Stepping Into 2026

✨ Hello, I’m Fran, Your NLP & Business Coach. I’m exploring a wide range of business ideas and money-making paths, with practical takeaways you can apply.

In this episode, I'm welcoming my partner in life and business, Evan Russell.

We invite you to join a year-end reflection rooted in creativity, inspiration, and motivation. We walk through three wins from the year, explore what made them possible, acknowledge the people who supported us, and set an outcome to nurture a more resourceful self for the year ahead. 

If you’re looking to start 2026 with stronger foundations, practical actions, and a resourceful mindset, this episode is for you. Tune in, reflect with us, and carry your newfound clarity into the new year.

You can connect to us in the following ways ⬇️
https://youtube.com/@mystery_mythos
https://www.melancholymentor.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeflowbusiness/

* As a coach, I listen without judgment, understanding that others views may differ from my own.

#nlpcoach #nlpcoaching #creativity #inspiration #transformation

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose
• 0:43 Year-End Reflection Setup
• 2:41 Naming Three Wins
• 4:56 Travel Systems And Checklists
• 6:38 Managing Anxiety And SAD
• 8:20 Boundaries And Energy Management
• 10:35 Turning Failures Into Learnings
• 12:05 Building A Resourceful Self-Image
• 14:20 Creative Projects And Channels

Transcript

Fran: 0:01

Welcome to the Melancholy Coaching Podcast. Brand your host and NLP coach. Join me as I interview inspiring business owners and self-improvement seekers about their experiences whilst delving into personal development, motivation and strategies for overcoming challenges. Let's ignite our creative potential together. Hello and welcome to Melancholy Coaching Podcast, the show that highlights different business owners and ideas. I'm Fran, your NLP and business coach, and I'm joined by my partner in life and business, Evan. Hey. We focus on basics and foundations to get started with business ideas and with self-improvement. So we're kind of right, we like to position ourselves right at that beginning stage of putting your roots down and just thinking about ideas and stuff like that. So this episode is recorded in December 2025. So we thought it'd be nice to do an end-of-year reflection. So you can join in as well, Evan, and just think about it, okay? Yeah. Yeah. From a safe, comfortable space space and start again. From a safe, comfortable space, think about the year. So think about the the last year and list three wins. So you're going to explore them. So just kind of you know, not visiting anything traumatic, and you're just nice and safe, and you're just thinking over the year. Think about three wins. So three three things that went really well, three things that you consider to be a win, and whatever that means to you. And with everything that I do and that Evan does, we invite curiosity and we invite exploration. We're also open to potential criticism or people that don't agree, or and that's absolutely fine, because not everything that we suggest to you or bring to you is going to be for you, but other things will be. So just explore it and what it means to you. So think about three wins that you've had over the year and you can explore what happened, how it mattered, and what did it reveal about you? So other than at the moment, my head is just thinking, I got through the year.

Evan: 2:33

Yeah, I've got managed to plan two trips out of the country. Sorry, one was out of the country, but one was actually Scotland, so kind of still on a plane. So that was a big, big deal because the year before I managed to do one on the plane, but then to get to Scotland as well and Spain was that was a big win.

Fran: 2:58

Yeah.

Evan: 2:59

Yeah.

Fran: 2:59

And I I enjoyed those trips because we went together, didn't we? So and I didn't have to plan any of it.

Evan: 3:04

No, it was all by me. So that's that's actually a huge goal.

Fran: 3:09

Yeah. I think um generally I've pushed myself out there a little bit more to do in-person networking. I often have crippling social anxiety, so that's quite a win for me to think about how I want to show up and who I want to be, because we're all multifaceted human beings, so we've got different parts of ourselves that can show up at different times. So I had to really explore that rather than sit in that anxiety because I chose not to. Not that that's wrong, you know, if you if you need to explore anxiety or depression or anything like that for a little while, then that's fine. As long as you feel safe to do so and you've got help. Um, and that's what I do on occasion. I think another win for me is just recognising that I can get through seasonal affective disorder. So I've got my mood lamp on right now, which is like a light therapy lamp, and I've been using it a few times a day, and it just helps lift my mood because this time of year I really want to sleep all the time. And there'd be other wins as well, I'm sure. So just gently think about it. Mr. Three wins, we're gonna go with three being a pattern for the unconscious mind. So that's why quite often I sit around the number three. If you want to do more than that, then that's fine. So let's get into those wins. So just gently explore what contributed to this success. So whether it's a success, a win, a celebration, you know, what contributed to it and how can you repeat it? So you've kind of got a blueprint now for how you research and organise trips, haven't you, Evan? Um so that could be repeated.

