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April 8, 2025 22 mins

Quarterly reflections serve as powerful checkpoints in our lives, stopping us from barreling through month after month on autopilot. As we've closed the first quarter of 2025, now is the perfect moment to reflect on what's working, celebrate our wins, and intentionally pivot where needed.

 

The reflection process begins with acknowledging progress—both the milestone achievements and the seemingly small victories that often go unnoticed. For me, successfully keeping my son Henry at home for his first year while returning to my corporate job was a significant win that started off as a six-month goal. What were your wins this quarter? Taking time to celebrate before moving into analysis is important.

 

Beyond celebration, honest reflection requires examining resistance points, unhelpful habits, and external factors that influenced your progress. This awareness becomes the catalyst for refraction—the intentional bending of your light and energy to focus on creating better outcomes. Just as light changes direction through a prism, your path forward can shift in beautiful ways when you adjust course when needed.

 

The beauty of quarterly checkpoints is that they provide fresh starts throughout the year. You don't need to wait for January to reset your intentions or release what isn't serving you. This second quarter offers us the opportunity to align our efforts with our energy, plan strategically for success, and remember that not everything requires hustle. Some goals benefit from working smarter rather than harder, and some may need to be temporarily set aside—not as failures but as pauses in your journey.

 

Take 10 minutes today to write down your wins, lessons learned, and one small pivot that could create better flow in your life this quarter.

 

And remember your journey toward thriving isn't meant to be walked alone, so share your reflections with me on Instagram!


Thank you so much for listening in! If anything in this episode resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend or on social media.

And don't forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me get the word out.

Follow and chat with me on Instagram:

Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast

Personal account - @thrive.empowered

Sending you light and love always!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
Mother On this podcast.
We're scared for our truth, butthat fear is what fuels us to
truly live in it.
You're in the right place ifyou feel like you're stuck in
survivor mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly

(00:20):
meant to be.
I'll share resources and toolsI use daily to help you in your
journey towards a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy,but you won't have to face it
alone.
I'm a mama of three, healingday by day from past trauma, and
I'm on a mission to build alife I've always dreamed of but

(00:42):
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hello, loves, and welcome toanother episode of the Thrive
Like a Mother podcast.
Today is extra special becausewe just ended the first quarter

(01:07):
of 2025, y'all, can you evenbelieve it?
Like I honestly cannot believethat three months of the year
have already passed and so muchhas happened or is happening, I
will say, in our world, in ourcountry, in our lives just jam

(01:28):
full pack of things happening.
So today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about
quarterly reflections,reflections and refractions.
Reflections, ooh, reflectionsand refractions.

(01:50):
And I'm going to get right intoit, because the end of a
quarter is so powerful in theway that we can use that as a
checkpoint, right.
We take a look basically atwhat we've been doing for these
past three months and we reflect.
It stops us from just barrelingthrough month after month on

(02:14):
autopilot, checking in withourselves really truly about
where we're at, what happened,what occurred, celebrating our
wins and looking basically forany opportunities that we may
have had and basically settingan intention to pivot where
needed, right.

(02:35):
And that's what we're reallygoing to get into today really
just focusing on how we can bestreflect on how quarter one went
.
I know it was a lot, I know itwas heavy for a lot of us, but
reflecting on how that went andlooking at how we can then take
what we've learned into thisbrand new quarter that we just

(02:58):
started here in April.
So I want to talk reallyquickly on just how this past
quarter has helped me kind ofshape my decisions for this new
quarter that we're stepping into, and it really has helped me

(03:22):
understand what things work forme, what things don't work for
me.
I have been kind of in thisslowdown season, or really
coming out of this slowdownseason, and so I've really had
to reflect, y'all honestly,every on a daily, on a daily,

(03:47):
y'all honestly, every on a daily, on a daily.
I needed to check in withmyself and make sure that I
wasn't heading towards some typeof burnout.
And so for me, this pastquarter was really recognizing
like where my speed is now,because, coming out of a
slowdown season, you can go fromor at least personal experience
, I can go from zero to ahundred so fast and I'm like, oh

(04:10):
, we're out of the slowdownseason, let's do all the things
right.
Let's do all the things thathave been in our minds this past
, you know, in this slowdownseason.
And that wasn't going to workfor me because I was going to,
like I said, head me toward afast track to burnout, and so
that knowing that helped mefigure out, like, what I needed

(04:37):
to do to make sure that I wasn'theading towards that.
And so a lot of what I didfirst quarter was understanding
my own pace, and I got back intocycle syncing, which really is
trying to figure out what taskfit within where I'm at in my

(04:58):
cycle, which was very cool,because for this past year,
before this 2023, when I waspregnant with Henry, I was
syncing up with the moon y'all,because I didn't have a cycle,
obviously, and so it's beeninteresting to kind of get back
in tune with my own body again.

(05:19):
That has been completely wild,completely wild.
But I want to.
I want to talk about somethingbig for us, because a lot of the
times, we can focus on the okay, what didn't go well in this
quarter, what do I need to, youknow, shape up on right, but we

(05:39):
tend to forget that we're notgoing to be as we're thinking of
what can I do better thisquarter?
We tend to forget to celebrateour wins.
So we're going to take a secondright now together.
Or, if you're listening to thisand maybe you want to do this
activity later, there's going tobe a couple of points through
here where I'm going to give yousome prompts.
So have your notebook out, havesomething out to write with.

