The 1 Choice to Make Before the New Year Starts

0:05 Good morning podcasting, Morning Chat. Today is Friday, December 12th, 2025, and today it's about the choices shaping our future, what we're saying yes to, what we're releasing, and how our community is finding clarity heading into 2026. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast chatter or YouTube, Facebook, please share this with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. Good morning again, podcasting, Morning Chat. Thanks so much for being here.

1:24 I am your host Mark Ronik and currently on stage with me we have producer Ashley Feller, Dr. Fay, Ralph E Step, BC Babbles and Matt Bliss has joined us as well. I think Sid Meadows will be here momentarily. I saw he had popped in the room during the pre show and he had the little on clubhouse here we have these little phone icons if a phone call has pulled us away from Clubhouse and I saw that there. So I figure he'll be back here after he gets that call. And a good morning to our first couple people in the audience, Dave and Nozzle. Good morning to both of you. Good to have you here. And we're going to dive into, of course, it's Friday, so we will do our wins from this past week. But first, we're also going to get into a different kind of prompt, something that I'd love to get into feels timely considering we are at the end of 2025. I'll explain that in a moment.

2:23 First couple of little housekeeping notes for you Monday, Jonathan Howard's Obsession Worthy podcast series continues and we'll be breaking down the popular podcast You're Not Wrong About That. And the show You're Not Wrong About That is considered a conversational podcast where everyday opinions, hot takes, and half formed thoughts get unpacked with curiosity and humor. The hosts explore why people believe what they believe, how perspectives are shaped, and what happens when you slow down long enough to really examine a point of view, even if you don't fully agree. Certainly appreciate that concept. The episode we'll dig into is titled Tonya Harding Part 1, the story of the world class figure skater who worked at a mall potato restaurant.

3:20 Apparently in this description. Funny enough, this description does not mention her. Very controversial thing that happened in her life with Nancy Kerrigan, but we will dig into that. Jonathan says there is plenty to dig into about this podcast and this particular episode and really what we can learn from it. So stay tuned there. And Thursday we're going to be evaluating an indie podcast for our indie podcast evaluation series with the podcast called Shared Delights. Your true stories and funniest moments. These are 5 minute episodes, so we're going to actually listen to a couple of these and review them on the show this Thursday and shared delights is a biweekly solo audio podcast for busy humans who want a light, uplifting reset through short, true and funny stories. New 5 to 6 minute episodes drops every second Wednesday on Spotify and Dr. you actually already you jumped ahead, did the homework early and listens to a little little bit. So you want to share a little bit about this podcast? I did.

4:33 You know, the greatest thing about us doing these evals is that it exposes me to a a bunch of podcasts that I would never pick out myself to listen to, but it's always an A really pleasant surprise. So our host, her name is Rica. Rica is actually from Hungry and she has an accent. This is her first outing with an English speaking podcast. And she's very new to the language as well. And she's very new and she's very prolific. If she's new, then she's very good at it.

5:13 But I really think the biggest, my biggest take away so far is that I think, remember yesterday's eval where we were talking about how good his pacing was and, you know, he would stop and then the music would swell a little bit. I think she could learn, pick up a few tips from yesterday's eval. I think that she needs to have some of these pauses so we can digest what she just said. She has a tendency to speak this new language very quickly. And so we have to get into the listener, has to get into the rhythm of her, of her speech patterns.

5:55 And so I think if she takes a pause and lets the music swell a little bit, it would give us time to catch up. Spoiler. No, I'm so sorry, jumping. Ahead, well, we will dig into this show more on Thursday and thank you Dr. I'm just teasing you. I appreciate you sharing a little bit about it and yeah, really looking forward to getting into this one. And Rica found us on LinkedIn when we've talked about, or I've talked about these evaluation episodes and she wanted to throw her hat into the ring. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to do this one for her. She seems very passionate about her show for sure. She posts a lot of behind the scenes stuff on social media, which I respect and appreciate about a podcaster. So we will dig into shared delights on Thursday of next week, the final week of 2026.

6:50 For this show. We will take the last two weeks off as we have in the past 01. Last thing for you. So we've been talking a lot, especially after these evaluations that we've been doing, how much a bumper a Stinger can really add to a podcast, how it can also really help keep things engaging, keep things cleanly separated. And it's something that I don't do enough of in my personal for my personal taste. So that is a 2026 thing for me this year, a goal for me this year. And so I'm jumping ahead a little bit for and doing some of the homework early. And I decided, all right, here's how I think I want to do wins from the week because today, as you know, that's what we're going to do a little later in the show if there's time at this point.

