7 Steps to Setting (And Actually Reaching) Your Goals
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How many new years resolutions have you had or how many goals have you set? And out of all of them, how many have you actually reached? This is a serious issue! If we set a goal, we need to start following through and actually reach it! But how do we actually make that happen? I know, it’s a lot more difficult than it seems. And that’s why in this episode, I’m going to share a 7-step process on how to set and actually reach your goals. Follow this process and you’ll 100% set yourself up for success.
P.S. Be sure to follow the podcast on the 'gram, @embraceyourreal, for a daily dose of real talk from me!
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, there beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get in, let's go.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. I am so grateful that you are here spending some time with me today, wherever you are tuning in. We have listeners in over 115 countries. Oh my word. That is so amazing and so incredible that there is a wild community of women that are passionate and on fire about reaching our goals, about embracing our real, about living authentically. And in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about goal setting. How many new year's resolutions have you had or how many goals have you set? Have you reached them? I know for me, on December 31st 2019, there was so many goals and dreams that I had for 2020 heading into the roaring 20s, who would have known that this year would pan out to be the year that, I mean, a huge global pandemic has hit. We've had so many things that have happened this year that are devastating, but also opportunities I believe for us to get stronger and grow.
And so many of the things that we have encountered as a global whole, I think, has really shown us true colors on maybe certain career paths that we've taken. Are we passionate about it? Is it an opportunity for us to pivot? Are there goals that we've set that maybe we haven't reached or realize maybe that's not the actual goal that we have? There's so many things that I feel like we have really learned this year, but goal setting in and of itself is an important topic. And that's what I want to talk about on the podcast today. It's a serious issue. How many goals have you set that you've actually reached? If we set a goal, I think that we need to have a proven plan to actually start following through so that we can reach it, we can achieve it.
I often believe that this is something that a lot of people struggle with. I know for me, I struggle with it. And so finding these seven steps that I'm going to be talking about has really transformed that. So in today's episode, I'm going to be sharing a seven step process on how to set the goal and actually reach the goal. And I believe that if you follow this process, you will 100% set yourself up for success in the years to come. Before I dive into today's episode, I have to share this super sweet review. It comes from Kay Baldo. She says, "Real talk with actionable steps. Julie is a ray of sunshine in my earbuds. She offers practical grace-filled insights and advice for people in every phase of their health and wellness journey. Highly recommended." Ooh, I love that so much. And how convenient is that that today I'm going to be sharing seven steps on how to reach your goals?
If you haven't already rated and reviewed the podcast, if you please could scooch over to Apple Podcast, it really does help us out. I just ask that you click rate and review. I love hearing from you. I love hearing your Aha moments. I love seeing what episodes have really stuck out to you. So if you haven't already, please go ahead and do so if you can on Apple Podcast. Or if you've already rated and reviewed, you can actually do that on a specific episode. So you can just rate and review it and say, "Episode 84. Episode 83 has really impacted my life." And I would just love to know how. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you guys so much. They really do help out the podcast.
Okay. Let's dive into the seven step process. Number one, you have to determine your goal. Now I feel like the first step is the easiest step. What is the goal that you have? And I want you to categorize this. I know goal setting can be overwhelming sometimes because you have a bunch of different goals, right? You have a financial goal, you have a personal goal, you have a career goal, you have a physical goal. There's so many different goals. And so when you're going at the seven step process, I want you to think about one category of your life. We could talk about fitness, right? Because the majority of us listening, we have fitness goals. We have health and wellness goals that we want to reach. So what is your goal? I know that this sounds like a silly question, but at the same time, I think many of us live our lives and we do things that we think we're supposed to do without ever really having goals attached to what we're doing.
On the flip side, if you are happy not having goals, please, by all means you do you. Live your life. That is more than okay. But I know for many of us we would feel more fulfilled and we would feel like the best version of ourselves if we begin actually having goals, like specific goals that we outline and work towards them. It would feel like we're fulfilling something. And I know in the human nature, if we are able to check a box or we're able to achieve something, there's something about that that just makes us proud and it makes our life worth living.
So what is the goal that you want to reach? It could be anything that you want to come. Maybe you want to become more of a morning, journaling, gratitude person. You really want to prioritize that in your life. Maybe you want to get that promotion at work or feel your best in your body. You want to lose a certain amount of weight, or you just want to feel your best and not focus on the weight.
