219: Don't give up on your goals

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Wayfair. Every style, every home. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Connie Crystal's The Podcast. Firstly, my name is Mart Tweedy, I'm your host. Secondly, Merry Christmas if you celebrate. Happy Christmas, happy holidays, happy festivities, whatever it is that we're saying these days. I just wanted to say I hope that you've all had an incredible Christmas. Obviously we are on the huge run-up now to New Year into 2026. So this episode I'm going to do something a little different with you all. Reason being is that I tried to record this episode on Sunday. I thought I'd recorded the entire thing. Thought, "Oh, I'll schedule that when I go away to Northern Ireland." 'Cause I'm away like over Christmas. And then I realized that the file hasn't actually come from my Mac onto my MacBook. So I am without file. I barely have any recollection of anything that I spoke about. So I thought, "Oh my God, the episode comes out in 2 days." Here we are Christmas Day. I'm sat here right now with a microphone in front of us towels over me head in my father-in-law's airing cupboard. That's where I am. Glamorous. Yeah. Anyway, before we get into today's episode, which is going to be a bit different, but I'll talk you through that shortly, I just want to take a moment to talk about two things that I have created that genuinely will underpin everything that I teach around manifestation, mindset, and creating real change. Because if you've been listening to this podcast for a while now, you'll know I'm not about quick fixes. I'm not about that motivation that wears off after a week. I'm more about practices that actually change the way that you think, feel, and show up in your life. So the first of these is my 31 Days of Gratitude process. And yes, I know, like, gratitude can sound a bit basic or like something that you've tried before and thought, "Yeah, I know I should be grateful, Mart. You don't have to tell us. I don't need a course for that." But this isn't about surface-level gratitude. It's not about forcing positivity when life feels hard. This 31 Days of Gratitude process on the Academy is a guided daily process designed to retrain your brain. So every single day for 31 days, you'll get a short audio from me, usually 5 to 10 minutes long, and you can listen to this on the Kajabi app, you can listen to it by logging into the Academy, you can do it by email, whatever way works best for you. You can do it while you're getting ready, while you're walking, while you're driving, or even just sitting quietly with a notebook and pen. Now, every single episode gives you a focus, a reflection, or a prompt that helps you start noticing what's working and what's supporting you and what you already have available to you, even if you feel stuck right now. And this is why this matters for manifestation, because your brain is constantly filtering your reality. It's deciding what you notice and what you don't. We know this. We know about the RAS, the reticular activating system. So when you practice gratitude consistently, you are literally training your mind to look for evidence of safety, abundance, opportunity, and progress. And when that happens, your energy shifts and your confidence grows. Things will start to move around you. Now, people often tell me that they feel calmer, clearer, more grounded, more optimistic just a few days into this process. Not because life suddenly becomes perfect around you, but because they start responding to it differently. So for this course, you don't need to be spiritual, you don't need to know how to journal perfectly, you don't even need loads of time. Like I said, it's 5 to 10 minutes a day. You just need to show up for those few minutes. Okay, so if you want to come and join us, head to cannycrystalsacademy.co.uk, click on all courses, find the 31 Days of Gratitude. I think it's the first one that comes up there. It is £10 for the entire month. You pay once, you've got it for life. It's on the app. You can come back to the little challenges and the little requests that I have you doing on a daily basis. You and come back to them whenever you want. You want to do this in June? Do it in June. Buy it now while it's only £10. It's literally 10 quid, and it's going to set you up beautifully for the year ahead. Okay, I'll put the link in the show notes underneath today's episode as well, so you know where all that little description about today's episode— it'll be in there as well. You should be able to just click the link, or alternatively, if you want to head over to my Instagram, you'll see my link in my bio as well, and you'll be able to get into it via there. The second thing I want to talk to you about is my Achieving Your Goals workshop, which is on the 30th of December at 7 PM UK time. This is a live workshop that I run where I walk you through the exact process that I use myself every single December to set goals that actually get achieved, not just written down and forgotten about by February. So inside the workshop, we look at what you truly want, not what you think you should truly want or what looks good on paper, We also identify the mindset blocks, fears, and