How To Enter The New Year With Your Best Energy

John: You’re listening to The Present Professional, where we explore the intersections of personal and professional development. To change your experience of life and work with every episode.

Tony: So tune in, grab your notebook, and let’s go. Let’s go.

John: Welcome to another episode of the present professional today. We’re here to talk about the energy that we’re coming into the new year with. So I hope you had enough time to rest up, to recharge, to be with your family, friends, and loved ones over the holidays. And you’re gearing up for an awesome new year celebration and an even better 2023. So with that being said, I want to say that that’s exactly what restores my energy. Time with family, friends, time to reflect, time to plan. putting out more of a mission statement and life vision like really getting in tune with my why and why it’s even important for me to approach 2023 like this and approach a new year with a different kind of energy and goals and plans and objectives Like taking that time for myself and doing what’s important to me like really helps me go into the new year with full force Ready to go full tilt like I’m coming out of the locker room again like it’s that feeling that I get again and There’s just nothing like it. There’s nothing like entering a new year. There’s nothing like that celebration and taking the first checkmark off the calendar for the year and starting a Fresh so whatever you whatever you reflected on and learn from from the last year. You got a clean slate now How are you gonna step into the new year and I’ll let Tony answer that question for you guys Oh, man, you put me on the spot.

Tony: How am I gonna step into the new year? I hope good after all that. I think like you said as we started off the episode, it’s all about energy. If you have been listening to the podcast this far, we’re both energy guys. We talk about energy a lot. We believe in energy. That’s where it starts right there. Where’s your mindset? Are you believing? that this can be one of your best years? Are you believing that you have the potential to do some great things this year? Because if your mindset isn’t right, if you don’t believe that this is your year, you don’t believe that the great things and miracles can happen for you, then that is where you want to start because that’s going to control your energy output. It starts in the mind. So for me, Man, I just want this to be a great year. I’ve been doing a lot of work in the last quarter, quarter four of 2022, just to really make sure that everything I do for the following year is sustainable. One of the biggest things I’ve been, I’ll be honest, one of the biggest things I’ve struggled with over the last few years has been consistency. And it’s not consistency in being a good person, thankfully. It’s been consistency of not being distracted. Things pop up, I’m like, man, that’s a perfect thing. I wanna do this, I wanna do that. And I’m trying to find that balance of knowing what is for me in the right now, in the present, and what’s for me for maybe later that I can circle back to. And so that’s been one of my things. And I’ve been really good about being honest about that. Struggle or honest about that part of me that I wouldn’t want to work on and I’ve been making Decisions and changes to like protect that so that I can be consistent because a bit though the more consistent I am the less things I’m doing the better I am at the things that I am doing So, you know, that’s kind of how I’m starting out 2023 is doing as less as possible So I can be extremely efficient with what I’m doing. I hope that helps somebody help. I hope somebody out there’s like that’s me. That’s me and

John: And it’s like what you say no to is just as important as what you say yes to. Yeah, mm-hmm. It frees up the energy for what you plan to create this next year. Absolutely. And that’s really great self-awareness and self-knowledge, like to even be able to say these are the things that I struggle with and why. And then it’s like putting those structures in place to help you say no to the things that aren’t aligned. And how do we do that? Well, knowing exactly what is aligned, knowing what you want to say yes to can help you understand what you want to say no to. And around that, thinking about what feelings come up when you have to say no. we want to take down and that was the thing like you said it was it’s the opportunities are the distractions it’s like there’s always something there’s always another opportunity you know always something this kid they kept popping up over the last few weeks has been different conversations is fomo

Tony: fear of missing out and you know for us as millennials and you know just social media users that fear of missing out is so real because you can see an opportunity and you want to do that or you want to walk down a new path and you may feel like if you aren’t doing more or doing that or adding to your plate that you’re behind or that you’re missing out and it’s actually the opposite. Like if you build on things year after year after year, man, and in the same vein, if you’re switching things around too often, you know, which one is going to grow faster? You know, it’s like a tree or a plant. You water one single plant with the right nurture and care or are you trying to do a whole garden at one time and you’ve never even, your green thumb is at the most minimal level. You know, you gotta start off somewhere.

