A Simple Yet Powerful Practice For A Fulfilling Year

Start 2025 strong! Adam Markel reveals a surprisingly simple practice of attracting what you want and letting go of what holds you back. Drawing inspiration from the guidance of his mentor Emmet Fox, he explains how a small yet deeply motivational daily exercise can manifest positive change within yourself and in your entire life, which ultimately leads to profound growth and transformation. Tune in for a concise yet profound episode packed with actionable advice to make this new year happier and more fulfilling.

Show Notes:

01:52 – Creating Healthier, Happier Workplaces Through Collaboration
05:34 – The Importance Of Individual Growth Within A Larger Context
06:24 – Emmett Fox And The Power Of Thinking Rightly
07:59 – A Two-List Practice For Manifesting Desires And Removing Obstacles
14:34 – Commit To 30 Days Of Intentional Reflection
17:36 – Keep It Confidential: The Importance Of Personal Discovery

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A Simple Yet Powerful Practice For A Fulfilling Year

Welcome back to another episode of the show. I am amazed that another year around the sun has already begun. I hope this finds you in a great place. I don’t know where the time goes. We could talk about that but I won’t. I instead want to share something with you. There is no guest. I’m your guest. I typically like to start the new year or end the year with some thoughts about life, business, and anything that might float into my consciousness at the moment. I hope that’s okay with you all.

I have enjoyed 2024 immensely. I’ve enjoyed the guests that we’ve had on the show. I hope you have, and I hope if you have, you’ve let us know. If you haven’t, then you also hopefully let us know because the feedback is vital to our growth. Honestly, with everything that’s going on and everything that’s vying for our attention all the time, it’s a lot to ask for you to take a moment and leave a comment or take that time to give us a rating on the platform that you’re consuming the show and let us know your feelings in some way, shape, or form. If you have done that, we appreciate it. If you haven’t and you’re willing to, thank you so much. If you’re not willing, we thank you too because you have the freedom to make that choice and we more than respect it. We truly honor it.

I make those choices like you every day. I’m like, “What will I give my time and attention to?” That is a fair lead-in to the subject that I wanted to chat with you about. In this episode, I’m going to keep my thoughts pretty concise. It’ll be a short episode but a very meaningful one. I know what I’m about to share with you has been truly powerful in my own experience, and that’s frankly the only reason I’m sharing it with you.

Creating Healthier, Happier Workplaces Through Collaboration

I know that the context of Change Proof is discussions around work. In our language at WorkWell, we like to think that we create healthier environments at work. How do we create healthier environments at work? How do we create healthier and happier places to work? By we, I mean our company and the work that we do in working with other companies, leaders, teams, and organizations at a grassroots level on how to meet people where they truly are and not help to develop greater well-being as that term has been used a lot in its general sense.

We chunk it down and get to a granular level on how it is that we meet people in the place they are. We know where that place is because we’ve all experienced it. It’s a place that’s filled with a lot of busyness. It’s filled with a lot of responsibilities and a lot of things that are coming at us. It’s filled with quite a bit of tension and quite a bit of stress. We have to manage all of that while still developing our own plan and strategy for our growth as well as deploying our talents and our skills in the service of others, teams that we are a part of, and organizations that we are a part of that we’re committed to. Ultimately, hopefully, what we’re doing each and every day is doing some good and that what we’re doing each day is contributing some value to the world.

A few years ago in our organization at WorkWell, our commitment was to add more value. That was the mantra for the year, keeping it really simple and chunking it down. It was to add more value. In 2024, our message internally was looking for fresh opportunities for service. That was what was fundamentally on our plates, hearts, and minds.

When we think about how we do that, we do it as a group. We will always be better as a group than we are individually. We are individually brilliant and miraculous beings and superstars in our own right. We have talents and all of those things, and yet fundamentally, it’s when we come together, connect with others, and synergize our talents, passions, abilities, and all that we bring to the table that the change becomes exponential.