7:43 So I created two different versions of the same style. I'll play it for you right now. So whenever it's time for wins for the week, you might hear this one. So I liked that one. I felt like it was maybe a little too drawn out for my taste, but I do kind of dig that one. And here's the second one, shorter version. Let's take some votes. Did you like the long version or the short version? Who wants to go 1st? And we'll only do this for a minute or two. Let's go to Ralph and then we'll check in with Dr. Says short. Go ahead, Ralph. So Dr. jumped in front of me. Just kidding. No, I think short also. You liked the short one better too? OK, how about you BC?

8:25 Funny enough, I like the long one with that effect. The short the short one with that effect I wasn't a huge fan of. OK. All right. That's fair. Matt, go ahead. I don't want to choose, but I want to make a suggestion. Because the sounded AI generated of course. What if the regular hosts here all said the same thing at the same time, and we laid it together to create a chorus that you could use instead? I like that idea a lot. Thank you, Matt. And I think the way, maybe the easiest way, because I have a feeling with the there's a slight delay with Clubhouse. So like if we tried it here, I have a feeling that might be a little challenging. And I think what we can do is I'll record the pacing, right? Like I'll send you all me saying wins from the week, for example. And then this way you guys can follow that cadence, that style, that pattern, that rhythm, and then record it yourself. And then I'll marry it all together. I'd even do that for you.

9:20 Well, that's more easy for me. So yeah, I'll take that. Thank you. I'll send the recording out and then we'll we'll send it all to you. Matt, Thank you. That's awesome. I appreciate the effort. All right, But for today I'll pick. I'm going against the grain because BC and I like that one better. And I'll tell you the prompt for that longer one was basically telling it to do a chant with a group at a high school football game. I just chose that. I told it no other audible sounds except for the crowd and I told it only one chant, no repeats, and it pretty much did it there were there. I did clean up the edit a little bit. And the other one I just said the same type of prompt. I didn't say a football game.

10:09 I just said six adults standing together doing the chant. Hopefully that's helpful to you if that's something you're thinking about doing. But I do like Matt's idea better of using real human voices instead of an AI generated voice. I don't have a bumper or music transition for you yet to move into this next topic, today's topic, but I am going to set it up for you right now and share really the meaning or the reason behind this. As we look ahead to 2026, many of us are carrying different goals or thinking maybe about setting some goals, dreams, ideas, what have you. But we're also carrying things, I think it's safe to assume, like habits, commitments, patterns that may not fit where we're heading.

11:01 So let me use myself as an example to explain more of what I mean. One pattern I've become very aware of in myself is how often I've treated rest and recovery as optional instead of necessary. And I might be, I might be a little generous when I say that. In other words, I don't know that I'm really making it optional. I think I've a lot of times this year have ignored that, and especially years past. I'll just push through. I'll tell myself I'll slow down later. I'll prioritize my work, people in my life, which sometimes necessary, sometimes not, whatever the next thing is, and I'll assume that I'll catch my breath at some point down the road.

11:50 What I've learned is that it doesn't lead to better work or better leadership. It leads for me, I think, to burn out shorter patients, less clarity, and me showing up, how do I put it showing up at less than my best? SO at the same time, I felt really clear. I'll call it a clear pull in the opposite direction. A pull toward building my life and work in a way that's more intentional. Toward protecting my time and energy so I can actually show up fully for the things that matter most. Toward doing fewer things, but doing them better. And especially with more presence and more trust in myself.

12:41 I think I rely less on myself and more of opinions of others or advice and insights of others. At least I have in the past. So that contrast is what led me to today's question. It's designed to help you pause and realign. It asks you to think about two simple words that shape every direction that we take. Those words. Yes and no. A no creates space. A yes sets intention. Both are forms of choice, and I think both can be really powerful when you have that clear intention and that clear understanding. So what I want you to consider, what's one thing you're ready to say no to in 2026?

13:31 Something you're releasing or stepping back from or leaving behind, however you want to put it. And just as important, we'll also get to what's one thing you're ready to say yes to, something that supports who you're becoming and where you want to go. And to be clear, no wrong answers, right? It's about clarity, growth, giving yourself permission to choose what matters to you. And I see that Ralph wants to kick us off. And Ralph, I know that this happens to be something on one of your podcasts that you were just talking about recently. So yeah, please share and you can share. Both start with No's. Yeah, so my no for this year is self doubt as an accountant, getting into the content space, as a lot of people say, oh, you're just a boring bean counter, what are you doing in the content realm? And that's been tough for me because I don't have training in improv and I don't have eloquent speaking voice and all that sort of thing.

14:29 I'm a guy who does analytical stuff and I've, it's a struggle for me because I've tried to go out and create adventures and it's always coming back to, yeah, but you're good at this, Ralph, why are you trying to do this? So one of the things for 2026 is I'm just putting my head down and I'm going forward and I'm going to stop self doubting. Let me stop you there and then we'll get to your yes, yes, and thank you for sharing. I will first say I would beg to differ about the eloquent speaking voice. I think you've got a great voice, at least I enjoy hearing it, so I hope you get that out of your head as far as self doubt is concerned. Did you want to say something, Ralph? No, no.

