More In 2024: More Of God’s Plans And Purposes For You And The Word Of The Year [Episode 461]

As we embark on the new year, Dr. Karen shares her words of gratitude from both a business and personal perspective. She is thankful for her family members, new and old, and for clients who are committed to creating positive, profitable, and powerful workplace cultures and environments. Dr. Karen also shares her business visibility objectives and a template for planning the year.

Listen to this episode to hear Dr. Karen unveil “The Word of the Year” and its Biblical context. This year’s word is a catalyst word that begins a trifecta of benefits. The word is rooted in the foundation of the past words of vision, impact, abundance, and possibilities. So, what is the word? Tune in and discover!

Start your new year in a conversation with Dr. Karen: Dr.Karen@transleadership.com

The post More in 2024: More of God’s Plans and Purposes For You and The Word of the Year (Episode # 461) first appeared on TRANSLEADERSHIP, INC®.

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More In 2024: More Of God’s Plans And Purposes For You And The Word Of The Year [Episode 461]

Happy New Year. It is time for more in 2024, more of God and more of His purposes for your life. In this episode, I will be revealing the Word of the Year. I will also share with you what I’m thankful for as we begin this new year. I’ll talk a little bit about the direction and emphasis for TRANSLEADERSHIP and where we’re going. I will share with you a modified way of looking at planning for this new year. We’ve modified the way we’re looking at it and we want to share it with you. That’s what we’re planning to cover.

Things I’m Thankful For In 2023

I want to start first with a short list of what I’m thankful for because there’s a whole lot more. I could do a whole show on that part alone. This is the short list of things for which I’m thankful. I’m very thankful for clients who are committed to being the light of God in their workplaces. These are clients who are committed to creating positive, profitable, and powerful workplace cultures and environments, places where everyone thrives, not just those who believe the same as we believe. We want everyone to be able to thrive in the workplace. I’m excited that there are a number of clients who fit into that category.

Secondly, I’m very thankful for guests who come from a variety of backgrounds. Not all of them are necessarily Christians. They may come from different perspectives, and yet they all bring value from their business and life experiences. We’ve been blessed to have them on the show. I want to mention a few from 2023. First in the business category, we had the pleasure of having Howard Behar who is the Founding International President of Starbucks. His episode is number 428 and it aired on the 13th of June 2023. Check it out and take a look at that.

We also had Brian Smith who was the Founder of UGG Boots. He shared a powerful entrepreneurial journey there. This was episode number 438, which aired on the 22nd of August, 2023. We had Peter Christian. He shares what he learned in his executive life at Crayola Corporation. Check out episode number 436, which aired on the 8th of August 2023.

There were some artists that we also talked to in 2023. I’m a firm believer that artists have a unique lens from which to look at the world and share with us. One of those artists is Ron McMillon, a gospel jazz saxophonist who’s been on the show in the past. In 2023, he had two episodes, and those were episodes number 450 and 452. Around the time of the 28th of November 2023, we heard from Ron McMillon. Make sure you go back and check those out as well.

Artists have a unique lens from which to look at the world and to share with others. Click To Tweet

We also had Dennis Welch who is a songwriter and a singer. In the previous years, he debuted an album, I Go Home. In ‘23, he introduced a new album, If I Live to Be 100. Check out episode number 434 from the 25th of July 2023. We then had Louis Parsons who’s an artist and painter from the UK. He has a show called SoulScaping. His episode is number 418, aired on the 11th of April 2023. He creates beautiful works that have deep meaning from a spiritual perspective. Stay tuned because we’ll probably have Louis Parsons back in 2024 as well. There were some others who shared with us in 2023. That’s Robert and Kay Lee Fukui. They talked about how you preserve marriage when you are in the C-Suite. Their episode number 405 aired on the 14th of February 2023. How appropriate that it was on Valentine’s Day.

We also had Loree Draude on episode number 447 about a combat pilot’s wisdom. She was 1 of the 1st women in the Navy to fly combat missions. We’re so delighted that she also rejoined us for a 2nd time, and that was around the 24th of October 2023. We had Patrick Daly who’s from Ireland. He talked about globalization and its impact on the supply chain and what you need to think about when you’re orchestrating global relationships. That was episode 445 on the 10th of October 2023. I am so thankful for these guests and all of our other guests who joined us in 2023.

