Reframing the word "goal" to "challenge" as I think it can force more of a growth mindset. Mine for example is to completely leave work. No stepping down or side-stepping. Fully leave the company before my 5 year anniversary (June). This is obviously a goal, but in reality it will be my biggest challenge of the year. I have to view it as a problem to be solved with sequenced steps in order to succeed, rather than a "goal" with no tangibility. Reverse engineer it from the desired outcome and just stick to the process. In reality, I could just get another job, but the challenge is because of the bigger picture. I don't want to work in a conventional working structure my whole life, and life's responsibilities will ramp up even more in the coming years. (little guys gotta get a good education and dad's dreams won't matter so much at that stage). I don't have much time left to take more shots without it potentially pulling time, energy and resources from my family that I would struggle to make back. I genuinely mean it when I say you are all capable of so much more than you give yourselves credit for. I'm sure some of you might look at this as inspiring or courageous or interesting that I'm doing it, giving this whole community thing a go. I'll be honest, I got no clue what I'm doing, BUT.. I'm just leaning into it. I'll figure it out. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I'd love if you guys would consider sharing your biggest challenge for the year. It doesn't have to be life changing. But it has to be challenging enough to force you to grow in the process. (There is nothing like the social pressure of telling everyone what you are trying to accomplish to get you started and follow through haha. Case and point–this community) much love, Krys

Just over 1000 days ago I started my first journal. Over that time, I’ve been consistent, taken breaks, but most importantly developed a habit and style that worked for me. Here is some advice from finishing my first journal. Maybe by the end you will all be journalling 🥸 Guess it depends on how well I sell it haha. I’ve gone from daily with time stamps to week long breaks. Motivation was huge at the start, then it fades and it became a task to tick off. When I was doing it to keep a streak, I lost the desire. It was easy in the beginning, as I was parroting what I had read in philosophy books. Not much brain power and realistically just writing in hopes of remembering what I read. But in doing so, I developed the habit of showing up, sitting down, and writing. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ What worked for me... - JOURNALLING IS A TOOL—NOT A CHORE. Once I figured out it was ok to take days between entires, I started to grow an appreciation for it. The distance made me want to do it more, and inevitably allowed me time to process my thoughts and feelings better before putting it to paper. - DON’T OVERTHINK WHAT YOU WRITE. This is for you and no one else. You can write down shit you would never dream of saying to any one else and just looking at the words can help you see it from a different perspective. It doesn’t need to be neat, it doesn’t need to sound pretty, it just needs to serve the purpose of getting your thoughts out of your head. - JOURNALLING AS A CALL-AND-RESPONSE. I found the most development in my character when I was holding myself accountable to what I had written. The process of setting an intention for how I was going to show up, then evaluating whether or not I did so, helped me see myself from a more objective lens, not allowing emotions to cloud my judgment. - MAKE IT MESSY—IT DOESN’T ‘NEED’ TO LOOK GOOD. It doesn’t need to, but it can. I developed really nice handwriting from journaling that I prefer over my messy, scribble hand writing. BUT there are entires in my journal that are chaotic and unrefined. It makes it less cohesive when you flick through but that’s not the point. I can remember when I was writing in that messy handwriting I was mad, upset, or frustrated, and it showed through in how I was putting the words on the paper.

This isn’t as recent as krys’s but it’s something I’ve come to realise from personal experience over the past few months. My life had felt frozen for many of months last year, I fell complacent and did not progress in anything, I would work sleep, occasionally go to the gym and repeat. My social relationships and very close personal ones suffered to this as I would neglect anything socially and stick to my own personal comfort. I still stress ate unhealthy foods making all the workouts I did completely useless and did not focus on my health at all. It wasn’t until I faced heartbreak due to this complacency that I realised I really needed to change something and work harder on bettering myself and improving my lifestyle, not for others but myself. I’ve been through a lot of challenges in my life (like beating cancer) but undoubtedly my hardest challenge in life has been breaking out of my comfort zone and doing things, this post is proof to that as I have complete social anxiety and stuff like this is completely out of my comfort zone, but sometimes a big leap like this is what is needed. Sorry if this sounds like complete ramble, didn’t want krys to feel lonely with opening up. Much obliged Liam :)