We are individually brilliant and miraculous beings. When we come together and synergize our talents, passions, and abilities, the change we bring to the table becomes exponential. Share on X

Often, we are exhausted. Many of us are even feeling anxious and, dare I even use the word, burned out from time to time because we’re trying to go it alone because we somehow feel alone. Loneliness is a real thing that a lot of people have been feeling more in the last several years. It was not just during the pandemic but certainly since and before even.

When we try to do things or try to go at it solo thinking that we are better off that way, that we have more control in that scenario, or that we don’t maybe think that we can trust others or trust the system even, then ultimately, we’re struggling. That struggle is optional. That’s a viewpoint. You don’t have to buy that. We create that struggle for ourselves when we try to go at it in some way, shape, or form without the collaboration of other people. When we work together and when we are part of something bigger than ourselves, the exhaustion disappears. The burnout disappears. We don’t have to go at it alone. That is a root to a dead end. Let’s put it that way.

Practice: Burnout disappears when we work together and we become part of something bigger than ourselves.

The Importance Of Individual Growth Within A Larger Context

In this episode, I wanted to share something about how it is that we individually work on ourselves while recognizing the whole time that to work on ourselves or work on us individually is our personal responsibility. Yet, like a puzzle piece, it won’t matter as much as it can matter if we don’t merge our pieces or if we don’t find our piece to place in the puzzle. I t is finding that place to drop our puzzle piece or looking for others to help us find the great placement of that puzzle piece that is us. We are a mystery. We are a puzzle.

Emmett Fox And The Power Of Thinking Rightly

In my own evolution, hopefully gaining some greater consciousness each year that goes by and maybe even at a more daily level, at least that’s what I aspire to, I have a practice. That practice is something that I want to share with you. I did that in 2023 as well but this is a different practice that I’m going to share, 1 that came to me through a mentor in 2024.

You may know that a mentor can be somebody who is alive or somebody who’s passed on. I know it sounds funny to have a mentor that’s no longer alive but I have one, and I know a lot of you do as well that you read the books and you study. You think about people from the past, whether they’re relatives or they’re people who have inspired you in some way by their example in the world, the things they’ve done, and the things they spoke about, taught, and did. Alive or in some other realm, we can have mentors of all kinds.

My mentor is someone who was known as Emmett Fox. That was his earthly name. Where he is, I do not know, but his legacy lives on. It certainly lives on in me and I know it lives on in many other people. He’s a metaphysician and philosopher. They call him a social psychologist but it’s not the term that would’ve been used for him back in the day. He was a person who spoke to many people and wrote. His writing impacted many people. All of those things resonate deeply with me, the path that I’ve been on, and the work I’ve been doing.

A Two-List Practice For Manifesting Desires And Removing Obstacles

One thing that I learned in reading more of his work, I started to practice in 2024. That’s the practice I’m going to share with you now, which is the following. I was instructed through writing or through something I read to try an exercise. The exercise was really simple. It was to write down on a piece of paper, but you could use any other form. You could use technology to do it of any kind of your choosing.

I have been focused this year 2024 a lot on analog and regaining some connection to the analog. I could read articles and lots of things online but I wanted to read the newspaper this 2024. I could read a book on a Kindle or in some other way using technology. Instead, I’ve leaned back on reading a book that I could hold in my hand. In many ways, when I’m reading a book, reading the newspaper, and doing those tactile things, those things that are analog and not digital, I’m giving my brain, mind, and body an opportunity to recover.

Our philosophy around resiliency is that it is not about grit. It’s not about our ability to even bounce back as much as it is about our capacity to recover and therefore grow and move forward. It’s about bouncing forward. In recovery, there are lots of rituals for recovery. In many of our episodes, we’ve talked about that. Much of the work we do with organizations focuses at a granular level on how to ritualize recovery so that people can be at their best and therefore produce their best.

Resiliency is not about grit nor it is solely about our ability to bounce back. It is primarily about our capacity to recover, grow, and move forward. Share on X

In this instance, I chose to do this exercise with a paper and a pen. I sat down. The first instruction was to write down all of the things that I wanted. I was like, “What do I want in my life right now?” It took a minute to write them all. I started with one thing. The first thing I’m happy to share with you is to think rightly in each and every moment of the day.

