Right About Now with Ryan Alford
No BS. All Business. Top 10 Resolutions Ways to Crush 2025
Fri, 27 Dec 2024
In our final Weekly News of the year, Ryan Alford, along with Brianna and Chris Hansen, reflect on their experiences from 2024 and prepare for 2025. They emphasize the importance of mindset, personal branding, and proactive strategies for business success. Ryan discusses the dangers of complacency, while Chris highlights the value of social media and cryptocurrency investments. Brianna underscores the need for reflection and time auditing. The trio also explores themes of authenticity and service, encouraging listeners to embrace their uniqueness and serve others to achieve personal and professional fulfillment.TAKEAWAYSImportance of personal branding and social media in business successReflection on experiences and lessons learned in 2024Strategies for motivation and mindset for the upcoming year, 2025The significance of setting clear, actionable goalsEmbracing discomfort for personal and professional growthThe role of cryptocurrency as an investment opportunityThe value of reflection and auditing time for productivityBuilding a supportive network for accountability and growthThe interconnectedness of authenticity and serving othersEncouragement to take proactive steps towards personal fulfillment and impact If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE. Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding. Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford.
This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts Right About Now.
Special edition alert. What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. Two days after Christmas. It's Friday, December 27th for you. We're recording this a little bit earlier from our studios in Greenville and Miami. Just happy to be here. Got Brianna in studio. What's up, Brianna?
Hey, guys.
Got Chris Hansen down in Miami. What's up, Chris? What's up, y'all? You know, we didn't want to just bring you news. We're going to bring you some motivation, I guess. Lack of a better word. Mindset and motivation here. Hey, we're a business show. Those are two crucial things in business. And we want to get your head right. for 2025.
So we're going to talk a little bit about some things we've learned ourselves this year. Chris and I, and Brianna for that matter, we're all involved in a lot of different businesses and a lot of different things. So our perspective sort of is what comes out on this show all the time. But I think we wanted to share some insights Tips, tricks, things we've learned ourselves the hard way.
Even if I could part on anything, please learn from me so you don't have to go through some of it. I've failed more than I can count, but hey, you keep coming back for more. It's all about the journey and growing through it. So pumped to be here. And I mean, before we get into it, you know, Chris, I mean, does anyone celebrate? I'm old. I'm old. You know, like New Year's, New Year's Day anymore.
Is that diminished? The party's still like gigantic, huge, and I'm just old and not in the circle anymore.
I haven't been to a New Year's party in a long time. So ask Chris.
I mean, there's definitely still parties I'm not. I don't go to big New Year's party events. Yeah. I had a friend text me, like, what are you doing for New Year's? I'm like, I don't know. I think I've been at home the last, like, four years.
Yeah. We're headed on our trip, like, the day after. So we kind of are distracted even more than normal packing and otherwise. But even the last few years...
When we lived on the West Coast, we would like watch the East Coast New Year's countdown. And so we would watch it at nine o'clock and that was, you know, nice. But now we're here. So, I mean, I'm sure I'll pop a nice bottle of sparkling wine and just enjoy the cozy fire.
Yeah. See, that sounds good. I mean, that sounds good.
I kind of want to do that right now, you know, being crowded in a restaurant or a nightclub.
Yeah. And having, or a shitty like a hotel, a backroom lobby or whatever, wherever they have them now or to be, Oh my God, I lived in New York when all the people crammed and like in time square. Oh my God. I can't even imagine. Like I was there. And a million miles away from it, at least it felt like it, down on the other end of Manhattan.
And you wouldn't see me within a thousand feet of that place.
You don't want to go put on a diaper and stand there for eight hours like people do.
Oh, God. The traffic. Crazy, bro. I can't. It gives me anxiety when I see that. Yeah. Exactly. Just to see that ball drop.
Yeah. No interest in being that close to that many people.
Yeah. Or Ryan Seacrest, for that matter. Anywhere on that block is too close to him. I don't really dislike you, Ryan. Just a little. Since you have my name. Just kidding. Let alone for one, Ryan is right. Seacrest. Anyway, we'll leave it there on the parties. Sounds like we're all in the same boat. That's why we're going to bring you the real party.
Hey, you party when you make money and you make money. Hey, you make progress. Money is the outcome. Hey, we all need money. But like it's more the progress. This is about making progress in 2025, growing yourself, growing your company and growing your opportunities. So that's what we're here for. How do we want to kick this off, Brianna?
