Hey there, welcome to the 2nd episode of the Bl NK P ges podcast!

I'm Tim Pecoraro, your host, and I'm thrilled to have you join me today. This episode delves into the transformative power of reflecting and resetting as the foundation for achieving success. We'll explore the vital role of self-reflection and continuous improvement on our path to success and uncover how renewing our mindset and strategies can become powerful tools in building a successful future.

Key Takeaways:

• Reflecting and resetting are essential building blocks for achieving long-term success.
• Renewing our mindset and reviving our strategies are crucial for constructing a foundation for lasting achievement.
• An ambitious future requires both dreaming with a plan and acting with intention.

In this episode, I emphasized the importance of having a strong ambition and an ambitious future. I talked about how it's not just about dreaming or doing but combining detailed planning and vision with focused actions and alignment with future goals to turn those ambitions into reality. I also shared the benefits of being determined and doing hard work, like building courage, persistence, consistency, and a growth mindset. I encouraged listeners to take steps to make their ambitious future a reality and offered a reflection exercise focused on learning from decisions and aligning actions with future goals.

Reflection Exercise:

1. Identify key decisions: Reflect on recent decisions, big or small, that have impacted your life.

2. Assess outcomes: Evaluate these decisions and assess whether they were positive, negative, or mixed outcomes.

3. Analyze impact: Consider how these decisions have impacted your life and plans.

4. Alignment with future goals: Reflect on whether these decisions align with the future you envision.

5. Learn and adjust: Apply what you've learned to make changes for future decisions and strategies.

I encourage you to start crafting your 2024 success narrative and reflect on your willingness to bet on yourself.

Don't forget to Like, share, subscribe, and rate/review the show!

Let's Connect!

On Instagram @TimPecoraro

Well, hey there. Welcome to another episode or actually, the 2nd episode of the Blank Pages podcast. I'm Tim Pecoraro, and I am your host, and I'm so glad you're gonna be joining today. And today, we're gonna embark on a transformative journey, and, I'm looking forward to this about reflecting and resetting. Right? The the building blocks for achieving success. So in this session, we'll explore the vital role of self reflection and continuous improvement in our path to success. We're gonna uncover how renewing our mindset and reviving our strategies can become powerful tools in the building of a successful future. So, hey, let's get Ready to dive deep into the insights and practices that I believe are going to empower you to construct a foundation for or an even more formidable and lasting achievement in your future.

So let's get rolling. So I'm looking forward to this topic today. And, yeah, this is just, it's an exciting one for me as we're to roll into the new year, and, I just wanna guide some people in, helping them to embrace reflecting and this whole idea of reflecting and resetting to create a more ambitious future. Right? So so, really so today, we're gonna look into to this whole idea of reflecting and resetting. Right? We're gonna look at big dreams. Right? And then, and then, also, I wanna give you a reflection exercise. So, also a little housekeeping. Wanna let you know that I as I'm unfolding and unwinding this podcast, you know, once again, this is blank pages for me because, this is something I've I've been wanting to do.

I've had some others in the works. I have so much content that I have and I put aside in different things, and I was like, it's Not right. Not right. But this is the time. I feel like right now, this is the time, and things are right. So, I'm getting myself a little situated here. So I will be refining the podcast. It'll get sharper and cleaner, and all the things will make more sense, as I put pieces together on ways I'll communicate and things I'm building and how I introduce them and so forth and so on.

But one of the coolest things that I do wanna say is this. This will be mixed. So you'll be able to find me on Apple Podcasts with this. You'll be able to find it on Spotify. You'll be able to find me on YouTube, on their podcast channel, but we'll also be putting videos up and some other things. I have some great stuff coming around this idea of blank pages. And, also, the cool thing is is when you tell your friends to search, tell them to do b l space n k. Right? And that's all I have to do in podcast or Spotify.

The I did that on purpose to take the letter out. So if they just spell it out, it's gonna be hard to find. But if you remove it And you fill in the blank, you'll find it. So there you go. A little fun. The podcast, I'm gonna try to re release them every Tuesday. Hopefully, well, there'll be one. Yes.

