In this episode of Focus on This, Marissa and Ken dive into 10 thought-provoking questions to help you reflect on the past year and prepare for an intentional and successful 2025. From identifying what made you feel most like yourself to dreaming big for the future, these questions are designed to inspire clarity and action as you wrap up the year.
Whether you prefer journaling, a reflective date night, or a meaningful family conversation, these prompts will guide you toward a more focused, purposeful new year.
Key Takeaways
- Reflect on the Past to Celebrate and Learn. Looking back helps identify your wins, lessons, and what truly mattered most.
- Clarify What (and Who) Matters Most. Define the people, priorities, and activities that align with your values and energize you.
- Let Go and Make Room for Growth. Release habits, beliefs, or clutter that no longer serve you to create space for what’s next.
- Dream Boldly and Act Intentionally. Imagine your best year yet and take concrete steps to make it happen, guided by clarity and purpose.
Resources
Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/uNekuoX8kEk
This episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound
Creators & Guests
Host
Ken Freire
From the Big Apple to Middle Tennessee, Ken Freire is the Director of Memberships at Full Focus and the co-host of the Focus on This podcast. Ken has been in ministry for 15 years. He has always been passionate about leading and developing individuals to see their God-given potential and purpose in life. He loves speaking, coaching, and scaling companies. He’s been married for 12 years and is the father of four energetic little kids. In his spare time, he loves to read books on theology, leadership, and spiritual development. He also loves Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Host
Marissa Hyatt
Born and raised south of Nashville, Marissa is the Chief Marketing Officer at Full Focus. She is super passionate about helping people get outside their comfort zones, find their own power, and achieve their dreams. In her free time, she enjoys cooking for friends, baking sourdough bread, and hiking. She geeks out on natural wellness, skincare, personal growth, gardening, and traveling.
What is Focus on This?
Start loving Mondays! Marissa & Ken give you practical tips and proven strategies for increasing your focus so you can be more productive than ever before. Based on the proven Full Focus method used in the Full Focus Planner™, they'll help you banish distractions and get the right stuff done so you can start loving Mondays again. They also speak with guests and listeners who share their own productivity tips to help you make the most of every day. It's the most productive podcast on the internet!
[00:00:00] Marissa: The countdown is on. I cannot believe it is December 2nd and we have
[00:00:06] Ken: 29, 29
[00:00:07] Marissa: days.
[00:00:07] Ken: Yep.
[00:00:09] Marissa: How did we get here? It
[00:00:10] Ken: happened. Blink of an eye.
[00:00:11] Marissa: I can't believe we're in December now. It's bizarre.
[00:00:13] Ken: Well, thankfully, if you have the hindsight, like I do, you've probably been playing Christmas 1st. And that has been a beautiful season.
[00:00:22] Ken, you know, I
[00:00:23] Marissa: really like you. To each their own. To each their own. Hey,
[00:00:27] Ken: I would do it all year if I could.
[00:00:28] Marissa: I know you would. I know you would. Yeah. I'm like one month, now I'm officially in on the Christmas music. It is true though, because by the time that it's done, I wish it were done. Longer
[00:00:39] Ken: you see that's right.
[00:00:41] Marissa: I really firmly believe every holiday needs their own moment No, but really we only have 29 days left and we're gonna be at the new year Which is just wild to think about and so today We thought we would kind of help prompt your thinking as you're getting close to the new year and we have 10 questions for you to ask yourself [00:01:00] before The new year.
[00:01:07] Ken: Welcome to another episode of focus on this, the most productive podcast on the internet. So you can banish distractions, get the right stuff done, and finally start loving Mondays. I'm Ken Freyda and I'm here with Marissa Hyatt.
[00:01:19] Marissa: Hey, happy Monday and a happy December.
[00:01:22] Ken: I know it's here. It's finally here.
[00:01:25] This is my family's favorite time of the year. My kids are all excited. We're getting all the holiday stuff up. Christmas is upon us and the music has been playing since November 1st.
[00:01:36] Marissa: Do you have any family traditions that you guys do every year?
