December 4, 2025 • 24 mins
On this episode of The Karen Kenney Show podcast, I’m talking all about using December as a chance to take your habits for a “test drive” before the new year kicks in.
I share why December, even with all its holiday buzz and end-of-year busy, is actually the perfect time to slow down a bit, get quiet, and start making plans for who you want to be in the year ahead - without any of the ol' stressful, ego-driven pressure.
We all know what happens in what I like to call, “Jazzed-Up January”! 😆
Everyone’s fired up, the gyms are packed, resolutions are flying, and then… by February, it’s kinda' crickets, riiiiiight?
The problem isn’t your willpower; it’s that we’re trying to stack on big changes without first building them up in a real, honest way.
That’s why I suggest we use December as a kind of “practice run” for the habits and changes we actually want to keep doing once January rolls in.
It’s not just about working out though; maybe your thing is writing, music, gratitude, or anything else you want to make part of your daily life.
December gets to be your gentle test lab… a chance to notice where you get in your own way and work out the kinks without beating yourself up.
So, if something’s tugging at you for the new year - whether it’s getting healthier, being more creative, or simply being kinder to yourself - pick one habit and let’s start that sucker now!
Notice what trips you up, keep it real with yourself, and have a little compassion for when you “fall out of the pose”.
Remember, this is about laying the groundwork and building some momentum so we can glide into January already ahead of the game, feeling grounded, and ready to roll. ❤️
BIO:
Spiritual Mentor and writer Karen Kenney uses dynamic storytelling and humor to bring a down-to-earth, no-BS perspective to spirituality and self-development.
Bringing together tools that coach both the conscious and unconscious mind, Karen also helps clients deepen their personal connection to Self and Source, in relatable, practical, and actionable ways, so they can discover their unique understanding of spirituality.
Her practice combines neuroscience, subconscious reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis, somatic work, Spiritual Mentoring, and other holistic modalities to help regulate the nervous system, rewrite old stories, remove blocks, and reimagine what’s possible.
A passionate yoga teacher for 25+ years, a longtime student of A Course in Miracles, and a Gateless Writing instructor, Karen is also a frequent speaker, podcast guest, and retreat leader. She coaches both individuals and groups via her programs The Quest and The Nest.
With The Karen Kenney Podcast, she encourages listeners to shift from a thought system of fear - to one of love, compassion, and personal responsibility.
CONNECT WITH KAREN:
Website: http://karenkenney.com/
Podcast: https://www.karenkenney.com/podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenkenneylive/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenkenneylive/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey you guys, welcome to theKaren Kenney show, and wicked
excited to be here with youtoday. And today just happens to
be, first of all, this is thefirst time I've recorded a show
at night in like, a gazillionyears. You can tell, like, the
quality and the light in thisroom and stuff is a little
different, because it's likenighttime, and it's getting dark
at like, 430 now, like,whatever, like, whatever, like,
(00:24):
I just a little happy. No, okay,and we're back. But today
happens to also be December 1,and I love it. I just love it. I
know I'm not alone, because myfriend Emma line, she loves it
too. When a new month begins ona Monday, it just like, gives
me, like, sweet satisfaction.It's like, I'm just such a
(00:45):
weirdo, like, to me the weekstarts. I know technically,
like, my sweetie is the weekstats on Sunday. I'm like, no to
me, the week stats on Monday. Sowhen a new month, new new month
begins on a Monday, it makes mesuper duper happy. But I was
thinking about December, becausea lot of people roll through
this month in like, reallydifferent ways. There are people
(01:06):
that are just like, hey, I'm inholiday mode. I'm slowing
everything down. I don't want todo too much. Don't put don't ask
me to put too much on mycalendar, and I'm not going to
book too much. I'm notinterested in hustling and blah,
blah, blah, blah. There areother people that are, like,
last month of the year, lastmonth of q4 Let's go. We got a
hustle. We got to do sales andmake money, and capitalism,
(01:30):
colonialism, right? Like, let'sjust all the people make all the
money, like, everything, right?And I kind of look at December,
and especially this year, andI'm going to tell you why I kind
of look at December as, like,prep for January. And what I
mean by that is this is a monthwhen I really start to, like, go
a little quiet, go within, startto have a more internal
(01:53):
experience, and start to thinkabout, like, what do I want to
create in 2026 Who do I want tobe? What am I envisioning or
dreaming or visualizing, if I'mgoing to be doing a
collaboration, who do I want todo it with? What's it going to
look like? What's the vibe andthe energy and the feel of the
(02:14):
year? Now, I know life has itsown plans, right? There's that
old saying, you want to make aGod laugh, like, tell them your
plans, but I do believe inmaking plans. I just don't
believe in making them bymyself, and what I mean by that,
and of course, in miracles, wesay this, this thing is like a
healed mind does not plan. Itdoesn't mean you don't make a
(02:34):
plan. It just means you don'tmake it all on your own, from
your ego, from this place ofscarcity and fear and hustle and
competition and weirdness,right? No, like you tap into the
inner teacher, you tap into thedivine intelligence, and you
kind of see, like, what do Iwant to create? And if you saw
the title of this episode, takeyour habits for a test drive.
(02:55):
December is a fantastic month todo this. So let's kind of dive
into this a little bit, and thenI'll give you a couple of
examples and stories, right? Soa lot of times, you know,
January, like, people are like,starting to think about, like,
oh, New Year's is coming. It'sgoing to be new year, new you.
New year, new me. I'm going tolike, come out of this, like,
(03:16):
balls to the wall. I'm going tolike, come out of this, shoot,
like, boom. Like, like, like arocket, right? Like, I'm gonna
go into January. And I justalways stop laughing, because
what, what ends up happening is,I kind of call January, like,
jazzed up January.
