In this New Year's Eve episode, Mari shares her detailed blueprint for planning and achieving your 2026 goals. From the importance of honest reflection and creating a 'heavy list' to dreaming big and setting precise, actionable goals, Mari walks listeners through a step-by-step guide to kicking off the new year with purpose. She emphasizes the need for prayer, teamwork in marriage, and the significance of building daily habits that align with core life pillars. Perfect for anyone looking to live a Christ-centered life in the modern world and seeking practical tips to start the year right.

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Hey, I am your host, Mari Wagner,

and you're listening to The Ever Be

2

Podcast where Faith Meets Lifestyle.

3

I'm so excited you're here.

4

Whether you're a new listener

or a longtime follower, I know

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there's something here for you.

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Pull up a chair and listen in for

insightful, real life conversations and

7

actionable steps on how to claim the.

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Full life God created you for.

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If you're a woman desiring to live

a Christ-centered life in today's

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modern world, then this is for you.

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Welcome to ever be.

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mari-wagner_2_12-31-2025_085831:

Hey friends, welcome back to

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Ever Be and Happy New Year's Eve.

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It is December 31st.

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Can you believe it's literally

the last day of the year?

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I can't because I feel like

December just flew by so fast.

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I dunno if anybody else feels that

way, although I'm sure you do.

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'cause that's always

what happens, doesn't it?

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With like the holidays

and, and everything.

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And this year especially for our

family is like such an exciting

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time of year because we have.

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Christmas, of course everybody

does a week later, right?

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We have New Year's Eve and then

starting on, usually on December 31st,

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we're setting up our SEEK booth and

then on January 1st starts SEEK, and

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that's the first week of the year.

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It's five days of a Catholic

conference that it's so incredible.

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We go every single year.

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It's a perfect way to kick off your year.

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So we're literally traveling there today.

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Um.

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And then we have five days of SEEK.

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And then usually on the last day of

SEEK is my birthday, January 5th.

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And so it's like back to back holidays,

celebrations, conference, just like

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back to back, like big events going on.

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Um, and then usually I feel like after

SEEK, and then after my birthday is when

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I feel like I can actually start the year.

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And one thing that I think is

hilarious is given that I'm.

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I feel like in a lot of senses, a pretty

type A person and I love Mondays and

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I love New Months and New Beginnings.

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I think it's very fitting.

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I was born in January and

I thank the Lord for that.

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I thank the Lord.

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I was born in January because I

love starting off a new year with

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like also a new year in my life.

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It just feels like very fitting

for who I am and it just

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helps me start the year off.

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Right.

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So, um, that's coming up.

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Um.

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But this whole last week, in between

Christmas and New Year's, Trey and I have

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been sitting down to plan out our 2026.

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We do this every year, but we don't

usually get to do it until after SEEK.

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So usually like mid-January.

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And we always feel like slightly behind

on that and it kind of feels like we can't

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start our new habits until like end of

January, beginning of February, basically.

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So I'm so glad this year we had

a couple days between Christmas

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and New Year's and SEEK,

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to sit down, strategize, family plan,

set goals, business, um, strategizing

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and planning, all the things right?

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We basically spent like.

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Three days straight, like for the

bulk of the day, sitting down, having

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these big conversations, writing stuff

down, and making plans and goals,

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and dreaming and praying about 2026.

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And today I kind of wanna share

a blueprint, if you will, of how

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you can do this in your life.

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So I shared just so briefly, a

little bit about it on my story and

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got so much engagement and so many

questions about how do I do this?

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I never plan for the new year and

I really want to, I don't know

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how to get my husband on board.

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Can you create some sort

of blueprint for us?

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So.

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This is my first step of helping you

guys in this area and creating resource.

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I, if I have time with SEEK, things get a

little crazy, but I might do it over SEEK.

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If I have time, I'll put this blueprint

into like paper so that you can

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like print it out and it'll be free.

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Like you can just print it out and I'll

email it to you and then you can use this

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as a template for you and your family, um,

to sit down and plan for the coming year.

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And we do this every

year, and it helps us.

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Much kind of get into a good mindset

for the new year and to be really honest

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with ourselves about like what did

we not love about the years past and

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what bad habits have we gotten into?

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What did we kind of let the ball

drop on that we wish we didn't have?

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It just gives us a whole fresh start

and it gives us time to have a really

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honest reflection with ourselves,

which I think is so important.

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I think people focus way too much on like.

