As we shift our focus to the horizon of possibilities that 2024 offers, this episode is a masterclass in the art of goal achievement, emphasizing the transformative journey of becoming the individual capable of realizing those dreams. I'm also thrilled to share the gratitude I hold for the growth of this podcast and the community that has flourished around it, highlighting the collective successes we've celebrated.
Learn how to write yourself a letter, be introspective, and prove yourself right in 2024!
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
As we shift our focus to the horizon of possibilities that 2024 offers, this episode is a masterclass in the art of goal achievement, emphasizing the transformative journey of becoming the individual capable of realizing those dreams. I'm also thrilled to share the gratitude I hold for the growth of this podcast and the community that has flourished around it, highlighting the collective successes we've celebrated.
Learn how to write yourself a letter, be introspective, and prove yourself right in 2024!
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
Welcome to the Win Today podcast, a weekly tool intentionally crafted to help people enhance performance, feel inspired and conquer life. Our commitment is that you will learn from some of the most disciplined, heartwarming and inspiring people on the globe, in addition to receiving a piece of a winning playbook from myself or a renowned expert in their field. My name is Ryan Cass and I am your host, and it is my purpose in this world to inspire people to establish a foundation for sustained success by developing systems that will enable you to accomplish your goals, break systemic trends of adversity and chart a desirable course for life. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the top podcasts in the world by subscribing to the show, sharing it with somebody who you believe will benefit from it and leaving a review, and let's connect with our guest.
Speaker 1:What's up everyone? Welcome to the final day of 2023. I'm wishing that you all have been able to enjoy somewhat of a break and been able to spend time with important people in your life and start thinking about what this next year, 2024, is going to look like for you. I believe that 2023 was similar to 2022 in that it felt like it was multiple years packed into one, and I say that because of the amount of growth and experiences that this year in itself delivered. I was having lunch with one of my friends earlier and he reminded me of the August challenge of running a half marathon every day with my girlfriend, and it's something that I had completely forgotten about, and I actually heard about a pretty neat exercise recently to reflect on the year is to go through your phone, go to the beginning of the year and then scroll through all of the different photos and videos that you have through the course of the year and that will remind you of a lot of the experiences that you've had just in this year itself, because for those things that are often really important to us, there's generally some sort of photo or video to capture the experience, and sometimes, myself included, we can forget to go back into the camera roll and really find that evidence of everything that this year brought. So that is something I'm also doing today, but the purpose of this episode is to provide a bonus opportunity to help you all in setting up your 2024 and ensuring that it's another amazing year and that it's one of the best years of your life.
Speaker 1:Last week, I released an episode that highlighted the year end process that I go through and the questions that are important to ask yourself on an annual basis at minimum, so that you can really understand what's going well and why, where you have opportunities to grow and why and what type of person must you become in order to achieve the things that you want to in the coming year. Asking these types of introspective questions, at minimum on an annual basis, really helps you understand why you're able to do the things that you're doing, where you need to make some adjustments, and gives you a plan, or rather, gives you the clues, gives you the tips on what to focus on for the coming year. And I do this by asking, or rather, I do this by writing myself a letter every year, and if you go back to episode number 81, that is where I released my 2023 letter to myself, and it's fun to go back to these letters at the end of the year and then see all the things that did or did not come to fruition, and it's surprisingly enough. What I've found is that by doing these, by writing these letters to yourself, you actually accomplish a whole lot more than you would have ever envisioned, and it's. It's this fun process. It's a blast, and I'm putting it out here because I want this to serve as a tool for you all. So go back to last week's episode, go back to episode number 81, and that will just give you some more context as to what this letter is and why and how I use it. So, starting with my letter to myself evaluating 2023 and setting the course for 2024. And I write this as if I'm in third person, so, in case you're wondering why the heck is everything in third person, it's a letter to myself and not just talking about I this, I that, but, hey, looking at it, removing myself from the equation.
