What I learned from running my Kickstart 2020 events
As you might have already seen if you follow me over on Instagram, a big focus for me this month has been delivering my Kickstart 2020 events. I first had the idea for the events back in September time, and I’ve been squirreling away behind the scenes ever since.
The idea for the events was simple: get some like minded people in a room together, and spend the day setting ourselves up for 2020 in the best possible way. I wanted to share my approach to goal setting (which is a little non-traditional, but if I do say so myself, much more effective than other approaches I’ve used in the past!), get chatting about the stuff that holds us back, and give attendees a whopping great confidence boost so that they could go out there and turn their goals into a reality.
As I sit here writing this post, a few days after the final event, I feel like I definitely achieved that. I’ve spent the last two Saturdays with 22 incredible people, helping them to think about how they want their year to feel, set some goals they feel excited about, and banish a load of limiting beliefs. On top of that, there have been plenty of deep and meaningful chats, lots of laughter, and many, many brews and brownies consumed.
Putting on these events has been completely outside of my comfort zone, but I’ve learned A LOT, and so today, I thought I’d share some of those lessons. Here goes…
Magic happens when like minded people get in the room together
I mean, I knew this already, but these past two weekends have completely reaffirmed it for me. There’s always a niggle in the back of your head when you put events like this on that people won’t get on or that the conversation won’t flow, but that worry was completely unfounded. It was such a joy to watch everyone supporting and cheering each other on as we worked through the exercises, even though they’d only met half an hour before. It really hammered home how GREAT you lot are, and how lucky I am to get to do work that allows me to connect with you.
I thrive on helping people figure out what feels good to them
Another lesson that I’d already learned, but my god, these two events really reminded me what it is about this work that gets me really excited. Seeing people process new ideas and give themselves permission to put themselves first is SO rewarding, and I honestly feel giddy whenever I see the next piece of the puzzle fall into place for someone. Getting to spend so much time doing exactly that over the last few weeks has really affirmed that this is the work I love, and it’s given me lots of ideas about how I can share that work with even more people.
There’s power in sharing our stories
When I first started planning the events I knew that I wanted to put a panel discussion together, and we were so lucky to have the most generous, wise and honest group of speakers join us in both Leeds and London. Every panelist was so open about their varied experiences, from discussing how they manage their mental health, to talking about their failures. Their honesty opened up some really powerful and enlightening conversations, and I was reminded that there is real power in sharing our stories so that we can all feel less alone.
I want to do more of this!
I think the biggest lesson I’m taking away from this experience is that I absolutely want to do more of this! I love the buzz that comes with bringing people together and facilitating the deep and meaningful discussions, and I’m determined to host more events in 2020. I’m currently on the lookout for ways that I can do this, so if you run events or communities that you feel could benefit from the work I do, then please get in touch. And if you’re craving some of what I’ve talked about in this post, then you might be interested in this retreat that I’m a guest host at in September - we’re gonna be diving into all of this and a LOT more!