ABOUT TODAY’S EPISODE | DAN CASETTA

This podcast is about Changing Lives.

Reality: No one has the power to change anyone else’s life. People can change only themselves.

Now the Changing Lives theme is appropriate because this podcast, and in larger sense, the Cutco/Vector opportunity, provide people with the TOOLS to change their lives … 

• The ideas, ways of thinking, belief systems

• The skills – setting goals, solving problems, building relationships

• The experience – facing obstacles, building confidence, being able to see possibilities

Once you have these tools, it’s up to YOU to do what you want with them.

Whatever you are not CHANGING, you are CHOOSING!  — Dionne Kenny

The NEW YEAR is a great time in the calendar.

• Time to reflect on the year gone by … what were your wins?  

High points?  Memorable experiences?  Key lessons?

• It’s also time to look ahead and DECIDE what you want your next year to be like … what do you want to achieve in your work?  What do you want to experience in your personal life?  What’s most important to you in the year ahead?

New Years’ resolutions . . .

… the spirit with which the resolutions are made does not survive beyond the first few challenges.  

We have to work on ourselves first, and continue that effort constantly

A new year does not change you.  Only you can change you.

Why do you need the calendar as an excuse to change?

Aren’t you a good enough excuse?

Aren’t you worth having the life you want?  The business you want?  

The relationships you want?  The inner peace & fulfillment that you want?

ROHN:  Life gets better by change, not by chance.

If you change, everything will change for you.

A new year is a calendar change.  A new you is a life change.

Here are a few CHANGES that I suggest you consider.

I call these “changes” because they aren’t a part of the regular operating system for most people on a consistent basis.

1.  Understand that you are responsible for your own life.

• This pertains to success … you are responsible.

Don’t wait for success to come to you.  Go after it!

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.

It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.”

• This also pertains to HAPPINESS … it’s not someone else who will determine your level of happiness.

It’s important to have a paradigm of gratitude.

It’s important to look for what’s good.

Avoid complaining

Avoid letting others spark negative emotions in you.

“Who’s in charge of me?”  I AM

• Third, this pertains to your SKILLS.

• Third, this pertains to your SKILLS.

Take responsibility for your level of learning throughout the next year.

LIFE GRADES — 1st grade age 6, complete 12th grade at 17 or 18.

16th grade if you went to college, but what about after that?

Are you continuing to advance in life grades?

At what rate?  One grade per year?  Slower?  Faster?

In anything you do, there are skills which must be mastered.

What are the key skills to master in your work?

Leadership, influence, connection, communication ….

What about for your personal goals?

John Israel taught us about mastering gratitude.

Larry Manley taught how to see people for who they can be.

Kate Vasey taught leading from the heart.

Brad Britton teaches how to master generosity.

Jackie Stavros taught us about having quality conversations.

Consider how the person you are today compares to the who you were one year ago.  

Benjamin Hardy … quoted some British philosopher: 

“Anyone who isn’t embarrassed by who they were a year ago hasn’t learned enough.”

— Might be a little extreme, but you get the point … 

ARE YOU LEARNING AND GROWING?

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN SKILL LEVEL?

That’s CHANGE #1 … 

Understand that you are responsible for your own life.

ALL THE ELEMENTS … skills, success, happiness.

2.  Believe in the power of you!

We tend to distance ourselves from successful people 

— think they’re different.

The reality is that most successful people got there by taking responsibility, believing in themselves, taking action, and working on their craft … all the things I’ll talk about in this podcast.

ALL THINGS THAT ANYONE CAN DO.

GREAT LESSON OF THIS PODCAST … 

Think of successful people we’ve featured here … 

Success stories like Hal Elrod, Loyd Reagan, Lauren Gibbs, Tasha Saran, Brandon Brown,

They’re just like you.  It’s crucial you realize that.

DO THIS:  Look back on your greatest moments … times when you achieved something great, times when you were brave or bold or broke through fear or doubt … we all have these moments …what are some of yours?

What strengths did you bring to these moments? (PAUSE) 

Make an assessment of all the great traits that you have to bring to your future visions … I think you’ll find that your potential is vast.

But a necessary first step is to believe in the power of you.

Like a spider spinning her web, we create most of our world from the inside.

Unfortunately, we all tend to associate ourselves with our mistakes.

Instead, look at your strengths … what makes you who you are?

What makes you great?!?

“If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them.”

You never outgrow the limits you set.  

You only set new limits within which you must live.

John Maxwell — 

“When we become conditioned to perceived truth and closed to new possibilities, the following happens:  We see what we expect to see, not what we can see.  We hear what we expect to hear, not what we can hear.  We think what we expect to think, not what we can think.”

That becomes our reality.  Limits become habits. 

