Every January, the Internet fills up with the same advice. New goals, new hacks, new energy. And by February, most of it's gone. Here's a truth most people don't want to hear. 2026 will not reward urgency. It will reward maturity. And the people who win this next year won't be louder, faster, or more aggressive. They'll be calmer. They'll be steadier. They'll understand how time, energy, and patience actually work. 2025 taught me lessons I didn't ask for, but I needed. Lessons about success that don't trend well on social media, but quietly compound into real wealth, real relationships, and real peace. And these aren't motivational ideas. These are operating principles. If you're still chasing quick wins, this probably won't resonate. But if you're ready to build something that actually lasts, these are the lessons I'm taking into 2026.

Welcome to a Changed Mind, a journey into the topics that matter to you most. From the neuroscience and spirituality of mindset and personal growth to groundbreaking strategies, health, wealth, and relationships to open and honest conversations about pressing global issues such as the environment, censorship, corporate capture, and democracy. Each and every episode reminds us of the certainty of the goodness of the future and provides the teachings, tools, and timeless wisdom inspiring you to create real, lasting change in your life and in the world. If you've been desiring a sanctuary for your spirit, a place to go to tune out the distraction, negativity, and doom and gloom so that you can tap into the deep power, the vibrancy, and the potential you have inside, you're in the right place. Welcome to a Changed mind.

Principle number one. Success requires patience. Now, this might sound mundane, but every year I have all these things that I want to create. I want to launch a new business. I want to launch a new product. I want to get in better shape. I want to improve my relationships with my wife. I want to become more spiritually grounded. And some of those things happen. Some of them happen in big ways, but the truth is they never happen on my schedule. And I wrestle with it every single year. I think that things should be going the way that I expected them to. And I realize that my plan is not the plan, but there is a great plan at work. Because whenever I look backwards, I can see that what happened was exactly what needed to happen. That a challenge that I had helped me develop the skills that I needed in order to hold a new level of wealth or a new level of responsibility within my business. Or I meet someone, I get really excited about A relationship, and that person doesn't end up meeting my expectations. But I learned something from the experience, and it helps me fine tune the type of person I'm looking for, whether it's a partner, whether it's a friend, no matter what it is. I realized that my plan is not the plan. And one of the big things that I learned in 2025 was that patience is a real sign of humility. Now, if you look at Bible, it says the meek shall inherit the earth. And when you look at who the meek are described as in the B Bible, it's people like Abraham, Moses, like really powerful super beings that have the ability to manipulate reality as a result of what? As a result of their humility, as a result of them realizing that their plan is not the plan. But there's a great plan at work, a plan that is loving, a plan that is designed for their greatest growth, their greatest prosperity, and their greatest evolution. So if you want to be successful, you have to be patient. If you want to be successful, you have to be humble. Desire is a humbling process. Principle number two, your relationships aren't failing. You're tilling the soil. And so I like this metaphor a lot. And I realized it in 2025, I had a lot of people that kind of went, and in your life, maybe it's employees, maybe it's employers, maybe it's friends or partners, maybe it's family members. There's a vision that you have for the types of relationships that you want across the spectrum of your life. And those relationships are coming. But what you're doing is you're clearing the land, you're digging up all the rocks that don't belong there anymore. And as they come up, it's a laborious process. It's not particularly fun. You have to dig them up, and then you have to set them aside. But what you're doing is you're clearing the land, you're making the soil fertile for the seeds of the new relationships that you have asked for in your life. So this is important to understand, because a lot of times we feel like we're failing. We're kind of like having the same relationship over and over and over again. And that there's something wrong with us. That's not to say that we don't become introspective and see what it is that we believe that's creating this reality that we no longer prefer. But a lot of times it's just cyclical. It's pulling out of the old so that the new can arrive this actually maps to your neurophysiology because as you're changing your beliefs and you're getting clear on the types of relationships that you want, you're willing to let go of the relationships that you don't want. That's a change in your identity, it's a change in your nervous system. And so this is an iterative process. It's not something that just happens overnight. So when you understand