By think rightly, you might intuit what that means. To me, it’s to be able to think in a way that is how I would want to experience myself. If I could separate myself from myself and look objectively at myself, how would I want to experience myself if I was someone else, for example? That’s loving, kind, grateful, open, vulnerable, trusting, and a million other things that are the things that I want to be in the moment. All of those ways begin with my thoughts.

To think rightly each moment of the day is a high bar. It’s a high standard. I know that I think wrongly a lot of the time when I’m judging people or when I’m dwelling on negative thoughts. I won’t get into the list. It’s a long list. We can take a moment or take a breath at this moment, check in with ourselves, and think about what we’ve been thinking about. What have you been thinking about periodically throughout the day? Frankly, if the FBI, CIA, or whoever knew what we were really thinking, we’d all be locked up from time to time because that’s the nature of the monkey brain that we all have. It’s that ancestral way of thinking.

It’s impossible to think rightly every single moment. If I was going to create a list and I was going to start with any one thing that I truly desired, that was it. Do I think that it’s likely that I will be able to do that? No. Can I think rightly more frequently? Can I think rightly more often because I’m consciously aware of it because it’s something that I stated that I truly want, that I’m focused on, and that I could be committed to at the moment? Yes. That is doable.

I began this list. The list is about a page and a half of line-by-line things to do with health, relationships, business, family, leadership, how I spend my time, and what brings me joy. I won’t get into the whole list. I won’t read the list to you. It’s about a page and a half. That was the first part of the exercise. It was to write down the things that you want.

The second part is the things that you wish to remove from your life. I began to write those things down. What things did I want to remove from my life? That was as easy a list. Maybe it was even quicker for me to write down the things that I wish to remove from my life. Mostly, those things were about me and about how I was showing up or how I was being on a daily basis. It was about how good or bad I listen to other people, how compassionate or not I am, and how often I become agitated where I ultimately allow my thinking to spiral into negativity.

I’m not going to read the entire list, but the things that I wanted to remove from my life became an exhaustive list of the things that I knew were truthful and I was aware of, and yet I was willing to tolerate. That’s the truth for all of us. There are things we know about ourselves that are not the way we’d like them to be. There are things in our lives that we have control over that are about how we show up. There are also things in our lives that are a bit outside of our control, including the people we’re around, the people we spend time with, and how we engage with those people.

For example, we can all talk a bit of gossip. I wrote that down. I said, “I want to remove from my life any moment where I’m willing to talk smack about someone else, especially if they’re not around.” It might sound obvious but it got on the list. It’s not the only thing by any means, but it got on the list. Being a poor listener got on the list. I wrote things like that as well as other things. I have this exhaustive list of both the things that I want and the things that I want to remove.

Commit To 30 Days Of Intentional Reflection

The next part of the exercise after writing those two lists down, and I wrote them physically on paper so I could have that piece of paper to look at, is to start to look at it. That was the instruction. It was to look at it each day for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or whatever it might be at a time during the day when things were quiet and I could sit with those things and think about them. The beginning of the day was that time for me. I know for some people, it’s quieter for them at night or at some other point.

If you choose to take this on or try this out, know that you could do it at any point that makes sense for you. The only thing that is a requirement in my view having done this is that you’re consistent with it. Pick a time and do it at that time because if you try to do it at different times, you may likely forget. It’s not a habit yet. It may never become a habit.

Set yourself up for success. How often is it that we set ourselves up for failure? We don’t think about the process and we don’t stick to the process. The process for me was waking up in the morning, doing my morning rituals, and then finding this 5 to 10-minute quiet time to sit with nobody around, by myself, and read through both sides of that paper.

Practice: If you try to do something at different times, it may never become a habit. Set yourself up for success.

