What the Biggest Year of My Life Taught Me

Jay marks his birthday by reflecting on five lessons an unpredictable year taught him. From making career choices based on the skills you want to build, to trusting yourself through discomfort and protecting the friendships that remind you who you are beyond your work, Jay shares the principles that kept him grounded through change. He closes with a reminder that we often underestimate just how much we’re still capable of growing and becoming. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty Mazda crafts cars for people who do more than simply move. Visit Mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer reports does not endorse products or services. JAY’S DAILY WISDOM DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX Join 900,000+ readers discovering how small daily shifts create big life change with my free newsletter. Subscribe here: https://news.jayshetty.me/subscribe Check out our Apple subscription to unlock bonus content of On Purpose! https://lnk.to/JayShettyPodcast What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 00:24 Reflecting on His Biggest Year Yet 01:26 The Power of a Birthday Reset 03:09 Lesson 1: The Career Skills Worth Building Daily 10:28 Lesson 2: Experience Over Overthinking 15:54 Lesson 3: Learning to Trust Your Own Decisions 21:42 Lesson 4: You Can’t Give Everything 100% 27:45 Lesson 5: Prioritizing Authenticity in Friendships 32:05 Reframing Wisdom & Getting Older 32:37 The “End of History” Illusion 34:54 An Invitation for Self-Reflection 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 is 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 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,

• 1:30Jay Shetty?

  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. Give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start selling with no seller fees, so you keep every dollar you earn.

• 2:02Jay Shetty?

  Hey, it's Jay. I don't know what your day's been like, but I was just thinking about you for a minute. And I hope you're being a little patient with yourself because you deserve it. And yeah, I'll talk to you soon.

• 2:25Jay Shetty?

  Hey, it's my birthday this weekend, and every year around this time, I try to step back and take an honest look at the year I've just lived. Life can feel like a bit of a whirlwind sometimes, and especially this past year, I had more going on than ever before. When there's so much happening and so much change, it's more important than ever to take a little bit of time and reflect on where I am right now in my life as I enter the next year ahead. I hope that if your birthday's around the corner, you do the same. And even if it's not for a while, I hope this inspires you to take a step back and reflect. The last 365 days have been some of the biggest of my life. On Purpose entered a new chapter with Netflix and Spotify.

• 3:10Jay Shetty?

  We wrapped a podcast tour across North America and Canada. I traveled more than I ever knew was humanly possible. I experimented with new show formats, and I had some incredible opportunities that I couldn't have even imagined for myself just a year ago. Researchers describe birthdays as temporal landmarks, moments that divide our lives into a before and an after. Most days blend into one another, but a birthday creates a natural pause in that momentum. It gives us an opportunity to look back at where we have been before we begin thinking about where we want to go next. I think that's why birthdays can feel both exciting and sometimes a little uncomfortable. You reflect on everything that happened,

• 3:56Jay Shetty?

  but your mind also brings up everything that didn't come to be. You compare the life you have today with the one you once pictured. You think about the people who entered your life and the relationships that no longer feel the same. I've found that a big year may bring exciting outcomes, but it also asks more from your character. As I've been looking back, I've realized there were five key lessons that kept me grounded through everything this year brought. They influenced how I worked, what I tried, how I made decisions, where I placed my energy, and who I wanted around me while my life was changing. So as I share what I've learned today, I want you to think about the year ahead you hope to have.

• 4:39Jay Shetty?

  Your version of a big year will be personal to you. You may want to change careers, start a business, become a parent, rebuild your health, deepen a relationship, or finally act on an idea you've been thinking about for years. The goal of today's episode is to use what I've learned to help you identify the choices that could move your own life forward. So let's get into it. And first, I want to start with a lesson that took me seven years to fully understand. The first lesson is this. When thinking about your career, follow the skills you're building and the work you're willing to do. When I launched On Purpose seven years ago, there were approximately 700,000 podcasts.

• 5:25Jay Shetty?