Speaker 1:Ryan, another year of laying bricks on top of a steady foundation and plenty more of touching your dreams. Like last year, 2023 also felt like several years packed into one year, due to all of the growth, abundance of experiences, entering new territory in many areas of life and continuing to optimize your way of being. Lessons learned from 2022 served you very well in 2023, and lessons learned this year will serve you very well in 2024. It's amazing to see what came to fruition, as you wrote to yourself in 2022 that 2023 would deliver, deliver being my keyword for the year, or deliver being your keyword for the year. Feeling like a completely different, upgraded being for one, interacting with some of the most renowned thought leaders in the world in the domain of personal development, in addition to being introduced to a few new tribes at home, filled with amazing people, continuing to be a strong influence for your family and shifting the narrative of the past, bringing everyone closer and closer together, embracing today to create a tomorrow that we can cherish, perhaps under 2023.
Speaker 1:Prediction of being introduced to a new echelon of elite performers that you wouldn't have guessed a girlfriend would be included in that mix. You met the best of the best in the running world and someone who possesses the mindset that you appreciate the most in this world. You're fortunate to have met this incredible woman who pushes you and truly means it and backs it up. For the last seven years, you've had very high walls up and they've been knocked down, and you wouldn't have it any other way. You view this relationship as a privilege and responsibility and will continue giving it and Christina your absolute best effort, all across the board. The path that you're on in this life is not to be questioned any longer. You're doing exactly what you're meant to be doing. More people than ever before are reaching out to let you know of the positive impact that you've made and or are making in their lives. It's remarkable and will be amplified 10 fold in 2024 as the podcast, speaking, coaching and something else that you may not have expected to absolutely blow up. The seeds that you've planted over the last few years are starting to sprout and all of the deposits made over time are going to compound to a whole new level in 2024.
Speaker 1:As always, it's time to take inventory of opportunities for growth and then recognize the highlights and chart the future course opportunities that you've noted, opportunities being defined as areas of growth, not weaknesses, but opportunities to get better. Continue to dial back on your goals list. Less still equals more and as you've scaled back, the goals have become bigger and more challenging. The goals list is staying too big as challenges and responsibilities have increased. Dial the list back, as there was too much on your plate in 2023. Sharpen systems after work. After many days coming home from your corporate job this year, it was a struggle to get in the zone to focus on champion tribe in one day. Part of this due to being over committed, the other part due to being distracted by admin work and or being lower on energy. Recognize the fact that your corporate role itself is demanding. Therefore, it's crucial to be even more specific about post-work activity. Avoid doing long runs after work, as this kills your productivity. Set aside certain days and times for admin and continue passing it off to others via hiring and outsourcing for help.
Speaker 1:Increase velocity. This is your word for 2024 velocity. Velocity is defined as closing the gap between a thought and an action, or, in this case, the time between a priority and an action as well. If there's something that you want to know in the moment, take action on it. If there's a priority you set, allow nothing else to get in the way until it's done. Sometimes you get into analysis paralysis, which crushes taking action on the important things. Stop doing that.
Speaker 1:Opportunities excite you the most because they provide the opportunity to improve and create the space. To be brutally honest, while the highlights are great, it's focusing on the opportunities that creates the space to generate the future. Highlights Never shy away from what may be done more, better or less. Life isn't defined or the year isn't defined by simply highs. It's about recognizing both highs and opportunities, not lows, that allow you to continue reaching new levels in life. Now for the highlights. Another year to look back on and smile about, just as 2024 soon will be as well.
Speaker 1:Some of your highlights Strengthening the bond with your sister and being more intentional about time and connection with her. Building off feedback a couple years ago that she provided to you, which has been invaluable. Continuing to give back unconditionally, first with time and connection and then monetarily. Beating your goal of generating over $20,000 to nonprofits through your giving mastermind dinner donations be the first one. Scholarship and break in Ribbon's 100-mile fundraiser. So many people have been served and it's going to be even bigger in 2024 as the word gets out. Completing a 100-mile fundraiser run on the Ravenel Bridge and delivering to three families in need, fighting various forms of cancer. Having an amazing support crew out with you for an entire day making sure it got done. Putting the cap on a six-year journey to qualify for and finally compete in the Boston Marathon and breaking your marathon PR by over four minutes later in the year. Running more miles than you ever have in a year and becoming extremely strong at cardio.
