5 Questions You Can’t Afford to Ignore Before 2025

Do you feel like 2024 just came and went in the flash of a light? It just went in such a rush, like you haven't had a minute to just process and reflect on everything that's happened this year. In this short video, I'm going to share five direct questions you can ask yourself to not only reflect on the year gone by, but really get grounded in 2024 before you bring any scattered or kind of unsettled energy into 2025, right? We don't want to bring that rushed kind of, I didn't have any time to do anything in 2024 energy into 2025. We want to settle that now before we move ahead. I started kind of reflecting at the end of every year a couple years ago, and I found a massive difference in the years I have done it versus the years I didn't do it. One outcome was me feeling grounded, refreshed, and clear, and the other was feeling rushed, scattered, and blurry, right, moving into the new year. You can definitely imagine which of the two I prefer, and even though these are just simple questions today, they make a huge difference on the way you kind of transition out of one year and into the next, because as we know, the way we think and feel about ourselves is the frame in which you view the world. So if you're currently viewing yourself as you've had no time this year, it's rushed by, you don't know where the time's gone, that frame going into the new year is kind of not the lens you want to set yourself up with in 2025. You want to feel grounded, energy, like you've had time to just process and reflect and kind of reassess what you want in the new year. So that's what we're going to do today together on the show, and after I share the five questions at the end, I'm also going to share just a couple of announcements in terms of our season break, when we're back online, etc. So make sure you stick around so you know exactly when the Balance Theory is back for 2025. Now as we move through these five questions, some of you may like to just pause and reflect, right, you might just want to jot them down and later do it as just like a mental reflection. Others of you will really like to journal these out. There's no right and wrong way. I want you guys to take these questions and work through them, workshop them, however makes the most sense for you. You might want to pause this as we go along, you know, whatever works for you. But here are the five questions. The first question, what habits or behaviors have helped you grow in 2024 and which ones have held you back? The reason this is important to do is sometimes when it comes to our routines or everyday life, we can get really stuck on autopilot, right, we just keep doing the same things. But because you're watching this show, I can guarantee that you're someone who loves learning and you're constantly kind of growing and evolving into a new and better version of yourself. So when we're on that path and we're constantly striving for growth, but our everyday life is on autopilot and we're not doing anything different, it's very hard to grow into a different version of ourselves when everyday looks the same. And that's not to say that your routine is bad. It's just to say this question is going to help you be critical on what aspects of it or behaviors every day have been the most useful to you this year and which ones haven't. And getting clear on that will help you break that kind of autopilot cycle just because you're asking the question. So it might be that you picked up a habit of reading this year or of meditation and that's something you're really proud of and you've seen a massive impact in everyday life. On the contrary, maybe you've got a little bit of a habit of scrolling on your phone, whether it be in the morning or at night, and that's something you know really doesn't serve you and something that you would like to break. It's just good to ask these questions so that we don't fall into a trap of doing the same thing over and over and never questioning is this good for us or not. So that's the first one. Number two is what was the toughest moment of 2024 and what did it teach you? I want you guys to think of one example in your personal lives and one example in your professional lives. The reason this is a really good one to reflect on is often when we go through really tough things in the moment it's so hard to be like great what's the silver lining? Why am I going through this? It often sucks in the moment and there's a lot we need to process. Sometimes we feel like we just need to survive to get through it, but if you can look at it with retrospect you can often find the lesson or the silver lining or the why that might have happened to you. Maybe enough time has passed now that you've seen certain events play out. For example, I remember I didn't get a job that I was so close to getting. I was literally in the top two. I was pretty convinced they were going to choose me and I didn't get it, but it later transpired. Now I've left the corporate world and I'm working as a consultant. If I got that job I'd probably still be in that job and I'm really happy with my decision to leave the corporate world now. With hindsight now, it's a beautiful thing. I want you to think of one thing in your personal life and professional life that's been really, really tough for you this year and just reflect on what it taught you. The third question is what is one skill or habit that you really wanted to cultivate but you just didn't get time to? Think of the one thing that was kind of always on the back burner. You maybe even bought a book about it, you've maybe saved some podcasts on it, but you just never really got your teeth stuck into it as much as what you would have liked. It's a skill that you really wanted to pick up but you just didn't find the time to and now we're in December of 2024 and you're thinking where's the time gone? So speaking of learning new skills, I want to introduce you guys to the sponsor of