15:10 I was going to say thank you. That is very, very kind of you. Yeah, and I, it's my truth. And I'm curious, how long has that whole thing about self doubt for you? How long has that been sitting with you? Since I was 8 years old yeah, that's the thing you know I came from a very abusive father, verbally abusive father who basically was and I don't want to take this thing negative today no OK these. These are the things you want to release. I want to share this because, you know, I was always told, well, you're never going to be good enough. You're never going to do this, you're never going to do that. And so I've always stayed in my lane. He's actually an accountant to him and I don't even talk anymore, but I've always stayed in my lane because I was very comfortable about that.

15:50 Then a couple years ago I said, you know, I really feel a passion calling me to something else, but that self doubt always kicks in. Mark. I was like, well, why do you think you can do this? Why do you think you have the skills or you have the capacity to do this? And that's that's what I mean when I say self doubt is like, yeah, but Ralph, you can do this. Well, I applaud you Sir, for pushing through. I can only imagine what it's like growing up in a situation like that. And I applaud you because you say you have self doubt and I believe you and you don't come off that way. You come off very confident to me, very secure in your own body, to me. So whatever, for whatever that's worth, that's my truth. That's what I see in you.

16:33 You're a good man, Mark. I appreciate that. Well, I'm not trying to be a good man, just trying to share what I see in you Sir. And please share what's going to be your What are you going to say yes to in 2026? All right, so this is a combination. I'm going to say yes to confidence and to collaborations because the last couple months being involved here has been used for the thing I just talked about. I have found a home here with people that reach out to me and I get text messages and the collaboration idea. See, I thought going into content was going to be all about just me in front of a camera, in front of a microphone. But what I'm finding is I'm really leaning into and enjoying the collaboration with other people. So for 2026, confidence and collaboration. Thank you for that, Ralph.

17:17 And I actually am, I don't know, that sparked something for me that is on my list as well for things I'm I want to say yes to in 2026. One of them being holding myself more accountable by working with others. Having others holding me accountable even whether they know it or not. I have really become very self aware that the way that I take those very first action steps towards something, the way that I do that most effectively is when I have other people that are counting on me to do it or I get other people involved to be a part of the process.

17:57 There's something for me that when I have others involved, that moves the needle when it when I'm by myself and I want to move the needle, it's a bigger struggle. And I've learned through these years of working with ADHD, I've learned that's a common trait for people that have ADHD symptoms, being a having others holding you accountable. I forget the name. There's a there's a name for these accountability partners besides accountability partners. I can't remember now, but yeah, body doubling. Body doubling. Thank you, Matt. That was my ADHD. Not good. Not couldn't remember. Thank you, Matt. Yeah, body doubling is a big thing in the ADHD world.

18:39 And it basically means an accountability partner. But sometimes all that means is getting together at a scheduled time with somebody else and just doing your the work that you needed to set out to do. It's not somebody holding your hand. It's not somebody asking you questions. It's literally, for example, getting on a Zoom call or meeting up with somebody in person, sitting down in each of you doing whatever that project that thing is that you want to get done. And it helps a lot for me, but I avoid it. That's the kick in the ass is I avoid doing it. So now that I have that awareness, I know how much it helps. I'm going to start saying yes a lot more to that in 2026. So thank you, Ralph, for sharing that. Thanks for bringing that to surface for me and I'm excited to to see how things progress for you in 2026. Thank you.

19:34 Thank you, Mark. I appreciate. It you're welcome, Sir. And I'm so glad that you're getting so much out of being a part of this community. That is a huge win for me. So appropriately. So on our Friday, Wednesday, who else would like to share one thing they're going to say no to and yes to. Let's go to Ashley and then we'll check in with BC. Go ahead, Ashley. Good morning. Hi y'all, good morning. So one thing I'm going to say no to is getting stuck in rumination. I have a tendency that when something undesirable or negative happens, I end up I write about everything. Just so you all know, I get stuck writing and writing and writing about these negative things, but it's really not doing me any good. So I've told myself I'm not going to look in the rearview mirror anymore, so to speak, unless it's to be grateful for everything that has happened to me and taught me something. And the thing I'm going to say yes to is living the artist's way.

20:31 If you're unfamiliar, there's a book written by Julia Cameron and it's about creative recovery. And there's two guiding principles in that book. And one is morning pages. And I do that every day. It's a big part of my morning routine. I write 3 pages. Scream of scream. Stream of consciousness, maybe scream. Sometimes, maybe you might scream once in a while. Right. And the other principle is called artist dates. And because I found that working from home, that can really take a negative toll on your mental health unless you force yourself to get out. So from now on, at least twice a week, I'm going to go find somewhere else to work to keep myself in a positive space.

