2025 is right around the corner. It is December and I am feeling that energy of how do I make 2025 my best year yet. So if you are feeling that energy and you are ready to change your life in 2025, just keep watching. Hello, everybody.
Welcome back to Heart Breathings. Today, we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics to kick off this December. new year planner season, which is how do I change my life in 2025? How do I set goals and actually achieve them actually follow through and see the results and see my life change before my eyes.
This is one of my passions because I was that person less than 10 years ago, sitting on the couch, literally binge eating Oreos and watching true crime TV and thinking. This is not the life that I want for myself. But I do not know how to change my life.
I don't know how to follow through. I would create plans after plans after plans. And then I would fail time and time again to actually follow through on them. And it wasn't until I started implementing some of the tips that I'm going to talk about today that I finally started getting momentum, seeing my dreams come true, having the impact that I want to have in the world.
creating the things that I wanted to create and really and truly designing the life that I wanted and seeing it become reality. And I want that for you too. Now, we are going to go over four basic steps that are going to help you have the best year yet in 2025. But we all know that there are going to be things that we can't predict and things that we can't see. So this is December, which means that we've just finished for those of you that have been around on my channel for a while, we've just finished what is typically NaNoWriMo.
This year was the rough draft challenge. And it was a big loss for me. So everything will not always go exactly the way you want. I didn't end up following through with my vlogs.
And I only made it just over 11,000 words and didn't get a chance to even really record that because I had pneumonia and I was sick. And so I'm not going to do that again. So thank you so much for watching. I'll see you next time.
As we start thinking about planning for 2025, we all understand that there are going to be things that we can't plan for. We don't have a crystal ball. We don't know when illnesses are going to come up or job loss or family issues or opportunities that we didn't see coming. Some will be good.
Some will be bad. Sometimes there are things that are catastrophic or illnesses that really shut us down that we can't see. But there is so much. that is within our control. And that's what we're going to talk about today is what are the things that are truly in our control that we can harness and make the most out of in order to change our lives for the better in the new year.
Step number one is to get clear on your vision. It is very difficult to create a plan for where you're going to go if you don't know anything about where you want to end up. So one of the most important first steps that you can do is to get clear on where it is you want to go.
Who do you want to be in the world? What do you want to accomplish? What kind of life do you want to live? How do you want to feel on a daily basis?
I know that visioning, like thinking far out in the future isn't really easy for everyone. It is something that comes naturally to me. I'm number one futuristic, if we're talking CliftonStrengths here.
And I spend a lot of time on vision boards and thinking about how I can design my life to be exactly the life that I want to lead. But I am aware that not everybody operates like this. However, it can be super helpful to at least have an idea of why you're doing the things that you're doing and where you want to end up.
If you're a writer, why are you writing? What is it you want to get out of that? Is it income?
Is it more freedom? Is it creative expression? Is it all of the above?
And what could you imagine several years in the future your ideal situation would be when it comes to your writing? How much money do you want to make? How many books per year do you want to write? If you are not a writer, but you're thinking about your health, think about two years in the future.
How do you want to feel on a daily basis? Do you want to be filled with energy? Do you want to have lots of like youthful appearance and you want to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded?
Like what is your goal there? Do you want to be a hiker? Do you want to go out and be able to do multiple day hikes or hike the Appalachian Trail? Think about what your future goal and outcome is because that vision becomes the destination.
Like what you're going to do in order to design your life and create change in your life is really create a strategic roadmap from where you are to where you want to go. But in order to do that, you have to have some idea of where you want to go. A couple things about this to remember. is one, it's not a contract with the universe.
You do not have to say, this is where I want to go. And now that you're locked into that for the rest of your life, it's flexible, you can decide something now and decide something else six months from now. But for the purposes of planning, it is important to have that idea.
Second thing is, it doesn't have to be super detailed. You don't have to know like I know, if it feels good to you get as specific as possible. I know exactly what I want to look and feel like.