If you are unsure of how to set a goal, think about how you want to feel or where you want to be one year from now. That's a great question to ask if you're like, "Gosh, that's just kind of an overwhelming question," right? Remember, I want you to take it category by category. So you can apply this to whatever categories you really want to set some goals with 2021, but asking yourself, how do I want to feel one year from now? Where do I want to be? What is my life going to look like? And once you have the answer, you can ask yourself what you need to achieve in order to ensure that you either end up feeling that way or you end up being where you want to be. So number one, determine your goal.
Number two, you've got to get specific. Once you know what your goal is in that specific category, so you really want to be intentional about having that morning routine. "I just want to be more intentional about grasping my life and being grateful for what I have and establishing that gratitude." Or you want to move your body X amount of days, or you want to do X, Y, and Z, whatever it is. Once you have determined that, number two, you have to get specific. You have to get very specific on what it is. I have seen so many people set goals like, "I just want to eat healthier," or, "I want to lose more weight," or, "I want to save more money." These goals, while great, are very, very vague. So what does healthier actually mean to you? Or what does more actually mean?
You're never really going to know if you reach the goal if you haven't clearly defined what the goal is to begin with. So I need you to get as specific as possible with your goal. Instead of your goal being, "I want to lose more weight," it could be, "I want to lose 5% of my body fat and increase my muscle mass by this amount." Or, "I just want to feel good. And this is what feeling good will look like for me. More energy, more time to be able to do X, Y, and Z with people you love," whatever that is. Or instead of your goal being, "I want to save more money," it could be, "I want to save 30% of my paycheck each month and I want to have X by the end of the year," or, "I want to save X amount of money at the end of each month." Whatever it is, be very, very specific.
It needs to be specific enough where you can actually sit down and track your progress and determine whether or not you've succeeded in that. And I think that this part of you being able to get very specific will allow the goal from being very vague to almost black and white. You have this very specific goal that you've set within that category so that you can either tell yourself, "I am succeeding or I am falling short of this." So a good rule of thumb is, if there's no way to measure your goal, it's not specific enough. So really narrow down, get very specific on the goals that you have in each category.
Number three, break your goal into mini goals. Now, after you've determined your specific goal, it's time for you to break it down into mini goals. And I say this because you just saying, "I want to lose X amount of body fat and gain X amount muscle mass," can feel so overwhelming. That can feel very unachievable. It seems so far in the distance that you don't even know where to begin or actually have the steps in place to start working towards it in the beginning. I know for me, when I set a big goal, the goal that makes me go, "Oh," like, "Oh gosh." I know in my heart and mind that I want to achieve it, but it makes me like, "Oh." I feel like I'm standing at the bottom of the fourteener looking straight up at the mountain and I'm like, "It's so overwhelming."
It can feel very overwhelming at first, but we need to make it feel more manageable and more realistic. And by doing that, we need to break it down into smaller, more micro goals. We just need to focus on the smaller goal in front of us, similar to us looking at the fourteener. You can absolutely do a fourteener, but think about this, the journey up a fourteener happens step-by-step. It doesn't happen by one leap. It happens by each step that you are taking. So you have to look at the smaller goal in front of you and take it one step at a time. And if you reach your first mini goal, then set out for the second and the third, and eventually they will accumulate to reaching your overall overarching goal.
Remember that succeeding is the ultimate motivator. So if you can continue to have meaningful goals that you successfully reach, you'll be more likely to reach the next goal and the next goal and the next goal. That's just how our human nature works and I think that that's why having micro mini goals is so important on the journey of reaching big, audacious goals. Because as humans, we need to have that feedback where it's like, "Yes, we're doing it. We can do it." And it's this snowball effect where if you can conquer the first mini goal, then conquer the second goal, then you start to get confidence and you can really just go head first into it and you can succeed. So just remember that those mini goals are going to help you succeed. They're there for your number one, enjoyment, number two, fulfillment, and number three, enabling you to succeed to the bigger goal by going with micro mini goals along the way.
Number four, having a timeline. Oh my gosh, this is so important you guys, because I think oftentimes our pride, our ego, our insecurities can get in the way of achieving a goal because we keep telling ourselves we're not good enough. And so we push it off and we keep telling ourselves, "No, not right now. Today's not the best time." Or, "This is not the best time." It is so easy to push off a goal, right? Once you have a big overarching goal and you have your mini goals, it's so important for you to attach deadlines to each one. Without a deadline, you are going to lack the motivation to get going and that's when excuses will creep in.
You have to think of a deadline though that's actually realistic. I think oftentimes I see so many people and they're like, "I want to do X, Y, and Z in one month or in two months." And if it's something that I've achieved or something that I've done, I can speak from experience and say, "Yes, that's realistic," or, "No, that's definitely not realistic just based on my personal experience." And so maybe it's important to, if you have somebody or a few people in your life that you feel like maybe they're a few steps ahead of you, it's great to sit down and talk with them if they're willing to do it.