Well, I know you had a couple of questions for Chris and I, and then we'll get into our top 10, not resolutions, but ways to kick 2025's ass.
Yeah. Well, that sounds great. I'm fueled today by my exponent. And so with that, I will kind of jump right in. So I want to talk about for our listeners, what is one thing, and we'll start with Chris. Chris, what is one thing that you learned in 2024 about business or something that went really well that relates to your businesses in 2024? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I've talked about it before. Main thing I say is social media, personal branding, whether it's a business, it's yourself. I mean, that's something with the encouragement from Ryan, really, and some other friends I've kind of leaned into the last two years. I think this year, obviously, we have the podcast, Vibe Science, you know, our other podcast.
And then doing everything I do on Instagram, I can see the value it's brought in businesses, in my personal life, professional life.
So I think that's something, no matter what business you're into, what you're doing, I don't care if you're a lawyer, you're building houses, I think start to tip your toes in social media, get comfortable with it, try to really utilize it as a tool instead of a consumer. That would be the biggest thing that I think I've seen in my life I can see going forward is going to be a big thing.
And I think it'll give people a big advantage no matter what industry you're in. Just like Ryan always says, it pays to be known.
If you were going to put like an ROI on social media and your personal brand, what do you think that would be for you for 2024?
I don't know. I can't even put that. The way I look at it is it's just a snowball rolling down a hill. It's going to continue to grow and evolve and
And be a tool. Keyword is brand. And brand is about leverage over time. It's it pays like I mean, Trish's cash checks this year from personal branding. But what he's done is he's setting up leverage and feeling leverage. That leverage be played out and paid off because I've done the same thing.
I mean, there's stuff here and I had a meeting with our team yesterday and I said, listen to the old man for a minute here. Like, I mean, I get on my soapbox, like I've been doing this for seven years focused, you know, between the podcast and the personal brand. And some of the quote unquote checks that we're cashing now are seven years in the making.
Yeah.
And so you're building brand. And look, you got to do it the right way. It's not just posting Lambos and, you know, like looking like a fool. It's about being purposeful and showing and giving people tips and motivation or whatever your thing is, whatever your specialization is, is sharing that brand.
gift or knowledge or insight with the world and building, you know, an audience that cares about that. And that, you know, that then can be leveraged in different ways because you've curated someone that's interested in things. And then when you have businesses that might sell things in around, in and around that specific niche, you have audience built, right?
Because when you have audience built, that's the hardest part. You can leverage it a lot of different ways. And it's not always monetization. It might be because Chris gets DM'd by someone that listened to him or knows him.
And the next thing you know, like five levels down the line, he's cashing checks on a business deal or crypto deal or something that would have never happened if he wasn't out there.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that social media has such a potential for a high return on time investment, I guess, kind of, you know, was where the question was coming from. I think that being known and being, you know, a voice in the space that you're in, depending on what industry you're in is always, you know, critical.
And if you have a brand, being the face of your brand is always a great idea.
Yep, it is. So I think that's a big one.
And Ryan, your turn, something that went really well for you in 2024, business success or business lessons learned?
I mean, I'm going to start with the lessons learned. I mean, I posted about this today, ironically, the day we were recording it. And it's just, you know, when you get comfortable, that's a dangerous spot. And I got comfortable in business and things. And no one's going to run your business but you. And learning that you've got to be in it to win it with the company.
And no matter who you hire or what you do, you've got to be in the center of it. And that's just reality. Well, also, I think... I don't want people to think that it's like hustle culture. Like you can't be comfortable. Like, Oh great. If Ryan's not comfortable, then who the hell is going to be comfortable? Well, I just mean settle it.
You start to settle for things you wouldn't normally settle for. You allow things that you wouldn't typically allow because you don't want to rock. When you get comfortable, you don't want to get uncomfortable. It's like, and it uncomfortable doesn't mean unhappy, right? There's a difference between comfort and happiness.
It's just, you have to continue to challenge yourself to set goals, to move forward. Because if you're not growing, advancing, or learning, You can't stay in neutral. Life doesn't stay in neutral. And that's that's the thing, because the use it or lose it is is really like key here.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that it's so important to, you know, just remember that, you know, there's all sorts of sayings like if you like familiarity breeds contempt. Right. Or like being comfortable saying. Like the couch is comfortable, but you can't stay there forever because you'll never get anything done.
And I think, you know, it is a really good thing to reflect back on, especially end of the year, kind of motivating yourself for kicking off the new year on the right foot. I think that it's really important to remember that.
