116: Creating a spark for the year ahead

Hello everyone and welcome back to Canny Crystals, the podcast. As you know by now, I'm Mart, I am your host, and here we are in 2024. Can you believe that I started this podcast in 2021 and we're already here in 2024? Absolute madness. I hope that you had an amazing Christmas and New Year and, you know, a rested festive break. On New Year's Eve, I went to this, um, it was a bit of a ticketed event at a place in Newcastle called Wyland Brewery. I'm sure it was about £30 a ticket, you know, but I thought, hey, it's New Year's Eve. Anyway, it absolutely poured down from the minute we got in our taxi there, and the taxi driver, he wouldn't even take us into the physical park where the event was taking place, so he dropped us at the gates and we had to walk through a public park in amongst all the mud, all the grass, pitch black, no lighting or anything like that, for about 10 minutes in the rain. Obviously girls wear heels, so we were trying to drag our friends along as quickly as possible whilst trying, you know, not to pull them over in the mud. Eh, my God, what a palaver, honestly. So I got 2 gin and tonics, and I was really surprised when he asked for £28 as well. And I then got a round of drinks for the 7 of us, and it came to £94. Money mindset and all that shite, but honestly, I was actually disgusted at— she agreed. There was supposed to be a food market there as well, and there was like 2 vans, one that did loaded fries and another with a hog roast. It wasn't great, if I'm totally honest. The DJ would play like his Spotify playlist, and he literally had this Spotify playlist up in plain sight, and we were like, okay. And then he would play a really, really good song, but then he would follow it up with like 10 songs from the '60s or the '70s that just left everyone kind of, you know, looking around at each other thinking, what's going on? It wasn't great. I kind of wish I'd just stayed at home and had a little house gathering instead. But anyway, we got back at about 1 o'clock. I was stone cold sober, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. So I hope that your New Year's Eve was slightly better than mine was. And you know, we're into the first week of January here, and I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who attended my New Year's Day workshop on achieving your goals in 2024. If you didn't get to attend, you can still access the workshop on replay via cannycrystalsacademy.co.uk. It was so, so lovely to share the evening with almost 200 of you live And then I know so many of you couldn't watch live, but you have caught up since. I've been watching everyone watching it. I've absolutely loved being tagged in all of your aha moments, your vision boards, your workshop moments, completing the workbook. So thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. And I thought, as you know, we're in the first week of January, that it would be a good episode to talk about how to create a spark for the year ahead. I feel like I've, you know, really lit that flame under me own arse this last week especially. There was even one day that I went to the gym twice in one day. Like, who am I? Do you know what I mean? Who am I? There's just been so much that I've done in the last week or so that I've, you know, I've put off for so long because I found it daunting. And when I've actually gone ahead and done it, it's not half as bad as I expected it to be. Getting back in the gym, for example, I don't know why, but I hyped it up to be this huge thing where I would walk in, you know, people would turn around point and laugh at me and be like, haha, fatty. And obviously it's not like that, that's just what I'd hyped it up to be in my head. And I walked in and I saw maybe 8, 9, 10 people that I knew from previous gyms, from past jobs. Honestly, it was so nice to just like be in the presence of people that I already knew anyway. So yeah, it wasn't half as daunting as I was expecting it to be. And doing those activities in my own workshop that really helped to kickstart my 2024 in the exact way that I wanted it to. And I wanted to elaborate on some of the areas that I spoke about. So one of the first things that I spoke about in the workshop was all around the importance of setting intentions for the year ahead. The universe loves when we get really specific and really intentional. Now, there is a vast difference between setting intentions and setting New Year's resolutions. Okay, so New Year's resolutions, they often focus on very specific goals or actions, you know, like losing weight or saving money, and they're usually outcome-based and they can sometimes be quite rigid. Whereas intentions, on the other hand, they're more about cultivating a value or a quality in our life, such as, you know, being more mindful or being more kind or courageous, and they tend to be the mindset-oriented goals. They can offer more flexibility and more depth. So setting clear intentions, that acts as a roadmap guiding our actions and decisions throughout the year. And not just that, but intentions can also provide us with focus and clarity, which will then reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed by having too many goals. So I'd just like you to grab a bit of paper and a pen and create some meaningful intentions after listening to this podcast episode. You know, maybe you'd like to spend time in quiet reflection considering what truly matters to you and, you know, which areas of your life that you'd like to concentrate