Year-End Wins, Lessons, Next Steps

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What if the most honest growth you had all year came from the mistake you’d rather hide? Gary pulls back the curtain on a year that mixed big wins with hard lessons: publishing Own Your Journey for students and families, launching Ocala Inspired to spotlight local leaders, and building a cross-platform community that crossed 1.7 million views—all while teaching full-time, parenting two boys, and serving teens at church.

We walk through the backbone of sustainable leadership at home and at work: model healthy stress management so your people don’t just hear it, they see it. Set boundaries you actually enforce. Create space to fail, then plan, brief, execute, and debrief so learning compounds. Ask better questions and listen longer—especially with teenagers who need curiosity more than lectures. Build routines that make discipline automatic. Practice radical ownership when a partnership or expense doesn’t align, even if it stings. And say the quiet part out loud: I love you, I trust you, and I expect your best. When trust breaks, rebuild it with guardrails, grace, and time.

You’ll also hear how simple tools and consistency beat fancy setups: shorts that pull people toward deeper conversations, weekly publishing to use every Buzzsprout minute, and a clear-eyed approach to growth on YouTube, TikTok, and beyond. We talk candidly about phones, intrusive care, and why parents must verify as an act of love. Through it all, faith grounds the work—belief in God, belief in family, and belief that purpose means nothing without action.

If you’re a parent, teacher, coach, or young leader figuring out life after high school, this conversation gives you a seven-part playbook for 2026 you can start today. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a nudge, and drop a comment with the one focus you’ll own first.

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