Five Steps to Enter 2026 with Clarity and Purpose

Buzzsprout Episode Description

As we approach the end of 2025, this episode calls leaders to pause, reflect, and prepare for a stronger, more intentional 2026. Christina and I talk about the spiritual discipline of slowing down, the power of gratitude, and the importance of letting go—mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

We explore how pruning creates room for new growth, how leaders can set meaningful goals for the new year, and why small, consistent steps matter more than giant leaps. This conversation is rooted in Scripture, lived experience, and the realities of leading in a complex world.

If you’re ready to enter the new year with clarity, courage, and renewed purpose, this episode is for you.

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#ChristianLeadership #Resilience #FaithAndLeadership #Gratitude #2026Vision

Dr. Christine E. Agaibi - M.A. & PhD Training in Counseling Psychology
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Romeo El Chaer - Keynote Speaker - Resilience Through Faith - Life Coach
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Transcript

0:05

Welcome to the Christian Leadership and Resilience Podcast, where faith meets leadership and resilience is more than just a mindset. It's a calling. I'm Romeo Char. And I'm Christina Gebe. And we are here to guide you through real conversations that equip you to lead fearlessly, serve humbly and rise strongly, no matter the challenges ahead. Every episode we dive into stories, principles, and practical tools rooted in scripture and lived experience to help you grow as a Christian leader.

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 0:46

Hello and welcome to another episode of our wonderful podcast on Christian Leadership and Resilience. We are approaching the end of 2025. Hard to believe, and this is a good opportunity to reflect on what has happened this year and maybe even years. Prior to that and also to kind of have gratitude. We just also had Thanksgiving, here in the us, which is a wonderful holiday to spend with family and friends, and again, to reflect and have a lot of gratitude, but also we want to plan for the future. And to consider what to do in 2026 and to celebrate the things that have gone well and to learn and be resilient from the things that did not go so well, so that we can have a even better 2026, hopefully 2025 was okay, at least. But the, the topic for today is. To reflect on 2025 as we approach the end of this year to have gratitude for the wonderful things because gratitude shifts our perspective and then to plan ahead. That is, our perspective for today, and I look forward to having this discussion with Euro Romeo, what do you think?

Romeo El Chaer: 1:57

Good morning, Christine. This is a very special moment in our lives, in personal life. And business life. This is a phase where we end a year and start a new year, it's very sensitive. For me it's like, you know, it's kind of reflecting. It's about start looking back about that year that passed as a business owner. it's so important to start, thinking about what happened this year? The ups and downs, the learning, the curves, everything. It's just why I can. Understand what happened during that year, each leader needs to do from time to time. Like do that reflection on our personal life and decision making strategies, whatever we did in that year, how it's gonna work for us. Because if we don't reflect, we don't learn. And learning is a very important process for growth moving forward. It's crucial to do the reflection. And if we go back, to the Bible, there is so many places where you know, even Jesus our Lord, he was reflecting, he went by himself did the prayers and he had time to reflect to, to, so he can keep moving forward in his mission and do the salvation. So if our Lord did that, what about us? what is the lesson to us so we can also move on with our lives accept what we have and move on. So that's something that we, as leaders, need to take care and look at and for you, Christine, how you can describe that, reflection phase, how it is now, happening in your life at the end of this year.

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 3:48

Yeah, I think the reflection phase, like you're saying, is so important. Just like Jesus went off many times to reflect it is a time to savor and slow down, and oftentimes we're so busy running from one thing to the next we don't have time to slow down. Slowing down, you notice the areas where things need to be pruned and removed, and that pruning allows space and room for new things to grow, it also allows us to have that gratitude, which I think is the next point we wanted to talk about, but to have that gratitude of the things that went well and even the things that didn't go as well. Because again, that didn't go as well. It's a learning process like you're saying, and to help us grow from that and help us to reflect on where we need to be, having more flexibility, more adaptability, more learning, more growth. Maybe I need to adjust, you know, my behavior or thoughts in this area. How can I reframe my thinking? All of those things happen. When we slow down, but when we're on autopilot, we don't really have time for those things. There is no room for growth because you're just coasting. And, when you're coasting, you're not growing. You're in the same phase. You're in the same comfort zone you've always been in, and it's okay to, as a leader, whether that's in your family or in your business to take the good with the bad. That bad can be something that we learn from and grow from and improve on, in the next year. And so, and, and always this should be always a process, but definitely it is, more kind of marked at the end of the year that it's time to reflect on the last. 365 days and look forward to the next year. In that process, I think it is really good to slow down. Purposely this time of year is a great time to slow down sometimes. You have, I'm up in the East coast, so sometimes we have snow days and the end of the semester where I'm teaching at the colleges it's time to really slow down and focus on the end of the year and where to move forward from here.

