65: December Reset - How To Finish The Year Strong & With Intention

Before you sprint into 2026, stop and breathe. December isn't a throwaway month—it's your launchpad for evolution. In this powerful end-of-year episode of Group X Appeal, Kimberly and Terry challenge the "check out" mentality that plagues December and instead invite you to check IN. Discover how to use reflection as data for growth, shift from what you didn't accomplish to gratitude for what you did, and create intentional closure that sets you up for an aligned and grounded 2026. Whether you're an instructor needing to reconnect with your purpose or simply seeking to finish the year with intention, this episode delivers the reset you need.

Key Takeaways:

• Reflection as Growth Data - Learning to view your year through the lens of information rather than judgment, identifying what worked and what didn't to inform future decisions
• The Gratitude Gap Strategy - Shifting focus from perceived failures to actual accomplishments, building confidence and positive momentum for the year ahead
• Micro Goals Over Massive Plans - Why tiny December wins create more sustainable momentum into January than any overwhelming grand resolution
• Instructor Reset Rituals - Practical ways to revisit playlists, teaching voice, class formats, and reconnect with your core purpose before the new year
• Intentional Closure Creates Space - How ending things deliberately—physically and emotionally—prepares your body and mind for fresh possibilities in 2026

Essential viewing for group exercise instructors, yoga teachers, and fitness professionals ready to finish 2025 with power and purpose rather than exhaustion and regret.

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Stay Connected with Kimberly:
- @kimberlyspreenglick on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
- website: www.theinspiredlifeuniversity.com

Stay Connected with Terry:
- @terryshorter on Instagram & Facebook
- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
- website: www.rippedplanet.com

Transcript

Before you sprint into 2026, stop, breathe, look back. You may be stronger than you realize. And December is your chance to reflect, realign, refocus, and finish the year with power and purpose. Yes, and if you love practical tips to finish strong, hit subscribe so you never miss an episode.

and share this with a friend who's ready to close the year with intention.

Kimberly/terry (00:57)
mindset and community come together to help you live your strongest, happiest life. I'm Terry Shorter. And I'm Kimberly Spreen Glick And today we're kicking off December with intention. Yes, we are. This is the month where most people mentally check out, but we say check in because December isn't a throwaway month. It's the launch pad for your next evolution. Yes, today we're talking about how to finish this year strong, not just mentally and physically and emotionally, but also spiritually perhaps. So

That way you can step into 2026 feeling aligned, feeling grounded and ready to go. Ready to go. So speaking of ready to go, let's give them some tips. I think we should. What do you think? Three, five. Let's do five. Five is our number. Five tends to be our number. All right, so let's start with our first tip for you. And it's all about reflection. This is about looking back, not in a judgmental way, but recognizing that the data you can gather from the year you've

just lived, it's data for growth. Data, data. Do you say data or data? I say data. Data. Yeah. What you? It sounds like you say data. I think I say both and I never know which is going to come out. flip-flopper. Data, data, data, data, data, data, data, data, tomato, tomato, potato, potato. So as you look back at 2025 or whatever year it might be, if you're watching this sometime in the future, what worked this past year and maybe what didn't?

You know, we've talked about this before when we've talked about goal setting, but whenever you take action in your life, whether it's for your fitness, your wellbeing, or any goal that you hope to accomplish for yourself, every action you take, it's one of two things. It's either a win and a win is to be celebrated. So as you look back, where can you find the wins to celebrate? It's really important. And then if it's not a win, it's a lesson. Yeah. You know, sometimes we try something or we go for a goal and it doesn't quite pan out the way that we had hoped it would.

That's okay. Somewhere in there, there's lessons to be learned. And as far as I'm concerned, whenever we're learning, that's to be celebrated as well. So remember reflection isn't about looking back and beating yourself up or judging how well you did. It's about gathering information, celebrate the wins, celebrate the lessons, but recognize that it's all information and data slash data that you can pull together to aid in your future evolution moving forward. Absolutely.

How do you like that point? Is that a good point? Data. So ⁓ I would say tip number two is recognize that gratitude gap or focus on the gratitude gap, right? ⁓ There's so much to be grateful for. There's so much that we take for granted, I think on a daily basis. And ⁓ one of the things that we can do is simply just shift focus from what you didn't do, like Kimberly was just talking about, to what you

did accomplish and we talk about celebration or reveling, reveling, reveling, reveling as much as you can because those moments of revel also they're kind of like dopamine hits. No matter how small the wins are, it doesn't matter. It could be something as simple as I went out and walked. I didn't walk 30 minutes, but I got out and walked 10 minutes this morning. I'm going to take that as a win still because it's better than logging zero minutes of walking. So gratitude to what it's going to do is it

builds confidence for the next year. And having that attitude of gratitude, I think having that attitude of gratitude, makes ⁓ that feeling of loss kind of disappear. And instead, like Kimberly was saying in her very first tip, it is a lesson. It's an opportunity to learn something new. Definitely. And when I think about gratitude, you just beautifully referenced looking back, not focusing on