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New year, new me, new goals and

they don't reflect on the year to

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think, like to actually process

through like what didn't work, what

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don't I love about myself right now?

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What don't I love about my lifestyle?

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Because first you have to edit that

before you can like build a new life.

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You know what I mean?

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Like you can't build a new life on top of.

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Your old life that's not working

for you if there are things

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that are not working for you.

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And pretty much every year there's

things that are not working for me

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because we're imperfect humans, right?

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So everybody has things that they need

to shed before we begin the new year.

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So I always encourage this kind of honest

reflection with yourself before you dive

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into goal setting, um, and dreaming.

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And another thing I wanna say is.

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People often ask Trey, and

I like, how do you do it?

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How are you?

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And this is not to toot my own horn,

okay, this is because I wanna help you.

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Right?

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And this, these are things

people really say to us.

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How have you done so

much in your twenties?

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Like, how have you been so successful and

how do you guys, you know, meet all these

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goals and travel and are able to do these

home projects and grow your business?

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And like.

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We do a lot in our personal lives as well.

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We host a lot.

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We, uh, lead different like

bible studies or small groups.

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Like people are always like,

how do you do it all one.

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By the grace of God, right?

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Okay.

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We gotta give glory to God.

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The Lord is the center of our lives

and we try and just have him lead

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the way and follow his promptings.

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Two, we don't have kids yet,

and so our capacity is more

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than those who don't have kids.

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But three, I think it comes from our

end of the year or beginning of the

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year, goal planning, setting, and

reflection that I just talked about.

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Because we actually take the time,

several days to reflect and to plan.

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We take our goal setting seriously.

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We don't take it as like, oh,

this is just like a fun thing I

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wanna do in 2026, like wishlist.

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You know?

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Like, no, we like put

our goals into action.

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Like we look at each other and we're like,

what is our big list of dreams and goals?

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For personal life and for business.

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What of those is realistic?

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Where do we put them on the calendar?

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And we literally put dates

to them on our calendar.

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We look at a year spread and we go,

this goal is gonna happen on this month.

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And so then we know what do we

need to do the months leading

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up to meet that goal, right?

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Like we set a plan to meet those goals.

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And that, I think is a foundational

reason of why so many of our

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goals have come true, um, since

we got married in our twenties.

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And it is just such a beautiful

way to, , work as a team in our

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marriage and be alongside each other,

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dreaming and working towards

our goals together that the

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Lord has put on our hearts.

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So I'm really excited to

dive into this with you guys.

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Hopefully it'll be a resource,

I think by the end of the year.

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A lot of us want to do something

like this, but we're so full of

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mixed emotions, relief, gratitude,

exhaustion, honestly, a little bit of

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emotional clutter, maybe a little bit of

paralysis, and you just don't know how

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to start the new year in the best way.

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And so we just decide to kind of like.

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Just brush it aside and start

as if it was any other day.

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Right?

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Right the end of the year, I feel

like always has a way of bringing kind

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of everything to the surface though.

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And we are going to engage

that in this episode.

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And in your reflection, this is gonna

be an episode where you're gonna wanna

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take notes, you're gonna sit down and

be active while you do this if you can.

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So everything's gonna come to the surface

and we are gonna work through what worked.

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What didn't work?

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What are we still carrying?

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What are we afraid to name

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And what are our goals and what does the

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I just wanna reiterate that today's

episode is not just about setting

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a million goals or reinventing

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It's actually about giving you the

space to slow down enough to ask

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the good questions that is going

to really make a difference for

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the way you live your life in 2026.

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What do I want to carry

into the next year?

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And what do I actually

need to leave behind?

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So today I'm gonna walk you through the

exact blueprint that Trey and I just

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used to plan a new year in a way that

actually supports all areas of my life,

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my faith, my marriage, my home, my mental

health, my physical health, et cetera.

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Okay.

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Before we dive in, I need to

share with you the materials.

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We used to do this this year because

they totally changed the game.

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For us, we usually just use like

random notebooks or printer, paper,

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whatever, and we end up with a

million different sheets of paper.

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And Trey this year was like,

let's get a huge roll of paper.

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So we went to Target and

thank God they had it.

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It's just this giant, like 75 foot long.

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Roll of poster paper essentially.

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And then we got colored markers and

colored pens and got right to work.

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And this helped us just not

have limiting factors when it

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came to space on our paper.

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We could write as much as we

wanted or as little as we wanted.

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We could do a web or a list or a

chart, like just do whatever we wanted.

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Um, so I recommend that for you.

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And I have made a little.

