8 Things You Need to Do to Achieve Your Goals
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Let’s chat about goal setting….
Why are you doing what you’re doing? Do you have goals behind what you’re doing? Do you have a purpose? A plan? A reason to show up daily?
If you don’t, then this episode is for you.
The thing is, most of us WANT to reach some sort of destination, whether that be with your fitness, your body, your relationships, your career, whatever it might be. But what most of us are lacking is the exact goal attached to that destination. And when we lack a goal, the end destination is too vague. When it’s too vague, it’s really hard to work towards. So let’s chat about setting realistic and attainable goals so you can finally get to that destination you have been dreaming of…
These are the 8 ways for reaching your goals, you can set yourself up for success:
Set goals that are realistic with your season of life.
Map out your plan
Visualize
Write your future self a letter
Take action every day
Tell others about your goals
Expect that you will have setbacks
Keep tabs on your progress on a weekly basis
Links mentioned in this episode:
Episode 86: 7 Steps to Setting (And Actually Reaching) Your Goals
If you want more from me, be sure to check out:
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Free eBook: www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook
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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 issue 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 it, and let’s go.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Embrace Your podcast. Let's chat all about goal setting as we head into a new season and by the time that this is up and you are tuning in, it is officially fall. Which is so crazy because I feel like it was just January of 2022. And honestly, with everything that has gone on in the last few years, I still sometimes catch myself writing like 2020. I don't know what it is, or maybe I do. You know, so much has happened in the last two and a half years, but I still catch myself writing 2020 and I'm like, “Oh my gosh, it's not only 2022, it is almost 2023.”
And so today I thought it would be really good to kind of help you understand more so my goal setting process and like things that will help you when it comes to setting your goals. So why you're doing what you're doing, do you have goals behind what you're doing? Do you have a purpose? Do you have a plan? Do you have a reason to show up daily? You know, the number one question that I get on a daily basis inside my direct messages is “How do you stay so motivated?” I see you show up and you know you're working out, you're doing your dumbbell workouts and you're showing them and you're, you know, you're just constantly showing up for people.
Well, number one, you have to remember, that's my job. But to it is not about motivation at all. I can guarantee you that motivation is not there a good amount of time. I would say at least 30 to 40% of the time. I'm not motivated, I'm human. It gets darker earlier, it's getting colder, it's getting, the seasons are changing and that's a real thing. Like that definitely puts a damper on things. But I can tell you that I don't go by motivation.
My goals are not relied upon motivation because when your goals and if your goals are relied upon motivation, they will come and they will go. They will be shifting like the wind. And I can tell you that I've learned the hard way. I spent years and years trying to achieve goals solely based on my motivation and when I realized that that wasn't fail proof, I was like, I got to figure out a different way. I have to figure out how I can achieve these goals and it really came down to perseverance. It came down to having a deeper reason why it came down to having a purpose and really kind of basing my performance, if you will, on dedication, not motivation. Like I am dedicated to my goals and I have a reason for them deeper than just what I look like. It's how I feel. It's, it's, you know, I know when I'm staying consistent in my movement and honoring my body with movement and nourishment and making sure that I'm spending time in the word and praying, I show up as a better version of myself. And I know that the people and the things that I do and the ways that I show up and the gifts and talents that God has given me, I'm able to perform at a higher level when I take the time to follow through on my goals.
And so if you're struggling with that, if you are struggling with wanting to reach some sort of destination, whether that be in your fitness, your body, your relationships, your career, whatever it may be, but you feel like you are lacking kind of like exact goal attached to that. This episode is going to be for you because oftentimes when we lack a goal, the end destination is too vague and when it's too vague, it's really hard to work towards. So I want to chat through setting realistic and attainable goals so that you can finally get to the destination that you've been dreaming of and not only get to the destination, but along the journey of you achieving the goal, you feel fulfilled, you feel like it's purposeful and you're actually having fun doing it.
But before we dive in, I had to share this review that came from Ken m l. She gave a five star review and said, “Thank you, Julie for creating this podcast. I love every single episode and value everything about them. I love, love, love, Embrace Your Real.” I love this so much. It's super simple and straight to the point and exactly what I love hearing. I love hearing from you guys. So if you could leave a rating interview, it really does help us out in the podcast world. Not only help me and our team kind of know what is helping you and how these episodes are impacting you, but it also helps other people when they stumble upon the podcast, whether it's through a friend or they're just kind of browsing the charts.
They do read the reviews and oftentimes people say, I read a couple of reviews, and that's kind of how I started listening to you. And so they really do help other people know if this podcast is for them or not. So thank you in advance for doing that. You can switch over to Apple Podcasts and type in embrace your real first, make sure you're subscribed in the top right corner. There's a plus sign. And then secondly, the reading interview is all the way down at the bottom. You can scroll all the way down and it takes less than 30 seconds, but it really does help us out. So thank you in advance for doing that.