Every Tuesday. I don't know what time. My goal is to shoot for 5 AM East Coast time, on the continental US. So, and once again, I'll be building up the content as I go with guests. And the other cool thing is is I will also do some things where we'll have the video, and we'll have Yes. And so it'll be mixed. I'll have people that'll be in a live room with me as well as people online. So some cool, cool stuff.

Okay? Great. Wonderful. But let's just get into the purpose or the The reason behind doing things, reflecting and resetting. What is what's the point? Well, the goal is to renew and revive in refuel. Right? So I want to renew and I want to revive so I can refuel. And then when I'm doing that, it's gonna help Help me also to realign so that I could reengage. That's what I wanna do. I wanna renew.

I wanna revive. I wanna refuel. I wanna realign so that I Can reengage. Right? So that's how I do my work week. That's how I do a day, how I end a day. I want to review myself. So in order and I want to reflect and reset. So I renew, I review revive, I refuel, I realign so I can reengage for the next day.

I try that with everything. So what is it that I'm saying all this about? Why am I talking about this? Because We all are gonna open the door, and I say this often, and the future's gonna come in. So that's what we're talking about. It's the future, and I don't know anyone who doesn't Want a better future. Most people won't believe for better things even in the smallest amount because They don't have even vision for it. Some people have gone through so much that they've lost sight. You know, it's kinda like this. It's very hard to see the top of a mountain when your head is down.

It's very hard to see horizons when you are always just looking down. And just lifting our head does a lot even when we're just walking. So what if you lift your head just in life and you look at the bigger picture of things and what's in front of you and what's coming and begin to dream and imagine. Right? So sometimes it's maybe we lack vision. Sometimes it's energy. Sometimes it's optimism. Sometimes it's We like the drive. It could be any number of things that can make it very difficult to not just believe, but to achieve a more ambitious future.

And I want you to notice, I use this word ambitious future, and and and I okay. Before I get ahead Yeah. I'm talking about achieve your future, something good. Yes. Full of good things regardless of any external situation or circumstance. That's what I mean, a future that's full of good things regardless. You know, even other people's agendas. What about personal issues? Well, the all the things that could really have an impact, right, well beyond that, even well beyond the boxes that we keep ourselves in and the self imposed limitations.

So let's not even talk about other people. Let's talk about ourselves. You know? Most of the time when I'm stuck, I realize that my foot is the one that's on the break. It's no one else's. We just we get good at blaming other people, or we like to take responsibility for doing things and haphazardly making the adjustments, but not really doing anything big to correct anything, to to really change anything. So, yeah, there's some some of that is a lot of me, and it's my frustration. May not be you, but I've done that and frustrated myself by not recognizing that Everything else is not the reason for my inability to move forward. So it's not just these the things I'm talking about for your future to be just a dream, but I'm talking about an ambitious I'm talking about big dreams that really won't make much Sense because it's not a possession or a place.

That's the type of future I'm talking about. An ambitious future. That is an adjective noun. Right? So it's like an ambitious future. If you're gonna describe this thing, how would you describe this future? We need to be ambitious as well, though. We gotta set our sights on much higher and much greater things. Right? If I'm gonna have an ambitious future, that's what I say that I believe for, then I need to have some of that inside of me. We need to set our sights on things that are much higher.

So so let me do this first. Let me give you an, and I'm just a literal person, so I'm gonna take the word ambition, and I'm gonna give you a definition, for ambition. And this is the noun, an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction. I mean, I don't know about you, but I mean, I would like an achievement or a distinction. Right? I mean, basic stuff. I'm not talking about yay you, Yay, me. But I'm just like, yeah. You're worth something.

I mean, listen. I'm I'm gonna do a whole thing on this, but listen. That is the problem. You can't ask people about why because the why is so it puts people on defensive most of the time. We just can't answer it because we struggle with it. But, yes, achievements. Because we can't define or decide that, yes, it's okay for me to To have some type of achievement or distinction, continue with the definition, as power, honor, fame, or wealth. So an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction as power, Honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.

