3 Step System Effective People Use To Start the Year Strong

You love On Purpose because it inspires your life. Have you tried Jay’s Genius workshops and meditations to access even deeper well-being? Learn more at https://shetty.cc/OnPurposeGenius It’s time to start fresh by building out our intentions for the year. On this episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Jay suggests 3 ways to deliberately reset our mindset to start 2021 off right. Map the year you wish to have and share with Jay on Instagram how you are choosing to start 2021! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet,

• 0:44Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on.

• 1:29Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 2:16Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Vinted. Value can be found anywhere, even in the clothes sitting untouched in our closets. That's where Vinted comes in. Vinted is a secondhand marketplace app where you can sell clothes you no longer want and get more value out of them. Whether you're running out of space, moving, or simply updating your wardrobe. Listing items is a quick and simple process, and once something sells, Vinted creates a prepaid shipping label for you. And the best part, there are no seller fees, so you keep what you earn. It's a simple way to clear out your closet, be less wasteful, and maybe make some extra money along the way. And if you've been thinking about a wardrobe refresh, this can make it feel a little more worthwhile. You're not just letting go of clothes, you're getting more value from what you already have.

• 3:00Jay Shetty?

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• 3:12Jay Shetty?

  Let's be honest, 2020 was tough. It's challenged us in ways we could have never imagined. But now we're stronger, wiser, and ready to start 2021 on the right page. This is the year we're going to dig deep, love big, and change the world by changing ourselves. Join me on January 20th, 2021, for my New Year's New Habits five-day program. I'll be going live for one full hour every day for five consecutive days, discussing the ways in which you can change your life from the inside out. To register, just go to jshadigenius.com/2021. Transformation begins with you,

• 3:57Jay Shetty?

  and I can share with you tangible skills and techniques that are going to help you create the life you deserve. Five days, five workshops, one new beginning. Together, we make 2021 our best year yet. Go to jshadigenius.com/2021 to register today. After the year we've had, I know everyone is eager to let go and start anew. January gives us the opportunity to start over, and I'm so excited to start that journey with you. Can't wait to see you all on January 20th.

• 4:32Jay Shetty?

  Hundreds of thousands of you around the world supported Think Like a Monk, my first ever book. And it's been incredible. You made it a number one New York Times bestseller. It was named unputdownable by Amazon because of each and every single one of you. But I know that there's many of you that still haven't got it. And some of you have been thinking about gifting it to your friends. If that's you, head over right now to thinklikeamonkbook.com and you'll be directed to all the great retailers and stores and places that you can get the book right now. Whether you want to copy for yourself or want to gift to a friend, head over right now to thinklikeamonkbook.com.

• 5:22Jay Shetty?

  We made it. Can you believe it? I know some of you are saying, no, Jay, I really can't believe it, but we're here. We all know 2020 was tough, but we're here now. And I'm so delighted to be here today with you and starting 2021 right. And I'm so extremely grateful that we're sharing this experience together and we're going to get started for an incredible year. It's the day we've been waiting for, right? A fresh start. But just like all of those New Year's resolutions we make, by a few weeks into the year, maybe by February or so, lots of us could be starting to get off track with our intentions. So today I want to share with you some really positive and really powerful insights so that together we can set ourselves up

• 6:05Jay Shetty?

  to truly take advantage of this fresh start for 2021 with some strategies and tactics designed to stick. Alan Deutschman is the author of the book Change or Die: The History of the Innovator's Aphorism and a writer for the magazine Fast Company. In an article for Fast Company, Deutschman cites data that shows that, given the choice to change our behaviour or die, most of us would not change. Dr Edward Miller, Dean of the John Hopkins Medical School and CEO of the John Hopkins Hospital, describes how many patients who receive a heart bypass because of a dangerous blockage could implement lifestyle changes, such as lowering negative responses to stress,

• 6:50Jay Shetty?

  exercising more, and eating healthier, that would likely prevent a future need for another bypass. So, here's a little quiz: of these people, what percentage do you think actually made the recommended lifestyle changes? This was within two years of their first surgery. Was it A, 10%? Was it B, 28%? Or was it C, 38%? The answer, unfortunately, was A, 10%. You heard that right. 90% of people who were told they could likely avoid another major cardiac event or the need for another major surgery by changing their lifestyle did not change their behaviour. Does that mean these people had given up?

• 7:35Jay Shetty?

