responding to the sea. The,~
your body is responding
to the season whether you are paying attention to it or not, ~so why not work with that instead? ~So why not work with that instead of against it? Now, here is the practical piece I want you to hold onto for this whole episode. You do not have to reset everything at once. That is actually the mistake most people make in January.
They try to overhaul their entire life simultaneously ~and then wonder why it feels, ~and then wonder why it falls apart by week three. Pick one area. ~Just one. ~Just one. The area that if it shifted, ~would have the most, ~would have the most impact on how you feel about your life right now.
We are gonna walk [00:05:00] through four areas today, and I want you to notice which one makes something stir in you. That is your one.
So listen and pick one that resonates with you. .
Number one financial spring cleaning.
. Most of us do some version of it. Windows, open Closets gone through the stuff that has been sitting in corners since November. Finally dealt with. We should be doing the exact same thing with our finances. And I say this as someone who does a version of this regularly, not just in spring, ~but spring is a genuinely, ~but spring is a genuinely good time to do a bigger review because we are a few months into the year, enough time has passed to see the patterns.
~Enough time has passed to see patterns. ~Enough time has passed to know whether the financial intentions you had in January are actually happening, or whether they quietly fizzled out. ~So what does a financial spring cleaning look like? So what does it, so what does a financial spring, ~so what does a financial spring [00:06:00] cleaning actually look like?
Start with your subscriptions. Go look at what is coming out of your accounts automatically. Every month ~most people find something they, most people find something they forgot about. ~Most people find something they forgot about entirely. A streaming service they signed up for and never used
a trial that rolled into a paid subscription, an app that is charging them $15 a month for something they downloaded. Once. When you cancel just a few things, you can often find a few hundred dollars a month that you did not know you had. ~Then, ~then look at your spending patterns from the last 90 days, not to judge yourself just to see where is your money actually going versus where you thought it was going.
Those two pictures are often very different. ~This is why, ~this is why I use Monarch money. ~It pulls everything together. ~It pulls everything together in one place, so I'm not piecing it together from five different accounts in my head.
Then [00:07:00] revisit your financial goals, the one you may have set in January or maybe never formally said at all. Are you on track? ~Does it still make sense for. ~Do they still make sense for where your family is right now? ~Goals are not intended.~
Goals are not meant to be set and forgotten. ~They are meant to be checked in. ~They are meant to be checked in, on and adjusted as life evolves. ~And if you haven't looked at your protection plans. ~And if you have not looked at your protection plans recently, meaning your life insurance, your coverage amounts, whether they still match your actual life, spring is a good time for that conversation too.
Life changes, a new home, another child, a change in income. What you had in place two years ago may not be enough for your life today. Think of financial spring cleaning as giving your household's economy a fresh set of eyes. You are not blowing everything up. ~You are just tidying up, identifying. ~You are just tidying up, identifying the leaks and making sure the plan still fits.
[00:08:00] Hey, quick pause here. ~If you are listening to this in the financial piece in the area, you want to reset this spring. Hey, quick pause here. Hey, hey. Quick pause here. If you are listening to this in the financial piece in the area, you'll want to reset this spring. That is.~
If you are listening to this and the financial piece is the area you want to reset this spring, that is exactly what a household CEO audit session is for. We sit down together, we look at your full picture, cash flow, protection goals, gaps, and we figure out what the right next steps are for your specific family, not generic advice, your actual situation.
The link to book is in the show notes. ~If spring is the season you decided to, if.~
If spring is the season you're deciding to get your financial house in order, let this be the week you do something about it. Okay, continuing on. ~Okay, continuing on number two, resetting ~Number two, resetting the home. This one is close to my heart because running our home well is something I think about a lot, like maybe more than a normal amount.
But I genuinely believe that the physical and operational state of your home affects everything else. [00:09:00] How you think, how you feel, how much mental energy you have available for the things that actually matter. When our home systems are working, ~when the cal, ~when the calendar is current, when the routines are running smoothly, when there is a rhythm to our week, the whole household feels calmer, not perfect, calm.
There is a difference.
~Spring is really. ~Spring is a really natural time to look at your home systems and ask what is working, what has gotten cluttered, and what needs to be simplified
~for our family. This might look like going through the kids' schedules right now ~for our family. This might look like going through the kids' schedules now that we are into the ~spring sports. ~Spring sports season and making sure the calendar reflects the actual rhythm of this season, not the rhythm from last fall.
~It might also, it might also look.~
It might also look like looking at our routines and identifying where the friction is. ~Where do mo, ~where do mornings fall apart? Where does the evening get chaotic? [00:10:00] Usually there's a specific moment where things go sideways and it is almost always fixable with a small system adjustment and sometimes resetting.
The home is just about decluttering. Physically clearing out ~what has accumulated since the holidays, ~what has accumulated since the holidays, and creating some breathing room. ~I am a firm beli. ~I am a firm believer that a cluttered environment creates a cluttered mental state. ~When our space feels clear, I think~
when our space feels clear, I think more clearly. When it's chaotic, I feel chaotic. Your home is the physical environment where your family operates. It, deserves the same. In intentional attention you give to everything else you are building.
Number three, resetting health and energy. ~This one I wanna talk about because I think it is the one mo, this one I wanna talk about because I think it is the one people feel most guilt. ~This one I wanna talk about because I think it is the one people feel most guilty about and least energized to address, ~which is kind of ironic since it's literally all about energy, ~which is kind of ironic since it is literally [00:11:00] about energy.
