My 2025 Challenge to You

A few years ago, we were setting up for a Skyrocket Team retreat in Philadelphia. My sister was working with us at the time, and she and I were placing pens and notebooks and water bottles and snacks in front of all our soon-to-be-occupied team member’s seats.

Just then, our contact at the venue walked in. It was now the three of us.

We all gave some kind of hello/acknowledgment, and then I asked, “How are you?”

Our contact said, “You know, just waiting for the weekend.”

That’s when my sister said, “It’s Tuesday.”

Today is Monday, December 30th. The New Year is two days away.

Did this year fly by? If so, ask yourself why. Is it because you operate, even slightly, like the person I referenced above? Are you in a perpetual state of wishing that time passes more quickly, so you can get to the “fun stuff?” You know how that ends, right? With you having very little ability to enjoy the “fun stuff” because you’ve become so conditioned to thinking about the next thing that time hurtles by until, eventually, you’re at the end of your life wishing you could get it all back.

A close friend of mine, upon getting a really good job back in his thirties said, “I can’t wait until I’m sixty-five so I can retire.”

What?

Maybe that’s an extreme example, but I bet many of you spent the weeks and days leading up to the holidays and some time off, thinking almost entirely of that. I bet, for some of you, you felt like you were going to burst on December 19th, thinking to yourself, “Only a few more days!!!”

While being excited about life is a great thing, the issue with operating like this is that if left unchecked, it trains us to always think about what’s next. To be only partially in the present while being mostly in the future.

Ask yourself this - and be honest - are you already dreading going back to work? Even if today is a work day for you and your holiday starts tomorrow? If you have an extended break, have you been counting how many days you have off until you go back?

Parents love to tell me how fast time is going. That their kids are getting so much older and so much bigger and that it’s happening, almost without them noticing. What a shame to miss out on all that because we’re wishing for Saturday on Tuesday and wishing for summer in winter.

I’m obsessed with this because I spent years operating like this. Except mine was worse, as I was living simultaneously in this fun and perfect future that didn’t exist as well as an imperfect past in which my mistakes were forever and mountain-sized.

What a waste.

So here’s a challenge for you this year: be more present than in the past. Make this year, a year that doesn’t fly by.

How, you ask?

Create a daily mantra and say it to yourself every morning.

Mine ends like this.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for this perfect day. A day where I can accomplish anything, where I will accomplish everything, where I will win.”

I say this, not just on the “fun” days, but on the hard days too. On the cold days. On the rainy days (literally and figuratively).

Create a monthly calendar and plan out each month in advance (a lot of people preach this, but I learned this from my friend, Jesse Itzler).

At the start of each month, my wife and I convene in our “war room” (it’s just an office, but that sounds less cool). We plan one date night, one day trip, one overnight trip, playdates for the kids, family engagements, and any connections we plan to make with friends.

These are all scheduled around my work travel, birthday parties our kids are attending, and any previously scheduled events.

This might seem like overscheduling. But it isn’t as we also schedule time to do nothing. “That Saturday, let’s just order takeout and watch movies as it’s a busy week.”

Plus, without this, we’ve found that that’s where true overscheduling comes from as our lives happen to us as we’re subjected to plans made last-minute, our weekends begin with confusion and wasted time, not clarity and action, and we try to jam everything in and wind up feeling frazzled as there’s no plan.

This process allows us to slow time down.

At the end of every month, we reflect on how we did. Sometimes, we don’t get a date night in. Sometimes, we don’t get as many playdates as we’d like for the kids. But most of the time we do. And we’re present for all of it. Instead of feeling like our months flew by, we say things like, “This month was so long. I can’t believe how much amazing stuff we did. Wait, that party was this month? It felt like it was months ago.” 

Challenge accepted? If so, send me an email at Michael@RebelCulture.com. Let’s hold each other accountable to making every moment in 2025 matter.