Achieve More: Why I’m Letting Go of Setting Goals in 2025

Over the last 30 years, I’ve been deeply committed to setting goals and achieving them. Every year, without fail, I’d create a list of personal and professional targets. I became an expert at not only hitting those goals but also teaching others—employees and business leaders alike—how to do the same. It felt like aligning dominoes across an organization: when everything lined up just right, the impossible could become reality in a surprisingly short time.

But this year, during my annual year-end reflection, I came to a startling realization. While I’ve excelled at helping others achieve their goals, I haven’t been great at hitting my own recently. It felt like my dominoes weren’t placed correctly, leaving me wondering what had gone wrong.

Reflecting on the Past Year

My reflection process is thorough. I go through my notebooks, review projects, analyze videos I uploaded, and even consider the ideas I didn’t pursue. It’s not just about successes; it’s also about failures and asking myself tough questions:

• Why am I doing what I’m doing?
• Am I enjoying it?
• Has it been worth it?
• Do I want to continue this path in 3 or 5 years?
• Do I even want to be doing this in 2026 once my wife retires?

These questions led me to a breakthrough moment. One morning, I woke up excited for 2025. I felt clarity of purpose. All those creative ideas I had jotted down? It was time to make them happen. The energy was there, the vision was clear, and I knew what I needed to do.

Inspired by The One Thing

During this period of clarity, I revisited Gary Keller’s book The One Thing. It hit me: I needed to focus on just one goal for 2025. Instead of spreading myself thin with a laundry list of objectives, I’d zero in on creating more and better content. For me, this singular focus is exciting because it’s something I can control. It challenges me to be more creative and productive, and it’s a goal that aligns perfectly with my long-term vision.

Why Traditional Goals No Longer Work for Me

Let’s say one of my goals was to go fishing 100 times in 2025. On paper, it sounds great, but what happens when external factors—like frozen water—prevent me from casting a line? I can’t control the weather, but I can control my attitude, productivity, and effort. That’s why my 2025 fishing goals are less about numbers and more about consistently creating and sharing content that connects with others in the fishing (and YouTube) community.

Typically, I consider setting goals around the areas of health, productivity, relationships, etc. For YouTube it might be measurable in metrics like followers or revenue. I feel like I’m always setting goals for revenue targets. And for the number of fishing trips and videos I will make.

And while some of those might lead me to great unexpected experiences, like catching the PA Black Bass Slam, they also put pressure on me to do things for potentially the wrong reasons.

I started creating fishing content because I enjoyed it. Once I went through the process of setting goals around fishing, I started to make choices based on the metrics rather than perhaps what I REALLY wanted to do.

At this phase of life, money isn’t a huge motivator. It used to be a HUGE driving factor, which has put me in the position to go fishing all the time. But it just doesn’t;t inspire me into action he way it used to. So It’s time to change my goal-setting process.

Setting Goals: My Singular Focus for 2025

This year, my sole focus is creating more. More videos, more blog posts, and more opportunities to connect with my audience. By staying consistent and improving with each piece of content, I believe everything else will fall into place. It’s like tipping over that first domino and watching the rest of the chain reaction unfold.

This approach excites me because it’s actionable and measurable. Each video I create, each blog post I publish, becomes evidence of my progress. By the end of 2025, I’ll have a tangible record of the work I’ve done and the growth I’ve achieved.

Lessons from a Mentor

I’m also taking a cue from one of my virtual mentors, Peter McKinnon, who once talked about the trap of not creating content. When you stop creating, it becomes harder and harder to start again. That’s why I’m committing to consistent content creation in 2025. The more I create, the more momentum I’ll build.

Final Thoughts

So, there it is. For 2025, I’m letting go of traditional goal-setting and embracing a singular focus: creating more. Whether it’s videos, blog posts, or new ideas, I’m excited to see where this approach takes me. And for those of you working on your own 2025 fishing goals, remember: it’s not about hitting arbitrary numbers. It’s about staying consistent, learning, and growing along the way.

If you’re looking for inspiration, I highly recommend Gary Keller’s The One Thing. You can grab your copy here. Let’s make 2025 the year we focus on what truly matters and watch everything else fall into place.