[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, good morning and welcome back, or welcome to Morning Ray.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Lannor Oralana, and this is part one of our three part series.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've been listening to the pod for the past three years or I have joined at any point.
[SPEAKER_00]: Since I started doing this end of year into the New Year series, then you would know this is one of my favorite series to record you guys seem to really love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're always my most listened to or downloaded episodes of the year, so I'm really excited to get started.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a moment for me to reflect.
[SPEAKER_00]: to remind myself what I want to focus on, things that I have done, and then also into you guys get to kind of be given this little blueprint of how to practice reflection of the past year that has just occurred and how to kind of set yourself up for success.
[SPEAKER_00]: Going into the new year planning mentally, emotionally, whatever it is for the next year of the year that it's coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always think it's important to take a moment to pause, to reflect, to acknowledge everything, the highs, the lows, the in betweens from the past year before we move forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even at any point in your life, it's so easy to get, you know, sucked up into thinking about, okay, what's next?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the next thing?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to check off my list, whether it's
[SPEAKER_00]: a place you want to visit, something you want to do, a goal you want to accomplish, a milestone you want to reach in your career.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really easy to just keep thinking what's next, as opposed to taking time to reflect, acknowledge and celebrate those wins no matter how big or small that they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love doing this three part series, part one, which is today's episode, will be reflecting on 2025.
[SPEAKER_00]: manifestations and vision words which you guys know I love doing I love Pinterest and I'm always on there and I love using it to quote-unquote manifest or visualize how I want my life to look feel be exist and all of that part two which will be next week's episode is our intentions, mindsets, routines and building healthy habits for the new year and everything that you can do starting from next Monday
[SPEAKER_00]: and then part three will be how to actually achieve your goals this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: This episode will go live shortly after the new year as just a fresh start for January and 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you but I feel like if you're listening to this podcast then our social media feeds are probably very similar.
[SPEAKER_00]: We consume similar content and
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this depiction of 2025 and 2026 could not be more true.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean maybe I'm not 100% sure about 2026, but this is kind of how I feel about where we are going or where I'm going more so entering into 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: So 2025 was the year of the snake.
[SPEAKER_00]: It really asked us to slow down to really look at what wasn't working for us anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Almost like you're shedding old layers of yourself, even most of us didn't really understand it was happening as it was happening, we knew something was changing, there's a lot of moments in periods where I know personally and I've been talking to a lot of my friends, they felt quite similarly and seeing other posts on social media, it seems that many people in this self-improvement space have felt very much one in the same, but
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a lot of areas and patterns and time periods where we had to kind of just sit in discomfort and learning how to change patterns, reactions, mindsets, things that were so deeply ingramed in ourselves in order to become this new version of ourselves to create a new life because in order to create a new life you have to let go of the past and
[SPEAKER_00]: very much was the theme of the year of the snake 2025 to 2026 as move into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the year of the horse.
[SPEAKER_00]: This means that our energy is shifting as a whole.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't about rushing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about moving forward with ease and having this new found sense of self-belief learning to trust ourselves again.
[SPEAKER_00]: everything that we learned in 2025, we're now putting into motion in 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: You did the hard part, 2025 which kind of shedding and starting to lay down the foundation, and then 2026 is going to be about choosing your new direction over down momentum, over fear, and really just letting yourself trust.
[SPEAKER_00]: Trust yourself, trust your intuition, stop letting it, honey, outside noise, cloud your
[SPEAKER_00]: moving in silence.
[SPEAKER_00]: So with that said, let's start on our reflection of 2025 because as I said, I think it's really important to take a moment to pause, to reflect, to acknowledge things that we have overcome, that we are working on, that we have worked towards things that we have accomplished, lowlights, highlights, all of the things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I'm doing my end of year reflections, I really like to pull out my journal or you can also do this in discussion with a friend.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure you maybe have a friend that you guys like talking about these things with.
