Being Intentional In 2025

Welcome to the Essential Discourse Podcast! I'm your host, Bruce Smith, and I'm thrilled to kick off our first episode of 2025 with you. 

Have you ever heard, "It's not how you start; it's how you finish?" That may be true. However, I submit that how you start matters in the time it takes one to achieve his or her goals.

Today, we're setting the stage for a year of intentional living and meaningful goal-setting. In this episode, I dive deep into the difference between New Year's resolutions and goals and why resolutions often fall short.

I'll explore the significance of starting strong, maintaining the right mindset, the vital role of self-motivation, and more. Drawing analogies to assembling furniture without instructions, we'll discuss the importance of having a clear plan and understanding the true motivations behind your goals. You'll learn about the power of self-discipline, the necessity of making sacrifices, and the benefits of having a community and mentor for support and accountability.

I'll also talk about how focusing on self-improvement and authenticity in goal-setting can lead to real, lasting success. 

Plus, I'll share my plans for more live sessions this year and the various platforms where you can connect with the Essential Discourse Podcast. So, get ready to start right and end well in 2025. Let's make this year your best one yet!

Remember that life, by design, is a perpetual progression. Many of us have areas where we settle into comfort zones, hindering our growth. In embracing discomfort, we can reignite our motivation, enhance our self-esteem, and seize new opportunities. 

Stagnation always negatively impacts our mental well-being, leading to dissatisfaction. I hope we'll challenge ourselves to move beyond our comfort zones and strive to become our best selves.

For your convenience, the Essential Discourse Podcast is available on your favorite streaming apps including Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeart, and online at https://www.edpshow.com/.

You can follow The Essential Discourse Podcast on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Your comments about the podcast as a whole, individual episodes, and other content are not only welcomed but also encouraged.

Please consider subscribing to our community on the website and social media platforms.
Thank you for your support, reviews, and general comments.

Sincerely,
Bruce S.
bruce@edpshow.com
@BruceDaTruth2 [Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok]
@EssentialDiscoursePodcastMedia [YouTube]