patterns that stop you following through, and we align your goals with your energy, your nervous system, and your real life so it doesn't feel like constant pressure or self-criticism. So when you join, you get the live workshop, you get a detailed workbook, you get a guided meditation, a subliminal audio, bonus PDFs, and the replay. So even if you can't attend live, you still get the full experience. This is where these two things work so well together. Gratitude obviously helps you to stabilize your mindset, build trust in yourself, and shift out of lack. And then goal setting then gives that energy direction. So one helps you feel better where you are, the other helps you move forward with clarity and confidence. So if you've been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, unmotivated, or like you've lost a bit of faith in yourself lately, these are the two practices that I would genuinely recommend starting with this December. Okay, you don't need to overhaul your life, you don't need to wait until you're ready, you just need that starting point. So you will find all the details for the 31 Days of Gratitude and the Achieving Your Goals workshop in the show notes or at cannycrystalsacademy.co.uk. Okay, so today, like I said, this is going to be a bit of a, a weird episode because I haven't got much time. My little boy's downstairs All of Johnny's family are downstairs, in fact, and we're waiting to have food. So I just wanted to do this very, very quickly. But I want to just zoom out a little bit and talk about the bigger energetic picture that we are currently moving through, because it gives so much context to why things might have felt the way that they have recently and why the next year feels very different. So if we look at the Chinese zodiac, 2025 is the year of the snake. That's what we're in right now. 2026 is the Year of the Horse. So these two energies that we're in right now could not be more different. The Year of the Snake is all about shedding, reassessment, inner transformation. You know, snakes don't rush. They don't move unless there's a reason to. They regularly shed their own skin in order to grow. Now, for many people, 2025 has felt quite uncomfortable. For me, it's felt quite slow and emotionally demanding. It's been a year of realizations, endings, truths coming to the surface. There's a lot of like moments that I've had where I'm like, oh my God, I can't do this anymore. Like, old patterns have come up, old identities, old ways of working or being in relationships have started to feel tighter and tighter, like clothes that I've outgrown. Now that's not been accidental because snake years, they tend to bring up all that deep inner work. So they ask us to look honestly at what is misaligned, what is draining us, and what no longer fits that version of ourselves that we are going to become. Now, it's not always loud or dramatic, but it is always powerful. And for many people, it's been a year of internal change rather than visible external wins. But this is the important bit: that shedding phase is not wasted time. It's preparation for us, because 2026 is the Year of the Horse. So if you think of a horse galloping, horse energy is fast.. It's expansive, it's bold, it's forward-moving, it's always thrusting ahead, right? Horses are about freedom, momentum, courage, taking that decisive action. Where the snake reflects and sheds, the horse runs. It doesn't overthink, it doesn't wait for perfect conditions, it moves when the moment feels right. So what this means energetically is that the internal work and the clarity and the awareness that you've been building in 2025 is going to become your rocket fuel in 2026. So everything you've been questioning or releasing and redefining, it's all going to start to turn into action and visible change for us. Now, for many people, 2026 will feel like a year where things finally start to click. You might have decisions that feel easier. Your confidence might feel a lot more accessible. These opportunities might start coming through faster. Momentum is going to build more naturally for us in 2026, okay? But, and this is really important, Horse energy rewards clarity and direction. It needs to know in which direction it wants to charge in. If you don't know where you're going, that fast energy can feel quite chaotic, okay? If you haven't decided what you want, that movement is going to feel overwhelming rather than exciting. And that's why this transition period matters so much. Late in 2025, it's not about forcing results.. It's about choosing a direction for your life. It's about asking yourself questions like, what do I actually want to run towards? What version of myself am I ready to move as? What do I no longer want to drag into my next chapter? Because that horse, it doesn't want baggage, it just wants freedom. So if you felt like 2025 has been a bit of a clearing year, or a year where things really slowed down so you could see more clearly, That is not you being behind. That's just you being at the starting line of the horse race, ready and positioned, basically. So 2026 is about movement, but movement with purpose. And the more intentional you are now, the more powerful that forward momentum will