This was the background on my phone for the last two months of 2025:
“Last [expletive] lap of the year. Run it hard.
Two months. That’s all that’s left. Sixty days that’ll decide whether this year was growth or just another blur. This isn’t the time to slow down; it’s the time to lock in. You’ve been through the distractions, the self-doubt, the lazy phases; now finish what you started. Forget perfect plans, just show up every damn day. The world won’t remember the times you almost tried, it’ll remember the stretch where you refused to quit. So cut the noise, tighten your focus, and give the last weeks everything you’ve got. Because how you end the year says a lot about how you’ll start the next. So give it everything. No breaks, no pity, no bull. Two months. One mission. Run it hard.”
– The Key for Success Mind
I read this every day for the last two months. Why? Because many of my goals for the year went to total crap in Q1 of 2025.
Usually, I set them, track toward them, and hit 80% plus of my goals. This year, I started super strong, on track for every goal, all 6.
Then, I got injured at the beginning of March and felt like it took my legs right out from under me. Which is what literally happened. Completely tore my MCL and PCL. But I didn’t realize how much it would affect the next 5-6 months. Physically, I could not walk. But emotionally, psychologically, even relationally with my family, the injury messed with me.
I had a couple injuries in the past. But nothing that affected daily mobility. Nothing that affected my entire lifestyle.
Now, I have sympathy for people with real injuries. I’ve told a couple people that recently. In the past, I’d just say, “Man, that sucks,” and sort of move on. Now, I hear the injury or see the brace and I have deep sympathy. Sympathy and empathy. Been there, experienced that. I’m so sorry, I know HOW MUCH it sucks.
The countenance changes. The lifestyle is being recalibrated. The pain you live in. But also the pain your loved ones are living in. Because you can’t pick up the baby. Because you can’t wrestle with the boys. Because you can’t jump on the trampoline with the girls or play in the yard with everyone.
I get it.
But this whole post started about goals. Hitting them, not hitting them.
Considering how bad the middle of the year went, I actually finished the year in decent shape on my goals. How? I pushed so hard in the last two months.
- Goal 1 (Family goal) was 80% hit.
- Goal 2 (Learning goal) was 70%.
- Goal 3 (Physical goal) was 100%.
- Goal 4 (Author goal) was a miss.
- Goal 5 (Personal goal) was a miss, but many valiant efforts.
- Goal 6 (Personal goal) was 100%.
If I wouldn’t have pushed hard in the last two months of the year, it would have been 1 for 6 on goals, with 3 full misses.
Here’s one small lesson I learned: Injuries aren’t just for pity parties. They aren’t just distractions. They aren’t just detours. They are invitations.
Invitations to slow down.
Invitations to re-evaluate.
Invitations to feel more deeply.
Invitations to grow in sympathy, empathy, resilience.
Goals are meant to be guides. You should absolutely strive to hit them.
But it’s less about hitting them and more about who you become as you work toward them.
Omer Redden 