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LTK post where I linked all the different

things that we used, all the materials.

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And I'll link that in the show notes.

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I also decided in 2026 we're going to

go back to pen and paper because that

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has always helped me in the past, and

I kind of let go of that a little bit

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in 2025, I tried to do things more

digitally, and stuff got dropped all

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over the place, so I literally bought a

magnetic family like year calendar that's

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gonna go on the side of our fridge.

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I bought a little, like, again, a

magnetic like notepad to plan out weekly

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meals and our grocery list, and then

one for weekly chore responsibilities.

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And I know that just seeing it written

down on paper every single day is going

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to help us so much to know what's coming.

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Um, what are our responsibilities?

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What can we take off of our

spouse's plate, et cetera.

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This has been helpful for us in the past.

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We've done this in years past, but I

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and that was just a dumb thing to do.

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Um, this is really helpful.

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Wives, this is for you.

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As women, we hold so much in our brains.

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And men don't have the same capacity.

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And a lot of the times I know

this 'cause I've felt it and I've

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talked to my wife friends and mom

friends that have felt it too.

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A lot of the times we feel like

we hold everything and our and

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our husbands don't hold anything.

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Right?

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And so we struggle because we're

like, why am I doing everything?

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Why do I think of everything now?

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Putting things on paper is

a really helpful way to.

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Share what you're holding because they

can't read our minds and we can always ask

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them to grow in this area of holding more.

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And the husbands will do their

best to do so, but our brains

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are just wired differently.

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And this isn't.

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I don't think this is bad to like write

out a list of everything you're holding

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and then ask for your spouse for support.

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Be like, this is everything

that I'm holding.

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This is what is coming in our

week or in our month or whatever.

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I can't do it all myself.

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How can we work together to do this?

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And by putting things on

paper it is so, so helpful.

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Okay, so anyways, if you want the

link to any of those things that,

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any of those materials or those

paper calendars and chore planners

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and weekly meal planners, everything

that's all linked in the show notes.

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So if you just want a easy button,

just buy, add to cart and just have

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that shipped to your house so that

you have all the materials you need

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to get started, go ahead and do that.

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So the very first thing we did

was a full brain dump on the page.

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We just started out by writing down

everything that was on our brain.

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Tasks, worries, ideas, goals, random

thoughts that we had, projects

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that were in the back of our minds.

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Todos.

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I didn't organize it.

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I didn't judge it.

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We didn't have a filter list.

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We literally just got

it all out of our head.

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Because you can't discern clearly

when your mind is full of a bunch of

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different little things, or when you're

holding a lot in the back of your

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brain that takes up energy and space.

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And we wanted to make sure we got

everything out on paper so that then

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while we did our planning, we could go

back to that brain dump list and see if

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we were missing anything or if any of

those topics tied into our conversation.

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Next we made what we call our heavy list.

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This is something that I saw on Instagram

this year, a post that somebody did.

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They said that it was so important to make

a heavy list, and this isn't something

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that we necessarily had done in the past.

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We had talked about it in.

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And verbalized it, but we never

had, I think like really written

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it down in this way and I loved it.

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So what is a heavy list?

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You basically ask yourself,

what weighed me down this year?

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What felt consistently stressful?

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What made life harder

than it needed to be?

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Are there people in my life that

are not adding to my life or holding

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me back or pulling me away from the

Lord or from my family in any way?

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Are there any projects that

are truly just draining?

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This list is gonna look

different for everybody.

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It might include over packed schedules

and over committing to too many

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projects, maybe unresolved tension

in relationships, maybe unrealistic

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expectations you had set on yourself, or

even habits that slowly began to drain

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you and hold you back from being the

person that you actually want it to be.

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So this step is about brutal honesty.

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It's not about blame or shame.

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We're gonna set aside all our feelings

towards all of these things and we're just

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going to be honest and write them down.

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'cause that's what's important.

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You need to write them down.

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Honestly.

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Then we did a little solution list.

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So basically we wrote down what's

weighing us down in one color.

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I chose dark purple.

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And then in Bright Green, I drew

arrows from every single one of

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those heavy items and wrote down

something that would help fix that

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or remove it or solve it in some way.

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So I basically just look at each of those

heavy things and I ask a very practical

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question, is there a solution here?

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Sometimes the solution is gonna

look like cutting it out completely.

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Sometimes it's adding a boundary.

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Sometimes it's creating a system

that didn't exist before that's

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going to help that area of life.