I know exactly the like bookstores I want my books in and the TV show that I want to have. And I know what I want my house to look like. Like I have Pinterest boards and lots of vision boards where I think very specifically about how I want my life to look and feel and how I want to operate in the world and who I want to become. I get very clear on that through journaling, vision boards, talking through it with friends and doing vision exercises when I'm meditating. If that is not your jam, it's not necessary.
It's just lean into what feels good for you as an individual. For some of you, you might not really know career wise what it is you want, but you might have a really good idea of how you want to feel. Or if you can't think about what you want, take a look at your life right now and think about what you no longer want. So if there is some things in your life, if there are some things in your life right now where you're like, I just don't want to work this job anymore, or I just don't.
want to be struggling with this financial situation anymore. There could be things in your life right now that you think, this isn't what I want for my future. And so pick the opposite of that and say, okay, if I don't want this job, what kind of job do I want?
And use those negative desires, the things you don't want right now, to springboard you into some journaling or some thoughts about what you do want. Because having that vision for the future as clear as you can get it in terms of what feels good for you as an individual, because we're all different, there's no right or wrong. But getting some idea of how you want to feel and who you want to be in the world is definitely step number one.
And it's one of the most powerful steps to build on the next steps that we have for you. Tip number two is to create your roadmap from where you are now to where you want to be. So I call this the domino effect. Many of us are familiar with the fact that if you put dominoes in a row in alignment and knock one over, it will create a chain reaction that knocks over all the other dominoes in a row.
And this is something that we've seen done on a large scale with very large, almost like art installations of dominoes knocking over. But did you know that a domino is capable of knocking over another domino that's one and a half times its size, which means that if you start a chain reaction, you can knock over another domino. you can increasingly knock over bigger and bigger dominoes, meaning that a very tiny, tiny little domino on this side could knock over a giant domino, several dominoes down the line. When we are thinking about our own strategic roadmap, ideally what we want to do is create a chain reaction, a domino effect, where every single action that we take, every project, every book we write, every... social media posts that we make every time we're starting something new, it is in alignment with where we want to go eventually that big vision goal that we have.
And it is amplifying what we've already done. So what I mean by this is, let's say your big domino, your big vision goal from step number one is to become a a best-selling author who works full-time on your writing. You can quit your job, you get to work full-time, and all you have to do in your life is write books.
That's the dream. So that's your big domino. But right now, you haven't even finished your first book.
You can't take this never-finished-a-book-before and suddenly knock over a bestseller. There's probably one in a million people that do make that bestseller status on their very first book, but most of us, it takes a career before we start to see that. big full time income.
So you've got your small domino here that you're creating a daily writing habit. What you want to do is you want to think about where you are right now. And sorry for my like, this is kind of funny looking, but hopefully you understand you take your domino right now of where you are, I'm working on a daily writing habit, I'm trying to come up with the series that I want to write, that's where you are. And then you think about projecting into the future where future you is making $100,000 a year and is a full time author, what does that person have that you don't yet have? And start brainstorming, what do you think that version of you has in place?
What are the dominoes from this tiny one to knock over so that you can knock over this bigger domino at the end? So some of the things might be you need a series, you need a book that's going to start to sell. And in order to amplify, remember, I talked about that.
One domino knocks over a domino one and a half times bigger. That means everything's in alignment and everything has synergy. So everything you do is amplifying all your other work. So if you're going to create social media, don't just do it so you can post a picture of your coffee and your dog. Create social media so that you can tell people about your books and increase your fan base.
So then the next book you release has a bigger launch and has more people talking about it. Write the very best book that you can write so that you get even more fans and you please the readers that you have. Think about and research the market that you're writing in.
Think about the tropes that you're writing or the things that make people love that particular genre. And then fill your book with all those things that readers love and all the things that you as an author love. Fill it with your passion. Write them as quickly as you can, but with as much just passion and craft and skill as you have. And you will begin to see those dominoes knocked over.
So as we're creating this strategic roadmap, we're not just thinking about what am I doing today? We're thinking about how is every project and every task that I do on a daily basis leading me toward that vision of my future. So then every time you are going to take on a new project, let's say someone says, Okay, I'm doing a Kickstarter and I just made six figures on special editions with these beautiful sprayed edges and a dust jacket and all of that kind of thing.