today's show, Skillshare. They are the largest online learning community with the most wide breadth and depth of topics that I have ever seen on an online platform. There are classes that range from productivity and time management to entrepreneurship to marketing to self-development and more. So when I was reflecting on this question, one of the skills that I know was on my back burner for this year that I really wanted to learn but I just didn't get time to was having a digital marketing strategy. But I had kind of no idea where to start and because I didn't commit to it, I just never made the time for it either. Lucky for me, Skillshare has a class specifically on this topic and I also found on the platform they have another two classes which are really interesting on social media strategy and making money online. Because I also love all things self-development, as you guys know, I've actually already watched the productivity masterclass they have on there, which is Principles and Tools to Boost Your Productivity by Ali Abdaal and I would genuinely say that this is a must watch for everyone, like non-negotiable learning. So whatever skill it is that you didn't get around to this year, whether it's learning how to better use prompts in ChatGPT, learning how to use Notion, organizing your home more effectively, learning a new language, learning about the stock market or crypto, how to be more focused and concentrate better, whatever it is, Skillshare has got you covered. The first 500 people to use the link in the description will get one month free access to Skillshare and you can do as many classes as you want and learn as much as you want. Perfect timing since we're all going on break over the Christmas New Year period. Thank you so much to Skillshare for being a sponsor of today's podcast. Now the fourth question you want to ask yourself is, has your idea of success changed from 12 months ago? Now when I initially started thinking about this concept, I kind of thought I had an idea of success and it was set in stone and that was going to be a constant in my life. I was so wrong about that because genuinely every 6 to 12 months it really does shift and I find asking myself this now, before I'm kind of in that really motivated January set goals for the new year mode, is really important to bring in that element of alignment. Sometimes what we can do is just pick up where we left off last year. We just kind of take what we said was important to us, i.e. promotion, more money, buying a house, starting a business, whatever it is, and we just kind of take that and apply it the next year without asking this one critical question, has my idea of success changed? So reflecting on what's kind of happened in your last 12 months and asking yourself, has your idea of success changed? And if you've never done that, what is your kind of definition of success? And asking yourself this every 6 to 12 months is a really key way to kind of stay on track with what you genuinely want. And the last question for you to reflect on before we move into 2025 is, I want you to think of a theme word for 2024. This is a really fun way to kind of summarize the year that's gone by. And this might take some time, right? The word might pop into your head straight away, but it might take some time for you to reflect on different experiences and how they all tie together. For me personally, this has been a year of growth. Growth is my theme for 2024. It's been in many different avenues of my life, in my relationship, I got married, there's been a lot with the podcast, I've had a massive shift from corporate world to consulting. So for me, it's been growth when I kind of reflected on all my experiences. I'd love to hear what your word for 2024 is. What's your theme word? What represents kind of what's happened for you this year? If you know it already, drop it in the comments below because you might inspire someone else and it might resonate with their own experiences and give them a word for 2024. So that's it guys, really simple five direct questions that you can ask yourself in order to really summarize, reflect and get grounded in 2024 before we move over into 2025. Doing this will cut through any feelings you have of 2024 just kind of came and went and I haven't really had a moment to just sit in what's happened and reflect and just gather my thoughts. And you can imagine why doing that before you move into a fresh year is really a powerful exercise. So to wrap up this episode, I have a couple of housekeeping announcements. This is our last episode for 2024. As you know, every year we go on a little season break and I actually do that very intentionally because I think taking a break from kind of self-development and learning is really important from time to time just to reset, right? So I need that time so I can continue to give you guys content and be inspired and creative. It's also a time for me to kind of re-reflect for the year ahead. So I'm taking a little bit of a break now. We're off from today and we'll be back on January 15th. Now the first few episodes that are going to come out in 2025, if you guys have been keeping up with us on socials, will be the series from Australia. So in November, we did a tour through Australia. We went through Sydney and Gold Coast and I interviewed some household names, some people that have been very inspiring to me. It was such an amazing string of conversations full of connection and intention. So I am beyond excited to bring you guys those. They'll be kicking off from January 15th. So if you're not already subscribed to the channel, make sure you do that so you're notified as soon as they come out. I hope you guys have an incredible Christmas and New Year. Enjoy this time with loved ones. Take the time to rest. Don't feel guilty for chilling out and doing nothing. You deserve it. It's been a big year and I'm really excited to see you all in the New Year. So enjoy and until 2025, stay balanced.