7 Things You Must Do to Make 2024 Your Best Year Yet

Hey, everyone. Dr. Josh Axe here. Welcome to the show. Every week, I cover the science behind how to grow yourself, your health, your wealth, and take your career, your relationships, and your spiritual wellness to the next level. You know, we're coming up on the end of this year. So, on today's episode, I'm going to be going over everything you should do before 2024.

And I've found that if you start to do these 7 things I'm going to talk about, It's going to take your growth to a whole new level. And in my career and having success and relationships in other areas, these are the top practices that I have, and I guarantee they're going to help you big time. And here's the big thing though, as well. If you don't do these things, you're really missing out.

I can tell you, I've studied the most successful people in the world in so many different categories, and these are the things that almost every one of them do. To be successful. And so let's go ahead and dive in here. Number one thing you need to do before the end of 2024, but before we jump into 2024 here, is spend time reflecting. Not enough people do this.

We tend to run, you know, are, are, are such in a hurry to kind of get to the next year or just do nothing over the holidays. And I can appreciate— we should use this, and you should take some time off, Relax, spend time with family, kind of get recharged for the next year. But also, you want to reflect. Anyone that's successful does this.

And so, I want to give you an example of what this looks like for me and what it can look like for you. The first would be, you know, I try and do this right around, just around, just between Christmas and the first of the year. So, let's call it, you know, maybe it's December 30th, somewhere in there.

And I'll take some time and I'll just spend a couple hours at least thinking about, What are the best parts of my year? What were the worst parts of my year? And what do I want to do differently for next year? And I reflect and I'll think about, okay, what are the things in my personal life, in my relationship with my wife, Chelsea, with my daughter, with my business, with my friend group?

What are all those things that just were memorable things? I'm like, I love that. I cherish that from this year. And other things I'm like, That was a bad decision I made. I made a mistake. I, you know, and being aware of the best and the worst of the year. Okay. So reflecting on what worked, what didn't work. So that's number one. Number 2 is a practice related to reflecting.

It's something I call stop, start, keep. Okay. Well, based on my time reflecting on this past year of what was successful, was not successful, what do I need to do differently? Okay. Well, now put it into practice. What do I need to stop doing? Okay. So, you might think to yourself as an example.

So, like, I was reflecting about my past year and I thought, what were some things that were really meaningful that I think about from last year? Well, I think my practice of listening to audiobooks and really diving for myself into a lot more psychology and listening to certain people, everyone from You know, again, like, like a Jordan Peterson person.

And so saying, okay, and then going back and listening to some of the great psychologists and philosophers like Aristotle and, and reading ancient, you know, sort of older texts by someone like Dante. And so anyways, going back, I look at, okay, I learned so much from last year. So I want to— that's something I really learned. I want to keep doing. What's something else?

Well, spending time with Arwen. When I get home, I put down my phone and I stop work at this time and I play with her with my undivided attention for 30 minutes or an hour. And so that is something else. What is something I want to stop doing? Well, wasting time. Maybe it would be scrolling on social media. I realize that we do way too much time doing that. So, okay.

So, so, so now let us go into this exercise of stop, start, keep. What do I need to stop doing? Okay. Well, I need to stop scrolling on the internet. I spent too much time on social media. So you can go to your phone. There is an area on your phone. And you can see how much time you spend on social media. With that, you can actually set a time limit on it.

And my wife does this, and I know because she shared it with me. She's like, she only does that. She gives herself 1 hour a day total on social media, and then she doesn't do anything outside of that. Now, if it's watching an educational YouTube video, that doesn't count.

But everything else, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, any of those out there, and so she limits herself to a max of 1 hour a day, 7 hours a week total of time on social media. And so, you know, okay, well, now I'm going to stop spending so much time on social media. So, that's what I'm going to stop doing. For you, what do you need to start doing?

Well, I want to start doing— I want to start reading my Bible in the morning, or I want to start this daily workout practice, or I want to start doing cold plunge, right? So, you write down, what are some things I want to start doing? And then write down, what do you want to keep doing?

What are some things that really worked for you this past year that you maybe did some on and off, but you're like, okay, I'm I want to make this a rhythm and a daily routine and habit. Number 3, prioritize. Look back, and part of this is reflection, but looking back at your last year and then looking towards your future and saying, what are the things that matter most?

When I get to the end of my life, I'll know that I spent the things on the things that matter most. So, for me, it's my faith. I want to spend time growing closer to God. I want to spend time with my family.