Romeo El Chaer: 5:40

Exactly, exactly. And for, for the leaders, you know, always look back for your KPIs. Look back for the strategies, strategies and steps you did in your business, your decisions that you did how it went. Because that will describe the roadmap for the next year. We also need. To remember to be grateful for what we had and for what we are have. Have what we are having in life because this is life moves forward. You know, we have to be thankful for what we, what we did, and what are those small accomplishments that we had in our lives, businesses, or. Personal, small or big because you know, to build a wall, you need to just build the bricks brick by brick. So if you ignore a brick, you're gonna have holes on that wall. And that's where we need to really recognize a lot of things that happen in our lives. And not to ignore them, but to cherish them, to just, ourself remembering and, and nourishing our souls with those accomplishments. What kind of accomplishment you have. You can, you can share this, you can share with us, today, Christine.

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 6:47

Yeah, this year has been, an interesting year'cause there's been a lot of pruning and things that have been removed that are no longer necessary, which has been helpful to clear out the weeds, of the things that are no longer necessary. One of the greatest things that I'm thankful for this year is this podcast, we started about six months ago, believe it or not, and it's. Been a wonderful endeavor, across different states. You're in Texas. I'm in New Jersey. And just to collaborate with someone who's like-minded, to hear about your family, to hear about my family, and the wonderful progress that we're doing. I know you published a book this year I'm working on one myself i'm thankful for my beautiful girls, 16-year-old twins, and, definitely thankful to see them grow up and mature and, and, seeing all the wonderful things that they're involved in. I'm thankful for the, universities and colleges that I work at and being able to enlighten. Young minds and the next generation interested in psychology and mental health and, it's wonderful to hear the wonderful things that they are trying to accomplish and the things that they're interested in, and they teach me a lot as well, even in the research. Gratitude is very, very important. It shifts our perspective from the things that are going wrong. To the things that are going well. And from my own Orthodox Christian background, we have the Thanksgiving prayer that's been said for 2000 years. It's a wonderful prayer. It's said in funerals. It's said in baptisms, it's said in weddings. It's said in every occasion because in every occasion there is something. To have gratitude for and to be thankful for. And it truly does shift our perspective away from the groanings and the complaining and all the things that we could do, but instead helps us to really focus our perspective on what is going well and how to cultivate that and fertilize it more, and to grow our strengths and to grow our families, to grow our businesses. And so, I'm so thankful for so much at the end of this year.

