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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to consider what concept or idea will define

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Speaker 1: your upcoming year. In both looking forward and looking backward,

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Speaker 1: it can be helpful to think about what will set

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Speaker 1: this year apart. I know a lot of people choose

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Speaker 1: a word for the year. I generally don't, but I

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Speaker 1: understand the appeal. A word can help define a mindset,

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Speaker 1: which you can then use as you weigh different choices.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps this is the year of saying yes, or the

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Speaker 1: year of gratitude, or the year of intentionality. You could

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Speaker 1: also define a year by a particular habit you hope

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Speaker 1: to start or stop. This is the year you quit smoking,

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Speaker 1: or the year you become a runner, or the year

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Speaker 1: you learn Spanish. I like this framing because it makes

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Speaker 1: a goal, an aim, and a defining experience part of

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Speaker 1: your identity rather than a chore. New Year's resolutions occasionally

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Speaker 1: feel oppressive, but a theme changes things. If you think

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Speaker 1: of the upcoming year as the year you quit smoking,

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Speaker 1: then it is not you versus smoking. It's a year

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Speaker 1: when a defining experience is the change in your relationship

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Speaker 1: to smoking. It takes this to do to a whole

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Speaker 1: new level. As for the year you become a runner,

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Speaker 1: you are not saying you will run for forty five minutes,

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Speaker 1: four times a week at six am. I mean some

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Speaker 1: people would do well with that structure, but for other

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Speaker 1: people that might not always be feasible in a busy life. Instead,

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Speaker 1: what you are saying is that you are envisioning yourself

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Speaker 1: at a runner on December thirty first, and behaving in

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Speaker 1: accordance with that identity. In the meantime. A runner runs

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Speaker 1: regularly because well, she's a runner. She doesn't need to

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Speaker 1: beerate herself and give up if she misses a Thursday

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Speaker 1: morning run because she is sick or it is raining.

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Speaker 1: A runner just goes on another run in a few

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Speaker 1: days because she is a runner and that is what

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Speaker 1: a runner does. Or maybe instead of a mindset of

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Speaker 1: a goal, this framing could suggest that it is the

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Speaker 1: year of a particular activity for you. It could be

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Speaker 1: the year of dinner parties, the year of calling friends

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Speaker 1: on your commute, the year of watching Tom Stoppard's plays.

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Speaker 1: Consider an activity that you want to do more of

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Speaker 1: and set that as a theme for the year. Or

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Speaker 1: maybe these past twelve months have been particularly hard. You

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Speaker 1: might decide that this is the year of recuperation or

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Speaker 1: rest or getting your feetback under you. When you know

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Speaker 1: that is what the year is all about, you have

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Speaker 1: a rubric for choosing which opportunities to accept and which

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Speaker 1: ones to let pass you by, and for a figuring

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Speaker 1: out how you spend your time and shape your days.

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Speaker 1: You won't feel guilty for not saying yes to everything,

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Speaker 1: because the big yes you are saying this year is

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Speaker 1: to recuperation. Not everything fits with that theme. Whatever the

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Speaker 1: particular theme for the upcoming year, it can feel clarifying

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Speaker 1: to have a focus, and that focus doesn't have to

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Speaker 1: be about self improvement, truly, it can be about anything.

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Speaker 1: This maybe is the year of having fun. Life can

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Speaker 1: feel so busy and time can pass so fast. If

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Speaker 1: we aren't intentional about what we want for the year,

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Speaker 1: it is easy to find ourselves on December thirty first

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Speaker 1: wondering what even happened. So reflect on your hopes for

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Speaker 1: the year ahead and consider setting a focus for the year.

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Speaker 1: When you know what you want the year to be about,

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Speaker 1: you are positioned to make that intention a reality. If

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Speaker 1: you decide what will define the year for you. You

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Speaker 1: can let me know about it at Laura at Laura

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Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.