EP49 | 7 Ways to Create Your Best Year Ever

How do you intentionally create your best year ever? How do you commit to the one thing that will change your business and success in 2023? In this episode of the Create Purpose Podcast, Zach provides you with 7 tools that you can use to get started with your best foot forward and stay focused on your goals for the new year! 

Find out more about The Fully Expressed Leader - Live Virtual Workshop. Visit www.zacharend.com/workshop to find out more and unlock your potential as a leader!

 Episode resources:

• Zach’s Website

• Join Zach’s Workshop
• Book: The One Thing by Gary Keller

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TRANSCRIPTION:

Create yourself every day. Set some intentions around what would it look like for me to be more grateful today? What's one act of service I could bring into my interactions with those that are on my calendar today? Who would I be being? Who do I desire to be today? You get to choose. You do, and until you make it a choice and see it as a choice, your being is driven by your circumstances.

Welcome back, or welcome to the Create Purpose Podcast. I'm your host, Zach Arend, and today I'm gonna be more than your host. I'm gonna be your coach. If you would, let me coach you for the next 20, 30 minutes, because I've got seven powerful ways for you to create your best year ever. Seven powerful questions, seven powerful points to really reflect on and set some intentions for you to create exactly what you.

I'm recording this podcast work several days before Christmas and this time, this holiday season, so many people, including myself we tend to reflect and really reevaluate our lives and our goals and what do we wanna accomplish in the following year. You know, There's the New Year's resolutions and personally, I'm not a big New Year's resolutions guy.

But I am big on reflecting and really checking in on what's really working well and what's not working so well. What am I tolerating? What do I want more of, less of in my life? What do I wanna create? What do I want to be different? And we've explored some of that in the previous episodes of the podcast.

I think it was, would be episode 48 47. Where we talked a little bit about just reflecting on the year, some powerful shifts that you can make in the year to come. Now I want to talk about creating your best year ever. I was going through some of my journals and for many years I've done some sort of annual reflection planning process.

I was pulling up some of my older ones and I was reading what I. . And if you were to read what I wrote, so much of it was centered around me being better at this, being a better leader making more money elevating my position. It was focused on lack thereof.

I wasn't a good enough leader. I wasn't a good enough insert whatever. And that was the place I was coming from when I was setting my one year goals. How do I improve? What books am I gonna read? What am I gonna do? It had nothing to do with creating anything. It was all about filling some void that I felt like I had, that not enoughness was determining what my goals were and

I think so many people fall into that, and that is something that I wanna shift in this episode. I want to give you seven powerful ways that you can create your best year ever. Not be better, but create exactly what you want. And so here's the seven things. Let's just get into 'em. Cuz number one is I want you to begin with the end in.

We don't do that. We come from a place of comparing ourselves to maybe someone who's further on in our lives or somebody else, a peer, a role model. And we look at them and they look at us, and then we're like, I need to be more like them. I need to be more, I need to have the business that they have.

And so we come from a place of lack and I'm saying, no, don't do that. I want you to begin with the end in mind, and I want you to start thinking bigger and here's how you're gonna do that. This is the first exercise for you and I'm gonna give you seven things. You might go tackle all seven of these, or maybe one of them really resonates with you, and you go deep on that one.

I'm cool either way. Either way is gonna serve you as we go through this episode. So listen to each of these in isolation and maybe pick and choose what you wanna go deeper on or. . I would encourage you to slow this all down and go through each one of these cuz each one of these seven points about ready to share with you.

 They're designed to give you clarity. They're designed to help you prioritize and they're designed to help you have the best year ever. Not just have a to create it. I like the word create. I wanna put special emphasis on the word. Because for you to create something implies personal responsibility, implies you bringing your greatest gifts and contributions to the world next year implies you having impact.

that's creation. That's what we do as business owners and leaders. So that's what I want as an outcome of listening to this episode. And I believe that's what you're gonna get as you listen to these seven things. So what are the seven things? Number one, I told you to begin with the end in mind.

Here's what I mean by that. I don't want you to be focused on where you want to get to. I want you to be focused. that ideal future state. And to do that effectively, we gotta get out of our current paradigm, our current context. So I want you to ask yourself 10 years from now, , put yourself out into the future 10 years from now.