Yeah. And I think, you know, the gym to me is always the best comparison. It's if you go to the gym, you can get on that treadmill and look like you're doing it. But you are, but you aren't doing it because you're just comfortable. You're just on it. You're walking, you're getting your steps in and hey, it's good to walk every day.
But you're not going to get a six pack and bulging biceps on the treadmill. So it takes some discomfort and putting yourself through some trials and tribulations to see the results.
Yeah. And I think in the beginning, or if you're restarting, it is uncomfortable for more ways than one. It's not just like physically uncomfortable, but it's hard to put yourself out there. It might be hard to put yourself out there on social media. It's not easy, right? There's, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
Yeah. And I had to be reminded that the joy is the journey, right? And it's not the process making money and how, or having things is not happiness. It's, it's the ability to seek out and create new ways with which to have those opportunities. It, it, it is like fundamentally back to the, People say the journey is everything. I'm saying that, but I'm saying the journey is everything.
But no, it's the person that you become during the journey and during the trials that is everything. There's a difference. And when you don't put yourself in that position or you're just soaking in one spot, like you're on the beach. And if you laid out the entire time with never turning, your whole body doesn't get tanned. You know what I mean? And so, but you're comfortable. You're there.
Hey, I'm getting some benefits here, but you got to move around. You've got to adapt. And so- Again, that was the biggest learning lesson. And then, you know, at the end of the day, I'm thankful I had a wife that had cancer this time last year and does it today. So blessed there. And got four healthy kids that are great. And I get to coach and I get to wake up every day.
So, hey, I've got to be thankful for that.
Yep, exactly. Exactly. And there's so many different, you know, things to be grateful for and reflect on. I think it's really beneficial every year at this time of the year, last two weeks of the year to kind of audit your life over the last year, how you spent your time. When I was a business owner, every year I did a calendar audit. So I would audit the way that I spent my time. I would keep...
a log of, you know, everything that I worked on and I would highlight it in different colors and I would audit how I spent my time. And then I would set my intention for the upcoming year on how I would maximize my output by spending my time better.
Perfect segue. My friend, one of the guys on our network, Matt Reynolds, Barbell Logic CEO, wrote a book just about that exact thing. Undoing urgency. Reclaim your time for the things that matter most. Hey, it's an Amazon bestseller right now. You need to go check it out. He's on our network. Build Your Business is his podcast. Barbell Logic is the company, but this is a great book.
You'll even see yours truly. I think it's page two. I've got a review in here and I'm going to read you this review because I meant it because actually he sent me a pre-copy and it tells you, I think I did the best description of, hey, I'm a writer. Like he had his friend that's a writer write a review, but I do think it describes what the book's about.
Matt has written a masterclass in short-term versus long-term thinking that could become the modern playbook for entrepreneurs, busy fathers, and even marketing executives. The principles he outlines in Undoing Urgency feel familiar but entirely fresh as he weaves a tapestry of gripping personal experience with highly relatable scenarios that kept me page-turning.
I was ultimately left in total reflection, primarily with the man staring back at me in the mirror. And it was because it makes you realize where you should be spending your time and that we create these senses of urgency around things that really don't matter. And it gets in the way of the things that do. So can't give this a high enough recommendation, unpaid, just because, but it's that good.
Yeah. And Build Your Business, that podcast is, you know, it's really motivating and it's on our network, like Ryan said, definitely worth a listen.
Yes. So are we ready for our top 10 ways to kick 2025's ass?
Yeah. No resolutions, just ways to crush 2025. There you go.
All right.
Number 10, inspect what you expect.
All right, so this is one of my favorite quotes. So you get it for number 10. It might should be number one, but we're going to call it what it is. So let me tell you what that means if you don't know what it means. It means if you expect something to happen, you've got to be a part of making it happen and reviewing and setting goals and having accountability to that. We all expect things.
We all want goals to happen. We want this to happen, that to happen. And then sometimes we kind of sit back and go, Why didn't that happen? You have to inspect what you expect. You have to grade it, set, hey, what gets measured gets graded. And so this is something I always know. I always preach, but I don't always practice myself.
But I do, and this is as much for me as it is anyone listening, is for us all to kind of remember. If you expect something, you got to inspect it. Reflections on that?
So I'm reading the book Deep Work right now. I don't know if you've read it, but it kind of goes back to Matt Reynolds' book. And I think it's so important. I get caught up a lot in business, in task switching, task management, a bunch of balls in the air at the same time. And just really fundamentally doing deep work on like each project and follow through on them.