This is one thing that I've learned along my journey is that a lot of people are more willing to talk to you than you think. I think oftentimes we get really nervous to ask somebody for advice or for mentorship or whatever it is. It doesn't even have to be a big, long mentorship. It could be like, "Hey, do you have 15 minutes?" And you approach somebody that you feel like is a few steps ahead where you want to be, you get yourself ready, you have five to 10 questions that you have outlined, you prepare, and you say, "I have just five questions that I want to ask you. Do you have 15 to 20 minutes within the next few weeks that I could sit down and talk with you?"
You will be amazed at how gracious people are if they feel like the person that is coming to them is prepared and has questions. I've even had people that have emailed me and said, "Hey, I have X, Y, and Z question." I love when people are prepared because it allows me the opportunity to quickly get back to them. But when people just say, "Hey, do you have a time to talk? I just really want to talk about a vague topic," it can be very overwhelming, especially in a person that's growing a business or has a busy schedule. So if you have somebody that you really look up to and feel like they are where you want to be, whether it's three months from now, six months from now, a year from now, just maybe put feelers out there and also remember that if they don't get back to you or if it's delayed a lot longer, it's okay. Continue to push, continue to put yourself out there with other people. And eventually, you will find somebody that will give you wisdom, or at least give you experience on what it is.
So going back to the timeline, it has to be realistic. You want to make sure that you are setting yourself up for success so that you can be honest with yourself about a timeline that you can actually stick to. Maybe you give yourself a year to reach your overarching goal and then you give yourself two months to reach each mini goal, whatever it is that feels right to you, I want you to make sure that you're not just relying on other people either. So really listen to your intuition and our intuition will never steer us wrong if we're truly listening to it. So I want you to quiet yourself and ask yourself, "What is realistic for me that will push me, but not overwhelm me to the point where I'm going to give up too soon, because I'm just too overwhelmed?"
Number five, make a clear action plan. Okay. So now that you have your mini goals set in place with a deadline attached to each one of them, the next step, which is also really important, is to make a clear action plan. And this is also the step that many of us forget when setting a goal. We set a goal and try to mindlessly reach it, which in my opinion is not smart because that's when excuses can come in. That's when our past failures can come in and creep up and give us self doubt, insecurity, and all of those things that can stop us. And then we wonder why we aren't actually able to achieve the goals that we set out. We have to be strategic. So if you want to reach the monthly goal that you have set, what exactly do you need to do each day or each week to ensure that you are actually reaching that monthly goal?
When doing this, I want you to write down the most important things that need to get done daily or weekly, and then write down how you're actually going to make those things happen. Let me repeat. Once you determine the things that you need to do daily or weekly to set yourself up for success to reach the goal, how are you actually going to make that happen? How are you actually going to execute or hold yourself accountable? How are you going to overcome your most common obstacles or triggers that you have? You have to figure this out ASAP because without answering the questions above, you are going to seriously struggle with actually reaching your goals.
So for example, you have a goal to lose 20 pounds. And I say this arbitrary number because it's very easy to break down. So let's say for example, you have a goal to lose 20 pounds and your goal is to lose two pounds a month. To reach your goal, you'll need to honor your body with movement and nourish your body with what it needs. But what does that actually look like? How are you going to make sure that you're doing that daily or weekly and following through with that? How are you going to overcome the things that generally stop you from moving and nourishing your body the way that you know you need to do, right?
I think oftentimes we almost kind of say, "Well, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do it." And the fact of the matter is, you know how to eat healthy, you know that it's important to move your body. Those are things that are common sense and they're ingrained in us as human beings. So how are you going to make it as simple as possible for you to maintain these habits in your life so that you can reach this specific mini goal month by month so that you can in time be able to reach the overarching goal. It's very, very important to take the time to flesh out these questions and have answers to each one, because if not, like I said before, you're going to go into your goal with this mindless nature that's not going to serve you.
Number six, habit stack. I don't know if you've ever heard of this term. I am huge on habit stacking. If everything you need to do daily or weekly to reach your monthly goals are all brand new habits, please, please do not try to implement them all at one time. I can tell you firsthand, I'm a victim of this, and this is something that I've struggled with. And when I found out about habit stacking, I was like, "This is life changing." It really is life changing because as humans, we want to take on the world in one day, but that's just not realistic. So push your first goal back by a month or maybe even two months and make sure that your first goal is simply to remain consistent with each habit.