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And this is where I remind myself

that not everything needs more effort.

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Some things just need to.

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Be cut out.

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And honestly just removed from our life.

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Now, this step could be a little bit

overwhelming depending on how many

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things you have in your heavy list.

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Trying to find a solution for all

of 'em can make you feel like I

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have to do all of these things.

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Like I said, don't attach

emotions to this process just yet.

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Just write down honestly what's

coming to mind without a filter.

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Later on, you're gonna go through these,

this heavy list and these solutions,

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and kind of reflect on if you're able

to bring these into your day to day,

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if you're able to actually solve these

and do the work that's needed to remove

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these heavy lists items from your life.

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So let me just give you two

examples just so that you kind

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of really understand the concept.

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Two things on my heavy list could be,

one could be sleeping in, and another

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one could be overpacked schedule

or overcommitted extracurriculars.

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What are the two

solutions to these things?

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For over committed extracurriculars,

most likely the solution is

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gonna be to cut some of them out.

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It's not necessarily to put in

more effort so you can do them all.

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Well, it's actually gonna be to

discern which of these can I take

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into 2026, and which of these do I

have to say no to this year for the

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wellbeing and peace of my personal

life and family life for sleeping in.

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You need to find a

solution to that, right?

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What is the solution?

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You can't cut out sleep, right?

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We can't just work through the

night, so that's not realistic.

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So what we need to do is set a new habit.

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Okay, we're going to wake up 30

minutes earlier or an hour earlier.

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So those are examples of when a heavy

list item can have a solution, or you

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tweak a habit to improve that heavy list

item versus a heavy list item that needs

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to just basically be completely cut out.

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Okay.

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Moving on.

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The next step is dream without editing.

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Okay.

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So after our heavy list, after we come

up with solutions, then we dreamt.

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We wrote down our dreams and our

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No minimizing, no saying that's

unrealistic, or we don't have the

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money for that, or we don't have the

time, or, that's not something that

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can happen until we're X, Y, z age.

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No, no, no, no.

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Explaining, no.

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Shooting yourself in the foot?

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No.

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Bringing yourself down, just dream

big and ask the Lord, like, what could

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you possibly do for us this year?

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What could, what are you calling us to do?

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What are our hopes and dreams?

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Where do we see our family or our

work, or our business or our children?

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Um, and just write it

all down and dream big.

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And in this asking

ourselves, what do I want?

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What do I hope for?

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What feels exciting or

meaningful to our lives?

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I've learned that God isn't

threatened by our desires.

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He doesn't see what we desire in

our life, and then come in and

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cut us down and say, Nope, that's

actually not what I want for you.

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He meets us in them.

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And he always answers our prayers.

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Some of our prayers, the answer

will be no, but it's because

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he has something better for us.

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And so it doesn't necessarily mean

that God is ever working against us.

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He just has a better plan for us.

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But most of these deep seated desires

that we have in our heart, the Lord

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is putting on our hearts and wants

them to come to fruition in our life.

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So, so some examples of like

goals and dreams that we had

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for our life that we just.

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Put on the list.

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Right.

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And that weren't necessarily like

promising that were gonna happen, but

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things that were coming to mind, okay.

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It was like we have been wanting to

take a safari trip in Africa and.

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We're like, okay, maybe

this is the year we do it.

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So we write it down.

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Dream vacation, safari trip in Africa.

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We have a sales goal that we

wanna meet for our business.

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So we write down, okay,

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We have a goal for our marriage

where we wanna read at least

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one marriage book a year.

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It might seem low, but we're

not big readers, so that's

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a big goal for us, right?

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We write that down.

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I wanna grow on social media and

invest more time in making content.

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So I wanna reach X amount of followers

by the end of the year, or post X

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amount of times throughout the year.

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All of these are examples of different

goals that you can be writing

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down to different scales, right?

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They don't all have to

be wildly huge goals.

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They don't all have to be

small, attainable goals.

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Next, what you're going to do is

start defining your family pillars

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or your personal life pillars.

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These are the foundations that

everything else in your life sits

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on, and these honestly are what are

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So for us, we talk about spiritual

life, physical health, marriage,

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home life, work, and personal growth.

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Those are six different categories that

we wrote down, and for every single

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one of those, we asked ourselves.

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What do I want my everyday life

to look like in these areas?

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Or what are the weekly habits that I wanna

have in each of these areas so I can be

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healthy and thrive in each of these areas?

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And we get specific with it.

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Okay, so it's not about like

having a better relationship

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with God under spiritual life?