on over the next 12 months. You can ask guiding questions to yourself, you know, like, what brings me joy and fulfillment? Or what qualities do I want to cultivate in myself? What I will say is I'd like to stress the importance of ensuring that intentions align with your personal core values, because when intentions are in harmony with our values, they're going to feel more authentic and more achievable, and we'll be 10 times more likely to physically actively achieve them. Okay, so to do this, I definitely suggest, you know, using visualization visualization to imagine how fulfilling these intentions will feel to you when they actually happen. Another tip I can give you is to be very, very specific, like I say. But although you're being specific, I want you to remain flexible. It's a very fine line, and this really confuses some people when I say this, but what I mean is, you know, try and be specific enough so that your intentions have direction, but also flexible enough to adapt in case there's any changes in circumstances, that kind of thing. Because nothing will ever 100% go the way that you planned. For example, like, rather than just intending to be healthy, you might aim to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into meals or engage in physical activity 3 times a week. Get what I mean? So once you've decided what you want, what you really, really want, write it down. Write down your intentions because that act, that act can make intentions feel more concrete and more memorable. You could write them in the start of a journal. Like on the front page so that, you know, when you're journaling throughout the rest of the year, it's all in relation to those, like, intentions that you place at the start of the year because you're going to bring your focus constantly back to that. You could create a vision board where you see your intentions daily. Writing them down, it allows you to reflect back on them at a later date and to see how far you've actually come. What I found really, really beneficial for me was a couple of weeks ago, I opened my journal from the start of last year, 2023, and in it I'd wrote 2 or 3 affirmations at the start. And those affirmations were basically what I had based my entire 2023 around, but I hadn't even noticed that I'd done it. Everything I had done had subconsciously, like, been around those 3 affirmations. So it's just really, really nice. And subconsciously, you know, you might do the same, but I would write them down because that's going to allow you to reflect on them at a later date. Like I say, And I know that I have mentioned before about the benefits of sharing intentions with a friend or a family member or a community group, but I'm gonna shout it from the rooftops again because sharing can create that sense of accountability. It's going to keep you on track with your goals. It's going to be able to provide that support that we sometimes need because no one can reach a goal on their own just by, you know, being totally laser-focused. Well, you might be able to, but it's gonna be fucking hard. Do you know what I mean? We need that accountability. We need that support. We need that support network around us, that community spirit. So don't be scared to share your goals and aspirations like that as well. And then I'd say the next step is to set yourself regular check-in intervals, like the start of every month, for example, just to reflect on your intentions. And what I'm going to say is adjust your intentions as needed. And, you know, just remember that it's okay to evolve and change to fit in with your life. So acknowledge and celebrate your progress, no matter how small, because celebrating those milestones, that's going to give you a boost of motivation. You know, it's going to give you that reinforcement of that positive behavior. And another way in ensuring that you start the year with a bang is by using the sheer power of visualization. I briefly spoke about before, but if I asked you to visualize your ideal day or visualize yourself achieving a specific goal How would that look like to you? How would that physically look like to you in 2024? Most of you will try and make excuses for not visualising. And you know, one of my friends, Nikki, she's absolutely horrific for it. I keep on telling her it'll maybe take 2 to 3 minutes per night in bed just before you head off to sleep. And she tells me that she never gets capacity and doesn't have the time. I give up. The second your head hits that pillow on a night and that you turn over to go to sleep, whether you've got your face mask on, you know, whether you've just closed your eyes, whether you've just like cuddled into your partner. Honestly, start that visualizing. This is such a powerful, important time for you to do this. As you drift off to sleep, your brain is going into theater mode, okay? You're using no extra time because you're already winding down for bed anyway. So visualization is such a powerful tool to help you get into the mindset of someone who's physically already achieved what you want to in life. And speaking of mindset, let's talk about mindset shifts. I've spoke so many times about how a negative thought pattern can hinder your progress, and that's why you always hear people saying, you know, stay positive, you know, look on the bright side of life. Remember that growth mindset I spoke about a few episodes ago where I spoke about reframing failures as learning opportunities? Just remember that you can turn anything on its head. What is that