Jim sits down with Sara Blackmer, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, senior partner at Salaiko Capital, and CEO of FluidLogic. This conversation is about leadership that holds up in the real world, not theory.

You'll hear how discipline creates clarity, why servant leadership is the fastest path to high performance, and how confidence is built through repetition and daily wins. They also get into team dynamics, role alignment, and why movement is not the same thing as momentum.

If you're serious about building winning cultures and making better decisions with your time and money, this episode hits.

• Confidence is built through preparation, repetition, and proof

• Servant leadership means taking care of people so they can take care of the mission

• Discipline creates focus and alignment

• High-performing teams beat even the most talented individuals every time

• When you fully commit to what you say yes to, opportunities show up you could not have predicted

1. Start the day with order
   Make your bed. Get one win on the board early. Your mindset follows your actions.

2. Create role clarity
   If someone cannot explain how their role impacts the mission, you have a leadership problem, not a talent problem.

3. Serve your team daily
   Ask: "What roadblock can I remove for you today?" Then do it.

Sara Blackmer's Final Word

"Give all of yourself to what you say yes to. If you do that again and again, opportunities will come in ways you never expected."

This episode puts a bow on the "Best Year Ever" series and pulls the threads together. Jim Oliver and Nick Kosko walk through what actually keeps you on course when motivation fades - vision without systems drifts, and identity without environment collapses. This conversation is about building a life that compounds, spiritually, physically, and financially, because it is designed to do so - focusing on daily stewardship and long-term thinking.

What You'll Learn:

• Why vision and the systems that support it matters

• The relationship between identity and behavior

• The difference between living as a consumer versus an owner

• The ways faith, health, and money all rise or fall together

Action Steps

1. Install Drift Checkers
   Create 5-minute morning and evening check-ins to stay aligned with who you are becoming, not who you were.

2. Change the Environment First
   Remember to remove friction for the habits you want and add friction for the ones you do not. Pantries, calendars, relationships, and routines matter.

Nick Kosko's Shared Wisdom

"Your plans are drafts. God's plans are complete. When you steward what you've been given, and put the right systems around your life, the results are always better than what you could have designed on your own."

In this final teaching episode of the new year series, Jim closes the loop on how to design the best year of your life on purpose. This is not about motivation; it's about identity, systems, faith, and ownership. 2026 becomes your best year the moment you decide the old way is done and you architect something better with intention and clarity.

What You'll Learn

• The Breakaway Framework

• Why your best year never happens by accident

• Two questions that shape everything you will experience in 2026

• How systems outperform goals every single time

• Why gratitude and vision are non-negotiable if you want lasting change

Action Steps:

1. Write Your Declaration
   Define who you are becoming in 2026 and let that identity drive every decision.

2. Build Automatic Systems
   Replace willpower with environments and systems that make the right actions inevitable.

3. Commit to Community
   Stop trying to do this alone—coaching, accountability, and structure change outcomes.

Jim Oliver's Final Word
"2026 isn't your best year because circumstances change. It's your best year because you change. When you decide who you are and build systems around that identity, the results always follow."