I think that's really important. It's so easy for you to get caught up in all the noise, especially with how fast our world moves. But I do think it's, I think that fundamentally you have to be more involved in your expectations.
Yep. Be part of the solution that you seek.
Chris, thoughts?
I mean, I just think about some of our businesses and the little, the devils in the details, the little things that sometimes you can overlook. And that's exactly what comes to my mind is if I expect something to be done a certain way, then like you need to be involved in how you want it done. You can't just tell people, hey, do this and expect them to manifest your vision, right? Yep.
Well, and I think that that's something that, you know, is well reflected on in certain situations that we've had here. You know, it takes time and patience a little bit and communication. Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
All right. Number nine is my favorite one on the list. Start a podcast.
Yes, I agree. Look, I mean, Chris already nailed it. And when Chris says it and he said multiple things, but he's, he talked about personal branding, you know, podcast. I mean, podcasting is kind of like the ultimate, like, I don't know, channel, I think for a personal brand. And look, we can, there's people right now that are hearing that word and rolling their eyes and all that.
And there's people that I respect a lot that hate that word. I don't love it, but I haven't come up with a better word. It's really just, Expanding your reputation, sharing your reputation and it with more people, amplifying what you want the world to know you are known for or good at. And so podcasting is an amazing forum for that. And look, this genie is not going back in the bottle.
More 18 to 34 year olds listen or watch podcasts than they do watch television. The election was determined by podcasts and the candidates that went on them that didn't because of the influence that it has. And audio and video and social media, the combination of multi-platform and podcasting is tremendous democratization of media that allows anyone to have their voice heard.
And you should be leveraging it.
Mm-hmm. And if you start a podcast, you should join the Radcast Network.
Yes, you should. We're doing a growth network. We're helping shows of all sizes grow, monetize, and have business outcomes. Because if it doesn't have a business outcome, it's like my good friend on Friday said, what you doing, building a clubhouse? Is that a hobby? Yeah. No, it's not a hobby. It's a business. It can be.
It can have business outcomes, but you got to join the Radcast Network to get there.
Yes. All right. Number eight. This is a Chris one and a Ryan one, but Chris's favorite. Invest in crypto.
I'm going to let Chris start there.
Do it. We've talked about it all year. If you would have invested a year ago right now, you would have been wealthier if you had followed my non-financial advice. Yeah, crypto... I mean, at this point, you should just know it's an asset class you need to be investing in, right?
If the largest banks in the world, the US government is holding Bitcoin, that should give you enough security that this isn't like some fly-by-night scam, right? And I always explain this to people, why Bitcoin has no value. Yeah, well, neither does the piece of paper that you hold in your pocket called the US dollar.
We just all collectively believe it has value, but that piece of paper actually intrinsically has no value.
So you speak back gold. Some people still think it is. It's not.
It's not right. But yeah, I mean, there's still room for the market to grow. We talked about this recently. I look at crypto, especially the big the big ones, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, like your blue chip stocks. Ford, Pepsi, download Coinbase or crypto.com. You can have it auto-withdraw from your bank account, however much you want, a week or a month. Set it and forget it. That's it.
That's all I have to say about that.
I think we're going to do some crypto challenges in 2025. We'll do some on-screen stuff. Maybe we'll do some like, we'll do the Right About Now crypto fund. And maybe Chris and I will throw like a thousand bucks each in there. I don't know, something. And like, we'll watch what happens as a standalone, like its own little account.
You know, and whatever comes out of that, like all the profits we'll give to like Sawyer and Brianna.
Oh, I like this plan.
Spread them with the team, but just to show the love. That's a good idea. I like that.
I like it too. It goes with our next way to crush 2025. Well, oh, I skipped one, but be radically different.
Yeah.
And serve others.
All right. Which one was first?
Well, radically different was first on the list, but serve others was the one that went with the last thing we talked about.
Yeah, we'll come back to that one. We'll come back to serve others. Be radically different. Own your different. One of the smartest people I know, Chris Lockhead, he's coined that phrase, you know, own your different. I'm the rad guy. So I always add, you know, be radically different, which is being different is important, but I think push it further than you think.
Lean into it so that it becomes radically different. You stand out. Don't stay, you know, like got a lot of parodying going on. A lot of like copycat stuff. Like be yourself. Own it. You know, you're going to. You're going to piss off people no matter what. I know. Look, I piss off more people when I'm trying not to piss off people. So let me just tell you, just be you, baby.