(03:36):
God jazzed up January, becauseeverybody's got, like, ants in
their pants, and they're alljazzed up, and they're going to
start going to the gym, andthey're going to start eating
right, and they're going to stopdrinking alcohol, they're going
to stop whatever, whatever itis. They're all going to do it
right. But you know whathappens? Jazzed up January very
quickly, turns it into fuck itFebruary, because they realized
(04:01):
that all these plans, all thesethings they were going to do,
look at, look, look, look, Iused to work at Planet Fitness
like way back in the day when Ifirst moved from California to
New Hampshire, right? I was apersonal trainer, and so I
worked at the Planet Fitness inRochester, in Dover and New
(04:22):
Hampshire. And you would justsee, like, the first three
weeks, the first three to like,I would even say, I would even
give people, like, the firstthree to four to five weeks.
People were like, yeah, the gymwould be so busy. And I used to
open the gym so, like, I wouldbe there, like, four, 430 in the
morning. We have gym opened atfive, and you would just see
everybody all gung ho, but bylike, February, it was, like,
(04:45):
back to normal numbers andcrickets. Because people didn't
have any momentum. They didn'tbuild anything, right? They just
tried to, like, throwthemselves, like, you know, head
first, like, into January,thinking that they were somehow
going to be different, right?That these. Patterns and habits
that they had created the wholeyear before that. It wasn't
going to continue in January.They were trying to just do it
(05:07):
by willpower alone, right? Like,yeah, I'm just going to stop
smoking, stop drinking, stopdoing this, not doing that,
whatever. Okay, so people getall amped up about January, but
then there's like, this slowfizzle out, you know, and 2026
can be different. And this iswhy I'm so glad that I'm doing
this episode the first week ofDecember, because this is a
(05:30):
chance for you to practice whoyou want to be, how you want to
be, how you want the year tolook in 2026 I freaking love and
I might do a whole episode in afew weeks about this, but I
really love having a new yearand a new slate to kind of like,
wipe the slate clean and like,start fresh. But here's one of
(05:50):
the things. Okay, so story time,buckle up. Buckle up for safety.
So if you know who Sean t is,right, just double A man hands,
if you know who Shan t is,right? Like, I love Shaun T, I'm
going to tell you a little bitabout who he is, but Sean t is,
like, I don't know. I just thinkof him as a worldwide
phenomenon. He's a he's afitness instructor, right? He's
(06:14):
like, famous online, like,whatever, and way back in the
day, right? I started followinghim on a program called
Beachbody. Beachbody is nolonger Beachbody. It's now just
called Body. Body with, like, alittle I like body, right? But
Shaun T is one of like, like,Tony Horton, p9 dx, right?
(06:34):
There's like, so many programs,Insanity, Insanity, Max 30, dig
deeper, like, there's all thesedifferent programs, right? So
Sean T is leads these workouts,and I belong to the gym. Like, I
belong to the gym, like, agazillion years. And sometimes
I'm just like, Yeah, I don'twant to go to the gym. I don't
(06:55):
like, I wanted, like, especiallyin the winter, I'm like, I'm
going to try and, like, do somenew stuff at home. Like, I have
different goals and stuff, and Ihave weights and stuff in my
basement, and I'm like, I justwant to change it up. I was
feeling like I wanted to dosomething new. And really
thinking about, like, okay, 2026is coming, and Sean t just
released like a new workoutprogram called dig in. And it's
(07:17):
like a combination of strengthtraining, like with weights, and
also a program of his calledinsanity, which is all about,
like, you know, using your ownbody strength, cardio fitness,
which I'm trying to prep for thewarmer months when I like to run
outside. My sweetie runs allyear round outside. I'm like,
yeah, no, I only like to runwhen it's like, you know,
(07:37):
relatively like, decent weatherand really hot, like, I love
running in the summer. And I'mlike, I want to come out of the
shoot a little little strongercardiovascular hit workouts,
whatever. So Sean is, like,combine this in this new
workout. Now it's prettyintense, right? You got to,
like, you got to commit to thisthing and like, you to do it for
this number of days. Is thismany phases? And I'm like, Okay,
(07:59):
I want to hit the ground runningin January. So I'm going to use
December as my trial run. And Ican, you can apply this to so
many things, but let me explainwhat I mean. When you're all
like, in your brain, like, ohyeah, jazz Dev, January, I'm
going to like, I'm going to comeout and I'm just going to do
this, I'm going to do this, I'mgoing to do this, I'm going to
put it on my schedule, I'm goingto make it happen. And then you
(08:22):
realize, no, I'm not. Then yourealize, Oh no, my there's my
squirrely little brain gettingin my way again. There's my
like, I don't feel like it,right? That inner critic, right?
Like, who are you to think thatyou can do this? Or you hear all
those excuses, I'm too tired,I'm too lazy, or whatever. One
of the great things thatDecember is good for. It's the
(08:43):
perfect month for practicingtaking these habits that you
want to create, taking thesesucker for like a trial run, and
this way it's going to help youfigure out, first of all, how
you're going to respond and howyou're going to react when
things get tough. So let's saythat there's a setback. Let's
just say that there's a screw upwith your schedule. Let's just
(09:06):
say that something beyond yourcontrol happens. Like, who are
you going to be? Like, how areyou going to show up for that?
And rather than going intoJanuary with these big ideas and
these big plans and these bighopes and these big visions, and
then you find yourself, like,slipping up, screwing up, not
keeping your word to yourself.And then by February, you've,
like, blown it, and you're like,fuck it. I'm not gonna do it.