become. And this is why practices like gratitude, reflection, aligned goal setting, they are so important at this point of the year because they help you close one energetic chapter consciously so you're not carrying that unfinished emotional business into a faster, more dynamic year. So if things have felt quiet or heavy for you, just trust that you're not stuck. You are shedding skin right now, and what comes next is movement, freedom, and expansion, but only if you choose your direction with care. Okay, that is the opportunity of the Horse year. Now, just to wrap up this episode, I did mention it was going to be a bit of a shorter episode, But just to wrap up this episode, I wanted to share with you one of the day's resources that I put out in my 25 Days of Manifestmas. Hundreds of people have been doing this, okay, all the way through on the Canny Crystals Academy, all the way through December. And one of the resources got so much love. I had so many messages from members that are doing it saying, "Oh my God, this is absolutely like gold dust. I need to come back to this in a few months' time." "I need you to directly inject this straight into my veins." So I thought, you know what, all these resources that are on the 25 Days of Manifestmas, they are all exclusive, but I'm going to share this one with you, okay? So this was the pep talk that I put out to the members on day 21, I think it was, and it was basically just to spur them on so that they didn't give up at the final hurdle in the last 10 days of December. So I'm going to pop that on right now. It's 10 minutes long. Which will take us right up to the end of the episode. I hope you love it, and I can't wait to see you all in 2026. Please, like I said earlier, cannycrystalsacademy.co.uk, use the code PODCAST at checkout, and you'll also get 10% off as well. So 31 Days of Gratitude will become £9, the Achieving Your Goals in 2026 workshop will become £19. Go and do it, I will love you forever. Right, Here comes my pep talk for the remainder of the year. Have a beautiful New Year, and I'll see you all next week. Now, December is such a strange month energetically because on the outside it looks quite magical. There's fairy lights everywhere, there's music in the shops, people rushing around with bags full of gifts. It's almost like there's a promise of a fresh start just a few weeks away. But underneath all of that sparkle, December is one heaviest months of the year for the human mind because this is the month where people quietly decide that they've failed, whether that's on a conscious level or a subconscious level. They look back at January and think, "I said I'd be fitter by now. I said I'd be happier by now. I said I'd be further ahead in my journey by now," and instead of meeting themselves with compassion, they meet themselves with judgment instead. So they do what what feels easiest, and they mentally check out. They tell themselves, "I'll start again in January." They throw their goals on hold. They emotionally park their dreams for another few weeks, and then they'll convince themselves that December doesn't really count. But this is the truth that I want you to hear today. December counts more than most months because December isn't the end. It's just an energetic bridge between the person you've been and and the person you're becoming. And manifestation doesn't work on calendar dates. It doesn't look through your diary and think, "Mm, I'll let her manifest at this date." It works on mindset. The universe doesn't suddenly wake up on the 1st of January and go, "Ah yes, now we can respond to your intentions." It doesn't work like that. Your subconscious doesn't suddenly decide to support you because the year has changed. Energy doesn't care about New Year's Eve. You receive on New Year's Day, what it responds to is what you believe. It responds to what you choose and to who you are being right now. Now most people delay their power. They tell themselves they'll think positively later, they'll back themselves later, they'll take action later, they'll believe in themselves later. And then later becomes next year, next year becomes another year, and suddenly a decade passed, and they're still sat there waiting for the right time to become who they said they wanted to be. Manifestation isn't about waiting for January, it's about deciding in December. Because this is the month where your identity can shift. This is the month where your standards can rise. This is the month where that old story can quietly lose its grip on you. Because the scariest place to be this time next year is in exactly this same place, with the same worries, the same income, the same fears, the same excuses, that same energetic ceiling on your life stopping you from becoming who you're meant to be. Not because you aren't capable, but because you kept postponing your power. Your mindset isn't just a nice idea, it is the operating system for your entire life. Your thoughts shape your emotions. Your emotions then shape your decisions. Your decisions then shape your habits. Then your habits shape your results. It's a huge cycle. And your results, they shape the story that you tell yourself about who you really are. So if you don't change that