  Did it mean they didn't want to live or want a better quality of life? Not at all. Most of us actually want to change something in our lives. But as I'm sure you know, and I definitely do, wanting to change and actually being able to change or making that change are two very different things. There was another study with serious heart patients. This one by Dr Dean Ornish, who you've likely heard of. He's a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco and the founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute. Dr Ornish and his team took 333 smokers with severely clogged arteries and helped them not only quit smoking, but also to switch to a vegetarian diet

• 8:18Jay Shetty?

  with less than 10% of their calories coming from fat. Pretty strict, right? You'd think most people wouldn't be able to stick to that. And yet, three years later, guess how many patients had stuck with the diet along with other lifestyle changes? Was it A, 57%? B, 67%? Or C, 77%?

• 8:40Jay Shetty?

  The answer is C, seventy-seven percent. That's a huge difference from the ten percent that Dr. Miller saw. So what was the difference? Dr. Ornish says it boils down to how you frame the change. Scaring someone with the possibility of death, the data shows, is less effective for most of us than motivating us with something more positive, such as a vision of a healthy, joyful life. The other aspect, Dr. Ornish says, was important, was to not just make changes to eating, but to provide psychological and spiritual support too. And how did they do this? By introducing the study participants to activities, including meditation, relaxation, yoga, and aerobic exercise. Everything we do in our genius community.

• 9:25Jay Shetty?

  The people felt so good from all of these changes that it motivated them to stick with it. The longer they stuck with it, the better they felt, and so they continued to stick with it. We all want to change something, right? We all want a fresh start in some area of our lives, or to change some behavior, or add a new behavior, or build a certain strength. Well, today is a great day to start on that journey, and we're going to do it, like Dr. Ornish said, and frame it all from the positive, to focus on the journey you want to take this year and what you want to experience more in your life. Sound good? Let's get started. We're going to prepare for our 2021 journey in three specific ways. I call them mindset, mechanical, and map.

• 10:10Jay Shetty?

  Okay, so our first way to prepare for a fantastic, fun, full-of-learning 2021 is to look at our mindset. Now, I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but I know a ton of my friends have, and I've done it myself. Have you ever had that vacation that you've been getting ready for? That you've been so psyched out about? Maybe planning it for months, or even the whole year? And by the time you're packing, and you're getting ready to leave, and it's about to beginning, what's happening? Visit that scene in your mind with me. What are you seeing, what are you feeling? Stress, right? What do I pack? Did I forget anything? Did we put out the note for the pet sitter? Will it really be as good as we thought it was gonna be? Oh no, is the plane gonna be late? Where's our Uber?

• 10:53Jay Shetty?

  What a way to start a trip, right? I have a friend who says that as a kid, when her family was getting ready to go for their annual week-long trip to the beach, which they did every summer, she would essentially pack her suitcase, drop it off with her dad, who was in charge of packing the car, and then hide until it was time to leave. That's because her parents were so stressed getting ready to go that everyone was just miserable. And I bet some of you are nodding if you've had those family trips or that's what happens with you and your family now or you and your partner. I know my wife and I can have our moments when we're both trying to tie things up and get ready for some time off. So, as we set out on our 2021 journey, here and now, let's make a deal. Let's agree to not start it that way. Instead, let's spend some time and energy

• 11:38Jay Shetty?

  deliberately setting and choosing our mindset. And here's how we're gonna do it. With gratitude. What I absolutely love about gratitude is that in so many ways it wipes the slate clean. It shifts our perspective and gives us that fresh start. That's why in my book, Think Like A Monk, I encourage you to start every day with gratitude or thankfulness. It gets our minds right. It helps us start from a place of feeling abundant and supported. Now, I've talked and written a lot about gratitude, so chances are you're not surprised I'm recommending that we start here. But there's some new research about gratitude I want to share because it's so cool and just so beautiful. And it really addresses a challenge I know a lot of us ended 2020 with and might still be carrying into 2021. Writer Marcel Proust once said,

• 12:23Jay Shetty?

  "Let us be grateful for the people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." Now, you might have heard me talk about the work of Kelly McGonigal. She's a professor and researcher at Stanford University and author of several books, including The Upside Of Stress. Her research on stress is life-changing, let me tell you. And it centers on this idea that stress itself is neither good nor bad. It's our reaction to stress and how we process it that impacts our... Mental and emotional health for better or worse. According to Dr. McGonigal, one of the most effective ways we can deal with stress and mine it for its potential positives is to practice gratitude. But not just any kind of gratitude.

• 13:05Jay Shetty?