(09:28):
And here we are again. And thenyou stop beating yourself up,
whatever, however you negativelytalk to yourself. You're lazy,
you're stupid, you never keepyour word you blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. December is theperfect time to work out those
kinks, right, to really get tofigure out. Like, okay, so this
is my plan. You can treatDecember like early January,
(09:51):
and, yeah, I already know likeDecember, Christmas, Hanukkah,
like, all the quant, all theseholidays are like, built in. So
there's gonna be, like. Let'sjust say fitness was your thing,
right? So there's going to belike, I'm busy, or I can't get
to the gym today, or I can't dothat, or I can't do this, and
you get to practice how you'regoing to show up and how you're
(10:13):
going to respond and what youcan do instead. So rather than
just like, throwing your handsup and saying, I already blew
it, I might as well just eat thewhole cake, or I didn't go to
the gym today. There's differentways of like, you know, like
setting things up, and this is achance for you to practice and
to take your new habits, thesenew habits you want to cultivate
(10:36):
and create right to take themfor a test drive. So working out
is just like one of them. Let'sjust say your thing is like
writing. So for me, one of thethings that I'm doing is I'm
doing a little sample day of,like, three days of writing
where, like, just hear me outright? Like three days of
writing where you try to write500 words a day. Because there's
(10:56):
a thing that I'm going to bedoing in January where I might
be possibly, I might just do iton my own, I don't know, but
there's a group that I might bejoining. It's kind of like I
would just be like a silentperson in the group, but meaning
where they're setting it up,where you try to write 500 words
a day for January. So that'slike 250
(11:17):
words is about a page. So you'dbe trying to write about 60
pages right in January forwhatever you're working on, a
novel, a book, a memoir, a selfhelp, whatever you're working
on, right. And so now inDecember, we get to have a
little test run, right, a littletrial run, to see how it feels
over these three days, to see,like, Okay, how does it feel to,
(11:38):
like, sit my ass down and, like,do this, like consecutively, and
make a commitment to myself andlike, whatever. So I'm just
throwing out examples that youknow, if you're not if working
out isn't your thing, or youalready have that habit locked
in, right? Maybe it's somethingelse, something creative. Maybe
you're somebody who wants todraw every day or paint every
day, or practice your guitar orplay music or whatever, write
(12:00):
poetry like whatever your bagis, right? Maybe now in
December, you can start to getcreating a habit, so that by the
time January comes around,you're already in the flow of
it, man. You already have alittle momentum. You already
have a little you know, you'vebuilt some momentum, and you've
set the tempo, you've set thepace, and you're starting to
(12:23):
build that habitual muscle.You're starting to build it and
stack it and add on to it, sothat when the new year comes,
you go into it, you've workedout the kinks, you've worked out
the flaws, you've worked outyour own kooky thinking, how you
get in your own way, and youself sabotage, right? Let me
give you another example. Thesebooks just happen to be sitting
on my desk, so I have, I have afew books here, right? And
(12:47):
they're part of my dailyspiritual reading. So I read.
First of all, I read every nightbefore bed. I've been doing
that, I don't know how long,right, but I always read. I get
in bed and I read, and that'susually how I fall asleep right
as I start to fall asleep. So Iread every single day, a lot,
but I also start my day with myDSP, my daily spiritual
(13:10):
practice, but part of that isdaily spiritual reading. So I
have several books. Of course. Igot A Course in Miracles, and,
like a few others, a dailystoic, etc, and I normally was
reading them downstairs. Thesebooks, I brought them upstairs
because I already know inJanuary I want to do things
differently. I want to get myworkout in. I want to get my
(13:30):
stuff done. I want to come up. Iwant to do my daily reading. And
then I want to, like, write,okay, so I'm just like, starting
to figure this out. And I'mlike, Alright, I'm going to
bring these books upstairsinstead of downstairs. I brought
him upstairs, I put him on mydesk, and now I've missed NOT A
Course in Miracles. That's thatalways gets done, but I've
missed doing my daily spiritualreading of it's I'm only gonna
(13:52):
end up missing one day becauseI'm gonna do it. As soon as I'm
done with this podcast, I'mgonna read my two days and catch
up. But the reason why I'mtelling you this is because I'm
out of the habit. I broke mymomentum. I hadn't missed a day,
and I don't know how long,because I had a routine, I had a
rhythm, right? But now that Ibrought them upstairs, I broke
(14:14):
the flow. And so I'm not in thehabit yet, of like, oh yeah, I
read these upstairs now. So nowthey're on my desk, and now I
saw them, and I'm like, okay, assoon as I'm done this, I'm going
to do it, but I'm going to tellyou this. By the time, probably
in a few more days, I will havebuilt that muscle back up. It's
just geographically different,right? The habit muscle is
(14:36):
already built. I just have toget out of that little glitch
that I had because I was like,Oh yeah, I usually have them
downstairs first thing in themorning I see them, but now
they're upstairs. So these arethe things I'm talking about,
where we can use December towork out, like, a few kinks and
start to plan so don't waituntil, like, like, I do a New
Year's Eve ritual. I've talkedabout this before on the
(14:58):
podcast, um. Um, and, you know?And that's when I really like
map out. It's like a treasuremap, right? It's kind of like
having a playground with a lotof different, like, fun, like a
slide and some swings. And I'mlike, Ooh, what do I want to do
in 2026, or whatever, whateverthe new year is, right? But this
is, like, the, this is likelaying the foundation for the
(15:19):
new year. This is when you'restarting to get the plot of soil
ready. This is when you'restarting to pick the flowers and
the veggies and what you want toplant. This is when we start to
think about, like, long term,like, what do I want to have?
It's like, what do I what do Iwant the bounty of this to be?
Right? And this is when we getto use this as a testing ground
(15:39):
so that we can use this month,December, right, instead of
jazzed up January, right? Like,you can truly roll into jazzed
up January, and you won'texperience fuck it February,
because you're gonna do discoverDecember. Like, we're gonna use
December to discover Right.Like, okay, this when I'm tired.
(16:00):
This is what I tend to do. Thisis my plan. This is what I'm
thinking. I'm going to start toplay with these things. I'm
going to start to lay thatfoundation like I said, get a
little momentum, start to setthe pace and set the tempo.