saying? Every cloud has a silver lining, is it? You can turn anything on its head to ensure that you're in the right frame of mind for achieving your goals. And something else that can help you kickstart 2024 is creating yourself a plan of carrying out daily or weekly spiritual practices that can enhance your mindfulness and inner peace. And you might be like, nah, I don't need mindfulness or inner peace. Trust me when I say you do. Trust me, okay? They'll really help you in terms of maintaining focus and clarity throughout the year. You could even just start with something as simple as a 3 to 5 minute morning meditation or even a nightly gratitude journaling. Remember last year when I released my 31 Days of Gratitude? Shameless plug here, but that's just £3 for the 31 podcast episodes that you could listen to daily. That'll really infuse your day with gratitude. That's a little practice that's not going to take you any extra time. It's literally a 5-minute podcast every day for 31 days. That's going to really enhance your day. And something that I did share in the Achieving Your Goals workshop the other day is that when I thought back to, you know, this time last year— so if I'm thinking back to January 2023, where I was when I did this— I reflected on my journey and I actually sat back and smelled those roses. You know, everything that I was planting the seeds this time last year, everything had come full bloom. And I actually had a few tears at— I'm welling up again— but I had a few tears at just how far I'd come using my achieving your goals process. Because I think I've just been so, so busy this last year that, you know, I've not really sat back to smell the roses. And it wasn't until I was at Denise Duffield-Thomas's event in Bristol a couple of months ago that I was talking on the microphone and someone physically said, you need to sit back and, you know, smell those roses because what you've achieved is phenomenal, and some people don't even achieve that in a lifetime. And I was like, yes, I'm grateful for them, but you know, I'm just winging it. But I've really, really sat back this last week and smelled those roses. I've had loads of tears, like I say, just talking about it and thinking about how far I've come from using my own process. And I remember this time last year as well I'd just been booked. You probably know this if you listen to the podcast for a while, but I'd just been booked for my first ever speaking slot at the Beauty Growth Academy with Alicia, and I was asked to do a speech all about goal setting and setting intentions and setting resolutions in January for the new year of 2023. And I remember specifically the day that I was putting the presentation together, I was listening to some music in the background and Katy Perry's Deja Vu started playing. You might not know this song, but there's a line in the chorus that says, "Every day is the same, the definition of insane. I think I'm running on a loop, déjà vu." And hearing this just made me think, you know what, I don't want 2023 to just be another carbon copy of the year that I've just had. I actually want to grow as a person or as a business. I want to develop myself and I want to land in 12 months' time in my body in a whole other space and time. And I remember specifically saying that to myself, and I even wrote it down in the front of my journal that, you know, I was going to work on myself, I was going to develop myself and land in 12 months' time in my body in a whole different space. And I remember doing a bit of research whilst I was putting that presentation together, and I can't remember where I read this. Maybe it was whilst I was looking at something, you know, of like Tony Robbins or something, but someone had said, and I quote, "The scariest place to be this time next year is in the exact same place that you are in right now." Now, hearing that quote lit such a rocket under me arse that I thought to myself, I'm going to practice what I preach here. I'm going to commit to this for 12 months. I am going to write out this process of how to achieve your goals, everything I've done, And then what I'm physically going to do is I am going to live it. Now, when I got to October time, October 2023, I looked back at my list of achievements and that was the point that I thought to myself, I'm going to offer this workshop to everyone via the Academy because this is just too good to not share. And I want all you lot to have the same transformation. So for accountability, what do you want to achieve in 2024? If I asked you that question and you had an instant thought pop up in your head, write that down right now. What do you want to achieve in 2024? Here's what I achieved in the last 12 months from following my own achieving your goals process. So I started the year by retiring me mam, who now works for me one day a week, which is, you know, obviously going to be a massive help when it comes to childcare too, because she's going to be free all the time. I've employed an admin assistant in Jade who now packs all of my orders, and I barely have to get involved in that side of the business, you know, other than the sourcing of the products. I hired an admin assistant in Nikki who deals with all my emails, my office admin, and she's really helped with, you know, setting up all the automations on Instagram. I've got the car of me dreams that I wanted for so long, but I felt like it was way out of me comfort zone. I started on the adoption process with my partner Johnny, which we successfully passed in