  I remember people pointing to that number as proof that the industry was already oversaturated. There were too many shows, too much competition, and very little chance that another podcast would stand out. If the number of competitors had been the most important factor in deciding my future, the outcome for On Purpose should have been 10 times worse. Instead, this year, On Purpose entered its biggest chapter yet. The people giving me advice back in the beginning could evaluate the industry as it existed at that moment by their limitations and their mind. But I had to evaluate my relationship with the work. I already had experience studying ideas, speaking, interviewing people, creating videos and translating ancient wisdom

• 6:10Jay Shetty?

  into a language people could apply to their lives. Podcasting gave me another place to use and develop those skills. But knowing it was an uphill battle, I also had to ask whether I was willing to do the work for long enough to become good. A podcast may look like just sitting down and having a conversation, but behind that conversation are hours of research, preparation, listening, reviewing, refining, and returning to do it again the following week. Yes, a crowded field can make success harder, but those numbers cannot measure your potential contribution to that field. This is the distinction I want to explore in this first lesson. When you're deciding what to do with your lives, you often look in one of two places.

• 6:54Jay Shetty?

  You look outside of yourselves and ask what everyone else thinks, or you look inside yourself and ask what you feel like doing. If you follow the crowd, you may enter a field because everyone says it's growing, stable, impressive, or profitable. Then the trend changes, progress takes longer than expected, and you realize that you never developed a real connection to the work. You went for the opportunity everyone could identify without asking whether you were suited to the work required to reach it. On the flip side, the crowd can also discourage you from something because it looks overdone, difficult, or unconventional. You may give up before you even give yourself a chance to be great. In that sense, allowing the current state of an industry

• 7:38Jay Shetty?

  to decide what you may be capable of achieving. Following your feelings creates yet a different problem. You can feel passionate about an idea and still have no interest in the daily work behind it. You may love the idea of being an entrepreneur but dislike selling, managing, or problem solving. You may dream about writing a book but completely resist sitting alone for hours working on the same story. A career is lived through the work behind the title. That's why a temporary feeling cannot make the whole decision for you. This episode of On Purpose is presented to you by Mazda. Peace of mind doesn't happen by chance. It's created through the habits we build before we ever need them. That's the philosophy behind every Mazda.

• 8:23Jay Shetty?

  With proactive safety features that help keep you more aware, more connected, and more engaged, Mazda helps you feel ready for whatever the road brings. It's why Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. And as of July 2026, Mazda has won more 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than any other car brand. Visit www.iihs.org to learn more. A lot can happen when an accident doesn't. Visit mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services. Over the years, I've received all sorts of advice. I've been told to avoid things that eventually became meaningful parts of my life,

• 9:07Jay Shetty?

  and I've been encouraged to pursue ideas that didn't work out. The pattern I began trusting was the connection between competence and consistency. I began to pay attention to what I was becoming better at and what I remained willing to do repeatedly. This, I have learned, is the formula to success. With time, every episode of On Purpose helped me listen more closely, ask better questions, structure better conversations, and understand what our audience found useful. I became more and more competent, and I also discovered that I was willing to keep doing the work. I was willing to prepare for another interview, study another guest, understand YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, record another solo, review what could be improved,

• 9:53Jay Shetty?

  and return the following week. I remained consistent. Competence without consistency rarely has enough time to develop. You can have natural ability and remain at the same level because you don't practice. And consistency without competence can also keep you repeating an approach that needs to change. You need both self-awareness to recognize where you have ability and enough humility to keep improving it. This gives you a more useful way to think about your own career. Begin with competence. Where do you already have evidence of ability? What do people consistently trust you to do? Which skills improve when you give them sustained attention? Then consider consistency. Which kind of work are you willing to repeat?

• 10:37Jay Shetty?

  What remains interesting after the novelty fades? Which challenges make you want to improve instead of making you want to quit? There may be something you love that you currently have very little ability in. You can enjoy it as a hobby, or you can put in the work required to become better. Or there may also be something you're naturally good at that you hate doing. Other people may recognize your talent, but talent alone won't make the experience fulfilling. The strongest signal appears when you find something you have the ability to do, the desire to improve, and the willingness to practice it consistently. That combination gives you something to build on even when industries, platforms, and opinions change around you.

• 11:20Jay Shetty?

  So when you consider your next career move, look beyond whether an industry is crowded or popular. Look beyond how exciting the title sounds. Look closely at the actual work. That's what helped On Purpose reach a new peak this year. Competence mixed with consistency helped create an opportunity that outside opinions couldn't predict. Don't follow the crowd. Don't follow a feeling. Follow the skills you're building and the work you're willing to do. Don't let other people's opinions decide your future. And don't let your emotions decide your future either. Let your character, your skills, and your consistency decide it. Your future won't be built by other people's advice or today's emotions.

