How to Conquer Your Mountain in 2025

By Joël Malm Published on January 1, 2025

What’s your mountain this year?

Start a small business, nonprofit, or ministry, Get in shape? Write a book?

For the past 12 years, I’ve been helping people conquer mountains. But not just physical mountains like Mt. Kilimanjaro or Pike’s Peak; I’ve also walked people through going after hopes and dreams that feel like a giant mountain in front of them.

Here are a few practical steps you’ll need to take if you want to get serious about conquering your mountain this year:

Define the destination. Grab a blank piece of paper and on the top, write a clear vision statement. Don’t make it fancy or use big words. make it super clear and concise so you’ll know when you’ve accomplished what you’re trying to do. What if your dream is so huge you can’t explain it in one quantifiable sentence? Here’s my advice: Aim lower. Big things always start as small things. So even if you have a ginormous vision, start with something small — you can go bigger as the vision gets off the ground. Setting a goal you can see progress on as you take small steps helps build momentum. Which leads to the next point.
Start small. Figure out the absolute minimum you need to get started. It’s probably less than you think. You don’t need a fancy office or new workout clothes or a new computer or car to start. Some people will tell you those things will make you feel more legitimate — nonsense! Success will make you legitimate, even if you don’t have all the cool externals. Use what you have right now.
Draw a map. You can’t perfectly plan your route, but you can map out some steps you’ll need to take in the right direction. In my book Vision Map, I share a simple system that can help you with this. Here are the basics:

Step 1: Write out your goal on the piece of paper (that first step we talked about already).

Step 2: with a black marker, at the bottom of the page write out the first step you need to take to move toward your goal. Even if it seems small or self-evident, write it down. Then give yourself a reasonable deadline. Moving up the page, write down every small step you can take in black letters.

Step 3: When you get to something you can’t do on your own, write that step out in red. Every successful visionary will tell you there’s always a “God” moment when some outside force intervened. I think God does this to keep us humble and dependent on Him. In red letters write down any steps that will require divine intervention and then start praying and paying attention, trusting that God will provide what only He can.

4. Don’t climb alone. The first rule of climbing is: NEVER EVER climb alone. I think that’s good advice for every visionary. Don’t go it alone. King Solomon said, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.” You need a team of advisors around you who can give you insight on what steps you need to take. They can also help you avoid costly mistakes. Seek as many advisors for the journey as you can. Ask someone to hold you accountable for going after the dream. Read books — lots of them. That’s one of the best ways to tap people’s wisdom.

Know this: When you start, you’ll probably feel alone. But I love something Carl Jiung wrote, quoting an old alchemist: “No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” Even if you start alone, do the work!

I’ve seen over and over again that when people get serious about taking these steps, they see success. It’s not overnight. In fact, it usually takes longer than we expect. We tend to overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and underestimate what we can do in two to three years of focused forward movement. But trust me, it’s possible. Start small. Get moving. And don’t be surprised if you see some major progress toward your dreams this year as you “work as if it depends on you and pray as if it depends on God” (Iraneaus).

P.S. In January, I’m taking on four people and walking with them to develop a solid action plan to go after their dream. If you want more information about the program, click here.

Last thing: I wrote a five-day devotional for YouVersion that talkas about how to get started conquering your mountains this year. You can get it for free here.

Happy New Year!

Joël Malm is an author, speaker, podcaster, and leadership coach. Learn more about him at https://joelmalm.com