21:17 And those are my 2. Thank you, Ashley, very thoughtful responses. Thank you for sharing that. Stuck in rumination. I hear you. I don't journal as much as I'd like to, and I do that a lot in my head. A question for Ashley. We wake up so early for this show, so does she do her journaling before the show or after the show? Oh, this is a timely question because Ashley was talking to me about getting up early recently. Yeah, go ahead, Ashley. It all. Depends, I try to do it before the show but sometimes that just doesn't happen and it's OK. And Ashley, are you open to sharing what you had? Just I think it was just yesterday you shared to me about the early morning hours, the fact that you are not an early bird. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

22:04 By nature, I am so not an early bird. When I tell all my friends and family and people close to me about what we do and how much I love it, they're like, what you do What? Because, you know, as a professional musician, my shift was we. Started the gig at. 10:00 at night and then we were done at 2:00 in the morning, and then I'd go home and sleep for a few hours and teach kindergarten and those were wild time. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you, Ashley, for sharing again. Looking forward to being a small part of your journey in 2026 and and watching you along the way. So thank you for sharing. Let's go to BC.

22:45 Good morning, BC. Please share one thing you're going to say no to in 2026 and one thing you'll say yes to. One thing I need to say no to in 2026 is to stop is is capping my innovative impulses at just the visualization stage. I spent so much time imagining, oh, what if I was to be like a entrepreneur lifestyle thought leader, or if I were to really dig through all this information that I'm getting everyday to make my show what I see it being. And I don't really put the action into it. So no to no action is my thing for the no, my yes is to, well, I guess it's that's my yes too. So the the no is to is to stop keeping myself in the visualization stage.

23:36 My yes is to acting upon those things. So relatable BC thank you for sharing. I think that there are, I'm sure there are at least some people listening to that chair and thinking, Yep, that's me too. I've certainly been there. I get stuck in those ideas and I build and build and build upon them or think about how great they'd be and sometimes don't take the action. And I, I think all these things and I'm ultimately like, you're just sitting at home in sweats. Go put some jeans on, get out there and just do it. Like what else are you doing? Yeah, sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. Cool. Well, thank you for sharing that. Looking forward to seeing all the action you're going to take in 2026.

24:20 Anyone else want to share? All right, I'm going to go to Dr. and Dr. before you start your share. We've got a nice sized audience here and I would love to hear from some of you all if you wouldn't mind coming up and sharing something you may say yes to in 2026, something you'll say no to. Anon, I see you're thinking Flash, the little thinking emoji up there. And Yvonne, thanks for coming up. We're going to go to DRDR. What's one thing you're going to say no to and one thing you're going to say yes to this coming year? I'm going to do the yes first. I'm going to because I am expanding my team for my production team and it's so hard to let go and let them do what I've hired them to do. And you can speak to this, Mark, because you have a, you have a huge team.

25:16 I think that's what my yes is, is to finally let go and let be. Let go and let be. I like that. And by the way, the what, buddy? What was that phrase that you used for the accountability body buddy? Body doubling. I have always used the phrase battle buddy. Yeah, that'll work, too. Yeah. Like you're getting somebody that's, you know, you're in the trenches with, Right. That's right. Yeah. I love that. Thank you, Dr. All right. Now let's check in with some of our guests who joined us who heeded the call. Yvonne, thank you for coming up and playing along. Would you be willing to share something you're going to say no to next year and something you'll say yes to? I feel like I'm right in line with Ralph. My word for this year has been the word expanding, which has been so good.

26:15 It's been such a good word of the year, I have to say. And for this coming year, my word is trust because there's this doubt factor and this doubting myself factor or the doubting that that what I want is possible. So it's time to start. I'm going to lean into trusting this year and see what that is. And I have a feeling that that is going to be a challenging word of the year that I might be rubbing up against for the year. So I'm saying yes to trust. And I guess on the the flip side of that is, is I'm going to say no to the doubt. I don't know.

26:55 I don't know any other better way to say that's. Fine, you got to, you got to say no to something to make room for something else, in my opinion. So yeah, that works. I feel that. And that trust, just so I'm clear, you're saying really trust in yourself? I feel that too. You know, I'm only finding out now, Mark that I guess Bobby doubling thing works because I have a standing date with Adam Rothenberg once a week where we Co work and I am finding that it does help me stay focused and it's kind of incredible. It's amazing and I think I avoid it. Honestly. I think when I have been avoiding it, it's more just about, I think it's fear, really.

