It’s that time of year again! It’s a new year and it’s time to set goals to help you be the best version of yourself in 2023. Today, Ronni and Brittany discuss their goals for the upcoming year.

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Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

Brittany: Hi, Ronni.

Ronni: Hey, Brittany.

Brittany: So this is my favorite time of year because every year I do, or we do an episode about this, about, goals for the next year. And even though we are recording this at the end of October, listeners, you’ll be listening to this after 2023. Congratulations, we made it. The world is still here. I think. So, this is my favorite part of the year. not just the episode, but just goal setting. and this has been 2022 was really exciting for me, which I’ll get to in a minute when it comes to goals. But if you’ve been listening for a while, you’ll know that we’ve, I’ve done this with Connor. I’ve done this, with, oh my gosh, how did I just forget? My old co-host’s last name is Emma, who I love dearly. That’s so funny. We still talk all the time. Yes, Emma. She’s fantastic. And now Ronni, now I get to talk about it with you. So, every time I reach a goal, which as we’ll talk about in a minute, I didn’t use to do very often. I try to like, move the goalpost is what they kind of say. like, you know, I can, I’ve done this and now I can move it a little bit further. So some of my goals are gonna be similar to mine last year, just because I’m gonna push myself a little bit more and some will be different. So first I wanna talk about a fun story, which is what happened in 2022, which was that miraculously I reached my goals and that was nuts to me cause I am really bad at New Year’s resolutions. in fact, I don’t call them that in these episodes because I don’t know why, and I don’t know how you feel about this, Ronni. I feel like everybody makes New Year’s resolutions and it’s almost like a sure thing that if you do them and you call them that you’re not gonna actually complete them.

Ronni: Yeah. I don’t even know the last time I actually made a New Year’s resolution for the same reason I, yeah.

Brittany: It just seems kind of, yeah, right. Like I just feel like, okay, if I call it that, it just seems almost superficial, like, almost like surface level kind of. So I did something different this year. I read a book called Atomic Habits, which is very good. And it is, for adults, but honestly, this would be such a good book for somebody to take and, kind of, make it easier for kids to understand because it talks about how to reach your goals, but like, but doing it like 1% at a time. So I’ll get to that. So when I started off my year, I decided that I was going to start running and I’ve run before. During the pandemic, I started running a lot because there was nothing else to do and I wanted to get outside, but I’m not a fast runner. I’ve never really done it to like get better at something or to run a marathon or something like that. I just wanted to run, to be outside, and to get some exercise. So my mild time is really bad. So like, good mild time is like eight minutes, seven minutes for some people with taller le or longer legs. I’m very short, so not for me, but I used to run like a 15-minute mile and I shouldn’t say run ’cause that’s jogging very slowly.

Ronni: That’s about me that’s about how I would run it. So

Brittany: It’s not easy. So this year I was like, okay, I’m gonna set realistic goals. I’m gonna set a goal that I can really achieve because I think the problem I’ve done in the past is I’ve set really big goals that are like, impossible to achieve. And then when you don’t get them, you’re so sad and you wanna give up, right? So I was like, okay, I’m gonna set goals that I think are realistic and maybe they’re a little bit lower than realistic and I’m just gonna see what happens. So, I decided that by March I was gonna run a 12 or chug a 12-minute mile, which is still guys not very fast. So that was my goal. So in January into January, I started running and by March I was running a nine-minute mile. And that was crazy for me. And, it was, I was like, wait a second, who is this person? Who is this person achieving goals? So it was really fun for me. And the other reason I did it is I, was actually going, running for three to five times a week in the beginning, and I just promised myself that I was gonna do it. And where the atomic habits come in is, it’s like little small things. So you wanna be like 1% closer to your goal, you know, today than you were yesterday. And maybe that means you don’t even go to the gym the first time. Maybe that means if you guys don’t have, you’re not drivers yet, but if you were, you drive to the gym and you sit there, but at least you’ve driven to the gym and the next day you drive to the gym and you walk in the gym door, maybe you don’t go running, but at least you did that. So you try to do everything, you know, one step at a time. And that’s what I did. And it was really like I said, I surprised myself because I did not know that I was capable of doing that. So, it was really fun for me. And I also had a moment of What do I do now? I’ve achieved my goal. Like, I actually surpassed what my goal was and there’s still a lot of time left in the year. So that was really fun. And I did something else, and that was, I became a standup comedian. So I had done that a couple of times in previous years.

Ronni: You just started doing that in 2020, or 2022.

Brittany: Yeah, actually just months.

Ronni: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Brittany: Well, so here’s the story. I went up right before the pandemic, which was not a good time to start trying to do live performing because it didn’t exist for a while. Yes, and then when the pandemic started ending, I went to Freedom Fest where Connor goes, and that’s where I met you actually in person. Oh yeah. And so in 2021 I got to do it again, and then I went to Utah and did it again, but I’d only been up three times. So I decided, you know what if I really wanna make my dream happen, I have to start doing it. I have to actually do something about it. So I sat down in January and I made my little goal and I said, okay, this year I’m gonna do an open mic. An open mic is for, it’s like a gym for comedians. So like, it’s not a real performance, but you get to go up on stage in front of people. Usually, it’s just other comics and you get to try out material, try out new jokes, and see if they work. So I said, okay, I’m gonna go to one of a month by February or by March. By March I was going to three to four a week.