[SPEAKER_00]: It could always be fun to have girls over for a little wine night or to go for dinner and kind of discuss these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: But nonetheless, whether you're discussing it with someone or you're just doing it in your journal, I think putting pen to paper is a really beautiful way to kind of reflect and get all your thoughts out onto paper.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes we can find
[SPEAKER_00]: Thoughts and new pathways of thinking just by writing it out, and it's always fun to kind of go back and read these journal entries in the future and see how far you've come and to Reflect on your reflections in a way like whenever I look at old
[SPEAKER_00]: Journal entries, I remember those things feeling so big and overwhelming that I'm writing about those feelings, those events, those emotions, but now in the present tense they feel so small and I've moved past them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I always love to ask myself, what were my highlights, what were my lowlights, what were my lessons learned, accomplishments,
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I like to go and think, what am I leaving in 2025 in terms of mindsets, habits, peoples, and things?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then what am I bringing into 2026 with regard to mindsets, habits, people, and things?
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to take a moment to pause to grab your pen and paper and to do this reflection right now, to hold yourself accountable and doing that, now is a perfect time.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I always think taking pen to paper is the best.
[SPEAKER_00]: method to the madness with this here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's something really calming and beautiful about that act, but if you want to type it in your notes app, that's also an option.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously I know some of you guys are listening to this on your commute to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe just writing your notes app or send a reminder to take some time to do a reflection 2025 journal entry, including your highlights, lowlights, lessons
[SPEAKER_00]: What you're leaving in 2025 and what you're bringing in to 2020.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always get asked how I make my vision boards and What is my process and how I do all of that so I'm going to share.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've shared this previous years before
[SPEAKER_00]: But in case you are new here or if you need a reminder, this is exactly how I make my vision board each year.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've already done my one for 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's so pretty.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have it for my desktop screen saver on my computer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's really cute, but nonetheless, I go on Pinterest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pinterest is my starting point.
[SPEAKER_00]: I make a new board and I title it 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: I then will go and pin all the images representing things that I want to focus on, things that I want to work towards, kind of like the vibe, the energy, the aesthetic, if you will, that I want my life to look and feel like into 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I kind of think of this in categories.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can have around four to six different sections or areas of concentration on the page.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for example, you could have health images that are focused on fitness and wellness and health goals, maybe career images that kind of reflect what goals you want to accomplish.
[SPEAKER_00]: maybe relationships, friendships, travel, home, any goals you have for yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: So kind of think of what these different sections or areas of concentration are going to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then pin pins that kind of reflect the vibe you're going for.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for example, I really want to focus on my female friendships again this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have some images on my vision board.
[SPEAKER_00]: of girls at a restaurant, I love going out with my girlfriends, laughing with drinks and hands, I really want to go on a girls trip to summer warm or tropical this year so I have a picture of three girls having fun in a pool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always love having a celebration with my friends on my birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have a girl with a birthday cake and her friends surrounding her.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really want to travel again this year so I have some pictures of city.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that I love to travel.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to go to more art galleries to have a picture of a girl looking at a bunch of photos or art on the wall.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or then, if say, on my career.
[SPEAKER_00]: section, I have an image of a girl with her laptop and her notebook and everything put out in her camera.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to read more of a picture of a book with a pair of glasses.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also have a picture of two people and a bed of reading their books before bed.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's really a bunch of different things you can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I always love to also pin quotes that I'll either put in as images or I'll remove the backgrounds and kind of scatter them across.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do this last, but I have things like never stop working on yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: The best way to lose is the weight of other people's opinions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Privacy is power.
[SPEAKER_00]: What people don't know they can't ruin, which is when I actually had on my board last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I know whenever I read it, it really reminded me of that and is able to stay very true to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Feel the fear and do it anyway.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a bunch of different little quotes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also have I think
[SPEAKER_00]: Confidence or something I can't see right now because my things are blocking it, but that's kind of the vibe But basically what I do is I then it take my pictures from Pinterest and I make my vision board on Canva I do a presentation format
[SPEAKER_00]: and just choose a blank presentation and then I will go and copy and paste all the images from Pinterest so that I don't have to save them all in a way space on my computer.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can merely just open up the picture on Pinterest and then copy it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paste it on to Canva.