See, the key is and the willingness to. Not just want it, but the willingness. So to be ambitious is having ambition. Right? So possessing all of those things. I mean, let's just be honest. Sometimes we can say people are overly ambitious, and I wonder who's the one making that comment. Why are you saying they're overly ambitious? Is it because we lack it? Are we jealous? Do we are we holding those things back? Are we are we listening to the voices of others? Are we holding other people back? You know, what's what's going on? So what if we just worked on just doing this for ourself and we just set this example and we began to live our life out loud and be able to share us Doing it a better way and celebrating other people who want big ambitious things as well. And as they're growing and and doing those things and understanding that It's okay for them to have ambitious, this earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, you know, as a power, honor, fame, or wealth, and a willingness to Strive for it and to attain it.

There's nothing wrong with it. I mean, one of the reasons we Act so much confidence and courage when we see it in young people is because we give them too many answers to remember instead of problems to Solved. We rip the grit, the resiliency, the the ability for them, the problem solve. We take it right away. We take the vision because we tell them there's none of this. There's no There's no this person. There's no Easter bunny. There's no I mean, all these things that we say, and then we just rob them of that high creativity to to believe.

And that's why adults, We we look for safe things and call them ambitious. So here's what I'm talking about. I'm just gonna give you this illustration. This is a totally made up story. But imagine in a dynamic city, there were 2 friends. There was Mia and Leo, in both filled with big dreams and ambitions. So Mia spent her days being very meticulous and planning out everything about her future. And and she had a vision board and, like, detailed goals and endless endless endless ambition into this thing.

However, she rarely took any Steps towards her dreams, preferring to stay in the safety of planning and dreaming. Now, Leo, this This character, this person, on the other hand, was always on the move. He jumped at every opportunity, constantly busy with various projects and tasks, but his actions lacked focus. He was always on the go, right, darting, moving from activity to another thing without a clear plan or purpose. Once again, coming into plan's purpose. Why? Hoping something would eventually lead to success. So as time passed, Mia watched Leo's Flurry of activities with a mix of admiration and concern. She would see his energy and effort, right, but also lack of direction that left him running in circles.

Leo, noticing Mia's detailed plans, realized she was stuck in the planning phase, Never actually taking a step forward. Eventually, they sat down. They had a cup of coffee. They said, hey. Instead of just looking and watching, observing, let's meet. And they did, and they shared their frustrations. And that's when they both had this epiphany. They needed to combine their approaches.

Mia's detailed planning and vision needed Leo's actions and willingness to step into the unknown. Likewise, Leo's actions needed Mia's focus in strategic thinking. Like, this is what they needed. They had to combine. Together, they embarked on a new journey. Mia started taking real steps towards her goals guided by her plans. Leo learned to Channel his energy into focused actions and align this with his ambitions. And they both realize that ambition is not just about the dreaming or the doing.

But it's about doing with intention and purpose. So this story teaches us that Ambition requires what? Both steps and focus, and it's about dreaming with a plan, acting with intention, and Understanding that purposeful action is the key to turning ambitions into reality. This is, like, really what I'm doing. I'm on this having this conversation on blank pages podcast with you because You already know some things. I know some things. Now, obviously, I'm not around you to observe them, but I'm sharing some things. And why don't you sit down with a cup of coffee with this podcast, and You take the things you know and take the things that I'm sharing that you may know if you don't know, and then you combine those and do something else or grab someone else and take this information with them as well and equally do it. But listen.

We can do it. It just takes time. It takes you believing that you want to really attain these things. It takes you having an an ambitious future that's gonna drive and tap you on the shoulder every single day and say, hello. I'm waiting. Are you here? Are you coming? What's happening? Are you growing? Are you developing? See, if you have ambition and and are ambitious to the core, you will be determined to do the hard work. That's just the bottom line. Like, you're determined to do the hard work.

Let me tell you something. People will see it through your persistency Persistence and consistency. Let me tell you right now. I have done I have been a very, very persistent person. Where I have failed is in my consistency. Because what happens to me if I get frustrated and I see people slow down or they're not making moves and whatever Or if I if I see people getting into drama or making things up or something becomes whatever, listen. I'll handle it. I wanna fix whatever, solve whatever, but I'm gonna move on.

