Designing Your Year For 2021 | Dominick Quartuccio
Episode 270
Episode Guide
Episode Timestamps
ChooseFI Podcast Episode Show Notes
Episode Title: Designing Your Future: Reflection and Intentionality for 2021
Guests: Dominick Quartuccio
Hosts: Jonathan Mendonsa, Brad Barrett
Release Date: [Insert Release Date]
Episode Summary:
Join Dominick Quartuccio for an insightful journey into personal development and preparation for the year ahead. The episode emphasizes reflection on 2020, understands mental health, and intentional goal setting for 2021. Through exercises designed to foster connection, audiences are prompted to reflect on their past and shape their future with intention and purpose.
Key Topics Discussed:
00:00:00 - Introduction of Dominick Quartuccio
- Brad welcomes Dominick Quartuccio back for his fourth appearance on the podcast.
00:10:00 - Reflecting on Standout Moments of 2020
- Importance of identifying standout moments from the previous year.
- Techniques for reflection: use your calendar, photo reel, and journal notes.
Key Takeaway: Reflect on your standout moments of 2020 to inform your future goals.
00:30:00 - Mental Health Discussions
- Discussion on the significance of mental health and the need to recognize personal struggles during challenging times.
Insight: Community support enhances resilience and mental health.
Key Questions for Reflection:
- What did you learn about your own mental health this year?
00:39:30 - Looking Forward to 2021
- Strategies for intentional goal setting focusing on areas ripe for development in 2021.
Main Prompt: Identify an area of your life ready for a potential 'level up' in 2021.
00:51:00 - Wrap-Up and Resources
- Dominick shares upcoming resources, including a webinar and mental health challenge for men.
Action Item: Prepare a notebook for reflection exercises as the episode guides you.
Key Quotes:
- "Evaluate where you spend your time; 80% doing the unimportant is unsustainable."
- "Consider 2021 as your launchpad for extraordinary growth."
- "Transform your ambitions from 'should' to 'must' for impactful change."
- "Recognize the dangers of drift state; intentionality is crucial."
Actionable Takeaways:
- Reflect on what you want to leave behind in 2020 to make space for positive change.
- Identify one major goal you want to pursue in 2021 based on your reflections.
Discussion Questions:
- What standout moments defined your 2020?
- How has your perspective on mental health changed over the year?
- What relationships have grown in significance during the pandemic?
- What area of your life feels ready for a significant change in 2021?
- How can you ensure you maintain presence in your daily life?
Related Resources:
- The Great Man Within Podcast: https://greatmanwithin.com
Timestamps:
- 00:00:00 - Introduction of Dominick Quartuccio
- 00:10:00 - Reflecting on Standout Moments of 2020
- 00:30:00 - Mental Health Discussions
- 00:39:30 - Looking Forward to 2021
- 00:51:00 - Wrap-Up and Resources
Social Media Snippets:
- "2021 could be your launchpad for extraordinary growth! #ChooseFI #PersonalDevelopment"
You've been listening to ChooseFI Podcast, where we help middle-class America build wealth one life hack at a time.
Reflecting on 2020: Crafting a Meaningful 2021
As we step into a new year, it’s vital to pause and reflect on the key experiences of the past year, particularly given the tumultuous events that have shaped our lives, both personally and globally. This reflection can set a powerful foundation for our goals and intentions in the coming year. Here’s how to extract valuable insights from your experiences in 2020 and leverage them for transformative growth in 2021.
The Importance of Reflection
Reflection is not merely a passive exercise; it’s a strategic practice that helps you consolidate your experiences and learn from them. To effectively reflect, consider the following methods:
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Review Your Calendar: Go back through your calendar entries to jog your memory about significant events, appointments, and achievements from the year. Often, we underestimate the impact of small moments.
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Explore Your Photo Reels: Look through your photos from the year. Visual memories can reignite feelings and remind you of the highs and lows you experienced.
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Examine Your Notes and Journals: If you keep a journal, flip through its pages to see what was occupying your thoughts and emotions throughout the year.
Identifying Standout Moments
It’s essential to pinpoint key moments that defined your past year. Ask yourself:
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What were my standout moments? Reflect on joyful occasions, challenging experiences, transfers in relationships, or pivotal career decisions. These highlights can offer clues for what you desire to pursue in 2021.