27:35 I think that's what it all comes down to. It's like I have these ideas and I'm afraid to execute some of them. And when I have somebody singing across from me and I know there's work I need to do, it's there's no excuse. I might as well just start playing with that idea and try to bring it to life and see if it can work. So yeah, there's a trust factor there for for me too. I feel that and really appreciate that. I love that you and Ashley have shared that you guys have your words for the year. I really like that a lot and I I'm going to take that with me. All right, Janae, your turn. Good morning to you. What's one thing you'll say no to and one thing you'll say yes to in 2026? Good morning, all.

28:18 Thank you so much for the question. I love Yvonne's word of trust because that's a really powerful word and not just trusting in ourselves, but also bringing a community of people around us that can help us trust us more. So Yvonne, you're in the right place. I'm going to say yes to getting out there and getting on my bike and running and cycling because I have not done too much of the workout thing that I've been wanting to do this year. And no to, I like what BC said about the inaction. No to inaction, no to procrastination. So I'm going to say that. And then for my word of the year was this year was collaboration. And I'm so glad that I got to collaborate with so many people in the podcasting space this year. And for next year, I'll have my word beat abundance. Thank you so much.

29:12 I like that a lot. Thank you. And Janae, I'm going to ask you a follow up and maybe challenge you for a second because you said last year or this past year, you really wanted to do more of the exercise thing. And it sounds like maybe you didn't get to do as much as you'd like. And so this coming year, you want to implement that more. So what's that first small step that makes this real for you? What can you do? A small step. A small step. I've got a bike trainer in my basement, so I just got to bring my bike from my garage and put it on the bike trainer so that it's ready and then I can just jump on and start.

29:54 So how would that so then how does it feel if I asked, could is that something you could do today, just bring the bike up and put it there? Yes, I can do it today. I will do it today. Well, we talk a lot offline, so I'm going to follow up with you later and see if you did that, OK? Thanks, will do it. All right. Cool. Thank you, Janae. Billy, welcome to the stage. Would you share a yes and a no for your 2026? What's a mark? Good morning, everybody. Yes, I'm going to say yes to the. Things that I really want to do but I'm too scared to do in business. So I've never really been a huge risk taker in business. I've always kind of figured out the low risk way of doing things.

30:40 Which has paid off, but there's a couple bigger things I would like to accomplish and I know I need to do them, but they scare me a little bit. So I'm just going to say yes to those in the coming year. On a business level, on a personal level, I'm 39. I'll be 40 in October. So I just turned 39. So my goal is to be in the best shape of my life, which I've already started down that journey. And then I'm going to say no to carbs. Excuses. I don't know, I say no to a lot of stuff already, so I'm like. Maybe I should just say yes to more things. Yeah. And then sometimes that is an answer that we might come across here. It's it's recognizing that maybe we say yes too many times.

31:25 And so we're going to say no to saying yes. I get that. Thank you, Billy. I appreciate that. And I want to keep things moving and check in with Sid, who we haven't heard from yet. Sid, good morning to you. Would you be open to sharing a yes and a no for your 2026? Good morning, everybody. Absolutely I will. But first, Mark, do you have that little sound on your board? The violins like you know, my heart bleeds for you. Santa really 39 and turning 40. God bless him, right? Dr. 30, I'm turning 40. Why? You chose to talk to me about this. Can you and are in the same boat there? Billy's 39 turning 40.

32:05 Bless his heart. Anyway, this is a really good. Shake the dust off yourself, old guy. Go for a walk. Calm down. Trust me, I hear my knees creak every time I get up. So this is a really interesting question and I haven't thought a whole lot about it just yet because I've been focused on so many other things, but at least think everybody. I've have come up with a few things and I've already kind of started doing them. But I'm going to say no to chaos and drama. I hate drama and unfortunately in business people 'cause drama and I'm just going to walk away from the drama and the chaos. What I mean by that is a little bit of what you talked about, Mark, which is so many ideas coming up and oh, I can do this. No, I can do that.

32:49 And then you end up getting paralyzed by not but so many ideas that you actually don't take action. And to me, that's chaos, right? And so I'm going to say no. And I'm going to stay to chaos. I'm going to stay focused on what I'm working on, what I know our goals are for, you know, all my companies and really push forward to make sure that each one of them reaches the level of success. So we do that by really making the chaos. And yes, is Ashley mentioned this, the journey that we're on is really lonely. It can be really lonely sitting in your house every day working in front of your computer. Maybe you're super productive doing that, but it doesn't take away from the community, the people interaction that you do miss when you're by yourself all day.

33:31 And I mean, I'm certainly guilty of this. And you know, I find as I've been watching, one of the things that gives me a tremendous amount of energy is talking to people. I'm here by my, I'm having a, the down moment, which we all have them, right? I usually pick up the phone and call somebody And, you know, I have a, it gives me a lot more energy. And that actually happened to me yesterday. And I called a friend and he's also a client, a podcast listener. And gosh, we talked for 45 minutes and I hung up the phone. I just had so much energy. And I thought, this is, I need to do this more. And so a lot of people that are consultants or coaches that do things on their own will tell you, don't ask to pick my brain. And I'm going to frame this as hope.