Transcript

0:04

Hey, everybody. How you doing? I hope everyone is enjoying their day. I first wanna say thank you and welcome you to the Essential Discourse podcast. I am your host, Bruce Smith, and this is our very first podcast for 2025. And I would like to say, to each and every last one of you, happy New Year. I hope that you've had a fantastic holiday season. I hope that you have consciously kept the reason for the season in mind, and, yeah, I just wanna holler at you for a second and make sure that we are all we're all locked in. You know, at the start of the new year, many people, do this thing called new year's resolution. I haven't done one in quite some time, primarily because many of the resolutions that I've set in the past, I didn't complete. And I don't think that I'm by myself with that. But what I have started doing is I've started setting some goals. And what I discovered is that many of the goals I was setting, were ending up just like many of those resolutions that I was set, unfulfilled, incomplete, not really started, because yeah. Yeah. Quite frankly, because I I didn't I didn't do what I needed to do, in regards to making those goals a reality. And I was just sitting here, thinking about this a couple of days ago, and I posted, something that really, impacted me prior to me posting it to you guys. And I was just like, you know, many many naysayers will not believe, will not support, will not do a whole lot of anything to help you succeed. But we tend to think of naysayers as people on the outside versus, yeah, me. Me, myself. Me, myself, and I. I am my biggest naysayer. So with that in mind, I just gave some thought to, you know, how to achieve these goals, that we set, not necessarily for the new year, but goals that we set for ourselves, in day to day life. And I was I was I was under the under the heavy weight of, you know, having to first look at this for myself before I could come and talk to you guys probably. And I came to the realization that I'm just talking about me. I don't finish well with the goals that I set because I don't start off right. Now I know we've all heard the term, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. But I submit that if you start out right, it's easier to correct when if you should happen to fall off fall off the course or, get distracted or, you know, leave the path for any amount of time. It's easy to backtrack and say, okay. This is where I messed up when you start off right. You know, reaching these goals is the equivalent of getting something from Amazon that requires assembling or something from Home Depot or Wayfair or or what's that what's that place? When you buy the cheap furniture, you just put it together. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Dang. I can't think of the name of it right now. But it's it's the equivalent. Starting these goals, starting goals and completing goals is equivalent to buying something that needs assembly, and we do not read the instruction name. Name. We just thought, okay, let's go there, and I've done this before, and, I can do this. Such and such did it. I shouldn't have any problem doing it because, hey, I'm smarter than such and such. That may be true, but are you more prepared than such and such? Because such and such has done the research, such and such has read the manual, such and such has done all these things that are necessary to reach that goal. You and I, on the other hand, you know, we've we've we've just started trying to put pieces together and and have absolutely no idea what we got going on. And then when we finish it, you got 16 screws and 36 washes left over and it's like, man, where did it go? I know this wasn't intended for this because I put this thing together, but if we had read the instructions, everything would have been in its right place. And perhaps you woulda had a couple of accessories or a couple of pieces of hardware left over just in case, you know, you messed up one time, you know. You woulda had a couple of pieces of hardware left over, a couple of screws, a couple of washers, you know, a couple of nuts, a couple of bullets. You might have had a couple of things left over. And if you had those couple of things left over, you you're pretty you're pretty sure that you put it together. However, if you've got, you know, pieces of wood and screws and, gaskets and all this stuff that just laid out and you know, you know, good and doggone well that a lot of this stuff should be on that piece of equipment that you just put together. You know? Now you gotta backtrack, and it takes you even longer to see where you fell when you when you got off the path. So I don't intend to be in front of you very long. I just wanna give you guys a a practical illustration of what I'm talking about. The importance of starting right so you can end well in 2025 in regards to our goals. In regards to ending well in 2025, starting right. To end well in 2025, we have to start right as it relates to our goals. We have to ensure that we have the correct mindset. What's the correct mindset? Well, the correct mindset is knowing what you wanna do, why you wanna do it, and what's it gonna take to get done. That's that's just 3 of the of the principles. Principles. I'm sure you have the correct one to say. The the other aspect, there there and there are more, but those are the main three. Those are the the main three that we have to, take an account of. Because if I don't have the correct mindset, if I have a quitter's mindset, I'll I'll be done before I'll be done before I even really get started. You understand what I'm saying? It's like having that gym membership at the first of the year. You know, you start out on fire, but that one day is a little cold, you don't feel like getting out of bed, and you know, that's that's that's the that's the hardest that's the hardest day to quit, that first time you quit. And then, you know, maybe a week or 2 later, you don't feel like going again. It's a it's a little easier to quit. Well, you've developed a quitter's mindset. I can make up for that day, this afternoon and this afternoon comes and goes and you've not made it to the gym yet. So you have to have the correct mindset. You have to have it. You have to have it in water to finish winning. You gotta have it to start off. Start off right, but you also have to have it to finish well. You have to think about what's the real motivation for us? What's the real motivating force for this goal? Why are you doing it? Who are you doing it for? What what what benefit is it to you? And does it just benefit you or does it benefit those who are around you? You? Now, what's what's the real motivating force for the goal? And if we could we could