November. We are imminently about to be placed with a baby. This is one of the best manifestations that I've ever had. I was then featured in 3 issues of British Vogue in their health and wellbeing campaign. I was asked to speak at Stella McCartney's Pride event and more recently was then asked to speak at her January retreat for new staff in Milan. Which I'm having to, you know, do remotely via Zoom because I can't exactly travel to Milan with a newborn baby. I manifested a free cruise around the Med with Fran, all expenses paid, free food and drink, which was absolutely wild. I held an event in London at the Barbican for 800 of you with Fran, which we sold out. I had a £27,000 order from Chanel come through for their summer ball. I met Fearne Cotton twice. I had 26,000 of you through the Academy doors. I completed 17,000 physical orders and I somehow managed to spend over £70,000. That's £70,000 with Royal Mail. And then last month I even got the ball rolling with a book deal for my new book. That is what I've accomplished in the last 12 months. If I had wrote all of that down at the start of last year and thought, I'm going to achieve all of this, I probably would have felt quite overwhelmed thinking there's no way you can fit all that into one year. But it happened. Anything is possible. Anything, and I mean this, anything is possible. That's what I've accomplished in the last 12 months. That and more, actually, because, you know, they're just all the big things. Then there's all the smaller things too that I've not totally mentioned there. When I list all my large accomplishments like that, it absolutely amazes me that had I have not created this process for my talk last January, I might have been in the exact same place this time last year without that growth, without that expansion, without that transformation. It's all about taking those actionable steps. So for those of you who have done the workshop best of luck to you. You're in for a ride and it's going to be amazing. And for those of you that haven't yet, get yourself on there and join. You don't just get the 1-hour 45-minute workshop, you'll also get the 1-hour 11-minute subliminal, the 1-hour 11-minute affirmation track, the 10-minute guided meditation, a 12-month planner, a downloadable workbook, and 2 other downloadable PDFs too. It really, really, really is worth every penny at just £30. And just remember, the podcast discount is still active as well. So if you enter the word "podcast" at checkout, you'll also get 10% off everything. You also get lifetime access to it as well, so you can access whenever you like. Remember to start with small, achievable goals because that's going to help to build your confidence. Just remember the importance of consistency and patience in the process. And most of all, Remember that obstacles, you know, like doubt, procrastination, fear of failure, they're always going to creep up on you. They will always be there. It's how you deal with them, okay? The best and the easiest way to overcome, like, obstacles like that is to repeat affirmations, do some tapping, listen to subliminals, you know, things that are going to really counteract those feelings. You can create your own affirmations or tapping scripts. Or you can use the ones that I used in the workshop that's in the workbook. Just remember that consistency. The more you do something, the more likely you're going to see results from it. And trust us, if the process can work for me, then it can work for you as well. You just need to create that spark for the year ahead, and let's make the next 12 months your best year yet. I hope that you've all enjoyed this episode. I hope that you found it a little kick up the backside if you needed it, because some people, like I say, some people don't even get past January with intentions and New Year's resolutions. So yeah, I hope this has been the kick up the backside that you needed to keep on track with your goals. Like I say, remember that you can get 10% off everything site-wide with the code, which is the word PODCAST. Just enter that word at checkout on either cannycrystals.co.uk or cannycrystalsacademy.co.uk. And it will instantly give you 10% off whatever is in your basket. I've also got a huge website restock on all crystals this Saturday, the 6th of January at 7 PM. So if you're looking for some crystals to really inspire yourself to have your best year yet, look no further. I'll be restocking all, all favorites as well as bringing you lots of new products as well. Very excited to show you all the new shinies sat in my office at the moment because honestly some of them are beautiful. And that is about it. Okay, I did just also want to say just before I go, another massive thank you from the bottom of me heart for making me number 1 again between Christmas and New Year. It means so, so much to me whenever I see the podcast going to number 1. Honestly, the way it does that is with your comments, your follows, your listens, your ratings, and your reviews. So for anyone that did any of these between Christmas and New Year, Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of me heart. I've got an amazing 2024 planned for you all, and I'm so, so happy that you've stuck with us through the thick and thin and you're still here. So I hope you enjoy the journey over these next 12 months. I'm raising a glass to toast you all in the start of our most abundant year so far. And on that note, I'll see you all next Friday for another episode. Thanks so much for listening, guys. Bye!