34:13 What I'm going to say yes to whatever you by the word hope is to help one person every day. If you got an issue, you got a problem, you need to talk to somebody, pick up the phone and call me. I'm going to help you. I'm going to stop what I'm doing if I can. And I'm going to lean in and I'm going to help you. And I'm not going to ask you for a dime. I'm not going to ask you to pay me. I'm not going to ask you for anything in return because I love helping people and I want to help people. And I know that goes against the grain of what a lot of coaches and consultants will tell you is I'm not going to help you unless you pay me. I'm going to help you now. I'm only going to help you probably one or two times before you tap that, before that tap runs dry, right? Because people will take advantage of that. But I'm going to lean into helping one person every day because it gives me a tremendous amount of energy.

34:55 And it doesn't mean I have to solve a problem for them. It doesn't mean I have to coach them sometimes, including me. People just need to be able to talk to somebody. And in the world full of chaos and craziness, sometimes you can be the light, whether you realize it or not, in somebody's life. And so that's what I'm going to lean into is helping one person every day. That's beautifully said and a beautiful sentiment. Thank you, Sid, for sharing that. And I'm with you. I'm not in that camp of, you know, pay me or I'm not helping you. And I mean, I look, I think I proved that doing this show with all of you every day Monday through Friday.

35:35 But yeah, I feel that and and I know you and I know you're you'll stick to that and what AI can't think of a better person to go to for help than you, Sid. So thank you for sharing that. It's motivating. So thank you. Technically, Matt, you're the only one that hasn't shared. I'm going to go to Janae because I see he wants to say something. And then Matt, I'll see if you'd like to share. So go ahead, Janae. I need his number because I need to call him whenever I need. I'll send it to you. Because I'm the same way guys. I do not ask for anything. I'm like, hey, I can help you. Just ask me the question and I'll get you over the hump. Because you know what?

36:16 There's so many people out there that are lonely and if we can have the lending hand, even if it's in our expertise zone, why not, right? Why not? And loneliness, absolutely something to help someone with. But you know, Janae, also you're helping people with the technical side of things and the hardware side of things. And you were and beyond helpful when it comes to the Empowered Podcasting Conference and what you did as far as audio video is concerned and being able to capture that whole weekend. And you did it all out of the kindness of your heart. So you demonstrate that all the time. And I am grateful for that. I'm grateful to be on that receiving end too. And I hope I can be that for you and anybody here for that matter as well.

37:04 So thank you for saying that, Janae. And Matt, it's your turn. You're up, Sir. One yes, one no for year 2026. I'm going to contextualize it just a tiny bit and say that I recorded an episode with Valentin Farkas of Orbit for Creators where we talked about creating our yearly themes, which is a thing that if you're familiar with CGP Gray or Podcast Cortex that he does with Mike Hurley, you'd know about those. But it kind of framed the yes no thing perfectly for me because I had the year of rebuilding is my theme. And it comes in two parts. The first part will be a breaking down of things I'm currently doing, stripping down to the foundation to then in Part 2, build up again to the work and the lifestyle that I want to have.

37:54 So I'll be saying no, particularly to more production work, no to extra things, no to not respecting and my own time, and no to relying on other people to validate whatever I'm doing as being the right thing. And then after that, yes to creating a new educational program, a new mentorship for podcasters looking to find a more sustainable way to do what they want to do. Thank you. Matt, when you say that specifically about your answer to the no, what does it actually look like day-to-day? How does that happen on a day-to-day basis? Well it's not day-to-day. It's been a long journey for me this year it it's since probably November.

38:40 Last year I until the end of June I was in like 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, production mode, editing for other people. No time to do my own stuff, barely any time for a holiday or a quick jet set away to somewhere. The only milestone in there was that I went to Australia for a month and I even did work when I was in Australia, which seems crazy. But it's been a long journey of me giving too much of myself to other people. And when the overwhelming amount of production work slowed down, didn't stop, slowed down, I started to have some space to think about some things. I've done some work with a few other aspects and in my network, certain people that offer specific things that were offered at the right time and had a few revelations that led to the no and then the yes, the yearly theme of rebuilding. So really for me, it's not a, it sounds like a business motivation to say no to more production work. Like, why would you do that?