Let's dive into the eight things that you need to do to achieve your goals. Number one, set goals that are realistic to your season of life. I can't tell you how many times in my life I did not take this seriously. I was going off of a prior season of life. So it is so important that you set specific, measurable and attainable goals that are not only realistic to this season of life that you're in, but that are. Actually attainable. Like previously, maybe you're able to get six workouts in a week, but in this season of life, you're busy. You just had a kid, you just had a career advancement. A big life event happened. It might be only realistic for you to get 3 to 4 workouts in a week. You have to realize that what worked for you before and what you were doing consistently before might not work for you today. It's okay for these things to ebb and flow as life ebbs and flows, right? You need to let go of what you used to do and focus more on what you can do. Now, you have to remember that what you used to do was attached to a prior life season, and that might be a totally different life season that you're in right now. You might not be the same person anymore, so you have to stop trying to hold yourself to a past standard that honestly and most times, more times than not, will just be setting you up for failure. And furthermore, you have to remember that just because you can't do what you used to do or you're not able to get the six workouts in or whatever it is, you fill in the blank that does not make you a failure.
You have to figure out what is realistic for you to do consistently. Sure, you might be able to commit to six days of workouts for one week, but what about for six months? That might not be feasible right now. So you have to look not only within the next week or two weeks or three weeks, but ask yourself, okay, for the next 4 to 6 months, what can I realistically and consistently do right now? And you know what? Maybe one day you will be able to do what you used to do, but that might not be right now. That might be in six months or eight months or 12 months or whatever it is. So I don't want you to think that what you have kind of settled on you being able to do realistically and consistently right now, like, I don't want you to think, Oh, that's what it's going to be like for the rest of my life. That's not true. Again, life goes in ebbs and flows, and it's really important that you set those goals that are realistic to this season of life that you are in.
Number two, you've got to map out your plan. So it's not enough to just have a goal. You have to have an action plan to accomplish it. And this is where honestly, I failed and so many other people fail. It's an easy way to fail when it comes to kind of goal setting. Oftentimes we set like these goals, but we don't have a follow up or a plan to follow. I know that the saying is so cliché, but if you fail to plan, then you've got a plan to fail. So once you determine your goals, you need to outline everything that you need to do in order for you to reach that goal. So let's say, for example, you want to lose 10 pounds. I hate these type of examples. This is not my favorite by any means, but it is a really good example for proving this point, showing up daily, saying, I want to lose 10 pounds, I want to lose 10 pounds. So I want to fit in X, Y and Z size or whatever it is. You fill in the blank that's not going to do anything. You have to create a plan for what you need to do to actually reach this goal. Do you need to be more intentional with nourishing your body? Do you need to prioritize your protein intake? Do you need to prioritize your macronutrient intake? Do you need to work out at least three times a week, if not four times a week? Do you need to really set a goal to sleep longer and have a more restful night's sleep? Which means that you're getting off the phone anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes before you go to sleep. Do you need to drink more water? What are the steps that you want to aim for? Like, those are very specific things that you should be mapping out in order for you to have an action plan to accomplish.
Number three, I talked about this a lot and I've talked about it so many times on the podcast, but it is so powerful and I'm going to continue to preach it because it is one of the most powerful tools and it's so awesome that God made our brains this way. But number three is visualize. I said this in a recent podcast and again, I've said it so many times before, I but I can't really emphasize it enough that visualization is one of the keys to reaching your goals. If you cannot vividly imagine it happening, how do you expect it to become your reality? Like if you can't picture it, it probably won't happen. It's that simple. But there actually is real neuroscience connected to visualization in your brain. When you visualize, you are actually creating new neural pathways in your brain the same way that you do when you actually do something. So you are literally making this visualization a part of who you are. When you follow through on that plan, the brain actually generates an impulse that tells our neurons to perform the movement, because you have to remember that your brain cannot distinguish what was vividly imagined and what is actually reality.
Your brain doesn't know that you just visualized it and you didn't actually do it. So it actually creates those new neural pathways. This includes visualizing what your workouts are going to look like, what are you going to wear? How are you going to feel? What workout are you? Thing to do, really try to actively visualize what it's going to look like and how it's going to feel before you actually do it. I'm telling you, when I really started taking visualization seriously, my workouts went to a whole another level, my workdays, my productivity jumped through the roof in terms of getting very specific on how I wanted to show up, what I wanted to do, how I wanted to make other people feel, how I wanted to feel when I was working. I do it in so many aspects of my life, whether that's relationships, whether that's me showing up to meet a friend and really being intentional with that time. Like I really try to visualize all aspects of my life and it oftentimes comes for me first thing in the morning. So I do it while I am, you know, after I've journaled and I've prayed and I've meditated and kind of gone through my reading for the day, whether that is me doing a devotional or reading straight from the Bible. I do my visualization. After that, I kind of map out my day and I visualize that. Like I say, okay, at 4 p.m., I have scheduled in my phone like an appointment which I've talked about before, like an appointment that I have my work out and this is what I'm going to do for my workout. This is what I'm going to wear. This is how I really want to show up to my workout and I just try to go through my day and visualize it. I know it kind of sounds hokey, and I thought it was honestly for a long time until I really started researching and just watching more videos about visualization. And I'm like, “Man, it is so cool that God created our brains this way” and there's so much study around it, so definitely encourage you to looking into visualization. I love it so much.