I am also thankful for the expansion of our iHeart presence in 2023. We went from one episode a week. This time, we’re on the air Monday through Friday. New episodes air on Thursdays, and for the other days of the week, we air episodes from the archive. That is a blessing. We’re so thankful that we are able to be on iHeart more frequently than we were in previous years.

I’m also thankful that I reached the milestone of 50 years in the tax-paying workforce. I feel like these are the wisdom years, a time to share all that I’ve seen and experienced over those 50 years. That episode is 443 from the 26th of September 2023. In 2023, we also celebrated 28 years in TRANSLEADERSHIP. TRANSLEADERSHIP is my company that stands for Leadership Transformations. I’m thankful for those 28 years. We look forward to celebrating our 29th year in April 2024. We thank God for all of his grace and favor over the 28 and almost 29 years.

I’m also excited and thankful to share with you that we were able, for the first time, to promote our nonprofit guests in a very special way. For those who have Christian nonprofits, we were able to create commercials for most of them. Throughout 2024, on a complimentary basis, we air those commercials so that you can be aware of those ministries and the dramatic and powerful work that they’re doing for the Kingdom of God all year long.

Some of those partners are Victorious Family where the President and CEO is Terrance Chatmon, Building Lasting Relationships with Dr. Clarence Shuler who is the president of that organization, Bible League with Jos Snoep who is the President and CEO of the Bible League, and Spirit Wings Kids with Donna Johnson, a powerful ministry that she was the Principal and Founder of as well.

There’s lots to be thankful for. There are some other ministry partners for whom we still have to create some commercials. That includes Solid Rock Community Development Corporation which is doing tremendous outreach and work in the Southeast neighborhood of Colorado Springs. There are others who we supported and who we promoted such as Pastor Gacura of the church in Kigali, Rwanda. We were happy to support them and many others for whom we don’t have commercials. However, they’re doing great work in the world and we wanted to acknowledge them as well.

On a personal note, I’m very thankful that I had an opportunity to visit with both sides of my family in 2023, which are my family who’s on the East Coast and my husband’s family who’s on the West Coast. We prioritized seeing our parents. We’re thankful for the parents we still have and who do remain and that we’ve had a chance to spend quality time with them in 2023. I’m also very thankful for every time I get to go back and also to see brothers, sisters, aunts, great aunts, and others along the way.

I am thankful also for a good measure of health and well-being. Although there were some illnesses along the way, my husband and I remained relatively in good health, and for that, we are thankful. I’m also thankful for the travels that he and I have been able to enjoy together. He doesn’t travel as much as I do or take every trip. However, he does come on a number of the trips so we have a chance to be together even in my work-related travels.

I’m thankful also for our church family. Our church family is very special. Even though it’s a small church, it’s a very effective and mighty church. I’m thankful for the power of the Word that goes out across the pulpit, our Sunday school class, Wednesday night Bible studies, and other venues. I’m thankful for the power of the Word through song that goes out through the music ministry and also the power in prayer. As we pray for our church, we intercede and pray for others and also lift up those concerns in our own lives as well.

2023 was also the 1st year that we took a significant amount of time off for the Christmas holidays. That’s highly unusual. I’m thankful that we did that during the holidays, and we’ll probably continue that practice going forward. It was really good to have this time off. What I didn’t know is that we were going to need it because there were so many deaths and losses prior to Christmas and it would’ve been way too much to have the full plate that we normally have at that time of year.

I’m also really thankful that through the power and the impact of DNA research, we have been able, over the last several years, to uncover new relatives from my father’s father’s side of the family. We have met such wonderful cousins, beautiful aunt, and others on that side of the family. It so happens that one of my first cousins even lives here in Colorado. What a blessing to be able to get to know them and see what beautiful people they are. Others live in the East where most of my family is as well, so what a blessing. It’s wonderful that we’ve had those opportunities and those relationships.

Podcast Growth And Visibility Goals In 2024

This 2024, we’re focused on several objectives and several outcomes that we’re looking to create. Most of them are in a bucket that is visibility-related. One piece of visibility that’s important that we’re pursuing this 2024 is increased visibility for our show. I’ve hired a company to help us to increase the visibility of the show in the venues where we would be exposed to people who are in our target market as well as to others who could benefit from our content and who might benefit from the messaging that we have on our show. This relates to visibility effort number two, which is to create even more visibility for our guests.