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What did I learn about my mental health? 2020 spotlighted the importance of mental wellness. Identify any revelations you gained about your mental health that can guide you toward better practices in the future.
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What relationships became significant? Nurturing connections can lead to personal growth. Evaluate which relationships strengthened and how you can continue to cultivate these ties.
Setting Intentions for 2021
With insights from reflection, it's time to turn toward the future. Here are ways to set meaningful intentions and actionable goals for the coming year.
Determine What to Leave Behind
Before moving forward, consider what you want to shed from 2020. This could be limiting beliefs or negative habits that don't serve your growth anymore. For instance:
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Evaluate Your Time: Reflect on where you spend your time and recognize activities that do not add value. For instance, if you find that a significant portion of your time goes into mindlessly watching Netflix, consider cutting back to reclaim those hours for more fulfilling activities.
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Commit to Inner Work: Engaging in inner work is crucial for personal development. Be intentional about cultivating practices that deepen your self-awareness and understanding of your values.
Identify Areas for Growth
Now, focus on areas of your life that feel ready for a level-up:
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Select One Key Area: Choose one distinct aspect of your life—be it health, relationships, career, or personal growth—that feels ready for significant improvement. Write down actionable steps that can propel you toward this goal.
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Focus on Presence: To overcome distractions and be more present in your daily life, create small rituals or commitments that reinforce presence. This might include dedicated time away from screens or establishing family rituals.
Cultivating a Burning Desire
Transforming your goals from ‘shoulds’ to ‘musts’ can ignite meaningful change. As you establish your intentions for the year, infuse them with a sense of urgency:
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Clarify Your 'Must': What is one commitment that, if you achieve, can anchor your year in intentional presence? This commitment should go beyond general goals and dictate your daily actions.
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Identify Your Core Motivations: Dig deep into why these goals resonate with you to create that burning desire. This emotional connection can keep you motivated throughout the year.
Engaging with Community
Engage with communities dedicated to personal development and financial independence. Connections with like-minded individuals can provide support and accountability as you work toward your goals.
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Use Resources Wisely: Leverage podcasts, books, and online forums that resonate with your growth objectives. Consider participating in guided webinars or workshops designed for personal and collective growth.
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Find Supportive Networks: Seek groups that share common interests, whether they focus on self-improvement, financial independence, or holistic wellness.
Actionable Takeaways
As you embark on this new journey, here are some key takeaways to keep in mind:
- Reflect on your standout moments from 2020 to inform your future decisions.
- Conduct an audit of how you spend your time to ensure it aligns with your goals.
- Identify a single commitment for 2021 that can anchor your intentions.
- Engage in inner work practices that foster self-awareness and purpose.
By channeling the lessons learned from the past year and crafting intentional goals for the upcoming one, you can set yourself up for a meaningful, fulfilling, and prosperous 2021. Embrace the opportunity for growth, and remember that every small step taken towards intentionality compounds over time, leading to significant changes in your life’s direction.
Dominick Quartuccio
Website: The Great Man Within
Podcast: The Great Man Within
What You'll Get Out Of Today's Show
One of ChooseFI's most popular guests is back! Dominick Quartuccio returns to talk about after the shock of 2020, how to bounce back and what it looks like to design your life for next year.
Brad's relationship with Dominick goes back to when they were in college together. After reconnecting several years ago, Dominick has become a source of inspiration and a mentor to Brad.
In previous episodes, conversations with Dominick have centered around the idea of drift. It's the state of existence where we think we're making intentional decisions with our lives, but in reality, it is habits, patterns, unconscious beliefs, expectations, societal pressures, etc. that are really driving decisions.
It's only when an outside force, normally a quite dramatic one, forces itself upon us that we wake up from that state of drift.
For the first time in human history, the entire world is going through an experience together. It's caused everyone some sort of pain, whether it was losing a loved one, a financial loss, or anxiety.
Most of us have gone through periods of suffering in the past that when we look back on them, those were the moments that made us into the person we are today, and given the choice, we wouldn't change them today.
Instead of wishing to speed up 2020 and get it over with, Dominick encourages us to pause and look at the past year to see where you've been and highlight the standout moments. The purpose of this exercise is so that we can envision a 2021 that has the potential to be the most meaningful, fulfilling, and prosperous year of our lives.
