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What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit

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of Calling, the podcast that provides you with

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the strategies and tools needed to successfully

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discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's

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through inspiring stories, thought -provoking

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interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on

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personal growth and development, we've got you

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covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy

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the episode. What's going on, guys? Happy New

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Year. I'm a little late saying that, but happy,

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happy New Year. You already saw in my title,

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but in this episode, I wanted to talk about my

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word of the year. The reason I even thought about

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making word of the year this year was saying

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year a lot is because I was going through the

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Maxwell Leadership Facebook group one day and

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there's this post after post after post. of people

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sharing their word of the year and why it was

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the word of the year, how it was going to, why

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they chose it and how they were going to use

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it to pursue the goals and calling that they

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were living in. I was a little late to the party.

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Last year, I was very late and I don't think

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I chose my word to like halfway through the year,

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but it was the word focus. I wanted to focus

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more on the goals that God was calling me to

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live in. And, you know, it's easy for me to get

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distracted. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't

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be surprised if I if I went and got a positive

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diagnosis for ADHD. I'm not a self. I don't like

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to self -diagnose by toe that line sometimes.

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And I, you know, I had the word focus in all

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caps every month written down, written on my

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calendar and pen. So every time I walked past

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it, anytime I needed a reminder, I would. See

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the word focus and the reminder of why I wrote

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it in the first place would help me focus on

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the goals that I set out to achieve. This year,

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you already know from the title, potentially

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from the title, I actually don't know yet. But

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this year, my word is innovate. So that word's

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been popping up in my head a lot this year and

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a little bit late in last year when it comes

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to thinking about AI and innovations that's been

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happening with that. It's a technological innovation.

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You know, just like with AI, there's going to

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be growing pains, but we're all going to get

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through it. And this just goes to show that true...

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In true progress and growth, there is pain. In

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true progress and growth, it's painful. So this

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year, that's what I want to talk about. Not about

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pain, not about pain, but about growth, about

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innovation. My goal this year is to innovate

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my life, how I pursue my goals, how I pursue

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my calling. I want to bite down when it hurts,

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when I really don't want to pursue the things

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that I said I was going to pursue because my

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day was hard, which happens. And sometimes you

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have to give yourself grace, give yourself a

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break. But I want to make sure that I keep pushing

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forward because I've spent too long doing nothing.

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I spent too long not pushing forward. So I want

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to find new ways. I want to innovate, find new

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ways to me to effectively pursue what God is

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calling me towards. For example, I had a friend

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challenge me last month to send out 15 text messages

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every single day to other people in my contact

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list in order to promote and get the word out

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about my coaching. I don't know if that was the

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most effective strategy. I know what it did for

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me. It caused me to every day think about my

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coaching. It caused me every day to have different

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conversations about what my coaching is, who

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it's for, and why I'm doing it at all. Something

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I haven't done ever. So how are you going to

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innovate this year? Not only in your goals, like

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what they are, but how you pursue your goals.

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What are the strategies you're going to follow?

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or create? What are the habits that you're going

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to stop or the habits you're going to need to

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create in order to pursue this calling and pursue

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these goals well? And who are you going to have

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to become in order to be the person that achieves

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the big goals that you're setting out to achieve?

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Because I believe if you're listening to this

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podcast, you have big goals. You have a calling

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in your life and you know that and you want to

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pursue it with excellence. So what kind of person

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are you going to have to become in order to do

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that? What relationships are you going to have

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to cut out or what relationships are you going

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to have to seek out? What kind of people are

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you going to need to surround yourself with in

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order to pursue your calling well? One of the

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ways I dove deeper and to figure out my goals

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is by writing them out in detail. I want to actually

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suggest, usually I do have another action I want

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you to do, but I took a little bit of time. I

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thought about what are my goals. I wrote maybe

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a checkbox. I don't want to write a goal about

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my pain. I want to write a goal about my coaching.

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And I followed this framework. I answered two

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questions. I answered, What is the goal in detail?

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And nothing's off the table. There is, I don't

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know if you ever heard of a BHAG. It's called

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a big, hairy, audacious goal. Like whenever this

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goal is, you write it out. Nothing's off the

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table. And then you answer the second question.