And lean into what you're good at. You can follow your passion, but follow what you're good at. But you'll become passionate about what you're good at. And you get good at things that differentiate you. Differentiation is the king of success, ultimately. And it doesn't, I'm not saying to just make up crazy wacky shit. I'm saying like, just be unapologetically you and see where the chips fall.
Unless, you know, you're a serial killer or something.
Then don't. Then don't be yourself.
Get some help. You know, Luigi or whoever. God, geez. But who fucking knows what's going on with that. But like, but seriously, just be yourself. You know, I mean, so it sounds cliche. Oh, be yourself because everybody else is taken. But it's true. It's so true.
I think, too, when you aren't yourself, especially in business, it is really easy to lead yourself down this road where you end up getting burned out because you haven't been authentically yourself.
Correct. Anything to add to that one, Chris?
I totally agree with it. Own you. There's no one else like you. The world needs you in your most authentic form. That's when you'll bring the right people to you.
Yep. Yeah, that's the thing. If you want to be happy, you got to be yourself. And it will bring other people. It's like a magnet for the right things and the right people. Especially when you're stacking the wins and the right things. And none of us are perfect. None of us are saints. But...
you know, assuming we're all trying, you know, at least everybody in this room, but we're all trying to be good human beings and, and make this world a better place. And so as long as that is at your core, then it's through your own lens and how you can make that impact with your gifts, your skills, your personality, your talents. But Just rarely works out trying to clone, you know, someone else.
Totally.
Serving others.
So important. So important. This one has been on my heart a ton lately. So I'm glad that you have it on the list.
See, you know, you do. You know, someone told me, I forget, we have so many wonderful guests now. I'm not going to give the attribution to the right place, but they'll know who they are. And is whenever you think... Like if you're having bad or you just can't get together, it's just bad week, bad day, bad month. Shit's going wrong in your life. Go serve others.
And you'll be amazed at how it centers you. I think it does a lot of different things. It might remind you that others might have it worse than you, or it gets you out of serving yourself. And sometimes to serve yourself, you've got to serve others because it feeds you more than you realize. And it took me a long time to learn this one. It's not because I've always been good to friends.
I was always generous. It was not like that. But there's a difference. And, you know, I have to remind myself of that sometimes because I am a provider and a driver. And so I think I serve others best because I do that. But there's a difference sometimes in providing versus serving.
Yeah, definitely. I think that for me, I served a lot in California. I served a lot of families in early childhood education and in some different capacities. And it was something that I've been really missing. And so I'm super excited to start. I'm going to start serving in my church in January.
Oh, good for you. That's great. Hey, feeds the soul, baby.
That's so good for you.
What's next?
I want to hear about Chris. Chris, are you serving in any capacity? Thoughts on serving? Even as simple as, hold on, let me add one more thing. Sorry, before you answer, I always cut Chris off, you guys. But I also think it's like so important, like every different ways that you can serve. You can serve your community.
You can serve kids, like volunteer at an animal shelter, volunteer to like pick up trash, like whatever it is, like sometimes serving just can fill your heart so much.
Yeah, I've heard there was some quote, like, best way to get out of your head is to get into service to others, something like that. And that's always stuck with me. Like Ryan said, it's all about getting a perspective shift, you know, whether you're dealing with less fortunate people. I do a lot of mentoring with younger guys.
That's kind of my thing that I enjoy talking to, you know, guys in their early 20s trying to, you know, find themselves essentially. So that's something I always try to do. Like I have a couple of guys I talk to a couple of times a week that just call me to talk about life and their goals and what they're trying to accomplish and stuff like that.
And that, that to me, it was bringing me back, you know, say 10 years ago to when, you know, I didn't know much and I was trying to get into the business world and recenters me, makes me very grateful for I'm at now, even the challenges now it's like, okay, the challenges are, are, our trophies at this point.
Well, mentorship is so, it's so impactful. And like, I mean, think about all the lives that you have changed by sharing your, you know, sobriety story on Vibe Science and, you know, Ryan with mentoring, you know, people and sharing their stories. So service doesn't have to mean like going out and volunteering at, you know, the retirement center.
It can just be how you serve others and how you share your message.
Yeah. I mentor probably, five or six other agency owners, you know, either sometimes in person, sometimes DMing, you know, just be freely giving a very little time I have, but making time, you know, like you can always make time. And I think that's the key is, I don't know.