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No, no, no.

394

It's 30 minutes of daily prayer

and a daily rosary in the evenings.

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That's how specific we get

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. Because those daily habits are what's

going to give you the intangible result

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of better relationship with Jesus.

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Does that make sense?

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Examples of other things you can do

are weekly or monthly date nights

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or bimonthly date nights, or evening

phone boundaries and screen time.

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Getting really specific on what

are the habits that are going to

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help you thrive in these areas

of life is what you're going to

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write down in each of these areas.

404

And again, don't filter it.

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Don't be like, I can't do

all these at the same time.

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If I actually wanted to thrive in each

of these pillars of life, what would

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I actually have to do to get there?

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and Then these ideals

become your priorities.

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This is what begins to order your

day-to-day, your week, and your month,

410

which leads us to the next step,

where we took a yearly calendar

411

and began to write down all of our

known commitments, like set travels.

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We already had events that we have to

attend to and different responsibilities

413

that we know are not going away in 2026.

414

Then we go back to our goals list and

we ask which ones of these actually

415

align with my new pillars that I

set and these habits that I set.

416

Let me just give you kind of an,

an extreme example so that we

417

like grasp the understanding here.

418

If under my goals, I had travel to

a safari in Africa, go to Europe,

419

Christmas in New York, and I also had,

um, double the growth in my business and.

420

Host a monthly dinner party and

continue to lead a Bible study

421

and lead a monthly marriage group

and read a book of a marriage

422

book a month for the year of 2026.

423

If I had all of those, and my daily

pillars were to get 30 minutes a day of

424

prayer, to go to daily mass three times

a week to eat breakfast, lunch, and

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dinner at the same time every day, and

not have it be a stressful experience to

426

scramble, to get food in my body, um, to

have meals planned on by the end of the

427

weekend for the coming week, every week.

428

To work out four to five times a week,

429

to go to bed at a reasonable hour to

have boundaries around our work hours.

430

In my mind, those two things

cannot coexist, right?

431

All of these dreams and all of these daily

deals can't coexist in the same year.

432

So this is where you start

to get realistic, okay?

433

This is now where you look at

your goals and you look at your

434

daily pillars and, and in my

opinion, your daily pillars, right?

435

They are the pillars.

436

They are the foundations

that you build your goals on.

437

So you're not going to arrange

your life around a goal.

438

You're going arrange your life

around the pillars and see where

439

those goals fit into your pillars.

440

And some won't align for this coming year

because this coming year you might be

441

working on some specific habits that are

really going to strengthen some really

442

foundational pillars like physical health

and mental health, or spiritual health

443

and family or marriage health, right?

444

Like those are foundational pillars

that maybe you're gonna focus on.

445

And so some of these big goals

aren't going to align this year.

446

That doesn't mean this goal is

never gonna happen or that you

447

just need to throw it away.

448

Just keep it on your goal list

and revisit for the next year

449

to see if it fits in, right.

450

But this is where we get really specific.

451

With our pillars, and then we

start putting them on the calendar.

452

Those goals get assigned two seasons

because not everything belongs in January,

453

and it is so unrealistic to think that

we're going to meet all of our goals in

454

the beginning of the year in January.

455

So we literally take.

456

The calendar year and we start to

assign dates to different goals.

457

For us, this looks like setting

dates for certain travel and when

458

it would fit within our year.

459

Um, product releases

for West Coast Catholic.

460

Right.

461

'cause that's like a

huge part of our life.

462

Personal family financial goals of

by what date in the year do we wanna

463

have X amount in savings or X amount

in investings or home projects?

464

By what date do we wanna have X

home project finished or started?

465

And by actually setting dates to

each one of these goals, you are

466

actually setting yourself up to

be able to meet them because now

467

you have a vision for the year.

468

And when we have a vision for the year,

we're able to decisions about our daily,

469

weekly, monthly life to actually work

toward that vision versus just letting

470

life happen to us and let time go by

and then getting to July and being

471

like, oh, wow, we're halfway through

the year and we've done nothing, or

472

like, we didn't accomplish anything we

actually thought we would this year.

473

So actually assign dates to those goals

and put those goals on your calendar.

474

Now we get even more granular, right?

475

So we went from really big , to a

little bit more concrete to monthly,

476

and now we're gonna get to weekly.

477

So now is where we build

our weekly schedule.

478

This is basically a

day-to-day hourly schedule.

479

That is an ideal.

480

It's not something that we like commit

to every single day of our lives.

