Year Looking Back - How to Clearly Visualize What You Want for the New Year

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company. I'm espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You too can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you're listening to the podcast One Life. What's going on, guys? Donnie Rouse here. Happy New Year. We are in 2024. So. So let me ask you a question. Let's look back on 2023. How was it? What are the things you were most proud of in 2023? It's so important that whenever we start a new chapter or go into a new part of our life to look back and just reflect on what was working and what wasn't working. Because now once we reflect and one, we integrate the wins, right? When you integrate and you feel good about that, it gives you the esteem to move forward and to make some changes in your life. So what didn't work in 2023? Like, what changes do you want to have in the next year? What do you want to make? The intention of this post here was to ask you some different questions to make you think differently about the year and the goals that you're setting. Because, you know, it's not so much the achieving of the thing that is the most important, but it is the road that we take to get. And also it is the moments where we feel most alive that we remember the most, not the dredging up the hill to get to the thing. So I want to ask you a couple questions, like, what do you want to experience in 2024? If I gave you this little magic wand here that you can't even see because it's invisible if you're watching the video, I gave you this and said, okay, let's imagine we are at the end of 2024 and you are reflecting back on an amazing year. What happened over this last 12 months that made it so amazing? What did you experience? What did you create? What did you learn? Like, get familiar with all of these things. And then as you're thinking about all these things, I want to ask you another question. How does it Feel to have done all these things, to have had this amazing year. If you are answering these questions in your mind and you're taking the time to feel it, I know it feels good. And that is an important thing, is to align your focus towards the things that you want. This past New Year's, I was at a. I'm here in Miami beach, and I didn't plan on doing a whole lot for New Year's, but then one of my friends came in. And so the two friends and I, we all went down to a club down the street. And as the New year was counting down, they were counting down. And then we turned around and they had all these fireworks going off at the beach. And I asked myself this exact question. I was like, well, how would it. Like, what do I want for 2024? Like, imagine I was at the end of 2024. Like, what are the things I want in this moment? Things that came to mind were some of my more my professional goals, like the growing of my coffee company, the success of my online course, the One Life blueprint. I imagined the success. And what that meant to me is, you know, as well as what it meant for my life, being able to travel, be in different parts of the world, people. And just how that having that vision felt and feeling it as if it was already done. It's kind of like the law of. The law of attraction. That's the big craze right now, or it's been the biggest craze for, like, the last at least five years. And I remember feeling like when I was doing that, just feeling so aligned and connected with that vision and all that stuff is what I'm working on now. But it is connecting to that feeling of what it is that you want that is so important. And I never looked out a year. I mean, I've done it for my life, but sometimes it feels like it's too far out for me to even feel right. It seems like there's too big of a gap. But when I consolidated that time into a year, it just felt easier to connect. So, again, let me ask you that question. What is it that you want to experience in 2024? Like, if you could look back at a year well lived, what would that year look like? What would have happened? What would you experience? Who would you be spending more time with? Who would you spend less time with? Right. It's important to get clear on all of that. How would you have grown? What would you have learned? As I'm reading these questions, it's very likely that you're going to get these little blips of inspiration. Capture those, put those on paper. Those are the gold nuggets of your life. How did you give. When you have these, look at that list and imagine them having already been done and just get acquainted with the feeling. How does it feel? Whenever I book a trip anywhere in the world, there's always this anticipation. And it's funny because I think when I was, when the New Year Ball was counting down, that is what came into mind. I was thinking about the trips I have and like whenever I book a trip, like my mind is already been on the trip before I've even flew out or done any kind of preparation. My mind's already created the experience in my mind. And like, and then I'm like, oh my God, it's gonna be amazing, great time. And I'm, I have the appreciation, the gratitude in this moment without the trip, with the trip being way far off in the future. And as a result the, you know that all that anticipation never lets me down. I always have amazing trips, meet amazing people, and then I do it all again. So that when this New Year ball, like I thought about that, like where these things flashed my mind, I'm not really sure. And then I thought about my year in the same way. But it's not enough just to do it once, you know, at the New Year, you have to visit that vision repeatedly and feel those emotions, feel the anticipation, give the gratitude, you know, because that is what makes the journey worthwhile. Because you're like, oh, wow. You know, even if it's something as simple as, or like