John: And I love the way that you approach that as more of an incremental way to look at it as this is a whole year and if you do one thing even for 10 minutes each day, 20 minutes each day, like you’ll be so surprised at the tree or the garden that’s there at the end of 2023. So this is really your moment, listeners, to check in with yourself and decide what you’re committed to. Decide if you’re committed to stepping up every day in the smallest way, a small win every day. That’s what I like to say about making my bed. It’s like, that’s the first win of the day, baby. I gotta get up and make my bed. Because regardless of how tired I am, or if I’m going to be rushing out the door, or if I skip my meditation, I made my bed. That’s one thing that I do that I don’t really include on the incremental goal calendar. I’ll talk about in a little bit. one habit that helps me feel that bit of accomplishment a bit of success each day and just to start my start my day with some some order some order and some cleanliness and just knowing that I’m getting my stuff together and you know moving into the new year my like this season for me this is the season of creating for me and you know last year and after the transition from my my corporate job and doing a lot of really 200 hours of Around, yeah, maybe a little over 200 hours of coach training, hundreds of hours of client sessions at this point, building out the company along with that, but really taking all of that knowledge and moving it more into the value-based creation. and learning more through experience, and diving into doing the work, even more than I already have, but taking that time that I was using for education, which really helped me build a strong foundation to do transformational work with my clients, but now, really developing that expertise in the field that I know I want to dedicate my work to at this moment. And I wanted to say dedicate my life to, but I was like, you know what? Five years from now, who knows? Maybe I want to be a research scientist or something. I don’t know. That’s good foresight. But there was one quote from a documentary I watched towards the, I think it was beginning of December or so, Stutz. Have you watched the Netflix documentary yet? Oh man, you gotta watch it. You gotta watch it. And listeners, if you haven’t watched it yet, you gotta watch it too. It is, so S-T-U-T-Z, it’s a Netflix documentary where Jonah Hill interviews his therapist that changed his life. And it is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And it came from me just at the right time as I was planning what I want to do for the new year and my twenty twenty two coming to a close. And the quote was do you want to create something or do you want to be right and I was like. Oh, I don’t know if I want it on my wall or a new tattoo or something. I’m writing that down. Right. Right. But we spend so much time wanting to be right, to get it correct, to be what a society thinks is correct or what I think my, you know, even what I think my customers will think is right. when really just focusing on let’s create something new. Let’s create an experience. Let’s get it out there for people. Let’s do the workshop. Let’s engage in this speaking engagement. Let’s go to the conference. I’m just ready to create. And I want to say This energy makes me want to say it’s time to write the book, but I Know it’s I think it’s I think it’s business creation and in the creation of my field right now The the books coming but my might be a 2024 thing. I

Tony: Listen, man, you hit something super like on point when you talked about that quote and wanting to create something is the innovation process. And when you think about what innovation means for the world we live in, everything that we have, everything that we touch was built off of an idea and ideas are literally the birthplace of what innovation is the birthplace of ideas. And so. You know, you were talking, I was just getting excited because I just had this conversation last week in one of my classes. We were just talking about how we wanted to be remembered from the transition process of when we started this particular course to when we exited. And the course was a leadership class, but for me, my response was just being someone that’s innovative. Someone that has new ideas someone that tries new things. I’m always trying to think that’s literally why I say what I said about consistency Because I’ll try something quick, you know, I love trying new thing I get like energy off of the beginning like just seeing something take off seeing something work, you know Then it’s like oh you got to work it, you know, and then that’s another that’s another process but I You know, when I think about how people view me, it’s funny, I got this award. It wasn’t really an award. It was just like a group nomination of personalities and what we thought of people. And what people voted me for was the light bulb, someone that always has new, creative, innovative ideas. And so I’m like, you know, look at me talking that, speaking that into existence. But I brought that up to say, you know, for people out there who are getting ready to tackle the new year, or maybe you’re listening to this and you already are in the new year and it’s going for you, you know, don’t be afraid to try something new, especially if things are not working. Crystal, my wife and I, we talk all the time. We say the basic quote of insanity, you know, is doing the same thing, expecting different results. And if you’re getting the same results every year, every month, every quarter, every week, whatever it may be, just you got to change something up and don’t be afraid to look foolish in the process. Don’t be afraid of what your family’s going to say. Don’t be afraid of what your peers may say. Even if your spouse isn’t supportive of what you’re doing, you know, I’m not saying that that’s your household, but like have a conversation and just like say, you know, I really want to try this and this is why. And hopefully a track record speaks to a positive, you know, reason to try. Hopefully you’ve succeeded in some things and things like that. And, you know, you can validate your want to do that. But, you know, we got one life. We got one life. And, you know, I always say, man, I’m gonna live it. You know, I saw this great quote about you know, we always celebrate who we are But we should also celebrate who we did not become, you know Think about how many times people work life career or whatever it may be have tried to pull you in a certain direction You know, maybe people said, you know, John, I think you’d be great for this and you’re like, but wait a minute I want to do that, you know, and you got to celebrate the fact that you didn’t do this and you became that and you held on to your true self. So, you know, don’t be afraid of that.