481

Life changes, and there are different

seasons, but this is our ideal daily

482

schedule that if we committed to

this most days, we would probably

483

be thriving in each of those life

pillars, and we're setting aside

484

time to work towards our goals.

485

And so we'd probably reach a

lot of those goals as well.

486

So we map out our mornings and our

evenings first, because your evening

487

schedule dictates your morning schedule.

488

Like your morning routine

literally starts the night before.

489

Because if you have a crappy evening

routine, you're not gonna be able to

490

wake up feeling well and energetic

and ready to take on the morning.

491

Right?

492

So we map out our morning and evening

schedule first, and write down

493

what time do we wanna have dinner?

494

What happens after dinner?

495

Um, are there any habits

we want to commit to?

496

Like at night before bed.

497

Um, and then what time

do we wanna go to bed?

498

And then that allows us to see,

okay, we want eight hours of sleep.

499

What time are we getting

up in the morning?

500

Right.

501

If you have a commitment in the

morning, you have to be at, like,

502

you have to start work at a certain

time, or you have to take your kids to

503

school at a certain time, or you are

going to daily mass at a certain time.

504

Or you have a workout class

that you have to get to.

505

That's also going to play a factor here.

506

If, you know my workout class starts

at 6:30, or I have to take my kids

507

to school at 7:00 AM well that's

probably going to dictate what time

508

you're going to wake up, right?

509

And so they're both gonna kind of

inform each other . but basically

510

decide what time you're gonna wake

up and any morning commitments that

511

are happening that are already set

that you can't necessarily move.

512

And then after that, you put in

prayer and personal care and you

513

schedule that in your day before work.

514

It doesn't mean that both of

those have to happen before work.

515

Sorry.

516

And by personal care, I meant

like physical health, like.

517

Working out movement, going on a walk,

weights, whatever it is that you wanna

518

do to take care of your physical health.

519

Schedule, prayer and physical health

in before you schedule other things in.

520

And what I was trying to say is obviously

for a lot of us, work can't be moved.

521

You have set work hours.

522

So you write those in.

523

And it doesn't mean that both of those

have to happen before work, but you

524

schedule them in before you schedule out

Bible study or, time to work on a hobby

525

or whatever it is, you know what I mean?

526

So for us, we're going to wake

up and first thing in the morning

527

is do our 30 minutes of prayer.

528

This is going to happen every

single day, essentially on the

529

days that we go to daily mass.

530

And then on the days that we wanna go to

Eucharistic Adoration, we won't do the

531

daily prayer in the morning because we'll

go straight to the adoration chapel.

532

For you, it could look like getting

up and doing a daily rosary as

533

you're getting ready for work

534

and packing a gym bag so that right

after work you can go to your workout

535

class and make sure that you're taking

care of your physical health as well.

536

But the point is.

537

To actually write it down.

538

And you might think I'm crazy for

writing an hour by hour schedule, but

539

it literally has helped us so much to

actually hold ourselves accountable,

540

to grow in discipline, and to

actually do the things we want to do.

541

If you are not a planner or a type

A person at all, I encourage you

542

to, at the very least, write out

an evening and morning routine.

543

'cause those are those anchors in your day

that basically dictate how your day goes.

544

And like I always say, if it's not written

on your schedule or in your calendar

545

or or in your planner, it won't happen.

546

If you look at your schedule or your

planner or your online calendar,

547

whatever it is that you use to plan

your life, what's written on there

548

shows you what's most important in

your life, because those are the

549

things that you are telling yourself.

550

I absolutely can't forget

this, and I can't miss this,

551

so I'm gonna write it down.

552

If prayer isn't in that schedule, if

working out isn't in that schedule, if

553

time with your spouse or your family

isn't in that schedule, if community

554

time isn't in that schedule, those

things are less likely to happen.

555

So make sure that the most

important ideals and habits of

556

these pillars are written in your

schedule or they will not happen.

557

And that's how we do it.

558

The very last step, which

we do at the very beginning

559

and at the very end is pray.

560

At the core of all of this life planning,

you have to ask the Lord to guide you

561

because the Lord is in the driver's seat.

562

We are not, and it's not about

us having control over our life.

563

It's about us being able to work with

God and be good stewards of all the

564

blessings that he's given us to live

life to the fullest as he wants us to.

565

Right.

566

John 10.

567

10.

568

I came to give you life, life to the full.

569

So when we're done planning, we surrender

it all back to him and we ask him to guide

570

and lead us throughout our every day.