Ronni: Wow. A week?

Brittany: A week. Yes. Whoa. So, and I have to think, oh, go on.

Ronni: What, I mean, that’s a significant leap up in your goal. What do you think caused you to surpass your original goal so much?

Brittany: Yeah. I think it’s because I set them so small. Okay. And I think you should set them. I don’t think it should be like something so little where it’s like, I’m already doing this, but something that’s still a big jump from what you’re doing now, but obtainable. And so back when I set the goal, I thought, okay, this will be challenging, but I can do it. This sounds doable. I can make this work with my schedule. But then when you achieve it, it’s so crazy, Ronni when you achieve one little part and you see yourself achieving that, you get really excited and you’re like, I wanna do more, I wanna do more. So, the first time I ran, you know, a 10-minute mile, I was like, oh my goodness, I just ran a 10-minute mile. What can I run tomorrow? And then the time would go down and the time would go down. So it’s, it’s like, it’s almost like it’s a good kind of addiction because you do something and then you see how productive you are and how much you can achieve that. And you wanna do more and you wanna do more. So yeah. So I think it’s because I set these goals kind of small, but still a big leap for me at the time. And then I was able to do them. So it’s been really fun. And let me tell you, it’s done a lot for my self-esteem and it’s done a lot for my productivity and just the kind of person I’m being because dedication is a really good character trait, dedication, showing up to what you say you’re gonna do. And so that was really fun for me. And I’ve never, I, like I said, we, I do this episode every year and I’ve never been able to come back and say, Hey, guess what? I actually did it. And the only other goal I’m still trying to do, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s, I, don’t know if I’m gonna achieve it, but I think I am, I try to read at least, I think I wanted to read 24 books this year, just because I have so much. I don’t have that much time, but I lowered it to 20 and right now I think I’m at 17 and a half.

Ronni: That’s, still good. You, there’s still time.

Brittany: I’m reading three books right now and I just finished the 16th. So yeah, so I’m very close and there’s still the end of October, I have some time. So I’m going to assume that when you are listening to this guys, I have achieved my goal. So, yeah, just wanted to share that with you guys because that was such a fun thing for me. And this year, you know, I’ve had to, it was crazy, like you said, I already achieved my goals and one thing I could have done better is I think I could have sat down halfway through the year and said, okay, you’ve done all this, what are we gonna like, let’s move the goalpost. And I didn’t do that. And I think that made me slack off a little bit with running. So this next year my goal is gonna be to run a five K ’cause I didn’t do that. Five K is actually three miles, but it’s kilometers like the Britts who we fought a war against, but we’re using their measurements. So, I think I’m gonna run a five K, that’s gonna be my 2023 goal. And for comedy, there’s a really big club here in DC that I wanna perform at. So that’s gonna be my goal, you know, wanna perform there a few times. So Ronni, I know I just took up all that time, but I wanna ask you if you have any goals you wanna share with our listeners of some things you wanna do next year or this year?

Ronni: Sure. Well, no, it’s fine because you took up time talking, because to be honest, I didn’t really have any goals in 2020 or 2022. I didn’t start off the year really planning any goals, and in hindsight, I should have done that. I kind of just went into the year and took on whatever happened to be there. So I’m looking forward to 2023 and being able to actually set some goals for myself. Because as you mentioned, I think that when you have a goal, it gives you something to aim towards and to work towards and to be productive towards. So that’s something I definitely need. Probably my biggest goal is, okay, I hate running. I’m not gonna lie. Running is never gonna do my thing. Like, it’s so much. So my husband actually runs marathons and everything, and he’s always tried to get me to run, but I just can’t stand it. But actually what I have started to do is I’ve started doing yoga classes. I know

Brittany: Oh, that’s great.

Ronni: I know some people think they’re silly, but I’m found that I’m really enjoying them. So I’d like to set a more steady goal of going, you know, maybe two times a week and may, but actually getting it done because that’s really great. And then my other goal is, so I’ve been working on, oh, I’m always writing things, but I’ve been working on a book.

Brittany: That’s so exciting.

Ronni: My goal is to actually, finish it. but I need to set how much I want to write each week. That would be good, so I gotta break it down, but right now, at least my goal is wanna finish this book.

Brittany: I love it. Well, and like, I said, this book, I highly recommend it. I don’t know how much, like, I don’t wanna call it self-improvement ’cause I feel like that’s a silly name, but, the book Atomic Habits is so good on just shaping these, like realistic, like, I said, it’s like, do 1%, you know more. Because if you do 1% more every day, that adds up quickly. Right? It’s so much more quickly than if you didn’t do that 1% more. So, yeah. So I love, again, I love talking about goals. Maybe I’ll do, I’m, I’ll make Connor do this episode too so we can hear him talk about his goals. Cause I love this topic.

Ronni: Oh, his goals will probably be crazy.

Brittany: I know, right? He’s

Ronni: He’s always been so much stuff.

Brittany: Yeah, I asked him once, I said, Connor, how are you still alive? You do so much, how are you? Are you sleeping? But all right, that wraps it up for us today, guys. So please don’t forget to like and subscribe and tell your friends. And until next time, we will talk to you later.

Ronni: All right, see you later.