Goal Visualization for a Purposeful 2025

This episode revolves around reflecting on 2024 and planning for a successful 2025. Rhonda shares personal insights on self-judgment, growth, and setting actionable goals in manageable steps for the upcoming year. 

• Importance of reflecting on 2024 without self-judgment 
• Insights gained from personal experiences during the holidays 
• Discussing the vision and plans for the Arizona land 
• Key questions for listeners to consider in their reflection 
• The significance of chunking goals into quarterly tasks 
• Announcement of a free interactive workshop for January 
• Encouragement to stay focused and create a written plan 
• Maintaining awareness of distractions that can derail goals

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Well, hey there, welcome to the People Gardener podcast. I'm Rhonda Delaney, your host, also known as the People Gardener, thrilled to put this podcast together to help small business owners, new business owners, frustrated business owners and aspiring leaders, whether they're inside business or outside. Each week, we bring you some actionable steps so that you can actually improve your skill as a leader. That's what we're about. We're here to help you become a better leader by giving you access to lots of different perspectives. By giving you access to lots of different perspectives. The guests are varied. We're thrilled to have them. Get out your pen, get out your paper and be ready to learn Every single episode. You're going to be able to take something away that you can implement. Are you ready? Let's get to work. Well, hey there. Welcome to the People Gardener podcast. Happy to have you here this week. I'm Rhonda Delaney, your host, also known as the People Gardener. Well, first episode for 2025. How was your holidays and your New Year's? We had a fabulous time with family over the holidays, Even got to go bowling, and, oh, what a what a treat to watch these little people bowl. And and then the competition between the adults Mostly kept cordial. Let's say, oh yeah, 2024.

Speaker 1: 1:46

Big item in 2024 for us was buying our 40 acre piece of land in Arizona that we are going to build our family compound on Probably won't be until 2026. That actually speaks to what I want to talk about today and that's planning and looking ahead and writing down things that you're working towards. We've been back and forth to Arizona over the last 10-12 years. We'd go there to dry out and warm up, actually usually in April, and we had talked a lot while we've been down there just how much we enjoy the state. And then I had the dream. I had the dream multiple times about this compound and about what we wanted to do to make sure that our whole family could be there and could enjoy this property alongside of us. And that's been several years, a bunch of trips down there, three, I think, hundreds of properties we looked at, thousands of miles driven, but it was a plan. I even painted a canvas that sits right in front of me and it showcases that particular compound. Things have a way of happening when you write them down, when you can see them really, really clearly.

Speaker 1: 3:17

So let's talk about 2024. What did it look like? Great time of year to reflect. Don't want you going in with major judgment and oh, I could have, would have, should have. Just look at the facts of what transpired actions you took, feelings you had and just look at it, take in and then come to a conclusion Okay, I really liked how this worked. I'm going to bring that along to 2025. Nope, didn't like that. That didn't work. Not going to do that again. Just grab a piece of paper and have a few questions to prompt you. Here's a couple that I put in my newsletter. If you're not in my weekly newsletter, go to rondadelaneycom and at the bottom of that first page there's a place that you can subscribe. But in this week's newsletter, along with this podcast episode, it's okay. What are you going to delete in 2025?

Speaker 1: 4:29

And I'm talking to your personal life, yourself, your being and also inside your business what are you going to keep from 2024.? For me, I know one of my I guess biggest breakthroughs for 2024 was recognizing how much self-judgment I had. Just who was doing what I did in the way that I was doing it. I would have nothing but support and attagirls. And you know, well done. Is it perfect? No, it's never going to be. But the self-judgment well. Why are you reading this book. Why aren't you working? Why are you out in the garden? Why aren't you working Right, attending to this business have just become this boring stick in the mud, not recognizing that I need some fun, I need some levity in my life.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Those of you that have listened to a number of my podcasts I'm very slow, not a lot of animation. That's my professional, my conservative, my deliberate self. That this subconscious mind of mine has this real running in the background that if you're not, that people aren't going to take you seriously, they're not going to value what you have to share. Yeah, no, that's not right at all, but that's what's in the head. So, recognizing that about myself that you know what, that's not who I am innately, innately, I'm this very animated, opinionated, fun, energized, cheerful, happy person. That's who I am cheerful, happy person that's who I am. And yet, for some reason, this business has got me thinking that, oh no, whoa, my life, how I was raised, the church that I was brought up in, all this, yeah, you just got to fit in instead of just being yourself. So that's something that I've really come to learn and know this past year. So I'm going to be working in 2025 to expand on that and open that up.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Another thing that was great to reflect on and really ties into this and you can do this yourself is who was I at the beginning of 2024? How did I show up, what did I value, what were my behaviors, what were my skills? And now, who am I? Now? It's so easy to think that we haven't grown at all, that we're just kind of in the same place. But chances are you've grown in some areas and you just haven't recognized them. Other people have, but you haven't.

Speaker 1: 8:07

It's time to take stock and then, once you've done this reflection, let's start and get into a plan for 2025. Break it up into four quarters and talk about what you want to accomplish, both personally and professionally, in each of those four quarters. And it was interesting for me breaking it all down my business coach he calls it chunking, and last year my word was chunk it, so I really appreciate that word. It's so much easier to break things down into small incremental pieces than to take on the whole. I think we can all agree on that. It's easier. I had an old sales coach that used to tell me Rhonda, you can eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Speaker 1: 9:03

It's the same, whatever it is in your business, whatever it is in your personal life, start with a realistic step, a realistic action, and then build on that. So for me my quarter one I am going to be actually having a free interactive workshop January 30th. It'll probably be about 90 minutes and we're going to work at acquiring the skill that you need to get in there and really start building relationships with your team and working at creating this environment where people thrive. That's my action for January. And then we're going to keep going. I'm going to keep talking to people. I'm going to keep building my subscribers on YouTube. I'm going to keep building my subscribers on YouTube. I'm going to keep building my email list. So the question is, what is it that is on your list for the first 90 days of 2025? You're the boss, you're the one in the driver's seat. You get to choose what that's going to be and what it's going to look like.

Speaker 1: 10:17

But if you don't sit down and have some type of plan that opens up the Pandora box of anything happening and you being pushed and pulled and swayed in directions that actually don't serve you I am the queen of distractions. If I've got something I need to do, man, does that toilet ever need to be cleaned? Right now, this instant. It's so easy to not attend to what you want, what you desire, when you don't have something to refer to. If you keep this 90-day plan on your desk, on your screen, your laptop, in your phone, maybe it's the screen saver on your phone. This is where I'm going. This is what I need to focus on and asking yourself is doing this getting me to this goal? Is it going to serve this goal or is it a? Is it a distraction? I'm learning along with you. I've I've been in all of those places. I can be super focused and do great work and then, all of a sudden, it's derailed and you got to bring yourself back.

Speaker 1: 11:38

But no judgment. Just recognize where you are and say, okay, no, I see it, I'm not on the right path here. Time to pull it back and don't beat yourself up. Just carry on from that point. Reflect on 2024. Plan for 2025. And then, at the end of the year, you're going to be able to reflect on 2025 and see whether or not you got where you wanted to go, or were you closer to where you wanted to go? You're heading in the right direction. I get it, life happens, so it may not be that you get the goal that you've actually set, but are you still on that path, or have you allowed yourself to be diverted off it? That's it for this week. We'll talk to you again next week. Well, thanks for joining me today. Just a quick reminder if you are not on my email list, go to my website, rondadelaneycom, and there's a place there that you can subscribe. Keep you up to date on all things people, gardening and leadership. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you again next week.