[00:01:39] Ken: Uh, we're trying to build more and more now that as the kids get older, gingerbread house making, going to see Christmas lights.
[00:01:46] We're trying to find a good balance between gifts, right? Cause we don't want our kids to just always get gifts. We're trying to actually figure out also like, how do we be givers
[00:01:55] Marissa: for people
[00:01:56] Ken: and actually build experiences as well. So like, Instead of just giving them a [00:02:00] gift, we might go on a trip or something like that.
[00:02:01] I love
[00:02:01] Marissa: the idea of experiences. I think that's so good. One of my sisters, actually, with her kids, she does Let me see if I can remember this. She does a want, a need, and a surprise. And so each of her kids get like three gifts and that's how they do it. And I think that's a smart way. You're not getting like excessive stuff, but it's a want, a need, and I'm pretty sure it's a surprise.
[00:02:21] Ken: Yeah.
[00:02:22] Marissa: Yeah, I'm really excited that it's December. I feel like my favorite thing, not only obviously Christmas, it's so fun, but this is a time of year where we really start to think ahead and like, what do we want this next year? I actually just had a birthday on Thanksgiving and so I'm really starting to think about, you know, this next year of my life and what do I want this to look like?
[00:02:39] So I'm kind of in that dreaming state a little bit of this next 12 months. What do I want it to look like? Which is kind of fun because everybody is now starting to be in that headspace as we enter into the new year. And I feel like with these 10 questions that we have today, you can do this as a journaling exercise.
[00:02:57] You could just like write these down [00:03:00] and sit and kind of visualize each of these, however you want to go about answering these questions, but this is going to really help prompt your thinking and get you in touch with what you want more of next year. I feel like, you know, it's going to help you figure out what next year looks like.
[00:03:14] might look like for you.
[00:03:15] Ken: And another way to do it too, just as, you know, journaling is a great way, but if you want to process it with friends and family, just get a group of people together, especially during the holidays, right? Sometimes you don't know what to talk about, right? You're sitting around, the kids are opening gifts and you're like, okay, everybody's got the day off.
[00:03:29] Everything's closed. What do you do? Just break these bad boys out and just start asking people these questions.
[00:03:34] Marissa: That's such a good idea. I didn't even think of that. This would make a really good date night too. You could go, you know, have a date and just ask each other these questions. I bet it would be really stimulating conversations.
[00:03:45] Yeah.
[00:03:45] Ken: As soon as you posted these questions, Hannah actually helped us post these questions. Shout out to Hannah. Hannah. Um, I was like, Ooh, I'm going to put the, make this my date night. Maybe we
[00:03:54] Marissa: need to put these in like a, um, You know, download for people. We will do that. Okay. I'm going to just tell [00:04:00] you guys right now that we'll do that.
[00:04:01] Okay. Let's jump into the first question.
[00:04:03] Ken: What was the best part of the past year?
[00:04:06] Marissa: This is so good. I feel like it's so easy to think about what was challenging in the last year, at least for me, like that feels easy to kind of come up with, but what is the best part? That's a really good question.
[00:04:19] Ken: Yeah.
[00:04:20] Especially as, as a recovering perfectionist, I'm always like, oh, well, what could I have done better? Right. I don't actually stop to think about my accomplishments and what did I really enjoy?
[00:04:28] Marissa: Yeah. So this is
[00:04:28] Ken: a great question. It's
[00:04:29] Marissa: really good. What is the best part of the past year? And I think this could be either like a specific memory.
[00:04:35] This could be a theme that you continually saw throughout the year, you know, like where maybe this was your year of growth, right? And that was like the best part is you really saw yourself level up and grow in various areas of your life, or maybe it's something like a very specific memory that you have where you feel like.
[00:04:53] You went on some trip and you had this beautiful moment that was the best part of the year. So, there's no [00:05:00] right answer and there's no wrong answer to these questions.
[00:05:02] Ken: Alright, question number two. Who am I really wanting to spend more time with?
[00:05:08] Marissa: Oh, this is good. How often do we actually, like, think about who we're spending time with?