Speaker 1:Entering a committed relationship and letting your guard down for an incredible woman who is extremely caring, sweet and sees eye to eye to you in terms of seeking challenges and juggling multiple hats. Someone who truly pushes you to level up, not missing a single Monday podcast released Doubling and More than doubling downloads from 2022 and interviewing over 28 major guests. Balancing everything here on top of growing a brand new organization in your corporate role by seven times in one year, earning multiple paid speaking opportunities and continuing to sharpen the craft on skills that align closest to your dreams in life. Tons of people reaching out, some of who you know and plenty out of the blue and who you don't know. Letting you know the positive impact that has been made in their life because of your efforts. Never lose sight of that. No more talk about quote barely scratching the surface. That phrase has been allowed for too long.
Speaker 1:Level up a notch in 2024. Take note of your opportunities. You've been slowing yourself up in some areas. You and nothing else. Double down on this dream of yours and get out of the way. Don't be scared. Not everything that you put out is going to be a best hit. Remember that consistency is key and that's one thing that people are always watching for. Continue being the captain of the ship for your family and setting a strong example. Keep focused on the important things and don't allow the little things to become big things. If the worst thing that usually happens in a day is that your dog tips something over, you're doing pretty damn well. Continue giving your time and heart to people and causes that light up your soul. Never stop doing this. This is inscribed in your DNA. Now Continue learning what it means to be in a relationship and becoming the best man possible to serve your girlfriend in the best way. Stay patient.
Speaker 1:When you look back on this as 2025 is nearing, it'll again feel like a completely different person is sitting down to write the letter. You're going to excel and staying even more laser, focused on less but the right things. You're again going to be introduced to an entire new level of elite performers and earn your way into some exclusive networks filled with people who help you grow more than ever. The podcast is going to be booming, with more focus on in-person experiences, and the consistency won't stop. Your email list and growth is going to be key to the long-awaited courses and masterminds that you've been slowly putting together, and your reach and impact is going to expand well over two-fold this year. You'll be at a difficult crossroads, as these hustles will ultimately bear a ton of weight that's going to make corporate tempt you even more. Keep touching your dreams. You're going to continue running even more, hitting new PRs and putting your body and mind through more grueling tests. This is the life that you've dreamed of, and you'll have what you desire and abundance. Stay true and never forget where you came from. Continue being a light for one person and kick ass. Love you.
Speaker 1:So that's my letter to myself, reflecting on 2023 and looking at what I intend to create for 2024. And that was done by sitting down with my 2023 goals list and looking at what was able to accomplish, why, what didn't go well or what are my opportunities and why, and then setting the tone for the new year, and I'm going to focus more on the opportunities again. What you saw there is that I've still put a little bit too much on my plate, not recognizing that my corporate role in itself is demanding and takes a lot of my mental and emotional capacity, and then expecting to always have the on switch when I get home. That's been a little more difficult than I thought, and that's that. That's the opportunity that I get to focus on. I get to dial in my systems a little bit more post work, look at how to stay in elevated states for longer periods of time to ensure that my productivity levels once I get here after a long day at work are still high, so that there's more focus on the things that I'm dreaming of, which is putting out those courses, creating the masterminds and and having more products available that are intended to help people reach the next level, and being that resource becoming one of the top resources in the personal development space for people to utilize. So that's going to happen. That's my window, that's my window of opportunity, it's my window of growth, and I also decided to only know three of the biggest opportunities. Obviously, there are some some more, some little ones here and there, but when I really think about it, on the things that did not get accomplished and why, those are the three biggest things that that pop out. So I'm very excited to detail more of the progress that will be made on that in 2024.
Speaker 1:And the next thing that I told you all I would share is really this whole journey with goal setting going back to last week's episode is a process of becoming Accomplishing. Your goal is great, but the goal is just the pie in the sky. In order to achieve what you want in this life, it's really a question of who must you become in order to achieve X, y, z. If you want to become a strong marathon runner, who must you actually become? You must become someone who is extremely diligent and someone who carves out multiple hours a week to train and put your body through rigorous tests. You must be someone who is committed to rest and recovery. You must be somebody who is committed to or rather, you must be someone who is accepting of progress coming in minuscule bits and pieces, meaning that you'll be improving your time by seconds at a time, versus you don't run once and then your next. Run your minutes better. You get seconds better in seconds and seconds. You're somebody who is accepting of the process. So, when I look at my 2024 goals and who must I become, what I've written down here are four things Someone who is extremely diligent about looking ahead and staying ahead.