And like, you know, even to this day, I go on every podcast I get asked to go on, whether they have five listeners or 5,000 million, whatever it is, you know, I don't even look at the data. It's just, I'll make it happen. And I think, I don't know. You can always, I don't consider myself Mr. Kindness, but like I tried to be kind, you know, and not like, I don't know, even in my own way.
And I think that's, but I say it out loud because I like to remind myself, like I need to, you know, we all need to talk about these things because then you remind yourself and like, Because what's not talked about is not really ever manifested, I feel like. Just because you think something doesn't make it happen. So, anyway.
Stop complaining, number five. The number five way to crush 2025. Stop complaining.
Oh, I love this one. I mean, I just... I me personally, I just have I don't have a lot of empathy for complainers and I. It might be easy to say what's easy for you to be that way. Look, you and I should go walk around Easley, South Carolina, the track home that I grew up in. I'm going to go walk you through the neighborhood. No, I didn't want for every meal.
But let me just tell you, I got a book. I could have the encyclopedia of complaints if I wanted to. But you don't get to the other side complaining. You get to the other side with action. And so we can all play that game. it's kind of the whole victim game, all that stuff. It's just, it gets you nowhere. It's negative energy. It ruins and rots souls.
And so this is like, it's not so much from the place of hoots for male energy, you know, like all that. No, it's from the place of it's rotting your soul. If you sit there and complain and you're negative all the time and I'm feel bad for you.
Chris,
There's something to complain about every day if you want. I agree. It's not a good look. Your words have power. Your mindset, if you're a complainer and you're negative all the time, no one's going to want to be around you. Just take your shit and alchemize it. Go to the gym. Convert it into something positive.
There you go. I'm reading a book on mindfulness right now. And one of the interesting, I'll give the female perspective here. In mindfulness, right, you're manifesting, you're being mindful, you're kind of visualizing what you want your life to look like. And one of the things that you learn before you get to the stage where you can truly be mindful is that...
Viewing the world in a negative lens or viewing a situation in a negative lens is a biological response in our brains that was programmed into us, you know, thousands of years ago to keep us safe. And so you have to remember that you have to consciously shift direction.
the way that you think about things because it is very, you know, biologically ingrained into you to only see the negative things. It's one of the reasons why we could have 10 amazing things happen to us and then we get a flat tire. And the thing that we focus on when we get home and we talk about our day is like, oh man, I was stuck on the side of the road for half an hour with a flat tire.
So just being really mindful and, you know, manifesting positive energy and positive light into your life, I think is important.
Yeah. I mean, I'll say this. There's one place that I have not removed complaining and bitching and negativity. I can admit this. Watching Clemson football, I am the most negative person because it's like I'm trying to – I believe that if I'm really nasty to them, they will turn around and be good like I'm coaching them.
And even though they cannot hear me, I feel like my energy and how – and I am a really negative person when I watch Clemson football. It's the only thing I think in my life that I'm still even negative about. Like even after the game, I'm not negative about it. I'm over it. But during the game – I am exactly the human being that I hate because I'm like, God, we're fucking it up now. I don't know.
If I'm going to have one resolution, it's to be... And look, I love all the guys. It's not to any one player or anything. It's more like... I don't know, the facade that I'm somehow mentally willing them to victory by giving them tough love during the game. This year has been tough because they've been good.
I mean, they're in the playoffs, but there's been enough questionable moments for me to get the negative meter going. I feel bad about it sometimes. But I've willed them to the playoffs. Anyway, there you go. Don't complain.
Don't complain. And number four, grow where you are planted.
Yeah, this is a big one. It's like we all think the grass is greener. And, you know, it's like. it's not always green and you're going to have trials, tribulations and struggles to wherever you go. And so I just have a firm believer that you can be, there's always mitigating factors. I'm not saying that there's never an instance where that's not the case, but,
But I would venture to say that upwards of 75% of the time when people, the fight or flight, you know, if they had bloomed where they were planted, they could have bloomed where they were planted and maybe gone even further. but it's easier to quit or to bail on something.
And it's going to be, and then I think, cause I've experienced this a lot myself, you know, I bail on whatever I get somewhere. I'm like, well, this is worse than it was. You know, it's always life and business. And a lot of things are struggle.
Yeah, definitely.
Chris thoughts there.
Yeah. Look at this. Like, in being the present moment, like don't think, Oh, when I have this and I can do this, or I have this much money, I can start the business, whatever it is. It's like, no dude, take action now, right where you are. That's most important. Don't keep putting it off to, if I lived here, I had this amount of money or this job. No.
It's not going to bring you happiness.
Right?