I mentioned the nonprofit complimentary commercials that we’re doing. Even for those who are not in the nonprofit ministry space, we want to increase visibility. We’re already doing many things. They’re exposed on our multiple platforms, which include radio, TV, YouTube, and social media channels. We also produce the Friday Strategies, which are a wonderful document to share if you’re trying to help people understand what you’re all about in your work and your show guests. However, as we increase the visibility of the show, that too will increase the visibility of our guests. That’s important to us. We want you to know who the guests are and know how to reach them. We are promoting the good news messages that they are sharing with us and the positive leadership aspects.

A third objective and outcome is really about our website. It’s been in need of revising and refreshing for a while. We started the process in 2023. We started recording some new video content. This 2024, we’re going to finish that website and make it more client-centric in terms of the language that we’re using and the issues that we focus on. We’ve hired some partners there to help us make that a reality as well. All in all, this visibility is so that we are seen by new guests and also by new prospective clients out there as well.

7 Steps To Plan Your Year With God’s Guidance

As you are thinking about the year and your plan for the year, hopefully, you’ve already made a plan and started on it so this might be a review or a way to check your plan for 2024. There are a couple of ways to think about it and ways to approach the planning, if you will, of 2024. If you’ve listened to past episodes, you will find it is very similar to what I’ve said in the past. However, I’m changing the order of things so that it is more consistent with what I’ve learned.

Number one, the first thing is to thank God for all of the past successes and enter 2024 with a profound attitude of gratitude. Sometimes, we forget what we really have been blessed with. From the heart of gratitude and blessing, you can create even more for 2024. That’s number one. Number two, seek God’s will and God’s plan for you. That’s through the scripture and also through prayer. As we are seeking God, we are talking to Him about what we are thinking about. We’re talking to God about what we’re reading in the Bible in His word.

Thank God for all of the past successes to enter the new year with a profound attitude of gratitude. Click To Tweet

Remember number three, which is to listen to God’s input because this communication is two-way. We’re not just talking to God. He’s also talking to us. Take the time to be quiet, to be in a place of silence, and to hear what God is saying to you for your business through His word, through prayer, and through messages that you might hear at church or on the radio. Sometimes, God might change some things that we’re thinking about. Hence, the flexibility to hear from God and to make adjustments.

I know that in my case when I’m seeking God for anything, He makes sure to show up wherever he knows that I’m going to be. If I’m listening to the radio and I’m listening to a pastor there, something that I’ve asked God about or talked to God about, there will be an answer or a message on the radio related to what I’ve already asked God about or a message or an alignment even at church and what our pastor is talking about as well. Not only talk to God and share with Him what you are thinking. Listen to God. Be willing to be shaped, to be changed, and to move in some new and different directions.

The fourth thing is that after you’ve laid the foundation of gratitude and laid foundation of seeking God’s will and listening to God, you’re ready to declare the outcomes that you want to pursue for 2024. That’s when you declare the outcomes after you’ve heard from God. The three things that we’re pursuing in 2024 are those visibility objectives, which include visibility for the podcast, visibility for our guests and clients on the podcast, and then also changing visibility for our website. Those are the outcomes that came through those first three steps of gratitude, seeking God, and listening to and hearing from God.

Number five would be as you’re thinking about those big outcomes that you want to achieve, you want to identify what I call the top 1 to 3 levers for change. What are the most important actions that will help you to achieve the outcomes that you have declared? In 2023, we had some items on our list that required some levers for change which didn’t happen in our company. Since we didn’t get to those levers, we were unable to get to a couple of the outcomes that we had in mind.

Keep in mind that the levers are important and the order of them is important. Think about dominoes. If you hit one of these, that domino will knock down several others, all leading towards your big outcomes and big objectives. As you identify those levers for change, it makes life easier. If you can hit 1 domino and knock down 10 others, that’s less work and that’s a great thing. You want to identify in a more specific way the tasks and actions that are necessary, the tasks and actions on an annual basis, a monthly basis, daily, and also weekly. That’s number six.

Number seven is you want to identify the team members who are going to do the work of those tasks and those actions. In the bigger companies, it may not be you who’s identifying and who will do the work. You may be identifying what I call the Point of Contact, that POC who keeps the ball rolling on the outcomes that are important to your business. It may be that person’s job to identify the specific people.