• 12:05Jay Shetty?

  It will be built by the skills you master and the effort you repeat. If you follow the crowd, you may give up too soon. And if you follow just your gut, you may be misled. Once you find work worth taking seriously, you're then able to discover which ideas within it will succeed. That discovery comes through experimentation, which brings me to the second lesson. The second lesson is this. Choose real experience over excessive preparation. That may sound risky, but hear me out. I would rather have thirty days of real experience than twelve months of overthinking. One of the most valuable things I did this year was experiment.

• 12:46Jay Shetty?

  I explored new formats, social ideas, television concepts, and different ways to expand on purpose and other things. Some worked, many didn't, and several will probably never even be seen by an audience. That's the part of a big year people rarely see. When you look at someone else's life, you only see the ideas that made it. You see the show that was released, the business that opened, the book that was published, or the opportunity that was announced. You don't see the proposals that were declined, the recordings that were never used, the concepts that lost momentum, or the months spent developing something that ultimately never came to be. That missing information can make another person's success feel smooth and inevitable.

• 13:29Jay Shetty?

  It can also make your own failed attempts feel like evidence that you're doing something wrong. If I only share the successful parts of this year, you might assume I possess an unusual ability to predict which ideas will work. My real experience is much messier. The truth is, I have failed at more ideas than I have successfully released in the past three hundred and sixty-five days, what to speak of the last seven years. And don't get me wrong, I still feel disappointed when something I believe in doesn't work out. Rejection's never exciting. But what has changed is the amount of meaning I assign to a single result. If I try ten things during a year and one creates something amazing, that one thing can change the direction of my entire future. And the nine others weren't failures.

• 14:14Jay Shetty?

  They either gave me information, sharpened my judgment, improved my skills, built a new connection, or led me toward the attempt that finally connected. If you try only one thing during the entire year, that attempt begins carrying enormous pressure. You spend months thinking about it, preparing for it, and building your expectations around it. If it fails, you may feel as though the entire year has been awash. But if you try new things more often, you distribute the emotional risk. Each attempt becomes one part of a larger process. You can feel disappointed by a result without turning the result into a conclusion about your talent or future. This is where overthinking becomes a problem.

• 14:57Jay Shetty?

  Thinking is valuable when it helps you prepare, anticipate challenges, and act with care. It becomes limiting when you keep returning to the same questions without allowing experience to give you new information. I can overthink and overthink about whether a video I make will perform well. But at the end of the day, no matter what I compare it to or try to predict data-wise, the best way to find out is just by putting it up. Overthinking allows every possibility to remain alive. Experience begins showing you which possibilities deserve more of your time. Maybe you discover that the audience responds differently than expected, or that a skill needs more work, or that the reality of a goal feels different from the fantasy.

• 15:42Jay Shetty?

  One month of experience can teach you what twelve months of overthinking never could. Because experience introduces details. It reveals which problem is real, which fear was exaggerated, and which part of the process energizes you enough to continue. So here's a practice I want to give you. Choose one idea you've been circling and design a thirty-day experiment. Maybe it's posting on social media every day. Maybe it's reaching out to potential customers every day. Maybe it's messaging a new person on LinkedIn every day. Whatever it is, stop convincing yourself you need more evidence before starting, and start just taking the small leap. At the end of the thirty days, ask yourself what surprised you? What did other people respond to?

• 16:27Jay Shetty?

  Do you want to continue, adjust, or pivot to something else? Thirty days of honest experience may save you from spending years attached to an imagined version of a goal. It can also release you from wondering what would have happened if you had only tried. You cannot control which idea will open a door, but you can increase how many doors you knock on. Every attempt gives the desired outcome a

• 16:53Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Indeed. I know how important every hire is for a business. If you need to make the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps find quality candidates when you need them most. You can reach who you need based on whatever criteria you're looking for, like skills, certifications, or location. In fact, people are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours made twenty-seven hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a seventy-five-dollar sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast.

• 17:36Jay Shetty?

  That's indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. 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 neighbor, 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. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair.

• 18:22Jay 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 favorite 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, Wayfair can handle delivery, installation, and assembly.

• 19:08Jay Shetty?

