How To Start Anything in 2025

The start. It sounds so sexy, doesn't it? I'm going to start doing this. I'm going to start doing that. I'm going to be a whole new person. Watch out, world. In 2016, I started and published my first book, Vlog Like a Boss, and I went on to publish two more books since then. In 2011, 13 years ago, I started this YouTube channel, and I've uploaded more than 1,000 videos ever since. And all the way back in 2009, about 15 years ago, I started my business and became an entrepreneur. And I have not yet looked back. So I've had a little bit of experience with the start, and not just the start, but the continuation, and seeing things through. Whether you're dreaming of starting something new or you're starting something that you've tried to start before, but you didn't really keep up with, in this video, I want to share the five big things that it takes to start absolutely anything and actually keep up with it. Step one, decide on one goal. I know it's tempting to come up with a laundry list of things you'd like to start, but the reality is you need to be very excited and energetically attached to something coming to fruition, and so we need one goal that we're going to focus on starting. People often refer to a goal as something they would also see as a result, but the best goals are totally controllable. When we focus too much on a result, especially if it feels very far away, there's some negativity that can bubble up, or lack of belief, or old beliefs that we have been thinking so many times that will convince us it's not really worth showing up 100% for. But when we have a goal that's controllable, you're much more likely to feel the effects of competence that come from the quick wins, and that is what we're looking for. We want to see a little bit of progress that continues to build on itself to result in some major life-changing. So a couple of example goals could be you want to start practicing Pilates, maybe you want to start a consulting business, or that you want to start learning to Notice that the goals are phrased in a way that you can proceed with doing them as soon as possible. The opposite might sound more like reach 10% body fat, or make $100,000 in revenue this year, or become fluent in Spanish. Those are results that could potentially come from what you do, but the goals themselves are phrased in a way that you can control and focus on. On a recent coaching call with Ocean, we were really able to zero in on why her goals were not happening year over year, and it was because of the number of goals that she had. But when we got really focused on what the top 10 or 20% needle-moving goals would be that would help everything else fall into place, everything started to click for her. I think I might have maybe just started out with too many, and maybe needed to prioritize, so I spent out like the standard 10 goals that I wanted to reach, and they kind of spanned it from a couple financial goals, a couple personal development, and then like career, and then physical. So I thought like all of those would were important, and I want to reach all of them. But if you look at that list of 10, could you say to yourself that if you achieved one or two of them, that it would make the rest of them exponentially more possible? Do you know what those one or two would be? To be able to achieve the splits and high kicks, I've had that goal. What a fun goal! I've had that goal for so long, and this year, I did a lot of performing. It's very clear what you need to practice doing every day in order to see progress. When we focus our energy on bringing more controllable actions into our lives, we see more physical proof of us showing up as the version of ourselves that we believe ourselves to be. All right, it's time to zero in, get focused, write it down. I am going to start, and if by chance the thing you want to start this year is a habit of healthy and fresh eating, you are going to absolutely love my best-kept secret for this, which is Factor, who are also generously sponsoring this video. Factor is America's number one ready-to-eat meal delivery service. Their aim is to help you meet your nutrition goals more seamlessly than ever by delivering fresh, never-frozen, dietician-approved meals right to your doorstep. As a working mom, every minute counts, and I love Factor for saving me time and that brain space. I take way fewer trips to the grocery store, I do far less planning, and my meals from Factor are ready in as little as two minutes with no prep and no mess. They have a team of gourmet chefs that creates each meal using only ingredients with integrity that help you feel your best all day long. So if you're like me and you struggle with meal planning, but you want to get some of those early, quick wins when it comes to that healthy and fresh lifestyle, Factor provides high-quality, delicious meals that save you time and keep you on track. You can customize your meal preferences, whether it's calorie smart, vegan, veggie, protein plus, or other wholesome options. You can even choose from their assortment of ready-to-drink, cold-pressed juices, shakes, and smoothies. And if you've been around my channel for a while, you also know that I am a huge fan of HelloFresh. Well, Factor is now owned by HelloFresh, which is amazing because now there's a much wider array of meal plans to choose from, and I love ordering from both to make meals in my home so much more seamless and healthy. To try Factor for yourself, then check out the link in the description or just go to factor75.com and use my code at checkout, amylandino50, gets you 50% off your first Factor box. Getting food at a discount is an absolute no-brainer, so you might as well give it a try. Go to factor75.com with promo code amylandino50 for 50% off your first box. And thank you so much to Factor for sponsoring this video. The second step to starting anything is to choose an internal goal-driven habit. We need daily habits that are driven by our goals, something that we do on a regular basis that contributes to making the thing that we want to happen, happen. In this case, it's that internal habit. The most important thing is that you're able to do this step on your own. You don't have to wait for other people. You don't have to wait for anything else to fall into place. This is something that you do that no matter what, no excuses, is going to make you better as long as you show up. As an example, a pianist has an internal goal-driven habit of practicing scales. An athlete will run drills. There is something that you can do over and over and over and over again that might be hard at the beginning but gets easier as you go, but you continue to do it because it gives you that foundation of being amazing and mastering your craft. You're going to choose the thing that is going to help you to build that foundation. Very important rule to the internal goal-driven habit. Do not trick yourself into thinking research is an internal goal-driven habit. It is just way too easy for