The CREATE Formula to Have Your Best Year

Kate Volman [: 00:00:00

What is one of the biggest reasons we don't accomplish our dreams? Accountability. We don't hold ourselves accountable, and we don't have someone else holding us accountable to our dreams. We have to hold ourselves accountable. I have a question for you. Do you set New Year's resolutions? It is the start of a new year when we're all talking about, oh, this is going to be our best year ever. We're going to accomplish all of these things. And some people are really into New Year's resolutions and others not so much. But what I always find interesting is that at the end of the year, a lot of people will push off, oh, I'm going to start my diet in January, or I'm going to start working harder on my business in January.

Kate Volman [: 00:00:46

I have all these things I'm going to start doing in January. I'm just going to kind of take some time now and just wait for January, as if January 1st comes and all of a sudden we have all this new motivation, inspiration and discipline just kind of infused into our body and we automatically just change our habits. No, it does not happen that way. This is why so many people do not achieve their New Year's resolutions. In fact, I don't know the number, but I can only imagine. But by mid January, or maybe early February or mid February, lots of people have abandoned their resolutions. So whether you set New Year's resolutions or you don't, we all have to have a plan. We need to create a plan to ensure that we are going to really have that best year ever.

Kate Volman [: 00:01:40

The year that we see that we envision for ourselves. We step into a new year and it feels fresh and clean and new and exciting. But we've got to have a plan if we're actually going to achieve those things. So today, I want to share the C.R.E.A.T.E. Formula for an incredible year. Make 2025 your best year ever. So here we go. Create C. Create your list of 100 dreams.

Kate Volman [: 00:02:07

Create your list of a hundred dreams. Now, some people already have their list. If you know Dream Manager, you know that this is what we do over there. We encourage all of our dreamers to create that list of a hundred dreams. And I know it seems like a lot of dreams, but part of the exercise is meant to push you to get that dream muscle going. It is meant to get you dreaming really big when we only have to put a couple dreams on our lists and there's so many other dreams that we're not tapping into that we're not rediscovering. And so we Want to create that list of a hundred dreams. And what's great is that Matthew Kelly makes this a little easier for us because in his book the Dream Manager, he shares the 12 categories of dreams.

Kate Volman [: 00:02:53

Physical, emotional, material, intellectual, spiritual, psychological, professional, financial, creative, adventure, character, and legacy. Those are all the different categories of dreams. And if you put between seven and nine dreams in each of those categories, you're going to create your list of 100 dreams. Now, one of the things that's really interesting is that you might recognize when you're putting your list together that you have a lot of professional dreams. Maybe you have a lot of financial dreams or material dreams. Those are things that we talk about more often. But what about those spiritual dreams, those legacy dreams? We work with a lot of people on their fourth quarter coaching and they're all about legacy. What am I leaving behind to my family and my friends and my community? What about your creative dreams? Do you have a dream of writing a book or poetry or dancing or singing or playing piano? What are some of those creative pursuits that you might have left behind? Because life and responsibilities.

Kate Volman [: 00:04:02

So create that list of a hundred dreams. And this is really important because at the start of a new year, when we're getting ready to just have the best year ever, we need to know what those dreams are. And the second part of that is once you have that list of a hundred dreams, you can then decide, okay, what are the one to two dreams that I really want to focus on this year? If I accomplish these one to two dreams, it would truly make this the best year ever. And when you focus on those dreams, some of the decisions that you're trying to make right now are going to become a lot easier because the decisions that we make should push us towards our dreams. So create that list of a hundred dreams. It's going to get you focused, it's going to get you inspired. It's going to get you empowered to have your best year ever. Okay, moving on to R.

Kate Volman [: 00:04:52

Reflect on past wins. Think about all of the things that you did last year. What are some of your biggest wins? Maybe you got a new client. You built your business. You were able to build a deeper relationship with your spouse. Maybe you got into the best shape of your life. Maybe you started a daily prayer practice that you are so grateful for because it's helped you get closer to God. What are some of your wins? And they can be really big wins and they can be small wins.

Kate Volman [: 00:05:21

Maybe you developed a new habit, you learned a new skill. Whatever it is that you want to Put down on your list. It can be all sorts of things. Create that, reflect on all those wins. And what this does is it reminds us that it is possible to achieve our dreams, that you can do hard things, that it gives you the confidence to know that the dreams that you just put on your list are achievable because you've done so many things in the past. Many of us are really bad at celebrating our successes. We don't take the time to think about all the things that we've done. We kind of go through the year and then we start this new year and we think, oh, this is going to be the best year ever.

Kate Volman [: 00:06:04

Before we've even thanked the previous year, even some of the challenges and struggles. Maybe one of your wins is that, man, you had a really difficult year, but you got through it. You woke up every day, you put in the work, you did what you needed to do in order to keep going. That is a huge win. So reflect on all of those wins, big and small. Give yourself space to celebrate. This is a great opportunity for you to celebrate with friends. Invite your friends to share some of their wins with you and you can celebrate each other.

Kate Volman [: 00:06:35

E engage with your team. If you lead a team, this is amazing. If you're part of a team or, hey, maybe you are part of a team. Maybe you're a solopreneur, maybe you're stay at home, mom, whatever it is, you still have a team. It's your family, it's your friends, it's your clients. You have a team of people that are here to support you. I remember years ago, I was mentoring this woman, and she called me up one day and said, hey, will you be part of my advisory board? And I thought, what are you talking about? Did you start a business? I didn't know of what's going on. And she said, no.