You could say, is that something that is going to amplify the work that I'm already doing and lead me toward the future that I'm dreaming of with that big domino at the end? Is that something that's in alignment that is going to actually amplify all the other work that I'm doing? And then you would evaluate that project, Kickstarter special editions. in those terms of, is this going to amplify?
Is this going to knock over another domino? Is this going to get me closer to my dream goal? And when we get really intentional about every single thing that we're putting on our plate, making sure not only that we have the time for it, which I'll get into into the next step, but making sure that this project is going to amplify.
So if you did a Kickstarter special edition. That could absolutely amplify the work you did with your first book. You finished your first book. You published that book. You started social media.
You're getting bigger and bigger results. Now you did a Kickstarter where you made extra money that allowed you to publish your next two books. That could all work in a line. See how that's aligned? But let's say you said, I'm writing these cozy mysteries and I'm building an audience, but I'm going to do a Kickstarter for a nonfiction book about dolphins.
Like. How does that amplify what you've already done? It's like now you've gone out of this row of dominoes and you're building a new set of dominoes and now you're starting small again. So every project that you take, ask, is this in alignment?
Is this in the row of dominoes? Is this part of the same strategic path that I've already been on? And does it make things better in my career or in my goals or does it not?
If you are not a writer, because I know some of you might have clicked on this and been like, what is she talking about special editions? Maybe let's say you have a health goal for 2025. If you're thinking about my ultimate goal is to have lots of energy to be up in the morning and to exercise every single day and be in my very best health at the end of 2025. That's your big domino. But let's say you're starting here, we're just walking up the stairs makes you feel winded, you start thinking about what are the steps that I can do to take myself from where I am to this healthier version of myself.
And you're going to start to brainstorm those ideas. So it could be, okay, I need a daily exercise routine, or maybe daily is too much for me right now. So my next domino after this tiny one is just a three day a week, making sure I get 10,000 steps a day on those three days. Then once you hit that, you can start saying, okay, now I'm going to add in some strength training. And then after that, you're gonna say, now I'm going to start making sure I get better sleep and drink more water.
So instead of trying to do everything all at once, like you're going to wake up January 1, and suddenly drink lots of water, get lots of sleep, start eating right, exercise three times a day, like that's not realistic. But that's often how we approach our goals. So instead of just saying, I'm going to do all of it all at once. And I'm going to put pile all this stuff on myself and expect to go from here to here in two months.
Take a step back, take a deep breath, and let's do it realistically. Because Maybe you clicked on this video because you've made goals like that. You've made plans like that in the past. And then a couple weeks into it, like I was talking at the beginning of this video, you're so far behind that you have to make a new plan and you're disappointed in yourself. You're building negative momentum.
And that's just not helpful because we start to blame ourselves. What's wrong with me? Why can't I do this? Why am I not successful with my goal?
When you do it this way, that you're thinking about dominoes on a path, and you're trying to amplify, you just pick one thing at a time, you say, Okay, I'm going to start with 10,000 steps a day, or 5000 steps a day, start where you are, and just amplify a little bit in the right direction, then you get a treadmill, okay, I'm going to get on the treadmill, I'm going to do 12,000 steps a day, then you start adding in some kind of higher protein component or whatever matches for your health goals. You start taking better supplements. You start getting outside more, but you don't do it all at once. This is a strategic path over the course of the year or over the course of the next two years. But you can line those dominoes up so that you can say, here's what I'm going to do first.
Here's what I'm going to do next. Here's what I'm going to do next. And in some ways, it doesn't fully matter what order you put them in, as long as it's an order that makes logical sense for you.
Like you wouldn't go from 2,000 steps a day to 20,000 steps a day. And then down to 10,000 steps a day, you want to put them in logical order. But you want to make sure that every next step matches kind of where you are now, and is amplifying the work that you've already done previously. So no matter what your goal is, you can take steps between where you are now and where you want to be.
And it doesn't have to be super detailed. It doesn't have to be every single step. You just have to know a few steps of dominoes in a line. Then step number three is focusing on your daily actions. What daily consistent actions are going to support you on this journey from here to there?
