Welcome to Branding Room Only, the podcast where your personal brand gets a front-row seat. I'm Paula Edgar, and if you're here, it's because you know your brand isn't just about what you do. It's about how people experience you. In each episode, you'll hear stories, strategies, and lessons from leaders and influencers who built their brands and made their mark. And I'll share the tools you need to do the same. Let's go.
Hi, everyone. It's Paula Edgar, and welcome back to Branding Room Only. Today's episode is all about reflection and reset, the kind of honest, grounding conversation that helps you close one chapter and prepare for the next. And I want to begin with something I think we all experience but don't always talk about, the difference between the year you thought you'd have and the year you actually lived.
Most of us start a year with a certain picture in our minds, the goals, the plans, the feelings we expect to carry with us. You might have told yourself, "This is my year of strategy, or this is my year of visibility, or this is the year of reset and rest." And you know I do this every year, and every year, life and all its complexity show up.
Some things go beautifully, and some things fall apart. New responsibilities appear out of nowhere, unexpected opportunities open, and suddenly you're navigating realities you didn't plan for. The gap between the year you envisioned and the year you lived isn't about failure; it is about information.
It tells you what mattered most, what stretched you, what surprised you, and of course, what shaped you. This is where I want you to be gentle with yourself, because the year you actually had is revealing. It shows you how you respond when you're tired, how you adapt when plans shift, what you prioritize when things get messy, and what you're capable of when you're challenged in ways you didn't expect. Hello?
There's also a lot of invisible work happening underneath the surface. The boundaries you set, the bravery it took to say no, the times you kept going even when nobody saw the effort. That's part of your personal brand, too, even if it wasn't written down in a goal list.
Once you acknowledge the real year, you create the foundation for personal brand reset. So now that you've looked honestly at the year you lived, I want to guide you into the next layer of reflection, what I call the personal brand reset. This is where you start thinking intentionally about the brand you are carrying into your next chapter.
So let's reflect on this. A reset is not always about starting over; it's about refining and clarifying. Making sure the person you are becoming is aligned with the way you show up, a.k.a. branding. And the reset begins with understanding three things: what to keep, what to cut, and what to change.
So let's reflect on what to keep. Before you rush to fix anything, start by acknowledging what worked. This is the part that people often gloss over, but it matters.
So you're going to ask yourself, what supported my confidence this year? What habits helped me stay grounded? Which relationships fed me, and what actions moved me forward in a real way?
Maybe you showed up consistently online more. Maybe you protected your time better. Maybe, hopefully, you invested in yourself or rested in a way that made you feel and were more effective.
These, my friends, are not small things. In fact, they are great evidences of your growth. And what you keep becomes the foundation of your personal brand for the year ahead.
So let's think about that. Next, it's what to cut. Let's talk about what needs to go, and remember, cutting isn't always about failure; it's about alignment.
So I want you to think right now, what drained you, or who? What distracted you, or who? Where did you say yes when you really wanted to say no, and why?
What responsibilities are you holding that don't belong to you anymore? That's a big one. And what narratives about yourself have expired, but you're still carrying them around?
You might be releasing people pleasing. You might be, and hopefully, releasing perfection. You might be releasing commitments that no longer reflect who you are or what you want.
I hope that that's the case. You might be releasing the belief that you need permission to show up, because we know that you don't. Cutting creates capacity, and without capacity, you cannot expand.
Now let's reflect on what to change. What needs to evolve? This is, again, not an overhaul, but it's a shift. It's a recalibration, if you will.
Maybe the way you talk about your work needs an update. Maybe your internal presence needs more intention. Maybe your relationships need nurturing, and maybe your habits need structure. I know that's me.
Maybe your personal brand voice needs more courage or confidence. These adjustments, the small strategic ones, often create the biggest impact. And this is where your next chapter starts to take shape.
So when you reflect on what's real, what stays, what goes, and what evolves, you're finally ready to plan. And the beautiful thing about planning from a place of honesty instead of pressure is that your goals become clearer. Your vision becomes more grounded, and your brand becomes more aligned with who you actually are, not just the version of you from last January.
You're planning from truth, not from comparison. You know I don't believe in comparison; I only believe in inspiration. You're planning from clarity and not chaos.
And this is how you build a strong personal brand and a successful year that actually fits. So as you prepare for what's next, I hope that this reflection helps you approach your planning with more alignment, more honesty, and, my friends, more grace.
The year you thought you'd have and the year you actually lived are not competing narratives. They are two parts of the same story, your story, and that story deserves reflection. And hopefully, this conversation gets you ready for the vision board and goal-setting process that I hope you'll join me for.
As always, you can find more information about my upcoming sessions at paulaedgar.com/events. Thank you for being here with me today. I'll see you in the next episode, and as always, remember folks, stand by your brand. Bye.
That's it for this episode. I appreciate you hanging out with me on Branding Room Only. Now, please do me a quick favor: head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding so more people can join this conversation. And make sure to stop by at paulaedgar.com/events to see what's next. Whether I'm live, online, or in person, I'd love to see you there. See you next time in the Branding Room. And until then, stand tall, shine bright, and always stand by your brand.