Speaker 1:The reason why I wrote this down is because recognizing that in my corporate rule itself is a lot plus what I've written down to accomplish in 2024. I'm going to become somebody who is even better now at looking ahead at everything and staying ahead. Staying ahead multiple episodes on the podcast, staying ahead on the administrative things at home. So it's never a matter of oh crap. I got to catch up on this and therefore I delay what I really want to happen. So, although I'd say systems are my strong suit, I'm being brutally honest with myself and recognizing that they can be a lot better and they must become a lot better. Next level type systems here.
Speaker 1:Someone who consumes the right content, nutrition and support to stay in elevated energy states for longer periods of time. Again, this goes back to where there are days that I recognize that I'll allow myself to get distracted, or the run got moved to the afternoon and even though it still gets done, that then crushes my energy to focus on the bigger things, or maybe I only get the podcast that day and then the other items are put to the side. So really, my focus is going to be more on how do we keep that elevated energy state for longer periods of time during the day and make sure that I'm well set up to not get distracted and keep pushing forward on the things that I believe are really important. Someone who is truly committed to creating independence from corporate. Now, as I've started to share here more and more, my dream is doing this, this podcast, speaking, coaching, personal development type activities on a more frequent basis, because I do believe that this is going somewhere, there is something here and with that it is very tempting.
Speaker 1:In the corporate role, with the level of comfort there that I've got to be, I get to become somebody who is more and more willing to step away from that comfort. It's scary. There was a lot that was done to earn the corporate position and all the success that's been experienced there, and I feel on my heart that in order to really make this dream a reality, then I get to become somebody who's truly okay and desiring to step away from that comfort. I've been dabbling little by little, and this year is really the year two to double down, and the last one is someone who remains very grounded and embraces every little step.
Speaker 1:I understand that this may not be an overnight success and I also understand that progress comes in the tiniest little bits and pieces. It's almost a reminder of what I just mentioned earlier, that decreasing your or improving your marathon time. That will come in the tiniest increments, in seconds sometimes, sometimes even fractions of seconds, and it's the same thing with this journey that's being embarked on. The progress a rather yeah, the progress is being experienced in the tiniest bits and pieces, and that's okay, and it's another thing that I'll get to look back on as we're at the end of 2024. Like, wow, all those little tiny bits really led to something amazing and I'm just super pumped. I'm super pumped about 2024 and all of the great things that it's going to deliver, and I wish that you guys, as you're listening to this, are one thinking about what went well for you and why, and really the going through the introspective process that I just walked you guys through, because that is ultimately what is going to help you create your path for 24.
Speaker 1:And for all of the future years to come, it is a necessity to really look at yourself and understand what has been done, what hasn't been done, and have those tough conversations with yourself first, because nobody else is going to do it for you. And, to make it fun, go ahead and write yourself a letter and something that you're not going to look at for an extended period of time, and then open that letter and see all the progress that's been made. It's a pretty awesome thing. This is one of my favorite days of the year and favorite weeks of the year, not just because it's a little bit slower, but because I get to go and really reflect and appreciate the journey and see a lot of things that maybe I wouldn't have seen right there in the moment or appreciated right there in the moment. So, guys, I appreciate you all so much and thank you for 2023.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned, the podcast has doubled in the amount of downloads and it's going to continue.
Speaker 1:We're going to keep bringing amazing guests forward, and every time that I hear from you guys on an episode and whether it made an impact on you, or even sometimes I do hear from you all and hey, this could have been done better, even sounds like this edit was messed up that means the absolute world to me. So I'm fully committed to creating the best experience for you guys each week that this will ultimately serve as a tool that is going to help you win, and winning, being defined however you view it, I mean it's not always becoming first place in something, but ultimately helping you attain whatever it is that you want in this life, and I can't express my appreciation enough. I'm starting another resource in 2024, the weekly win email club. Still haven't settled on the cooler name yet, but that is going to start on Tuesdays, january 2nd, so go ahead and sign up for that that's in the show notes and make 2024 the best year of your life and win today. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next week.