[00:05:13] Yeah. Not a lot. Sometimes we just do it because either, We're getting invited to things. And so we just say yes, out of default, or it's just people that are kind of like, we've spent a lot of time with in the past. Maybe there's people that you've had really long friendships with or your family, but I like the intentionality behind this of who do you want to actually spend more time with?
[00:05:33] Ken: Yeah. And you know, uh, another question. To go deeper is not just whom I really want to spend more time with, but how much time do you want to spend with them? I, you know, when I talk to our potential clients who want to join our coaching program, I ask them and they always say like, Oh, I want to spend more time with my spouse or kids.
[00:05:48] And I literally, my next question is always like, how much time do you want to spend with them? And they're like, uh, I don't know. I've never thought about that.
[00:05:54] Marissa: Right.
[00:05:55] Ken: It's a great way to just measure it. Yeah. You know, do you want to do an extra hour, an extra two hours? What does [00:06:00] it look like? And then what do you want to get out of that time?
[00:06:02] Marissa: Yeah. I did this actually last year, um, where I started to ask myself, I felt like, you know, since COVID. My relationships felt strained, you know, where it just felt challenging to like actually go get with people or create new friendships. And I've lived in my house now for three years. And so I wanted to get deeper in my community.
[00:06:25] I had a few friends that I was like, you know, I really want to spend more time with them in the next year. And it has been so cool to actually see. So for instance, my neighbors, we decided for all the women, we started a book club this year, pretty much this time last year, which was fun. And it's been amazing.
[00:06:41] I've gotten to know my neighbors in a huge way and it's just once a month. So that was kind of what we chose as our frequency and it felt totally doable for all of us. We've stuck with that throughout the year, which has been amazing. And then these girlfriends of mine who I wanted to spend more time with who I didn't really.
[00:06:57] know very well, we have [00:07:00] intentionally spent so much time together. We've taken trips together. One of them I've taken like three trips with this year, which is just so fun. And I think having this intentionality, when you think about the new year, who do you actually want to spend more time with and then actually go figure out, like you're saying, how much time, what kind of time do you want to spend with them and really make that a reality?
[00:07:20] Cause it can change so much. You could have this time next year,
[00:07:26] Ken: Yeah. And, you know, for those of you who have little kids, it can be really hard because you're just so focused on just your family and just your kids. Yeah. And wanting to pause and just say, well, besides my family, who else do we want to build community with?
[00:07:39] Yeah. It's gonna be important.
[00:07:40] Marissa: I love that. Okay. Question number three is, what has been making me feel more like myself lately? I love this question actually.
[00:07:49] Ken: I think you love all the questions. I
[00:07:50] Marissa: do. But I love this one because, again, we don't ever ask ourselves this question and I like how this specifically is about when you feel the most like [00:08:00] yourself.
[00:08:00] Ken: Yeah.
[00:08:00] Marissa: When do you feel like the most like yourself?
[00:08:02] Ken: Uh, when I get to do stuff like this.
[00:08:04] Marissa: Ooh, okay. Good answer. You know? Yes.
[00:08:07] Ken: You know, another way that I like to think about this question is like, what makes me come most alive?
[00:08:11] Marissa: Yeah, right. Right?
[00:08:12] Ken: But just like where I feel most like myself, whenever I am able to train, teach, coach people, I just come alive.
[00:08:19] I want to always be helping people. I also come alive when I get to have fun and joke around with people. Yeah. Hence all the group memes and texts.
[00:08:28] Marissa: It's definitely very much you. Yeah, that's good. I feel like for me, it's probably when I'm really deeply like connecting with people that's often in either a really small group of like two to four people or just one on one conversations.
[00:08:44] And I would say two other things when I'm in nature or when I'm creating cooking, baking, gardening, dreaming up some. whatever strategy for work, anything where I'm creating, I feel like me.
[00:08:59] Ken: Yeah. [00:09:00] Creating is a big one for me too. And learning. So if I'm learning something new, I'm like, Ooh, I just like, everything is firing on all cylinders.
[00:09:07] Ooh, I
[00:09:07] Marissa: like that. That's really good.
