End The Year With Gratitude, Start The Year INSPIRED!

Start the year strong with this three day Meaningful Revolution Challenge:

https://www.shawnbuttner.com/personal-meaningful-revolution-series

Transcript: 

All right. It's the end of the year everyone. And do you ever feel like as you're planning out your New Year's resolutions let, it's just gonna be like the same as last year, you're gonna have the same kind of uninspired resolutions. Where you say I wanna get back into shape. I wanna make that bold choice in my career or my life that I said I was going to last year and then gave up halfway through January.

And so many times our New Year's resolutions don't grab our attention or inspire action. And why is that? It's because we're used to playing. And isn't it true that if your New Year's resolutions are not inspiring, that's because you don't make them inspired. You're not thinking in a holistic way, in a way that inspires you into action, that inspires you into that great next phase [00:01:00] of your life.

Hey everyone, it's Shawn Buttner. This is our weekly newsletter, Monday Motivation. This is the last video of 2 20 22, which I can hardly believe. I'm really excited. We've had a great holiday celebrating with family and friends and connecting with, people and lots of food. Of course, I hope your holiday was filled with the same.

This is also the week between Christmas, the end of Hanukkah and New Year's. And so for. It's a lot of journaling, it's a lot of reflecting on how the year went. It's a lot of, trying to really feel grateful for what has come and grateful and excited for what's coming next year.

And a little bit more about that. I have a couple of exciting announcements there, but [00:02:00] in the meantime We were talking about reflecting and last week right before the Christmas holiday, we talked about how to, really think through and reflect on your year. So make sure you check that out if you haven't already.

But this is the time I, think, to really connect with folks. Cuz a lot of times with the holidays we're reminded of the people that aren't with us anymore. I think. My mom a lot. I think about my grandmother and aunts and uncles that have passed and how they live or continue to live in my life, right?

Like I could go into that a ton right now, but holidays can be hard. The end of the year can be really hard. It's real physically, it's usually really dark here in the northern hemisphere. There's that kind of like seasonal adjusted disorder [00:03:00] where you just, people are feeling blue anyways because they're not getting enough sunlight and stuff like that.

But again, like there's those family reminders or maybe you have a tough family and so it is rough. But there's also so many great things we've done and isn't that. We fought this year. We tried new things. We think maybe things didn't go out the way that we wanted, but we learned, we grew, we had a sense of, fun and joy while we're doing it.

We, grew as people, and at the end of the day, a lot of the things we did mattered to, maybe not just ourselves, but our families. They mattered to. Our communities and our organizations, our businesses our, careers. We made an impact and things are different because we made it this year, this far.

I always love to end with that sense of celebration in the year. And I also love to, to [00:04:00] then start thinking about. What's my next year's revolution? So the last four years I've been hosting at the beginning of the year the, New Year's revolution to try to inspire people to have bigger goals.

And, it's important because when I was first out of college I was a little overweight and didn't really like, pay attention too much to, health. I'd have these big ideas of I wanted to work out to be healthy. Wouldn't really stick with it for too long. And so I get this job, I move states where I'm the only person that I I don't know anyone else, , it's just me.

And I'm going from living in the Midwest to the south in Arkansas and getting out of that structure of school to the structure of work, which are different beasts I was feeling a lot of stress and not having a lot of social interaction with folks. And so I [00:05:00] felt really isolated and stressed and confused about what I wanted for my life.

You're starting to, you're starting your career and you're like, is this really what I wanted to do? At least that's where I was. And one day after being fed up of I'm bored, I'm I'm, stressed out about all these different I'm stressed out about money for, in a real, way for the first time, not, that's not true, up to me to, figure out my money problems, right? And it was up to me to guide my career. And there's no great answers. Every, there's good options. There's no one clear, best option. And so I decided I needed to manage stress. I wanted to, get healthy, but I'm sick of just doing things just to do things.

I needed to do something. What it inspired me to act, and so I signed up for the Chicago Marathon, was nine months in the future and I couldn't even run 15 minutes in a row. I didn't know [00:06:00] how to train for a long distance marathon, but I just made the commitment. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to do this and it will inspire me either to rise up, figure out how to train and not die or perish, and I was so stressed out.

