Wake Up to Wealth - Embrace the Grind: Making 2026 Your Year of Progress

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

In episode 54 of Wake Up to Wealth, Brandon Brittingham breaks down why 2026 must focus on execution, consistency, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving. When a guest cancels last minute, he shifts gears and opens up about his record-breaking year and how he secured almost $100M in deals in only 45 days.Tune in to hear about real challenges leaders face and how intentional leadership transforms culture and performance. SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBrandon BrittinghamInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mailboxmoneyb/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brandon.brittingham.1/ WEBSITESBrandon Brittingham: https://www.brandonsbrain.org/home==========================SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS:Rocketly: https://rocketly.ai/Accruity: https://accruity.com/

This is Wake Up to Wealth, a podcast dedicated to helping you change the way you think about wealth. And now, here's your host, Brandon Brittingham. Hey, this next segment is brought to you, but my good friends at rocketlead.a.i. That is rockately.com. If you're in the real estate business, especially the investment side, and you need a platform that can run your real estate business and talk to leads through AI, when you're not able to talk to them and can qualify and get to all the leads you can't get to. Plus, it has an amazing piece of technology with it called lead detector that helps get all the people that come to your site and not opt in to opt in to turn into a lead. These are my good friends at rocketyly.com.

I'm part of this company as well. I use it to run my real estate business, my real estate investment business. Go check them out. Again, rocketly. And thank you guys for sponsoring the segment. Hey, what's up everybody? We are back with another episode of Wake Up to Wealth. And as always, I can't thank everyone enough for the fact that you guys have made this show grow insane.

In 2025, we ended with almost 3 million downloads. And we were clipping 100,000 plus per episode. In the last episode that we just did, we got 100,000. I'm sorry, 110,000 downloads and it's still running. So I can't thank you guys enough for an amazing year and everything that you've done. Now, today we're going to do something a little bit different. We had a guest scheduled today. And unfortunately, they got some not great news about a family member and had an emergency.

But that's okay. We live in the entrepreneur world where we've got to pivot, make fast decisions all the time. And I've been wanting to come talk to you guys anyway. You know, we're starting off a new year. it's 2026. And this is the time of year where everybody starts with resolutions. And, you know, like what I'm,

I'm going to the gym right now and the gym is freaking packed. And by mid-February, it'll be empty again and be back to normal. So this year, one of the things that I want you as a listener to think about is, you know, what is priority

and what are you going to be consistent around? You know, the biggest thing when it comes to being successful in anything is your ability to be consistent day in and day out. And everybody thinks it's this magic pill and that it's something crazy. But just human psychology, you will win just being consistent. Take the gym as an example. If you go to the gym, dude, people can't stay consistent for more than a month, right? You know, everybody starts the new year, new me bullshit.

and then there are three weeks, four weeks into working out and they quit. You will win in 2026 just by showing up and just by being consistent. So what you really should look at in 2026 is what am I saying yes to? What am I saying no to? Right. And in December of 2025, I had one of the best months of my career. And a couple things, a couple lessons I want to share with you guys going into 2026. one of the biggest lessons that I learned was I had to get an enormous amount of deals done

where I didn't have a choice. I was getting people in the deals that needed depreciation. They had to settle this year. And these are longtime investors of mine, friends of mine, people that trust me, people that trust me with their money. I didn't have a choice, right? And the important part of this is when you have a deadline that you cannot miss, you can make insane amount of shit happen.

And what happens when we live in a world where everyone's not working on the same deadline. And if you don't put a deadline on things and treat it like it's life or death, then the deadline gets pushed. You can make insane shit happen when you have a deadline. Put deadlines on yourself.

Put deadlines on other people. Another really important lesson that I learned in December I had to say no to a lot of things because in order for me to get all this stuff done, what I had said yes to was I got to get all these properties to settlement for my investors. And you can't imagine the amount of shit that went wrong. Every damn deal I had, something went wrong. Because I had to focus on getting all these properties to settlement for my investors.

I didn't have time to do anything else. and what it made me really think about is what are the things that I'm saying yes to in my life that I'm not aligned with, right? And I'm just saying yes in a vacuum with no intention. Because as entrepreneurs, we tend to do this. We tend to say yes. We tend to say yes. And understand everything you say yes to, you're saying no to something else. So in all reality, what is really important that you should be saying yes and you should be saying no to? What I learned in December was I had another gear that I did not know that I could run at. But in order for me to run at that gear, there's a lot of shit I had to say no to.

