What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. What's going on, guys? Happy New
Year. I'm a little late saying that, but happy,
happy New Year. You already saw in my title,
but in this episode, I wanted to talk about my
word of the year. The reason I even thought about
making word of the year this year was saying
year a lot is because I was going through the
Maxwell Leadership Facebook group one day and
there's this post after post after post. of people
sharing their word of the year and why it was
the word of the year, how it was going to, why
they chose it and how they were going to use
it to pursue the goals and calling that they
were living in. I was a little late to the party.
Last year, I was very late and I don't think
I chose my word to like halfway through the year,
but it was the word focus. I wanted to focus
more on the goals that God was calling me to
live in. And, you know, it's easy for me to get
distracted. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't
be surprised if I if I went and got a positive
diagnosis for ADHD. I'm not a self. I don't like
to self -diagnose by toe that line sometimes.
And I, you know, I had the word focus in all
caps every month written down, written on my
calendar and pen. So every time I walked past
it, anytime I needed a reminder, I would. See
the word focus and the reminder of why I wrote
it in the first place would help me focus on
the goals that I set out to achieve. This year,
you already know from the title, potentially
from the title, I actually don't know yet. But
this year, my word is innovate. So that word's
been popping up in my head a lot this year and
a little bit late in last year when it comes
to thinking about AI and innovations that's been
happening with that. It's a technological innovation.
You know, just like with AI, there's going to
be growing pains, but we're all going to get
through it. And this just goes to show that true...
In true progress and growth, there is pain. In
true progress and growth, it's painful. So this
year, that's what I want to talk about. Not about
pain, not about pain, but about growth, about
innovation. My goal this year is to innovate
my life, how I pursue my goals, how I pursue
my calling. I want to bite down when it hurts,
when I really don't want to pursue the things
that I said I was going to pursue because my
day was hard, which happens. And sometimes you
have to give yourself grace, give yourself a
break. But I want to make sure that I keep pushing
forward because I've spent too long doing nothing.
I spent too long not pushing forward. So I want
to find new ways. I want to innovate, find new
ways to me to effectively pursue what God is
calling me towards. For example, I had a friend
challenge me last month to send out 15 text messages
every single day to other people in my contact
list in order to promote and get the word out
about my coaching. I don't know if that was the
most effective strategy. I know what it did for
me. It caused me to every day think about my
coaching. It caused me every day to have different
conversations about what my coaching is, who
it's for, and why I'm doing it at all. Something
I haven't done ever. So how are you going to
innovate this year? Not only in your goals, like
what they are, but how you pursue your goals.
What are the strategies you're going to follow?
or create? What are the habits that you're going
to stop or the habits you're going to need to
create in order to pursue this calling and pursue
these goals well? And who are you going to have
to become in order to be the person that achieves
the big goals that you're setting out to achieve?
Because I believe if you're listening to this
podcast, you have big goals. You have a calling
in your life and you know that and you want to
pursue it with excellence. So what kind of person
are you going to have to become in order to do
that? What relationships are you going to have
to cut out or what relationships are you going
to have to seek out? What kind of people are
you going to need to surround yourself with in
order to pursue your calling well? One of the
ways I dove deeper and to figure out my goals
is by writing them out in detail. I want to actually
suggest, usually I do have another action I want
you to do, but I took a little bit of time. I
thought about what are my goals. I wrote maybe
a checkbox. I don't want to write a goal about
my pain. I want to write a goal about my coaching.
And I followed this framework. I answered two
questions. I answered, What is the goal in detail?
And nothing's off the table. There is, I don't
know if you ever heard of a BHAG. It's called
a big, hairy, audacious goal. Like whenever this
goal is, you write it out. Nothing's off the
table. And then you answer the second question.
What would, what would accomplishing this goal
mean to you? And I want to read you an example
just so you kind of get a grasp on what that
means. And this is all part of me innovating
the way I pursue the goals is by actually fully
defining what they are. Here's my goal for 2026
when it comes to my pain and condition of muscular
dystonia. This says, and see if I can read my
handwriting, says my goal for 2026 is to be pain
free. I know it's crazy, right? Without medication
and through sustainable, holistic strategies.
Being pain -free this year brings freedom in
a heightened capacity. When I'm pain -free, I'll
be incredibly thankful to God for the healing.
I'll be able to consider buying a house outside
of the 10 to 15 minute range I can drive right
now to Amplify Church. because that uh keep reading
uh i'll pick up uh i'll be able to pick up other
people to go to events and be able to drive home
to see my parents anytime i want i'll go on road
trips i'll do i'll do and then i trailed off
as i'll do this through seeking out dot dot dot
um that was the next step was to write out i
didn't get that far yet but the next step is
to break that down into actionable steps and
uh reverse engineer that goal because that's
not a smart goal yet i don't know if you know
that acronym but it's specific it stands for
us being a goal being specific measurable i think
it's achievable a r i don't know last one's time
bound i forget the r stands for but You reverse
engineer that goal and then create smaller goals
to create more goals that are time bound. And
we work back from there. But that, I read that
goal to you because it's big, it's hairy, it's
audacious. I don't know if I'm actually going
to go to college. I'm going to believe it and
I'm going to do everything I can to achieve it
by reverse engineering it and figuring out what
I need to do in order to pursue that with excellence.
That's what I want for you too. I want you to
be able to write your goals out for this year,
2026, using the framework of what are your goals
and what does it mean, what would it mean for
you to achieve them? So how about your faith?
If you're listening to this podcast, you're most
likely a follower of Jesus Christ. Or at least
you're maybe a little curious enough to still
be listening to the podcast. So what areas of
your life still need to be handed over to him?
What areas of your life still need to go through
that growth, still need to go through that innovation
of being what you want it to be versus what he's
calling for it to be? What rooms in your heart
don't need to be opened for him? For me, I love
studying scripture. It helps me grow closer in
my faith of him. It helps me understand more
of who he is and who he was and who he's going
to continue to be. But for you, I want to answer
this question. Are your goals that you've set
out, that you've wrote out, are they aligned
with what he's calling you to do and live in?
You might be wondering, like, how do I figure
that out? You pray on it. You ask him. Your goals
might change. You might find out that your goals
are selfish. You might find out that your goals
are too small and that he's calling you higher.
And the only way you're going to find that out
is by asking him and by knowing who he is by
reading his word. So guys, the last thing I want
to leave with you, and I just want to ask, what
is your word of the year? If you don't have one,
that's okay. You can borrow mine. You can use
Innovate. But I want you to pray on that too.
Pray on a word of the year. What is a word that
God can use to center you and to direct you that
will keep you on the path he wants you on? It
could be innovate. It might not be. But guys,
once you do that, go on and I would love to hear
your goals. I'd love to discuss them with you.
I'm gifting everyone a free Discovery coaching
call. It's a one -hour discussion that you and
I can just sit down and have a one -hour discussion
about the goals that you just laid out. So if
you are interested in that, you can click the
link in the podcast description on YouTube or
whatever platform you're on. And if you enjoyed
this episode, definitely go out to Instagram,
Facebook, all the other places and share this
out on social media. So that others that can
be impacted and others can pursue their goals
with excellence. Pursue the calling that God
has on their lives. Share with your family. Share
it with your friends. And guys, if you enjoyed
this episode, don't forget to rate it. Anywhere
you listen. Anywhere you can. All right. Thank
you for listening to this episode of the Pursuit
of Calling podcast. I know my name is Thomas
Carney. I'll see you next time. Keep pursuing
your calling well.