you to use more research, more facts, more readiness as an excuse to postpone actually doing the work. In the world of learning to speak Spanish, you are going to need to learn some Spanish and research that. I understand. That might be very, very on the line, but if you were really challenging yourself to show up here, then the actual practice of speaking words aloud would be a more practical and more needle-moving internal goal-driven habit for you when it comes to learning to speak Spanish. Because if you really want to practice Pilates and if you really want to start a business, then you can continue to do research to your heart's content. But if you over-educate and under-execute, you've never really done either one of those things. Inviting the goal-driven habit of doing research on a regular basis is the same thing as continuing to procrastinate. I'm sorry to be the bad guy, but I'm just going to put that line in the sand right now. You can't pick research for this one. So when it comes to your goal, what is something that you can do every day right now to prepare you for it? You're not allowed to wait for your degree. You're not allowed to wait for arbitrary permission, and you're not allowed to wait for someone to tell you that you're ready. But if you need it, you're ready. So what's it going to be? How are you going to get your reps in? How are you going to practice your scales? All right, fill in the blank. In order to start, I will... Step three, choose an external goal-driven habit. Some of us, we just love to grind away in private. Okay? We don't want to tell anyone. We don't want to let anyone know. We don't want the ripples to leave the building. But in all actuality, we need the help of others in order to make our dreams come to fruition. If you want to start something, you need some level of accountability. All accountability does not look alike. All accountability does not work the same for each individual person. We've got to find the right thing for you. So while for some, it's just, yes, I did my homework and letting your personal trainer see that you walked in the door and showed up for the workout that day. That's one kind of accountability. Other kinds could just be letting somebody into this layer of who you are so that they might be a bit more inquisitive about it. The business building example is a really good one because we can do so much of this from the comfort of our own home office. You can start a website. You can build out your rate card. You can create videos. You can file your paperwork. There are so many steps that you can take to make the business happen that doesn't require telling anyone. But if you don't tell anyone about your business, you ain't going to get any business. If you want to go to Pilates class every day for 30 days, maybe you post accountability posts on social media. If you're starting a business, maybe you send an email to someone every day to just ask them if there's anything that you can do to support them. And when you're brushing up on Spanish, maybe you find a way to immerse yourself in the language by actually going and having a conversation with somebody and practicing your vocabulary words. So we need to do something on a consistent basis that is an external goal-driven habit. What are you doing habitually that is letting the outside world know of the person you're becoming and the goal that you're reaching for? So now you have clarity around what you want to do, and you have a couple of ways that are going to support you moving it forward all the time. Step number four is committing to your internal and external goal-driven habits every day for a year. Do you want this thing? Like, really? Do you really want it? If you won't show up to move this thing forward a little bit every day for a year, how could you have the audacity to want this thing to change your life? Truly, we just wish for things when we write them down. We manifest things when we take responsibility for our role in making them happen. And so many factors are going to come into play that are either going to help or hurt you. But if you aren't doing your share of helping it, you are giving yourself such a disadvantage to seeing it come to life. If you won't show up for what you want every day for a year, and I don't mean you have to exercise every single day of the year. That's not always appropriate for people who are trying to start to be more healthy, but their goal is fitness. Okay, fine. But there is still something you can do every day for a year that makes this possible. And you do not want it that bad if you're not willing to do it for that period of time. You are not going to see game-changing results in a week. You're not going to see game-changing results in a month. As a matter of fact, it's still not be all that you thought it would be a year from now. But who you will be in that space of time, you won't be able to unknow that. You won't be able to unfeel that. And step number five of probably many more steps that there will be, but the last one we'll talk about in this video is one of the most important. Once you figured out what you're doing and how you're going to support it every day and executing at the greatest of your abilities for at least a year to see it happen, you're going to say no to pretty much everything else. You're going to have your personal obligations. You might have a job while you're starting a business. You've probably got a family while you're also caring about your health. There are going to be things you have to balance. That's life. You got this. All you got to do is see where the no is appropriate based on where the yes gets you the most excited. When you aren't super clear on what a hell yes is, it makes it that much more obvious on what a no is. And then all we have to do is say no. Isn't it funny? Like that's it. That's all. You don't need to explain to anybody why it's a no. You just say no. I can't go to that party. It might be for a number of reasons. Nobody's business but yours. If it takes away from the work you have to put in. If it puts you in an environment that makes you vulnerable when you're trying to stay focused on being healthy. It doesn't matter what the reasons are. You know because you have clarity and you're energetically on board with this thing and you're going to make it happen and you're going to start and you're going to continue and you're going to see it through and you're going to use it as a data point because even if you fail, you're going to know what to do next and no one's going to take that from you as long as you know you can say no when the time comes. So those are the big five to starting absolutely anything. Choose your one goal. Then decide on your internal goal-driven habit. Decide on your external goal-driven habit. Commit to those two habits on a daily basis. Regular if not daily. Very regular for at least a year and then say no to mostly everything else. If it sounds too simple to you, that's exactly why it hasn't happened for you yet.