HHappy New Year from Black Belt Leadership. Can you believe we are already in 2025? We say goodbye to more in 2024, and we say hello to come alive in 2025. In today’s teaching, I want to share some practical insights to help you not only get started but stay the course and finish well by the time we get to 2026.
Looking back, it seems like 2024 was just a few days ago, and we're now into a brand new year. And that also tells me right now that even though we may be early into 2025 before we know it, we're going be saying hello to 2026.
Now a lot of people, not only here in the United States, but around the world, use New Year's as a time to make those dreaded New Year's resolutions, an opportunity to become a better version of who you are and what you do. That's what Black Belt Leaders do daily. They choose to focus on becoming a better version of who they are and what they do.
So, what does that look like for you?
Maybe you want to get in shape, lose a few pounds, learn a new skill, or try something new. Whatever it is, everybody tends to start off with the best of intentions, but along the way, the vast majority of people get distracted. They miss a few days at the gym, struggle to stop eating sweets, or find learning a new skill is harder than they thought. They get frustrated, and give up, essentially quitting before they ever truly, really get started.
Well, I'm here to tell you if that's been you in the past, this year, it doesn't have to be that way. This year is going to be different. This can be the year you achieve your goals, dreams, and ambitions.
Talking to yourself in a positive way about the goals, dreams, and ambitions that you want to accomplish is Step One to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. No matter what your goals are for this year, the most important thing is for you to have a clear and realistic view of whatever it is you want to achieve.
You must possess the motivation, and persistence to keep moving forward even when moving forward seems like a challenge.
So, one of the ways that you can do that is by setting your intention by the thoughts that you think and the words that you speak. One of the things I want to encourage you to do in 2025 is to create some affirmation statements.
Now what is an affirmation statement?
They're positive phrases (mantras) that you say to yourself related to your desired outcome.
Let me give you some examples. I am strong. I am capable. I am enough. I am getting better every single day. I am confident. I am secure. I am bold. I am getting my weight under control. I am making good choices that lead to good outcomes. My life is abundant.
Those statements, repeated daily, have a powerful impact on our brains. It actually begins to reprogram our subconscious thinking so that it focuses on what we want to accomplish, and we're setting our intention that this is our desired outcome.
I want to also encourage you this year to stop pointing the finger at everybody else if you don't achieve your goals, your dreams, and your objectives. You and you alone are responsible for your success. So, take responsibility for the path you choose to walk. If you're going to walk the pathway of success, fantastic. If you choose to walk another path, guess what? You chose the path.
You and you alone are responsible for your success or the lack thereof. Remember, the one thing you can control is your thoughts. Our thoughts shape our beliefs. Our beliefs shape our choices, and the choices become the habits that either lead us to success or the lack thereof.
Our habits are going to determine whether or not we're going to achieve our goals, our dreams, and our objectives, and it starts with our thoughts. Creating a better outcome starts with altering your thought life, thinking thoughts that shape your beliefs and influence your choices for the better.
I love this quote by Marianne Williamson, and it is probably one of the best quotes that I could think of to add at this time of year. Here's what she says.
“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you.”
I can tell you that in my own life, nothing changed until I realized this one thing.
Nobody is going to do it for me.
Whatever that IT is, I have to do it. I have to take responsibility and until I'm willing to take responsibility and willing to play big, I'm not going serve the world at the highest level. You have every right to be proud of yourself. You've got every right to strive to become the happiest and most fulfilled version of You that you can become.
One of the best strategies that I've found to stop playing small is to have the self-discipline to find an accountability partner that I can bring alongside to talk about my progress and to encourage me to keep moving forward. Now this is a person who's not going to judge me, not going to hinder me, and is not going to influence my progress other than to be there as a sounding board for me to share my progress (or lack thereof).
When you share your plans and you say them out loud, you're turning a wish into reality, and you're bringing something into existence that up until that point only existed in your thoughts. The simple act of telling someone about your goals can encourage you to continue at times when you feel likely or tempted to quit, knowing that that individual is going to help hold you accountable for your success.
In life, there are no quick fixes. A quick fix is like putting a piece of duct tape over the check engine light as you keep driving down the road with your fingers crossed, hoping nothing happens. A quick fix is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. When you go with a quick fix, it doesn't necessarily work well.
Let me give you an example. A diet is a quick fix. Why? We go on a diet to lose a few pounds, and then once we've lost a few pounds, we go off the diet. It is a lifestyle change that is required to create a better life for you. The only way you and I are going to be successful long-term and have the opportunity to rise to our full potential is to challenge the status quo to change things for the better.
It is far too easy to go back to what's familiar, but remember if nothing changes, then nothing changes for you. So, let's start off 2025 by getting clear on our big goals and objectives for the year.
To do that, let me give you 3 questions that you can use right now to help you get clear and concise on your big goal, your objective, or your big idea for 2025.
1. What is your big goal?
2. Why is this big goal important to you?
3. When do you want to achieve it?
Once you’ve answered these initial 3 questions, you’ve got to then identify what resources are available to take you from where you are to where you want to be.
1. What do you need in terms of resources to accomplish your goal?
2. Is this something you can do alone or do you need the help of others?
3. How do you break this big goal down into many goals so that you can keep making progress?
Why is this important?
There are going to be times when you and I are going to mess up. Maybe you miss a workout, eat one too many cookies, fail to get enough sleep for a day or failed in some way. It's okay. Remember three steps forward and two steps back is still ONE step forward. There will be times when you and I get our feet knocked out from underneath us or somebody jerks the rug out from under us.
The good news and the bad news is you and I get to choose whether we're going get up and get going again, or we're simply going lay there and let the referee count us out of the fight.
The road to success is going to have some potholes, detours, and roadblocks. But if we stay the course and revise the plans that we have, we can ultimately get to our goal, our destiny, and our desired outcomes, but only if we get up when get knocked down and keep moving forward.
I love Lao Tzu's famous quote,
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Every step you and I take gets us closer to our goals.
Successful people, black belt leaders in life, own their mistakes. They learn from their mistakes, and they choose not to repeat them in the future. Every challenge and every obstacle we face are nothing more than opportunities to become a better version of who we are and what we do.
To help you be more successful this year, let me offer a FREE resource. A Goal Planning Worksheet you can download to help you get clarity around your BIG goal for 2025 and create the action steps to achieve it.
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