Penny Casselman [00:00:00]:
I'm going to offer you 2 ways that you can step in to this new year and really think about who you need to become and what you can let go of. And I would invite you to pick 1, if not both, of these suggestions because the more you lean on asking for help, the more you self reflect, the further you will go. What's that old adage? If you wanna go fast, go alone. If you wanna go far, go together. Whoo. Right there. That's a bonus clarity cocktail for you today. Welcome to the pivot with passion podcast.
Penny Casselman [00:00:46]:
Hi. I'm Penny Casselman. I believe everyone is deserving of a phenomenal life. Regardless of where you came from, life is what you make of it. And when you learn to pivot with passion, your world explodes with opportunities. Go grab your favorite beverage and let's shake things up as we explore how to pivot with passion. Director, welcome to 2025. This is your year.
Penny Casselman [00:01:19]:
I can feel it. I hope that your year is greeting you with the same optimism and energy and focus and excitement and confidence and clarity that you need to make this your phenomenal year. I have to say, mine is starting off really well. I already have given my first keynote of 2025. Now I am ready to kick off 2025 with you, and I hope you are as excited as I am. If you are new to the podcast, thank you for stepping up for yourself, for showing up, and for igniting a passion for improving your life. And if you've been with me for a while, thanks for your patience. While I enjoyed the holidays, got refocused with my signature talk, and am back at it here in pivot with passion for 2025.
Penny Casselman [00:02:26]:
Now I will say this past weekend, I finally packed away all of my Christmas decorations. Even though I I don't know about you, but I thoroughly enjoy sitting in the evening in front of my tree, lit with no other lights on in the house, just to soak in the calm, the joy, the ambiance that a lit tree provides. And I wanted to make sure I enjoyed every single minute of it. And who doesn't like to hold on to that holiday magic that sometimes is fleeting, but oh, so welcoming? I've been thinking about what I wanted to talk to you about today. Of course Christmas was top of mind, the holidays were top of mind, a new year is top of mind. So I want us to stop holding on to things that have held you back. We are in a new year, we are kicking it off. Let's kick it off light so that we can move quickly into the phenomenal life that we deserve.
Penny Casselman [00:03:36]:
And I want us to set our sights on that phenomenal future, because even though the new year is just another day on the calendar, this is our red marker moment to look at a new year and say, I will believe in myself, I am willing to take action, and I have a vision of what I wanna move into for this year. And because of all this holiday excitement is still kind of surrounding me, I was thinking about Santa. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, he's this jolly old fellow that wears this spectacular red velvet suit with white fur trim. Christmas Eve. He starts on his journey laden down with tons of packages. And you see as the night goes on, he lightens his load, which allows him to move quicker through the world, delivering presents to everyone. But think of this, the pure joy that Santa brings can only be achieved when his pack is empty. Empty.
Penny Casselman [00:04:50]:
Because in that moment, when he has delivered every gift, he has bestowed joy to everyone that he left something for. And so I want us to kind of lean on that little metaphor about Santa provides us a really great insight. Like, what can we let go of from last year so that we can move more quickly, spread more joy, and step into a phenomenal new year. And how is it that the new year is often described? Baby new year, a little baby. Think of how much wonder baby New Year has. It gets to grow, it looks forward to learning things, and baby New Year combined with Santa, lightening his load, spreading joy, I want us to hold on to those two images as we move forward and hold on to the magic that 2025 has in store. It's time for a clarity cocktail. Today's clarity cocktail is this.
Penny Casselman [00:06:05]:
If you ask me for my new year resolution, it would be to find out who I am. Thanks a lot, Cyril Cusack. I don't know about you. New year's resolutions aren't something I routinely do. Do I have my sights set on goals? Absolutely. Have I always been good at bringing clarity to those goals, at writing them down to ensure that I see them every day to remind myself what I'm going after? No. But I like this quote because if you don't set any goals, that's fine. Because in following the advice of this quote, you can achieve anything.
Penny Casselman [00:06:51]:
So let me read it again. If you ask me for my new year resolution, it would be to find out who I am. To me, this is such a powerful reminder to stay curious as we move through the new year. I mentioned I don't often set resolutions, but heck yeah, every year I wanna be a better version of myself. I wanna find out what I can really do, what I can accomplish when I set my mind to it. And I believe that by me being curious will help me find out who I am, what works for me, what doesn't, what resonates, what could I sharpen, what skill could I learn. By staying curious will allow me to move forward with purpose, with clarity, with excitement. And that is exactly the energy I want to bring into the new year because without that clarity, energy, confidence, excitement, It doesn't matter what resolution I put out there.
Penny Casselman [00:08:01]:
It won't happen. It starts with who I am as a person and who I'm going to become as the year unfolds. And so noodle on that a little bit this week, and think to yourself, how can you stay curious and challenge yourself to find out who you are in this new year? I'll leave you with the quote one more time. If you ask me for my new year resolution, it would be to find out who I am, Cyril Cusack. And now back to the episode. Cheers. Coming back to this idea of who do we need to become and what can we let go of, you know, really leaning on those visuals of Santa lightening his loads, spreading joy, being lighter so he can move forward quicker, and the idea of baby new year, stepping into who he is, and the excitement and the joy of discovering what the world has to offer. I'm going to offer you 2 ways that you can step in to this new year and really think about who you need to become and what you can let go of.