going to Italy, right? Like a lot of people want to take these trips, but they're like, ah, shit, like a nine hour flight. Oh my God, I don't want to fly nine hours. Oh, then the packing and then when I get back, all the log of email, you know, you get lost in all the stuff that you get lost in, the things you don't want to do, rather than focusing on what it is that you want to create. Never not thinking about like, oh, the people you may meet, the experiences you may have, the food you're gonna try, the time with your friends or family, like, think about those things. Those are the important things to look at. Not the pain that you're gonna experience going in, right? All the things that you have to do in order to get there. That's what makes it worthwhile. I woke up this morning. I woke up a little later than I would normally have liked. I Woke up at 9:00'. Clock. And the reason I had woken up at 9 o' clock is I ate very late because I went to do some shopping. Ended up taking me like three hours to do my food shopping last night because apparently there's a Jawbridge near me that when it's on the hour, you're there for a good half an hour. So it was a half an hour there. And then I went to Costco, went through every single aisle. It just took a while. And then getting back was a hike as well. And I tell you this because I got back late, I got back 9:30, had to do some house stuff like laundry and I didn't eat. So I was like, I need to put something in my body. I made the mistake of having something heavy. I had like avocado toast, two slice of avocado toast. Then I made eggs. Not a good idea when you're ready to go to bed. It was like at that point it was probably like 11, 11 o'. Clock. As a result of that, like my sleep just sucked. I mean it was. I felt like I was actually sleeping pretty deep, but I wasn't rested. Like I woke up, I had like some bags under my eyes. The last thing I felt like doing was going to work out. But I made the commitment this year. Like I work out usually in the evening, but I was like, you know what, I'm doing my workouts in the morning this year. Why? Because when you work out in the morning, it literally sets your entire day up for success. One, when you wake up early and you work out early, you feel more energetic because you've moved your body. But also it makes me tired later. Like earlier in the day. Like, so I might go to sleep at like 9:30, 10 o'. Clock. I love that. The second thing it does is it aligns my choices as a result of going to workout. Like right when I woke up, the first thing I made was like a, like a spinach, banana, ginger smoothie. And then I went to workout and then I came back. And as a result of having that workout first, all of a sudden now all my choices or all my choices as it relates to my health are aligned, right? Because now I don't want to put, I'm not going to put junk in my body as a result of just having worked on the morning because I feel good. Right when you feel good, you don't, you know, how do you respond when you feel good? When you feel good, you want to do more things that feel good. You don't say, oh, I feel Great, let me go have a slice of cheese pizza. No, you don't do that. It's usually when you feel shitty, you're like, oh, well, what the hell, right? We're already there. Let's just throw an entire pie in. So when you feel good, you make align more aligned choices, but it also changes how you show up in your day. It's one of the reasons I'm here right now. So the reason I am telling you this is because I did not want to wake up. I did not want to work out the first thing in the morning. My mind was creating all this noise, like, oh my, it's already too late, it's 9 o'. Clock. But then I remembered. I remember, like, it doesn't take. You don't have to. You could have 10 hours of your day and not feel like you've accomplished anything. But you can take. I mean, let's say you can even have one hour of hyper productivity, meaning you're doing things that matter to your life to move you forward. And you can get more momentum from that one hour than you can for an entire day. So I know that it's not how much time I have in a day, but the actions I take. And as a result, you know, I went. I knew it wasn't comfortable, but I knew that once I did that run, I was going to feel great and it would impact the rest of my day. So I went out and I did it. And as a result, now, you know, I'm going through my. My objectives and my intentions for the day. And one of them was being here with you, just sharing some inspiration, giving you a little bit of something, a different way of thinking about your year going forward. So we're going to recap that right now because I feel like I'm, you know, it was kind of bouncing around this. I mean, this came as just an intention to just show up online, not as to do a podcast recording or anything else. I just wanted to ask you, what is it that you want to experience in 2024? Like, what would make you feel alive? What would make you feel happy? What would make you feel joyful? What would you remember for the rest of your life? Who do you want to spend more time with? Again, let's imagine that we're at the end of 2024, it is December 31st, and I'm like, hey, tell me about your year. What did you do? What experiences did you have? What were the best experiences of this year? If you could have it any way you wanted it, what were the best experiences? Who did you spend more time with that you really, really enjoyed? What relationships made you happy? What were the relationships that you cut out of your life because you realized that they weren't adding anything to your life, but rather they were taken away and you just eliminated them? How much better do you feel? What did you learn? Like, how did you take care of your. What actions did you do to take care of yourself so that you maintain this