And it really made me think and gave me retrospect about like, man, what am I actually saying yes to? And is this aligned, right? So you got to have non-negotiables, period. You got to be consistent. You got to have non-negotiables around what you're willing to do and what you're not willing to do, right? And that was a big lesson that I learned at 26. Or I'm sorry, in 25 that I'm carrying a 26. Another huge lesson I learned was if you believe and you bet on yourself and you're willing to put the chips in the middle of the table,

you can do an extraordinary amount of shit because the amount of things that I had to pull off in 25 or at the end of 25, that everybody told me it was not possible, I just was not going to take no for an answer. And what I want you guys to think about and understand in 26, don't let other people's limitations affect where you're trying to go or what you're trying to do.

If I had not been the bull in 20, at the end of 25, of just saying to everybody, I don't get a fuck what you say, all this shit is going to settle, we're going to do all these deals, it wouldn't have happened. And the other thing about,

this is there's if you really believe there's always a way all these things went wrong like just consistently in all these transactions and I just did not give a shit and another thing too is around this is you know when you believe in something and you're putting towards your energy into it you know getting mad or getting upset when something goes wrong is a wasted emotion things are going to go wrong, shit is going to happen. And instead of so many people, if you've ever been in a deal, right, if you've ever been in an argument, in a lot of these situations, so many people waste and exhaust energy on being right or why you're wrong. And when I was going through all these transactions in December, my attitude was this, okay, I don't give a shit. How do we solve the problem? And so many people

will waste energy and emotion on not solving the problem of just trying to be right. So when you can lock in, there's always a way. You find a way to get there. And the other thing, too, is that I learned, even myself, I think really big, but we put ceilings on ourselves that in reality are not possible. From Thanksgiving to Christmas and after Christmas, I sell. somewhere close to $100 plus million in transactions, right? And these are transactions I had to raise money for, you know, just a myriad of shit.

You got to think that there were times in my life that I didn't think $100 million in a year was possible. And I did that in essentially about a 45-day process, a little less than 45 days. and I was faced with the measurable odds in December to get all this stuff to settlement. After coming off of settling a $63 million apartment complex that I had to raise money for, that we had to pull off in like 21 days in November, and we had Thanksgiving as a holiday.

The reason why I'm sharing this to you is not a flex. I didn't think this shit was possible. I didn't think I was going to be able to pull it off at first, but then I locked the fuck in and just said, look, I'm going to make this shit happen. and when all these things starts going wrong in the deals, I didn't have time to argue with who was right or who was wrong. The only thing I'm trying to figure out is how do we get there and how do we solve the problem.

So another lesson I'm going to give you guys in 26 is who gives a shit. The lesson is don't waste your emotional intelligence on who's right or who's wrong. Use your emotional intelligence for solving the problem. And oh, by the way, you will be paid in proportion and your bank is, account will reflect your ability to solve really complex complex problems. And one of the things that I saw in 25, so many people quit when things get rough. And when they get a no or when they stop or they get pushback, they're willing to fucking shut down and just give up. And you will be able to beat everybody being consistent, right? Showing the fuck up. Consistently.

and 26, right? Using your emotional intelligence to solve fucking problems, going and finding that other gear, punching through that ceiling, but also your ability to solve problems. While people are out there getting discouraged by the nose or something goes wrong and they feel like they can't figure the deal out, you will win because you can go out and figure out the deal, right? And I'm a huge believer of this.

My brother Ken Clother says this all the time. one of my mentors, when you get extremely focused on a goal, the world has its way of getting out of your way. And if you lock the fuck in and you stop listening to all the bullshit and you stop letting the fear cloud your judgment, then you can really get some shit done.

And in 26, another thing that I want you guys to really think about is one of the things that my life completely changed in 25, was because I just go into execution. So don't overthink shit. You know, don't spend a bunch of time. Like, you will beat everyone just an imperfect action. It doesn't have to be right.

You don't have to wait for the perfect time. Nothing is the perfect time. Right? Like you just have to lock in and you have to execute. And you have to execute consistently. You got to point and shoot. And if you point and shoot, eventually you're going to hit the target. And if you miss, you'll get better and you'll get better and you'll get better.