39:45 We have ADR who's scaling up at the moment in production. I know that it's something that I do very well. I have no desire to bring on more people to do production, particularly when there is ADR that can bring on more people to do production. I don't think that's a space that I need to go into. And it's also not something that I want to explore further. Like the the way that I think about it is that I'm the bodybuilder on stage at the moment who's at 6% body fat and I could spend a year going to 5% body fat for the competition next year. Or I could pivot in another direction and find the thing that really, you know, activates me, that gives me the the self fulfilling validation that some of you have talked about already and really is in my wheelhouse. And it's educating people that's talking and reflecting with people.

40:40 And if some of you want to find out more about that and what I intend to do next year, rethinking podcasting really is that journey. Like I talk to people who reflect back and say, well, I heard things in that conversation with you that I didn't really think about myself, and it kind of propelled a few of those people in different directions with their own creative journeys. And the thing that I actually want to do with the yes next year is the final episode I released this week for Rethinking Podcasting for this year. It'll be coming back next year in a different way. So yeah, it's it's been a long journey to get to here. It's been a long no or leading to the no until we got to this point. Well, thank you, Matt.

41:20 Thanks for sharing that, being open enough to share all of that with us. And I certainly appreciate your podcast Rethinking Podcasting. We will put a link in the show notes to it as well, so we can kind of learn a little bit more about this journey of yours. So thank you for sharing that and thanks everybody for playing along with today's prompt. It was really insightful and moving for me. So I appreciate that. And I believe that the audience probably feels the same way. So thank you and Oh yes, so we'll do this a little more casually than we normally do since everybody got a chance to share here today who's on stage.

42:00 And you know, I think that today's topic is well suited for a Friday when we share our wins from the week normally. So what we'll do is I'm I'm going to do this, I'm going to open the floor. I guess what did we used to call this on Clubhouse popcorn style? Anybody who wants to share a win or two from your week this past week, by all means, now is your chance. So flash and emoji, so I know if you'd like to share. Oh yes, Ralph, I saw you come off mic 'cause I know the emoji thing doesn't work well for the web version. So yeah, go for it. All right, I've got a huge win this week. I used to have a bat cave for my recording studio because I thought my audio had to be crystal clear and I got tired of coming. And so picture this.

42:44 I had scaffolding built around me and moving blankets from floor to ceiling, just black. I felt like I was in the bat cave and I started doing some consulting work with Janae and I said I got to take this down. So yesterday at lunch I said I'm done, I'm taking this down. Now I'm looking out the windows. The sound might be a little bit different so we can play with it. But man, a win for me is not going into the bat cave to record every week, or every day I should say. Yeah, thank you for sharing, Ralph. And he shared a picture of his studio with us this morning before the show and it's looking good. And yeah, I know one of the things Ralph and I actually, we had a call too. I know Janae's helping Ralph and Ralph and I had a call about a little bit about his studio as well.

43:26 And one of the things that I was noticing that the advice I was sharing with Ralph is that I feel like his short form content, it's, it's an extreme close up of Ralph. And I feel like that's not helping his content because the content that he's actually delivering is quite insightful and valuable in my opinion. And I feel like the because of the way his studio was set up in the framing of his video, you in my opinion, it was just way too close up of Ralph. No offense, Ralph and I, I, you know, one thing I told Ralph is that there are studies done that say people subconsciously are they trust you more when they can see more of your body.

44:09 Yeah. Ralph, did you want to say something? Yes, I'm going to be able to show more of my body now that I'm down 65 lbs on the year. So I feel a bit more comfortable doing that too. So thank you, Mark. I appreciate. It you're welcome. Congratulations on all the hard work there. Oh, Mark, Mark, I had one more. I'm sorry. Go for it. So if I can give one more. So something very cool happened this week. I received my silver play award button from YouTube so that was very cool to get that this week. And for those who don't know, what is, what's that? How do you define that? So once you hit 100,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel and they verify that they send you a silver play button award that you can kind of so, oh, look at my ego. I have 100,000 subscribers, but I'm actually almost at 150,000 on that show.

44:53 So I just wanted to share that with everybody that you can do it. Even an accountant that's talking about stuff can make YouTube work. That's right. Congratulations on that Ralph and and your wins from this week. I'll give you another win because I'll share it with you our new weekly business segment during the our news on Wednesdays. Love that you're doing that. I want to encourage more of our team to do that as well. I want more of us to have our own little segments. And you know, Jonathan's been Monday has been doing his Obsession Worthy. He's been leading us on the Obsession Worthy podcast and we've got our Thursday evaluations. I guess you could say that I'm kind of leading that one, of course, with the team's help.

45:34 And yeah, I want to do more of these kinds of things. So let's pinpoint, but let's put that pin in a let's pin that, as I should say. And Chris, I'm coming to you. Thank you for coming up on stage and playing along. Please share a win from your week. Good morning. Well, I think I figured out some more things to do with Phil, which is my video editing software. They've actually employed a lot of AI to them to that one thing that I have a problem with sometimes, you know, it's the squeaky chair. I don't know how much that makes a difference, but I figure it doesn't help me any. I'm taking this AI course with a guy and it's just, you know, I just wish I could approach things the way he does. I fall into that trap sometimes too, Chris, is when I'm taking a course.