(06:03):
But I want to acknowledge,really, that progress is not
just about, like, the bigmilestones that you hit.
Yes, we had some big milestonesin quarter one.
I mean, it's three months, alot has happened, right, but
your small wins matter too.
So for you, I want you to thinkof three things big or small

(06:26):
does not matter Three thingsthat you are proud of from the
first quarter of the year.
My own, big, I want to say.
This is a big win, maybe smallfor some, but Henry and I
accomplished him being at homefor the very first year of his

(06:47):
life and not having to go todaycare or put him in childcare,
and that was huge because Iwent back to work.
It was May, june, I think itwas May.
I went back to work in May andso here I am, going back into my
corporate workforce and kind ofrelearning my job, you know,

(07:10):
relearning who I am in that areaand in that space.
And I had this little tinyperson with me and the goal was
to make it to at least him beingsix months old, got to six
months and I was like let's justkeep going and see how this
works.
Of course there were some partsthat were not easy.
There was some juggling andthings, especially as he got

(07:32):
older and kind of got on themove, um, start to stay awake a
lot longer, but we did it and sothat is my big win that I'm
celebrating from the firstquarter of the year big win that
I'm celebrating from the firstquarter of the year, and y'all
now we know, we know we talkedabout the wins right and I hope

(07:55):
you really take that to heartand focus on the three things
that you're proud of.
But we know that with the winscome some challenges in some
areas of opportunity, some areasfor growth, because no day is
perfect, no month is perfect.
Things don't often go perfectlyas planned, and so I want you
to take a deep breath.

(08:16):
First of all, after you'vecelebrated your wins, your hype,
your all the things, take adeep breath, breath, and there
are three questions I want youto think about Journal whatever
you need to do, talk it out.
Where in the first quarter didyou feel resistance?

(08:37):
Resistance may be in a goalthat you are reaching for.
Resistance in relationships,resistance in getting rest
wherever you felt that.
I want you to journal aboutwhat that was.
Number two, what habits ordecisions did you make that did

(09:02):
not serve you?
What did not pour back into you?
What did not fill your cup?
You know how to write thosedown.
It might be one, it might bemultiple, but take note of those
because those are the things wedo not want to carry into this
new quarter.

(09:48):
Number three what outsidefactors influenced your progress
?
Want to take note of, becausemaybe we can try to replicate
those things.
And it might be something like,you know, having some type of
lo-fi music on in the back oryour favorite jam, your morning

(10:10):
routine.
What are those things thateither set you forward or pulled
you back?
Because sometimes there's somemusic I might have or a show I
might put on, for instance, metrying to do my taxes.
Yesterday there was a show Iwanted to watch and I put it on,
but then I realized I wasn'tlike focusing on the tasks that

(10:32):
I needed.
So what are some externalfactors or external areas that,
basically, you know had someinfluence, whether it be good or
bad, on your progress towardsyour goals?
And that's that's us reflectingon the first quarter.

(10:52):
Amazing, right, just amazing.
And so now I want to talk aboutand we'll talk about this new
quarter, because it is April,right, it is the second quarter
of the year.
We've gotten through the firstquarter of 2025.
And I want you to start lookingat quarters not as just a

(11:14):
continuation, because, right, wecan barrel through these months
.
We can just keep going and keepgoing and keep going.
But a new quarter really is afresh start.
It's just it's literally thereset that you need to not carry
over those past frustrations,not carry over any habits or
decisions that did not serve you, not carry over those external

(11:38):
factors that did not help you inyour progress.
You and your progress.
It's a reset.
It's a reset and it's honestlya place where you realize that
reflection and redirection,refraction, equals progress.
It equals you continuing tomake steps towards your small

(12:02):
big goals, whatever those beyour goals, small big goals,
whatever those be your goals.
And so, like refraction,basically bending light through
a prism, this new quarter, itallows us to reshift our focus
and our energy so that we areable to get better results,

(12:24):
because we're understanding okay, this worked for me last
quarter or this didn't work forme last quarter.
It gives you the opportunity tounderstand where you need to
pivot.
You know, if something in thelast quarter was not working for
you, how can you either adjustto help it work for you, or how

(12:49):
can you adjust to say, hey, thisis something that I need to let
go.
I need to let go of.
What is that for you?
And as we're looking at this newquarter and we're setting our
goals and we're setting ourgoals and we're being
intentional about that I wantyou to remember to keep them

(13:09):
realistic, first of all, andmeasurable.
Help yourself going into thisnext quarter by making sure you
are really specific on what youneed to achieve and that you are
measuring.
You know how you're gettingthere, taking track whether that

(13:31):
be journaling every day, yoursmall wins, your big wins, your
gratitude that's something thatI do.
Still get that list going.
Y'all Good things are alwaysworking out for me and we want
to basically keep track of that.
Because what can happen is wecan go into this new quarter,

(13:53):
right, and we are maybe workingon goals that we were still
working on from the last quarterPerfectly normal, right.
But we can keep going andthinking that, oh, we're not
reaching that goal when, inreality, we have been making
small steps throughout thisquarter to reach that goal, even

(14:14):
if we don't reach it.
And so, when you're setting yourgoals for this new quarter, I
want you to remember keep themspecific, keep it measurable,
keep it achievable, keep itrelevant.
Is this something you need tobe doing this quarter or is it
something that needs to befuture wise.