articulate that than having the right mindset, is a little easier. It's a little easier for us to have the correct mindset when we recognize and understand and identify the real motivating force for the goal. You know, I can I can man, listen, has anybody ever ever asked you to do something you really didn't feel like doing it and you don't you kinda, like, halfway, you know, half heartedly did it? Yeah. And he was like, well, that's that's good enough. You know? That's a you have a that's a good that's a good enough attitude. You know? You you better be glad I did it because I really didn't feel like doing it. But when we when we realize what the real motivating force is behind, oh, we go at it full throttle. We go at it because, hey. I know I know why I'm doing it. It's because I know why I'm doing it. I got the correct mindset in getting it in getting it done. And the next thing we need to do is the we need to know the who, the what, and the why you've chosen this goal this goal or these goals. You know, who influenced me to choose this goal? Is this something that I wanna do, or is this something that somebody's been nagging me about? And so I said, I'm I'm I'm gonna do it just to just to keep from hearing them out or or or you know what I'm saying? You know how we do. Don't don't make me feel like I'm by myself. Right? So not only do you have to be concerned not only do you have to concern yourself with who's influencing you to do it. And, hopefully, that influence is coming from within within yourself to say, you know what? This is a way that I can get better. This is a way for me to become the best version of me that I can be. Hopefully, that is the reason that you're doing what you're doing. Baby, you got a bad habit, you know, that you decided that, you know, I need to break this habit because I wanna be around, you know, to see my grandkids grow up. I wanna be around, to spend, you know, as much time as I can with my significant other. I wanna be around to do those things that's on my bucket list that I hadn't got an opportunity to do yet. You know? So that's the who aspect. Who's motivating you? Who's influencing you, in the choosing of your goal or goals? Then there's the what. You know? What is the goal? What what what is the goal? What is the benefit of the goal? What is the the purpose of the goal? You know? What what what am I doing this for? Tell me. And not only what am I doing this for, why am I doing it? You know, these are some hard questions that if you would if you would really ask yourself about them, you know, you would just man, if you really ask yourself these three questions concerning you getting started in 2025 to finish well in 2025 with the goals that you set, you'll be halfway there. You'll be halfway there if you can really and honestly answer these 3 w questions. Who, what, why? Have I chosen these goals? You know? Who's influencing me? Hopefully, it's me. Hopefully, it's coming from within. Because if it's coming from within, if it's coming from me, you know, the distractions, they they won't bother me. What? You know, identify the what of of the matter, and and now you can answer the why of the matter. It benefits me. It benefits my health. It benefits my family environment. It benefits the peace that I might have in my home if I break some of these bad habits or if I pick up a good habit. If I start saving money, if I start saving, you know, 25% of my income instead of spending on unnecessary stuff, like all these shoes that's getting ready to come out in 25. It is a bunch of them. I'm just here to let you know there's a bunch of them. And I'm gonna be fighting myself not to break my goals of, you know, conserving and not buying stuff that I really don't need, you know, because there's, like, 900 pair of Jordans coming out this this year in all the colorways that we want. You feel me? But what can I do with that $230, $250 that I was gonna spend on 14 pair of shoes that I could that I could get? I could save that money. I could save that money so that I can take a trip, you know? Or I can save that money just in case an emergency comes through. So the who, the what, and the why that we choose these goals are those think of them as those left and route left and right boundaries. You know, it keeps you from straying too far to the left, too far to the right, and kinda keeps you on the path. It keeps you on the path because, a, I recognize that, you know, the real motivating motivating force for this goal. B, I've got the correct mindset, and it's evident that I have the correct mindset because I've answered these questions honestly and truthfully. So then then then, ladies and gentlemen, we have to consider the cost, and I kinda mentioned that earlier. We have to kinda we have to consider the cost. You may have to inconvenience yourself to achieve your goal consistently. You may have to inconvenience yourself consistently in order to achieve your goal. I might want to get those cobras that's getting ready to drop in that colorway that I always wanted, but I never could get around to get that. I might want to get those metallic jades because every time I tried to get them when they previously came out, they were sold out. And I got big feet And the big feet the big feet shoes the shoes of big feet people, they sell out quickly. So I might not I might have to inconvenience myself for getting what I want temporarily to get what I want long term. I might I might have to eat a little humble pie, piss that up, giving the joke a piece of my mind because I need to have a steady income come in so that I can achieve these things that I wanna achieve, you know? I might. I I just might. I just might have to bite my tongue when I know something is wrong, but I don't have any ability or the authority to change. And me saying something about it, it's not gonna make a difference. So I I might I might I might I might I might have to I might have to stop eating fried chicken and French fries and barbecue ribs and all this other stuff if I wanna lose a significant amount of weight by a specified time for a specific event. I I I have to inconvenience myself from the things that I enjoy doing to do the things that I really don't wanna do in order to get what I want, and that is the achieving of the goal. Mike Tyson said something, and I I might be I might be misquoted. So let me just paraphrase it the way that I remember it. Mike Tyson said discipline is doing what you hate like you love it. That's inconveniencing yourself to achieve your goal. We gotta have discipline in order to reach out to homes. You can't and I mentioned it earlier, you can't have a quitter's mentality. You can't have a justification. I'm gonna justify my actions