Because why not go into the NewYear feeling really grounded,
feeling really like, you know,determined. I always say the 5d
(16:22):
of a DSP of a daily spiritualpractice is daily dedication,
determination, discipline anddevotion. So we move into the
new year with these thingsalready in place. And like I
said, you get to you get to fuckup. Now you get to, like, make
mistakes. Now you get to findyour groove. Now, so that when
January hits, you're like, I'vegot this I've already built some
(16:45):
momentum. I already have alittle bit of mojo behind me.
I'm already moving in thatdirection, right? So, like I
said, whether it's physicalwork, whether it's mental work,
whether it's emotional work,whether it's spiritual work, or
goals or whatever, right now iswhen you get to give it a go,
you know, and practice it alittle bit. And so here's like
(17:07):
the action steps, right? Theregular action steps always
stand, which is if you ever wantto work together, right, if you
ever want to find out what I'mup to, if you want to get on my
email list, all that is at Karenkenney.com that is a no that is
like a standing action step foryou to take. Right to go deeper
into this work, if you want todo one to one mentoring, if you
(17:27):
want to join the nest, myspiritual community and group,
all that you can find Karenkenney.com but some action steps
for this podcast, in particular,this episode is, I just want you
to pick one new habit, one thingthat you've been starting about
thinking about dreaming aboutwanting to write, like begin,
(17:47):
whether it's something you wantto change or transform, or stat
or stop, or whatever the thingis, it could be like, I want to
stop drinking. I want to start,you know, walking every day,
whatever it is. I want to getbetter at, like, writing thank
you cards. I want to get betterat having gratitude, looking
for, as we say in A Course inMiracles, the good, the
beautiful and the holy, right?So you're just going to pick a
(18:08):
new habit, and then you're goingto start to practice it, and
then you're going to start tonotice the kinks. You're going
to notice the places where youget in your own way, or where
you kind of like make mistakesor mess it up. And I want this,
like, I say in yoga so often,right? Like falling out of the
pose, you know, let's say you'retrying to balance, and you're
(18:29):
trying to do something like treeposture, right? As an the asana,
the pose, the posture, trying tostand on one leg, and you fall
out. And I see people sometimesget so frustrated, and I can
already, like, if they had,like, a thought bubble above
their head, I could, like, justsee the words where they're
beating themselves up. And Ialways have to remind people,
hey, look, falling out of thepose is part of the practice.
(18:51):
This isn't a perfect. We don'tcall this a perfect. We call it
a practice. We're practicing waymore than the postures, of
course. But I can see howfrustrated people get, they say,
Hey, this is part of thepractice. So in December, like,
you screwing up or forgetting,because it's just, like, with
the books, right? Like, it's nota habit, yet, it's like, okay,
this is something I want to keepan eye on, and you don't have to
(19:13):
beat yourself up, and you don'thave to be mean to yourself. And
you just get to, like, you getto figure some stuff out before
you roll into, right? 2026, orwhatever, new whenever you're
listening to this, whatever,whatever, New Year. And this is
the time when, like I said,we're laying the groundwork for
it. This is when we get to doall the weird stuff and bump up
(19:34):
against our bullshit and realizethat, oh, I'm a little bit
lazier than I thought I was, orwhatever the thing is, right?
And I use those words, like,that's one of the things, is
that I have a certain amount ofirreverence to me, meaning, I do
have things that are very like,sacred and whatever, but I also,
(19:55):
like, can laugh at myself, likewhen I say, like, oh, I guess
you're a little lazy. That's notme being. Mean to myself. That's
me being fucking honest withmyself. I'm not particularly
lazy person, but I'm justsaying, right, there are times
when we're just like whiny,like, I don't feel like it
doesn't matter. I often will sayto myself, it doesn't matter
that you don't feel like it youmade a commitment, whether it's
(20:17):
to myself or to somebody else orto an animal or a person or a
cause, but like, you made acommitment, your word matters to
you, right? So we got to keep aneye on ourselves, because the
ego mind can be incrediblysneaky, but what a perfect
opportunity, right? So, like,don't wait until the end of the
month to think about, like, Ohyeah, I'm going to start January
(20:38):
one.
Will you though, will you? Willyou? Maybe you will. But then
it's so easy when you selfsabotage, you'll to the brain
does this thing where it's like,Ah, fuck it. I already blew it.
Forget about it. It's like, no,let's do that. Now in December,
when the spirit is high, for alot of people, I know it's also
(21:00):
the holidays are alwaysdifficult, especially if you're
grieving, especially if yourfamily is a little, you know,
dysfunctional, or a lotdysfunctional, or whatever. I
know that December can be atough month for some people, and
I also want to say like that,that's perfect training ground.
I'm not being mean when I saythis, but it's so easy to come
(21:23):
up with 1000 excuses in Decemberfor why you can't do something,
whether it's the holidays oryou're busy or you're feeling
blue or you don't want to do it,or you just don't it's cold
outside, blah blah, right? Sothis is a chance to kind of
like, set your intention, startto visualize, right? So that's
part of it, the action steps.Let's do this. That's a
(21:43):
visualize who and how you reallywant to be in 2026 not who you
are now, like, I want you toreally see yourself. Like, sit
down, find a quiet place, closeyour eyes, deepen your breath,
run a movie in your mind, seehow and who you want to be. What
are you saying? What are youdoing, how are you feeling, what
are you thinking? What are youcreating? See it as if it is
(22:05):
already done, right? And thenyou think, Okay, well, what are
the kind of things that I wouldneed to do to have that be true,
to have that come true, right?You pick your habits, you pick
your your thought systems, loveor fear. And then you're like,
Okay, I'm going to pick justone. Just start with one. You
can have it stack later, butjust pick one new habit. Start
(22:26):
to practice it in December.Notice the kinks. Notice where
you get in your own way, allthat stuff. Start to build some
momentum, build that muscle,that new habitual muscle, right?