(14:36):
Also, give yourself a time.
Time really helps me.
Like I said, I'm going to usethe Henry example again, because
the original goal with him wasto have him home with us for um
six months.
That was an achievable goal,that was measurable.
And then when we hit that, itallowed me to say, okay, am I

(15:01):
still good?
Are we still good with wherethings?
So let's talk about, as we'retalking about, this refraction
piece right and adjusting thingsas needed.
I want you to think about twothings here.

(15:25):
So I want you to think aboutaligning your efforts with your
energy, and the second thingwe're going to chat about is
really how we're planning forsuccess.
So, first one, aligning ourefforts with energy.
Okay, the first quarter like wecan be really excited, like new

(15:46):
year, new me, right, we can getso excited.
And so we have all of thisenergy.
And sometimes the first quartercan feel like we're barreling
through it, trying to reachthese goals that we've set,
sometimes not realizing that,hey, the year just started, we
have an entire year toaccomplish so many things.

(16:09):
And so in the second quarter, Iwant you to start thinking about
your goals and where the hustleis needed, because not
everything needs a hustle y'all.
There are some places, someareas where you can work smarter
and not harder.
You don't need to keepbarreling.

(16:33):
You don't need to do that withevery single goal.
Keep barreling.
You don't need to do that withevery single goal.
And so remember to reallycontinue checking out with your
why so that you stay motivated,but then also remembering that
if you need a break, you need abreak.
If you need to pause andreevaluate, do that.
Some goals require you to putthem down for a bit and pick

(17:00):
them back up when you've allowedyourself to reflect and digest
everything that you've learnedin going towards that goal.
The second thing I want to hiton really planning for success
in the quarter.
I love that we have thisquarterly mindset right.

(17:20):
We think in these chunks, thesechunks of threes, but I want
you in this quarter to scheduletime for yourself to check in
For you if it's not daily, maybeit's something you do weekly to
check in on your wins, check inon where you need to refract,

(17:45):
where you need to bend, whereyou need to refocus your energy,
because doing that throughoutthe quarter instead of waiting
until the end of a quarter,honestly will help you.
You know, you'll start to getprogress towards your goals that

(18:05):
maybe you didn't think youcould reach because you're
constantly having that mindsetto reflect and and refract.
Think about what's truly worthyour time.
Y'all, like throughout theentire quarter.
If something you're workingtowards you realize, hey, I

(18:28):
maybe need to put this down fora while, go ahead and put it
down for a while.
It doesn't mean and I'm goingto say this again, I've said it
so so many times but what is foryou will always be for you.
So even if you need to put agoal down for a while, that
doesn't mean that you havefailed.

(18:49):
That doesn't mean that you'vegiven up.
It just means that you need amoment and if it's for you,
you'll be able to pick it backup again when it's time, when
it's ready.
So I want to end the episodethere and take a moment just to

(19:11):
recap.
Don't forget to reflectthroughout this entire quarter,
y'all.
You don't need to wait untilthe end of three months to think
about what's going well, whatareas you need to pivot in.
Don't forget to celebrate yourwins.

(19:31):
If you need to go ahead andstart that daily gratitude list,
please do that, I promise you.
It has definitely shifted mymindset, especially on those
harder days when I am trying tofind the glimmer in that day and
y'all have no idea how muchjust finding that one moment in

(19:54):
the day, especially on a verydifficult day, you know how much
that one glimmer can help yougo to bed with your mind, you
know a little bit more at ease,so that you can start the next
day and say, no matter howyesterday went, you know, I did
still have something, somethingthat went right, something that

(20:18):
was beautiful in your day.
And then you know, refract asneeded, let's say.
Let's say that don't wait tillwhat is that April?
Don't wait till June to refract.
If you need to refract weekly,daily, as you're noticing things

(20:38):
throughout this quarter, do it,y'all Do it.
And we're going to end with achallenge.
I gave you some promptsthroughout this entire episode,
but if you did not have time todo that, go back and listen and
do those.
And also take 10 minutes todayto write down some wins for

(21:04):
today, some lessons that you'vehad, and write down one small
thing that you can pivot in thisnew quarter, one small thing
that you have noticed will helpyou achieve a better flow in
your day, in your week, onesmall thing that can help you

(21:27):
refract just as the prism, orjust as the light going through
the prism.
Honestly, but yes, be the light.
Allow yourself to pivot asneeded and share any takeaways
that you have, or any pivots,any wins.
Share them with me on Insta, onInstagram.

(21:48):
I would love to hear them.
Thank you so much for listening, love.
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it, as always,sending you light and love, and
remember you are worthy, you areenough and you deserve to

(22:10):
thrive you.
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