#192 Start the Year with Intentions, not Resolutions

Happy New Year, everyone. Welcome to the first episode of 2024. It's another great year for the PID podcast. Every single year, at the end of it and at the beginning of it, I set certain intentions and I go into the new year ready to go with a plan. I'm going to talk about that practical approach today on the podcast, so stay tuned. Welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast, where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe. Now, let's get on with the show. All right, so you're listening to a special episode of our podcast where today is not just the first day of a new year, it's the promise of whatever this opportunity is that lies ahead. I tend to say every year is the most important, and I absolutely believe that every single year that you have in front of you is the most important one, because the decisions you're going to make this year are going to dramatically change the trajectory of your lives and the lives of your family. So I like to do this with intention. I usually end the year with intention, meaning that I like to think back and reflect. But then whenever I start a new year, I think about, how do I plan for that new year? How do I make the most of 2024? I'm sure you're thinking about that. How do I make it the best year ever, take advantage of the opportunities and set myself up and my family up for success? So I just want to talk a little bit about that process of transitioning into a new year. If you haven't done it already, this is what I would recommend. Let's go ahead and reflect on 2023. When you look back at 2023, what are the key moments in your life that you can remember that you're going to pick out five years, ten years from now? You're not going to remember all the small stuff. You're not going to stress about the times that you were rushed to pick up your kids from school or, you know, something happened on call, and this. You're probably not going to reflect on those things years down the line. Let's think about the things that you want to remember and. And let's be intentional about it. What were three amazing moments that happened for you this past year that you want to remember? You want to cement that in your memory? As I get older, I tend to feel like my memory is getting worse. Maybe that's just a belief of mine that I should get rid of, but it seems like that there are certain things. My wife tells me, my kids tell me. They told me, we told you already. And I can't remember. I'm like, no way. But in some ways, I think it's becoming more difficult to focus on multiple things at the same time. And so sometimes I don't hear things. I think it's becoming more difficult to focus on many things at the same time. So maybe things are happening around me. I'm missing it in some ways, but I don't want to do that with cool memories and experiences, especially as I think five years and 10 years back, especially to this year, to 2023. So what are three of those moments for you? Three of the moments for me, a lot have to do with my family. So I think about some of the experiences that we had, some of the vacations we had, going to Asia, spending time there, exploring the world. I also think back to our conference this fall. It was a bit nuts to put together, but to see over 400 physicians there live another 400 virtual to get together to talk about creating their ideal lives through real estate and entrepreneurship, to see the energy there and the excitement that was there, that left a lasting impression in my mind. And whenever I look back on it, I can't help but smile. And then my wife and I had some cool alone trips as well, too. We really made it a point this year to have a little bit more fun together as a couple. So thinking back to those experiences really bring joy to my life. And I think about that. I don't remember every little detail about what happened, but I remember the overall feeling. It's kind of like when you go to a restaurant. People always ask me, what did you eat at that restaurant? Or how was that restaurant? What did you eat? I rarely remember exactly what I ate, but I just remember the experience. Was it good? The food tasted great. The company I was with, it was awesome. It was so much fun. I really, really enjoyed it. But if you ask me again about the exact dish to get, I couldn't tell you. And I've heard the saying, I don't know if you've heard it before. The quality of our life is the quality of our emotions. That was a quote by Tony Robbins. I'm sure you got it from somewhere else too. Is that our emotions are what provide the juice to really allow us to live our fun lives and good lives. So beyond those three experiences, what were like, three emotions that you want to hold on to for this year? 2023? Hey, everyone wanted to pop in here real quick. To let you know that the annual Leverage and Growth Summit, I think it's our fifth one this year and it's happening on February 26th through March 1st, 2024. This is a virtual summit. It's for physicians. It is definitely one of my favorite events of the year. And the reason I love it is that it's all about stories. It's about stories of physicians doing some really amazing things outside of medicine, leveraging their medical degrees and all of that ambition and skills that they've grown and cultivated throughout their medical training and then using it for some other venture. These are doctors that are creating their ideal lives, that are living life by design. We've had tens of thousands of physicians who have participated in this in the past. And it's such a cool experience. I know you're gonna have a great time. So mark out that time, put it in your calendars, look out for it. And the best part is that it's completely free. It's a free summit. So plan to join us on February 26th through March 1st. Look out for that and see you there. I shared a little bit about this in my newsletter, but the three emotions that I really got excited about this year was number one, wonder. I just told you. I reflected on some times that I had with my wife. We got to go to the New Sphere venue in Las Vegas to watch YouTube play. I've been to a few YouTube concerts in the past. They're a great band. I love a lot of their classic hits. But to watch them in this crazy, amazing venue, like it just blew my mind. Just to think that somebody thought of this, had the creativity and made it happen was truly, again, awe inspiring. And it really made me feel like anything is possible. You have the chance. I'd highly recommend checking it out. The other two emotions that I had were curiosity and determination. Now, curiosity in the sense that there's so many changes happening in the world right now, with some of the wars and political things happening to the economy, interest rates, inflation, to so many changes even happening in our personal lives. I just became curious, what. What is going to happen over the next six to 12 months? What is this world going to be