Romeo El Chaer: 8:38

This is amazing. It's beautiful to be able to see all that, because sometimes we really ignore that and we think, no, it's nothing, no. It is something, and it marked your life at that specific time. And that's important to acknowledge because the moment you acknowledge that it's like building that step stone. As you mentioned, mine is build, publishing my book, which is my first official book. It was a milestone that I can never forget, and it's something that exists now, it's kind of a legacy and it's not just putting my life experiences. It's about, the mission that I'm doing today, the message that I'm putting out, that God exists and God is guiding us. And sometimes when I, when I let go of God, God was not letting me go. And that's the beauty of it. So that's why I, I'm so proud about that accomplishment and, and there is so many things that I al also, grateful for, for my family, for what's happening, the growth that we are having. After having my older son, he was deployed for six months, then he came back home. I was grateful having him again, and I understood what does it mean to have. You know, have him in the house with me. When he was out, you know, and, and, and doing his duty, was really hard. So, and I missed him. So now this is those small things and big things shaped my life and now learning from them so I can move forward. And you mentioned something very important, the let go. We are like hoarders. We like to keep things. For god's sake. Leaders wake up, stop. Putting things on the bench and stacking them and keeping them, you know, you know in, in life coaching, there is something we always do with our clients. We go and say, you need to let go. And we have a technique, it's called decluttering. We start decluttering that physically by, go to your room, go to your desk, start cleaning one area. Just go through it. Now, like for example, it's about the text, right? So there is invoices, piled, and we need to go through it. Go and dig it out, check your time, block it, and go and do that. When you clear that. Physically, you're gonna be relieved. It's done. It's behind me now. You're gonna feel that success, you conquered something that was on your chest that's what we need in our lives. Especially in business. We make decisions those decisions sometimes follow us. What we need to let go. So the coming decisions will be taken in a better situation and better conditions. What do you need to change in your life today so you can improve your life in the future, which is the coming year. So what do you say about that?

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 11:33

I totally agree, and since this is a Christian podcast, it makes me think of the story. About the pruning in the New Testament that Christ talks about and the necessary pruning in order for something to grow. When you prune something, and I've seen gardeners in my neighborhood do this, they will prune a bush almost to bear. It's, almost gone yet it comes back fuller and thicker and much more beautiful and has more flowers on that same bush because they pruned it down to the bare necessities. Sometimes, like you're saying, it is hard to declutter. It's hard to declutter in our mind. It's hard to declutter our homes. I've had to deal with a lot of that this year. I've had some, remodeling that needed to be done in my house after some water damage. So lots of things had to be thrown away. I had to start over. But you're right, it does feel very fresh. It does feel very new and, gives a kind of uplifting feeling, in the middle of that pruning. And so if we hold on, because that. Keeps us comfortable or is familiar or whatever reason, we have to hold on to those things, whether it is memories or thoughts or it doesn't allow room for new things to come in, and so I have to let go and open my hands, open my heart and open my mind and allow new things to come in. That will continue that growth process and, the growth and evolution of who we become as individuals mentally and physically and psychologically and spiritually, and all of those different things. So yes, you are right, absolutely letting go at the end of the year, learning from the mistakes that have happened and growing, in the new year and beyond that.

Romeo El Chaer: 13:10

Yeah, we have habits. And those habits, sometimes we need to let them go if we keep those habits, everything will, are gonna do next and gonna be impact by those habits and making decision. It goes also by a pattern. So what need we, we need to change? What needs to let go to just make that pattern to change so we can improve our decision making? And I'm approaching about that because it's so important for us as leaders because we are entrepreneurs too. And we are Christian entrepreneurs because we, we value the Christian values in doing our businesses and that we keep this as you know, on top of our hats because this is. How we live and believe in doing business. I'm a VP of a of a, of a networking, networking group, which is Christian Business Partners, and that's really so important to keep everything you do. You know, based on the Christian values because the moment you these, take those values, you just reduce the importance of what you're doing to be just, you know, mechanical or just to be lucrative. But it's not also it. You take the spirit and the soul from it. We need to just make things more precious. To do that we need to do some cleanup and shape up. Have the courage to clean what you need to be cleaned. Put it aside, let go because with all this burden you have on your shoulders, try to find out how to change some tasks you are doing. Reduce the cost and increase your task time and be more efficient. Let go so you can. Get the new stuff, learn new, new stuff because we are having a lot of learning curve coming with all the AI It's a huge thing. So don't be disencouraged, actually be encouraged to let go so you can move forward your business and your life. With that, we need now to look to the future. Talk to our leaders out there, our Christian leaders, about the future, about that coming year 2026, what would be your advice to yourself and to the leaders out there about the vision? What would you advise them? What would be your personal advice?