[00:09:08] Ken: Question number four. What's one thing I want to let go of from this year?
[00:09:13] Marissa: Yeah.
[00:09:14] Ken: This is actually a challenging question. It is
[00:09:16] Marissa: challenging.
[00:09:17] Ken: Because many times people don't think about what do they need to let go of to actually get to that next level. Yeah,
[00:09:22] Marissa: we just end up inevitably carrying stuff.
[00:09:24] From the past into our future just because we're on autopilot.
[00:09:28] Ken: Yeah.
[00:09:28] Marissa: Maybe like another way to, to ask this is like, what's no longer serving me that I need to let go of?
[00:09:33] Ken: Yeah. And there's practical, real practical ways to do this, right? One, it might be, and this might sound really hard to, because we just talked about relationships, but there might be some relationships that it's time to just say, Hey, that was a good ending and a good season.
[00:09:46] For some of you, I know when I talk to people on the phones lately, it's been work, right? Where they just need to transition off their work. Like, that's not a season you're in anymore. Let's move on to other things. Here's a good practical one for us. Letting go of junk in our [00:10:00] house.
[00:10:00] Marissa: Ooh. Right, like just decluttering,
[00:10:02] Ken: like you're hoarding stuff.
[00:10:04] Yesterday we were a small group and someone was like, I've had a computer since 2005 in my closet. I'm like, bro, you're never going to look at that, that hard drive. And like, it doesn't matter. Just throw away tonight. And he's like, I don't know if I could do that. I got to process it. I'm like, no, no, no, no.
[00:10:18] Get rid of it tonight. Have
[00:10:19] Marissa: you seen, there's a bunch of like reels and, you know, tick tocks and everything on social media, all about how the millennial struggle is to throw away the electronic boxes, like your laptop box. I mean, I am like guilty as charged. I probably have like three or four and it's like, Why?
[00:10:36] I don't even have the computers anymore. I still have them in my, in my closet. Yeah. I still have all my
[00:10:42] Ken: iPhone boxes and I'm like, I gotta get rid of these things.
[00:10:44] Marissa: It's ridiculous. Uh, yeah. What do you want to let go of from this year? I think that's good. You know, for me, I think one of the things that I was thinking That could be really good to let go of our limiting beliefs.
[00:10:56] So you may have some beliefs that have developed in the last [00:11:00] year. Maybe they're just a hold over from previous years in your life that you need to actually let go of. Like they're not serving you any longer and you need to let go of that. So it can be super practical, like the electronic boxes in your closet or something a little bit more abstract, like beliefs or habits or things like that, that you've.
[00:11:18] Ken: That's a great one. I love that one. Question number five. What do I need to show up as my best self?
[00:11:25] Marissa: Yeah. What do I need to show up as?
[00:11:29] Ken: For my best self. For my
[00:11:29] Marissa: best self. Yeah. That's really good. I like the idea of how my best self, if I were to show up in that heightened self, what does that look like? And then what do I need to actually be?
[00:11:45] Ken: I think most people have not even stopped to actually think about what does my ideal self look like?
[00:11:50] Marissa: Yeah,
[00:11:50] Ken: I know when I'm talking to people they're like, I'm like, well, what do you really want? Or who do you really want to be a year from now? They're like, no one's actually ever asked me that question So [00:12:00] they're processing it.
[00:12:00] They're like, well, I want to be this and interesting enough many times I'll be like, well, I want this I want this in my life and I'm like, no, no, I didn't ask what you wanted I said, who do you want to be?
[00:12:09] Marissa: Who are you?
[00:12:10] Ken: And then they're like, Oh, because when you know your ideal self, your best self,
[00:12:14] Marissa: then
[00:12:15] Ken: we can start working backwards and say, well, what do you need to do in order to get there?
[00:12:19] Marissa: I did an exercise recently where I journaled kind of me at my best self in my ideal day. Literally started with the second I woke up, how I felt. So I wasn't changing anything dramatically. Like I still lived in the same house I live in. I still have the same job, you know, still have the same relationships that I have, but it was really about how I'm showing up in that day.