  Join Wayfair Rewards today to get five percent 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. Another chance. I'd rather have thirty days of real experience than twelve months of overthinking. I try more in thirty days than most people will try in a year. Most people spend one year deciding. I spend one month discovering. One month of doing can teach you what a year of thinking never will. Life rewards the people who learn the fastest, not the people who hesitate the longest.

• 19:52Jay Shetty?

  Experiment, experiment, experiment. One of my favorite quotes is this. The expert has tried more times than the beginner has failed. If I try ten things in one year and one works, that's all that matters. But if you try one thing in one year and it doesn't work, you feel disheartened. We have to get really comfortable doing more and getting rejected more. The law of odds, doors only open when you knock on them. Just keep walking through the ones that remain open for you. Which actually leads to my third lesson. The third lesson is this. You cannot know whether every decision will produce the outcome you want,

• 20:33Jay Shetty?

  but you need to trust yourself to just make the decision anyway. This year required a lot of decisions from me. Every new opportunity raised questions about timing, direction, responsibility, and how the choice would affect my entire life around it. I dealt with big contracts, new hires, team expansion, new business relationships, and a lot of choices that held really high stakes. Some decisions felt clear, while others remained complicated long after the pen was put to paper. For a long time, I imagined that a correct decision would produce an immediate feeling of relief. But experiences taught me that meaningful decisions often continue to feel uncertain, even after the ink has dried. That doesn't mean you've made the wrong call.

• 21:18Jay Shetty?

  This is the first distinction I want to make. Discomfort after a decision is information, but it isn't always a verdict. Sometimes discomfort reveals a real problem that requires your attention. But sometimes it just reflects the normal strain of entering unfamiliar territory. If you interpret every uncomfortable emotion as proof that you chose incorrectly, you will keep returning to the decision instead of fully participating in the life that follows it. You will spend your energy exploring the same questions. You may not even give yourself a chance to fully see the decision through. There's one idea that I love from Annie Duke's book, How to Decide, and it helped me understand this more clearly.

• 22:03Jay Shetty?

  She writes about a mistake called resulting, which happens when we judge the quality of a decision entirely by its outcome. We think a good result becomes proof that we chose wisely, while a disappointing result becomes proof that we choose poorly. Imagine you're running late for work and approach a stop sign. You roll through without stopping, no cars are coming, and you arrive on time. The outcome worked in your favor, although luck protected a reckless decision. Now imagine you stop, fully, follow the law, and a distracted driver crashes into you a few seconds later. The outcome's terrible, but the process behind your decision was still responsible. The same error appears in much more emotional areas of our lives.

• 22:48Jay Shetty?

  Imagine someone deciding whether to leave a job. They study their finances, understand the risks, speak with people they trust, and recognize that the role is affecting their mental health. They leave, join a startup, and the startup closes six months later. They may spend years telling themselves that they made the wrong decision, but in reality, the disappointing outcome doesn't erase the care with which the choice was made. Someone else may remain in a miserable job because fear prevents them from leaving. A year later, they receive an unexpected pay rise and conclude that staying was wise. The promotion may be fortunate, and it doesn't tell them whether fear should continue making their decisions. The truth is, you can never control the outcome,

• 23:33Jay Shetty?

  but you can control the preparation and dedication it takes to think logically about what will set you up for the highest likelihood of success. There are two different stages you need to consider. Before a decision, your responsibility is to gather useful information, examine your motives, consider the risks, and choose in alignment with your values. After a decision, your responsibility is to pay attention, participate fully, and respond to what you learn. I've learned that making a decision means giving it a genuine chance to work while remaining responsive to meaningful new information. Commitment is crucial because many choices need time and effort before they produce anything meaningful.

• 24:15Jay Shetty?

  A new job can feel uncomfortable while you've still learned the role. A move can feel lonely before you build community. A healthy relationship can be unsettling if your previous relationships were toxic. It doesn't mean these were the wrong choices. Many of us delay decisions because we want to eliminate the possibility of regret. But that possibility remains present on every path. Even making no choice at all contains moments when you wonder about the road you didn't take. So if you have a big decision coming up, here's my advice. Choose a date by which you will decide. Gather the information available to you. Write down what you hope the outcome will be. Write down the risks you're okay taking on for either choice. Then make the call.

• 25:00Jay Shetty?