like? What's next for the economy? Will interest rates drop again? My guess is that they're going to start at least by next summer, next July. What will that do to the commercial real estate market, which I'm heavily involved in? Will it boost the stock market even further? We're seeing all time highs right now. Surprisingly, we talk about the point of maximal opportunity is that in 2024, what new skills, what new problems, what new experiences am I going to have in 2024? It just left me really curious this past year and really excited for what's to come. The last I mentioned was determination. I was talking to someone and they asked me if I had experienced a midlife crisis yet. And I began to think, I'm not midlife. I don't feel like it. But when I really think about it, I'm 46 years old. And someone told me that you're in midlife if there's more years behind you than in front of you. And I guess that could be the case for me. I'm trying to do everything to stay healthy, but you never know. So I took a little bit of time and reflection. I really felt a deep sense of gratitude for my family, my health, strong sense of purpose in my life, the mission that I have for this company and this business. And then it really got me to think, how do I want to make the most of this phase of my life? The back half? And that starts, I would say, in 2024, what am I going to do to make the biggest difference, to make the most of this opportunity that's been given to me? And so I became really determined. And so all of that led me into planning for 2024. Now, probably for all of you, your calendars are filled to the hilt, Meaning you have to think about your daily lives, your work, your family lives, your vacation schedules, cool things you want to do for business, business retreats, conferences. Your hope is like Tetris, where everything will just fall into place and work out. But we all know that's not the best way to optimize things. The best thing to do is to really look at your entire year. Think about the things you want to accomplish, think about things you want to do, things you want to prioritize, things you want to say no to, and make sure it's all mapped out, at least on a macro level. I'm not talking about mapping out all of the small little daily type things that you have to take care of, but thinking about 2024. If these things happened, this would make for an amazing year. And so that's what I did. I went and I got this big calendar. I got something called the Big Calendar by Jesse Itzler, but you can find this on Etsy as well, where they have the entire year mapped out for you on one big poster board. And so what I ended up doing was taking some post it notes and I really mapped out My entire year of things I wanted to do and experience. Sometimes I blocked certain weeks off that I knew I wanted to spend with my family. Couple days here where I wanted to go do a getaway with my wife. I want to go to these conferences. And I knew exactly when those dates were and, and I made sure it was all balanced, especially every 90 days. The cool thing is, whenever I looked at my entire year, yes, it was busy, but that still left a lot of room for spontaneity there. But I knew that I would take care of the essential things. It would be an amazing year and there's still room to be spontaneous and fun and try new things that would whatever would come up. And it got me so excited about the year. If you're not feeling excited about your year, I think it's not because there aren't exciting things that are going to happen, but you haven't taken a bird's eye view of the entire year and I think that's where you can excite yourself. You haven't been intentional about planning what's going to happen. So my challenge to all of you who are looking at this, don't just do the Google Calendar where you look at it month by month and start putting stuff in. It's in there with all the daily things you have to do. But go get a yearly calendar, map the entire year out, make sure it's balanced, make sure it includes all the things you want to do, see experience, and it'll get you excited about what's to come. Now, for those people who are looking to block off certain things, I would block off February 26th through March 1st, and that's gonna be the Leverage and growth summit, which we do every year. And then PIMDCON looks like it's happening September 26 through 28. Those dates are still subject to change, but I'm letting you know first here what those dates are. So try to save those dates for us. So we're also gonna be launching a PIMD Mastermind that's happening this spring with several retreats throughout the year. So at least let us know if you're interested. You can always email us. You can. You want to get more info, but you'll see more info about it on our newsletter and different announcements that we put out there. So in any case, all of the work stuff, I promise you, will be there for you. It'll eat up as much of your schedule as you give it. But if you can block out all of the cool things you want to do, the fun experiences with your family for yourself, things you want to try. Then it'll allow you to say no to more things. It'll get you more excited about the year. It gets you motivated, get you up out of bed. It's not enough to just say you want to have a good year if you don't intentionally set things out, make decisions. Nothing's going to happen without that action. So in the show notes, I'll send you a link to some yearly calendars that you can find and buy. You can find them on Etsy or wherever it might be. So forget about New Year's resolutions. I forgot what the statistics say about how long people keep with them. But think about starting this new year with intention, meaning that you want to plan out the entire year. So instead think about starting this year with intention. By reflecting on what happened last year, you can take some of the challenges and the lessons learned, bring that into 2024 and decide what you want to do with the time that you have. This is going to be an amazing year. I think it's amazing because there's going to be so much uncertainty up and down. But there will be opportunity for people who find themselves in a great community with a great mindset, with a great strategy behind them and make the most of this opportunity, really set themselves up for the future. That's what our community is excited about. I hope you're excited about it too. Let us know how we can continue to support you on your journey to growth, fulfillment, success, all of that. Until next time, have an amazing week and let's talk again soon. Enjoy the show. Let me know by dropping a review in the podcast app you're listening to us in. And if you haven't already, make sure to hit subscribe. Join thousands of physicians who are also on this journey to creating their ideal lives through multiple streams of income. Learn more at our website, passiveincomemd.com thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your journey. See you next time.