[00:12:43] And I did this like top to bottom, everything from what foods I was eating, how I was feeling during the day, what types of activities I was engaging in, who I was talking to all those things throughout the day. And it really helped kind of solidify in my mind. My highest self. So not making this [00:13:00] so far in the future where it's like, okay, I don't know if I can actually be that person.
[00:13:04] Cause then we're talking so far in the future, but like you in this season of life, what is your highest self look like? And exactly what you're saying, then reverse engineer that of like, what do I need to actually do that? Maybe you need to create some habits. Maybe you need to spend more time with certain people.
[00:13:19] Maybe you need to invest in learning a new skill or developing a specific mindset or. Going to therapy and processing through your own stuff so you can show up as your highest self, you know, like All of those things would be great activities to do to be able to enable yourself to be your highest self.
[00:13:36] Ken: All
[00:13:49] right, Marissa, what's number six?
[00:13:50] Marissa: Okay, number six is what word or picture do I want to define my ear?
[00:13:55] Ken: I'm going to be honest. I've never done this, but every time I hear people do it, I'm always like, oh, I don't [00:14:00] I should do that because sometimes it just, it gives you intentionality for the year. And sometimes I just forget about that.
[00:14:06] So I've, I'm, I'm actually thinking this is going to be my question. This
[00:14:09] Marissa: is your thing. This is going to be my
[00:14:10] Ken: question for 2025 is like, what's the word or picture that I want
[00:14:14] Marissa: for
[00:14:15] Ken: myself? One of the
[00:14:16] Marissa: things that I thought was pretty cool that actually my dad did this past year, he chose a word, which I can't think of off the top of my head, but he created a screensaver For his computer with his word on it so that he was continually reminded of that word wherever his, you know, his computer was nearby, he was able to see that you could do the same thing on your phone.
[00:14:36] Canva could be a really good tool to use for this. You can almost create a little mini vision board around that word or that picture that you're trying to envision. But I love that because it keeps it visible. And if you're not careful, this will just totally like slip by after the second week in January.
[00:14:52] You'll forget about it. But if you can do something like that, that creates a visual prompt for you to remember, Oh yeah, that's my word. Oh yeah, that's my [00:15:00] picture for this year. You're likely going to be able to actually really intertwine that into your life.
[00:15:05] Ken: You know, I was actually thinking for the full focus planner to add a question, you know, either at the, at the end of the day or in my notes, it was like, how did I fulfill this word?
[00:15:14] Whatever my word is for that day.
[00:15:16] Marissa: Okay. That's a good tip. There's
[00:15:17] Ken: definitely more flexibility in the wellness planner, by the way, if you want to do this, that I just thought, I'm like, Ooh, I know exactly where I was going to write it and how to make it happen.
[00:15:24] Marissa: I like that. All right. All right. Question number seven is what's one fear?
[00:15:28] I want to overcome this year.
[00:15:29] Ken: Oh, man. That's a really good one. Fear
[00:15:32] Marissa: of dark, deep waters. Yes. If you guys listen to the podcast, you know that is Ken's like number one fear.
[00:15:40] Ken: I know, I was like, is this the year that swimming and water is the year that I overcome those? No, I don't think it
[00:15:46] Marissa: is, Ken. I don't, I don't think it is.
[00:15:49] Ken: There's too much trauma. Too much
[00:15:50] Marissa: trauma. Yeah. What's one fear I want to overcome this year? I think this is a really important question to ask, um, because it could be that [00:16:00] if you overcome one specific fear and maybe as we're asking this question, your chest feels like it starts, you know, like
[00:16:06] Ken: racing, racing a
[00:16:07] Marissa: little bit, like, Oh gosh.
[00:16:08] You know? And if you were to deal with that, what would unlock for the rest of your life? Obviously we're
[00:16:14] Ken: talking about a little bit joking around about water, but for those of you who've heard in the podcast. I've always talked about, Oh yeah. When am I going to have this goal of swimming and learning how to swim?