I’m telling you … take a fresh look at this for the new year ahead.

Evaluate your strengths.

List small things you can do, or things you can learn.

Find a mentor who can help you.

But most of all, develop belief in yourself by understanding that 

ALL successful people have gone through this same process 

to break through in their lives!

Believe in the power of you!

3. SAY YES MORE OFTEN

So many people are pre-disposed to negative thinking.

As soon as an opportunity comes up, they think of the challenges or limitations.  They hesitate to make decisions as opportunities pass.

— “I don’t have time.”

— “I don’t know how to do that.”

— “What if I fail?”

— FEAR

The reality is that we all learn to MAKE TIME for what’s most important to us, and the busier we are, the less we waste time.

Don’t be afraid to add to your plate in the next year.

If we don’t know how to do something, we can hire someone to do it for us, or we can learn how.  But the key is getting started on it.

THIS PODCAST

What can you commit to starting today?

So many people fear failure.  Instead, it’s important to REFRAME failure for what it really is … which is a part of the learning process.

FREE SOLO —  Alex Honnold, learned how to scale El Cap by trying different ways.

So often with any fears, we come to realize that what we once feared either wasn’t so bad, or didn’t even exist.

But the more we hold onto fears, the more they become like self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives.

Old legend of a rail yard worker … good guy, but cynical, always feared the worst

Accidentally locked in a refrigerator box car in the yard for repairs banged on the walls — no one heard him — tried desperately to get out, but he died in the car.  

Autopsy revealed that every physical sign in his body indicated he had frozen to death.  Irony — The refrigeration unit was inoperative.  

The temperature never dropped low enough for him to freeze to death, but his fear became his self- fulfilling prophecy.

Whether or not that story is true, there are a lot of people out there like the character in the story …  We all know them.

THEY SEE OBSTACLES.

YOU AND I SEE THE POTENTIAL BEYOND THE OBSTACLES.

THEY FEEL LIMITED.

WE BELIEVE THAT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

THEY STAY IN PLACE, COMFORTABLE BUT NOT FULFILLED.

WE MOVE FORWARD, STUMBLING AT TIMES, BUT ENJOYING THE JOURNEY

THEY QUIT AT THE FIRST SMALL ROADBLOCK.

WE SEE CHALLENGES AS A PART OF THE PATH TO SUCCESS.

And as a result, we are willing to say yes more often, 

and we experience so much more joy, fulfillment, and fun.

SAY YES MORE OFTEN IN THE NEXT YEAR.

4. THE LAST “CHANGE” I WANT TO OFFER is a change in the process of setting your “New Year’s Resolutions.”

As I said earlier, for most people, … the spirit with which the resolutions are made does not survive beyond the first few challenges.   What we all need are constant REMINDERS of the resolve that we had when we made those resolutions in the first place.

In his book, The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod shares the importance of daily affirmations, and why these can be a powerful tool to help maintain the spirit with which we set some of our goals.

Here’s another way to implement this concept … THE FIVE WORDS

In addition to creating some standard resolutions, commitments, or goals for the coming year, choose 5 words that will be meaningful to you in the year ahead, 5 words that will create a foundation for what you want in your life.  

Examples from people I have coached on this include:

• Growth – to signify your commitment to learning and/or increasing your results in your business.

• Positivity – to signify your desire to live more happily

• Love – to signify the importance of new love in your life

• Habits – to remind you of the key habits you are developing

• Energy – to remind you to bring energy to your daily tasks

• Discipline – to remind you to make the tough choices in the moment.

Other words could be Integrity, Balance, Faith, Sharing, Contribution, Presence, Appreciation, or something that has a private meaning to you.

Post your 5 words in places where you will see them often.  Somewhere else, further develop the specific meaning of the 5 words in your life, and read these reminders every day.  If you focus on truly living in accordance with your 5 words, you will inevitably achieve a lot of the specific goals that are associated with them.

So remember:

1.  Take Responsibility … for your skills, your results, your happiness, life.

2. Believe in the power of you!

– Revisit your best moments, and evaluate your strengths.

– Make a list of small actions you can take in the short-term …

– Surround yourself with others who will help you on your journey.

3. Say YES more often

– See the potential, not the obstacles.

– Move forward with your opportunities … some will fail, 

but many will succeed.

MAKE SURE THAT, ONE YEAR FROM NOW, YOU CAN LOOK BACK AND SEE HOW YOU’VE EVOLVED AS A PERSON, BECAUSE THE ESSENCE OF LIFE IS GROWTH!

Whatever you are not CHANGING, you are CHOOSING!

This podcast is a free resource.

The ask is that you share it with others.

Please do that today.

Write a review, especially on Apple Podcasts/aka iTunes.

Most of all, go out and have an amazing 2024, and tell me your stories.

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