Evan: 4:43

Yeah, yeah, I've got checklists. So I use the same check list that I'd used the year before that I keep on my phone, because that seems to work for me, because it's got the little tick boxes to make sure I don't forget any steps. But this year's I added a couple of extra bits in that I'd kind of missed off from the years before, so if that makes sense. So I was sort of still sort of tweaking it.

Fran: 5:09

Yeah. And you take the learnings from that, don't you? Just for a little bit of personal share, I'm gonna call it a personal share on this. Evan has certain disabilities that need to be catered for. So it makes planning the trip a little more extensive, potentially. So you have to think about how that can be a gentler trip for you. And one of the things that you've implemented is assistance, isn't it, at the airports?

Evan: 5:36

Yeah, yeah. So that was added on to this year's, and that really, really came into play. And that really helped, really helped me just have that extra support. And I didn't find it as draining within the airport part of the journey. So I had more energy when I got there.

Fran: 5:54

So and it still means that I can tag along as well. I just carry bags and do the walk-in. So you're exploring what contributed to most of these successes? How can you repeat it? Who supported you along the way, and how can you acknowledge them? Because maybe you had a coach, maybe you've got a family member that helps to support you, and how can you acknowledge them and the way that they supported you? And then this one's quite interesting. So, what boundary did you navigate, and what habit will keep it in place? So, a boundary for me is generally about how I use my choose to use my time, and I'm a carer by trade, so I was a carer for over 25 years and then retrained as a neurolinguistic programming coach, and I also implemented business strategy within that. So that kind of caring nature in me, I I love putting everybody first, and I love kind of looking around for anybody that I can help, you know, with permission and all the rest of it. So putting me first is has been quite a learning curve. Can you think about any boundaries that you've had to navigate through in this year?

Evan: 7:02

Yeah, one that comes straight into my mind is the fact that I when I need to rest, when I feel that fatigue or that, you know, that that heaviness coming on, I have actually this year I have gone, that's it, or I've really limited what I'm doing, and think this can be done tomorrow, and just get the things that I've really got to do, you know, kind of make a list and think, well, these one or this one or two things, I'm just gonna do that, and then the rest is is left. So that's a big boundary for me this year.

Fran: 7:32

Yeah. Yeah, I like that as well. Because I was very much like that within workplaces. So we we work as self-employed now. Um, but when I was an employee as such, I'd always do extra, and it's it's it doesn't always serve you well, does it?

Evan: 7:48

Not at all.

Fran: 7:49

No. Um, so thinking about all of that, we're then going to move forward and gather the learnings because there'd be learnings that come from this. So even things that potentially you might consider that maybe they were a failure or they didn't work out too well, you can still get wins from that, you can still gather your learnings up from that. So thinking about a skill or a habit that you've gained throughout the year, what did you strengthen? You know, so what skill or habit did you strengthen? And so that could be boundary setting, how you apply it in the coming year, so explore that as well. And when you think about your learnings and just things that you have learnt from it, so even things that we would potentially consider as failures, they can still have learnings in them, as I said. So when you think about your learnings, what's the new resourceful self-image that you want to carry into the coming year? So that could include a word, a posture, so that you act in alignment with that. So one of the things that I've been exploring this year is stepping out more in person and doing in-person networking with other businesses, and that has brought with it the self-image that I've that I want to convey, who who I really feel aligned with. So it has included some affirmations that I say first and just kind of those gentle words of encouragement. And usually I tell Evan where I'm going, just so that you can be my cheerleader as well. So maybe you know, within that resourceful self-image, it's somebody that's your cheerleader that can just help you along as well. So, what do you think about that one, Evan? Is there a resourceful self-image that you want to carry forward into the coming year?

Evan: 9:34

Yeah, I think this year I felt more organised generally with the things that I've been doing. But I think because that's got because I've got different things in place now with this whole phone checklist, but then also I use a journal a lot and things like that. So I think that helps. But I think generally I just feel more better within myself, if you know what I mean, but strong a little bit stronger, a little bit more maybe a bit more confident.