What can you do? Sometimes these are habits and routines. Sometimes these are one and done kind of projects like, okay, I'm going to set up my website.
That's not something you have to do every day. But it's something that you're going to do once. And it's going to lead you down that path. Some of them though, are going to be recurring activities.
So like in your health goals. You might want to say, okay, I'm going to do 10,000 steps a day every single day. But the power of doing those 10,000 steps every day in and of themselves begins to compound and have incremental progress over time because your muscles will change, your body will change, your health will change, your stamina will change by being consistent with those habits.
So you take the... combination of that long term vision, that domino that you're trying to knock over, this is where I want to be. And it can be this is where I want to be at the end of 2025. Or it could be this is just where I want to go in my life. And I'm going to get as far as I can in 2025. You can do it either way. And then you say, Okay, where am I right now, in terms of that one through line that one goal?
And what are some of the steps that I can take to get myself to that ultimate goal? And what's my next action? And then on a day to day basis, we begin to build small habits, small consistent action that we start to take in order to move ourselves toward that goal.
And if you're following step two, where you ask yourself, how does this action amplify everything else that I'm doing, and you make sure that it's in alignment. So let's talk about the writer who wants to go from working on your first book to being a bestseller. When you start thinking about your daily habits and your daily actions, take a look at those dominoes that you lined up in step number two and say, okay, what needs to happen over the next month, over the next week, to start leading me in the direction of that maybe you need a better daily writing habit, maybe you need a course on how to write better books, maybe you need to start your daily social media posting so you can begin to build your fan base. Maybe you need to start a newsletter. So you have all those things in a line.
But instead of trying to do them all at once, you just pick one thing. And some of them, like I said, are going to be recurring continuously. And some of them are going to be one and done. Okay, I set up my newsletter. And I'm writing every day.
And those things begin to amplify each other. And you're doing them in tandem so that every single daily action compounds and builds on itself to start leading you toward your dream life. The key here is to make sure that these daily actions become your priorities no matter what. Because daily writing habit for one week and then not for three months doesn't really get you where you want to go. If you want to be that bestselling author, and this is the vision that you're leading toward, you have to have that daily writing habit every single day or so much a week, 10,000 words a week or whatever it is you decide you're going to do.
But starting it and then stopping it for a long period of time isn't going to be helpful. Same thing with your health goal. If you're trying to build strength, you can't just show up at the gym one day and lift weights and expect to be at your vision. It's the consistent daily actions. So you got to find a way to not only decide what those daily habits, routines, and actions are going to be, but you have to find a way to work them into your schedule and make them a priority.
Which sometimes means taking a look at your real available time and eliminating the things you just don't have time for. One of the biggest obstacles to us actually following through with our goals, which is kind of the fourth piece of this, is that we put too much on our plate. And we've got just all these different things that we want to do.
And we don't actually have the time and energy to follow through with it. And then when we don't follow through, we blame ourselves like there's something wrong with us or that we... just are too lazy, or we just can't get it done.
When in truth, we were setting ourselves up for an impossible plan. We're trying to cram 50 hours of work into 24 hours a day. And it's just not sustainable. So daily action.
So you've got your vision is number one, you create your strategic roadmaps, what dominoes are you going to knock over to get there. And then you figure out what daily habits you need to engage in and create that you have time for, in order to keep leading you toward that ultimate goal. The fourth step then, of course, is actually following through. So this basically means set the plan, get your dominoes in place, decide your habits, and then actually do it. And I know that that is easier said than done, because there's probably a lot of you sitting here just like me who are like, I have made those plans before, and then I don't actually follow through.
So let's talk about some of the biggest enemies to the follow through. Biggest one, number one is what I was just talking about. You've got too much on your plate, and you just don't have the energy to show up every day for that workout or to show up every day for that writing session.
And the truth is, we cannot create more time. All we can do is eliminate other distractions. So if you want to see your goals come true in 2025, you've got to get real about your time. And what that process looks like for me is actually taking a weekly calendar. You can print one out on Google.
