What began as popular, “Hello + (type month name here)!” post on Instagram, morphed into what could be considered a note to my younger self. Hindsight is typically 20/20 and here are the three areas that 2017 helped me to refine.

Hello December! It has taken a long time to get to this place. A place of peace, confidence, and great expectation. While I still have a long way to go in building this #fempire, I can say that I appreciate (most of) the ‘Nos, closed doors, heartbreak, disappointment, frustrations, and most of the emotional rollercoaster of growing a company and working on my own personal development, while meeting the demands of everyday life.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, student, exhausted professional, or searching for your next move, you can apply any of these three action items to your life to make small pivots in your mindset and situation.

Do the Work. I don’t know what it is about North American culture or recent generations, but I am fairly confident that we would experience less anxiety if we were patient with ourselves. Maybe if we accepted the notion that everything doesn’t happen overnight (Check out an article I wrote earlier this year about the 10-Year Overnight Success), then we would focus more on the work and the steps that we need to take to reach our final destinations. Unfortunately, this is why social media can be deceptive. Because we see everyone’s highlight reels, the new apartment, condo, house, or job, people rarely post about how long and what they had to do to get there.

In 2017, once I mapped out what I wanted to accomplish, I placed greater weight on our ability to take the next step and be consistent, over the end product. Doing the work and trusting our process, became more important than the end result. Learn to trust your process.

Be Bold. This characteristic is unique to you. For one person, being bold could be gathering up enough courage to attend a networking event on their own. If that’s you (Hey functional introverts), start there. For someone else, it could be walking down the street or hopping on a plane to your dream job, only to sit there all day until someone looks at your portfolio or business plan. Sound like something that has crossed your mind? If so, we’re rooting you on. I recently discovered BillionairePA. Watch is impactful TEDTalk called, “Speak Your Dreams.” I’m a testimony that eventually the right people and opportunities will find you.

Be Kind to Yourself. A quick Google search lead to this story from The Atlantic on Mental Health reveals, “Over a 12-month period, 27 percent of adults in the U.S. will experience some sort of mental health disorder, making the U.S. the country with the highest prevalence of mental health.” Did you catch that? Nearly a third of the population in the United States will encounter mental health situation. I think Jesus was on to something. Love your neighbor as yourself. It begins with you before you can extend the same consideration to the outside world.

It’s the last month of the year. Find one thing that you want to start or finish in the next couple of weeks (because after all, it is the holidays). When you do, celebrate yourself! Let’s make this even easier. Pick one of the three points above and execute something in that area. Maybe being bold for you, is setting boundaries to help you be kind to yourself, and for some — that is doing the work. You see how I did that? If it’s a dream that you haven’t given life to, call, text, or even type it in the comments below. Another example of how these ideas are intertwined.

Cheers to a small step for a big finish. As my basketball coaches would all say, “Games are won or lost in the fourth-quarter”.