Oh gosh, what we didn't do that we had planned on doing, we got to focus on what we did do. But also there are things that are just outside of what we do and what we can control, things that just didn't go well. And both in present time and looking back at the past, you can either focus on what didn't go well, or you can focus on things to appreciate. so look that feels way better. Right? Like if you were to look back on the past year, like start journaling, make a list of the things that happened, either that you did or accomplished or things that just happened.

that you could be grateful for. Because I think when we move forward in a state of appreciation, we just have so much more fuel for the journey ongoing. Oh, for sure. And it just feels, it's so much more value when you go look at those things that you accomplished, again, big or small. Most definitely. So gratitude is such, I love that you said attitude to gratitude. It is an attitude, it's a lifestyle.

choice. It's a choice. is many, many choices. And the choice is yours. ⁓ he just empowered you. Did you see that? Go for it. You can do it. You can do it. You can do it. So another, another tip I think would be, especially when we're looking at December, when there's so much going on, we're in the midst of all the holidays and such goals at this point of the year should be micro, not massive. think that too often we, we try to, to, set a goal that is so large that

it becomes overwhelming. And then if we fall short, we feel bad. So tiny wins. you don't take any action. yes. Exactly. Right. You do nothing. And so think about the tiny wins. What are the tiny wins that you can create for yourself now to just build momentum that you can carry into January for any grand plan you might have for next year? Tiny wins. Tiny wins. They add up. They do. 1 % every day. Yeah, they matter. So for me, think personally,

You know in going into this month ⁓ I didn't mention I didn't tell you I slipped and fell like an old man I just walk out on my walk my 30-minute walk on a Sunday. It was this past Sunday this you know Sunday before that ⁓ The sidewalk was a little bit slick and there these little seeds these round seeds that fell from the tree boy, right in my neighborhood and I slipped and I tried to catch myself

and slammed my knee into the sidewalk. My bad knee. Not the healthy one, the old man knee, right? And I was pretty much out for about a week and a half. Like I was cueing all my classes. I wasn't playing full out, but I thought I got it. I can't like just do nothing. And so I started just working on some mobilization work. I just started going just on a really, really light walks. ⁓ Just to kind of get back and get the movement back.

And because I usually do like 30 minute walks and I knew I couldn't do 30 cause it was gonna feel, you know, I was just gonna experience that pain, but I thought just get out there, just walk a little bit, walk a little bit, walk a little bit. And before I knew it, back at it again. Ready to go. Well, I'm sorry that happened, but good for you taking that gradual progression. tiny steps, literally the tiny, the micro steps. that's what Kaizen's all about, right? Yes, it The getting 1 % better every day. Cause our body physically,

But I do believe our minds, our souls, our spirits, we as humans, we respond best to gradual progression. So I have for you taking that approach. So the next one is taking some instructor reset rituals. what does that mean? So one of the things you can do perhaps is revisit some of your music playlists, right? Look back, ⁓ revisit those and just kind of reflect again and celebrate some of those.

you know, those wins that you had during those classes that you felt went really smoothly. Look back at some of your class formatting that you put together or that you perhaps followed if you like, you know, pre choreographed programs. Listen to your teaching voice, right? And also your reason why. So reconnecting with why you started this in the first place. And over time, you know, your reason why will evolve. It will change just dependent upon what season of life that you're in. But

having that opportunity right now to go back to that reason why is going to excite you. It's going to reignite that fire and it's going to, I think, also allow you to reconnect with your purpose again and get you fired up for the next season. that why is so incredibly important. You've got to stay connected to your why to continue to thrive and doing what you do.

And be excited about what you do. Yeah, and be excited. Maintain the level of passion that is what really helps you connect with other people and lift them up because things like passion are contagious. And so I'm with you on that, the why. I still to this day, I think about the fact that every time I go into teach and it's been what, almost 33 years now. Oh, by the way, we're recording this on the day that happens to my 26 year anniversary with Lifetime. up, happy anniversary. know, thank you, 26 years.

But to this day, after over three decades, when I go into teach I say to myself, I don't have to do this. Like we could, you could choose to do something else. I don't have to do this. I get to do this. Right. And when you shift from, I have to do this attitude to I get to do this. It's a game changer. So life changer. That's a big paradigm shift. The Y is huge. So the final tip to, to offer up for you is just to recognize the need, both mind and body, the need for closure and in any.

any chapter we move through. So if we look at the year as a chapter, it comes to an end, right? And we look ahead to the next chapter. We look ahead to the next year. So be very intentional about ending things to create emotional and physical space for what's to come. So what I often like to do here is I'm kind of moving from one segment of life to another, whether it's a month or a year or a quarter or whatever. I think to myself, I am

I'm very much in a state of appreciation for what has happened. All the things that either give me reason to celebrate because they went well or give me reason to celebrate because I learned a lot along the way. have gratitude and appreciation for all of that, which means that in this moment I am grateful for where I am, but not in a complacent way. I am grateful for where I am and excited for what's next. Excited for what's to unfold.