Keep in mind that if you are the POC, that doesn’t mean you are doing all the work. You’re responsible for seeing that people are assigned, that you’re following up, and that the work is getting done so that at the end of the year, you achieve the outcomes that you want to achieve. Remember, those levers for change are important because if you don’t have those in place, then it will be difficult to impossible to reach the outcome. We want to keep that in mind as well.

The Word That Will Transform Your 2024

For the moment that we’ve all been waiting for, The Word of the Year. The Word of 2024 is light. This word is a catalyst word. Meaning, it’s operating as a trifecta. As we engage God’s light, we also get God’s love and God’s life. That’s light, love, and life. It’s life for now and also for eternity forever. This is an important trifecta. When we think about light, 2024 is a great year to illuminate the beautiful. That includes the sunrises and the sunsets. These all set the tune for the peace of God. God has surrounded us by His light. We can see the greater light of the sun in the daytime and the lesser lights of the moon and stars at night to remind us of a glimmer of the great light that God is as well.

We want to remember that God is not afraid of the darkness. This is an important thing to mention because before God created the earth, it was dark, formless, and void. What did God do? He took that darkness and created something out of it. He is in the business of doing the same thing. God is able to illuminate and transform the darkness. That’s what we are looking for in our world.

God is able to illuminate and transform the darkness. That's what we are looking for in our world. Click To Tweet

When Jesus came to earth, He came as the light of the world. There is still darkness in the world, and yet there are some, in fact, maybe many who are seeking the light of God even though they don’t know that that’s what they’re seeking. We want to remember that the Bible says that God dwells in unapproachable light. In other words, His light is so bright we can’t even get there. We can’t even be in His presence and continue to live. That’s why Jesus came to manifest the light, a light that we could approach because he came fully human as well as fully God. We would be able to see Him and experience him.

As we think about the future and where we’re going in life and where we’re going in the world, when we get to the heavenly plane, God’s light is so bright that there are some things that we are not even going to need. I want to take a look at Revelation 21 and see some words there that describe this Heaven. It says, “I saw no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty. The Lamb are its temple.” We know that the Lamb of God is the son of God who is the Messiah of God who is Jesus Christ.

It says, “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” Can you imagine that Heaven is a place that does not need any other light because God himself is light and illuminates and fills all of Heaven? No sun is needed and no moon is needed because God is there, illuminating everything that we need to see.

I’ll remind you that in John 14:9-11, Philip was confused and he was saying to Jesus, “Show us the Father, and then we will believe.” Jesus was disappointed. He said, “Have you been with me so long that you haven’t seen that I and the Father are one? If you’ve seen me, then you’ve seen the Father.” That’s an important concept for us to remember in this time and in this world.

Why is light the word for 2024? It is because there really is so much darkness all around us. We have wars and rumors of wars. We have two of the biggest, and they’re not the only wars. We have the war in Israel that’s going on and the war in Ukraine. There is a lot of suffering in both places. There are people who are dying, people who are sick, people who don’t have the resources that they need, and people who are trapped in various circumstances. That is a form of darkness.

In our world, we see an increase in incivility of people towards one another even on airplanes. There has been an increase in attacks on flight attendants. As someone who travels and flies a lot, I’m paying attention to this. I’m very concerned about the increase in attacks on flight attendants on the flight. We continue to have conflicts and shootings in schools, malls, workplaces, and neighborhoods all over the place. Even children are not spared from these shootings and from the deaths that result.

We have confusion in our society. We have confusion about politics. We have confusion and false narratives even in the medical field. People are not sure what’s true, what’s not true, what to believe, and what not to believe. That is a form of darkness that we are experiencing in our world. The bottom line is that many are not even acknowledging the light of God, the light that He has sent. That has made our world even darker than it has to be. That’s why the word of 2024 is light that’s leading to love and that’s also leading to life.

I mentioned already that God lives in an unapproachable light. That’s found in 1 Timothy, 6:16. No man can see that unapproachable light. We remember in Matthew 17:1-2 when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration. He had his three closest disciples and apostles with Him. When He was meeting up there on the Mount of Transfiguration and there was the appearance of Elijah, Moses, and others, and voices were being heard, it says that His face shone like the sun and His clothes were as white as light. Having clothes as white as light and a face that was like the sun, you can’t even look into that. It’s blinding. Yet, that’s what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Who can really endure the day of God’s coming? Malachi 3:2 says that He’s coming like a refiner’s fire. That’s pretty hot. He has put the silver and the gold and the furnace, if you will. It is so hot that we certainly wouldn’t survive being thrown into that furnace. When Daniel was thrown into the furnace, those who threw Him into the furnace perished because the fire was so hot.