And then set the tempo, set thepace. Lay the groundwork. Lay
the foundation for a jazz devJanuary, right? And if you pick
something in particular thatyou're a little like, you know,
(22:48):
sometimes we want to tell oneother person we want to have
accountability. So if you justwant to shoot me a little
message or a little email andsay, Hey, this is what I'm
discovering in December, this iswhat I'm going to practice in
December. So I'm ready for jazzup January. You know what I
mean? And I would just be sohonored if you decided to share
with me what you're up to. I gota few things that, and I already
(23:09):
have a lot of habits in place,so I can have it stacked pretty
easily. And I have things I'vebeen doing for 30 years. So
those are just like a part of myidentity. They're just what I
do. It's not like I don't evenhave to think about those things
anymore. They just happen. Butsometimes there's new things.
When you're like, Okay, I havesome goals, I have some dreams.
There's some things I want toaccomplish. And right now, I can
(23:31):
tell you right now that there'slike, three new things that I'm
practicing. And not not new,new, but new ways of doing them.
That's a better way of sayingit, right? So I would love to
hear what yours are, and justthank you so much for tuning in.
I super duper appreciate you asalways. What do I always say,
wherever you go, wherever you goin December and beyond, right?
(23:56):
May you leave the animals, thepeople, the place, the
environment and yourself betterthan how you found it wherever
you go, may you and your energyand your presence and your love
be a blessing. Bye.
Hey you guys, welcome to theKaren Kenney show, and wicked
excited to be here with youtoday. And today just happens to
be, first of all, this is thefirst time I've recorded a show
at night in like, a gazillionyears. You can tell, like, the
quality and the light in thisroom and stuff is a little
different, because it's likenighttime, and it's getting dark
at like, 430 now, like,whatever, like, whatever, like,
(00:24):
I just a little happy. No, okay,and we're back. But today
happens to also be December 1,and I love it. I just love it. I
know I'm not alone, because myfriend Emma line, she loves it
too. When a new month begins ona Monday, it just like, gives
me, like, sweet satisfaction.It's like, I'm just such a
(00:45):
weirdo, like, to me the weekstarts. I know technically,
like, my sweetie is the weekstats on Sunday. I'm like, no to
me, the week stats on Monday. Sowhen a new month, new new month
begins on a Monday, it makes mesuper duper happy. But I was
thinking about December, becausea lot of people roll through
this month in like, reallydifferent ways. There are people
(01:06):
that are just like, hey, I'm inholiday mode. I'm slowing
everything down. I don't want todo too much. Don't put don't ask
me to put too much on mycalendar, and I'm not going to
book too much. I'm notinterested in hustling and blah,
blah, blah, blah. There areother people that are, like,
last month of the year, lastmonth of q4 Let's go. We got a
hustle. We got to do sales andmake money, and capitalism,
(01:30):
colonialism, right? Like, let'sjust all the people make all the
money, like, everything, right?And I kind of look at December,
and especially this year, andI'm going to tell you why I kind
of look at December as, like,prep for January. And what I
mean by that is this is a monthwhen I really start to, like, go
a little quiet, go within, startto have a more internal
(01:53):
experience, and start to thinkabout, like, what do I want to
create in 2026 Who do I want tobe? What am I envisioning or
dreaming or visualizing, if I'mgoing to be doing a
collaboration, who do I want todo it with? What's it going to
look like? What's the vibe andthe energy and the feel of the
(02:14):
year? Now, I know life has itsown plans, right? There's that
old saying, you want to make aGod laugh, like, tell them your
plans, but I do believe inmaking plans. I just don't
believe in making them bymyself, and what I mean by that,
and of course, in miracles, wesay this, this thing is like a
healed mind does not plan. Itdoesn't mean you don't make a
(02:34):
plan. It just means you don'tmake it all on your own, from
your ego, from this place ofscarcity and fear and hustle and
competition and weirdness,right? No, like you tap into the
inner teacher, you tap into thedivine intelligence, and you
kind of see, like, what do Iwant to create? And if you saw
the title of this episode, takeyour habits for a test drive.
(02:55):
December is a fantastic month todo this. So let's kind of dive
into this a little bit, and thenI'll give you a couple of
examples and stories, right? Soa lot of times, you know,
January, like, people are like,starting to think about, like,
oh, New Year's is coming. It'sgoing to be new year, new you.
New year, new me. I'm going tolike, come out of this, like,
(03:16):
balls to the wall. I'm going tolike, come out of this, shoot,
like, boom. Like, like, like arocket, right? Like, I'm gonna
go into January. And I justalways stop laughing, because
what, what ends up happening is,I kind of call January, like,
jazzed up January.
(03:36):
God jazzed up January, becauseeverybody's got, like, ants in
their pants, and they're alljazzed up, and they're going to
start going to the gym, andthey're going to start eating
right, and they're going to stopdrinking alcohol, they're going
to stop whatever, whatever itis. They're all going to do it
right. But you know whathappens? Jazzed up January very
quickly, turns it into fuck itFebruary, because they realized
(04:01):
that all these plans, all thesethings they were going to do,
look at, look, look, look, Iused to work at Planet Fitness
like way back in the day when Ifirst moved from California to
New Hampshire, right? I was apersonal trainer, and so I
worked at the Planet Fitness inRochester, in Dover and New
(04:22):
Hampshire. And you would justsee, like, the first three
weeks, the first three to like,I would even say, I would even
give people, like, the firstthree to four to five weeks.