You can create one in a bullet journal or any kind of notebook and just write out the hours that you're awake and then start looking at how many hours do I actually have in a day outside of my regular responsibilities and how am I currently using that time? One thing you could do is over the next week here in the first of December or whenever you're watching this video, you could go through and actually track your time for one week. Set alarms on your phone for every single hour and go in.
to a calendar and say, well, this hour I was doing this, this hour I was doing this, and get a real snapshot of what your time looks like and how you're currently spending it. Some of you will be amazed at how little time you actually have that you might think, oh, I've got all afternoon every single day. But then when you actually track your time, you realize, oh, I don't because as soon as I get home from work, I've got to feed the dogs, I've got this to do, I've got this to do.
And then before I know it, it's time to make dinner. And then I've got to clean up dinner. And then no wonder I'm so exhausted.
But in your head, you think you have all this time and you're just not using it well. But when you actually look at the facts, you'll realize all you have is this tiny sliver of time. And because you're so exhausted, you're usually spending it doing something like reading a book or scrolling Instagram, which there's nothing wrong with that.
We all need our downtime. But in order to start moving. into change in 2025, something about your schedule is going to need to change your habits are going to need to change.
So either sit down right now with a calendar of just a typical Sunday to Saturday week and say, here's how I like how my time is laid out. And here's how much time I actually have to add new habits or writing or getting my Etsy shop started or whatever it is your goal. This is the time I have to work on my goals.
Or if estimating your time and future casting doesn't work for you because you have ADHD or you have time blindness for some reason, then do it the opposite way. Set up a schedule, set up your alarms, track your time for the next week and be really specific about where your time is going. And it will be an eye opener for you. And you'll be able to see, okay, I have really five hours a week that I can dedicate to my exercise routine, or I have five hours a week to dedicate to my writing career. And that's it.
Once you have a realistic view of how much time you have, then you can plan specifically for that amount of time. Because usually we do the opposite. We say, here's all the things I want to do.
And then we wonder why it can't get done because we actually don't have the time for it. And this is the number one enemy to not following through on your goals. When you create a realistic plan that says, this is the time I have, and here's how I'm going to spend it.
And you only put that amount on your plate, like you match your time with your energy. It makes all the difference. Another key to follow through is having a way to remind yourself again of what your priorities are. I have multiple systems in place.
Number one, I have vision boards. So I put vision boards on my computer desktop, on my watch, on my phone screen, I have my vision boards there. So every time I'm looking at a screen anywhere in my home, or even outside.
of my home, I am seeing my vision and it is constant reminder of the things that I'm trying to accomplish. I also have sticky notes up on my mirror that remind me your priority today is to get that writing done. So I can remind myself of that. I even bought a little extender like a acrylic extender for my computer monitor that I can put sticky notes on.
And that's where I put my priorities as well. I also plan out my weeks in my HB 90 planner and that 90 day planner for my computer. has space for putting specifically what my priorities are for the week. So I do that once a week as well. I also on the wall across from me here have a Kanban board where I have sticky notes for every task that I'm trying to get done this quarter.
And that is another visual reminder, it might work differently for you, you might be more of a digital person, and you need reminders in your phone, maybe you have something like Asana or Trello or Notion. that you're working in consistently to remind you. It's very easy for many of us to set the goal and get motivated for it, and then completely forget it a day or two later. We get wrapped up in the normal stresses and normal routines of life.
And what we need for 2025 to be different is to disrupt our own routines and say, Oh, yeah, I got to get that exercise in. So set habit trackers, visual workflows, reminders, vision boards. anchors, basically, you could set your password to the number of workouts you want to do 10,000 steps, put that as your password in your phone, continue to remind yourself and have some way to always be focused on that main priority, which also then feeds into the next tip, which is don't try to set 25 new priorities all at once, because our brains just cannot handle that.
Find the sweet spot between what feels challenging and interesting to you, but isn't too much to keep up with. I am just as guilty as the next person in years past of saying, OK, January 1st, I'm going to change my life. I'm going to be a whole new person. I'm going to wake up early. I'm going to go to the gym.