Kate Volman [: 00:07:09

A friend of mine said that I should create an advisory board. People that I trust that I can go to for advice. And so she started reaching out to some of her mentors, some people that she already went to for advice that she respected. And she started putting together this advisory board, people that she could go to, talk things out if she was struggling with the decision. She had some people to go to before she made a big decision, before she made a big life decision. And I thought that was so cool and so smart to have a personal advisory board that is kind of like her team. So think about in your life, who is your team now? If you lead a team, you know who your team is. And this is the best opportunity for you to sit down and ask your team members one of the most important questions you can ask them.

Kate Volman [: 00:07:59

What are your dreams? Ask your team members, what are your dreams? What do you see for yourself this year and beyond? This is your opportunity to know what's important to them and you can help them achieve those dreams over the course of a year. So engage with your team. A Accountability. This is a huge one. What is one of the biggest reasons we don't accomplish our dreams? Accountability. We don't hold ourselves accountable and we don't have someone else holding us accountable to our dreams. We have to hold ourselves accountable. Now, what does this look like? This means if years have gone by and you've had a lot of dreams and you haven't necessarily achieved them, this is the opportunity to get an accountability partner.

Kate Volman [: 00:08:44

Maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a colleague, someone in your life who you know isn't going to let you off the hook. That's the most important thing. It can't be someone that you know is just going to say, ah, that's all right. You didn't do the things that you said you wanted to do. It's fine, you'll do it tomorrow. She will do it tomorrow. No, no. We need someone in our life that we know is going to call us out when we're not doing the thing.

Kate Volman [: 00:09:07

That can be a friend, that can be someone in your life. This is why so many people hire a coach, because when you actually invest in a coach, you're going to do the work. I remember years ago, when I was in my 20s, I hired a personal trainer for the first time. I wanted to get into the best shape of my life. And I knew that I could get pretty far by myself because I was disciplined. I went to the gym all the time. I've always been into fitness, but I wanted a different level. And so I hired a personal trainer.

Kate Volman [: 00:09:38

And I am telling you, I did not veer away from anything that she said. I did my workouts how she told me to. I trained, I did my diet, I ate what she told me to eat, at what time she told me to eat it. It was like a whole thing. I would not have had that type of discipline had I not invested in a personal trainer if I wasn't paying someone. And so having a coach is an incredible way to hold you accountable because you're really investing in yourself. So whether you work with an accountability partner or you hire a coach, accountability is key. Okay, moving on to T.

Kate Volman [: 00:10:15

Take action daily. Take Action daily. One of the biggest challenges I see people go through is staying stagnant or being so fearful of making a decision to move forward. We get in our own heads, we overthink, we deal with perfectionism. There's just so much that goes on. And so we don't do anything. If we're not taking any type of action or movement forward, that's when we lose the momentum. We've all procrastinated.

Kate Volman [: 00:10:44

We know what that feels like. And it's so easy to procrastinate these days. There's so much for us to do to avoid doing the work. But even when we're procrastinating, we feel uneasy about it. We feel uncomfortable because we know we should be doing something. We know we should be taking action. Even if that action is getting outside and going for a walk or getting on the phone calling a friend that you know is going to hold you accountable and tell you to do the work so you can actually sit down and do the work. This is why planning is so important.

Kate Volman [: 00:11:14

When we structure our days and we plan our work and we plan our day and we plan our week, we can look on the calendar to see, okay, what is it that I really need to do? If we don't have that roadmap, it's too easy to feel like I have so many things to do and I don't do any of them. So take action daily to keep that momentum, to keep being inspired to make decisions. We have to make decisions every single day. And you know what? If we make the wrong decision, you keep going. You make another decision based on that decision. Sometimes we sit around waiting for inspiration. Action is what produces inspiration. To keep going ne enjoy the journey, enjoy the process.

Kate Volman [: 00:11:57

We can get so caught up in the outcome of all the things that we're doing. Maybe we didn't get the result we were looking for. Maybe it's a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. And so we get so caught up in all that that we forget to enjoy the journey. I have met some really incredible people who have done remarkable work in the world. And I've asked so many of them, if you could go back, what would you do differently? And I can't tell you how many of them will say the same thing. I wish I would have enjoyed the journey more. I wish I wouldn't have been so stressed.

Kate Volman [: 00:12:32

I wish I would have believed it was all going to work out. You are in this moment right now, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you're learning. You're growing. Allow yourself the freedom to feel that, to be at peace with that, even during those challenging times. And I know it's easier said than done, because when we're in it, man, it is really challenging. But when we trust in the process and we know we're going to get to the other side, a better version of ourselves, that alone is inspiration enough for us to keep going. Enjoy the messy middle, as I like to call it. The messy middle.

Kate Volman [: 00:13:05

All the things that we have to go through in order to achieve our dreams. So there you have it. The C.R.E.A.T.E. Formula to have your best year ever. Create Your list of 100 dreams, reflect on past wins, engage with your team accountability, take action daily and enjoy the journey. I hope you have the most incredible year. And hey, if you're listening to this and it's the middle of the year or the end of the year, it doesn't matter. We can still use this C.R.E.A.T.E. Formula to live our best year. Start doing all of these things and you're going to see an improvement in your life.

Kate Volman [: 00:13:43

I hope you enjoyed this episode and got at least one idea out of it to help push you forward in achieving your dreams. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, go create something.