People were like, yeah, the gymwould be so busy. And I used to
open the gym so, like, I wouldbe there, like, four, 430 in the
morning. We have gym opened atfive, and you would just see
everybody all gung ho, but bylike, February, it was, like,
(04:45):
back to normal numbers andcrickets. Because people didn't
have any momentum. They didn'tbuild anything, right? They just
tried to, like, throwthemselves, like, you know, head
first, like, into January,thinking that they were somehow
going to be different, right?That these. Patterns and habits
that they had created the wholeyear before that. It wasn't
going to continue in January.They were trying to just do it
(05:07):
by willpower alone, right? Like,yeah, I'm just going to stop
smoking, stop drinking, stopdoing this, not doing that,
whatever. Okay, so people getall amped up about January, but
then there's like, this slowfizzle out, you know, and 2026
can be different. And this iswhy I'm so glad that I'm doing
this episode the first week ofDecember, because this is a
(05:30):
chance for you to practice whoyou want to be, how you want to
be, how you want the year tolook in 2026 I freaking love and
I might do a whole episode in afew weeks about this, but I
really love having a new yearand a new slate to kind of like,
wipe the slate clean and like,start fresh. But here's one of
(05:50):
the things. Okay, so story time,buckle up. Buckle up for safety.
So if you know who Sean t is,right, just double A man hands,
if you know who Shan t is,right? Like, I love Shaun T, I'm
going to tell you a little bitabout who he is, but Sean t is,
like, I don't know. I just thinkof him as a worldwide
phenomenon. He's a he's afitness instructor, right? He's
(06:14):
like, famous online, like,whatever, and way back in the
day, right? I started followinghim on a program called
Beachbody. Beachbody is nolonger Beachbody. It's now just
called Body. Body with, like, alittle I like body, right? But
Shaun T is one of like, like,Tony Horton, p9 dx, right?
(06:34):
There's like, so many programs,Insanity, Insanity, Max 30, dig
deeper, like, there's all thesedifferent programs, right? So
Sean T is leads these workouts,and I belong to the gym. Like, I
belong to the gym, like, agazillion years. And sometimes
I'm just like, Yeah, I don'twant to go to the gym. I don't
(06:55):
like, I wanted, like, especiallyin the winter, I'm like, I'm
going to try and, like, do somenew stuff at home. Like, I have
different goals and stuff, and Ihave weights and stuff in my
basement, and I'm like, I justwant to change it up. I was
feeling like I wanted to dosomething new. And really
thinking about, like, okay, 2026is coming, and Sean t just
released like a new workoutprogram called dig in. And it's
(07:17):
like a combination of strengthtraining, like with weights, and
also a program of his calledinsanity, which is all about,
like, you know, using your ownbody strength, cardio fitness,
which I'm trying to prep for thewarmer months when I like to run
outside. My sweetie runs allyear round outside. I'm like,
yeah, no, I only like to runwhen it's like, you know,
(07:37):
relatively like, decent weatherand really hot, like, I love
running in the summer. And I'mlike, I want to come out of the
shoot a little little strongercardiovascular hit workouts,
whatever. So Sean is, like,combine this in this new
workout. Now it's prettyintense, right? You got to,
like, you got to commit to thisthing and like, you to do it for
this number of days. Is thismany phases? And I'm like, Okay,
(07:59):
I want to hit the ground runningin January. So I'm going to use
December as my trial run. And Ican, you can apply this to so
many things, but let me explainwhat I mean. When you're all
like, in your brain, like, ohyeah, jazz Dev, January, I'm
going to like, I'm going to comeout and I'm just going to do
this, I'm going to do this, I'mgoing to do this, I'm going to
put it on my schedule, I'm goingto make it happen. And then you
(08:22):
realize, no, I'm not. Then yourealize, Oh no, my there's my
squirrely little brain gettingin my way again. There's my
like, I don't feel like it,right? That inner critic, right?
Like, who are you to think thatyou can do this? Or you hear all
those excuses, I'm too tired,I'm too lazy, or whatever. One
of the great things thatDecember is good for. It's the
(08:43):
perfect month for practicingtaking these habits that you
want to create, taking thesesucker for like a trial run, and
this way it's going to help youfigure out, first of all, how
you're going to respond and howyou're going to react when
things get tough. So let's saythat there's a setback. Let's
just say that there's a screw upwith your schedule. Let's just
(09:06):
say that something beyond yourcontrol happens. Like, who are
you going to be? Like, how areyou going to show up for that?
And rather than going intoJanuary with these big ideas and
these big plans and these bighopes and these big visions, and
then you find yourself, like,slipping up, screwing up, not
keeping your word to yourself.And then by February, you've,
like, blown it, and you're like,fuck it. I'm not gonna do it.
(09:28):
And here we are again. And thenyou stop beating yourself up,
whatever, however you negativelytalk to yourself. You're lazy,
you're stupid, you never keepyour word you blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. December is theperfect time to work out those
kinks, right, to really get tofigure out. Like, okay, so this
is my plan. You can treatDecember like early January,
(09:51):
and, yeah, I already know likeDecember, Christmas, Hanukkah,
like, all the quant, all theseholidays are like, built in. So
there's gonna be, like. Let'sjust say fitness was your thing,
right? So there's going to belike, I'm busy, or I can't get
to the gym today, or I can't dothat, or I can't do this, and
you get to practice how you'regoing to show up and how you're
(10:13):
going to respond and what youcan do instead. So rather than
just like, throwing your handsup and saying, I already blew
it, I might as well just eat thewhole cake, or I didn't go to
the gym today. There's differentways of like, you know, like
setting things up, and this is achance for you to practice and
to take your new habits, thesenew habits you want to cultivate
(10:36):
and create right to take themfor a test drive. So working out
is just like one of them. Let'sjust say your thing is like
writing. So for me, one of thethings that I'm doing is I'm
doing a little sample day of,like, three days of writing
where, like, just hear me outright? Like three days of
writing where you try to write500 words a day. Because there's
(10:56):
a thing that I'm going to bedoing in January where I might
be possibly, I might just do iton my own, I don't know, but
there's a group that I might bejoining. It's kind of like I
would just be like a silentperson in the group, but meaning
where they're setting it up,where you try to write 500 words
a day for January. So that'slike 250
(11:17):
words is about a page. So you'dbe trying to write about 60
pages right in January forwhatever you're working on, a
novel, a book, a memoir, a selfhelp, whatever you're working
on, right. And so now inDecember, we get to have a
little test run, right, a littletrial run, to see how it feels
over these three days, to see,like, Okay, how does it feel to,
(11:38):
like, sit my ass down and, like,do this, like consecutively, and
make a commitment to myself andlike, whatever. So I'm just
throwing out examples that youknow, if you're not if working
out isn't your thing, or youalready have that habit locked
in, right? Maybe it's somethingelse, something creative. Maybe
you're somebody who wants todraw every day or paint every
day, or practice your guitar orplay music or whatever, write
(12:00):
poetry like whatever your bagis, right? Maybe now in
December, you can start to getcreating a habit, so that by the
time January comes around,you're already in the flow of
it, man. You already have alittle momentum. You already
have a little you know, you'vebuilt some momentum, and you've
set the tempo, you've set thepace, and you're starting to
(12:23):
build that habitual muscle.You're starting to build it and
stack it and add on to it, sothat when the new year comes,
you go into it, you've workedout the kinks, you've worked out
the flaws, you've worked outyour own kooky thinking, how you
get in your own way, and youself sabotage, right? Let me
give you another example. Thesebooks just happen to be sitting
on my desk, so I have, I have afew books here, right? And
(12:47):
they're part of my dailyspiritual reading. So I read.