I was okay with that second Not, really not to, make light of that, but I figured I would hurt myself trying or I would figure this out and it would be okay. And I didn't know how it was gonna end out. And that was also okay. So I did what any good nerd would do. I started to research how to train, and there's a book by I always forget the guys.

I always think it's mixed this up with a guitar book, but it's called How to Train and it'll take you from not running or base level of running into running your first marathon. And so that became the plan. And then every day I just had to show up and every day I showed up because I knew that I would [00:07:00] possibly not I would die in the process of trying to run 26.2.

when I couldn't even run 15 minutes in the same in a row when I started. So that was having that plan, having that commitment, having that big audacious goal. And a lot of times in the training I remember feeling and maybe you've felt like this in different parts of your life where you're like I've never ran five miles in a row.

Like today is I'm breaking a personal record of distance and I never thought I could do that. And that's so cool. And Oh yeah. There's a very small percentage of all humans in the world that have ever lived, that have run a marathon, and you can join that if you work hard and keep focused and do the miles that you need to do in order to accomplish it.

And That's the [00:08:00] power of a big goal. That's part of a revolution, right? Because I went from bad health, overweight, super stress to nine months, a later able to run the marathon, and it all, I believe, started with switching the focus of the goal. The goal wasn't to get healthy. The goal was to run 26.2.

And to join that elite group of people that had done that in the history of humans and to just prove to myself that I could push my body to run long distances and, figure it out. And, I never felt as healthy I felt the healthiest I ever had in my life when I was going through that, going through it.

When I was figuring that out and running the miles and that sense of pride that you've done something really hard that you didn't think you could. Is invaluable. So that's when I talk about starting the year with a New Year's revolution versus a resolution. It's not to lose 20 pounds, it's to [00:09:00] do something great in the world.

And that's where I want that energy for you to be. So how can you lead your New Year's revolution with bigger goals and how can you start that meaningful revolution with you? First thing is, a journal. So these are all journaling questions. So pull out your notes and take, some notes here.

But the first thing to think about is if you were to have an excellent year, a fantastic year, a year that you thoroughly connected with, that you absolutely loved in 2023, what would you be proud of? Accomplish. What would you feel so proud telling your parents, telling your spouse, showing your kids that you could, do what type of of activities or goals would you pursue to inspire your family and, teen and coworkers to follow you?

And I'd like to start with that [00:10:00] feeling of how would it how, would it feel to accomplish something like, And then work backwards, right? So if you're feeling like a million bucks, like you had put an immense amount of good work, a good vibes of good energy out into the world, what would those accomplishments be?

And start there. And I know that's a big question to start with. So this is not super easy or some of the like entry level personal development stuff. We're gonna start this question right, now and, think big and to, really feel through that and, take a couple minutes right now to watch it, pause this video and journal on that cuz it's so important to tap into that feeling of.

I can accomplish I can accomplish great goals, great things, that I, that mean something to me that I'm really proud of. And so as you're thinking [00:11:00] about that, if you need some help moving along with that question, here's a couple of follow up questions to help you get a little bit clearer in a couple of different areas of your life.

So the second question, ask yourself after, what would you be proud of accomplishing this next year? What would make you feel proud and excited and inspired is in your health? What would be some type of epic feat that you could brag to your friends about and family members, the people around if you could accomplish it so for me, in my story after college, it was signing up for that marathon and finishing that marathon.

I there's a reason why runners are super annoying when they're in the process of running and training for a marathon. It's because you're proud, right? You want to show people that you've committed, you wanna show people that you're out there making it happen. Part of it is to pump yourself up, but the other thing is, it's really cool to be chasing something that's hard and to be making progress towards it.

[00:12:00] So is it signing up for Marathon? Is it signing up for Tough, utter. Check with your doctor again. Of course I'm not suggesting that you go do this without consulting your health professionals if it was to climb a mountain, if it was to go on a three day hike, if it was to what type of activity would inspire you to think, I never thought I could do this.

Like I never thought I could swim in the Pacific Ocean and cuz it's so cold and I was able to do it or. What do those things look like for your health that will help you lead to healthy outcomes? And it Yeah. And that's it. It doesn't even if, you're like, I wish I could run a hundred mile race and I don't know how to do it, and maybe you're not going to make it this next year, you can still have that.

And trained for a marathon, and then just start adding after that or see where you're at. Maybe you'll, change your mind. That's totally fine too. But [00:13:00] that big audacious goal for your health, what does that look like? What does that embody? How do you, again, think you'll feel about having to do the miles and the training and, there should be an exercise in brainstorming and of excitement, right?