that like this is a process, you again can be more patient with the process itself. Principle number three, you're stronger than you think you are. So in 2025, my capacity was tremendously stretched, mostly as a byproduct of having a three year old son. But whether it was challenges in my business or challenges that I were experiencing in my health, what I realized in 2025 is that I have tremendous capacity. You have tremendous capacity. You're incredibly strong as a byproduct of the challenges that you're either going through, the challenges that you've overcome, and that streng something that's required in order for you to actually be the person that can hold the container of the vision that you have. The problem isn't that you have challenges, it's that you believe that you're not going to overcome them, but you always do. And this is evidence of how strong you are. Principle number four, 99% of the job is not yours to do. Most people get overwhelmed with their goals, especially in the new year where you set all types of new ones. But the truth is, if you just place the order as if you're placing an order with the universe and you let go, most of the work is actually done for you. Last year I wanted to improve my relationship with my wife. I saw that there were some things that she was still believing and dealing with some old traumas, some things that I was still dealing with. And so I proposed that we hire a relationship coach. And she wasn't open to that. As a result of something that happened to her when she was younger, she doesn't really trust working with other people. So I felt like I was trapped. It was like I had all these solutions and I wanted to point out all the areas where she needed to shift her thinking so that we could have a more powerful and intimate relationship. But she just didn't seem open to it. And the more I pushed, the more friction or resistance I seemed to get. And so at one point I finally gave up and I turned it over to God. Very much like what I did in my alcohol, drug and sex addiction. I just turned it over. My addictive behaviors. I turned the problem over to God. Through a series of really crazy synchronicities, my wife was introduced to a particular curriculum that she decided to get a certification in. And there was a training here on the island of Puerto Rico. And so the trainer came in, and it happened to be Thanksgiving. And so we invited the trainer over to our house with a bunch of other friends, and we started a conversation. I realized this woman was highly skilled, and I was interested in having her coach me. And two days later, my wife came to me and said, hey, I'm interested in having her coach me as well. And now we're both working with this woman, and our relationship is in a better place than it's ever been before. That wasn't something that I could have architected. Most of what's required to produce the outcome is not done for you. It's done around you. You know, your job is to get up every single day and to take some small action towards the results that you want to produce. But if you actually look at anything that you cherish in your life, most of the orchestration or architecture of it is done by the universe, is done by God or Jesus or Allah or whatever you believe is your higher power. So a big takeaway that I took from 2025 was dream big, but then let it go. Principle number five, create balance now, not later. So last year was a big year for me in terms of training. I work with a professional trainer, John Hines, and he's really pushed my body to the fullest, and I made the time to do it, and that was a big deal for me because I could very easily be committed to my mission, committed to my business, committed to the show, committed to all the things that we were doing. But I wanted to actually start creating balance now. And it doesn't seem like that would help me with my business or money or spiritual growth, but it did. I took time to start doing sauna. I took time to let my son play in my lap whenever he wanted. Wanted to play Baba, Baba. I stopped the work I was doing, and I spent time with him. I took the time to drop him off at school and enjoy those tender moments in the morning where he doesn't want me to leave, and then watching him go off and play with his little friends. But this is life. This is living. And most of us put off living until later, but we have to start establishing the balance now, not later, because this is energy and money. Success and business is a game of energy. He who has the most energy, or she who has the most energy achieves his or her full potential. And so life actually rewards you for deciding to take balance now and will reorient around that decision for balance. So the problems that you have will be solved differently. The challenges that you have will be overcome differently. All of life will reorganize to support you and create time and create space and reward you for your decision to take balance now. So take time now for life, and life will reward you. Principle number six, do hard shit now. This is not like a David Goggins or an Alex Hormozi hustle and grind principle. I do not like hustle and grind. But what I'm suggesting is that it's important in 2026 to put yourself in situations that you don't want to be in because it will help you grow stronger, you know, physically, emotionally. You