Ep 218 Are you making goal progress or are you stuck?

January 25, 2024

The podcast episode discusses the process of successful goal setting and achievement. The host, Sara Mayer, provides tips on keeping goals in focus using effective reflection and tracking time. She suggests breaking down bigger goals into smaller tasks that can be tackled every month, week, and day, using the example of writing a book. She also advocates for a short reflection period at the end of each day to assess progress, identify blockages, and plan the next steps. Mayer emphasizes the importance of discipline and commitment to goal achievement and encourages listeners to be patient with themselves during the process.

00:05 Introduction to Bold Goal Crushing

01:13 The Importance of Reflection and Tracking

01:42 Personal Example of Goal Prioritization

03:41 Breaking Down Goals into Manageable Tasks

05:36 The Power of Daily Reflection

05:55 Utilizing Tools for Reflection and Goal Tracking

06:52 The Importance of Self-Compassion in Goal Achievement

07:45 Conclusion: Time to Crush Your Goals

Episode Transcript

Ep 218 Are you making goal progress or are you stuck?

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Sara Mayer: [00:00:00] Welcome to the bold goal crusher podcast for anyone looking to stop letting life get in the way and start crushing bold goals. I'm your host, Sara Mayer, and I'm thrilled to navigate this journey with you because it's time to start boldly achieving without working double time. So let's dive in.

Sara Mayer: Hello, Bold Goal Crushers! We are in the middle of January, and you know what that means. Many of you set goals or resolutions at the beginning of the year, and you may be a little bit off track, and that's okay, but it's time to create a process so you are able to stay on track. And I know that the new year brings this pressure to set goals to post [00:01:00] them and many times it's not the best time to set goals because simply there's just so much going on in January.

Sara Mayer: You can start fresh. every single week. So I want to take a step back and I want you to think about the process of how you are going to keep your goals at the forefront of your to do list. And that all comes with building reflection and tracking time. Many people don't like the word reflection. They think that's too woo or too journal y, but you need to build time into your schedule To review your goals, to keep your goals at the forefront.

Sara Mayer: I'll use an example. So I had a lot to do today, actually. And some of the things were not really easy. They were related to my goals, they were big, and they were things that I really needed to think about or mull over. But I also needed to [00:02:00] replant some seedlings, some plants that I've been propagating. I also needed to pack for an upcoming trip.

Sara Mayer: And so what do you think I did? I did those two things. I packed and I replanted those plants. Now, did it take me very long? No, it took me like 10 minutes to replant the plants. And it took me like 15 minutes to start the packing process. Now I didn't finish the packing process. So now I have this unfinished task that I started that was not even on my list for today.

Sara Mayer: And I've got plants and new pots, which is great that needed to get done. Now I have a call and so now I have a podcast recording. Now I have this. So the thing that I really needed to work on that I knew was going to take a little bit longer to do, I put off because I had these other things that I needed to do.

Sara Mayer: But at the end of my week, at the end of my [00:03:00] month and at the end of my life, I certainly am not going to list packing for my trip this weekend or repotting these plants. As one of the highlights of my life, let's just be real, but if I had worked towards my goal, the end of my life, at the end of my week, at the end of my month, I would be really proud that I advanced towards that goal.

Sara Mayer: And so this happens to everyone, even me, I know to put my goals. forward, but it's hard. It takes discipline and commitment every day. And that's really where our goals start to slip away from us when we don't put in that discipline and commitment. So I challenge you today to pick one to three things, big things that are related to your goal every single month that you will get done.

Sara Mayer: And then break that down into three to five things a week. And then three things a [00:04:00] day. So your overarching goal may be to write a book. I'm just using that as an example because people can relate, but that may be a two to three year goal. So if you were to break that down into this month, you may be focused on chapter one.

Sara Mayer: Or actually, I'm going to back it up. You may be focused on creating a good outline. So this month you want to get your outline done for your entire book. All right. So week one, you will start to put together the outline from stories that you already have, or topics you know you want to cover. And you'll do that by researching this content you already have, and you'll come up with three to five actions a day.

Sara Mayer: Week two, you may refine the outline. You may get into more depth in the outline. You may create some paragraphs and structure around the outline so it's not just bullets. Week three, you [00:05:00] might start to ask for feedback from other people about the outline. And week four, you can incorporate that. And so every day there could be a little action on that.

Sara Mayer: So when you're outlining the various chapters, that could be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you start to flesh out those chapters. And then at the end of the month, you've achieved your objective of creating an outline. Now you haven't achieved your big goal of writing the book, but you've moved the ball forward every single week by chunking that down.

Sara Mayer: And then what you do. Is at the end of the day, you ask yourself, did I move this ball forward? How did I do? Why didn't I move it forward? What am I stuck on? Who do I need to talk to? And that's a great way. This doesn't need to be a daily 30 minute reflection. Take five minutes. One of the things that I do is in my, I use the clever Fox calendar.

Sara Mayer: Many of [00:06:00] you guys know that. And in the day section, you'll see here, if you're watching on YouTube, there's like this box where you can put appointments. I don't do that. I write in this box at the end of the day, what my reflection is for that day. Was I productive? Where did I get stuck? Who do I need to talk to?

Sara Mayer: So use the tools you already have. Take five minutes at the end of the day. Reflect on how you did take five minutes at the beginning of the day to think about what your goals are and what are the actions that you can take that day to meet the eventual goal. And then at the end of the week, rinse and repeat, do that same process again.

Sara Mayer: How did the week go? Did you move the goal forward or is it still sitting in stall? Are you still in neutral in the car? And if you are. Don't be so hard on yourself. There are weeks where you're not going to be able to focus on anything that's difficult and just repotting your [00:07:00] plants is success.

Sara Mayer: So know that you don't need to be so hard on yourself, but You need to make the corrections for the next week, because if you don't, you'll go through 52 weeks and you never will have progressed your goal. So it's time to really think about your goal, break your goal down into objectives, and those things need deadlines and timeframes, and they need to be very bite size so that when you accomplish them, you're building that muscle of achieving.

Sara Mayer: You're feeding that. that craving to feel like you are productive. And so when you do that, you build the muscle and you are more likely to crush your goals and everything that gets in the way, honestly. All right, bold goal crushers. It's time to crush your goals and everything that gets in the way.

Sara Mayer: So let's get to it.

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