 Pull out a journal and start describing what your life looks like 10 years from now to yourself. If you want, pretend. I'm on the phone with you and you're telling me Zach. Oh my God. This is what my life looks like now. 10 years have gone by since I listened to your podcast episode, and 10 years have gone by, and this is what my life looks like now 10 years into the future.

You're describing it to me in the future, in the present tense. It's not what you want to do or hope to do. It's what you have done 10 years out. Describe your life to. 10 years into the future, what does your life look like 10 years into the future? What are you doing? What are you spending your time doing?

What is your business looking like? What type of customers you serving? What are they saying about what you do? What do they love most about you and your product in your business? What's the relationships in your life like, what's your health like? How are you spending your time?

Where are you traveling to? Where do you live? I want you to do this. , I want you to put yourself 10 years into the future and dream. This is where you have to suspend what you think is possible. That's why 10 years is powerful because there's the quote that's often been, I don't attributed to a lot of people.

Don't know who said it originally, doesn't matter. It's a powerful quote. We so often overestimate what we can get done in a year, but we underestimate what we can get done in a. . So let's start with the decade, 10 years dream. You have to dream. I want you to insert the word impossible into the picture.

If it doesn't feel impossible, then you're not dreaming. I want you to dream. That's number one. Begin with the end in mind. Dream with the end in mind. 10 years from today. Define your ideal life, your ideal business, and the ideal role that you're playing within it. That's number one. I want you to think about that.

really slow down and think about that. Sometimes it can be hard to do because as soon as we start letting ourselves dream bigger, there's that inner voice, we'll call it resistance. We can call it your ego that's just there to keep you small and keep you safe, and you're starting to bump up against it and making it feel a little uncomfortable.

You're gonna hear things like yeah, but you're 62 years old. How do you think that's possible? Or, you're too young. You don't have the experiences to have that 10 years from today, whatever that inner just let that be there, set it aside, and get back to dreaming.

Make this a playful act. We're playing here, we're playing, we're not being serious. We are, but we don't have to be so serious that we have to analyze whether or not it's possible at the moment. Right now, I just want you to dream. Begin with the end of mind. 10 years from now, put yourself in the future.

Describe to yourself what your ideal life looks like. That's number one. Number two. Now I want you to start bringing this down to the ground, and I want you to do the same exercise, but three years from. , same exercise Three years from now, think about you know what your life looks like 10 years from now three years from now, what have you built and put in place for yourself?

What is different about your life three years from today that you can see how it's laying a foundation towards achieving that 10 year target that you've set for yourself, that not target 10 year vision that you've set for yourself, that 10 year dream. , so bring it down to three years because what's going to occur over the next three years?

Those things that you're celebrating those three years from now. Cuz remember, you're in the future when you're doing this exercise, the things that you'd be telling me about three years from today and saying, oh my gosh, over the last three years I laid the groundwork for my tenure vision. What would be those three things that you're most excited about, that you put in place for yourself in your life, in your business, in your relationships?

What would. That's number two. Just I call it the three year. Look back. You're looking back over the last three years and you're describing to yourself what you've built to lay a foundation towards that 10 year vision. , what would have to be in place for yourself? Is it a business that's paying yourself?

Is it a profitable business? Is it a business generating X amount of money on the bottom line every month? Is it x amount in an investment account? Is it building a team to where you don't have to, operate in the day-to-day anymore and you can be the true creative visionary in your business?

What is it? What is. 1, 2, 3 things that you would have had to have achieved over those three years to say that you are making progress towards that 10 year vision. So that's number two. Now, number three, now we're bringing it down to the ground to this year, over the next 12 months. What's the one thing?

The one thing that if you did it in 2020, or whenever you're listening to this podcast, what's the one thing that if you did it, this is a Gary Keller quote. If you wanna go deeper on the sub subject, read the book. The One Thing by Gary Keller, I think it is. But he asked a powerful question and I'm asking it to you.

What's the one thing that if you did it in 2023, would make everything else easier or unnecessary? What's the one? . This is hard work and sometimes you gotta, partner with a coach or somebody to help you work through it. But when you can get clear on your one thing, the one thing that's gonna make everything easier or unnecessary, everything else, easier or unnecessary, it's a game changer because

making progress towards any dream requires prioritization and focus.

Less is more. And as soon as we get a big. and we actually start deciding we're gonna pursue it. We ask ourselves a losing question, and that's the how am I going to do that? And then our mind gives us the answer you'll have to do x, Y is Z and this and that, and this. Oh my God, I'm overwhelmed.

