Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit. The podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page-turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture.
Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect podcast network, iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Gianna Prudenti, and I'm Jamaican Jackson Gadsden, we're the host of Let's Talk offline from LinkedIn news and iHeart podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to fourth vice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert, Maury to Harry Potter.
If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit.
Hi, I'm Essie Cup, and I've spent my career interviewing people about politics, presidential elections, and some really tough breaking news. But now, I need a break, and I think you do too. So on my new podcast, Off the Cup, I'll still be interviewing people, usually famous and most likely my friends, but about life. You know, the stuff that consumes us when we're not consumed by politics?
So come join me every Wednesday for some conversational self-care. Listen to Off the Cup on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.
Everyone is trying to build an online following right now. The rule of thumb is that it takes two years of posting consistently to break through. Why? Because those two years, you're basically moving through learn, experiment, perform, struggle. If you've posted every single day or multiple times per week for two years, I promise you, you have learned, you've experimented, you've performed, you've struggled for sure, and now you're going to thrive.
The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. He won the only Jay Shetty.
Hey everyone, welcome to Unpurpose 2025. This is going to be our biggest best year yet. I want this year to be your most powerful, your most abundant, your most creative, your most mindful year yet, a year filled with opportunity.
a year filled with wins and successes, a year filled with depth and fulfillment. This is the year you'll remember and look back on in years to come and say in 2025, I remember that episode where Jay said he wanted it to be the year that I finally get to where I want to get to, the year that I've been waiting for.
Mark your calendars. Remember this year. The way we infuse our year with intention, with ideas, with identity, with energy is what we get back from it. And I think for so many of us, we've had so many years of trying new habits, trying new tasks, maybe trying to manifest
And when it doesn't work out, we get that enthusiasm again, but then it wanes after seven days, 14 days, 30 days, whatever it may be. This year, it's changing. And the reason it's changing is not because this year is different. We often say, I hope this year brings
Well, here's the reality. The year doesn't bring anything that you don't bring to it. The energy that you bring to 2025 is what you're going to receive back. This year can be your best year because you're going to be at your best. This year can be your most abundant year because you're going to focus on building an abundance mindset. This year,
can be your most phenomenal year yet, because you're going to bring your most
phenomenal energy. What I'm sharing with you in today's episode is my proven tried and tested six step method to achieve all of your goals this year. I have tested this method. I've tried it. I've worked on it. I've practiced it over the last few years. And I have been able to accomplish my personal and professional goals every single year.
And here's what I want to share with you. It's not magic. It's really not a secret because I'm sharing it. And it's something that each and every one of you can do. I truly believe that if you follow this, if you listen really carefully, you will also get to where you want to go. Now, I'm going to say one thing.
As you listen to me share this, please allow it to sink into your ears and into your mind and into your heart. Allow it to truly go that deep. Allow it to truly go that far. Don't just let this be a mental thinking exercise. When I'm sharing these ideas, let them become your reality. Let them become something you're thinking, believing, practicing.
So, the first step is identifying your one personal goal and your one professional goal. I'm going to ask you to just pick one top personal goal.
and one professional goal. Your professional goal could be this is the year I get promoted. Your professional goal could be this is the year I launch that podcast. Your professional goal could be this is the year I launch my new business. And your personal goal could be this is the year I shed that weight. This is the year I build muscle. This is the year I get strong. But I want you to be really specific
And I want you to describe it as if you're telling a story. Imagine you were telling a story about this year to someone next year, and you were saying, 2025 is the year that I shared that weight. I felt lighter. I felt stronger. I felt better. It's the year that I got promoted.
It's the year that I worked really hard and showed myself what I was capable of. It's the year I discovered my potential. It's the year I was fascinated with this subject or this expertise. Talk about it as if you're being interviewed on a podcast and someone asked you to describe what happened that year.