I read through the things that I wanted to bring into my life and the things that I wanted to remove from my life. I’ve done that every day for several months. That’s why I can say this is one of the most beautiful things that I’ve ever been introduced to. It’s been remarkable, even miraculous, I suppose, in how it has changed some very important things for me. I’ve become conscious of that. That’s why I wanted to share it with all of you to see if it’s something that might be helpful and might make a difference.

To provide a bit of a framework here, you write your lists on the front and back of the paper, so to speak, of what you want to bring into your life and what you want to remove from your life. For 30 days, if you can do it, find a time during the day to read through it. I like to read these statements out loud. I like to read what I have written out loud quietly, but I like to hear it coming out of my own mouth. The vibration is meaningful to me but you could choose to do that or not do that.

30 days is the prescription. You could choose to do that or not do that. It is all up to you. Beyond that is your freedom to choose. I have continued to do it each day. I don’t have any plans to discontinue doing it. I’ve been amazed by how much it has brought to me. It has paid significant returns on that investment of time. That’s pretty much the most valuable thing we’ve gotten. When I’m asking you to spend time doing anything, I’m very much aware that’s a big ask.

Keep It Confidential: The Importance Of Personal Discovery

Lastly, I wouldn’t tell anybody about it. Keep this to yourself. Don’t share with friends, family, colleagues, or anyone that you’re doing this. See how it works for you. Experience it in your own life and your own mentality and see if, after a period of time, it becomes something that you’ve adopted. Therefore, when you’ve got that grounding, if you feel like it, share the wealth. Share with someone that you care about. Share with anyone that you want to see do better in whatever way, whether it’s with their health, relationships, money, finance, career, or anything else. You’re sharing something in a very positive place and from your personal experience.

That’s it. That’s the whole practice. It is super simple, but like so many things in life, sometimes the simplest things are truly the most profound. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It has to be usable. This is certainly one of the most usable practices I’ve ever encountered. That’s why I wanted to let you know about it and use it as a way to wish you an absolutely beautiful brand-new year of 2025. I t’s a quarter of a century. We’ve already gotten to that place where we’re one-quarter of this century in. Some of us can remember the Millennial change from 1999 to 2000. It is pretty remarkable that we’re here so fast. There’s a lot going on in our world so there’s a lot for us to show up for. I wish you a beautiful 2025. I wish that your most amazing wishes come true and that they manifest.

Sometimes, the simplest things are the most profound. They do not have to be complicated. They just have to be usable. Share on X

I know at WorkWell, we do what we do because we truly believe that we can have that ripple effect and really help people in an environment where we spend so much of our time. We spend so much of our lives sleeping and working. What’s neat is that most of our work is helping create a healthier environment at work and healthier and happier places to work. Sometimes, that involves us talking about sleep as well. We get into sleep. We geek out on how it is that we sleep better as part of it.

We’re wishing you great everything this 2025. We wish you great relationships at work and great results at work. We wish you things that will keep you feeling good when you wake up in the morning, put your feet on the floor, and feel passion and enthusiasm for the work you’re doing. It’s the right livelihood, the right work to be doing in the world.

We’d love to connect with you. If you haven’t reached out to us at any point in time and you want to join our newsletter and get some weekly dose of inspiration from us, please feel free to do that. You can simply write to Team@WorkWellLabs.com. If you haven’t found time to develop your own new rituals for your resiliency mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, you can go to RankMyResilience.com. It’s entirely free. It takes three minutes. You get a lot of information about yourself. As a result, you’re going to get your own personal report. It’s confidential. No one else will be seeing it. You’ll also get some personalized advice around changes that you can make to routines that will develop greater resiliency in those four specific realms. Feel free to check that out.

If you haven’t yet gone to WorkWellLabs.com, our website, to learn more about what work we do working with individuals, teams, leaders, and organizations at a really deep level, there’s a lot of information there around our case studies. There are other resources there as well. It’s worth a look. We appreciate you making the trip over to that site to check out what we’re doing. LinkedIn is probably the best way you can connect with us at WorkWell Labs. You can connect with me, @AdamMarkel, there as well. I want to wish you the best, brightest, and most beautiful new year. Ciao for now. I’ll see you soon.