know, again, I'm blessed with a 3 year old, so that just puts me in a position to do hard shit. Anybody who's ever had a child before knows that it's a tremendous amount of. It requires a tremendous am of resiliency. I do cold plunge. I do sauna. Why? Because it pushes my body. It puts me in a place where I don't want to do things, but I do them anyway. I spoke to a room of 200 investors. Five million. A billion dollars net worth. That was really uncomfortable for me this year it was a new level. I didn't know if they were going to receive the presentation. Well, it was one of the best presentations that was ever received. And I gave presentations and talks that I didn't feel ready for because I had a lot of things going on in my life and I didn't have the time to prepare like I normally would. But I did the things anyway. I recorded episodes on the show when I didn't like. I had much to say and that's uncomfortable. But it's important that you lean into the hard. Because when you lean into the hard over time, less things feel hard and you get access to the bigger things that feel hard. Everybody wants to have some huge success, but the truth is, is that you have to develop the resiliency and the capacity to hold that success. And intentionally leaning into the hard this next year will allow you to make more things easy and be able to handle the harder things. Principle number seven, keep coming back to your mindset. So, you know, this is something I have to continue to do too. Mindset is root cause. You're creating your reality and we all get caught up in the Third dimensional material reality. It's like we're creating our reality and then we entangle with it. But you have to step back and remember that your mindset is root cause to stay curious, to keep it top of mind. Like, how am I creating this thing in my life? I back above the temple of Adelphi, it was inscribed know thyself. It was one of the most important commands or recommendations of esoteric times. That's the game to know yourself. So you always want to remember that you are creating your reality and to continue to work on your mindset and not get lost in the matrix. Principle number eight Find and stay in community. I think now more than ever, community is essential. I'm part of a group of seven, eight, nine figure entrepreneurs. It's a mastermind that I joined. It's a place where I get to contribute. It's a place where I get to connect. It's a place where I get to play. And what I've realized over time, my friend Alex Moscow taught me this, which is community overcomes challenges. Community and connection are natural. Community is life. Everything is connected. And we become so disconnected in our own individual lives that we have to be very intentional about getting back into community. Whatever challenge I've had, whether it's like needing a resource for my family or creating referrals for my business, or creating opportunities to get my work out into the world, or finding an agency or contractors or employees to join my team, it's all achieved through community. So 2026 is the year of community. Community overcomes challenges. And especially in a world where we're using AI and technology so much more and we're disconnected, community has a real premium in your life. By the way, if you're interested in joining our community, you can jump on over to davidbear.com, subscribe for our newsletter, and be a part of our tribe. Principle number mastery is simplicity. And so Bruce Lee had this quote. He said, I don't fear the man who can throw a thousand different punches. I fear the man who's thrown one punch a thousand times. So if you really want to become good at something, it's not that sexy, it's not that exciting. And it's why so few people become good at much of anything. But you want to start dividing your life into simple things. I work out, I have time with my friends. I have one or two objectives every quarter with my work or with career. Eat well, get your supplements dialed in, get your lab tests done, get your sleep dialed in. If you do these simple things Everything else will fall into place. And when you focus on the simple things and you build a strong foundation, you feel certain in your life. And that certainty is a downregulation of your nervous system. Everything that you want to create is going to come from a powerful state. And so simplicity allows you to establish your state in a way that you can create a strong foundation off of. And so in a world of attention hijacking, it's really important to keep your life simple. That's what I've done in 2025. Principle number 10. Time is on your side. So most people feel like they don't have enough time, but time is actually on your side. Because if you look at it over time, things just sort of get done for you over time. Help shows up over time, your situation changes, oftentimes without you doing anything. So it's important to understand that time is actually your friend, you know, because change is going to happen whether you participate or not. But a lot of us feel like we're trapped and we don't have enough time. Reorient your relationship with time. Let time happen. Don't resist it. Principle number 11, measure trends, not moments. So we get so focused on outcomes, and when we don't hit them, we get bummed. But if you look at the trend