And so because of that, that will be disruptive to me at times, and it'll make me inconsistent in other things. And so I'm changing that because I don't want anything in my determination to do the hard work to mess me up, so I'm gonna be both persistent and consistent. But once you get an image or an impression of a thing, you can assign your ambition. I mean, literally, tell it to begin the process, Like, a heat seeking item. Like, something that can follow something. Like like a like like, if if if I don't know. It seems like how a bee can follow you, it seems, when you're outside on a spring day, and it's like, is that thing, like, literally, is it my color? Is my shirt yellow? Like, what's happening? But there's it seems like there's an assignment for this thing. And if you can assign your ambition to go and harass the thing, Right? And begin the process of determining what, how, when, with whom in order to Fuel your action and hard work to make it a reality.

Oh, man. That's gonna be good. What are the benefits of being determined and doing the hard work? Let me give you some. Here's some benefits. Number 1, you will build your courage. We need it. We need more courage. I'm not talking about brave.

People get drunk, say things that are wrong, and then you end up in jails because of fights. Right? That's brave. Courage is different, and I'd leave that up to you to go reconcile that. Persistence. You know? What I just talked about, being persistent. And then also consistency. And I'm talking about a healthy persistence, not unhealthy. And then consistency, Being persistent about the the right things, the courage to do it, be persistent with it, and then do it consistently.

And then be sure to have a growth mindset, Meaning, you know that you can change and get better and make sure that you have an open options mindset with it. And then lastly, it's that willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Man, that's the best. So that's courage. These These are some benefits of doing hard work, being determined with an ambitious future to do the hard work. You get courage from there, persistence from there, consistency. The growth mindset gets developed with open options mindset. Not just I have a growth mindset, but we can only do it this way.

There are open options too, and then a willingness to continue to learn, unlearn so that you can relearn. So what would I like you to do? I want you to take some steps to make this a reality. So I'm gonna give you some homework. Obviously, I gave you some things to think about, but, Hey. Let's make an ambitious future. Right? I wanna give you this exercise to reflect. I wanna help you identify key decisions. I want you to be able to access outcomes, analyze its impact, and then align with future goals, and learn and adjust.

So here we go. It's really quick, and I'll put these in the show notes too. So here's a reflecting reflection exercise, focused on learning from decisions and aligning your actions with future Your goals. Right? So here's what you do first. Number 1, identify key decisions. So I'm wanting you to think about recent recent decisions you've made. These could be big or small but important in some way. What are those decisions? What did you make? Right now I want you to do, number 2, is assess the outcomes.

Ask yourself in reflection. You could even ask others about the outcomes of those decisions. Were they positive, negative, mixed? You need to be very honest about that. The third thing is now I want you to analyze its impact. Right? So I want you to consider how the decisions impacted your life. What did it throw off? Like, so if you do you knew that you splurged on something, but yet you had this goal to do something else, what adjustment are you now having to make even in a narrative? Maybe you Told someone you were gonna do something, now you can't. So now you have to adjust your narrative because you lack the self control to not splurge. Right? These are real things, but they throw you off.

And maybe that thing could be because of that habit you built or that muscle or that behavior. So you splurge again, then someone comes in the future, comes Maybe you're an entrepreneur. You wanted to start the business, but you just spent $10,000 in another direction when you all you needed was $10,000 to buy into the thing you really wanted. Analyze it. The 4th thing is alignment with future goals. So I want you to think about and reflect again on whether the decisions you're making align with the future you envision. Remember, get this ambitious future. Not just the future.

What is it? Define it. Do your choices support the life you wanna lead and the relationships you wish to nurture? This is your blank page moment. Fill this in, guys. And then lastly, I want you to learn and adjust. I want you to take what you learn while doing a reflection time and reflection session with yourself and think about how you can apply this understanding to future decisions. What changes might you need to make, what strategies worked well, and what can you continue using. Right? This is all good stuff. Identify key decisions.

Just simply at Tim Pecoraro on Instagram. So, looking forward till the next time we're together, which is next week, and keep getting better at being human. Right? And I'd love for you to use that hashtag. In pages. But be sure to do hashtag capital b, capital l, space, capital n, capital k, and then capital p, Space, and then you wanna go lower pace lowercase g e s. K? Do that on purpose. I want people to fill in the blanks. So listen.

See value in all the people you meet and embrace the power of others. Go out there, look at the blank pages, embrace them, and fill them up because nothing will listen better than a blank piece of paper. Until next time.