for not being disciplined mentality. I've gotta inconvenience myself with the truth. I've gotta inconvenience myself with discipline. I gotta inconvenience myself with self control in order to achieve in order to achieve my goal. I know that's tough because some of us really do like butter pecan ice cream. But some of us know that butter pecan ice cream ain't helping me lose them pounds that I won't lose so that I can get into this beachwear that I wanna get into on this trip that we've got planned. Or better yet, butter pecan ice cream ice cream is not, conducive to me no longer being prediabetic. You know, fried pork chop sandwiches and and and and and fried chicken are not conducive to me lowering my a1c and other cholesterols. So we have to inconvenience ourselves to achieve our goals, and you're gonna have to inconvenience yourself consistently. Yeah. Yeah. For those of us who said that we're going to be more spiritual and we're going to get into the Bible more, you know what? You gotta inconvenience yourself. You gotta inconvenience yourself because, hey, I'd rather be on TikTok watching cat videos. I I'd rather be doing that, but I've set a goal. And if I wanna reach this goal, I've gotta inconvenience what I want, what I want temporarily for what I desire long term. So, yeah, we gotta consider the cost. That's just the first aspect of considering the cost. The second aspect of considering the cost, you gotta be prepared to sacrifice fun, pleasure, and socializing for work, hard work, and harder work. I gotta sacrifice some fun. I've gotta sacrifice some pleasure. I gotta sacrifice, you know, some socializing. And what am I sacrificing for? I'm sacrificing for work, hard work, and harder work so that I can stay within those left and right boundaries on the path to achieving my goal. Yeah. Inconveniencing myself consistently to achieve the goal because I know the who, the what, and the why I've chosen this goal. Not only do I know the who, what, and why, why I chose this goal, I know what the real motivating force behind the goal is. All of this is evidence that I am I'm what? I'm ensuring that I have the correct mindset. I'm starting out right so that I can finish well. And finishing well is obtaining the goal. So that's 1 and 2 of of considering the cost and here's the final one in considering the cost because how do you you gotta consider the cost. Are you prepared to learn from failure? Are you prepared to learn from failure? Are you prepared to adjusting and adapting from the lessons learned from the failure? Let's just be honest. Let's just be honest, Dave. We're gonna fail. That's that's just a that's just a fact. We are going to stumble. We are going to fall. We're going to make mistakes. Mistakes. You know? Didn't know what you were doing, and you you learned it from the, from from actually experience of making that mistake. Now, if you do the same thing again, it's no longer a mistake. I just wanna put that out there. If you do the same thing over and over again, you can't call it a mistake. That's the choice that you've made, right? But when you when you when you honestly when you honestly fail, when you honestly stumble, are you are you prepared to learn from the failure? Are you prepared to learn from the stumbles? Are you prepared to learn from okay. I ate 6 cookies, and I was so hungry, and it's because I did not follow my meal plan properly. I did not I did not eat my snack prior to lunch, and I didn't eat my snack after lunch. And that meeting lasted so long, And by the time I got out, the first thing I saw was those cookies, and I gave them cookies to business. So what did we learn from this? Well, I got I got a I got a follow my meal plan. And and if we and if I'm I'm in a meeting, I've got to ensure that I've got something in there that's gonna be healthy and that's going to be beneficial for me. It's not gonna it's not gonna take me outside of those nothing right boundaries. Failure. Failure is not a bad thing when you learn the lessons from failure. Failure is only bad when you consistently fail at the same thing. That says that you haven't learned your lesson. So let's let's review real quick. You've got to you've got to consider the cause to say you're gonna have to inconvenience yourself consistently to achieve your goal. That's number 1. Number 2, you gotta be prepared to sacrifice fun, pleasure, and socializing for work, hard work, and harder work. And the third cost consideration that we need to be prepared to do is learn from our failures and make adjustments and adapt from the lessons that we've learned. So we're nearly there. We're nearly there. But I have to ask you, I have to ask you, do we have a plan? Do we have a plan in regards to reaching our goals? If you've done everything that I mentioned so far, I think you can answer that yes. But I think the problem for a lot of us is that we we start off with with great intentions and high motivation without a plan, without a plan that does not take into consideration. You know, sometimes I'm not gonna feel like going to the gym. So what's what's what's the what's the what's the fix for that? Sometimes I'm not gonna feel like getting up and doing this meal prep. What's the fix for that? What's my plan for that? I know it's gonna happen. What's my plan for that? What is my plan for the worst case scenario of me staying focused and disciplined and staying within the left and right boundaries of meeting these goals? How do I stay right? How do I stay on the right path? That's a part of plan and it's not enough to just have a plan, but has your plan been reviewed by someone who's been successful in the field that you're trying to be successful in? Now, I say in your field. I'm not really talking about work, but it can apply to work. You know, I'm I'm talking about personal goals, you know, beneficial things for you as an individual, beneficial things for you as a family, beneficial things for you spiritually, physically, mentally. Has your plan been reviewed by someone who's been successful in doing what you're trying to do? There's nothing wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking someone who has battled those circumstances, those conditions, those circumstances. There's nothing wrong with asking them, You know what? How did you do it? Well, this is the plan that I'm I'm I'm I'm going to take. Would you mind taking a look at this and provide me some of your experiential knowledge? That's why community is so important. That's why engagement is so important, man, because we can learn more from others. We just ask ourselves, ask others, and be open to receive, you know, the the the wisdom that they have to give. Now, I can give you all the wisdom in the