Like I, I don't even wanna do this. Do I really wanna do this? No, you don't wanna do that. You don't wanna do all that. Don't focus on the how. find the one thing, and I'm gonna challenge you to don't should on yourself here, this isn't an opportunity to be like, what's the one thing I'm gonna have to do if I want to have what I want?

What's the one sacrifice this year? I'm not saying sacrifice, I'm not saying hard thing. I'm saying the one thing.

The one thing I'm gonna do it right now real time. I'm thinking about the year ahead. There's so much I want to build and. and there's so many I've thought about right now book. I've thought about doing more on this podcast.

I've thought about doing more on social media, paid ads, all of these things. And if I'm not careful, I'm gonna want to do all the things. But I'm becoming wiser because part of the benefit of getting to coach so many inspiring people as I learn as much from them as they would say, they learn from me.

One of the things I'm learning is less is. , I have to find my one thing. What's the one thing that's really gonna move the dial for me in the new year , and can I know without a shadow of a doubt what it is. No. But I'm gonna make a bet that if I could invest my time and energy into getting on more stages whether they're a virtual stage or in person, and I'm speaking to audiences of people, if I did that one thing next.

that's the number one thing that will move the dial for me. That one thing will make everything easier or unnecessary because I know I have enough evidence that shows me that's what's gonna help me grow my audience, and that's what's gonna make it so much easier to share my message and the impact that I wanna make.

In other creative, visionary, entrepreneurial individual's lives. stages speaking. That's my one thing. So that's an example. What's yours? What's that one thing? It may not be the only thing you're doing next year, but it's the one thing you're prioritizing above all else. It's the one big rock that's going on your calendar every week, and you're not gonna let that ball drop.

You're gonna stay on it because here's the truth. Here's what grows in our life, where our time and attention goes. is what ends up growing. So if you wanna write a book, put your time and attention on writing a book. If you wanna be healthy, put your time and attention on being healthy

for me, like I want to grow my audience and extend my reach, I'm gonna put my time and attention to getting on stages. I don't know how, I've never done it before. I have some people, some trusted people and coaches that are helping me, but there's still this inner critic in my mind like, can you really do this?

Who are you to speak on stage? You're not a great speaker. You say ums a lot and you say like, and you don't, you know, are you really gonna be good enough? That's the stuff that I notice I'll tell myself, and it could take me out if I let it. I don't let it I invite that inner critic along for the ride.

I'm like, yeah, you're gonna say what you're gonna say. I can still do what I choose to do. I can still take actions consistent with my dream and what I'm building. So can you, so that's number three. What's the one thing you're gonna do next? that's gonna make everything else easier or unnecessary.

I want you to spend some time thinking about that one. That's number three. Number four, as you get clear on your 10 year I want you to go back to that 10 year dream, that vision that you created for yourself. And I want you to start thinking about who would you be being, who would you be being in that 10 year vision, like you go back out into the future.

Now it's 10 years from now. Who would you be? after achieving and creating and building everything you just wrote down or reflected on. And I want you to now bring that into the moment.

If you make it a place to come from, not a place to get to. So now you know ultimately what your dream is. I'm gonna suggest start being it.

What are the behaviors, the mindsets, the thoughts where your time and energy's going. . What if you were to let that start now? Be, who do you desire to be? Who do you have to be to have achieved what you ultimately want to achieve?

Do you think if you achieve that tenure vision, you would have a spirit of gratitude? That dream you just wrote down or thought of it came true? Do you think you'd have a spirit of gratitude? Do you think you would be. A more giving of yourself, do you think you'd be willing to be more present? Would you be willing to believe in yourself more and be kinder to yourself? I think the answer would be yes. And so those are the traits that I want you to bring into this new year. What would it look and feel like for you to bring more gratitude day in, day out? Bring more presence, bring more F focus on the impact and contribution you're making and the giving back that you're doing versus what do I have to do to get there?

That's a broken strategy. It's an endless, perpetual hamster wheel that. It doesn't work.

We put so much in front of our dreams. For example, we will tell ourselves things like for me to have what I ultimately want, I'm gonna need to fix this in my business. I'm gonna need to get this organized.

I'm gonna need to put this process in place. I'm gonna need to hire this person. I'm gonna have to be this profitable. Once I'm that, then I get to do X, Y, Z, and B, X, Y, Z. . That's a myth I'm suggesting. You gotta flip that on its head. You need to start being that person today and watch the team and watch things.

