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How to Make Next Year the Best Year: Ask Yourself These 7 Questions

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Do you want to make 2025 your best year yet? There are 7 questions to ask yourself that will help you: Step into 2025 with clarity about what you want & with a plan to make it happen Become inspired, energized, and in control again Learn & apply Mel's powerful, life-changing, science-backed, year-end ritual that she has done for over 20 years In this episode, Mel will walk you through the 7 powerful questions, reveal her own answers, and guide you through how to answer them. Your answers will show you what the very next steps are in your life, and help you confidently map out what you should focus on in the next 12 months. This is the method Mel uses to set and achieve goals, and today, you’re getting the roadmap to the success, fulfillment, and happiness that you desire. And if you’ve been a long-term listener of Mel and the podcast, you’ll recognize and love this method, as Mel invites you to reflect on and revisit how the past year went. Fun, engaging, and deeply impactful, this episode will help you step into 2025 with purpose and momentum. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-247 Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 0:00 Introduction 3:16 The first step to kickstarting your best year yet 6:36 This is why reflecting on the past is the key to a brighter future 15:00 How to use your setbacks and hardships to fuel your dreams 20:41 The one step in goal-setting that most people miss 24:35 The simple question to ask yourself to know what you really want 30:00 The expert-approved strategy to break free from bad habits 35:08 Your blueprint for creating resolutions that stick 38:46 How to identify the amazing things you did in the past year 41:42 One small action you can take today to chip away at your goals 44:38 The one step you should take after listening to this episode — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel Robbinshost
Dec 26, 202448mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Seven-Question Yearly Audit Turns Reflection Into Next-Year Roadmap

  1. Mel Robbins walks listeners through a seven-question “yearly audit” designed to mine the past 12 months for personal data, lessons, and direction.
  2. She emphasizes that people usually rush into resolutions without first understanding where they are, what worked, what hurt, and what truly brought joy.
  3. Using photos, calendars, and honest reflection on highs, lows, and personal growth, she shows how to create a personalized stop–start–continue plan.
  4. The episode concludes with a call to take one immediate action and, ideally, to do the audit with family or loved ones to support each other’s best year ahead.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Audit before you set goals.

Instead of jumping straight into resolutions, first understand where you are by reviewing your last 12 months; your real wisdom comes from lived experiences, not abstract wishes.

Use your camera roll and calendar as a memory jogger.

Scrolling month by month reveals forgotten trips, milestones, routines, and emotional patterns, giving you concrete evidence of what brought joy, stress, or stagnation.

Treat both highlights and hardships as actionable data.

Highs show what you want more of; lows reveal boundaries, misaligned roles, and dynamics you need to change, rather than reasons to shame yourself.

Apply the Stop–Start–Continue filter to your life.

Decide specifically what you’ll stop doing, what new behaviors you’ll start, and what positive habits you’ll continue, so your plan is simple, focused, and realistic.

Recognize when you’re in the wrong role and pivot.

Feelings of ongoing friction or frustration often signal a bad fit (in work, relationships, or family roles); admitting this lets you redesign your role instead of blaming yourself.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Mathematically speaking, it's impossible to give somebody directions unless we know two things: where are you and where do you wanna go?

— Mel Robbins

You have a deeply personal, extremely wise, and deadly accurate set of directions that lead you to the simple things that will create the best year of your life.

— Mel Robbins

Anywhere in your life where you're feeling friction, you're in the wrong role.

— Mel Robbins

The answers are not out there. They're actually in you.

— Mel Robbins

It's not the big things that create the best year of your life. It's the little things you stop, start, and continue doing.

— Mel Robbins

The purpose and power of a yearly life auditUsing your camera roll and calendar to remember the past yearIdentifying highlights and hard moments as data, not dramaLessons learned about self, roles, and personal limitationsThe Stop–Start–Continue framework for planning the next yearLetting others face their own challenges (the Let Them Theory)Translating insights into one concrete first step and shared family rituals

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