First of all, I read every nightbefore bed. I've been doing
that, I don't know how long,right, but I always read. I get
in bed and I read, and that'susually how I fall asleep right
as I start to fall asleep. So Iread every single day, a lot,
but I also start my day with myDSP, my daily spiritual
(13:10):
practice, but part of that isdaily spiritual reading. So I
have several books. Of course. Igot A Course in Miracles, and,
like a few others, a dailystoic, etc, and I normally was
reading them downstairs. Thesebooks, I brought them upstairs
because I already know inJanuary I want to do things
differently. I want to get myworkout in. I want to get my
(13:30):
stuff done. I want to come up. Iwant to do my daily reading. And
then I want to, like, write,okay, so I'm just like, starting
to figure this out. And I'mlike, Alright, I'm going to
bring these books upstairsinstead of downstairs. I brought
him upstairs, I put him on mydesk, and now I've missed NOT A
Course in Miracles. That's thatalways gets done, but I've
missed doing my daily spiritualreading of it's I'm only gonna
(13:52):
end up missing one day becauseI'm gonna do it. As soon as I'm
done with this podcast, I'mgonna read my two days and catch
up. But the reason why I'mtelling you this is because I'm
out of the habit. I broke mymomentum. I hadn't missed a day,
and I don't know how long,because I had a routine, I had a
rhythm, right? But now that Ibrought them upstairs, I broke
(14:14):
the flow. And so I'm not in thehabit yet, of like, oh yeah, I
read these upstairs now. So nowthey're on my desk, and now I
saw them, and I'm like, okay, assoon as I'm done this, I'm going
to do it, but I'm going to tellyou this. By the time, probably
in a few more days, I will havebuilt that muscle back up. It's
just geographically different,right? The habit muscle is
(14:36):
already built. I just have toget out of that little glitch
that I had because I was like,Oh yeah, I usually have them
downstairs first thing in themorning I see them, but now
they're upstairs. So these arethe things I'm talking about,
where we can use December towork out, like, a few kinks and
start to plan so don't waituntil, like, like, I do a New
Year's Eve ritual. I've talkedabout this before on the
(14:58):
podcast, um. Um, and, you know?And that's when I really like
map out. It's like a treasuremap, right? It's kind of like
having a playground with a lotof different, like, fun, like a
slide and some swings. And I'mlike, Ooh, what do I want to do
in 2026, or whatever, whateverthe new year is, right? But this
is, like, the, this is likelaying the foundation for the
(15:19):
new year. This is when you'restarting to get the plot of soil
ready. This is when you'restarting to pick the flowers and
the veggies and what you want toplant. This is when we start to
think about, like, long term,like, what do I want to have?
It's like, what do I what do Iwant the bounty of this to be?
Right? And this is when we getto use this as a testing ground
(15:39):
so that we can use this month,December, right, instead of
jazzed up January, right? Like,you can truly roll into jazzed
up January, and you won'texperience fuck it February,
because you're gonna do discoverDecember. Like, we're gonna use
December to discover Right.Like, okay, this when I'm tired.
(16:00):
This is what I tend to do. Thisis my plan. This is what I'm
thinking. I'm going to start toplay with these things. I'm
going to start to lay thatfoundation like I said, get a
little momentum, start to setthe pace and set the tempo.
Because why not go into the NewYear feeling really grounded,
feeling really like, you know,determined. I always say the 5d
(16:22):
of a DSP of a daily spiritualpractice is daily dedication,
determination, discipline anddevotion. So we move into the
new year with these thingsalready in place. And like I
said, you get to you get to fuckup. Now you get to, like, make
mistakes. Now you get to findyour groove. Now, so that when
January hits, you're like, I'vegot this I've already built some
(16:45):
momentum. I already have alittle bit of mojo behind me.