  Specifically, she says that it's the gratitude that focuses on others and their impact on our lives that's most effective, just like Proust's quote about the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Here's the other thing that's really cool. Dr. McGonigal says that stress is designed to motivate us to get us to do something. In the case of the stress of loneliness, which I know so many of us have experienced, it's designed to move us to connect. And that's positive, right? We're not meant to sit there and just keep feeling lonely. We're meant to do something about it. That's why it feels so stressful. But it can be hard to get going when you feel that way. That's where gratitude comes in. Dr. McGonigal says that when we can connect with and express gratitude for things others

• 13:49Jay Shetty?

  have done for us, it helps us feel more hopeful and not only willing to seek help and support, but also to offer help and support for others. So we're going to kick off 2021 with a new gratitude practice. Every day for a week, each morning when you get up, I want you to spend three minutes diving deep into one beautiful or meaningful thing someone has done for you in your life. It could be your mother for supporting you as a kid, but try and get even more specific. You're grateful to your mom for all the amazing home-cooked food she made your family, or to showing up at your tennis matches, or helping you with your homework, or even to one specific time. You're grateful for your best friend in fifth grade for that time he stood up to someone who was bullying you. And I want you to tell them. And it definitely can be something more recently.

• 14:33Jay Shetty?

  You're grateful for your boss for providing that mentorship and guidance on that project last month when you were struggling. You're grateful to your sister for tutoring your kid for their math test. And I want you to tell them. So again, spend the next week at least every morning taking three minutes to deeply reflect on one thing someone else has done for you in your life. Get as detailed as possible, remembering sights, sounds and smells, and what was said, and send it to them as a text message, a voice note, a video message, whatever you feel like, express it. If you set your mindset for gratitude and connection in that way, those will be things you'll feel more in 2021 because you'll be literally rewiring your brain to look for and emphasize those things when they happen. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair.

• 15:18Jay Shetty?

  Home should be a place that feels like a sanctuary, a space that truly reflects who you are. But it can be challenging to balance style, budget and endless options. I was looking to create a dedicated calm space for my morning meditation and reading, but I was struggling to find pieces that felt grounding but could also stand up to daily use. I went on Wayfair and found a beautiful, solid wood accent chair and a bookshelf. Now that corner is my favourite place to anchor my day. The quality is incredible, it's built to last and it completely shifted the energy of the room. Plus, you can shop with Wayfair Verified, where product specialists carefully vet items for quality and functionality, so you can shop with more confidence. And if putting it all together sounds like a headache,

• 16:01Jay Shetty?

  Wayfair can handle delivery, installation and assembly. Join Wayfair Rewards today to get 5% back on every purchase and start saving on your next home upgrade. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com. Wayfair, every style, every home. This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. If you're talking about quality food, you can't forget Whole Foods Market, who've been holding themselves to the highest standards since they opened in 1980. That means you'll see thousands of organic products across their stores, from the produce department to the aisles. It also means you'll never see certain ingredients. They've banned artificial sweeteners and colours,

• 16:46Jay Shetty?

  high fructose corn syrup and more, so you can shop with peace of mind. Shop Whole Foods Market in-store or online. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision-making, and that extends to the practical stuff too, like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbour, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

• 17:29Jay Shetty?

  Okay, so the next way we're going to prepare for our 2021 journey is to get a tune-up. When you're going on a long car trip, especially if you've just experienced a lot of hard driving over bumpy roads, you take your car to the mechanic, right? To get things recalibrated and realigned. That's our second M. How we're going to recalibrate for this 2021 journey is to pause and take a look at ourselves, at where we are and who we are. Neuroscientist David Eagleman says that as far as our brains are concerned, as adults, we're more like our peers than our childhood selves. And yet, when we construct our understanding of who we are, we mostly base it on our past selves. We're using totally outdated data. So we're going to recalibrate our understanding of who we are by getting some fresh data.

• 18:14Jay Shetty?

  Now, there are lots of ways to get in touch with yourself that I've shared in past episodes and in my book. You can make a list of your values and where they come from. You can write down your why for everything you want right now in life. You can spend 20 minutes every day in meditation and just see what comes up in your mind. Those are all great, but today I wanted to share with you something new. This method is really effective, but it also fosters another opportunity to make deeper connections with your friends, family, or coworkers. To recalibrate your understanding of yourself, you're going to go on a little data gathering expedition among those who know you best. I want you to pick one person from your personal life, one from your professional life, and one from your family.

• 18:56Jay Shetty?

  And you're going to ask these people about skills and abilities that they find in you. And I want you to be really, really specific about what they understand. You want to ask deeper questions, like, "Tell me a time when you thought I was at my best", or "When was a time that you really saw me perform", or "What was one of my qualities that you wish that I could work on more and develop"? You want to find really actionable, practical data, such as, "I love the way you use humor to make other people feel welcome and comfortable", or "You have this ability to take our discussions deeper by bringing in insights from lots of other fields". "When I didn't do well on that geography test last month, you didn't make me feel stupid. You helped me learn a different way of looking at the material that made me feel like I could do it." Now you're starting to get real, up-to-date picture of yourself, right?

• 19:41Jay Shetty?

