It arrived yesterday. A long cylinder box—my favorite delivery of the year.
A blank slate of hopes and dreams.
Inside, I pulled out my 2025 giant wall calendar, all 4 feet wide and 3 feet high. This is where it gets plotted and planned for the year ahead. Yes, old school wet erase markers and strike–out marks. No calendar apps to start. Unrolling it onto the dining room table, my anticipation mounts. I already know how I’m going to fill it up and I can’t wait to start the process.
As excited as I am to get the ideas out of my head and onto the calendar, there’s also the nagging voice in the back of my mind. None of this will happen unless I’m willing to stretch myself and grow.
Last week, I attended a 5-day “Advance Your Reach Speaker Bootcamp.” On day two, John Maxwell dropped enough pearls of wisdom to string a necklace. But there was one particular truth bomb that hit me hard: “Many of us have uphill hopes with downhill habits.”
Those words echoed in my mind as I sat with my calendar in front of me, my giant planning post-it notes covering my windows. Do I have downhill habits? If I’m honest, yes. I’ve realized there are behaviors holding me back from making my uphill dreams a reality.
Have you ever been in the same spot—excited about the future but weighed down by habits that keep you from reaching your goals?
Here’s the truth: you can have all the dreams in the world, but unless you intentionally align your habits with those dreams, you’ll remain stuck. The good news? With a few key steps, you can reset your mindset, change your habits, and make 2025 a year of growth and purpose.
The first step to growth is awareness. Before any change can happen, you have to be honest about what’s holding you back. I asked myself, What habits or behaviors are keeping me from achieving my goals?
I realized that I have a tendency to plan, then talk myself out of those very plans. Limiting beliefs creep in, telling me that if I put my workshops and videos out into the world, no one would show up. I’m not alone. Many of us struggle with an inner dialogue that holds us back.
Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D., author of What to Say When You Talk to Yourself, explains how our self-talk creates limiting beliefs. From a young age, we hear “no” more than “yes,” and this shapes our internal dialogue. We start to believe the negative story we tell ourselves.
We need to ask ourselves:
- What habits are contributing to these limiting beliefs?
- What patterns keep me stuck in the “I can’t because (fill in the blank)” mindset?
James Clear, in Atomic Habits, reminds us, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” If we don’t change the systems and habits governing our daily lives, we’ll stay stuck. Awareness is the first step toward freeing ourselves to reach new heights.
Once we’re aware of our habits, the next step is to check our mindset. Our thoughts shape our actions, and how we talk to ourselves can either propel us forward or lock us in old patterns.
Shad Helmstetter describes five levels of self-talk, with the lowest being negative acceptance: “I can’t do this,” or “I don’t have the time.” If we stay here, we’ll never change. To grow, we must move past negative thinking and start reprogramming our minds.
Romans 12:2 reminds us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” When we align our thoughts with God’s truth, we begin to move from the “I can’t because” into the person He’s calling us to be.
But how do we practically work on renewing our mind? We start by moving up to the third level of self-talk, where we actively decide to change. We start saying things like, “I no longer struggle with [insert your struggle].” Even if we’re still in the middle of the challenge, this is where the reprogramming begins. By training our minds to speak positively, we start to shift our internal dialogue, and that’s when real transformation happens.
For me, breaking free from my limiting beliefs started with being intentional about my quarterly getaways. After my getaway in July, I returned with a renewed mindset, and what followed was my best quarter ever. I spoke on the Maxwell stage at our annual International Maxwell Conference, delivered a keynote at Women in Business, and was invited to do a half-day workshop in Boise, Idaho—all within three weeks! And guess what? In those three events alone I reached over 4,000 people. I put something out there to the world and the people who needed to hear it showed up!
My biggest nagging fear was unfounded.
Getting away and resetting my mindset were pivotal to this success. The lesson: taking time to reflect and refocus not only realigns your habits but also positions you for breakthroughs you hadn’t even dreamed of.
Finally, making real progress requires aligning your goals with intentional habits. It’s not enough to have a vision; you must actively work toward it. This means scheduling time for the things that matter most and cutting out what doesn’t serve your purpose.
One of the best breakthroughs I’ve had in recent years is the action that comes forth from my giant wall calendar. The first ink I mark on it is blocking off time for my quarterly getaways—time to step out of the grind, reflect, and refocus. These breaks help me evaluate what’s working, adjust my systems, and reset my mindset. I credit much of my recent success to this non-negotiable habit of stepping away to work on my business instead of in it.
Proverbs 16:3 tells us, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” When you align your habits with your goals and commit them to God, He will guide your steps. This intentional planning, combined with divine direction, sets you on a course for success.
A once blank calendar now filled with goals and dreams is exciting, but without aligned habits, it’s simply wall art. Don’t let limiting beliefs and downhill habits hold you back. Take time to identify those habits, change your mindset, and align your daily actions with your goals.
Are you ready to break free from the “used to be’s” and step into the person you’re meant to be? Here’s my challenge to you: take that first step today. Write down one habit that’s holding you back, then create a plan to replace it with an intentional habit aligned with your goals.
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