61. Look What You’ve Done

It’s the end of another calendar year. You’re bombarded with highlight reels, best of the year albums and statements that next year will be different.

I don’t know if you’ve have a good year or a bad year, I just want you to understand that next year won’t be different.

When the calendar turns over, nothing happens. We all take some time off work, then we go back to our routines. Next year will be the same.

Unless you change.

Next year won’t be different unless you’re different.

The turn of the calendar serves as an excellent reminder that we’ve got to take some responsibility for our lives. Living the same year over and over doesn’t actually help anyone.

We need to be moving towards something on purpose. We need to be learning, growing and searching for something. The alternative is that we’re moving further away from who we’re meant to be.

Nobody stands still, so I suggest you take time this year’s end to look at what you’ve done.

It’s the only way to know who you really are. Your actions define you, and what you’ve done until the end of 2024 has led you to where you currently sit reading this. What you currently do is a direct result of what you’ve done up until this point in time. Take note.

The good stuff, the bad stuff, the stuff that makes you proud and the stuff that makes you cry. The moments of excitement, disappointment, stress, joy and despair.

Look at all of it and accept responsibility for what’s happened until now. This is about you and what you’ve done, not about what’s happened. This is looking yourself in the mirror and saying “it’s your fault”.

To illustrate, let me tell you about a defining moment from 2024.