  What I encourage you to do is also imagine yourself waking up three months from now, three years from now, and asking yourself how you will feel about either decision regardless of the result. From there, schedule a future time to reassess if you need to pivot. Then don't question your choice until then. Give yourself a real chance. Fully dedicate your energy into making that decision work until you've reached that predetermined date to reassess. For me, I know I've pivoted many times after big decisions were made this past year, but I don't regret the time or energy I spent on any of them. Everything simply brought me to more wisdom and clarity about how better to move forward. You never know if a decision is right before you make it,

• 25:45Jay Shetty?

  but you can make it right after you make the decision. And if you don't, it's fine, pivot quickly. Most decisions aren't right or wrong the moment you make them. They become right through commitment or wrong through stubbornness. Remember, a good life isn't built on perfect decisions. It's built on wise adjustments. This brings me to my fourth lesson, and this actually may be the one I've had to remind myself of the most this year. The fourth lesson is this. Choose where you want to be exceptional and accept that every season of life will have energy trade-offs. There were periods this year where my calendar contained many of the things I'd once hoped for. But if I'm being honest, there were also moments when I looked at that calendar

• 26:29Jay Shetty?

  and wondered where the rest of my life was supposed to fit. Balance and how you find it is something that will ebb and flow as your life continues to evolve. At the beginning of my career, I worked eighteen-hour days, seven days a week. That level of focus helped me build skills and create momentum, but it was also unsustainable. Over time, I recognized the way I was working couldn't support every part of the life I wanted. I began taking back my weekends. Later, I became more protective of my evenings. Each change required a decision about where I wanted my best energy to go and where I was willing to accept doing less. This lesson has two parts. The first is accepting that every meaningful priority creates a trade-off.

• 27:13Jay Shetty?

  The second is communicating those trade-offs so that a demanding season doesn't damage the life you're trying to build. We often talk about balance as though every important part of life should receive an equal amount of attention each day. But that expectation can make an ordinary weekday feel like a failure. You finish a demanding day at work and feel guilty that you didn't call your family, exercise, see a friend, cook dinner, read, meditate, and get eight hours of sleep. A single day cannot contain every role you care about at its highest level. But balance becomes easier to understand across a longer period. There may be a season when a new child requires most of your attention, a season when your health becomes the priority,

• 27:58Jay Shetty?

  or a season when an opportunity asks more from your career. It will constantly ebb and flow. The distribution of your energy needs to change because the needs of your life change. The important question is whether you choose the distribution with awareness or allow the loudest demand to choose it for you. This past year was definitely demanding, and a demanding season needs a purpose. You need to understand why you're entering it and what you hope the increased effort will create. It also needs a timeframe because this is just a busy season can become an explanation you repeat for years. And trust me, that's something I'm still working on sometimes. That's why it's important to take moments like this,

• 28:41Jay Shetty?

  when a milestone such as a birthday comes along, to really reflect and reset on the priorities for my time. Do I need to dedicate one weeknight to work so I can fully unplug on weekends? Do I need to schedule my gym time a bit earlier so I can have a relaxed breakfast with my wife? Do I need to say no to a business trip to make sure I attend a friend's birthday party? These are the questions I now need to interrogate as I look at my routines going forward into this next year. What's most important as you shift and change your energy is that you communicate it with the people closest to you. If work will require more travel or longer days for the next two months, share that before your absence becomes a surprise.

• 29:24Jay Shetty?

  Talk about what you will continue protecting and how you will reconnect when the season changes. This episode is brought to you by Mazda. Some of life's best moments happen because nothing went wrong. The drive home, the conversation that continues, the plans that stay exactly as planned. That's the feeling of safety. Every Mazda is designed with proactive safety features that help keep you more aware, more connected, and more engaged with your drive so you can feel confident on the road. That's why Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. And as of July 2026, they've won more 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus Awards than any other car brand.

• 30:07Jay Shetty?

  Visit www.iihs.org to learn more. A lot can happen when an accident doesn't. Visit MazdaUSA.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services. We often want growth to add without subtracting. We want work, relationships, friendships, health, rest, family, and freedom to all receive our best energy at the same time. But our resources eventually ask us to choose. So here's where I start. Choosing where you want to be exceptional gives you a more honest way to divide up your time. Write down the three areas currently receiving most of your time. Then write down the three areas that actually matter most to you. Compare the list.

• 30:50Jay Shetty?