So I want you to pick one, to get started, so one habit that you want to implement that you're not currently doing consistently and only focus on that goal until it seems seamless, until it seems very intuitive, until you have been very consistent with it, and then you can start to ask yourself, what is another habit that I need to stack on top of that that I can start to implement and focus on? Because once you nail down the first habit and you've stayed consistent with it, you're only focusing on that, I know that your brain is going to try and tell you otherwise, "Focus on this and focus on this and focus on this." Just try to focus on one habit, then once that becomes consistent, you can stack the second habit and do the same thing that you did, only now, the first habit is almost mindless for you.
It's become a habit, right? It's become something that you do second nature. So you're focusing on the second habit that you are stacking on top of it. And then third habit and fourth habit. And over time, you will see that you will be able to have so many more, better habits consistently. Right? What impresses me most is when people say, "I've nailed down three habits consistently." That impresses me more than someone being like, "I try to implement 10 habits and I succeeded for a week." I'm like, "Well, yeah, of course, you're going to fail," because it's so in our human nature when we feel overwhelmed just to stop everything and freeze and say, "I can't do this. This is so overwhelming." And that's when the excuses creep in and that's when our self doubt creeps in and that's when our laziness can creep in. And so I need you to start habit stacking.
Stack one, and this could take anywhere from a week to three to four weeks. Typically, obviously you've heard one habit takes 21 days. I believe if you're primarily focusing on one habit, you could nail that habit in 14 days. But again, it's up to you. Habit stack. This is life-changing. I'm telling you guys, this will save you so many years of frustration if you can nail this one simple thing down, because you will be amazed at how many habits you can implement in the course of 12 months.
All right. Number seven, you need to determine your why behind your goal. This is so, so important. Without having a greater purpose behind working towards your goals, your goal will feel empty and you will be less motivated to continue when it gets tough, not if, but it will. Your goal will feel empty. And I'm telling you this, I have gotten this question so many times throughout my years just sharing my story openly and transparently on the internet. And that's, how are you so motivated? And I say, "Motivation is fleeting. Motivation will come and go. What really helps me stay consistent is having a greater purpose, is having a why."
That is what gets me up in the morning. That is what gets me to go downstairs on the days that I don't want to, on the days that I have 1,000,010 excuses not to. Having my why pushes me. Motivation will come and go. It's icing on top of the cake. If you can have a greater purpose, watch that greater purpose allow you to flourish in your goals. I'm telling you, when you let that be your driving force for all of the actions that you do, girl, you will be unstoppable. Tune in to episode 86, I talk all about finding your why. I've linked that in the show notes below so be sure to tune in there. It's so, so important that you figure out what your why is, attach that to your goal, because that's going to be your driving force.
All right, let's recap. Number one, determine your goal. Number two, make sure your goal is as specific as you possibly can. Number three, break it up into mini goals. Number four, attach deadlines to each mini goal. Number five, make a clear action plan as to how you are going to actually reach each mini goal. Number six, habit stack. Don't try to do a 1000 habits all at once, take it one habit at a time and stack them. And number seven, determine your why.
All right, that is my seven steps to reaching your goals, actually reaching your goals. And if you follow through with this, girl, you're going to be unstoppable in all different areas of your life. I hope that this episode was helpful for you. I hope that you found some clarity. I hope that you wrote these down because this is kind of an exercise that you have to sit down with a pen and paper and just start writing. And I've talked about this before, I know a lot of people are big on the digital, just writing it on your phone. I'm telling you that something in your brain happens when you put pen to paper. That signals in your brain, "This is important." So if you can, and I think all of us should be able to carve out 15 to 30 minutes or longer to do this because your goals are important. I've talked about this before, you have to make yourself a priority in order for you to show up as the best version of yourself to all those other people.
So I know you have a million excuses why your goals are not important. If I can be the only voice in your life to tell you, yes they are and yes, you and yes, your goals need to be accomplished in this world. Please, please hear me on that. You are one of a kind, you need to treat yourself as that. You need to remember that there is only one of you and there's only one life that you have to live. So are you going to live it just letting each day slip by without you achieving your goals and being frustrated because you're not feeling fulfilled? Or are you going to tackle your goals head on and live the life that you've always wanted to live?
If you have somebody in your life that you feel like would benefit from this, please send it out to them. You can copy the link. You can send it to them in a text message. You can post it up on your story. Tag me, Julie Ledbetter and Embrace Your Real, I love hearing your Aha moments. I would love to know maybe one of the goals that you have for 2021. So be sure to tag me up. I love you so, so much. And I will talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the Gram, be sure to do so, juliealedbetter, yes, it's with an A in middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcast to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface, so go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.