You know, every time I've watched interviews with a really high-character billionaire, when they're asked about their what matters most or what their definition of success is, they never say money. In fact, most of them, most of them never say money.

I bet even someone like Elon Musk, even though I don't know what his level of morality would be per se, which I think generally in certain areas, I think familial, I may, I may not admire him so much, but I would say I think when he thinks about society, he maybe has higher standards than most.

But with someone like him, if you ask him what his definition, definition of success is, It's not— I don't think he's going to say to become a trillionaire. I don't think he would say that. I think he would say to put a man on Mars or to, to help create a level of free speech in a flourishing society, something like that.

So, all that being said, when you think about your priorities, it's important to recognize these are the things that matter to me. So, most of these billionaires I mentioned are virtuous people. They'll say, well, my family is more important than even my finances. But for me, it's really, it's God, it's family.

It's my health, and then it's sort of my work and life, the sort of mission I have in life. And then it might be my free time and just sort of enjoying life. But these are all things that I have that are a priority. Then I also make sure they're in a hierarchy in their proper place and that one isn't trumping another.

I'm making sure that my work life is not constantly displacing my marriage or my relationship with my kids or God. And so, But that's number 3 is sit down. By the way, write all this down. It'll only take you— you could watch this video and do this and everything I'm going to share with you, at least most of it, in a few minutes.

Okay, so what are your top priorities in life, especially regarding your faith, your family, your finances, your work, your free time, your health? Write those down. Next up, goal set. Now that you know what your priorities are, what matters most in life, set some goals. And I like to break my life into really 5 key categories with this, very similar to what I mentioned. I have my spiritual goals.

I have my relationship goals. So, this could be with my wife and my family and all those. So, I have my faith and my family goals. I have my health and fitness goals. I have my finances/work goals. And I have my free time goals for recreation and those sorts of things. So, I have goals in those 5 categories.

And within those 5 categories, let's say my business goals, I might have to write a a book that hits the New York Times bestseller list and to make a certain amount of money and save a certain amount. And so, I have those kind of finances and work goals that I have to get a new website up, to grow so much on social media, whatever it is, have those goals in place.

By the way, there are studies that show that your goals should also be tied to positively influencing others. So, it shouldn't just be about, for instance, if you set a social media goal, if I want to have 100,000 followers, if you have that sort of goal, you should say, have influenced 100,000 people to live healthier lives. Okay? And that's tied to that social media goal.

So, when you're goal setting, you want to be a little bit altruistic and service-oriented in those goals. You might have a faith goal of, okay, I want to give 10% of our income and I want to do a daily devotional and I want to grow closer to God and I want to improve my prayer life, something like that, right?

And so, you have those spiritual goals and then you have your goals related to your family. I want to go on a date night every week with my spouse and feel more deeply connected. I want to start doing a date night with my daughter each week. I want us to start doing more family meals together with no phones and everyone sitting around and having a conversation, right?

So, think about what are some of those goals you have in these different areas of life. Recreation. Hey, we want to go and visit— by the way, I'm sharing some that I have on mine for next year. We'd love to do a trip to Europe, maybe do— play pickleball, whatever it is. Okay? So, have those things on your vision board in those different areas of your life. So, that's goal setting.

And then next, once you have your goals down, what I encourage people to do is create a vision board. So, take your goals and then print off pictures for those. And so, what I do is I buy a big corkboard. I put my goals in the middle and I also have a place for my plan, my strategy and plan. And then I put pictures all around those.

So, if one of my goals is to write a New York Times bestselling book, well, then I'll put a picture of that book up there with that.

Or one of my goals is to tithe 10% and give to a mission and a charity that's saving, let's say, women from sex trafficking or helping dig clean wells in Africa or something like that, or help out people in Israel or Palestine or somewhere in the world, wherever it is. I have those pictures up on my vision board. I also have vision board things related to goal setting.

One of my things I do with goal setting is I have those 5 areas, but I think of not only what I want to do, but who I want to become as part of my goals. So, I'll give you an example. If to give 10% is I want to be more generous and I want to give 10%, right? I want to be a better father.

And then, so, like, I want to be— so, maybe you have your to-do list and your to-be list for a way with your goals. And so, on a vision board, I put up pictures in the past of someone like Mother Teresa showing I want to be more compassionate. I want to be more service-oriented. I want to be more selfless, right?

And so, I'll put pictures up on my vision board of what I want to accomplish, but also who I want to become, right? So, vision boards are great. I mean, you can put them up and I recommend just looking at them once a day. You can put them in an area where you're brushing your teeth or Just somewhere where you go once a day. But I think that's— do a vision board.

