Message 306

It’s about 7 weeks til the end of the year. Start now and beat the rush.

“Start doing what?”I’m sure you’re asking your phone.

It’s time to revisit your year, your goals and start planning for 2026

You know how Dr Gilbert will start a challenge the day after Thanksgiving to help you get a head start on developing new habits so you’ll be ahead of your peers by the time the ball drops on New Year’s Day.

Why not use this next 2 weeks to do an inventory. You know how we always talk about these concepts:
⁃ it’s the start that stops most people
⁃ It’s the process not the outcome
⁃ Take your goals and chunk them down.

How has your year been? Do you know specifics? You should. If you don’t know the details, how can you decide what to do or where to go.

This was the most important lesson I learned this year at vol state. You have to have data in order to make informed decisions. Anything else you use simply leads to emotion driven decisions.

So use the next two weeks to review your 2025 goal list but that’s not all.

After that write down what you’ve accomplished this year. You can include things you’re positive will occur before the end of the year

Next write things that have popped into your head that you either started, thought about starting, or want to start. Write down whatever comes to you.

Now go back over that list and see which ones really light a fire in you. Circle them or better yet put them on a separate piece of paper.

Decide if those circled ones are things you want to tackle or begin to work on in 2026.

Keep this list handy and read it frequently between now and Thanksgiving. Let it marinate. When you review it again in about 2 weeks you’ll go through the same review process with a primary purpose of seeing where the lightning strikes after the marination

Next take your 2025 goal list again and see which ones you’ve achieved.

If there are any left, decide if you want to carry them over to 2026.

The point to all of this is to get your mind used to the fact that this year is almost over and it’s time to wrap things up and get ready for the new year. You really want to get your 2026 goals determined and listed well before Jan 1st. The more you review these items and go over them in your head and heart, the sooner you’ll be getting started and the more excitement you’ll have. With greater excitement, you’ll be more likely to reach those goals.

Message 305

The mastery minute 

Today’s message comes from a newsletter called the Daily wellness.   

Essentially the mastery minute is committing to one small, skill- building task every day 

It’s something that takes hardly any time – just a few minutes but you do it each day and it stretches you just a bit beyond your comfort zone. 

You see all these “daily” things like word of the day or some of the language programs that you do every day and then I guess get points for consistency. Maybe learning to play a new  chord on an instrument. 

The key is for it to be short, achievable and gives you a tiny sense of accomplishment. This is not a smart goal even though it sounds like it. It’s too give you something you definitely can achieve every day 

You’ve proved to yourself that you’re capable of growth by doing something challenging even if it’s small. It builds self efficacy which is your belief in your ability to learn and improve

Pick one small skill you want to develop or are curious about. 

Each day, spend just 3-5 minutes doing something related to it that feels slightly challenging but doable. 

After you finish, take a moment to acknowledge it. Even just a quick “I did that” counts.

The goal isn’t perfection or dramatic progress, just consistent practice that proves you can show up for yourself 

It’s Perfect for building confidence, breaking out of a rut, or developing skills you’ve always wanted. It’s especially helpful when you’re feeling stuck. These tiny wins remind you that you’re capable of more than you think.

Keep a simple log of what you practiced each day. Looking back at a week or a month of consistent effort is surprisingly motivating and shows you concrete evidence of your growth.

Message #304

Veteran’s Day and impact vs intent

I imagine you noticed that I didn’t mention veteran’s day yesterday. That was intentional.

Why?

Because I’m not sure how I feel about my service right now. There’s so much going on in the country right now and much of that involves the military. I don’t want this call to be political but I feel I have some ability to address things that affect the military.

In case you didn’t know it, the National Guard is an integral part of the military. And they have been deployed into cities to exert force against American citizens. And you all know that the administration has said the military – I guess the mean other parts of the military
into the same cities. To keep Americans from protesting amongst other things.

And I guess my biggest problem was the speech to the 800 or so general officers, essentially telling then what they had to think and do.

What do you think “thank you for your service “ really means in light of that possibility

I served for nearly 30 years and took my job and my oath very seriously. I sure didn’t stay all that time for the money. I loved my country and wanted to take care of the others who were protecting me and all Americans. Not attacking them.
I don’t consider this a time for celebration.

Enough on this.

I wanted to mention a phrase I heard the other day that I think all of us can benefit from.

It’s that there is a difference between impact and intent.

How often do you hear someone say “I didn’t mean it” after they did something hurtful or said something hurtful. That’s the intent. But the impact has already occurred. And no matter what the intent was it won’t change that impact.

This is a primary reason for you to take a pause before you react or respond to something someone has said or done.

When you take that pause think about what you want the impact to be. Then you can tailor your response to ensure that you act or talk so that impact you want has a better chance of occurring.

It’s ok to be angry but the key point is not to express that anger in a harmful way.

Can you start practicing that pause ?