Penny Casselman [00:09:15]:
And I would invite you to pick 1, if not both of these suggestions, because the more you lean on asking for help, the more you self reflect, the further you will go. What's that old adage? If you wanna go fast go alone. If you wanna go far go together. Right there, that's a bonus clarity cocktail for you today. So let's step into my first recommendation and that is to journal. And I know, I can already hear the sighs, I can see your eyes rolling back into your head because I remember when I told myself I was going to journal. And I can't tell you how many journals I started and then stopped. I hated journaling.
Penny Casselman [00:10:07]:
I hated it. I would stare at this blank page and just literally start losing my mind because I didn't know what to write. What it was like having a conversation with myself outside outside of my head, which was very uncomfortable for me. However, I am a huge proponent now of journaling because I have found a process that works for me. If you are anything like me, staring at a blank piece of paper is challenging. It is stressful. In no way, shape, or form did it make me feel like I was helping myself. The tool that I now use, which has been a game changer for me, is an app called Growth Day, and I will link to it in the show notes.
Penny Casselman [00:10:57]:
Growth Day is based on neuroscience. It has years of research behind the questions that it poses. And, yes, this is what I love about it. Not only does it give you daily questions, but if you don't have time and you just have, you know, enough capacity to answer one question, it provides prompts. I can share that the prompts have been what have made me jump on the bandwagon of journaling. It is simply amazing the insight and the self coaching that I've been able to do through the use of a journal. Journal will force you to slow down your mind, it helps you remember things going forward. It's also a reminder, because as you continue to create journal entries, even if you never look at the ones you wrote, you know they're there, your brain knows that they're there cheering you on.
Penny Casselman [00:11:56]:
So think about this. Think about journaling like going to the grocery store. When you go to the grocery store, if you don't take a list, what happens? You end up forgetting something vital that you needed. Same thing with journaling. If you are not journaling on a consistent basis, you are missing out on crucial insights that only you can provide if you slow down long enough to write them out. Now I know I mentioned growth day. What I like about that as well is it is an app on your phone. There is also a desktop version, and they link.
Penny Casselman [00:12:38]:
So there is no excuse for not being able to journal. It'll even take voice dictation. So you don't even have to write. You can just ramble out of your mouth and capture something. So I implore you to really think about how you might incorporate journaling into this new year. And by all means, start small. If it's one day a week, great. Once you master that, do 2 days a week because it won't take long until you enjoy the process and start seeing the benefits.
Penny Casselman [00:13:14]:
Number 2 is find a buddy and talk it out, and try to make that a routine. I don't know about you, I am an internal processor, which means when I am faced with a choice or I have to problem solve something, I will do it in silence. My brain will just start ruminating on what my next best step is. And here's a quick metaphor for finding a buddy and talking it out. How many times in your life have you found yourself stuck on a problem? You get up, you walk over to your buddy, you start talking to them about your problem, and you don't even fully get the problem out before you answer it yourself. And you look at the person and go, I'm so glad I had this conversation with myself. It never failed. When I worked in corporate America, I get up to go talk to someone else about an issue.
Penny Casselman [00:14:13]:
It would be solved the minute I started talking it out. And the same is true for anything that you're facing. So find a buddy. Even if you are an internal processor, there is benefit to saying what you want to explore what you need with someone else. Now you might be saying, Penny, I don't have a buddy. I don't have someone like that. Awesome. Guess what? 2025 is your year to find someone, someone that you trust, someone that can hold you accountable, someone that understands where you are or where you're headed.
Penny Casselman [00:14:52]:
Because in those moments with that person, you will find breakthroughs and achieve any goal that you want more quickly and with more joy. It's a perfect opportunity to talk to a buddy about who you need to become and what you need to let go of for this year. And the answer to both of those questions may change as the year unfolds. I would invite you to think of doing both of these things. However, I'll be okay if you just pick one for now. Like I said at the top of the episode, 2025 is your year for phenomenal. You are the director of your life right now. When this episode drops, January 15th, you have an opportunity to pick up that red marker, to write out a goal, to believe in yourself, to take some action, and to hold the vision of what phenomenal is for you in 2025.
Penny Casselman [00:15:57]:
I want you, director, to grow into the best version of yourself this year. I will be here every week cheering you on, and I'm super excited to be introducing some new offerings for you to take advantage of in 2025. Those will be coming out via email before the end of the month. If you are not on my email list, please get yourself on that list. And, also, if you have yet to leave a review or rate the show, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or wherever it is you listen and drop your thoughts because there's someone out there right now waiting to become a better version of themselves. And what you share in your review might just be the spark that gets them to listen, ignites an idea, and fuels their passion to a phenomenal life. With that director, go crush the rest of this week. Think about what you're gonna do.
Penny Casselman [00:17:01]:
Journal, find a buddy, both, and I will see you back here next week. Friend, thanks for listening to this episode of pivot with passion. If you've been feeling stuck, exhausted, or frustrated, this is your permission slip to go grab a red marker and claim the life you desire and deserve. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend, and then hop over to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. Because my goal is to put a red marker in everyone's hand, and I need your help to spread the word and make that happen. Until the next episode, go grab a red marker, Get excited for your future and make your first move to pivot with passion.