46:17 And sometimes I avoid courses to a fault. I avoid them because I think sometimes I almost start to judge myself. I do start to judge myself and and say things like that, like, yeah, I wish I was as polished as this person or wish I could speak clearly. Yeah, go ahead. Mark, I have long been very depressed and just, you know, other things and just, it's gotten very hard for me to get excited or enthusiastic about doing much of anything anymore. Well, I am glad then that you are here, Chris, because I hope that we can help a little bit with that. And I guess it helps to be around people who are more enthusiastic and excited. I agree with you, but the more people we surround ourselves with, the more we're going to adapt and adopt the the habits and thoughts and insights that they have.

47:05 So I think it's a good thing to surround yourself with good people, and I think there are good people here. Thank you for sharing. I feel ya and I hope that we're adding a little bit of true positivity in your life and come back as many times as you can, Sir. Thank you, Sid, you are up. Sir, please share a win from your week. So my win for the week is I'm finally caught up after being gone for a week and canceling lots of appointments and, you know, focusing on my family, which was the right thing for me to do. It feels good to be caught up and because Monday I sat in here at my office and I was a bit overwhelmed with all the things that I had to do and catch up. So it feels really, really good to be caught up. So that's my win for the week.

47:49 I am caught up. Yeah, Congratulations there, Sid. I feel that. And I saw somebody else wanted to come up on stage. There's Tim. And then I will share a quick win or two with you and then share what's coming up next week. So go ahead, Tim, share a win with us. Good morning, Sir. My win for the week is my hockey clients have scheduled two more interviews tonight so we will be loaded up all the way until mid February of 2026 for the hockey podcast. Congratulations, I forgot about So you have a hockey podcast? I forgot about that. Or can you tell or that's your your client? That's my client.

48:32 I'm producing for them. They've been with me now. Gosh in. February will be 6 months and that's all due to Empower Podcast 1-2 and soon to be 3. That's so cool. Thank you, Tim. Excited that you'll be back to Empowered Podcasting 3. I know you got your ticket. And yeah, super excited that you're continuing the journey with us. All right, let me share quickly with you. And then, of course, like I said, let me just share a little bit about next week. What did I write? Hosted 2 back-to-back virtual community slash networking events on Zoom this week, one for Pod Fest and one for Empowered Podcasting. I am so grateful for how much Chris and Pod Fest has has welcomed me in as a leader of that community. And it's really a full circle moment for me because I started Empowered podcasting, inspired and motivated in part anyway because of of Pod Fest, because it was an amazing event with a passionate community and I felt that and wanted that for my own. And yes, I felt a little like a fish out of water the first year that I went to Pod Fest, which was another reason why I was motivated to create an event that felt more inclusive for content creators for me, right?

49:52 I, I think though there'd be plenty of people that go to Pod Fest that feel that it's very inclusive. So I'm not trying to throw any shade. I'm just saying that that was something that I felt I needed more of and decided to create a space like that myself. Regardless, it is very full circle because now here I am. First, I should say, wanted to be seen more in the Pod Fest community. And for a while, for a few years there, I felt like it was challenging, not impossible, but challenging. And then the lesson that I learned from that is, you know what, just go do things yourself. Go do good things in this world, put good things out there in this world and other things will fall into place. And that's exactly what happened here. I just went ahead and did my thing. And then all of a sudden the, the community I wanted to feel more a part of, I wanted to help influence and, and lead. They came to me after all that.

50:48 So a huge, huge win for me there. And I'll say a phenomenal week of content this week. Again, this show is evolving and I feel it. And I don't know if any of you feel it or not to me, I can't deny it. It it. There is a shift that we've taken here and I don't take full credit for that. I think maybe I'll take some credit for the vision, but you all are helping me, both the team, the community, all of you are helping making this in turn into something even more special. And I'm thrilled and excited for 2026 because it's going to go up another level or two. And I'm excited for you to be a part of that. OK, so I realized I was saying I'm going to I got to tell you about next week.

51:35 And then I it just dawned on me. I told you about that at the top of the show. Monday we're doing the obsession worthy podcast. Thursday we're doing our podcast evaluations for an independent podcast. We want you to be a part of that too. We will give you links in the show notes if you want to listen to some of those shows and a reminder that we'll play clips. So if you can't catch up with those, those different shows, we'll be breaking down, no worries. You'll be in the know regardless. And the reminder next week will again, I, I know I said it at the top next week, our final week of 2026, I'm sorry, 2025 and back in 2026 the very first week. So until Monday, everybody make it a great weekend.

52:21 Take care.