Archive

January 2025

Browsing

When you do the things you need to do, when you need to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do, when you want to do them.

American author, motivational speaker and leading authority on human potential, Zig Ziglar shared some great strategies for goal achievement in his book “Goals Take You to The Top!: How to Get What You Want”. As Ziglar often said “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” Here are some of the tools, tips and strategies that he encouraged for goal attainment:

“If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time!” —Zig Ziglar

“The goal of recovery is learning self-care, learning to free ourselves from victimization, and not to blame ourselves for past experiences. The goal is to arm ourselves so we do not continue to be victimized due to the shame and unresolved feelings from the original victimization.”

Melody Beattie is an American author who writes on codependency and strategies for dealing with codependent relationships. Her books have helped shape my thought on codependency and provided tools for recovery, healing and self-care. Her books include: Codependent No More, Beyond Codependency, The New Codependency, and The Language of Letting Go.

 
“A codependent person is one who has let another person’s behavior affect them and who is obsessed with controlling that other person’s behavior.”

In her book, Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself, American author Melody Beattie shares the following illuminating thoughts on self-care.

“The middle ground of self-care lies between the two extremes of controlling others and allowing them to control us. We can walk that ground gently or assertively, but in confidence that it is our right and responsibility.” – The Language of Letting Go
Melody Beattie

 
The best way to minimize the number of crucial conversations you have in life is to have a meaningless life. As soon as you go after something important, the crucial conversations will occur.

In Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, authors Joseph Grenny et al share strategies and tools for having tough conversations especially when the stakes are high and emotions are running high. The book provides a toolkit for mastering high-stakes conversations, no matter the topic or the person.

“When others hold our pens, we live with a constant gnawing fear of their disapproval. Their feedback is no longer an indictment of our behavior; it is an audit of our worth.

In their insightful book, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, authors Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson et al write about “The Other Side Academy (TOSA) Game” and the concept of retaking one’s pen.

The Other Side Academy

The Other Side Academy is a training school in which students learn pro-social, vocational and life skills allowing them to emerge with a healthy life on “the other side”. Many of those who seek entrance into the Academy are convicts, substance abusers or homeless. TOSA teaches students both fundamental personal management and relationship skills such as keeping one’s promise, accountability, love, charity, and dependability.

Goal: I will read 150 non-fiction books on or before December 31st, 2025.

January

  1. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (A)
  2. Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn (A)
  3. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore (B)
  4. Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy (A)
  5. Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud / John Townsend (A)
  6. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear (A)
  7. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (A)
  8. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller (A)
  9. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson et al (A)
  10. Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany Aliche (B)

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson.

2025 is going to be a year of new beginnings, an opportunity to recaliberate and reset. It is ok to feel stuck, unsure, fall down, lose one’s way but the goal is to always bounce back, re-group and keep pushing. The new year is an opportunity to start afresh, set new goals, re-align commitments and decide to become who you instinctively know you were meant to be. As the saying goes “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to start to become great”. The bigger the goal, the bigger the struggle. Achieving your goal is not guaranteed but the struggle is guaranteed.

“You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to start to become great”.

On your path to achieving your goal, you are going to stumble. Rest if you have to but don’t settle, or don’t dare give up on your dreams. You are put here specifically to discover your potential and awaken the giant within you. I know it is tough trying to pursue an audacious goal like finding your purpose in a world where you are expected to fit in with the crowd but please, give it shot. We miss all the chances we don’t take, begin anew and unleash your undiscovered potential. The best is yet to come and if you don’t try, you never know. You’ve got this.