How did that year change your life? What was the most pivotal moment in that year that redefined your trajectory, that rewired your transformation that brought you so much joy and passion in your life? Talk about it like a story. Often we talk about our goals, like theoretical, mathematical, algorithmic,
tools. Our goals become this language that we don't really feel connected to. It feels like something we want to do, something we have to do, something we wish would happen, something we're waiting for to happen rather than a story that feels natural and organic. Often our goals feel so lofty and separated even in the language we use around them because we don't talk about them
in how they feel. We talk about them in how we think they'll make us feel. So I want you to describe right, pour out onto a page what your personal goal and professional goal sound like when described like a story to a friend, like an interview on a podcast, like you're sharing with someone how 2025 was the most pivotal year.
What happened? I often have talked about interviews, how meeting monks was transformative for me, how in 2016, when my first video went viral, what that felt like, how in 2020, when I remember being able to serve so many of you through the pandemic, leading live meditations on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube, when I talk about in hindsight,
I've realized that I've got to learn to talk about it right now as a manifesting. And when I describe it like a story, it feels real to me. Right? How many times have you ever written a goal and you don't even believe it? Right? You write it down and you're already doubting it. You're already questioning it. You're already investigating it, assessing it, evaluating it, wondering if it's even true and going to happen.
But when you describe a story, when you describe something with passion and emotion and feelings, it hits you deeper. That's what self-belief is. You don't get self-belief because you write down a goal. You get self-belief because you describe something in how you believe it's possible. So I want you to take that time, really spend some time
describing it in that way. And the way I want you to think about your goals, because you might be saying, Jay, I've got more than two goals. One personal, one professional, I have so many. Well, here's the reality. 20% of our life leads to 80% of our wins, right? The 80, 20 rule. When you focus on the 20% that affects the entire 80%,
But often what we do is we focus on working so hard on 80% of things that maybe impact 20% of things. When you're forced to pick one goal for each, you pick the root, you pick the habit that transforms it all. Someone just asked me earlier today, Jay, what's the one habit that changed your life? And maybe they were thinking I was going to say something big, something profound.
And I replied very simply, going to bed early. Because here's the reality. Going to bed early is the 20%. That affects the 80%. Let me explain what I mean. When you go to bed early, you feel rested. When you wake up, you feel focused. When you wake up, you feel energized. You eat less junk food because your body's not craving sugars to give you energy because you have energy.
It's affecting 80% of your life and it was one decision. One personal goal and one professional goal can absolutely transform your trajectory. So don't underestimate it. Don't underestimate the power of one goal in each. Now step two, I want you to take your goal and ask yourself, what do I have to grow in?
in order to achieve that goal. This is the biggest misstep. It's not that I don't believe in goals. I believe more in growth. One of the biggest mistakes we make is we set goals, but we don't know how we need to grow in order to achieve them. So if I said, hey, I really want to build this business, but the growth I need to do is I need to understand that industry.
So what do I need to understand that industry? I need to read a book about that industry. I need to shadow someone in that industry. I need to get a coach in that industry. I need to go and learn online, listen to podcasts about that industry. That's the growth. What skill do I need to grow in order to achieve that goal? If you want to get promoted,
What growth do you need to make? Do you need to learn sales better? Because let's say your goal is, hey, I want to get promoted. And in order to get promoted, you need to bring in a certain amount of business this year. Now, if your goal just becomes this arbitrary target, I need to do X in sales this year. I need to do X as a result this year. That's not the growth. The growth is, I need to build a sales skillset. I need to build a negotiation skillset.
I need to build a networking skill set. Maybe that's what's holding you back. Growth is identifying what is that one skill that you don't have that is holding you back from a promotion. And the best way to decipher this, if you're trying to get promotion is talk to your boss and say, what is the one skill that's holding me back? What am I missing? That if I were to develop, it would be easy for you to give me a promotion.
Right? Same with starting a business, same with starting a podcast. What is the skill that you haven't learned that would help your podcast go from strength to strength? Einstein famously said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
Maybe you've been making videos for 30 days and you're not going viral. What's a skill you need to learn? It's no point having a goal that says I'm going to have a million followers by the end of this year. That doesn't mean anything. Setting your sights on a goal doesn't get you there. It's the system and the process. And this point in the system is always skipped. What's the skill? Is it learning thumbnail design?