I'm going to do this. I'm going to write this many words. And we add all these things. And we're trying to just like overnight quantum leap into a totally different existence. And sadly, that just isn't how humans work.
If you've ever done that, then I'm very proud of you. You are one of a kind. But most of us are not superhuman like that.
We really need to just focus on that one or two things. I limit myself to three main goals a quarter. One always has to do with this HeartBreathings YouTube channel and my classes.
One is always about my writing. And then one is always about my personal life. And that is enough for me.
I cannot change everything that is quote unquote. something undesirable about my life all in one day, it's just not going to happen. So putting only what you can handle on your plate and keeping it to just one main focus, or at most three big goals every single quarter will help you follow through.
I have so much to say about this. So we're going to have more videos coming up on goal setting and changing your life in 2025. And of course, I am so excited to announce that for the first time ever, I am offering a bundle of two of my best classes, Your Path Forward and HB90 Bootcamp in a new year bundle for a special discounted price. It's probably the lowest price you will ever see these two courses combined. So definitely jump in and take it.
Your Path Forward is a long term planning class where we basically go through the domino effect. And I show you exactly how to set up those dominoes for your goals and have a long term plan in a way that is flexible, but extremely powerful. This is going to be a live event December 13th and 14th. And if you've taken the class before, you get access to the new version for free.
So definitely be looking out for an email that's going to tell you some of the details for that. You can also sign up for Your Path Forward only if you'd like. If you are an HB90 alumni, I've got a coupon that should show up in your email today to get a discounted price on Your Path Forward live coming up in the next couple of weeks.
Then... The other part of the bundle is my HB90 boot camp. I have had over 4,000 students have gone through this class and it has been absolutely transformational for thousands of people, including myself.
HB90 boot camp is a way of planning 90 days at a time. So this is how you combine that long-term plan with the short-term details and the follow-through. And I cannot even tell you how many people have... messaged me to say that after following HB90, they have gotten more done in 90 days than they did in the years previous. It is transformational.
It is so much fun. And it is a system that will work for you for the rest of your life. Because I am not the kind of teacher who says do it exactly the way I do it.
I am the kind of teacher who understands that our brains are all a little different, our circumstances are all a little different. So I'm going to give you lots of different ways that you can create the system to work for you as an individual and super fun is that for the first time I'm going to be doing live co-working hours. So I literally just set up in my live streaming software something like 12 to 14 hours of live streams because I'm going to be doing not only a live version of Your Path Forward, which is going to have multiple live streams and some co-working hours.
But for this round of HB90 Bootcamp, which is also open by itself, if you're not interested in your path forward, come take the bootcamp with us. And it's available for all alumni for free as well. I'm going to be doing two hours of daily co-working live stream time, which means complete access to me to help you with your strategy, to help you set your goals. to help hold you accountable, be a little body doubling so that we can work through our plans together.
So if you want to see any details either about the new year bundle or about each course individually, I will have those links for you down below. Also, if you were a winner of the rough draft challenge, there's a link down below to grab a printable certificate that you can fill out for yourself as well as some Instagram badges that you can post that you won the rough draft challenge. The website will not automatically just go over to December just because we didn't set it up that way. But we are going to set it up to work for you in future months.
So just be patient on that. And we will run another rough job challenge in April. So I'm very excited for that.
But if you are looking to up level and change your life for the better and see your dreams. actually coming true, like set your goals and follow through. Let me know if these steps are helpful to you. And if you want to go even deeper, come join us in the New Year bundle or either one of these courses, Your Path Forward or HB90, which are both open now and will be running that weekend, December 13th, 14th and 15th.
I'm so excited. I love this time of year. I'm so grateful to be over this sickness and to be able to come into December with lots of energy.
Oh, and Next Saturday, December 6, we're going to be doing your the annual plan, you're writing your live stream. So set that on your calendar as well. Lots of fun stuff coming up this month.
I super love you guys. If you are not subscribed here yet, what are you waiting for? Hit that subscribe button and become a hearty today.
And I will see you guys in my next video, which might be my 2025 planner lineup. All right, let's make our goals come true in 2025. See you later. Bye.