I'm already moving in thatdirection, right? So, like I
said, whether it's physicalwork, whether it's mental work,
whether it's emotional work,whether it's spiritual work, or
goals or whatever, right now iswhen you get to give it a go,
you know, and practice it alittle bit. And so here's like
(17:07):
the action steps, right? Theregular action steps always
stand, which is if you ever wantto work together, right, if you
ever want to find out what I'mup to, if you want to get on my
email list, all that is at Karenkenney.com that is a no that is
like a standing action step foryou to take. Right to go deeper
into this work, if you want todo one to one mentoring, if you
(17:27):
want to join the nest, myspiritual community and group,
all that you can find Karenkenney.com but some action steps
for this podcast, in particular,this episode is, I just want you
to pick one new habit, one thingthat you've been starting about
thinking about dreaming aboutwanting to write, like begin,
(17:47):
whether it's something you wantto change or transform, or stat
or stop, or whatever the thingis, it could be like, I want to
stop drinking. I want to start,you know, walking every day,
whatever it is. I want to getbetter at, like, writing thank
you cards. I want to get betterat having gratitude, looking
for, as we say in A Course inMiracles, the good, the
beautiful and the holy, right?So you're just going to pick a
(18:08):
new habit, and then you're goingto start to practice it, and
then you're going to start tonotice the kinks. You're going
to notice the places where youget in your own way, or where
you kind of like make mistakesor mess it up. And I want this,
like, I say in yoga so often,right? Like falling out of the
pose, you know, let's say you'retrying to balance, and you're
(18:29):
trying to do something like treeposture, right? As an the asana,
the pose, the posture, trying tostand on one leg, and you fall
out. And I see people sometimesget so frustrated, and I can
already, like, if they had,like, a thought bubble above
their head, I could, like, justsee the words where they're
beating themselves up. And Ialways have to remind people,
hey, look, falling out of thepose is part of the practice.
(18:51):
This isn't a perfect. We don'tcall this a perfect. We call it
a practice. We're practicing waymore than the postures, of
course. But I can see howfrustrated people get, they say,
Hey, this is part of thepractice. So in December, like,
you screwing up or forgetting,because it's just, like, with
the books, right? Like, it's nota habit, yet, it's like, okay,
this is something I want to keepan eye on, and you don't have to
(19:13):
beat yourself up, and you don'thave to be mean to yourself. And
you just get to, like, you getto figure some stuff out before
you roll into, right? 2026, orwhatever, new whenever you're
listening to this, whatever,whatever, New Year. And this is
the time when, like I said,we're laying the groundwork for
it. This is when we get to doall the weird stuff and bump up
(19:34):
against our bullshit and realizethat, oh, I'm a little bit
lazier than I thought I was, orwhatever the thing is, right?
And I use those words, like,that's one of the things, is
that I have a certain amount ofirreverence to me, meaning, I do
have things that are very like,sacred and whatever, but I also,
(19:55):
like, can laugh at myself, likewhen I say, like, oh, I guess
you're a little lazy. That's notme being. Mean to myself. That's
me being fucking honest withmyself. I'm not particularly
lazy person, but I'm justsaying, right, there are times
when we're just like whiny,like, I don't feel like it
doesn't matter. I often will sayto myself, it doesn't matter
that you don't feel like it youmade a commitment, whether it's
(20:17):
to myself or to somebody else orto an animal or a person or a
cause, but like, you made acommitment, your word matters to
you, right? So we got to keep aneye on ourselves, because the
ego mind can be incrediblysneaky, but what a perfect
opportunity, right? So, like,don't wait until the end of the
month to think about, like, Ohyeah, I'm going to start January
(20:38):
one.
Will you though, will you? Willyou? Maybe you will. But then
it's so easy when you selfsabotage, you'll to the brain
does this thing where it's like,Ah, fuck it. I already blew it.
Forget about it. It's like, no,let's do that. Now in December,
when the spirit is high, for alot of people, I know it's also
(21:00):
the holidays are alwaysdifficult, especially if you're
grieving, especially if yourfamily is a little, you know,
dysfunctional, or a lotdysfunctional, or whatever. I
know that December can be atough month for some people, and
I also want to say like that,that's perfect training ground.
I'm not being mean when I saythis, but it's so easy to come
(21:23):
up with 1000 excuses in Decemberfor why you can't do something,
whether it's the holidays oryou're busy or you're feeling
blue or you don't want to do it,or you just don't it's cold
outside, blah blah, right? Sothis is a chance to kind of
like, set your intention, startto visualize, right? So that's
part of it, the action steps.Let's do this. That's a
(21:43):
visualize who and how you reallywant to be in 2026 not who you
are now, like, I want you toreally see yourself. Like, sit
down, find a quiet place, closeyour eyes, deepen your breath,
run a movie in your mind, seehow and who you want to be. What
are you saying? What are youdoing, how are you feeling, what
are you thinking? What are youcreating? See it as if it is
(22:05):
already done, right? And thenyou think, Okay, well, what are
the kind of things that I wouldneed to do to have that be true,
to have that come true, right?You pick your habits, you pick
your your thought systems, loveor fear. And then you're like,
Okay, I'm going to pick justone. Just start with one. You
can have it stack later, butjust pick one new habit. Start
(22:26):
to practice it in December.Notice the kinks. Notice where
you get in your own way, allthat stuff. Start to build some
momentum, build that muscle,that new habitual muscle, right?
And then set the tempo, set thepace. Lay the groundwork. Lay
the foundation for a jazz devJanuary, right? And if you pick
something in particular thatyou're a little like, you know,
(22:48):
sometimes we want to tell oneother person we want to have
accountability. So if you justwant to shoot me a little
message or a little email andsay, Hey, this is what I'm
discovering in December, this iswhat I'm going to practice in
December. So I'm ready for jazzup January. You know what I
mean? And I would just be sohonored if you decided to share
with me what you're up to. I gota few things that, and I already
(23:09):
have a lot of habits in place,so I can have it stacked pretty
easily. And I have things I'vebeen doing for 30 years. So
those are just like a part of myidentity. They're just what I
do. It's not like I don't evenhave to think about those things
anymore. They just happen. Butsometimes there's new things.
When you're like, Okay, I havesome goals, I have some dreams.
There's some things I want toaccomplish. And right now, I can
(23:31):
tell you right now that there'slike, three new things that I'm
practicing. And not not new,new, but new ways of doing them.
That's a better way of sayingit, right? So I would love to
hear what yours are, and justthank you so much for tuning in.
I super duper appreciate you asalways. What do I always say,
wherever you go, wherever you goin December and beyond, right?
(23:56):
May you leave the animals, thepeople, the place, the
environment and yourself betterthan how you found it wherever
you go, may you and your energyand your presence and your love
be a blessing. Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.