No. Okay. Cause again, You know, like, it's always... Life is obstacles and challenges and all these things. That's what makes it great and fun. I mean, it gets... It was a quote this morning on like Instagram. The guy wrote that like, you know, show me a guy that's had no challenges and I'll show someone who's miserable and heartless.
Like it, it, it makes you like, and not because he's judging or teaching them. He just thinks that like, he was talking about like, you know, maybe like a trust fund kid or something, you know, that they're just completely soulless because they've never, had to build the character that comes from those challenges. And, you know, when everything's easy, nothing's meaningful.
Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree.
Next.
Action over everything.
Just do it, baby. Chris said it. He kind of blended it in a little bit. Like, there's never a perfect time. And it's like, we can plan and we can talk and we can do this. And it matters. You need to have a plan. You need to have a strategy. But at the end of the day, action is strategy sometimes. A lot of times. Because you're moving the needle. You're making progress.
Especially once you've lost on, like, you got the broad picture of what you're trying to do. then it's all about the steps to get there, you know, and you'll learn more from taking the steps than you will planning the abstract. That's the thing. My kids, this is watch a perfect example. My four boys, They're intelligent.
One or two of them maybe too much for their own good because they're planning the game longer than they play the game. They're going, no, but when this happens, this goes over here and this happens here. And that's like, hey guys, bedtime. Like all they did was bitch and talk about how they were going to plan to play that game. And nothing ever happened.
They never got any joy of what might would have happened in the game if they had just played. Yeah. This is just the other night. But we think that, no, if we plan longer, it'll be better. Not always. And again, it doesn't mean you don't need a plan. It doesn't mean you don't need a strategy, but action.
And every, I'll say this, I follow and have mentors that are really successful and they're very different. But this one, they're 100% aligned on is action.
I think in business, it's so important to understand that you have to take action and then you also have to kind of have like a fast feedback loop where you... Might have taken action and you might've decided like, Hey, I made this decision and it didn't work out. So I'm going to change. I'm going to shift or I'm going to pivot in business.
You have to be quick to take action, but also to learn from the actions that you took and then to put that into strategy going forward. But you can't just sit there and strategize for months on end.
Yeah. Well, nimbleness is key. It's probably like the big giant whale companies struggle today a little bit. It's like they're slow with action. They're slow in grading the action. They're slow in changing and pivoting. It's why a lot of the bigger, you know, Goliaths get kind of eaten up when... someone comes along that's more nimble, more flexible, that can put things to play.
Because that's a lot of what I see with some of the bigger companies. It's like some of these trends have been happening with media and TV going away, but podcasting growing and audio being more important than what someone watches on a TV that they're not paying attention to. but they're slow to react.
And by the time they react, the media costs have already 10 X, like, you know, the brands that were slow to react on Facebook ads 15 years ago. And then by the time they were doing them, they were already pretty expensive and not as effective. So you gotta be nimble, but the only way you learn is through action. You don't learn in planning. You make a plan, but you're not learning anything.
Yeah, definitely. And then number two, put your money where your mouth is.
And this is figuratively for me. This is like put up or shut up. I mean, I see a lot of people talk it, but they don't walk it. So I almost did the Migos song. Walk it like you talk it. You know, if you know, you know. But that's it's kind of all encompassing for me. It's not just, oh, you got to invest in it. Like, it's not just literal money, but it's skin in the game. Like, get in or get out.
Like, literally. If you're going to talk about it, then fucking do it. Which leads really well to number one. But Chris, thoughts on walk it like you talk it.
If you're going to talk to me about it, you know, I mean, I know there's just speaking in business wise. I mean, I know a lot of guys that have great ideas, but they never want to take the action, right?
Whether it's their energy is their currency and putting action behind what they want to do, or even their, their real money, even that too, you know, either one of those things, bottom line is unless you're going to put energy into something, you're not going to get any output.
Yeah. Yeah.
Talk is cheap, and so is false being fake. I'll just say that, rephrase that. Like, either be in it or be out. Get in or get out. And so figuratively, put your money where your mouth is.
I think it goes back to authenticity, being authentic about what you're doing, who you are, who your personal brand is, you know, put your money where your mouth is and be authentic.
Yeah.
And drum roll. Number one, do what you say you'll do.
I mean, it's just the biggest thing. Like, just line it up, man. And look, I'm talking to me too, baby. I'm looking right in the fucking mirror. So don't think. But when you say you're going to do something, do it. Don't say you're going to do it if you don't plan on doing it. I mean, it's as simple as that. There's a lot of people that talk about shit that don't do it.