Is it learning the algorithm? Is it recognizing that the first three to eight seconds of a video are all you have to capture attention? Is it making sure you have a call to action at the end? Is it making sure that people feel like sharing your content? What is it that you have not learned? What do you need to grow? What do you need to build? What's the skill you need to learn in order to catapult
to the next level, and go and commit to learning that skill. Make this a skills year, not just a wish year, right? We live in a year full of wish lists, but there's a skill we're missing. Maybe the skill is discipline. Maybe it's sales. Maybe it's negotiation. Maybe it's relationship building. Maybe it's public speaking. Whatever it is, you can develop it if you put enough work into it.
and obsess over that skill, make it the plan for your next four weekends. Saturday and Sunday are going to be dedicated to building that skill. Saturday and Sunday for the next month, the next three months are going to be completely absorbed in developing that skill. Is it organization? Is it social media management? What is it that's holding you back from that big win?
The goal is not enough and that's where so many of us go wrong. We set this goal and then at the end of the year we go, I didn't achieve my goals. Well, of course you didn't because you didn't grow the skill. You didn't grow the muscle. The goal isn't going to make it a difference. So take a look, figure out what it is that's holding you back. What skill are you missing?
that is blocking you from becoming the version of yourself that you know you can be. A goal, a different level to achieve requires a different level from you. Right? It requires a different frequency from you. And that's what you're focusing on growing.
Hey, I'm Gianna Prudenti, and I'm Jimmy Jackson-Gadsden, we're the host of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeartPodcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions, like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed?
Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Tanner.
The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it? Like you miss 100% of the shots you never take. Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, I'm Essie Cup and I've spent the last 20 plus years knee-deep in politics in the news. I've covered some really tough subjects from war to genocide to six presidential elections, way too much Trump. And you know what? I need a break, like a mental health break from the news, from the triggering headlines. And I kind of suspect some of you listening out there might need a break too.
So my new podcast is going to be just that. A fun and loose space where I talk to my famous friends and people I admire about all the stuff that consumes us when we're not consumed by politics. I did not really rebel in the 60s. I had no sex in the 70s. I made no money in the 80s. So when true crime came along, I missed that trend too.
So many great guests are joining me from Josh Mankowitz to Larry Wilmore to Molly John Fast to Josh Gad. I'm so excited that you have this platform and I am just like hoping that I don't destroy the platform in its earliest stages. Listen to Off the Cup on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever, get your favorite shows.
Hey, I'm Jackie Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit. The podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jackie Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me in a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts.
Dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories, Black Lit is for the Paige Turner's for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters.
From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Blacklit on the iHeartVideo app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Step number three. This is my favorite piece of advice that I truly believe will change your life. You have to decide what type of year it's going to be, and you have five choices. Learn, experiment, perform, struggle, thrive.
What I mean by this is, if you want a win, but you have never learned, you've never experimented, you've never performed, and you've never struggled, you can't suddenly thrive. You can't go from zero to 100 this year if you've never done this thing.
if you have no background in it. So often our goals are just so lofty and so high that we miss the steps. If you want to thrive, you will have to learn, you'll have to experiment, you'll have to perform, you'll have to struggle and then you'll thrive. There is no one who has skipped any of those. So what I mean by that is, let's say last year you spent a lot of time learning.
This is the year to start experimenting. Maybe last year you spent a lot of time experimenting. This is the year to get into a groove and start performing. Maybe you've been performing and maybe you've been going through some struggle. Now I'm not saying the whole year is gonna be struggle, but there's gonna be challenges. And maybe you've done all of those four and this is the year you finally win. If you look at everyone who's trying to build an online following right now, the rule of thumb is that it takes two years of posting consistently
to break through. Why? Because those two years, you're basically moving through learn, experiment, perform, struggle. If you've posted every single day or multiple times per week for two years, I promise you, you have learned, you've experimented, you've performed, you've struggled for sure. And now you're going to thrive. It's interesting how there's that tipping point, that threshold from which you launch this brilliance, but it comes in that order.