What that does it kind of gives you that closure that moment where you're looking back and saying you know what? Thank you. Thank you life for what you brought for me this past year and now looking forward I'm gonna look forward and choose to look forward with you know, positive anticipation and excitement for what's to come I love it. Yeah, I love it Yeah, the the gratitude part you notice it kind of weaves in almost every element. It's yeah, that's so important Yeah being grateful for those elements and finding that

closure I think is important. ⁓ It kind of plays into, I think I mentioned this before, Katherine Ponder's book, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity, where she talks about the vacuum law, right? Kind of releasing those things that ⁓ maybe perhaps you celebrated and you learned from, maybe even the things ⁓ that no longer serve you as well. Yeah, absolutely. you can create space for all those good things that are going to happen. taking that time to...

Recognize that that place of closure I think is super super key. Yeah, you have like a day Already carved out this month where you're gonna be sitting down and doing that Is that like a process or an exercise that you do why always the the last week of the year? So the week between Christmas and years I take myself through the power process that I created so it's a you Five-step inspired goal-setting process and I kind of walk myself through that and a big part of that

You know, the gratitude is we've through it. It's a big part of the second step. And, just kind of set myself in a, in a place where I am really thankful for the year that we've had looking ahead and you're right, creating space. I mean, we talk about space and like decluttering because we know that, that physically when you clear out space, it, you clear out your surroundings, it creates space for new things, but it is very energetic and it's very mental. Yeah. Because think about it.

you might, mean, things could be happening all around you that could be fantastic and could aid toward whatever it is you want to accomplish. You might not even notice them if you're focused on other things that are not serving you. And so it really does become kind of a mental, emotional exercise. So that last week of the year is something that, you know, I always put some energy into that. Awesome. And if you're listening to this and you're wondering where can I find this power process,

⁓ Kimberly created this and you'll want to make sure that you visit her website at theinspiredlifeuniversity.com there and how can people access that so they can go through that process just the way that you do because that's a perfect time to do it between Christmas and New Year's. definitely. ideal time to do it. Yeah, I mean you can do it anytime. I do it quarterly but you can do it. It doesn't matter if you're listening to this sometime in December or if it's May. You can always do a power process.

yeah, if you go to the inspired life, university.com, can, and the, the professionals listing of education, we have the workshop, can access the workshop and where I walk you through it. It's basically a recording of a live zoom workshop where I walk through the steps. And then there's also the coach certification. So you can become certified to be a power coach to help others achieve their inspired goals. So all that's on there.

I love it. It's there. It's waiting for you. Get to it right now. So you really don't need to be perfect, you know, or have a perfect end of the year at all. Right. It's not that that's not the intention. That's not the focus. You just need to finish it with intention. So, you know, really do give yourself the gift of reflection. I think that's one of the most important things is sit down, carve out a time and it doesn't take very long at all with pen and paper, maybe your journal notebook, whatever.

And take that time to realign with your purpose. Take that time to reset your energy. Take that time to write all the things down that you're grateful for, big and small. And that way you literally can walk into 2026 knowing that you chose how you close this chapter. a great way to put it. Yeah. You get to decide how. How you're going to close out this past year, how you're going to enter the new year.

Hope that was helpful for you. all means, mean, thank you for joining us, for supporting our little podcast here. And tag us at group X appeal with your biggest end of the year win or lesson. It could be big, it could be small. Everything matters on this journey of life we have here. By all means, share this episode with someone who needs a reset and follow, give us a review. Your support definitely is helping us grow a pretty incredible community. ⁓

Thank you so much for tuning in. sure. means the world to us. And hey, also, big news. We are going to be at the Fit Expo in Los Angeles. Yes. And that's happening on Sunday, January 11. And Kimberly and I have the great honor and just the chance to interview instructors, fitness enthusiasts, and you. And maybe you. Potentially you, right? Yeah.

Please mark your calendars and we would love to see you there if you're able to make it. If you have questions how to get tickets, please make sure to reach out to us. You can potentially even be our guests. So please do that and it would be nice to meet you in person. It's one of the ⁓ biggest consumer fitness events I think on the West Coast. So we'd love to see so it's for fitness professionals and enthusiasts. Yes, indeed. So absolutely. If you love fitness, come join us.

Awesome, awesome. So we hope this helped again. I'm Terry Shorter. I am Kimberly Spreen Glick. And we encourage you to make it a great day. And why Kimberly? Because it is a great day to have. Yes, it is. Peace out.