And we can refine a little bit later. So again, in your health, what would be some type of epic feat you'd want to brag about to everyone around you if you could accomplish it next year? And that's different for everyone too. It could just be I don't know. There, there's so many different ways.

I don't wanna pigeonhole anything, but I'm here encouraging you out, cheer you on in that goal. Okay. Third question to help you refine that what would you be proud of accomplishing next year is in your career? What bold move would feel worthy of admiration from your family and friends, but you did something [00:14:00] that was good for yourself, good for your family, good for your organization, but you took a calculated risk that you've been holding back, or you did something you've been avoiding for a while, and it just shows that you're able to confront.

The thing whether it's something that's unpleasant or something that you've been you need to do and you've been holding back, but you did it with integrity, you did it with a sense of greater purpose to those that you serve and, think about that in your career, what would that be?

Would it be go for that promotion? Is it you switch careers to work on something that you absolutely find fulfill? and helps people or you're following that sense of service. That's the type of things to maybe think about. Again, this is pretty broad, but like in my business, a bold move for me next year is going to be engaging a [00:15:00] lot more in my network cuz there's a lot of people that I've worked with that I went to school with that have no idea what I'm doing now because I tend to focus on my business accounts and not my personal social media.

And reaching out and, all that kind of stuff. So that's something for me on this path with you that's going, I'm going to be doing next year as I'm, thinking through this. This is a little bit more concrete example, but what bold move would be worthy of that admiration and celebration from your family, friends and, teammates and organization.

Okay. The next question to. Is in your wellbeing, if you could feel a certain way for most of next year, how would you love to feel? And I asked this question and I've been talking a lot about feelings, and I'm not sure if you've noticed it, and that's on purpose because we're a lot of times, especially in YouTube videos or out in personal [00:16:00] development, we're talking about tactics and strategies and the mechanics of getting the thing.

We never think about the emotional side of how do we wanna feel, because there's one thing to go out there and grind and try to do these great things that revolutionize your life and completely change and transform you. And there's another thing of doing that and being miserable in the process.

So if this is not fun for you, if this is not inspiring for you, if this is not leading you to, to feeling happier or feeling more, Or a lot more of those positive emotions, and you don't have that intention for yourself to have more positive emotions next year, then this is the question for you that could completely change how 2023 goes for you.

And I, I really believe it because if you know how you want to feel during the day and you start making choices with how you want to feel every. and you're doing it responsibly, [00:17:00] right? It's not oh, I feel like I don't wanna work, and then you just give up and then your family can't eat. That's not a good situation.

But if you take that responsible action with integrity, that helps you feel alive and connect it to your life, that's what we're talking about. And how do you move your life more into that? That's part of the this revolution thing. A lot of times if you're miserable, you're probably, and I, don't wanna like blanketly say this flippantly.

Cause I like, I think it's, true that if you're not happy, you've been ignoring something in your life that's been asking you to change, to fix it to, improve it to, do it in a different way for a long time. . And I say that having had that those times in my life too my way of coping it, I got so fed up with it.

I signed up for a fricking marathon. Guys. That's [00:18:00] insane when you are overweight and can't run for like literally more than like 15 minutes, five minutes probably when I started. How do you want to feel think that?

Okay, so that next question that's important and might help you refine that big question that we had, and what would you be proud of accomplishing next year is in your relationships, what are the inspiring milestones, collaborations, new friendships or social things that you would be totally stoked to have worked with these people or accomplished with these folks in the next year?

And that could. For all y'all that got married before, right before or during the pandemic, maybe you finally take that honeymoon and you go and celebrate with your spouse. Maybe you are working with a new TI tier of clients that are a little bit more [00:19:00] aligned to your values or you companion order, whatever that is in your business, or you're really Enhancing those close relationships and friendships with a trip to celebrate your everyone's birthday or there's so many different examples of what this could look like.

I'm asking what does it look like for you because. I don't know. And yeah, I have a general idea of what helps people really feel like they've had this, transformation in their life. But at the end of the day it's up to you to do the work to, figure it out. And that's something I'm always expect I expect the people that I'm teaching the people that are my coaching clients to, to put in that.