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What would, what would accomplishing this goal

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mean to you? And I want to read you an example

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just so you kind of get a grasp on what that

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means. And this is all part of me innovating

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the way I pursue the goals is by actually fully

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defining what they are. Here's my goal for 2026

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when it comes to my pain and condition of muscular

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dystonia. This says, and see if I can read my

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handwriting, says my goal for 2026 is to be pain

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free. I know it's crazy, right? Without medication

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and through sustainable, holistic strategies.

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Being pain -free this year brings freedom in

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a heightened capacity. When I'm pain -free, I'll

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be incredibly thankful to God for the healing.

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I'll be able to consider buying a house outside

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of the 10 to 15 minute range I can drive right

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now to Amplify Church. because that uh keep reading

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uh i'll pick up uh i'll be able to pick up other

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people to go to events and be able to drive home

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to see my parents anytime i want i'll go on road

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trips i'll do i'll do and then i trailed off

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as i'll do this through seeking out dot dot dot

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um that was the next step was to write out i

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didn't get that far yet but the next step is

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to break that down into actionable steps and

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uh reverse engineer that goal because that's

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not a smart goal yet i don't know if you know

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that acronym but it's specific it stands for

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us being a goal being specific measurable i think

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it's achievable a r i don't know last one's time

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bound i forget the r stands for but You reverse

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engineer that goal and then create smaller goals

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to create more goals that are time bound. And

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we work back from there. But that, I read that

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goal to you because it's big, it's hairy, it's

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audacious. I don't know if I'm actually going

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to go to college. I'm going to believe it and

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I'm going to do everything I can to achieve it

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by reverse engineering it and figuring out what

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I need to do in order to pursue that with excellence.

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That's what I want for you too. I want you to

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be able to write your goals out for this year,

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2026, using the framework of what are your goals

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and what does it mean, what would it mean for

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you to achieve them? So how about your faith?

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If you're listening to this podcast, you're most

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likely a follower of Jesus Christ. Or at least

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you're maybe a little curious enough to still

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be listening to the podcast. So what areas of

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your life still need to be handed over to him?

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What areas of your life still need to go through

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that growth, still need to go through that innovation

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of being what you want it to be versus what he's

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calling for it to be? What rooms in your heart

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don't need to be opened for him? For me, I love

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studying scripture. It helps me grow closer in

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my faith of him. It helps me understand more

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of who he is and who he was and who he's going

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to continue to be. But for you, I want to answer

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this question. Are your goals that you've set

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out, that you've wrote out, are they aligned

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with what he's calling you to do and live in?

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You might be wondering, like, how do I figure

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that out? You pray on it. You ask him. Your goals

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might change. You might find out that your goals

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are selfish. You might find out that your goals

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are too small and that he's calling you higher.

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And the only way you're going to find that out

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is by asking him and by knowing who he is by

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reading his word. So guys, the last thing I want

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to leave with you, and I just want to ask, what

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is your word of the year? If you don't have one,

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that's okay. You can borrow mine. You can use

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Innovate. But I want you to pray on that too.

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Pray on a word of the year. What is a word that

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God can use to center you and to direct you that

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will keep you on the path he wants you on? It

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could be innovate. It might not be. But guys,

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once you do that, go on and I would love to hear

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your goals. I'd love to discuss them with you.

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I'm gifting everyone a free Discovery coaching

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call. It's a one -hour discussion that you and

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I can just sit down and have a one -hour discussion

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about the goals that you just laid out. So if

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you are interested in that, you can click the

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link in the podcast description on YouTube or

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whatever platform you're on. And if you enjoyed

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this episode, definitely go out to Instagram,

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Facebook, all the other places and share this

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out on social media. So that others that can

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be impacted and others can pursue their goals

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with excellence. Pursue the calling that God

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has on their lives. Share with your family. Share

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it with your friends. And guys, if you enjoyed

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this episode, don't forget to rate it. Anywhere

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you listen. Anywhere you can. All right. Thank

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you for listening to this episode of the Pursuit

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of Calling podcast. I know my name is Thomas

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Carney. I'll see you next time. Keep pursuing

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your calling well.