John: Yeah, that hits man celebrating the things that we did not become. Mm-hmm. Wow. Mm-hmm, man. There’s a lot on that list. I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t thought about it.

Tony: I kind of want to write it out now I mean I think about it all the time so many times people have sold me like you’d be perfect for this How about you do that to get become this thing and I’m like, wait a minute That’s not that’s not who that’s not who I aspire to be that may be who you see me as right now But like I see myself totally different And the beauty of that is when somebody else sees you for who you could become, or sees the same vision that you have for yourself, or sees a part of it, and they validate that, you’re like, see? That’s what I’m saying. I’m trying to do that too. And then you partner with that person or those people. And you would come there. I mean, that’s why John and I connect so well and have, you know, launched and created and successfully have our podcast is a part of it is us talking about this, these types of things for years. We talked about building things like this for years. And, you know, one thing about us is like, we are on the same page when it comes to, I think, I would say consistency in this regard, because We show up, we do the work, we do this, and we’re serious about it. And when you find people that are walking that same mission as you, you know, hold on to that and trust that they can be and they will be lifelong friends, pals, mentors, buddies, mentees, whatever it may be for you, hold on to that. Because sometimes people will not see your best self in you and won’t find a way to partner. And when you can find that, you know, you find that energy, especially in 2023, as you roll into 2023, find your people that you can lock arms with and walk into the new year with. I know me and John are locked arms in 2023. Like we ain’t, it is what it is. Like we here, we doing it. And if you got to find your people, Find your people.

John: Oh, man. Talk about energy come in into the new year, man I mean you can bring your own but when you locked arms with someone that’s heading in the same direction Got your back that you know, you’re stepping into creating with oh Man world watch out. Mm-hmm world. Watch out. Mm-hmm And saying that, you know, that’s what I’m choosing. Like, that is the energy for me this year. I’m choosing to create with the people that are alongside me and have a shared vision over being stuck in the maze of trying to be right, of trying to get it perfect. Like, let’s create something and get it out the door. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be authentic in my voice. And that’s it. That’s it. Authentic in our voice. That’s how we choose to show up here. You hear us listeners like you’re basically coming in on the conversation. We used to have over mezzanine tea, you know Yep, that’s fake. Oh beautiful and another another part of that is really choosing to so as I’m as I’m creating i’m choosing to focus on my well-being and balance through the process too and like seeing the journey in the moment instead of you know thinking about what the creation will look like in the end which is being there present in the journey in the creating in the mess in in it not being perfect And also choosing to take rest when I need, to see the people that feed my energy and my soul when I want to, to do the things that I love. Like, there’s no compromising on going snowboarding this year. I took last year off. Uh-huh trips already booked in January another one another one of the books and ready to go in February One of the things that I just absolutely love and look forward to every year. So that is that’s what I’m choosing That’s my that’s my 2023 theme creating and my own well-being and balance Can’t pour from an empty glass, you know