You cannot run your household effectively if you are running on empty. You just cannot. ~You can push through for a while, but.~
You can push through for a while. Most moms are incredibly good at pushing through, but there is a cost and it shows up in your patience, your focus, your creativity,, your capacity to lead your family well.
Spring is a great time to look at how you are physically taking care of yourself, not from a place of guilt or comparison to what your routine looked like before kids or before the busiest season of your life. Just an honest check-in. Are you moving in a way that actually gives you energy? For me, that is lagree.
It is my non-negotiable. 45 minutes that belongs entirely to me where my brain cannot wander to the to-do list because the Megaformer [00:12:00] demands your full attention. ~I come out of every class feeling more like myself.~
I come out of every class feeling more like myself.
Are you eating in a way that supports how you wanna feel? I care a lot about this for our whole family.
No seed oils, organic, where it matters real food as much as possible. It's not being about perfect. It's about being intentional. I use the Bobby approved app
and no, I'm not an affiliate for it, but I use it all the time and it's changed how I shop and how I think about what goes into our grocery cart.
You just scan the barcode and look at all the ingredients and look at what's bad
~because a lot of the labels on the foods, ~because a lot of the labels are very misleading, so this app helps me cut all that out.
And, and sleep. I will just say sleep is a [00:13:00] leadership tool. When I am rested, I am a better mom, a better wife,
a better financial professional, a better person to be around
When I am not everything suffers.
~If health, ~if health has slipped for you over the winter, spring is a genuinely natural time to come back to it, ~not with a complete, ~not with complete overhaul, just with one intentional shift that gets you moving in the right direction.
~I am not a health and wellness.~
I'm not a health and wellness coach by any means, but I've done a lot of my own homework work and I know what helps me.
So I wanna encourage you to do the same because you cannot pour from an empty cup and your family needs you full.
~And then here's the last one starting.~
And here's the last one. Number four, starting something new.
Because spring is not just for cleaning up what already exists, it is also for [00:14:00] planting something new.
And this is something I think about a lot in the context of income and building some of the best decisions in life. ~Begin. ~Begin with one simple step in a new direction, not a giant leap.
One step. Starting a business, adding an income stream, getting licensed in something, learning a skill you've been curious about for years, ~taking a course, being beginning, a creative, ~taking a course, beginning, a creative project, whatever it is that's been sitting in the back of your mind as a someday thing someday is not a strategy.
But spring is a season
~I started, ~I started my financial services business as a mom with a nursing career behind me and zero background in finance.
I started it because I wanted to learn about money for my own family. ~I am, ~I am a course junkie. I love learning, so I [00:15:00] got licensed and it grew from there, not overnight. ~Not overnight. Like an acorn. Like an acorn, ~like an acorn. Slowly, and then all at once
~I,~
~if. ~If you have been waiting for the right time to start something, I wanna offer you this. The right time is usually the time you actually decide to begin, and there is something about spring, about the energy of the season, about everything around you. Waking up and growing that makes it one of the most natural times to plant something new.
What is your acorn right now? What is the thing that if you planted it this spring ~could look completely different by the time, ~could look completely different by this time next year? ~That question is worth sitting with.~
That question is worth sitting with.
Before I get to the closing, I wanna give you something practical to do with this episode because I do not want this just to be a nice listen ~that you forget about by Thursday,~
that you forget about by Friday. Grab a [00:16:00] notebook or on your phone and write down three things. Number one. One area of your life where you wanna fresh start this spring. Just one. The one that came up for you as we went through the four areas today. Number two, why it matters to you, not the surface reason, the real reason.
~What would be different in your, ~what would be different in your life, in your family, in ~your family, in how you feel. And ~how you feel day to day if this area shifted. And number three, the first step you can take this week, not this month, this week, something small enough that is actually doable ~in the middle of your, ~in the middle of your real life with all the things already on your plate.
That is it. Three things. ~But those. ~But those three things are the difference between this episode being background noise and it actually changing something. Do it [00:17:00] today while the ideas are still fresh.
~Nature does not ask for permission to nature Does not ask. ~Nature does not ask permission to start again every spring. It simply begins, no apology for the winter. No guilt about being dormant for a few months, no waiting for the perfect conditions or the right moment on the calendar. ~The season shifts and it mo ~the season shifts and it moves.
You can too. ~Whatever area of your life needs a fresh. ~Whatever area of your life needs a fresh start right now. Spring is giving you the energy, the light, and the momentum. To begin, you do not need January. You do not need a perfect plan. You need a decision and a first step. ~And if one of the area,~
~and if one of the areas you want to reset this spring is your finances. ~And if one of the areas you want to reset this spring is your finances .
Or possibly adding on an income stream. I would love to help you with that. You can book a household CEO audit session with me and we will look at exactly where you are and where you wanna go.
The link is in the show notes. ~Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I hope in this episode. Thank you for s Thank you so much for spending this. ~[00:18:00] Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. I hope something in this episode stirred something in you, and if it did, share it.
Send it to a friend who needs a fresh start this season.
Also follow the show if you've not already done that. And leave a rating if you have a quick second. It genuinely means the world. Until next time, lead your home with intention. Take care, friends.
. ~That's your one. That is your one.~