[00:16:23] And it's a big deal for me, but for some of you, it might be like, you're afraid of starting a business. You're afraid of starting a new hobby. You're afraid of jumping into a relationship, whatever it may be. There are those fears that like, man, if you unlock those, it could change your life.
[00:16:38] Marissa: Yeah. All right.
[00:16:39] Question number eight.
[00:16:40] Ken: What contribution do I most want to make this year?
[00:16:45] Marissa: Mm. I like this. It puts us in a, in a place of service and others focused and not so much on ourself. What contribution do I most want to make this year? I like this. Yeah.
[00:16:55] Ken: And for me, it's like, I'm always thinking about impact. What kind of impact do I really want to make [00:17:00] in society?
[00:17:01] This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently. And it's one of the reasons why I'm like, okay, what are some, Um, so I'm going to be doing things with my own time that I can actually
[00:17:10] Marissa: go help others with. Yeah. Well, if you've gone through our life focus process, we help you define your mission.
[00:17:15] And this is a really good question to ask because this will help you live out that mission. Like you could kind of ask yourself, like, how am I going to live out my mission this next year? What contribution is that going to look like? So I'm definitely going to be doing that. I'm not doing these questions on my own later because I'm like, Ooh, okay, yeah, I need to actually figure out the answer to that one.
[00:17:35] And that one is really, really good.
[00:17:37] Ken: One thing I will say is that even as you think about this question, sometimes we try to think really lofty, like, Oh my gosh, we're going to try to help a thousand people. Sometimes the biggest contribution you can make is just saying, Hey, I'm going to be faithful to work or I'm going to be like, I think about the season my wife and I are in, the biggest contribution sometimes we can make is like, we're going to be really good parents to our four kids.
[00:17:58] Marissa: Right. Totally.
[00:17:59] Ken: [00:18:00] Right. Like this is the year that really present, really present, really intentional. I talked to a lot of parents on the phones that they're just like, I really want to be there for my kids. Cause they're so young and I know how important it is. That could be one of the most important things you do this year.
[00:18:13] Marissa: Yeah. It's really good. Well, thinking about the contribution, I mean, it could be something very service oriented, like you want to volunteer or get engaged with some kind of, you know, nonprofit, but exactly like the first thing that popped in my head was, It's work related.
[00:18:27] Ken: Yeah.
[00:18:27] Marissa: And that is such a big contribution we can make is with our work or within our relationships.
[00:18:33] Okay. Question number nine. What would make me feel proud at the end of the year? So when you put yourself December 31st, 2025, what would make you feel proud at the end of the year? You look back and you're like, I feel so good about that.
[00:18:47] Ken: Yeah.
[00:18:48] Marissa: Like I'm so proud. That I did that thing, whatever it was.
[00:18:52] Ken: You know, it's interesting.
[00:18:53] I tell my kids all the time when I put them to bed, I pray for them and then I'm like, I love you and I'm so proud of you. [00:19:00] And when I read this question, I was just thinking, when's the last time I told myself I'm proud of myself? Like, man, I did this. I'm proud of myself. Good job, Ken. And I'm thinking, ooh, this question is going to be another one of those powerful questions of like, it's going to be written down like, I am going to be really proud when I do this.
[00:19:17] Marissa: Yes, totally. Well, it's important. That we give ourselves credit for the things that we've done so often, we don't hear that from other people. You know, somebody else isn't coming with the recognition that we're desiring or we feel that we deserve. We actually can give that to ourselves, you know, in a really big way.
[00:19:34] And, and this is a good question to ask, to think through, not like what would other people feel proud of me for, but what would I feel proud of myself for?
[00:19:43] Ken: And the other way I like to think about this too, cause we're talking about. Things you could be proud of for doing, but also things you could be proud of for becoming.
[00:19:50] For some of you, you might be struggling with, for lack of a better word, addictions, or you're just struggling with a lot of limiting beliefs. Imagine a year from now, you broke all those limiting beliefs. [00:20:00] Like, you could be proud of yourself that you've broken all those limiting beliefs. You've done the work.
