We’ve all heard the phrase “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But what if the real problem isn’t learning new tricks—it’s actually using the ones we already know?In this episode, we’re flipping the focus from more information to more application. 2025 isn’t about chasing the next big idea—it’s about putting what you already know into action. You’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts, and sat through the seminars. Now, it’s time to execute.We’ll break down why knowledge without action is useless, how to bridge the gap between what you know and what you do, and why this could be the year everything finally clicks.New year, same you—just better execution. Let’s make 2025 the year of application.
Chapter 1: What should you focus on in 2025?
Welcome to the Ryan League podcast. Happy New Year, everybody. I am so glad that you're here. I'm not sure how 2024 went for you. Maybe you had some incredible wins, or perhaps there were some disappointments, perhaps some setbacks. You know, one of the things that people ask me about often is my approach to the beginning of the year.
You know, there are some people that choose a word for the year, and I think that's great. But today, I'm going to give you something that I think could shape your year in a way that I think you'll look back on and be very proud of. And here's the good news. It doesn't require learning anything new. Yeah, it doesn't require you going back to school. It doesn't require you reading another book.
It doesn't require you to learn anything new. You know, it's interesting. I was working out with my personal trainer the other day, and we were talking about his approach to the new year. And I said, hey, man, what are your goals for 2025? He said, what are you talking about? I said, come on, man, what are your goals?
He said, I'm going to continue doing what I always do, which is eat healthy and work out all the time. He's like, I'm going to continue doing what I already know. And so on today's episode, the big idea here, the thing that doesn't require you to learn anything new is it's making 2025 the year of application. Here's the good news.
Chapter 2: How can applying what you already know change your life?
If you didn't learn one new thing this year, but applied everything you learned in 2024, this could easily be the best year of your life. Just think about that. We're just talking just everything that you learned last year. If you applied it this year, this could easily be the best year of your life. What do you know that you don't do?
My friends, we got a lot of things that we know that we don't do. Think about it. What do we already know? We know we need to eat better. Come on. Come on, you know. Not just because it's trendy, but because our bodies thrive when we fuel them well. But let's be honest. How often does a number one from Chick-fil-A with a lemonade sound 10 times better than a dry chicken salad with water?
Come on, you know that sound way better. So what happens? We know we need to eat better, but then we find ourselves in a drive-thru talking about, so let me get a number one, hold the pickle, throw lemonade in there, large fry. I want you to add a little brownie to it too.
And then for some odd reason, we think we're healthy because we say, yeah, and then I'll do a side, throw a little kale salad in there too. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come on. We know better, but we don't often do better. What else do we know? We know we need to save more and spend less. That's not a groundbreaking revelation for 2025.
But how many times do we walk in Target looking for some eggs and walk out with a couch? How many times have we ordered something on Amazon we did not need because it felt good in the moment and Amazon Prime could get it there before 5 p.m. if you order it before 11 a.m. ? We know that we need to save more and spend less, but sometimes we just, we don't. What else do we know?
We know we need to prioritize relationships. We know we need to be intentional with those relationships. How many times have you heard that you should pick up the phone and call someone you care about, but you don't? Instead, we just like their social media posts and convince ourselves that that counts as some sort of connection, but we know it's not real connection.
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Chapter 3: What do we often ignore despite knowing better?
We all got those friends that can't pick up the phone, but they'll DM you. It's like your phone work. We know great relationships require intentionality, but sometimes we just are on autopilot on our relationships. If you're married, well, what do we know about marriage? Well, if you want to have a good one, you got to plan date nights.
It's not rocket science, but when you plan date nights, well, it can help your marriage. But how often does a busy schedule make us just push it to the next week and then the week after that and then the week after that? Before you know it, you've had months without any romance because you didn't do what you already know. If you're a parent, what do we know about parenting?
Chapter 4: How can you improve your relationships in the new year?
Well, the best parents, they don't just show up physically physically. They show up emotionally. They have intentional and kind conversations with their kids. But how often do we find ourselves distracted by work or distracted by our phones instead? And sometimes, well, the thing that our children crave the most, we don't always give them, which is our attention.