Just start taking care of themselves because you're being consistent with your dream. That's important. So that's number four. Who do you desire to be? Who would you be being in 2023? , if you were to be your vision, literally be it. Bring the traits and characteristics into your day-to-day.

 Create yourself every day.

Set some intentions around what would it look like for me to be more grateful today? What's one act of service I could bring into my interactions with those that are on my calendar today? Who would I be being? Who do I desire to be today? You get to choose. You do, and until you make it a choice and see it as a choice.

Your being is driven by your

circumstances. You're being a victim and I know you're not, you're powerful. So start to set some intentions on who you desire to be. Okay. That's number four. Number five, what boundaries would you like to put in place for yourself in the new year, or whenever you listen, like whenever you're listening to this, what boundaries would you really benefit from having in your.

Maybe that's a boundary like, oh gosh. What are some examples? Boundaries of when you're available, when you're not available. Can people just text you 24 7 or. Are you gonna set a boundary? I'm not gonna respond to texts after six o'clock, or, I'm not going to do any work on Sundays or Saturdays. I'm just not.

 That day is for me and only me. I have one of my clients this whole year, she's protected her Thursdays, she calls it CEO time. And it's her day. It's her day for being, it's her day for creation. Nothing gets put on the calendar that day. It's a standing appointment with herself.

I even tried to schedule something with her and she's Nope. Can't do it. Can't do it. And I love it. I love watching I love watching my clients push back and tell people, no no, that day doesn't work for me. That doesn't work for me. Why?

Because there was a intentional boundary that they put in place that you can put in place for yourself. So what are some boundaries that you would like to put in place for yourself as you move into the future? Just what are those?

. Because if you're not putting boundaries in your life, you're saying yes. When you know you should be saying no. You're tolerating so much. And when you live in that space, here comes resentment. Here comes a lack of confidence and overwhelm, all of that.

what are , the boundaries? Number six, what memories would you most want to create in the new year? If you were looking back on the past year, you're at the end of the year and you're looking back over the last 12 months, what would the memories be that you would be cherishing the most?

I don't know. I haven't had 'em yet. No, like I think you I gotta say this quietly because I'm recording this episode before Christmas. One of our memories that we're going to cherish is my middle daughter loves to sing. It's not like she just quote unquote loves, like she, it's just who she is.

She'll stay up till midnight singing in her room with the lights off. She loves. She loves pink. She's eight. And before you judge me and be like, oh my God, you let your eight year old listen to pink? Yeah, I do. You know what I love? I love her ferocity. And I want that for my daughter, I want my daughter to be able to be fully expressed.

And I see that in pink, and I think that's what I love about her. I'm a fan. My daughter's such a fan and. I gotta say it quietly. , she might hear me. We got her, we got our whole family tickets to pink. I think it's in August, so it's out there, it's eight months away, but we know that we're gonna be cherishing that memory.

My daughter is gonna be so excited. So that's an example. That's a memory that we'll be cherishing at the end of the year. And what are yours? And. , you get to create them we created that. I created that in advance. So that's the power of creation. You get to create the memories.

 So let's set some intentions, let's future pace. What are those memories going to be this year that you're going to create, that you're gonna cherish you just know oh my God, if that was one of our memories, I probably will cherish that for the rest of my, I don't think I'll ever forget that.

let's create some of those in this year. Let's not make this whole year about work and achievement and accomplishment. Life needs to be more about joy and experience and memories and

 those memories that you talk about. Like I just know we're gonna talk about this day that hasn't even happened yet.

Probably I'm gonna be like an old grumpy old man, and my daughter's gonna still tell me about the pink concert. That's cool. So I digressed a little bit on that one, but I think you get the point. And number seven, I like this question a lot. I just love this question because I think the magic of life is right there in the intersection of what you desire to do, deeply desire to do.

and what you're scared of. There's that saying by Joseph Campbell that I love to share. The cave you fear the most holds, the treasure you seek, the cave that you fear the most holds the treasure that you seek. And so here's the question, and this is a perfect question to end this episode on.

If you are absolutely committed to 10 Xing your business by the end of the year. What would be the scariest thing you'd have to do in order to make that happen?

If you were absolutely committed to 10? Xing your business. Now, I wanna emphasize the word committed. Committed means the decision has been made. You are all in a hundred percent. That's. that's committed. So if you were absolutely committed to 10 Xing your business, like it was no longer a choice, you had to do whatever it took.