  If they don't match, identify one change that would bring your calendar closer to your priorities. Then complete this sentence. For the next three months, I'm in a season of... You might write working, building, caregiving, learning, parenting, connecting, creating, or recovering.

• 31:08Jay Shetty?

  Name what that season requires, what you'll place into maintenance mode, and what you refuse to abandon. This practice will also help you explain your needs to someone else. You can tell your partner, family, or team, this is the season I'm in. This is what it requires. This is what I'm protecting, and this is when I want us to review it. That conversation creates shared expectations and gives other people space to express what they need from you. One of the greatest sources of stress is trying to give 100% of yourself to everyone and everything. The maths will never work. A big year requires the capacity to prioritize what you're building. This year became possible because I made choices about where my energy would go.

• 31:52Jay Shetty?

  Choose what you want to be good at and be okay being average at the rest. You can't be exceptional at everything. Great lives are built by choosing what not to master as much as what to master. The fastest way to become extraordinary is to stop trying to be exceptional at everything. Every extraordinary life is built on thousands of things someone chose not to become good at. Which leads me to my final lesson. The fifth and final lesson is this. Give the most space to the friendships that give you space to be yourself. A year of change can impact your schedule, your priorities, and sometimes the way people relate to you. Some relationships adapt to that growth.

• 32:36Jay Shetty?

  Others begin revealing hidden expectations you may not have noticed before. I had some very honest conversations with close friends this past year. Growth can change the dynamic inside a friendship. Sometimes your success brings up comparison, distance, or expectations neither person knew were there. That doesn't necessarily make either person bad, but it can reveal whether a friendship has enough honesty and generosity to evolve with both of you. I've also had friends be real with me and keep me grounded as I hit a new level of career success. Some of the most transformative moments of my year happened during walks, meals, phone calls, and ordinary conversations. My friends helped me laugh, slow down, appreciate what was happening, and remember that a life is still meant to be experienced

• 33:21Jay Shetty?

  while it is being built. There is also a particular kind of friend I've learned to truly value. It's someone who can celebrate your growth without immediately asking what comes next. They know when to talk about the big thing happening in your life and when to just ask how you're feeling on an ordinary Tuesday. Those friends helped me stay present during a year that moved quickly. Ambition is a way of converting an achievement into another responsibility. You reach the destination and immediately begin thinking about how to improve it or use it to reach the next one. A friend can interrupt that momentum. They can look at you and say, do you realize what just happened? They help you register the experience and appreciate it

• 34:04Jay Shetty?

  because they've witnessed how hard you've worked for it. Your friends shape your ability to experience your own life. But it's also important to recognize when you can just live and be around them versus when you feel required to perform a certain version of yourself. In my life, my public work can create expectations about who I'm supposed to be. People may encounter me as Jay Shetty, the podcast host, author, former monk, or person they expect to always have the right answer. There are days when I feel clear and grounded, but there are also days when I'm uncertain, tired, conflicted, or overwhelmed, or still processing some things. The friendships I value most give me room for all of those expressions. I can speak before I've organized my thoughts. I can change my mind.

• 34:48Jay Shetty?

  I can admit when I handled something poorly, and it's met with understanding. I can be a person inside the friendship instead of just a role for someone else. Those friends helped me question my own perspectives. They reminded me of the values I had before the opportunities arrived. They cared about whether I still could ground myself amidst a season of craziness. If you're evaluating how friendships fit into a big year ahead for you, my advice is to give more time to the friend who fills your cup energetically. Make room for the person who asks how you're doing before asking what you're doing next. Reach out to someone who has supported your growth and tell them what their friendship has meant to you. You can also create distance from a relationship that repeatedly asks you

• 35:33Jay Shetty?

  to become a certain version of yourself. Every friendship doesn't need a dramatic ending. Some relationships just need more space to function well. The biggest years of your life can be hard on you, but the friendships you prioritize will influence whether that year brings you closer to yourself or pulls you farther away. Give the most space to the people who help you stay present, tell you the truth, and allow you to remain authentic inside your growth. The strongest friendships aren't built on agreement. They're built on honesty that survives disagreement. If you're afraid to be honest with your friend, you're protecting the friendship at the expense of the relationship. Friends who only protect your feelings

• 36:17Jay Shetty?