So I'll state that very plainly for y'all, but I don't want you to, feel like if you're like, oh, I can't do it, or, Hey, I'm not really getting it, I'm [00:20:00] not really feeling super inspired, that it's probably just, it's me not explaining it well or not doing a good enough job cheering you on because ultimately want you to succeed.

I want you to feel next year fully and, with your full life behind you that, that, sense of excitement and vibrancy. Real quick before we, I got one more point for you, but. I wanna let you know that at the beginning of 2023, I am hosting the Meaningful Revolution Challenge, which is a three day challenge to help you get clear on what your meaningful revolution is and to build a plan to achieve it.

So what is a meaningful revolution? It's the activities that lead to fulfillment and dramatic transformation in your. . And so this challenge is something that I created to help one get people started right in [00:21:00] 2023. Have that momentum of the new year going in it, go the new blah blah.

That momentum going into the new year to really help people get again, crystal clear on how they want to feel, the kind of life they wanna build, and then to build and take consistent action. Realize it. So like I said, I got three days o of training. The first day. We'll talk a lot about getting clear on what you want for the next year for your personal meaningful revolution your, fulfilling transformation, however you wanna say it.

Second day we'll be working on a plan. The third day we'll, be talking about what trips people up and how to make sure you're following through with some habits and, strateg. On that third day. So I'm really, excited for it. I know this will really help people reach that next level next year.

Cuz ultimately that's my mission, is to help people live more fully into their lives. So if that's you, [00:22:00] there's a link below wherever you're watching this, where you can sign up for this three day challenge. I'd love to see love, love, to see you there and to help work out and cheer you on and make sure.

your plan is connecting and you have a plan and maybe a little bit of accountability going forward on following through with those things that really are going to make that difference for you. Okay, now we've asked five different questions right now. The big question again being what would you be proud of accomplishing in the next year and then we in your health, what are those epic.

That would be worthy about bragging about to your friends and family. We talked about your career and those bold actions that would really inspire the folks around you. We talked about your wellbeing and how you might want to feel next year. In a more positive way, if you could more consistently, we talked about what you need to do in your [00:23:00]relationships or the relationships you need to build with inspiring milestones, collaborations, or other social things.

And so here's the last question I have for y'all, and. It might be a little forward, so forgive me if it is, but it's a little challenging and it's meant to be that way. And that is how will you leave each of these changes next year and who are you going to do it for? People other than yourself.

And I, think some of the, times when we're planning these New Year's resolutions or revolutions or these big changes, Things that we wouldn't do for ourselves or we wouldn't follow through for ourselves. We will follow through for a family member. We will get into our health plan and transform and run that marathon.

If it's going to inspire your kids to have a healthier lifestyle, you'll do it for your, you'll make that call in your business [00:24:00] where maybe you have to cut some people loose because the business isn't doing so good. Everyone else can still have a salary and pay for things. And so that responsibility to the organizations continue on existence and the customers you serve and the employees you get to keep, that might need to happen.

Because if you don't make that call, maybe the business goes under and then everyone is in a tough spot, in your relationships, what kind of moments are you trying to make for your close people and to make it fun along the way? Or how are you feeling those positive emotions every day in a way that allows you capacity to be there for your family and friends?

So ultimately this question is, what are you gonna do about it and what is necessary? In service to other people. And I think that little [00:25:00] tweak a lot of times can make the difference of people creating a plan, having these great visions, and actually getting in the game and implementing it. And so I hope that's you.

I am cheering you guys on. I am really excited for the end of this year. I'm really excited to start next. To do that three day challenge. So if you are interested in that again, there's a link below. I'll probably have some prizes and a chance for, forget how to ask questions and get some coaching also.

So if you're into that, hit that link below. I'd love to have you. I'd love to see you, I'd love to support you and really help you make 2023 your year to. And succeed or to help you through struggling through it either cause that also sometimes happens, but so I can't say that next year's going to be amazing and, great, but I will do my damned best to make sure of that for you.

So if you're with me, if you wanna get started with your [00:26:00] personal meaningful revolution, your fulfilling transformation, then click on that link below. Otherwise, guys, have a great end of the year. I'll see you next Monday on the first. Hopefully not too hung. So celebrate responsibly, have fun, connect with your family and friends, guys, and we'll see you in the next episode of Monday.

Motivation. So Sean Bunner signing off.