571

And we don't know what

could happen in May.

572

Maybe our whole life just like gets

thrown upside down in May, and then

573

all of a sudden our May through

December goals are out the window.

574

That's okay, because we've

given it all to the Lord, right?

575

So at the core, you have to be able

to give it all to the Lord, trust in

576

him, and ask him to guide and lead.

577

Okay.

578

Now I just wanna give a

little caveat here at the end.

579

If you are listening to this and you

already feel behind or stressed or

580

late, I want you to hear this, clearly.

581

You're not late.

582

I'm not trying to stress you out.

583

God's not rushing you.

584

Your life doesn't need

to look a certain way.

585

It doesn't need to be impressive.

586

It doesn't need to be

compared to anybody else's.

587

This tool is to help you give

direction so that you have a path

588

and a road to walk along throughout

the year instead of just letting life

589

pass you by and life happen to you.

590

And like I said earlier, there's

been so many times when Trey and I

591

do this mid-January or end of January

'cause we just didn't get to it.

592

So it's not too late.

593

You could literally do this in January.

594

You could literally do this in February.

595

There are 12 months of the year.

596

Okay?

597

Don't just write it off if you didn't do

it before January 1st, please, please do

598

this, and if you do, please share with

me in a, in a DM how it went for you.

599

Any questions you have, any

ways that it blessed you?

600

And before we wrap it up, one of the

biggest questions I got online is

601

how do I get my husband on board?

602

My husband doesn't care.

603

My husband wouldn't do anything like this.

604

How do I get him on board?

605

I am just gonna share some

thoughts that come to mind.

606

I can't speak from experience.

607

Trey loves to plan and goal set.

608

So, um, this isn't from, this isn't

stuff that has worked in my own life,

609

but it's just ideas that I have for you.

610

If you're having trouble getting your

spouse on board, especially your husband.

611

I think two things.

612

One, make it fun, and two, find

what motivates him and integrate

613

that into this family meeting.

614

So, one, make it fun.

615

We went to our favorite coffee shop,

got some fun drinks, brought our

616

paper and our pens, and literally.

617

Stayed at the coffee shop for a couple

hours, so getting outta the house,

618

going to our favorite coffee shop,

already made it kind of fun and made it

619

different and made it almost like a date.

620

Right.

621

Um.

622

With motivation and finding

something that motivates him.

623

I think if, for example, he's really

financially motivated and he's been

624

wanting to set financial family goals,

and maybe that's something you aren't

625

as invested in, bring that into the

conversation and, and lead with that

626

and be like, I really wanna talk

about our family financial goals.

627

And so I thought we would do

some year planning and talk about

628

finances as one of those aspects.

629

Um, if he's really motivated by.

630

Let's say he like loves his hobbies, loves

to golf, or watch football on Saturdays

631

with his friends, and that's something

that's gotten in the way of your marriage

632

or something you've been frustrated about.

633

Maybe you lead with that and you

say, Hey, I really want us set

634

time apart for us to be able to do

our hobbies and have friend time.

635

But I think if we both get on the same

page, we're able to do that more freely.

636

Can we do some year planning and have that

be one of the things that we talk about?

637

So.

638

Those are kind of my two pieces of advice.

639

In the end, if none of that

works, you might just have to

640

have a real life conversation

and be like, Hey, we are adults.

641

We need to be mature.

642

We like need to have goals in our

life, and I can't do it all by myself.

643

This is a 100%, 100% marriage.

644

Right?

645

Have you heard the phrase where it's

like, it's not 50 50, it's 100, 100.

646

Have that talk and really call your

spouse higher to meet you here and be

647

able to dream and plan with you because

in a marriage you have to be a team.

648

And so you have to be on the same page.

649

You have to work together.

650

Alright, that's all I have for you today.

651

And I really hope that this episode gave

you a framework that feels supportive

652

and encouraging instead of heavy.

653

And I really encourage you

to share this with a friend.

654

I have found that having an accountability

partner is so helpful in meeting

655

these goals and setting new habits.

656

So send this to your bestie and be

like, let's plan our year together.

657

Let's encourage each other.

658

What are your goals?

659

Where can I support you?

660

Um, 'cause it's so fun to bring

someone else into your life.

661

Before we wrap up this episode,

let's get into ever be answers.

662

This is where I answer your questions.

663

And I answer one of them on the podcast

and the other two on our after party,

664

which is our after show available for

our Patreon Kingdom Club community,

665

which if you wanna join and get in on

the fun, you can click the link in our

666

show notes to join our Kingdom club.