  will eventually protect you from the truth. Here's the harsh truth. The people who love you most won't always agree with you. And the people who agree with you most won't always love you. Learn the difference. Those are the five things that helped shape one of the biggest years in my life. But before we finish, I want to return to the reason I'm sharing them with you today. When I was younger, I thought growing older would make me more sure of myself and my choices. I imagined that experience would eventually lead me to a version of myself who knew every right choice, understood exactly what mattered most, and moved through life without questioning the direction. But each year has changed my understanding of what true wisdom feels like. The answers for your life will change

• 37:02Jay Shetty?

  because you will change. Psychologists have identified something called the end of history illusion. In a study involving more than 19,000 people, participants could recognize how much their personalities, values, and preferences had changed during the previous decade. Yet they consistently underestimated how much they would continue changing during the next one. That idea gives me a different way to think about getting older. Every birthday contains evidence that I'm still becoming. The person I was one year ago couldn't see every conversation, opportunity, rejection, loss, or decision that would shape me. And today, I'm standing in the same relationship with the year ahead.

• 37:45Jay Shetty?

  The next year will ask new things from me. There will be skills I need to develop, ideas I need to test, and choices that will remain uncertain long after they're made. I want to enter that year with gratitude for everything that has happened and curiosity about what I still have to learn. Today's seven-day challenge is brought to you by Amazon Health. Forget filling out 37 forms every time you need healthcare. The new Amazon Health AI is different. It can connect your symptoms with your medical history to offer personalized care 24/7. Amazon Health AI is here. Healthcare just got less painful. Here's your challenge this week. For the next seven days, I want you to spend 10 minutes a day checking in with yourself

• 38:30Jay Shetty?

  instead of searching outside yourself for the answer. Each day, ask yourself one question. Day one, what has changed most about me this past year? Day two, what am I overthinking that I could start experimenting with instead? Day three, what decision have I been avoiding? Day four, where is most of my energy going right now? And is that where I want it to go? Day five, what do I want to become better at this year? Day six, who in my life gives me the space to fully be myself? And day seven, what is one thing I want to do differently in the year ahead? Don't search for the perfect answer. Just give yourself the space to notice what comes up. Sometimes the answer you've been looking for

• 39:15Jay Shetty?

  doesn't come from searching more. It comes from understanding yourself better. Today's seven-day challenge was brought to you by Amazon Health. Amazon Health AI is here. Healthcare just got less painful. Take a moment today to look at your own year from a distance. Think about what occupied your mind 12 months ago. Remember the decisions you hadn't made, the people you hadn't met, the experiences you couldn't predict, and all the ways you've already changed. Return to this episode on your next birthday. See which opportunities changed your mind, which plans evolved, which results surprised you, and how your understanding of a successful year changed as well. I don't know exactly what the next year will bring,

• 39:57Jay Shetty?

  but I'm excited to be surprised no matter how much I try to plan it. Thank you for being part of this year and for allowing on purpose to be a part of your life. It's because of you we've had this amazing moment. I'm deeply grateful that we continue learning, reflecting, and growing together. And I hope the next 12 months give you the courage to develop your abilities, the experience to learn what works, the conviction to make decisions, and the clarity to protect what matters, and the friendships that allow you.

• 40:25Speaker 01

  When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lululemon's Fall Drop are an inspiration to push your goals and elevate your routines. As your calendar fills, easy-to-layer styles meet the demands of your day. And as you challenge yourself to try even more, versatile sets transition with you. The Lululemon Fall lineup brings new levels of comfort and confidence, whether you're starting something fresh or starting something over. Check out the latest arrivals in store and on lululemon.com now.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  This episode is brought to you by Netflix's new series, East of Eden. A bold reimagining of John Steinbeck's masterpiece following generations of the Trask family through love, betrayal, and the choices that shape humanity. Starring Mike Feist and Christopher Abbott as the Trask Brothers, and Florence Pugh as Kathy Ames, the complex anti-heroine determined to build the life she wants, no matter the cost. Watch East of Eden, October 1st, only on Netflix.

• 41:25Speaker 03

  Mr. President, my company tore me of the explosion on our rig on October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami.

• 41:32Jay Shetty?

  They all keep the blame on me.

• 41:34Speaker 03

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 41:41Speaker 04

  What would happen if I stopped growing? You starve, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 41:45Speaker 03

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 41:49Speaker 04

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 41:50Speaker 03

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent.

• 41:55Jay Shetty?

  To be fully yourself.