I've done other videos on this in the past, but I'm telling you, doing a vision board is something that will make your 2024 absolutely amazing. But it's so important that you have a vision. A vision is like a finish line. You want to know where you're going. What's that thing you're trying to achieve? And when you can see it, it becomes that much more real.

Number 6 thing you want to do before 2024 to make it your best year ever is have a plan. Have a growth plan. All right, everybody wants to grow. In fact, psychologically speaking, a lot of people believe that the road to happiness is by trying to be happy. So, doing things that, that are, are all that you like to do. Okay. Studies show that actually will make you more unhappy. Isn't that crazy?

There are studies that show if you try and be happy, you'll be less happy versus what most studies show. If you want to be happy, You should focus on serving others and your own growth.

So if you can become more wise, more loving, more generous, higher in character, that will— is actually what will make you happier and live to the best life possible, is your own character growth and growth in the unique skill and talent you have. That's it. If you want to live your best life possible, make 2024 the best year ever, write down this.

What are the areas of character you want to grow in? Could be leadership, it could be love, it could be courage, it could be whatever it is for you— compassion, empathy, whatever it is. Write down those areas you want to grow and write down what is your unique skill, that thing that God uniquely made you do. Maybe it's write music, maybe it's, uh, be a teacher and teach others.

Whatever it is— social media influencer, right? Write down how you can grow. Write down that skill that you need to grow in and write down The character you need to grow in, and then write up a plan in order to do that. So, the way that I would do this is, let's say, for instance, I said to myself, okay, I want to grow in my ability to— in my leadership, that virtue.

I want to grow in leadership, uh, in acting with wisdom. So, wisdom is one of those virtues I want to operate with, making really good decisions and understanding the depths of things so I can help create a better, a better world. I know my gifts. So, so I know that that's the wisdom and leadership. Okay.

So, those qualities, in order for me to grow in those, there are certain people I should listen to, books I should read, things I should do, and I'll make a plan on that. By the way, similar thing with skill. Okay. I want to become a better communicator. I want to become better at podcasting or social media. I want to become— so, there are some things, right?

So, if I want to grow in these areas, I'm going to say, okay, who are people that I need to model? In order to become wiser. Well, who are some of the wisest people I know? Well, for me, it's going back to the Bible. I might read Solomon. And so, I'm going to say, I'm going to read the book of Proverbs once a month. So, 12 times this year.

And then, I'm just going to say, who are some other people I think that are wise people? I might say someone like, I think Jordan Peterson has a lot of wisdom and sort of how he analyzes things with psychology. I think there's a lot of spiritual people I really admire.

It could be a Bishop Barron or a Jonathan Peggião, or, uh, it could be, um, you know, another, another, another church leader, you know, somebody I follow. And then maybe Abraham Lincoln and realizing he was— he showed incredible leadership in his time in life. And so I'm going to write down and go, okay, what are the books I'm going to read? I'm going to write down 12 books.

I'm going to write down 3 podcasts I'm going to listen to. I'm gonna put those in during my week. And then also, I want to get better as a podcaster. I need to listen to great podcasts. Maybe it's, uh, someone like, um, uh, Ed Mylett, okay? Or, uh, you know, or someone else like that.

So I'm going to write down who are those people that I want to follow, that I want to listen to, and I create a growth plan based on it. What are all the things I can do to grow in this area from what I'm reading, from what I'm listening to? So podcasts, what I'm watching on a regular basis on a channel like YouTube. And so then I create my growth plan. And then here's the last thing.

Step number 7 for you to live the— have the best 2024 of your life. And think about that. And let me say this. If you do these things I'm sharing with you, I guarantee you will get to the end of 1 year from now and you'll be like, I have grown so much. I'm a totally different person now.

The way that people respect me, the amount of finances I'm bringing in, the way that I am as a parent or as a friend or a leader. You'll grow through the charts. And then if you do that same thing for 3 years, you'll grow astronomically. I experienced it myself before. I used to just go through life and just say, well, I'm going to read something, I'm going to watch something, I'm going to work.

I'm not— I didn't have a plan. When I created a growth plan, by the way, John Maxwell is the person who first asked me, he's like, Josh, do you have a growth plan? And I realized I didn't. And then when I started doing this, when I was in my 20s, my growth, my personal growth, my spiritual growth, everything started growing and exploding. And I couldn't believe it.