In his role as a leaser, Dominick has seen behind the curtain of people's personal lives and noticed a distinct difference between those who have an inner foundation of work leading up to the pandemic and those who have never done the work. Fortifying your inner foundation allows you to be strong and thrive if there are tougher times in the year ahead.
There are two parts to the exercise of designing the next year of your life: looking back at the year you just had and looking forward to creating the year that you want.
Dominick places inner work underneath the umbrella of personal development. Where personal development could be an external skill to better yourself, such as reading a book to learn a new skill that can be applied in the real world, inner work is oriented inward, like examining what lights you up.
When the conditions of the outside world change, when you've done the inner work, you don't feel shaken and you are standing on something stable.
We've experienced more emotional turmoil in the last year than any other, making it worthy of introspection.
In the last year, what were some of the standout moments, both the highs and the lows, beginnings and endings, new and lost relationships or jobs, and the trials and tribulations?
Start with going back and looking at your calendar. Looking at it will trigger memories of travel or meetings. Next, go through the photos you've taken. There may be some real standout moments you've forgotten recorded on your phone. Finally, review your journal or scroll through any notes you've taken to see what you were thinking, seeing, and what your attitude was.
After looking back, begin looking for themes. Was it bringing your life back into balance, loss, finding love?
This year Jonathan and his wife got on the same page of their work-life relationship and she's embraced the idea of building her talent stack which has helped them have a common direction in their marriage. COVID has allowed Jonathan to watch his kids as they grow and evolve into different people every week. He has also lost 20-30 pounds, winning a bet he made with himself on Healthy Wage. He embraced the idea of community and is doing weekly calls with his father and JD Roth. He watched the income for his business take a nosedive and then recover from working to build new lines of revenue. He also built two new businesses using skills acquired in the last four years. He says it was his best year ever.
Dominick posed the question to Jonathan about how he would've handled the same downturn to his business if it had occurred three years ago. Jonathan said he's a completely different person now and doesn't know how he would have interacted with who he was three years ago. This year has proven he has grit, determination, and gets stronger during times of trouble.
For Brad, he and his family did CrossFit together five days a week for months. His theme is togetherness and it wasn't limited to his immediate family. The mastermind group he belongs to with Dominick was part of it. He's also been able to see his parents more this year and had the time to spend talking with his daughter who was experiencing anxiety and trying to work her way through it.
Brad thinks what was important about this year was being able to see the hard work of parenting come to fruition. Dominick mentions that during a normal year, these moments speed by. The pandemic has forced us to slow down and meet these moments. But when things start to speed back up again, are we going to fall back into these old habits, or are we going to pause and be there for these moments?
Our brains are hardwired to keep us safe, but many times the anxiety and creation of negative hypotheticals are not serving us. Realizing them helped both Brad and his daughter.
The pandemic has shined a light on mental health. What did you learn about your own mental health this year?
Additional questions to ponder are these. What milestones of FI did you experience this year? What relationship emerged as the most important this year? What did you discover about your physical well-being?
One last question to consider is what is something you would like to leave behind in this year? An emotion, a belief system, a recurring complaint?
Jonathan would like to leave behind the hours he spends that aren't helping to move him forward or bring him joy, like watching Netflix and scrolling through social media, but the thinks being productive 16 hours a day isn't the goal. Moderation may be his goal for 2021.
Next, what are some things you want to carry forward with you into the next year? A sense of inner peace, togetherness, clarity? Give yourself space to think about it.
What is an area of your life that is ready for the next big level up? Start by writing down many of the areas ready for a level up. after coming up with a list of 5-15, look for the one that really jumps out at you. Use this terrible year to springboard into the best year of your life.
Courage is Dominick's theme for the next year as he works to figure out how to get out there and help more men live their fullest potential.
This goal for next year does not need to world-changing, just meaningful, and something that inspires you to see what you are capable of.
Brad knows that being present is an area he could work on and he could put separation in place to make that easier and make his life better.
Napoleon Hill states in his work that the number one step in creating any meaningful change is to build a burning desire.
What's the one decision that you could make that would allow you to be focused 365 days a year on that burning desire?
Dominick will be holding a The Great Man Within 90 minute interactive webinar on Dec 16th for designing the next year of your life and in January, a free 30 day men's mental health challenge. To register for either, visit The Great Man Within.
Resources Mentioned In Today's Conversation
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Get started on your path to financial independence at ChooseFI.com/start