667

Okay.

668

The question I'm gonna answer

here today is, could you speak

669

on attending a Catholic college

versus a non-religious college?

670

College is a really vital and important

time of life to build your faith and

671

really make your religion your own because

this is the first time you are out of

672

your house and now you have an opportunity

to practice your faith without it being

673

something that your parents made you do,

and instead it's a choice that you're

674

making for yourself and for your life.

675

So.

676

For me personally, it was very

important to go to a Catholic college.

677

Um, but now looking back, knowing

my experience at a Catholic college,

678

other people's experience at a

Catholic college, and then seeing

679

different programs, Catholic programs

at non-Catholic colleges, I have

680

a slightly different opinion.

681

So I think what's most important if

you are serious about your faith and

682

wanna grow in your faith and wanna

be surrounded by like-minded people

683

and have faith centered community,

which I think is so important and.

684

Truly makes a difference in your life.

685

It truly, truly makes a difference in

what your life looks like if you have a

686

community like this in your life or not.

687

So I think it's extremely vital for you

to have that in your college experience.

688

If you want that, you need to prioritize

going to a college that has a strong,

689

vibrant Catholic program and community.

690

Not all Catholic colleges.

691

Have this, unfortunately, and

I loved my college experience.

692

I loved Gonzaga.

693

That's where I went.

694

But unfortunately, my experience being

there was that it didn't actually have a

695

very vibrant or strong Catholic program.

696

They had different Christian

ministries, but when it came to

697

being explicitly Catholic, the

group was like very small, honestly.

698

Um, like the number of people that went

to Daily Mass were like maybe seven.

699

Okay.

700

And those were the same people that

showed up to like all the Catholic events.

701

Um, so it didn't have a very

strong Catholic community.

702

And that came to me as a surprise,

as somebody who wanted to go

703

to a Catholic college for the

sake of Catholic community.

704

Right.

705

I just didn't know better.

706

And that unfortunately is the case.

707

And I would say most the, the grand

majority of the Catholic colleges

708

in the United States, there are

few schools that either have a

709

really strong Catholic program.

710

Or that are truly Catholic,

both in name and nature.

711

Um, and if I miss one, I'm really sorry.

712

I don't know all of them, but what I know

and have heard is that Benedictine is like

713

a legit Catholic college with incredible

community and many opportunities for

714

you to grow in your Catholic faith.

715

Um, Franciscan Steubenville is

another incredible, actually

716

Catholic college where you will

actually meet Catholic people.

717

University of Mary in North Dakota, um,

in Bismarck is also Legitly Catholic.

718

Incredible Catholic

community, beautiful campus.

719

Um.

720

Those are the ones I know for a fact.

721

I'm pretty sure Ave

Maria University also is.

722

I have also heard good things about

Catholic University of America, but

723

I think I've also heard some people

be like, eh, not really anymore.

724

Super Catholic.

725

So do your own discernment and talk to

people that have actually gone there.

726

And then you can start looking

also at state schools that have a

727

really strong Catholic communities.

728

And again, there might be way more

of these than I actually know of.

729

I just know these from experience

of people that have gone there.

730

Um.

731

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

has an incredible Newman center.

732

Literally like.

733

A thousand students go to

Bible study and there's like a

734

thousand people at every mass.

735

Texas a and m also has an

incredible Newman Center community.

736

Um, I'm pretty sure there's.

737

Gosh, I forget which Kansas School, but

there's one of the Kansas schools that

738

also has a incredible Newman Center.

739

So basically start looking at the Newman

Center programs and what college campuses

740

have focus missionaries on them, um,

and likely they're creating community.

741

They're creating opportunities

for you to grow in your faith, for

742

you to go on retreat, et cetera.

743

So that's my advice.

744

I think it's super, super.

745

Student, but now you know kind of how

to vet the school if they're actually

746

Catholic or not, and if that's actually

gonna bring you Catholic community or not.

747

Okay.

748

I hope that was helpful.

749

At the after party.

750

I'll be answering, are you

involved with any groups or

751

ministries at your local parish?

752

And do you have any tips for how to

get more involved in meeting other

753

like-minded young Catholics when you

have a busy schedule, both in online

754

and in person, but preferably in person.

755

So if you wanna catch the answer to

those, we'll see you at the after party.

756

And as always, thank you for being here.

757

I'll talk to you soon.

758

I hope you have an incredible 2026.

759

Happy New Year.