Sometimes we struggle because we always want it to be a thrive year. We want every year to be the year we win awards, the year we win trophies. I've actually noticed that there have been certain things where I've built relationships for five years and then they've rectified. There are things I'm going to be doing in 2025 that you're going to see and you're going to be mind blown. And I've been working on them for six years. You just want to have seen that.
It's the invisible. That's what's so crazy that learn, experiment, perform and struggle are all invisible and the thrive is visible. So when you see me have my next win, you'll say, oh, that's amazing. That's incredible. But I promised you, I promise you over the last five years, it's been learn, experiment, perform and struggle to get to that.
And so knowing, being conscious of what type of year it's going to be is almost like asking yourself, what is this season like? For example, if you know it's winter and it's going to rain, you don't go in expecting sun. So now when you get rain, you're not disappointed. And if you get sun, it's a bonus. So if you walk into this year and you say it's going to be a learning year, you're not expecting to win an award.
It's like expecting rain. And when you expect rain, you can flow with it. You have your umbrella, you have your boots, you have all the gear you need to survive. And by the way, if the sun creeps through, if you get an opportunity, you get a bonus, that's amazing. The challenge is we walk into every year wanting it to be summer. We want this year to be the best summer of all time. But we're not aware of what type of year it is.
Right? What type of exchange it is? And so ask yourself very clearly, is this a learning year? Is this an experimenting year? Is this a performing year? Is this a struggle year or a thrive year? Now, the struggle I want to be careful with because our negativity bias goes, yep, it's going to be another struggle year. And the other thing I'm going to add is,
These are not years. You can do a learning quarter, just depends on how quickly you want to learn. You could have an experiment in quarter, depends on how quickly you want to experiment, right? Struggles are one that's always going to come in, so I wouldn't even say it's going to be a struggle here. Is this the year you're going to learn? Is this the year you're going to experiment with ideas? Is this year you're going to perform? Or is this the year you're going to thrive?
And they have to follow in that order. So if you tried, if you didn't do the first few, you're not suddenly going to switch to thrive. Right? You have to live through spring to get to summer, to get to autumn, to get to winter. That's how it works. You don't just get to fast forward and skip a few steps. So I really want you to take that in. Step number four.
Remember this, it's small changes, but they're a big priority. Most of our struggle would change because we want a big change, but it's a small priority. I'll give you an example. A small change is going to bed early, but it has to be a big priority because what happens is you miss one night.
Topples over. You miss a second night. Topples over. You miss a third night. Topples over. And now you're beating yourself up. So you need grace that you will topple over. You need to know that your habit will go out the window. I think the mistake we make is thinking, this is the year of no mistakes. The biggest mistake you will make this year is think that it's a year of no mistakes.
You can't avoid mistakes. You can't avoid failure. Give yourself grace and give yourself the energy to get back from that mistake as quick as you can, to get back from that failure as quick as you can. The failure is not failing. The failure is to recognize that you will fail.
And so your objective is not to avoid failure, but to get back up from failure. If you realize that your focus and your energy should always be on how quick you can respond and react, not how you can avoid. And I think so many of us are putting so much energy into thinking, I'm going to avoid all failure and mistakes this year. And that is our greatest failure and mistake. Small changes, big priorities.
Right? What's the small change you're making? What's the big priority? What's the big priority? What is it that you sleep? It's a big priority this year. Your diet, it's a big priority this year. How are you going to make it easy for yourself? That's a really important part. How are you going to make it easy for yourself?
to live that way. For example, like I've been really focused on my diet last year and I realized the only way to make it easy is to not eat out. And when I am going to eat out, have a list of restaurants and meals set up on my Uber Eats that I know have great healthy takeout options, right? To be really conscious and aware before it gets that moment. Because if it gets that moment, I have no idea if I'm going to be able to maintain it. Step number five.
This is huge. There's a great book called Measure What Matters. And this is what step five is about. What are you going to measure daily, weekly, monthly, and then yearly?