  You're starting to see yourself from others' eyes. You're starting to see what's working and what your strengths are that you can go deeper on and maximize, and what makes you uniquely you. Now, it's totally fine to ask people for the other kind of feedback as well on what you can do better. And I like to do that from time to time with people who I really trust to answer that question both honestly and with care for my feelings. But for today, starting out this year, I want us to take that supremely positive approach. Ask, what am I doing right? Right? What am I already doing really, really well? I want you to do that in January so that you can focus on it in February. You can even convene a feel-good roundtable over Zoom with several people where you go around and tell each other honestly and in detail some of your greatest strengths.

• 20:25Jay Shetty?

  That way, it doesn't feel weird because you're all doing it for each other and you're offering feedback as well.

• 20:31Jay Shetty?

  Okay, our final way to prepare for our 2021 journey and take advantage of our fresh start. So we've got our mindset and our mechanical adjustment. Now, what else do we need to get going? We need some idea of where we're going, a map. You've just learned about all these great things you've got going for you that you want to double down on. But no doubt, you also have an area or two, or 12, that's me, where you'd like to grow. So we're going to create a map and plot a destination. And the specific way I'm going to encourage you to do that is to pick a mentor, someone who embodies that quality or those qualities you're looking to grow this year. You know, I'm big on mentorship. Here's the great thing, you don't even have to know your mentor. Your mentor doesn't even have to be alive, but we can learn from their example.

• 21:16Jay Shetty?

  One of my greatest mentors is Martin Luther King Jr. The way he inspired people for a meaningful cause and connected people through his powerful words, plus he was deeply spiritual. All of this really inspires me, and those are things I've sought to cultivate in my life. Maybe if you want to become better at relating to others, your mentor is Oprah Winfrey. Maybe if you want to be more strategic and thoughtful when it comes to business, it's your father or mother. That was the case for John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods. His father was his business mentor for many years. Maybe if you want to cultivate innovation, patience, or persistence, your mentor is someone like Sir James Dyson, who created more than 5,000 versions of his famous cyclonic vacuum technology before finding the one that worked. Once you've identified

• 22:01Jay Shetty?

  identify a mentor, you want to figure out basic, simple ways to connect with their example regularly. If it's not someone you can actually connect with in real life, you can read their work, watch videos of them speaking if they're available, read about their lives, tape an inspiring fact about them or quote from them above your desk, or put it in your wallet. Somewhere you'll see it regularly enough that you won't forget it. Or you can put a picture of them up where you'll regularly see it. In my office, I have photos of inspiring people all over my walls, and I've made a bit of a hobby collecting powerful quotes, like this one from Martin Luther King. "Life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?" Steve Jobs is another one of my mentors.

• 22:42Jay Shetty?

  For one year, I watched his famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech every single day. I've also read his biography and pretty much everything else I can find about him. Your mentor can help to provide that map for your journey. It's not that you want to mimic them or imitate them. You want to be yourself and combine those strengths you're developing with those great strengths you already have in place. But if you look at some of the geography your mentor has traveled, it can help provide you with your own map for developing those strengths. According to Harvard professor and author of the book, The Rise, Dr. Sarah Lewis, when Martin Luther King was at seminary school, he actually received mediocre grades in public speaking.

• 23:24Jay Shetty?

  I find that especially inspiring because as a kid, I was terrible at public speaking. In my book, I tell the story of being at school and forgetting my lines and literally getting laughed out of stage. If you want to learn how MLK took that journey to being a great speaker, you can identify some really actionable steps by simply Googling him and reading about his journey and watching videos of him speaking. So to create your map, think of one to two strengths you'd like to grow this year and find one person who represents those to you. Then get a picture of them, write down a quote, and start researching how they got that way. And if it's someone you know, you can ask them.

• 24:04Jay Shetty?

  Okay, so those are three exceptionally positive ways we're going to prepare to embark on this 2021 journey and make it a year to remember for great things, for learning, for connection, for growth, for gratitude, and for service. I'm so excited to be taking this journey with you. Please let me know how it's going. Drop a note in the comments. Let me know how you're doing with your mindset and that gratitude practice. Tag me on Instagram and let me know how you're going to find that mechanical adjustment and your mentor. I'd love to hear from you and leave a review as well. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you next week.

• 24:50Jay Shetty?

  This podcast was produced by Dust Light Productions. Our executive producer from Dust Light is Misha Youssef. Our senior producer is Juliana Bradley. Our associate producer is Jacqueline Castillo. Valentino Rivera is our engineer. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions. And special thanks to Rachel Garcia, the Dust Light Development and Operations Coordinator.

• 25:20Speaker 01

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked 350,000 Virginians' healthcare to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, the HouseMajorityPac.com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's