Cheri Dixon: A Girl and Her Dog

Welcome back to my year in review, part 3! This is the fun week! I completed the reflections, dug deep into my thoughts, and fears, and made my vision board! Now, I am ready to start building my yearly goals. Thinking about 2023, this is truly my year of pivoting, so one thing I am putting at the top of my goal sheet is…GRACE! As I share with my clients and staff, we all need goals (and big goals for sure), plans, and then back up plans! Life would be much easier with a crystal ball to show us exactly how it will end up, but thinking about that statement does make me realize that it would take the adventure out of living each day on our own terms…and who wants that!?!?!?!

I am breaking my goals up into 4 categories…health and wellness, business, education, and self improvement. These are areas that are important to me, and if I don’t take a minute to plan each of them out, I know me…I will get busy, get distracted, and miss the mark! Let’s get started! The first thing I will share is that I have determined my one word for the year. After much thinking, I have chosen ELEVATE. I love the thought of this, especially where I am in life right now. I have accomplished many things in my 51 years. And I actually solidified this word on the phone with an old friend last evening. We were talking about him coming onto my podcast soon, catching up, and we both mentioned how far we have both come. Neither of us grew up in the fancy neighborhood and we had to make a lot of sacrifices over the years, but we are both in good places today…because we chose to continue to work on ourselves, better ourselves, and ELEVATE our lives! So get ready world, it is my year to ELEVATE!

In health and wellness, I know that I have done some amazing things over the years…and I want to continue to be in a space that I still do them. I want to run more half marathons, stay healthy, and make my strength (inside and out) a priority. I am back on track with scheduling my workouts each week, eating healthy, and using all of the great strategies I teach in my own course on myself. Health is an area people often take for granted, and we can all easily get off track. Things get in the way, it is much more fun to skip the workout and do other things, and we haven’t even started talking about CAKE (yes, I am a fan of cake!). But, having my trusty planner ready and scheduling this time for me when it comes to meal planning, working out, and my own social health (spending time catching up with new and old friends), is a goal for me this year! And, of course, I will be back at half marathon training by October, so I can run Houston in January of 2024 for half marathon #12!

Let’s move on to self improvement! I want to continue to learn and grow as a coach, as a woman, and as a teacher for all. To do this, I am planning the following actions for 2023.

• Continue to build connections so I can be seen as someone who is trusted and can help others. I know that my successes in the world of education have all revolved around building relationships, trust, and value in my skillset. Making this shift to entrepreneurship will require me to learn again from the start…but actually it isn’t from scratch! I have the gift of success in teaching, coaching, and leading, so morphing those skills I have into the business world will transition me to being known, respected, and trusted in this area as well!
• Work on my own money mindset. I have worked hard over the years and accomplished many things, even when the odds were against me when it comes to my financial world. I did not start my life in an abundance kind of way, and after all of my experiences, although I am in a good place at this minute financially, I don’t want to get to a place of worry and overwhelm. I never want to approach life and business with a lack mindset, as then I know I won’t do what I set out to do with this shift, and that is to provide my clients with my best. I don’t want my money needs to change my outlook on working with and helping others. I do want to develop plans so that I can enjoy financial freedom, take care of my own financial needs, plan for my future, and give back to the world, as much as I can. To do this, I will be spending time all year learning more about shifting that mindset, believing I am worthy of helping others, and learning about saving and investing. My goal is to be able to live life at least in the same manner as I do currently when I begin my journey of coaching and consulting as my full time job.
• Personal relationships continue to be an area for me that brings me anxiety. As you read in my last post, thinking that I had found the “love my my life” and starting life together, only to learn that wasn’t going to happen did set me back a bit. As with us all, I want to be able to trust and open up my heart to someone so that I can feel loved and fulfilled in this manner. I did promise, and will continue to promise myself that I will not compromise in this area. I spent years in my marriage “taking care” of everything, from finances to the person himself. I do not want a relationship like this again. Currently, I am not ready to put myself back out there, but when I do, I will remind myself of my standards, and also, think about my own areas to work on so that I too can be a valued partner in the relationship.
• Finally, I am going to take a trip! I am not a big traveler, but this is my year to do at least one trip totally for me! I am not sure when or where, but I am going to make it happen! I have spent so much time in my life taking care of others, working, or just being “too busy” to make this a priority. No more! Time to put my own self care, self love, as a priority in 2023!

In my world of education, I want to finish this year as an elementary principal making the accountability rating that I set out to do at the start of the year. I know that ratings such as these are most times unfair and do not take into consideration anything but test scores. But, I also saw the look on my staff and community’s faces when we announced our rating this past fall…and that look was priceless! It shifted many to believe that we can accomplish big things! It made my teams know that what they do does matter! And it helped the community see that although we expect a lot from our staff, students, and parents, we do it so that we can feel the accomplishment of earning the grade we did! In addition, I want to add more opportunities for me to share my knowledge and expertise in education. After this much time, this many experiences, and making a difference for the number of people I have, I know I have value to share and ways to continue to have a huge impact on education in the future!

And, finally, let’s talk about A Girl and Her Dog Coaching and Consulting. So many plans and goals for the year! I am not going to list them all here, but I will say this, I am on a mission. A mission to not only grow my company and put us on the map in the world of entrepreneurship, but on a mission to help others build their best life. I want to be seen as a trusted leader in the world of coaching and consulting. I want others to see me as someone who can get them results and that in the process, we can enjoy the work we do together. So, saying that, look out world, here I come! 2023 is going to be the year Cheri Dixon, the woman, the business owner, the educator, the coach, the mom, and the person that will help you accomplish all of your goals and dreams will put fear aside and make all of her own goals and dreams happen!

Take time this week and truly think about not only your wins and challenges from 2022, but your dreams for 2023! What is your word for the year? What are your areas that you are going to focus on this year? What big dreams will you make a reality this year? And, what actions do you need to plan so that you can come back at the end of it and celebrate that you made it all happen in 2023? As always, if you need help working on this, please reach out! I have done the work, understand the importance of a good plan, and can be your cheerleader that will keep you on track to building and enjoying your best year ever! Until then! Cheri ❤️