In this episode of Do The Work | Mindset Mastery...

I talk about what it means to take complete ownership of your life, your marriage, your business, and your peace. As we close out 2025, many of us are already thinking about what 2026 will bring, but before we look forward, we need to look back and take inventory of what got us here. For me, the turning point came when I stopped blaming circumstances, people, and markets and started realizing that every result in my life was the direct outcome of my decisions, my habits, and the things I neglected.

There was a time when I blamed Carla for how things were going. I thought she wasn't as involved or supportive as I needed her to be. But the truth was, I had stopped doing the small things that mattered. I stopped holding her hand. I stopped saying good morning and good night. I stopped showing appreciation. Those small, unaccounted for actions, or lack of them, nearly destroyed my marriage. The same thing happened in my business. It wasn't the market, the rates, or the clients it was the complacency that crept in when I thought I had already earned the right to slow down. I lost my urgency. I stopped growing. I stopped evolving.

Everything begins with the small things. The same way small acts of love can heal a relationship, small lapses in discipline can destroy a business. When you stop doing the things that make you grow, you slowly drift into a state of frustration and resentment. You start to carry anger toward others that really reflects the disappointment you feel toward yourself. I had to learn that awareness and ownership were the keys to turning things around. It wasn't about building vision boards or dreaming of the future it was about fixing the behaviors that led to my pain in the first place.

That awareness extended beyond my business and marriage. I started to see how I treated my body, how I fueled myself, how I spoke to myself. I realized that exhaustion, stress, and anxiety were not random; they were the magnified results of what I consumed, what I neglected, and what I allowed to persist. Dysfunction magnifies. Complacency magnifies. But so does discipline, gratitude, and consistency.

Today, I rely on habits. Habits keep me grounded when motivation fades. Habits are what saved my marriage, rebuilt my business, and restored my peace. It's the small acts looking my wife in the eye, hugging my daughters, learning something new for my business, or simply telling myself I'm proud that keep me aligned. The person I am today is the man I once prayed to become, and I don't take that for granted. Because everything I have now is the byproduct of the small, unseen, daily choices that compound into purpose.

Reader Reflection Questions

1. What small habits have you stopped doing that once made you feel connected, driven, or at peace?
2. In what areas of your life have you allowed complacency or entitlement to replace urgency and gratitude?
3. How can you take ownership today for the results you've created, and what small actions can you commit to changing right now?

Notable Quotes

1. "A leader must be a leader in their own world first."
2. "It's never the big thing that breaks you it's the small things you stopped doing that got you there."
3. "The person I am today is the man I once prayed to become, and I won't take that for granted."

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