[00:20:04] Like, that's a big deal. And here's the hardest part. Because I used to work with people in trauma counseling, one of the things that I had found is that They see the healing, I see the healing, but their friends and people around them sometimes don't. Right? Because we have an image of you as whoever that person was beforehand.
[00:20:21] So to be able to at least for yourself know, like you've changed and you can be proud of that. Super important.
[00:20:26] Marissa: It's really beautiful. Okay. Last question. In 2025, wouldn't it be fun if And we talked about this a couple of weeks ago on the podcast, but this is a question one of my girlfriends recently asked me on a trip that we took.
[00:20:42] And it was just kind of a prompt, a conversation prompt really for us to start talking about what we're dreaming about this next year, what we kind of want to create, what we want to turn into reality. And what I loved about this specific question is the playfulness in it. Like we're not saying, okay, [00:21:00] I'm going to go accomplish X, Y, and Z.
[00:21:01] It's like, I'm going
[00:21:02] Ken: to go climb Mount Everest, right? You're like, it's just
[00:21:03] Marissa: like, wouldn't it be fun if I did? Or wouldn't it be fun if, you know, I visited five countries next year? I don't know, but like it just gets your wheels turning. It gets you in a playful spirit. I think sometimes we take this stuff so seriously that we end up inevitably, um, or inadvertently actually.
[00:21:22] Limiting ourselves. You know what I mean? It's like, we don't mean to, but it's like our brain goes to all of our fears or the reasons why we can't, or we shouldn't, or whatever it is, fill in the blank. And so we actually limit ourselves.
[00:21:36] Ken: Yeah, like for this question, wouldn't it be fun if I did an Ironman?
[00:21:40] And some people were like, you don't even know how to swim. That's okay. This is, we're having fun. We're
[00:21:45] Marissa: having fun.
[00:21:45] Ken: Because if I actually committed to that, then it's like, okay, well now I got to go face my fear.
[00:21:50] Marissa: Right. Now
[00:21:50] Ken: I got to go make this happen. But it's exciting still. And it's, it's fun. It's silly.
[00:21:54] It's like, let's go make this happen. Let's do this.
[00:21:55] Marissa: I think it's such a great way to also figure out what kind of sparks [00:22:00] joy in you, what you might be interested in, what you might feel drawn to. Like this, having this playful spirit about it will help, you know, shed the light on some of those other things.
[00:22:10] So I love that question. Okay. Let's give all 10 questions so that everybody knows. Go for it.
[00:22:17] Ken: Question number one. What was the best part of the past year? Question number two, who am I really wanting to spend more time with? Question number three, what has been making me feel more like myself today?
[00:22:29] Question number four. What's one thing I want to let go of from this year? Question number five. What do I need to show up as for my best self? Question number six. What word or picture do I want to define my year? Question number seven. What's one fear I want to overcome this year? Question number eight.
[00:22:48] What contribution do I most want to make this year? Question number nine, what would make me feel proud at the end of the year? And question number 10 in 2025, wouldn't it be fun if [00:23:00] I know most of you are listening to this and you're like, you couldn't write it down or you're driving. Don't worry. We'll either make a PDF or post it on social media so you can have all 10 questions, talk about it with your family and friends during the holidays.
[00:23:13] Do it as a date night journal about it. But man take some time out to do these questions because I think it's gonna be really transformative for your next season
[00:23:23] Marissa: I'm gonna do these this weekend myself.
[00:23:25] Ken: Yeah, I'm
[00:23:25] Marissa: excited to go through these
[00:23:26] Ken: I'm trying to decide if I do it on our date night tonight or next week.
[00:23:29] Marissa: I think it'd date night
[00:23:36] Well, thanks so much for joining us on focus on this.
[00:23:39] Ken: This is the most productive podcast on the internet So please share it with your friends and be sure to join the full focus planner community on Facebook and leave a review. If you are enjoying the podcast, please go to Apple podcasts or any of your podcast platform to leave a review and tell us how much you love Marissa and my jokes.[00:24:00]
[00:24:00] Marissa: Exactly. And we're going to be here next week with another great episode. So we will see you then
[00:24:06] Ken: until then stay focused.