So it's extremely important in 26 that you execute. Will this be the year of execution? Are you going to keep doing the same fucking stupid shit and saying, oh, I'm going to change. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I can't tell you how many people have reached out to me. Hey, I'm going to coach with you. Hey, I'm going to invest with you. Hey, I'm going to do this. hey, I'm going to do that. Hey, I'm going to work out with you. And then six months later, I see them. And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm still going to get with you.

Cool. I just got six months of progress on you. And the people who took me up on things got six months of progress on you. And you're still in the same spot. Like movement is medicine. And that's in your fitness. That's in your business. That's in progression.

Human beings are the happiest when they're in progress. And if you're not willing to invest in your, yourself, you're not going to get better. And if you're not willing to put two feet in front of each other every day and get better. And we think that it needs to be this elaborate, I got to improve by 100% all the time. No, it's compounded effort every single freaking day just moving forward, one foot in front of the other. So in 26, I wanted to do something a little bit different with you guys today. I had planned on this, but not today because we had a guest, but it just worked out. That's part of being an entrepreneur too, right? Instead of sitting here whining and crying,

and oh, the guests can't make it today. You know what I did? I'm a good entrepreneur, so I pivot. And I still come here and I give you value. And that's what you got to do. Shit's not going to go right. Your plans are going to get fucked up. Shit's not going to always go as you plan.

Instead of bitching up about it, you as an entrepreneur, you got to lock in and you got to adjust, and you got to make the best of the circumstances and you got to make the best of the situation that you're put in. Because, again, going back to you get paid in proportion to solve problems. I promise you, if you run a business, you're an entrepreneur or whatever, you will be presented with problems every single day. And your ability to solve that problem extremely quickly and not cry and pity party and

be on some bullshit will give you the ability to adjust and beat your competition day in and day out. Look, it is hard, but it's nowhere near as hard as people think. Show up, right? Lock in. Be consistent in the way. world around you will change. And stop taking note for an answer. Stop not believing and betting on yourself. And stop telling yourself you're going to do it when. You know, waiters are people that I stay

away from. They're waiting for this. They're waiting for that. Waiting for the right time. Waiting to hire a coach. Waiting to go to the gym. Waiting to invest my money. While you're waiting, the world is lapping you. So in 2026, what I want you guys to do, I want you to focus on changing this shit. stop taking no for an answer. There's always a way to figure it out. Lean on your emotional intelligence instead of it being who's right or wrong in a deal. How do I fucking solve it? How do I solve the problems of my business?

Wake up every single day and be consistent and stop believing that the ceiling that you think is above you is real because it's not. That's all the shit that I learned. And in all reality, this could be the year that you make the shit happen, but you've got to do the fucking work. you got to lock in, you got to do the work. So I appreciate you guys for always following the show. I appreciate you guys for always listening. I just wanted to come give you guys some advice that I learned this year because I want to help you in 26 get better.

But you got to lock in, you got to stop bitching up. And if this is the year you're going to get shit done, then make this be the year to get shit done. Don't talk about it. You just got to execute. and small amounts of progression every single day will beat this fucking cool, oh, business plan, this, that the third.

All you got to do is progress day in, day out. Get a little bit better day and day out. Listen, we bring you knowledge because we want you to wake up to wealth. This could be the best year. If you look at a lot of things that are coming in the economy, a lot of the headwinds, people like us that are listening to this show, we have the ability to dominate if we lock in. Part of the fucking mission is you got to show up, right?

You got to show up and be consistent every day. Make this the year you stop waiting. Make this the year that you lock in. I appreciate all of you guys for paying attention, listening to the show. But take what I've told you today and implement it. And if you do, your shit will change. I appreciate you guys always for listening and follow me.

Let's make 2026 a year. fucking do big shit. Thank y'all. Hey everybody, this next segment is brought to you by my good friends at Accruity. Now, if you run a business, most business owners neglect their back office and they don't even know where to go or who to trust when it comes to their financials or CPA or taxes. That's where Accruity comes in. You can trust them.

They can give you advice and they understand the back office. Listen, you're not running a business correctly if you don't have a hold of this and it's really hard to trust people that are out there. And most CPAs frankly work for the IRS and don't work for you. That's not the case with Accruity. Check my good friends out at Accruity for any needs that you have when it comes to helping with your back office, getting your book straight, getting your taxes correct, and they guide you and give you advice, which most firms don't. So check out my guys at a cruity. Tell them I sent you. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of Wake Up to Wealth. We sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed.

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