GOAL SETTING BROKEN DOWN
“Begin with the end in mind.” - Stephen Covey
Whenever people talk about goal setting we all refer back to the acronym SMART; which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based. It is a simple step-by-step approach that gives you perspective on how to approach your goals. However, the one limitation to just telling an individual just be SMART, is that not many elaborate on the process of how to navigate through goal setting properly.
One of the crucial steps that I see with many people and their goal setting is that they’re not choosing things they absolutely love. An imperative principle one of my mentors Charles Poliquin always talked about was the myth of discipline. You’ll never accomplish your goals through just discipline and motivation itself, you have to love what you’re going after which dictates how successful you are in achieving those goals. What I have evaluated these last couple of years consulting with clients is that many people are superficial with what they want in their life. Their goals are influenced by external factors of life telling them what they should or should not do.
We need to go back to that kids mentality of imagining a life you want and having no limitations to them. Where we are still naive enough to know that we can truly accomplish anything we want. The first step towards realizing what we want in life is through Introspection. The act of introspection is one of the most underrated parts of goal setting that many do not tap into. With the extraordinary amount of distractions to your creative processes, you need to double down on shutting the world out for a few minutes a day and be with your thoughts. In the minds of many this may be scary but that is because you may stumble upon the truths that you need to face in life. This is where growth can occur.
The Dream Phase
The first step to achieving your goals is first hacking into the subconscious level of your brain. The ability to turn on your innate creative processes. This is known as the Dream Phase. The dream phase was introduced to me by a mentor of mine Rob Bailey of Flag Nor Fail. The dream phase is one underrated practice that you can seamlessly incorporate into your every day and ensure foundation and the window to the future. Without vision without dreams we will not have motivation or direction in our life. In the Dream Phase, you are required to take the cuffs off and allow the imagination to just run its course. No third party influences, no limitations, no boxes to fit into, just you and your wildest dreams.
One of the practices that I utilize is through voice. For me, writing or typing limits the speed at which I can turn over dreams into ideas and allow a free flow. Voice however has an amplifying affect on my ability to process visions and guide them into an ever flowing river of ideas. Every morning I block out 20 minutes of time to allow for a brain dump in the form of voice. I utilize the app Voice Memos on my IPhone and I always do this while walking. I have found that staying in motion allows the creativity process to multiply and transfer better than sitting in place. During the walk I will vent into my phone anything that comes to my mind in regards to how I see my life over the next 365 days. I imagine what my life looks like from many aspects from the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep. What does my family life look like? What does my schedule look like? What does my business look like? My bank account? My conversations? My relationships? My physique? My ultimate house/compound with a helicopter pad on the top of it? etc. You have to visualize the exact life that you want but the only rule is DREAM BIGGER. No limitations, no judgements, just a big dreamy life. Just let the dreams flow out of your brain and into the world.
After a few days you will notice some continuity in what you imagine your life to be. You will also notice dreams and visions that you have not thought about in years almost as if you released the chains locking away your imagination. This is exactly where the magic lies. This is where you find exactly who you are and what you love in the world. It is a special feeling to have.
The One Thing
Now that you have unlocked the path to your ultimate dreams, the next phase is to start getting dialed in with the goal you want. This is where you take the dreams and visions that you have and break them down into one. Like Curly said in the 90s movie City Slickers, “The secret to life…The one thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.” The most important thing in your life that you want to accomplish in the immediate future is the only thing you should focus on right now. Without the one thing, you are lost, you are a UPS driver delivering a package to a family in New York City without GPS or an address. You just know they live in New York City. Good luck with that.
In the book “The One Thing,” written by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan they explain that there is only one thing behind every successful person or organization. When you understand that and apply it, you can concurrently do less and accomplish more; acquire extra-ordinary results and lead an extra-ordinary life. If you have not read that book I highly suggest picking that up this year. With that being said you need to decide what is your ONE THING.
The Plan
The final phase is to break this one big goal down into multiple subgoals. By doing this exercise it allows your brain to digest the main goals by focusing on subgoals to get there. The marathon vs. the sprint mentality comes into play here.
Goals are just as much psychological as they are behavioral. Your brain has to understand the big goal in bite size bits of information. A plan with constant positive feedback will ultimately have long term success. Each day, each month and each quarter will setup up success for the next. A small win a day with keep failure away.
In this workout sheet CLICK HERE, I layout a process in which you can map out your entire year to successfully achieve your goals. The work sheet breaks down your subgoals into four quarters and twelve months. Thus allowing you to plan out all of your small wins to ultimately achieve your main goal for your year.
To show you the magic of breaking your goal down into subgoals, let’s take a common goal of losing weight. You want to for example lose 100 pounds this year. That is your main goal.
Quarter 1 Goal: Lose 25lbs
Quarter 2 Goal: Lose 25lbs
Quarter 3 Goal: Lose 25lbs
Quarter 4 Goal: Lose 25lbs
When we look at your main goal broken down into 3 month goals, you notice that the number is less intimidating. Now let’s take a look at monthly goals.
Month 1: Lose 8.3lbs
Month 2: Lose 8.3lbs
Month 3: Lose 8.3lbs
Month 4: Lose 8.3lbs
and so on. Now we see that each month you need to lose 8.3lbs to achieve your main goal. This again seems less intimidating to focus on.
This is one of the reasons why people fail on their new year’s resolutions. They don’t take the time to create a goal, be specific with a goal and create a plan for a goal. They just throw things against a wall and hope it sticks.
I hope this articles gave you insight on how to properly create, plan and execute on your goals for this coming year. If you have found value in this information then please share with your family and friends. My goals this year is to educate and inspire as many people as I can on how to optimize their life.
Steven Nickel provides a Tailor-Made Fitness Experience for the individual who wants to acquire high quality results. Providing Exclusive Personal Training, Made to Measure Coaching and Ready to Train Collections. To learn more Inquire Here or write to steven@stevennickel.com