Sometimes we can be incredibly short with our kids instead of being incredibly kind. But what do we know about leadership? We know humility wins every single time. But how often as a leader do we let pride get in the way of admitting that we don't have all the answers? What do we know about health? We need exercise. We need to drink water. We need to prioritize sleep.
We also know that we need to stretch. My goodness gracious. We know we need to stretch. And I'm talking to my audience right now. I'm talking to you. You know, listen, if you are over the age of 35, you know. I could do a whole episode on just this right here. You know you need to be stretching. You know it. And I know it too. But a lot of us, we still think we in college.
We think we're D1 athlete, that we could just scoop up some McDonald's and just run around for a little bit and then just go home and just move on about our day. No, no, no, no, no. Some of us need a good hour of stretching before we go and a good hour when we get back. That's the cost of being in shape. Past 35, you gonna have to stretch. But how often do we just not listen?
Chapter 5: What are the secrets to successful parenting?
My friends, I think we have a challenge in our life where it's not about knowing better. It's not about learning anything new. It's about applying what we already know. Wouldn't it be awesome if knowing better automatically changed our lives? Like, wouldn't it be awesome if knowing about savings automatically built our emergency fund and like to start doing investments for us?
Wouldn't it be awesome if knowing better about eating healthy automatically burned calories? That'd be amazing. But that's not how it works. Knowing better isn't the same as doing better. And that gap is where the magic happens or where it doesn't. The problem isn't knowing better. It's doing better. I think sometimes we get a dopamine hit from learning something new.
We get so excited in the moment that we actually trick ourselves into believing that we've already started practicing it. But here's the thing. Sometimes we believe that because we shared a good post, we lived a good post. Or we hear something good and think, oh, I've heard that before. Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before.
But just because you've heard it before doesn't mean you've practiced it before. Let me ask you this. What's the thing you need to hear one more time so that it finally makes its way into your life? At some point, we have to ask. When will all the podcasts, all the books, videos, memes, posts, and seminars we consume turn into transformation?
Chapter 6: What do leaders need to remember for better results?
A while back, I went in for an executive health check and they gave me this massive 100-page document breaking down my health and what I needed to do better. One of the recommendations was more resistance training and eating more salmon. Besides that, they gave me a clean bill of health. Here's the thing. I didn't touch a piece of salmon for two years, okay?
And then one day, I stumbled upon that health packet tucked away in a drawer in my office and it hit me. Ryan, what's the point of seeking wise counsel if you're just going to do your own thing anyway? What's the point of going to a marriage counselor if you think you know better than them? What's the point of hiring a coach or a trainer if you think you're smarter than them?
Here's another fun fact. Most people give up on their New Year's goals by the second Friday of January. They call it quitter's day. And maybe that's because we're so focused on creating massive, shiny new goals that we forget the power of mastering the fundamentals. What if this year wasn't about chasing the next big thing? What if it was about practicing what we've already heard preached?
So here's my challenge for 2025. Stop chasing the next piece of information and start practicing transformation. I want you to revisit the basics. I want you to apply what you already know. If you've been told to eat better, start there. If you've been told to save more, start there. If you've been told to show more humility as a leader, let that be your focus.
I think you should let 2025 be the year of application. It doesn't have to be flashy. It just has to be faithful. What do you know that you don't do? What's the one thing that perhaps you could start applying today? You know how you could get a dub today? Oh, you can get a dub so fast today.
You could just move over $100 into your savings account, $20 into your savings account, $10 into your savings account, $1,000 into your savings account, $10,000 into your savings account. I don't know where your tax bracket is, so that's why I gave a bunch of numbers. But you can make a move today that puts you in the category of people that are applying what they all ready for.
To my friends, let's make this year the year where we don't just know better, but we actually start doing better. Thanks for listening to the Ryan League Podcast. If today's episode challenged you, inspired you, my friend, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with a friend. And hey, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe.
Your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Thanks for being a part of the journey. And I can't wait for the next episode where I'm going to talk about something that we all need to quit in 2025. And that is playing small.
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