[SPEAKER_00]: organize it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to do it in the different sections.
[SPEAKER_00]: So all the pictures that have to do with my health are in kind of one area on the board, all the pictures that have to do with career in one area, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I export it as I think a JPEG and then I set it as my computer background.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I'll do a section of it for my iPhone background.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I really love vision boards and you can also do this in a physical format if you want to take a bulletin board or a card stock and print out all the pictures and put it all on there and you can have a little girls night and do this together with your girlfriends, also super fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think the goal with the vision board, yes, it's a very pretty thing, but it helps you visualize what you want your life to look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: a lot of the times these photos actualize interality because you end up looking at them a lot and then in turn you think of those things subconsciously and take steps towards making it happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is something that's really cute.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to plan to do this on New Year's Eve or a night before New Year New Year's, oh my god I can't speak.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, to do with your girlfriends and do a collage night on Bristol board or bulletin board or card sock, that's a super fun New Year's Eve plan because I feel like we're always like what are we supposed to do on New Year's Eve, it's always such a big deal, it's always chaotic, blah, blah, blah, so that's something cute and wholesome that you can do on New Year's Eve, but I really do stand by the vision board and when I'm doing my journal reflection, I'll pull up my journal, I'll pull up my vision board in front of me.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I'll kind of go and browse through the pictures and even the quotes and see like, okay, did I move with that mindset?
[SPEAKER_00]: Did I achieve the goals that I had in minds and correspondence to these pictures this past year?
[SPEAKER_00]: And if not, is this something that I still want to focus in bringing in to 2026?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or is this something that I no longer really care about and can kind of just leave in 2025 goal setting?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's really important like I have decided to reflect on the past year, 2025 first.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you set goals, which I feel like if you listen to this podcast or you are someone who prioritizes self-improvement, then this is probably something that you did this past year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I like to ask myself with regard to last year's goal setting and reflection is I like to
[SPEAKER_00]: to how did I work towards my goals?
[SPEAKER_00]: Three, how did it feel to work towards accomplishing them?
[SPEAKER_00]: Four, was there anything that you surpassed?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why and how do you think you did that?
[SPEAKER_00]: What are the highlights of last year goal-related or not?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then continuing on this past year's goal-signing method, I used to really focus on numerical-based goals, but I found that that really put a ceiling or a limitation on my potential or my ability to work towards these goals.
[SPEAKER_00]: So instead of saying, I want to hit 10, I guess that's more of a habit.
[SPEAKER_00]: But say, I don't know, maybe I wanted to earn six-figure
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm just like putting that base and not giving myself a strategy a game plan on how to get there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I focus more so on the daily habits that I want to implement that will allow me to achieve those goals.
[SPEAKER_00]: So say, my goal is, I guess it's the easiest to break down earning six figures.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, say my goal is to earn six figures.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, how much would I have to earn each month in order to achieve six figures?
[SPEAKER_00]: Once I've got in that figure, what would make up that figure?
[SPEAKER_00]: So, for me, since I work for myself, I do content creation, I have my podcasts, I teach Pilates, how much of each of those things, what I need to achieve like how many hours per week at what rate,
[SPEAKER_00]: do I need to be teaching in order to hit six figures?
[SPEAKER_00]: How many brand deals?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I need to be getting on average per month?
[SPEAKER_00]: How many podcasts ads, et cetera, in order to achieve that goal?
[SPEAKER_00]: More about habits and routines for the New Year's in next week's episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll get a little bit deeper into that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then with regard to goals setting still, I always like to ask myself these following questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it kind of goes a bit more as opposed to just writing down goals and leaving them in the ether, you know, I think it's important to really focus on the mind how you want to feel, see, act and move about things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So with that, I
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you want to feel act and see the world?
[SPEAKER_00]: What type of person do you want to embody?
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you want others to speak about you when you're not there?
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you want to be known for in and out of your social circle?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you were to be sat down on an interview talk show, what do you want them to be asking you?
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you the specialist about?