Tony: You said something I wanted to comment on though before we move on was that wanting to be right thing. You know a lot of times when you want to be right you find yourself in isolation because you want to be right and you’re trying to create something by yourself. And let this, if that speaks to you, let this be the year where you start to let your ideas out and do it in partnership and in community because you get so much further along when you share and when you do things with other people. And we have this fear of people stealing our ideas or people like, Taking things from from you. I hear that a lot from people and That’s that’s a that’s a valid concern but the bigger concern is if you Are trying to be right so much that you find yourself by yourself and you look back and nobody’s following you Nobody’s to your left to your right and in turn everybody is in front of you. I and they’re ahead of you, but they’re ahead because they’re with community, they’re with groups, they’re with people. So open yourself up a little bit, let your energy flow, and you don’t have to be right all the time. It may be a group effort, and maybe you’re just a part of being right. Maybe you are 30% of the mission that’s needed to push everybody forward. teams, sports, even, you know, I love sports, you know, even, even boxers who are really in the ring by their self, they have a whole team of people that are helping them to win the fight. They are one part of the fight, one part of the goal. You have trainers, you have cut men, you have conditioning people, you have just hype people, you know, you have all these people that are helping us, a team effort. So nothing’s done by yourself. So I just want to comment on that.

John: And I love what you said about not holding it into yourself and like hoarding this idea. But really, you know, a lot of times I see that manifest in my clients as like remaining in ambivalence. Mm-hmm. Like it’s it’s almost the fear of succeeding in a way that if I do move forward with this then I have to commit to it then what happens right there’s so it’s almost it’s safer to stay in ambivalence and Part of that being oh, I don’t want anyone to steal the idea I want to I want to hoard it to myself and keep and keep the idea within and It’s like oh, but then I don’t have the I don’t have the space to follow through with it right now So it’s just kind of in this purgatory of just waiting but there’s one thing that I want a presence from Elizabeth Gilbert’s big magic is Inspiration will find its way to someone that will create it and So if you’re sitting on an idea, like, I don’t care how profound it is, that inspiration will find its way to a creator if you’re not willing to seize it. So the longer you wait, No one will steal your idea. Your idea will find someone else.

Tony: That’s deep. I say all the time, probably said it already on a prior episode. Have you been down the bread aisle? Have you been down the bread aisle in your grocery store? If you don’t know what I’m saying, if that didn’t make you giggle and tickle you a little bit, go down the bread aisle. and see all the different companies that produce bread. Even more, my mom and I were talking about the amount of chicken restaurants, fast food restaurants on her street, you know, down the street. And we counted like seven, seven chicken restaurants. I can name them, but I won’t. All in the same block. So you good. Your idea is safe.

John: for now. For now. For now.

Tony: Or somebody else, like John said, that inspiration is going to find a creator.

John: It’s going to find a way, man. And like the way that we talked about in the goal-setting episode about ways that we’re going into the new year and how we plan to keep up with that moving forward. And I want to let you guys know what I’m committed to for my core incremental practice. So the Dry erase calendar that I keep on my wall. So what 23 2023 is going to look like is Exercise is one color slash mark value-based contents. Another one which could be can be videos It can be blogs website stuff stuff for the business more of like creating around the around the business and then writing is going to be more of expression of my ideas and experiences around coaching and different topics that I feel are going to add value to my audience and then meditation, like really doubling down on my daily meditation practice and getting on the books for another 10 day Vipassana meditation, meditation retreat. So I’m putting that out there in the universe. So I commit to signing up for my, my second 10 day silent experience.

Tony: Wow, now you need to talk about that experience one day on the podcast and let people know what that what that unlocked for you and what they did for you.

John: Oh, yep. That’s an episode in its own.