I looked back 3 years later and I thought, I'm not even the same person at all. That's the power of what can happen if you follow these 7 steps. Now, here's step number 7. Time block by creating and create a weekly war plan. This is a mentor, another mentor who's really successful, multimillionaire, incredibly spiritually just strong person, great father, great husband.

He taught me how to do this. And he said, Josh, you need to sit down before each week and you need to make a plan. He said, generally, you need to make a plan of what your generally your week would look like, but also you need to plan for each week. And so, he said, what does your best week look like? If you're going to grow and have an impact, what does it look like?

And so, what I would do is I would time block and I would sit down and say, okay, the first thing I'm going to do is give time to God and I'm going to time block 1 hour. And it depends on your amount of time, right? So, for me, it might be 1 hour to God and growth. Okay. So, I'll read my Bible, maybe even a leadership book. I'll pray.

I'll have a gratitude practice, but I'll do that from— Let's call it 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Okay. And then I'm going to go and work out, let's say, for the next hour. And then I'm going to spend time eating a healthy breakfast and time with my family. Okay. And then let's say I get to 9:00 a.m. and then it's, okay, I'm going to work. I'm going to do the most important things first.

By the way, studies show that if you want to be the most productive, do the things that take the most creativity and that are the most important first. So, I schedule Let's say prepping and writing and doing things for podcasts first. And then I'm going to do my most important meeting, and I'm going to do that from 9 to 11. And then maybe I'm going to film right afterwards. Okay?

And then I'll eat lunch, and then the afternoon I'll do them, and then I'll do meetings. Okay? And then, you know, when I get done with work, I'm going to play with Arwen for 30 minutes straight, and then we're going to eat dinner, and then I'm going to play again with my kids.

And then, we're going to maybe watch, let's say we'll watch a show for, call it 45 minutes or an hour, and then we're going to kind of prep, get the kids ready for bed, do all that. Then, I'll listen to an audiobook for 30 minutes before I go to bed, do my red light therapy, something like that. But it might be different certain days, but I know generally what an absolutely awesome day looks like.

And also, when I'm working out, I'm also listening to a podcast or a book on audio or something like that. But I have my whole day planned generally up. What are the most— what are the activities I need to do? I just block them out for my weekend. I have a real plan there with that as well each week. And listen, some weeks look different.

So, I was like, okay, well, Arwen has a school play, or we are going on vacation. So, I know what generally I have. I am going to modify it for this week and do the best I can and move forward in that way. So, I want to go back over this. Here are the 7 things you need to do To maximize your 2024.

Now listen, if this seems overwhelming, which I promise if you just write these down and just spend a few minutes on each, it's not that overwhelming. Okay? But I would say if you have 2 hours, you could do most of this in 2 hours. If you just blocked out 2 hours sometime in December or January, but ideally December because this is before 2024. But number one, reflect. Reflect on the past year.

What was beautiful? What was amazing? What was fantastic? And what was not so great? What mistakes did you make? What can you learn from? So spend time on just reflecting. Reflecting. I just close my eyes and just— and sometimes I ask God, I say, God, will you just show me? And I think back about my past year, the best and the worst of it.

The next thing I do is, based on that information, that— based on that vision and that reflection, I decide, here's what I'm going to stop doing for next year, here's what I want to start doing, here's what I need to keep doing. So write down just a list. Here's 3 to 5 things I'm going to stop doing, start doing, and keep doing. Number 3, I'm going to prioritize.

I want to make sure that my priorities are in the right place, that my Family is where it should be in the— in my priorities, as an example. Number 4, I'm going to set really specific goals in those 5 different areas of life. Number 5, I'm going to create a vision board. Okay? And listen, if that's too much, then just put your goals up.

At least just put those up on your bathroom mirror with just a couple pictures of your biggest goals next to those. Okay? If you don't want to do a full-on vision board. But vision boards are great. Number 6, write down a plan for growth. Basically, what are the books you're going to read or listen to? What are the videos you're going to watch?

What are the podcasts or the audio things you're going to listen to? And what are those areas you need to grow in? And number 7, have a weekly war plan to maximize your time and effort and use that time blocking technique. If you can do that, your 2024 is going to be incredible and the best year of your life by far.

I want to mention as well, if you like this video, hey, you should subscribe to the channel. You know, I put out new videos several days a week. On how to grow yourself, your health, your wealth, and take your career, your spirituality, relationships to a whole new level. And did you know that if you're not subscribed, you're only going to see a fraction of my videos? So make sure to subscribe.

I've got some incredible videos coming out that's going to help you live the best 2024 ever. Hey, thanks so much for watching. I'm praying that your 2024 is blessed.