What's the one thing, the one, the scariest thing you'd have to do in order to make that happen? More than likely, this one right here might replace your answer to number three. I just thought of that like, right, like, .. Isn't that true? Usually the thing that scares us the most is literally where all the gold is.

It's literally because until you let go of that fear, that fear is running your life. It's limiting you. So I say, let's run towards the fear. Let's run towards it. Let that be an indicator of actually what you're being called to do, where you're feeling the most resistance, the most fear. , that's exactly a great indicator of what you need to be experiencing and leaning into, cuz that's where all the opportunity lies.

So I hope these questions have just stirred your thinking a little bit, and if one of them resonated more than another, good. Let yourself journal on that. Think about it, meditate on it and find your clarity. , when you have clarity, you can get really commit and go all in. And that's what I want for you.

So if you found this episode helpful and if you'd like to go deeper, if you'd like some support getting clear on some of these questions, cuz sometimes you just need smile balls on you helping reflect back to you. I'm gonna say your greatness as a coach, I'm able. get to witness other people's greatness, and they are the last ones to see it.

But when I'm able to hold up that mirror and reflect back to them what I'm experiencing, they see it for the first time and all of a sudden they get to see what's for them. And it makes things clear and it helps this process move along. So if you would like some support with that in February, I'm blocking off four spots.

For you, my podcast listeners, to really focus in on what you wanna create in 2023 and how to create that best year ever. I've set aside five slots, 90 minute slots, complimentary, there's no charge for this. It's a way for me to give back and then connect and build some relationships with some of you.

So if you would like some support and if you would like me to sit in the room with you or on a Zoom call with you and just create some space for you and help coach you towards finding some of your answers around the questions I shared with you today. DM me on Instagram at Zach Arend, Z a c H.

My last name's Arend, a r e n d. So at Zach Arend, or you can go to my website, Zach Arend dot com, and in the top right corner there's a Let's Chat link. , , you'll figure it out, type it in. Say you would love to take me up on one of those five slots in February. One of them was already taken.

I've got four left. So hit me up. I would love to spend some time with you in February. So thanks for listening to this week's episode. Intentionally. Create an amazing year this year, and I can't wait to hear from. as the year progresses , on what you've created.

Cheers.

Real quick, I have a question for you. What would it look and feel like for you to lead your team and build your business with more clarity, confidence, and conviction?

That's why I want to invite you to the fully expressed leader. It's a full day workshop, virtual workshop to learn how to lead from the inside out. This is for creatives, artists, executives, and right brain business owners who are ready to be the. Fully expressed leader they were meant to be. My promise to you is that by the end of this full day together, you're going to be able to identify the critical element in your business that you've been ignoring.

You're gonna know the secret to unleash the full potential of your team and start to see responsibility as a gift and not a burden you're gonna make leading from the inside out your new automatic default. What I love most about this day is I get to see the change in those that do the work. They come in exhausted and they leave energized.

Later on, when they check back in with me, they tell me that it's like someone turned the lights on. What once felt impossible? Now feels inevitable. To learn more, go to www.cratepurpose.net/. This day is not about doing more. It's a way of being a way for you to shift your approach to building your business on your terms.

So go check it out, www.zacharend.com/workshop. 

Hopefully you really enjoyed this podcast episode and my hope is you found it. Really inspirational.

And also most importantly, I hope you took away some practical things that you can start to do and apply in your own life. So finally, I have one small favor to ask of you before you go, wherever you get your podcast, whether that's apple music or Spotify. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review.

Love to hear your thoughts. Come find us on social media, share it on social media. It just really helps us get the word out, helps us grow our audience. So please do that. Thanks to my team, Ashley Bolden, who handles all the admin and Chris skipper who handles all the music and editing of this podcast for more information on the.

Purpose podcast, you can go to www.zacharend.com, and you can also follow me on Instagram, @zach.arend. Please drop me a comment. Reach out, drop me a DM. I'd love to hear from you and love to hear what you're taking away from these conversations. What would you like to hear more of? Do you have any guests that you would love to see?

Come on the show. And I'm always looking for great people to talk to and people with great stories that can inspire you. And so if you know of anybody send, 'em my way, love to hear from you. I'm your host, Zach Arend and I'll see you in the next episode of the Create Purpose Podcast. Bye for now.