world in regards to a certain thing. It's gonna take you being convinced that, okay, it worked for you and this seems logical, I'm gonna do my research on it, right, but you would still have to apply the plan or the amendments to the plan. And this is why community is so important because sometimes we can plan some things and not really fully understand the process that we're going through. And if we were to just humble ourselves and ask, you know, those who have been through it, who are going through it, who have we have successfully overcome certain things, we can save ourselves a lot of time, a lot of frustration, and a lot of setbacks, and a lot of retracking to get back on track. So, do you have a plan? So, have you considered all the all the obstacles that could take place? And if you haven't even considered the obstacles that could take place, how about the obstacles that you know are going to take place because you know you? You know that your bed acts like it's got it's it it it kinda functions as a vice grip sometimes, and it's hard for you to get out that thing. So what's the plan? How do you what's the fix for that? How do we overcome that? What's the workaround? You know, those those are the those are the honest and hard questions that we have to ask ourselves and we have to think through. If we're gonna have the right mindset to start off right so that we can finish well in 2025 as it relates to our goals. Mentorship. This goes with with planning and asking, you know, someone that we know who has, that we know has overcome certain things that we might be trying to overcome or achieve. Right? Do you have a mentor? Do you have someone who can guide you? Do you have someone who can instruct you? Do you have someone who can who can, hey, man, you know, I see you working hard, but try this, and I guarantee you you'll get some better results. Do we have that? You know, do we have a community of people who are willing to guide us, to show us, to help us, to encourage us to reach these goals? It's kinda hard to become a millionaire when all you hang around is 100 heirs. 100 heirs. Is that is that even a word? 100, you know what I'm saying. Not 1000 heirs, not 10000 heirs, not 100000 heirs. You you you fooling around with folk who are 100 heirs, 700 at the most. So imagine imagine trying to be a millionaire and all you do is hang around 100 years. It's probably not gonna happen. So you gotta start hanging around folk man and asking these people, study these people, mimic these people to a certain extent in order to reach your goals. And finally, here's the word that we all hate, accountability. Are you resolved to be accountable? And it can't be to yourself alone. Right? I can't say I'm accountable to myself and that's good enough. No, because yourself will let yourself cheat. Yourself will let yourself choose what's seemingly easier. You know, yourself yourself will will will allow you to not sacrifice fun, to not sacrifice, you know, those things that you wanna do versus the things that you need to do in order to reach those goals. So are you resolved to be accountable? And if so, who's gonna hold you accountable and support you by being bluntly honest about your behavior, your actions, perhaps justifying not doing some things. Who's gonna hold you accountable? Who's gonna who's gonna who's gonna say, man, you know you know we can't do this, bro. You know you can't be doing that, man. And you you you know your a one c. A one c is way up there, man. You said you wanted to get off the cholesterol, peeps. Right? But what you doing this for me? Why ain't we baking? Why aren't we baking this this this chicken versus frying? And vice versa, who's supporting you? Who's supporting you with the blunt honest truth? You know what, man? I I see your effort, and I I applaud you for your effort. However, you know that you can do better, don't you? And again, this all boils down to a community. Once you have established the right mindset, once you have gotten the right mindset, and you have gone and you have decided that I'm doing this for the right reasons. I know what the motivating factor is behind me doing this. It just makes things a whole lot better. In order to finish well in 20 25, 5. Is it necessary that you start right, start off right? No, not necessary. But will it make it a whole lot easier if you start out right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I encourage each and every one of us who have set some goals to really, really think about the things that I discussed with you here today, to really think about those things and to write it down. Write it down. Play devil's advocate if you have to, you know, in order to cover all the the mishaps and the things that could possibly happen that could derail you from reaching your goals. Find someone who you're comfortable with being accountable to and someone who will support you, not not butter you up and tell you what you wanna hear, but tell you the God honest truth about where you are in relation to meeting your goals. Hey, guys. I'm Bruce Smith. This has been the Essential Discourse podcast, and, hopefully, you'll you'll be able to share, some of the goals that you've reached this year. And, hopefully, you guys will come back and say, hey, Bruce. You know, some of the things that you mentioned or all the things that you mentioned, it really helped me out this year, man. Your podcast, the information that you you put out was great. I shared it. We're starting to follow you. And, yo, man, I am, just pleased, to be here still in the land of the dying. I'm just happy to be here, and, I look forward to more engagement from you guys, with you guys, because it makes the difference. It really does. The more engaged that you guys are, the more encouragement I gain to keep on going. Alright, guys. I hope that you, have a blessed night, blessed morning, blessed afternoon, whenever you're listening to this. I'm gonna plan on going live a little bit more often this year. Whether, you know, people sign on and sign or not, we're gonna do what we've been called to do. And, we're just gonna trust God for the results and what he's gonna do with this, media and podcast. Again, you can find us on Facebook, E Such A Discourse Podcast. You can find us on, Instagram at bruce the truth 2, and also on YouTube at bruce the truth 2. We're also TikTok, same call sign, bruce the truth 2. The Essential Discourse podcast can be listened to at ww.edpshow.com, or you can go to Apple Music, Spotify, Iheartradio, wherever you listen to podcasts, the E Central Discourse podcast is there. Thank you again for your support. I appreciate you guys. Stay blessed. Be good to yourself. Be better to others. I love you. Peace out.