You're not going to achieve your goal if you're not measuring it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. We have to look at our social media, podcast data every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year, so we can create better things for you. So we can get the best guests, so we can have the best conversations, release amazing workshops. I'm listening and learning from you all the time.
So whatever your goal is, how are you going to measure it daily that you're learning that skill? Do you know that you're getting better at it? How are you going to measure it weekly? You have to measure what matters. If you don't measure it, it won't expand.
If you don't measure it, it won't move. And a lot of us don't measure it. We just go with our feelings. And I think this is a challenge in today's world. I think in the past, past generations ignored their feelings. And the problem is we trust our feelings. And the problem with trusting your feelings is you don't get a chance to do what's right for you sometimes. For example, before we ignored our feelings, if we were burnout today, if you're tired, you trust and go, I'm just going to be lazy today, but actually getting a workout may actually benefit you more.
But you have to measure that. So I want you to figure out when you set your goal, how are you going to measure that you're on track daily, weekly, monthly, yearly? How are you measuring it? What's the yardstick? What's the post? What's the target you have to reach? What is it that when you're trying to grow a skill, for example, if you're trying to become a black belt and cry, you know you have the other belts before it, how are you measuring that you're closer to your next belt?
The sixth step of the method is even after all this, if it's not working, if you're like, Jay, I tried all of that and it is not working. Here's what you do. When something's not working in your life, when something's not changing in your life, when something's not building in your life, it's because you lack one of these three things.
The first is coaching. You might need someone who's been there done that, who's three steps ahead of you, who's done the thing before and knows how to guide you and can set you up for success. The second thing is consistency. You might not have a consistent calendar of learning. You might not be learning often enough or deeply enough.
And the third is community. You may have no one around you who wants the same goal. You may have no accountability. There's a famous quote that says, if you have five smart friends, you'll be the sixth. If you have five healthy friends, you'll be the sixth. If you have five rich friends, you'll be the sixth. But if you have five lazy friends, you'll be the sixth.
The point is you're going to become who you surround yourself with. No matter how much you think you're in control, energy is contagious. You will become like the people around you. So ask yourself, are they the future that you hope to have? Are they living the habits and rituals and practices that you want to build and develop?
If it's not working after all of this, ask yourself, am I missing coaching, consistency, or community? The last thing I'm going to share with you, I think about every year this way. I ask myself every year, what am I launching? I ask myself every year, what am I learning? And I ask myself every year, what am I loving?
Every year when I launch something, it gives me anxiety. It's a great feeling, that nervousness, being at the bottom of the mountain, the excitement. Every year I'm learning something, it gives me enthusiasm, insight and a feeling of growth.
And every year I'm loving something, which gives me a sense of happiness and peace. This year, I'm loving doing the podcast. I'm learning to write my new book and I'm launching my first ever on purpose podcast tour. I hope you're gonna come and see me live. I'm gonna have surprise guests, celebrities, athletes, experts. It's gonna be incredible. And I really hope you'll come and join me.
Thank you so much for listening to my first solo workshop of the year. These are our power workshops. Grateful to have spent this time together. And remember, I'm always rooting for you, and I'm forever in your corner.
2025 is your year. 2025 is the year you'll remember as the year that you changed and transformed your life. Not because 2025 was different, but because you chose to be different. You chose to make a difference in your life.
Thank you. If this year you're trying to live longer, live happier, live healthier, go and check out my conversation with the world's biggest longevity doctor, Peter Attia, on how to slow down aging and why your emotional health is directly impacting your physical health.
Acknowledge that there is surprisingly little known about the relationship between nutrition and health, and people are gonna be shocked to hear that, because I think most people think the exact opposite. What's up, y'all? This is Questlove, and, you know, at QLS, I get to hang out with my friends. So do Steve, Leah, Fontigolo, Umpakeville, and we, you know, at Questlove Supreme, like to nerd out and do deep dives with musicians and actors and politicians and creatives.
The people that we feel really deserve that attention. We learn, we laugh, we fall down rabbit holes. Listen to Cost Love Supreme on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