body, your health, your mindset, so that you can show up better for your family, your friends, and just enjoy and appreciate more of life? When I asked this question, what came to mind? These are the things I want you to write down and find a way to incorporate them into your day. I mean, the strategy side of this is a completely different post. I'm not going to go into that too much because I could spend half an hour just talking on that. But just get acquainted with the feelings and the things that you want to bring into your life. And without even overthinking it, just take a step, whatever that first step is not the step to like to get ready to take the step, but just take a step. If it's being more healthy, set a time, go out for a walk. If it's cold where you are and you don't feel like going to walk, do jumping jacks for five minutes, anything, Just take some kind of action because it's going to change the way you feel. It's going to open up other doors, other avenues that maybe they've always been there, but just because you're in a different scene and all of a sudden you get the juices flowing, your body moving, you start to think differently. My intention for you and this year is to have the best year of your life. The best year meaning that you're pushing yourself to grow, that you feel inspired, that you're doing things that you're going to remember for the rest of life. You're taking time not just to think about the career goals, but things that you're just going to remember, the memories that you want to create, the people that you want to spend time with. Because it's. You know, if anything, being here in Miami, I realize that it's not so much. It's very. There's a lot of flash of you, right? There's always something grabbing your attention. Like, I'm right on the main strip. And I feel like whenever I go out, if I go for afternoon skateboard, there's people all decked out in the gowns and everything else, and I'm Like, I feel like I'm missing out. I get this fomo, but when I actually stop and I check back in, I remember the things that I enjoy the most here. Like, you know, waking up for sunrise, going out for the walk with the, you know, seeing the palm trees, going out for sunset and just watching, like, the. The stillness and watching other people do that. I went out to the park and I was listening to opera. I mean, these are the things that bring me joy. And, you know, I make it an intention now to make time for those. Like yesterday, I still had some work on my one life blueprint that I wanted to finish up. I was like, oh, I can't. I'm sitting at my desk where I'm recording this right now. And then I was like, ah, I can't get out there, you know, but the sunset's gonna. 10 minutes. Ah, I can't. I was like, wait, why don't I just bring my work and do it and just like, sit out there, watch the sunset and just bring my. Bring my clipboard and describe my notes there while I'm watching the sunset. Ah, idea. And I was so happy that I did because I stopped. I was just kind of watching. Everything was very still and it brought peace to my day, which is one of the reasons why I like sunsets and sunrises, right? Because it just. It sets the tone for your day. It also closes out your day in a very, very powerful way. So whatever it is for you, just one, you know, the intention is make good on the experience. Do the things that you were going to remember for the rest of your life. Don't put the things off, because not a single moment is guaranteed. Right? The only moment you have is right now. So you need to put the stakes in the ground and say, all right, this is what I want for this year. Put the thing on the calendar. Don't be afraid. You could change it anytime, block it out on the calendar, and then just start taking steps on it. It's funny, we have this. There's this like this apprehension to put something on a calendar, to commit to it, but just putting there it changes the way you think of it. It's one of the things I do for my trips, as well as how I want to socially give back, and then just take action, just move towards it. So that is all I've got for you guys. And at the very least, if you want to just. If you're just, you know, you're not really sure what you want to do, just take a moment, have a cup of coffee and just breathe the beautiful, the life force into you and just take the moment just to be still and just enjoy the gift of being alive. So that is all, that's all I have for you guys. I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit of inspiration. I hope it made you ask a little bit different of a question in terms of what you want for 2024. And maybe, just maybe it connected you to that vision that you have for this year and what would make this year just an amazing year for you if you did. Please share this with 5 people, send this video to 5 people whom you think would benefit from it. And and thank you so so much for tuning in. I appreciate you. You could spend your time anywhere, but you chose to be here and there are new coincidences. You're here for a reason, because you needed to hear this message and that it sparked some kind of inspiration for you. I do believe that nothing happens by chance. If you have any questions or would like to ask a question or a comment, you can visit my website@www.donnyrouse.com. again, D O N N Y R A U S A There you could send me an email. You could sign up for the One Life Blueprint. The next course is going to be opening is going to be in a few months, so there's no openings right now, but in a few months you could sign up for the One Life Blueprint and I look forward to taking the journey with you. So thank you so much for coming, for tuning in, for listening to this message. And remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately and most of all live now. God bless you guys and I will see you again soon.