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 15:39

Yeah, that's such a great question because ultimately we do need to look forward, and plan for the future. Of course, God's will comes into the. At and, he directs our steps, right? But we also need to plan and have goals for where we would like to go and to have a vision for where we'd like to go. Otherwise, we are just kind of wandering around aimlessly. Part of resilience, of course, is when there is a speed bump to, learn and adapt and be flexible when those speed bumps happen and they will happen. Probably in 2026 and beyond, and they've happened in 25 and before. We also need to use our flexibility, our strengths, what we've learned from this year to move forward into the new year, but to also create goals. What goals do we have for the next? We have a brand new book opening of 365 days. What is our goal and our vision for those 365 days? If there are bumps in the road, we, are adaptable and flexible around those. And there's, you know, techniques that we can use to do that. But ultimately, what do I want to accomplish in this next new year? What have I learned from the past year? Where have there been my failures? What have I learned from those failures? What are my intentions going into this new year? How will I be intentional every day? And also look for mentors or people that can support me and people that can grow with me. Align those goals personally, professionally, in your families, in everything that you do. Spiritual goals as well. How do we want to grow? Adapt that by taking small steps every day. It's not about the giant leaps. It is hard to take giant leaps. So even baby steps, steps that are consistent, will help us grow into this new year and into those goals. Listing what those goals are and a couple steps of how we're going to accomplish them, or, putting in some fluid deadlines to give you a timeline. Because you need a timeline, otherwise it's just open-ended. It's not going to get done. So the deadlines can move slightly, but at least that motivates you to meet a deadline by a certain point. So it should be a measurable goal, it should be an attainable goal. It should be something that you are looking forward to accomplishing and then going forth every day, with consistent baby steps.

Romeo El Chaer: 17:53

Remind me about the smart

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 17:55

Smart goals.

Romeo El Chaer: 17:56

we need as leaders to start setting goals based on the reflection that we do.

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 18:02

Mm-hmm.

Romeo El Chaer: 18:02

And we have to be grateful for the accomplishment, but also learn from our mistakes. Don't forget to learn from those mistakes because that's what can build on to move to the coming year the new goals, are an evolution of the old goals. If you reach something, let's move forward so you can build a new goal. You know, so we can direct the business, direct yourself, direct your team, and that's by taking what happened in that year to not repeat the mistakes and to find new ways to do your business and to lead your team. How to empower them, how to make them more resilient. And that's where, you know, we've. Some, some leaders, get over burned because of the things that they take on their shoulders, and they just let go of the teams that are there to help them and to support them, and they keep them hanging in there. what, what advice I can say about this, it's just empower your teams so your team can empower you. When everyone is empowered, you can move forward in your business and in your life. set goals, be very specific and attainable, and make it short to medium. Of course, the bigger goal is always there, but those small things, the small steps, small successes, if there is anything that can go wrong. With the small goals, usually it doesn't break the business, it doesn't break your life. It'll just be a bummer. But it's okay. Just keep going, set the vision for what's coming by reflecting on the past, and take time to do that. Don't just keep on, you know, you know your foot on the, you know, and keep moving forward fast. You know, I'm gonna manage this, I'm gonna do this, da, da, da. No. Relax, stop. Take a break so we can see what's happening and figure out a way to build your future. Use this here as a leap. Use it as a platform so you can launch the second year with new goals, new techniques. New strategies, new spirit, new empowerment. a lot of new things that you can do

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 20:24

Mm-hmm.

Romeo El Chaer: 20:25

move on.

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 20:26

I completely agree.

Romeo El Chaer: 20:27

So in your opinion, what, what you can add for empowering for the leaders to empower themselves and teams, what do you recommend