Tony: Yeah, that’s a good good bonus episode or maybe one on meditation or something. You know, I wanted to shift a little bit and bring up one of my favorite books. It’s one you don’t have to read often, but when you do read it, you get it, you get it real quick. It’s Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. So I read this book back in 2017, I think, and it was a game changer for me because it validated a lot. I’m already kind of tidy in a sense. I’m looking around right now. I’m not tidy at all at this desk right now, to be honest, but I’m pretty tidy on it for the most part. But the book is not just a book about tidying up your physical space. But what happens when you tidy up your physical space transitions and transfers into your mental well-being, your mental space, as well as your energy. And so some of the themes of her book, she talks about keeping your house in order. And, you know, if you’ve heard that term in a religious or spiritual sense, keeping your house in order is also like keeping your temple in order, keeping your temple clean, that being yourself, your spirit, your soul. And these principles can be, again, transferred over to many different areas. And for me, as I get ready to transition into the new year, like I said, quarter four, I’ve just been kind of Kind of hitting the brakes and land in the plane a little bit. And as I do that, you got to get your house in order. And some of the things that you can do to do that is get rid of stuff like physical stuff, especially if you have things that you know are clutter. You need to get rid of it, but you have to go through a process of asking yourself some questions. Ask yourself, does this item spark joy? If the item that you’re holding in your hand, whether it’s an old T-shirt, an old couch, you know, old things, we all have them. Ask yourself, does it spark joy? And if it doesn’t spark joy, don’t wait. Don’t ask yourself that and then think about it. Like literally put it in your hand and say does this does this bring a sense of joy to me? And if it does not then throw it away. No, I’m kidding. Consider getting rid of it. And you can do that same thing if you reflect over the 2022 year. I think we talked about that on our last episode about kind of going through and preparing for what’s ahead and getting ready for the new year. You want to do the same thing physically and as well as with your calendar, as well as with your habits. Maybe you have habits you want to get rid of. Maybe you have people you want to get rid of but ask yourself Definitely Marie Kondo your friendships. I love I’m just saying Because when you’re Marie Kondo says when your house is in order you put your affairs in order and when your affairs are in order you put your past in order and And I thought that was super important because one of the things that a lot of people, including myself, but we all do this mentally as we reflect, we reflect on the past, we reflect on decisions we made, we reflect on things that didn’t go well, times that we messed up. But when you can learn to get your house in order and remove the clutter, remove the mental clutter, remove the physical clutter, You can put that those decisions in that past in order to and put it where it needs to be So that you can move on mentally Your energy can flow and your energy can free up so that you can really be the person that you want to be in 2023 You know, she also says that tidying up is a habitual process that in turn affects the way that you think so there are books on the organization of the mind and like how the mind works and And I’m going to assume this about John. I don’t know this for sure. We haven’t talked about it, but I’m pretty sure he compartmentalizes things well, mentally puts things where they need to be. His mind probably just has a structure of ways that he puts things in order. I mean, people who are highly functional do that. And tidying up is the same kind of habitual process of the way that your mind can do the same thing. So Consider that as you get ready to go into the new year. I promise you these things will clean up your soul, clean up your mind, your vision. Most importantly, I love vision. You got to clean up your vision and you got to remove the dirt and the smog so that you can do that. And the last point is to surround yourself with things that you love. You don’t get rid of stuff to have an empty room or empty house or empty spirit. You clear things out of the way so that you can make room for more things that you love and love to do.

John: Mm-hmm, man. Surrounding myself with love. I kind of want to add that into the 2023 theme.

Tony: Put it in there, brother. Still got time. Part of the base scenario there, but that is something that I really value.

John: Mm-hmm is surrounding myself with not just the people that I love or things that I love but with love for myself with love for you know the things in the past that I’m tidied up the things that have Made me who I am today good or bad and just like letting that energy surround me not the thought of all of them and But loving that and through that really just being grateful for it, being grateful for the things that have led me up to this moment where I’m able to say, let’s focus on love for 2023. I’m feeling a lot of gratitude there. I also want to say that I got that Marie Kondo book from my mom and it didn’t really work. Sorry, mom. Sorry, mom, if you’re hearing this right now, but we gotta tidy up.

Tony: Maybe my CliffsNotes version will inspire her.

John: Maybe, man. Well, my friends, I hope you’re geared up and ready to take on 2023. And if you feel like you might not be just yet, take your time. You’ll get there. You got, what, a few more days now? No, I can bleed into the new year. But yeah, take your time. And as things come up that feel like they’ll get in the way or get you sidetracked or kind of push you off the path that you’re on, know that that is also part of the process because the resilience that you build, recognizing that, meeting the challenges that meets you, and then continuing on the path that you chose for yourself only reinforces the energy that you moved into the year with. So no matter where you’re at in your process, no matter how your energy feels at this moment, know that the energy that you seek is out there. It’s within you and you can access it by all the things and more that we mentioned on this episode and things that feel like they bring you joy. Things that make you feel like there is love surrounding you and good energy. So keep them around you, declutter your space, your mind, and step into this year with some powerful, powerful energy to go create what it is you’re going to create. So with that being said, thank you guys for being listeners. It has been an amazing launch over the past half a year or so, and we’re excited to see what the present professional podcast will bring in 2023 and we hope you are just as excited so happy new year my friends we’ll catch you in the new year take care