of your life, it's positive, right? You know how the stock market goes up and down, but the trajectory is up. That's what your life is. And a lot of times we feel like we're in the same place, like same relationship, same financial challenge, same health challenge, but you're actually not. You're actually spiraling to a higher vibration of the problem. In other words, if you could look down, you'd see where you were years ago or in the previous situation. But you're at a higher vibrational state of the problem. And the reason for that is because as you overcome the problem this time, you create a higher vibrational you as the solution. And this is the process of growth and expansion and the way that you'll actually achieve your goals and dreams. Principle number 12. Consistency beats intensity. So, as I mentioned before, like, I don't hustle, I don't grind. Sometimes there's a lot to do, but I just keep moving. It's one of my favorite recommendations is from Finding Nemo, when Dory and Nemo's dad are looking for Nemo and her recommendation is to just keep swimming, just keep swimming. If you just get up every single day and do the little things over time, you'll produce the outcome that you Want, you'll build something extraordinary. But what most people do is give up. There's a story in Napoleon Hill of three feet from gold. A guy who buys all this mining equipment, and he starts digging and digging and digging, looking for diamonds or gold. He finally gives up because he hasn't found anything. He sells all of his equipment, he sells the land. The next guy buys it, and he digs three feet and he finds the gold mine, right? So most people give up three feet from gold. The important thing is to stay the course, whatever it is. Don't give up. Don't expect success to come from some big moment. It's little things that you do every single day that don't seem particularly impressive. I've gone from zero to over $40 million in revenue doing what was in front of me every single day. At first, I started out learning how to write emails, and I wrote my own emails. Then later on, I started reviewing emails that someone else wrote for me. Then the next thing was to learn how to manage people and managing a copywriter. Those were the things that were naturally in front of me. As I grew this business, I decided to do a podcast. I had to research camera setup and set up my own little cameras in my studio here. Then I started recording episodes on my own. And then the show got big enough that I could hire a team that does a lot of the heavy lifting for me. But the point is, is the next step is really usually quite obvious. It's just that it's not particularly sexy and it doesn't look like the outcome, but it's the outcome in disguise. And so the opportunity in 2026 is you just get up every single day and you say to your higher power, reporting for duty, sir. Report duty, ma'. Am. And you do what's in front of you. You don't do the outcome that you want. You do the thing that comes next, and the outcome becomes inevitable. So here's what 2025 ultimately taught me. You don't force success. You don't rush growth. You don't hustle your way into alignment. You just show up every single day. You try to stay humble. You keep it simple, and you keep going. And time starts working with you instead of against you. Help shows up, relationships deepen, capacity expands. But most people quit because they think something's wrong. But nothing's wrong. Maybe you're just early. So if you carry these principles into 2026, not perfectly, but consistently, the outcome becomes inevitable. And not because you forced it, but because you stopped resisting how success actually works. So that's how the game is and that's the game I'm playing now. And in 2026, if you want to play the game with me, a couple of really great opportunities. Number one, check out the Show Notes. We've got our big three day annual event coming up. A thousand impact driven entrepreneurs, leaders and people will be joining us in Round Rock, Texas for three days of going deep on personal growth, money, purpose, greatness. Really an extraordinary opportunity. You can check the link out in the Show Notes or head over to powerfullivingexperience.com the other opportunities just jump on over to the website davidbear.com Again, link in the Show Notes and subscribe to the news. Later you'll get a four part video series to kick off your new year. So I appreciate you so much. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you. I love you. It's an honor to be on the journey with you. This is not a do it yourself project, it's a do it with others. As I mentioned mentioned before and I will see you in the next episode. Hey, it's David. One more thing if you want to go even deeper on everything we've talked about on today's episode, don't forget to jump over to www.DavidBear.com. you can find the link in the show Notes and subscribe to our newsletter. A couple of times a week I'm going to be sending you the latest episodes that we've released along with additional free trainings. You'll get immediate access to my free Free Mind Hack ebook and go even deeper into all the tools, the technologies, the frameworks that have helped tens of thousands of people establish a changed mind. Don't forget to jump on over to the site and I will see you in the next episode.