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 20:34

the biggest thing I would say is that you can do hard things because oftentimes we are scared to do hard things. We want to stay where we are comfortable, where things are familiar, but there is no growth. If I stay still, I have to expand. I have to go reach out to other people. I have to build bridges, I have to learn new things. I have to step outside my comfort zone, and if I don't, I'm gonna stay where I am, even 10 years from now, 20 years from now. And so it is scary. But you can do hard things and you've done hard things before. One of the things that we often talk about with resilience is look at a pastime when you did do something hard and it went well, or you at least learned something or you grew from it putting that knowledge in your mind empowers you to do it again, and that I can do something else new that is outside my comfort zone, something I haven't done before. You notice a baby when they first start to walk, it's scary. They're wobbly. They're gonna fall down more times than they stand. And yet there are people cheering them on and saying, you can do this. You can do this. Surrounding yourself with people that will cheer you on. Success or failure, they will be there in your corner that don't run. When things get hard, don't put their head in the sand when things get hard. There are many people that just wanna run, away when things get hard. But to face it, and when we face things head on, even if it's hard, it makes us grow. It empowers us. It strengthens us. It, shows us our boldness, our courage. It illuminates our strengths, our God-given strengths, illuminates the fruit of the spirit. And in all of those areas, we can certainly grow and try new things and build upon what has already been built upon and to make it grow even more.

Romeo El Chaer: 22:21

That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you Christine, for sharing this I want to close, we are just heading to the end of this episode and just wanna close with something that. To just give a summary about not only this episode, what we advise here is just first reflect on what happened into that year. Second, be grateful your accomplishments and embrace your failures, because that's what make you grow and let go for anything that was stopping you from growing or moving forward, just let go. It's gonna be toxic when you let go, you open a space for something new that can, nourish your soul and your life With that, you can envision, what's coming, build on it, and see I need to reach that thing. It'll give you space, hope, and clarity about where you are heading. Finally, don't forget to empower yourself and your team go read the Bible. Learn something new. Start searching about new techniques, new for your wellbeing, time for your family. If you're not giving your family time, go find time. There is always time for the family. Time for, for, for your partner. Give your time for your children. Because as a business owners, we need also to have good wellbeing. Do these five things and you can have some balance in your life, and so you can just honor God that gave you that wealth about being alive, being productive, being hopeful, and having the faith in him will help you reduce your burden and move forward in your life. Christine, please finish with some kind words and beautiful prayer so we can,'cause we are also in the advent time, so we can just, know, help our, our leaders and our, in moving forward in the lives during that blessing time.

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 24:23

Yes, absolutely. And I just wanna wish everybody a wonderful advent season and to reflect on the birth of our savior, who left heaven to, join us on this planet so that he could save us. And to reflect on our own growth in this year, during good and during bad. And we are blessed to be here to look forward to this new year. So we thank you, Lord for the wonderful blessings of our families friends and jobs, and giving us purpose. As we move forward into this new year in all the areas of our life, you have made us multifaceted. You have made us, um, complex humans and took, great detail in making the intricacies of who we are, and we can use each of those intricacies. To empower others, to empower ourselves, to fulfill the mission that you have made for us on this world. We thank you for the many, many blessings. It shouldn't just be one day of Thanksgiving. Of course, every day of our life should be a day of Thanksgiving. We are living and breathing and thankful to be able to do that and to fulfill our purpose. So let us go into this new year with that gratitude and with vision. With purpose and to fulfill everything that we are meant to fulfill, to reach our greatest potential as God intended for us to do. I thank you Romeo for, this podcast and for joining me on doing this podcast and encouraging, the podcast. I look forward to many more and working with so many wonderful colleagues in the remainder of the time. Thank you.

Romeo El Chaer: 25:55

Thank

Christine E. Agaibi - Caresilience: 25:56

New Year.

Romeo El Chaer: 25:57

Thank you and happy New Year thank you for all your wisdom you're giving a lot to me and, to our audience. Thank you for whatever you're doing and everything you're doing to also, helping your generation to be resilient and for all your teaching because you are impacting your coming generation. Thank you so much and God bless you. our leaders and our audience, we love you so much. We thank you so much for going all this here along with us and we are looking forward to make more progress and bring more topics that can help you. And please, if you have anything you want to share, you wanna talk about, you want us to discuss it, please feel free to reach out. You can find our emails, our and, and, and you can comment. So we can just make sure that we can reply to your needs and God bless.

26:49

Thanks for joining us on the Christian Leadership and Resilience Podcast. If this episode has encouraged you, share it with your friends. Leave a review and stay connected with us on social media. Next time we'll dive into another topic that will boost your resilient leadership. Until then, lead fearlessly, serve humbly, and rise strongly in faith. God bless.