And I'm not saying like just because you're a coach or something that you absolutely have to. It might not be your season to do everything that you're preaching. So I'm not saying that necessarily. But what I am saying, though, is just if you say you're going to be a meeting, be in a meeting. If you say, and look, I'm fucking late to almost every meeting.
I've got it on my list to not be late every time. But I'm there. You don't have to worry about me showing up. It's just probably going to be six minutes late. That's not happening. I'm doing my best around that and lining up my schedule. So it's not about that. But I'm just saying, if you say you're going to do it, do it. Like in anything.
If you say you're going to be at a meeting, you say you're going to, you know, get this stuff done. And even when you're telling it, look, the worst lie you can tell is to yourself.
Yep.
So I'm not even talking about like, well, what, you know, like employees to managers or like, I'm just talking about to you, even to yourself.
Yeah. It goes for the gym. It goes for the way that you eat, goes for the discipline that you have in your household with yourself. This is one that was big for me in 2024.
Yeah. And we never always get it right. But again, the point of these lists isn't because everybody's going to get it perfect, but you don't get better if you don't talk about these things, if you don't have influences that push you in these directions. And that's all we're trying to do here. Hey, give you something to think about. And, but this is a big one because again,
I almost think like this is, and when I say do what you say, when you tell yourself mentally, when you write it down, that's doing what you say you'll do. And if you aren't getting this one right more than you're wrong, then all the other ones don't really matter.
Yeah.
Chris, thoughts on this?
Standard, man. You and I both know that. Unfortunately, it's not super common. Yeah. You're not going to do something. Don't even commit to it. Just bow out. But if you're going to do it, fucking word is bond. Stand on your shit.
I think this one is really hard for people. I would kind of be in the camp of people I think that it's more challenging for. And this is probably because I sign up for way too many things. You know, I sign up to be team mom and PTA mom and donate stuff to this and that and sign up for the kids' school thing. And, you know, I'm supposed to be there. Like my kids were having a thing today.
That's why I'm here.
See there?
Hey, you're so aware about it.
Yeah. But, you know, and same thing like kind of goes for me, like with the gym and with eating and stuff. It's like just I my goal for 2025 quote me on this is that I want to be more disciplined. And like if I say I'm going to do it even to myself, then I want to like really hold myself accountable. And hopefully if you're listening to this and that resonates with you, you feel the same way.
Yeah. And look, I can't say it enough. This is coming from a place of love and trials and tribulations and a group of people that are always working on themselves. So we don't have all the answers, but I do think we are and represent a varied group of people that can relate to different things that have been through different challenges in life and in business.
And at the end of the day, if we do nothing on this show, it's to provide value, to provide value, things that make your business or your life better, because then that is ultimately taking the box for us, at least for me. So that's the goal. Top 10 things. These aren't resolutions. That's how you can crush 2025. These are big ones. We hope you enjoyed this. A little different episode from us.
As we close out here, any final words?
My closing words are rest for the next week and then crush it the first week of January. Yes.
Hey, recharge. You got to recharge, baby.
Chris. Yeah. Merry Christmas. Belated everybody and happy, have a great new year and hit the ground running.
There you go. Hit it hard. Hey, we're always hitting it hard here, especially exponent. Brianna, this whole episode was powered by exponent. Brianna got through it with her exponent drink. Yes.
I did.
And they're always powering us. We're going to be getting that refrigerator in here any day, I hope. The exponent fridge is in route so that, look, mid-episode, I might be grabbing one of those things going, hey, I need a recharge. I need some plant power. I need it now. It's going to be like, let me have a button. I'm going to have, instead of an easy button, it's going to be an exponent button.
Exponent now, when we have some, you know, like Sager's going to throw me one or something. You know, it's going to be like Stone Cold Steve Austin. I'm going to be like, chug that thing down just like it is. Yes. You got your adaptogens and everything.
I did. Ashwagandha, B12, B6, Himalayan salt, vegetable juice. Yes. Adaptogens, neurotropics, electrolytes, and amino acids.
X marks the spot. All the stuff you want. None of the stuff you don't. We appreciate them. And hey, if you're out there, we appreciate you for making us number one. Go to RyanIsRight.com. You'll find links to all our sponsors, link to all this content, our social media. We do this for you. We appreciate you. For Brianna Hall, Chris Hansen, I'm Ryan Alford at Saw Your Eyes In Studio.
We'll see you next time on Right About Now.
This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanIsRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.