story, you're just gonna keep recreating the same chapter over and over again. So many Many people tell me on a day-to-day basis that they want a different life, but then they just keep on thinking in exactly the same patterns. They want abundance but they live in lack. They want confidence but they then talk themselves down. They want love but they just keep on settling for second best. They want freedom but they stay loyal to what feels familiar because it's safer. Manifestation faithfully just mirrors that. It doesn't respond to what you say you want. It responds to what you consistently expect. So December is powerful because it exposes this so clearly, because this is the month where you either default back to old habits or you consciously interrupt them. December is the month where you either numb yourself through distraction or you start to get honest with yourself. So this is the month where you either sleepwalk into another year or you choose to wake yourself up. And this is something that nobody talks about enough. You don't need to become a brand new person on the 1st of January. You just need to become slightly more self-aware in December. You don't need to have everything figured out or have a perfect plan or have that flawless motivation. You just simply need to stop abandoning yourself at the end of every year thinking, "it's fine, I'll start in January," because you are silently confirming to your subconscious that your future always lives somewhere else, but your power is always now. Manifestation works when your actions align with your identity, not when your dreams are parked on a reminder for later. So I want you to get honest with yourself right now and ask yourself this question: if nothing changed between now and this time next year, how would that feel in your body? How would you feel if you were in exactly the same place this time next year? Would you feel proud? Would you feel relieved? Would you feel excited? You'd more than likely feel disappointed, frustrated, stuck, depressed even. That feeling right there is information that your body is sending you. It's your intuition telling you that time alone will not change your life. Only your decisions will. You don't manifest through hoping, you manifest through choosing. Choosing to speak kinder to yourself. Choosing to take one brave step when fear tells you to stay small. Choosing to honour your energy instead of burning it out. Choosing to invest in your growth instead of instant comfort. Most people underestimate the compound effect of tiny December actions and decisions. One journal entry could shift your self-talk. One boundary that you finally hold. One honest conversation that you stop avoiding. One habit that you gently release. One belief that you begin to question. They are not small acts, they are energetic declarations to life that you're ready to rise, and then your life will respond to that. You don't need a vision board before you have self-belief. You don't need affirmations before you have integrity with yourself. You don't even need a ritual before you have self-respect. All of those tools and resources, they just amplify what already exists within you. They don't replace it. And this is why mindset is everything. Your environment might shape you, but your mindset decides if you stay shaped by it. Your past might inform you of different things, but your mindset decides if it defines you. And your fear in your head, it might be loud, but your mindset decides who gets the final say. December is not a waiting room. It's a little pause between who you were and who you are choosing to become. So I'm not saying overhaul your whole life before Christmas. I'm not saying that you've got to burn out trying to prove your worth. I'm not saying you've got to hustle for validation. You've just got to simply stay awake. And when I say awake, I mean to the patterns, to your power, to the truth that you have far more control than you've ever been taught to believe. And if you can shift your mindset in that quiet, reflective energy of December, you don't need the hype of January. You'll already enter the new year aligned, grounded in momentum, embodying that version of you that most people are only writing New Year's resolutions about. So if there's one thing I want you to take away from this today, it's to not use December as a place to hide from your dreams. I want you to use it as the place where you quietly, bravely recommit to them. Do not wait for another new year to become a new you. Become her now, become him now, become them now, because mindset is everything, and the life that you are manifesting next year is being decided by the thoughts that you choose to entertain today.

You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank? Wayfair gets it. Planning on dining al fresco or relaxing poolside? Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to 70% off during Wayfair's Fourth of July clearance. Score huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs, and more. We're talking thousands of products for every style and budget. Plus, surprise flash deals July 6th. Don't wait. Shop Wayfair's Fourth of July clearance now through July 6th at wayfair.com.

Wayfair, every style, every home.