No More Playing Small: Ask Boldly & Take the Limits Off in 2025

Dream Bigger, Believe Bolder: Step Into Everything God Has for You in 2025

We’re already a month into the new year. Believe it or not, people have already given up on their resolutions and goals. A new year brings fresh energy in the beginning, but it’s important not to lose that momentum as we get deeper into the year. I typically don’t set New Year’s resolutions, but I am someone who plans and sets intentions for the year ahead. I understand why people fall off their goals so quickly. I used to set goals, get mad when I wouldn’t maintain them, and then fall off completely.

So many of us try to make drastic changes rather than realizing that true change is in the small daily habits. For example, if you want to eat healthier, it can be very hard to go cold turkey from everything that you’re used to. If you want to get into the gym, it can be challenging to go from never working out to working out seven days a week. It’s important to set large goals that scare you, but it’s equally important to set smaller goals with action steps to get you to that bigger goal. If you haven’t set any goals or intentions for 2025, it isn’t too late. If you have already set them, I want you to go grab them while we dig deeper.

I like to make sure all of my goals have a "why" attached. The "why" doesn’t need to be deep, but it has to be clear. Whenever my goals don’t have a "why" attached, I fall off almost instantly. I like to reverse engineer my goals; that simply means breaking the big goal into smaller, actionable items. If the goal is to move my body every day, I don’t hold myself to the standard of just going to the gym. I can move my body by going for a walk, doing an at-home workout, or taking a fitness class. Aside from fitness, I set goals for every area of my life. That means I have goals for finances, faith, personal growth, career, and more. Whatever the long-term goal is, breaking it into smaller, short-term goals allows you to track progress along the way.

Here’s what I want you to do: grab a sheet of paper (you can use your phone notes, but I like having physical paper that I can reference later.) At the top of the sheet, write "2025." I want you to list 25 things that you want to happen this year. They can be as big or small as you like. Allow your mind to wander to all the possibilities that could happen. I know this may feel uncomfortable at first, but I promise it’s going to be worth it. This exercise took me almost an hour because I kept trying to make each thing on the list realistic.

Naturally, as humans, we want to feel safe and we don’t want to let ourselves down. When we set goals, our brain often defaults to something "safe." Unconsciously, we sometimes set goals that seem obtainable and within our scope. Instead of shooting for something that could seem "crazy," we aim for something realistic. I want to challenge you to go deeper. Allow your brain to think of the wildest things you can imagine. When we were kids, we dreamed big. As we become adults, those dreams get smaller and smaller, based on what we deem realistic. This is the year we take the limits off. Stop limiting yourself to what you believe to be true. We serve an almighty, all-powerful God who parted the Red Sea—there’s nothing too big that He can’t do in your life.

Once you set this list of 25 things you want to see happen in your life, set some goals that help you reach them. Break the goals into quarterly and weekly steps. If you want to go the extra mile, you can add daily habits that help you reach the bigger goal. Beyond this list of things you wrote down for 2025, I want you to take this thought process with you every day. Take the limits off. Stop limiting yourself to what you can do, based on what you can currently see. There are things you never thought were imaginable if you lean into God and trust Him. Our brains can’t even compute all the things that God wants to do in our lives, and we limit Him to what we can only see.

I hope this exercise helped you dream bigger. Aim for the stars. They always say if your dream doesn’t scare you, you’re not dreaming big enough. Your dreams should scare you a little bit. Having a dream of losing weight is cool, but having a dream of living a healthy lifestyle and making healthy decisions is life-changing. Having a dream of writing a book is cool, but having a dream of being a New York Times bestseller is bold. When you shoot low, you get lower; when you shoot high, you get higher. Stop limiting yourself to what is possible for your life this year and beyond.

It’s not just about shifting your mindset; you must also take the limits off your actions. Can you truly say you have faith if you’re restricting what you believe is possible? Faith requires movement—action that aligns with your belief. Taking the limits off means stepping into the unknown, doing what you’ve never done before, and daring to pursue what once seemed out of reach. The action starts with your thinking, which leads to doing, and ends with having.

I was listening to a podcast from Mattie James, and she said, “Society will tell you to have all these things to be the person you want to be, but that’s not true. Be who God told you to be, so you can do what you’re supposed to do and have all God has for you. Be, do, have; that is the order.” Once you change your thoughts and become who God called you to be, you move differently. It’ll cause your actions to be different, and ultimately you'll have all the things you're looking for in life, (if it aligns with Gods will.)

If I’m believing for increase, why am I making future decisions with the capacity that I have now? I’m not saying don’t make plans; I’m simply saying make plans with what you believe is coming. That’s the thing about faith—to act as if it is. For example, if I'm believing that God will give me the miracle of having a child, I wouldn’t buy a house that only has one bedroom. Do your actions match your faith? Do your current habits align with what you’re believing for? If God gave you exactly what you wanted right now, would you be the person ready for it?

Take the limits off and ask God for what you want this year. You have to have some audacity about yourself and your goals. I know society says to move in silence but you should be sharing your goals with trusted people around you because you never know how they can help. Your friend might have the contacts or other resources to help you reach a goal, but if you don’t share it, how could they help?

I challenge you to take the limits off this year and ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT! Don’t let fear, feeling “unworthy,” lacking self-confidence/belief, or being comfortable stop you from asking for what you want. Ask God for those big blessings. Ask your friends for help. Ask for that promotion at your job. No more playing it small. This year, it’s time to go after all that you want!

First, you have to stop being scared and limited, and find out what you truly want. Not what society tells you you should want, but what are the desires of your heart? The only way to find this out is to unplug and spend some time with yourself! Next, you have to come up with a plan that requires you to take action. Lastly, you have to speak up. As a little girl, my mom would always tell me, "Open your mouth and say what's in your head. I want to help you, but I'm not a mind reader.'' So I challenge you to do the same, open your mouth. You never know where your help will come from.