The single mindset shift that’s changed my life more than anything else (outside of my faith) is taking ownership.

Probably two years ago at this point I read the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. It is a book focused on leadership, but I have realized over the last two years just how powerful it is when applied to your everyday life as well. It was something that I naturally leaned towards anyways, but once I read the book and became aware of this mindset, it drastically shifted the moments when I caught myself shifting blame. If there was one thing that I could drive home that would change your life in 2026 other than surrendering your life to Jesus Christ, it would be taking ownership.

So what does that even mean? Taking ownership? To me, it looks like always looking inward first when things don’t go my way and thinking what can I do or what could I have done to change this outcome. If you have never really thought this way before, it might sound like it would be depressing.

You mean I am supposed to blame myself for everything? That would suck!

Stick with me… it doesn’t

What it actually does is prevents other people and circumstances from having control over your emotions, your day, and your life! By first looking at what you could have done differently, you will find that a lot of times there was something that you could have done to prevent the situation you are in. This leads to great learning moments where you can grow to make sure it doesn’t happen again when you are in the situation again. This also means that you will feel like I am the one that controls whether XY or Z happens to me. Is that always true? No. But this helps eliminate the victim mindset where you can feel like you have no control because of outside circumstance which then means you can’t do anything to change them.

That is a place you can really get stuck. Taking ownership changes that perspective and helps you get unstuck.

Now it can get unhealthy if you get down in the dumps which is not the idea. The idea is for this mindset shift to empower you to take back control over whatever are of your life has got you down and decide that enough is enough! As Dave Ramsey would put it, this is for when you are “sick and tired of being sick and tired!”

So in 2026 decide to start with the mirror instead of the window. Look at what you can do to change your job performance, your weight on the scale, your relationship with your wife, your fill in the blank. Don’t let life just happen to you and roll with the punches. Put the gloves on and throw some of your own!

While writing the top selling discs of 2025 blog for our site, I decided to compare the data to 2024 numbers to see which discs were trending up and which were trending down. I found the data fascinating and broke down my thoughts on why this might be the case in that article!