[SPEAKER_00]: What are three words you want other people to describe you as when people are asking, oh, who is a lana like what is her story?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, how do you want to push yourself to improve this year?
[SPEAKER_00]: Self-improvement, so being more confident, working on your self-esteem, learning how to set boundaries, stepping outside of your comfort zone more, becoming more independent, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with these goals, with your vision board, and I know I said to do the vision boarding with your friends and whatnot, but I think the biggest thing is to move in silence.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is something that I have really learned.
[SPEAKER_00]: in the past year and I had probably heard a bit about it prior to last year but I never really took it into full force and never took it personally and ever really applied it to my own practices but don't tell people what you're planning on doing or doing, let the actions and results speak for themselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: what people don't know, they cannot ruin.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no evil eye on you, and the more you talk about something to others, the less likely you are actually to go through with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's because you're kind of giving yourself the high the validation of saying you're going to do something as opposed to actually have to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of short circuits, the feelings that you would get
[SPEAKER_00]: The desire to brag about your accomplishment has more to do with your ego.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we really think about breaking down the ego, so there's the edge, which is the raw drives.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want pleasure, recognition, reward, I want it now.
[SPEAKER_00]: The ego is your reality manager.
[SPEAKER_00]: So how do I get my needs met in a socially acceptable way?
[SPEAKER_00]: And the super ego are your internalized rules.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what should I want, what's appropriate?
[SPEAKER_00]: When your internal validation is weak, the ego relies more heavily on external mirrors.
[SPEAKER_00]: So other people's reactions to regulate yourself worth.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's when you see oversharing your wins, name dropping, turning conversations back.
[SPEAKER_00]: to achievements.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you notice the desire to brag, instead of thinking of suppressing it, I rather you get curious.
[SPEAKER_00]: So ask yourself, what is my ed or like what is it that I actually want?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is it my ed asking for right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: So am I searching for reassurance, pride, safety, validation?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can I give that to myself first?
[SPEAKER_00]: would who would genuinely celebrate this with me versus just witnessing it as well?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's really important to practice being able to give yourself that validation, not everyone needs to know about things that you have accomplished, whether it's securing a deal or hitting a milestone at work or maybe it's that you were consistently working out or making home-cooked meals or whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have a strong sense of self and a strong sense of self worth and you have a strong ability to give yourself internal validation, you will not feel this reoccurring need to tell people about your goals, your plans, what you're working towards.
[SPEAKER_00]: You do not need to publicly post on social media this year, whether you're creator or not, whether that is something you normally do about your goals.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to share it with the public, you can tell your partner, you can tell the people closest to you that you know would genuinely be happy and supportive to you, but honestly, I feel like in the past year, I have started to tell less and less people if anyone at all of the things that I'm working towards and what my goals are and how I want to achieve and work towards those because I just know that if I continuously say what I'm going to do, I'm going to say what I'm going to do, I'm going to say what I'm going to do, I'm going to say what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, I'm going
[SPEAKER_00]: Before it's happened, I'm not actually going to do it or it won't come in the way that I wanted to come and there's really no benefit to sharing like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not saying to not celebrate your accomplishments or to let people in on your personal life or anything like that, but just...
[SPEAKER_00]: be wary of who you share those personal things with and sometimes it's nice to kind of just keep things to you, keep it to yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this was your episode on reflecting on 2025 your manifestations, vision boarding, creating your goals, all of that fun stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next week's
[SPEAKER_00]: episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to continue to record these for you live in South Africa so that they can be up on time.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're short and sweet episodes, but you know sometimes that is just what we need.
[SPEAKER_00]: short, sweet and productive, but I would love to see your vision boards if you want to send them to me or I'd love to hear about how your reflection in your journaling practices is going if you found this helpful If there's anything you kind of want me to dive a little deeper into, you can either leave
[SPEAKER_00]: a comment on Spotify if you're listening there or you can DM me on Adelana Bloomberg or at Morning Ray podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm more likely to respond on Adelana Bloomberg, but I love you guys so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a lovely holiday season, a happy new year if and whenever you're listening to this and we'll chat soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye guys!