The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Show

Episode: Michael Bosstick On How To Make Every Year A Success & Achieve Your Personal Goals
Host: Michael Bosstick (solo)
Release Date: December 25, 2025

Episode Overview

In this reflective solo episode, Michael Bosstick shares his personal strategy for making each year a success, both professionally and personally. Drawing on decades of experience as an entrepreneur, husband, and father, he dives deep into his practice of anchoring each year to a single, overarching theme. Michael outlines how this approach sharpens focus, shapes priorities, and enables growth—ultimately helping individuals achieve their biggest goals. The episode is packed with actionable advice, honest self-assessment, and real-world examples.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Focus as the Differentiator

• Michael opens by emphasizing the importance of focus for individuals, businesses, and families.
• Quote:

  "Most of these successful people I've met, most of the businesses I've seen...there's an extreme focus." (02:05)

• He observes that whenever he, or those around him, start to "wobble," it's almost always a lack of focus at the root.

2. Debunking the Myth of Having It All (At Once)

• Michael challenges the concept of instant balance:

  "People talk about balance all the time, which...I don't believe in. You can have it all, but as Scott Galloway says, you can have it all, but you might not be able to have it all right away." (03:45)

• The episode suggests that big achievements require seasons of focus and sacrifice.

3. Setting an Annual Theme: Michael’s Yearly Practice

• Each year, Michael picks a single word or thematic focus to guide his decisions.
• This theme becomes a “North Star,” shaping major and minor choices throughout the year.
• Benefits of a theme:
  • Provides clarity and direction
  • Simplifies decision-making
  • Builds momentum by aligning personal and professional efforts

Michael’s Recent Annual Themes (07:55):

• 2020: Change—major move from LA to Texas, company restructuring, birth of first child, COVID upheaval.
• 2021-2022: Health—made health the priority, often at the expense of other things.

  “I realized in 2021 and 2022 I was out of integrity with myself...everything revolved around my time in the gym and what I was eating…”

• 2023: Family—focus shifted to building and nurturing the family unit as new parents.
• 2024: Growth/Maturity—emphasis on maturing as a leader and scaling the business.
• 2025: Business—decided to be "all in" and aggressive about work, despite impending challenges.

  “This is going to be the most challenging year. It's going to be stressful, it's going to be tiring...I just kind of went into it saying no matter what happens, this is the year where I'm just going to bite down, grit my teeth, and go through all the things…” (17:45)

4. The Hidden Benefit: Habit Formation & Lasting Change

• Single-theme years lay the groundwork for sustainable, positive habits—each theme builds on the last.
• Even when the theme shifts in subsequent years, the habits and strengths earned remain.

• “You look back…and say, whoa, I can now map out: in 2020 I embraced a lot of change; in 2021–22, I overhauled my health; in 2023, Lauren and I got tighter as a family...” (11:50)

5. Sacrifice is Inevitable—And Okay

• Michael candidly admits that each year’s focus meant letting other things go, sometimes even to the detriment of relationships or fun.

• “This year, as I was focused on business, unfortunately a lot of my personal fun and relationships and travel...fell by the wayside. I was able to compartmentalize and say, that's okay, because this is the theme.” (19:30)

6. Goal Setting: Why Less is More

• Big, broad goals supported by micro-steps are more achievable than a long checklist of disconnected resolutions.

• “Less goals, but bigger goals with tactics...tend to get me to that big goal a lot faster.” (24:35)

• Michael references The One Thing by Gary Keller: hyper-focus drives results; humans are poor multitaskers.

7. Buy-in and Social Support

• By sharing his theme—to family, friends, the team—others can support or at least understand his priorities.

• “Creating that support system was extremely helpful.” (28:55)

8. The Annual Audit: A Practical Exercise

• Audit your previous year: wins and pitfalls.
• Choose the most important theme (for you).
• Write that theme at the top of the page and list what you need to do—to achieve it, and what to stop doing.

• “Whatever that priority is for you next year, whatever that theme is, write it down...Then, what are all the things I need to do...for me to feel like I achieved that theme by the end of the year?” (34:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the power of theme:

  “Anchoring the year and starting with a theme immediately puts you in a position where...you have a focus, you have a direction.” (05:10)

• On seasons of imbalance:

  “You can have it all, but you might not be able to have it all right away.” (04:10)

• On learning from tough years:

  "2015, for me, the theme of that year was stress and misery and it was self-inflicted...I was focused on the wrong things." (37:30)

• On goal-setters’ pitfalls:

  “I’ve seen way too many entrepreneurs...they start to do well at one thing…and then they jump to another thing. This happens all the time with entrepreneurs...It's a lack of focus.” (22:50)

• Theme for the coming year:

  "This upcoming year is all about elevating...how do I elevate my family, the people around me, the company..." (26:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Focus as Differentiator: 01:40–03:00
• The Myth of “Having it All”: 03:30–05:00
• Theme-Setting Explained: 05:20–08:55
• Examples of Past Annual Themes: 08:45–11:55
• Building Habits & Positive Legacy: 11:55–14:00
• 2025’s Theme & Intense Focus on Business: 17:10–20:15
• Sacrifice Discussion: 20:45–22:00
• Dangers of Scattered Goal Lists: 23:50–25:00
• Power of Buy-In: 27:30–29:00
• Yearly Audit and Theme-Selection Process: 34:34–38:00

Final Takeaways & Practical Action Steps

• Audit your past year: celebrate wins, analyze losses.
• Identify the single most important theme for your next year—personal, professional, relational, or otherwise.
• Write down the theme, and list key supporting actions and behaviors—as well as things to avoid.
• Share your theme with those who matter, to build understanding and support.
• Remember: each intense season of focus creates habits and strengths that carry into the future.

“This is meant to be a high-level approach to get you to think a little bit larger and also a little bit longer about your approach for the new year or any year.” (39:57)

For listeners (and readers) looking for a focused, achievable plan to make each year purposeful and impactful, Michael’s single-theme method offers a simple, time-tested framework—refined over years of entrepreneurial and personal growth.