Apart from God’s protection, we can’t enter into the furnace either. His refiner’s fire is coming later and is going to also be a launderer’s soap to make things whiter and brighter than anything that we could clean something with here on earth. We have no ability to truly clean anything. It takes the light of God, the fire of God, and the laundering soap of God to really clean anything that’s going on down here on our earth.

What The Bible Says About Light

What I want us to really think about are several verses that are relevant to keep in mind as we go through 2024. The first one that I want to mention comes from John 8:12. This is Jesus talking about who He is and the reason that He came. It says, “Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” In Jesus, we have the light of life. If we don’t want to walk in the darkness that we see down here, we have an option. We have an alternative to walk in a very different way.

In Jesus, we have the light of life. If we don’t want to walk in the darkness, we have an option to walk in a very different way. Click To Tweet

I also want to bring up John 9. Here’s an occasion when Jesus is healing a man of blindness. This is the blindness that he had from birth. People were not able to heal blindness that was blindness from birth, so this is one of the signs that would show that Jesus was the promised Messiah because other prophets could not cause blind eyes to see. This was something very different and unique when it came down to someone who was born blind. The people were confused and were trying to figure out, “Why was this man born blind? Was it him? Did he sin? Did his parents sin?” Jesus was answering all of this and trying to help people to understand this blindness.

I’m going to read from John 9:3-5 so we get a little bit of an understanding. There are more verses all around this so please go back and feel free to read it. It says, “Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” That was the reason for the man’s blindness. It was to demonstrate the power of God and the power of Jesus Christ to heal him. That made him very unique.

He says, “I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” This is the second time we’ve heard Jesus say He is the light of the world. He is still in the world through His Holy Spirit, the comforter, and He is still in the world through us, those who believe in Him. We are also representing His light on the earth.

This brings me to the third reading I want to share, which is Matthew 5:14-16. Jesus has finished talking about how we’re the salt of the earth and how we have a mission, if you will, to make a difference and be an influence. Here he says in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lamp stand. It gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.” The light that we have doesn’t come from ourselves. We are reflecting the light of God. We are reflecting the light of God’s son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Those who have spiritual eyes to see will have an opportunity to see that light that’s being reflected.

We have to remember that we are partners in Christ’s ministry on the earth. We are partners to shine brightly for him in our workplaces and beyond. People are discouraged. In this darkness, they want to see the light of God. We are building on past years. In 2023, the Word of the Year was Possibilities. In the years prior to that, we had Vision, Impact, and Abundance.

I’ve mentioned before that with Vision, Impact, and Abundance, those first letters spell VIA. Through VIA or through Vision, Impact, and Abundance, we got to Possibilities, those things that only God can do, which leads us to 2024. In 2024, what’s needed most is God’s light that leads to His love and that leads to His life. Be that light wherever you go. That’s what’s needed for 2024 and beyond. Happy New Year. Blessings to you. Shine brightly. Illuminate the darkness. Even a small light chases out the darkness.

Even a small light chases out the darkness. Click To Tweet

Overcome Challenges, Realize Your Vision: Lead Yourself First

I want to tell you about my book, which is called Lead Yourself First: The Senior Leader’s Guide to Engaging Your People for Greater Performance and Impact. It’s a book to inspire you about the challenges that you have overcome and the vision that you’ve realized in your life. It’s from these struggles, triumphs, and temporary setbacks that others will be inspired and they will have the courage to lead themselves first and also lead others.

In the first chapter, which is called Envision the Future, I talk about the rocky education path that I had to forge and overcome to realize my vision to become a psychologist. That was all the way from elementary school straight through graduate school. There were obstacles. The path wasn’t easy. Yet, entering graduate school with only $30 in the bank, I ended up finishing graduate school with no debts.

When you walk step by step in the vision, even when it doesn’t look like where you want to be, doors open and resources come to you because you hold the vision and you keep walking. Here’s what I wanted to say to you. This book will walk you through your journey as you go through the open doors and as you continue to walk like I walked through mine. Get your copy of Lead Yourself First. Hold the vision for yourself and your life and be successful.