Fran: 10:01

Yeah. Say I like that. I'm not sure if it's correct English to say more better, but I'm there for it.

Evan: 10:07

Yeah, lovely not. But that's the only way I could describe it. But I think it's stronger and a bit more confident. Yeah.

Fran: 10:16

All right. So thank you for joining us on this end of year reflection. It's just a really simple, gentle one, just in three stages, just little prompts. Um, you can use them as journaling prompts, you can just think about them and you can skip on past, that's okay as well. Um, let creativity, inspiration, and motivation guide your three wins. Um, strengthen your boundaries and shape your resourceful self, because that's what it's all about. You're thinking about things that have worked out for you or the things that you're you're proud of and that you consider wins. So you're gathering up your three wins, you're strengthening your boundaries, and then you're shaping the resourceful self that you want to take forward into the coming year. So if you're curious about what me and Evan get up to, you can find us. We've mostly hang out on YouTube. So you can find us as melancholy underscore mentor on YouTube, and that's a radio drama channel mainly sharing classic literature-based radio dramas, and there's an accompanying video that goes with that that I usually film myself, and it's just filmed along the coastline or the woodlands. Also, there's Mystery Mythos, which is mostly run by Evan, and that's a predominantly sci-fi and mystery channel, and that's mostly AI generated. We do have plans for these channels to add a bit more into them, and there's another one which this podcast goes on to, which is Melancholy Coaching, and you can also find us floating around on places like TikTok and Instagram. We have included all of this within our own learning curve because we're very basic podcasters and we've fine with that, we're proud of that. We're still learning and growing ourselves. So from Evan being a shop worker, from me being a carer, we've kind of retrained since the pandemic, really. So we've retrained since the pandemic and then bought out the YouTube channels and the coaching, the accompanying coaching to it. And we're putting ourselves out there in the public domain. We're going to face people that think maybe we use too many filler words or our videos aren't great. And do you know what? It's all it's all good. It's all it's all good, it's all welcome because it's all learning for us as well. And we just encourage you to explore your mind and explore the possibilities of what you want to do. If you want any of support with any of that, then me and Evan offer lots of support. A lot of it's complementary and available. So we will be scritching things up a little bit. So we're going to be implementing an email list, which is something that we did have, and it didn't go so well for us this year, did it? Because the platform that we were on basically it kicked us off. So a lot of these platforms have been doing a lot of updates, haven't they? Because I also got kicked off of um Facebook for a little while too. So we're kind of exploring that, and there will be training videos going on to the coaching channel that I've got a date for in January. So follow along with that and see whether or not I do it, I I do it, or whether I'm all like do as I say, not do as I do. Um be nice if we actually hold ourselves as examples, wouldn't it, Evan? Yeah, I think we will do. I think we'll do. Yeah, because we we like to a lot of this information that we've learned generally about how to put things together, how to and get the coaching going, has been behind very large paywalls for us, which is fine because other people, you know, it's their business models, it's how they need to run things. It's been quite difficult for us to gather up information, and we have now so a lot of the stuff we don't gatekeep it. So the foundational stages and just putting your roots down, whether that be within your own self-improvement or whether it be that you want to explore a business idea, we've got lots of things that can help you get started with that, and it's all complimentary. So if you're interested in more content like this, be sure to visit www.melancolymentor.com and follow us for the latest updates. That's our website, and you can see our beautiful faces on there. And the podcast is linked on there, isn't it? And there's some informational bits, and we will be adding to that. Evan actually does it, don't you? The website. We've created it on WordPress after being let down a few times. So you've kind of learned a lot of this is because we've either been disappointed or let down, so we've had to figure out how to do things ourselves. Yeah. And that's not to say that you can't find a good guide or mentor or coach. I'm a very good coach myself, so I do know that they exist. Um, it's just for us initially, we've had to find our own way. So we kind of just encourage that creativity within people that you can do it, you can grow your mindset, you can evolve, you can get into the things that you want to do and explore them. So thank you for joining us. Until next time, stay curious and keep igniting your creative potential. This will nearly wrap up 2025. We've got one last episode which will actually be with my coach. So listen out for that one. Bye. Thank you for joining me on the Melancholy Coaching Podcast. I'd love you to subscribe for queries or to connect, email info at melancholymentor.com. Until next time, keep igniting your creative potential.