I will say that visualization and manifestation are totally different things, and I used to think that visualization a manifestation where the same thing, which is why I kind of steered away from the visualization, because I don't believe in manifestation, but visualization in the way that I use it is totally different from manifestation. So I encourage you to look into visualization and kind of how you can make that a part of your day.
Alright, number four, write your future self a letter. So I know that this one sounds really silly, but it can be a very powerful technique and one that I've done oftentimes in many areas of my life. So I personally write a letter to my future self and I data like a year ahead and kind of here's what I would encourage you to put into that letter. So kind of map out like the desired outcome what you hope that your future self has accomplished by then, how you expect your future self to feel. Where do you want your future self to be? What are the habits that you want your future self to have? Who do you want your future self to be like? Write this in this in the letter.
Get very detailed. I say like, I hope that this last year has brought so many good memories and this is what I am hoping and my desire for this. And it is so cool. I'm telling you, it is so cool to look back at these future letters and just see how much of it has not only come true, but it's oftentimes in a way that I was like, Whoa, this is so far beyond what I thought could actually happen. But when you write those letters, like those future letters to yourself, you keep that in mind. In every action that you take, like every decision that you make, whenever you skip a workout or you have a day off or whatever it is when you are just not feeling motivated, remember your future self. Remember that in one year from now you're going to open up that letter and you want to be in that place that you expected yourself to be like. You want to be able to look back at the last year and say, dang, like I really did yet to achieve X, Y and Z. And maybe it didn't look the exact way that I thought it would, but it's oftentimes even better, right? Oftentimes even better than you could have imagined.
And so it's just kind of a great accountability technique to and a very powerful technique to help you not only visualize the goals that you are setting for yourself in kind of like a physical format in terms of a letter. But it's also really fun to read a year later and just kind of see and and witness firsthand the growth that you have achieved in that last year.
Number five, take action every day. I know oftentimes we get very overwhelmed whether that is schedule’s changing or never ending to-do lists. But it's really important that you take consistent, imperfect action every day. So you've got to figure out the habits that you need to stick to in order for you to reach your goals on a daily basis. So again, you want to visualize this first thing in the morning, if you can, whether that's you in your quiet time or brushing your teeth or driving to work, like really visualizing how you want to show up that day. You want to honor your body with movement for at least 30 minutes a day. So really being intentional with those workouts and making sure that you're making that a priority are scheduling into your day to day like you do a dentist or a doctor's appointment. You want to really be intentional about tracking your nutrition. So whether that's counting macro nutrients or your protein intake or at the very least, making sure that you're getting enough water. Really? Again, taking that consistent but imperfect action every single day.
Maybe your goal isn't fitness related, but whatever it is. Figure out what those daily habits need to look like and also figure out how you're going to implement those daily habits throughout your schedule. Like, it's one thing to know what the habits are. It's a whole another animal trying to figure out how you're going to implement those daily and stay consistent to them. And I'm just telling you that you could know what they are all you want. But if you are not intentional about figuring out how you're going to implement them, you will fail. It's not a matter of if, it's when. And again, we're trying to make these goals fail proof. I'm not saying that you're going to be perfect every day. I'm not saying that this is 100% the way. The only way to go. But I'm just telling you that this all kind of goes back to making a game plan.
Again, you don't need to do these habits perfectly every day, but maybe you start with two habits and build from there. I definitely do not recommend throwing five new habits at yourself and expecting yourself to stick with all of them consistently. That's why I always say like, start small, start with what's realistic, build your habit slowly and then make them a part of your daily routine and build them from there. Right. I never want you to expect yourself to be perfect. Don't have the expectation of perfection for yourself because that is just setting you up to fail. But instead, say, I want to be consistent. I want to be consistent. I don't want you to keep showing up day in and day out and say, I'll do it tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow. No, you're not going to do it tomorrow. If you don't have the 30 minutes that you thought you would initially have for your workout, you do have 10 minutes. You do have 15 minutes. Do what you can with what you have.
Adapt your habits to that day. And don't push it off until tomorrow. Again, if this is not tracking all of your macronutrients and instead just tracking your protein or just being intentional with your water intake, it's so important that you do what you can with what you have. You have to remember that imperfect but consistent action over time compounds, and that is what leads to massive results. So keep doing something daily that helps you get a little bit closer to reaching your goals a little like 0.0001%. If you do something every single day that gets you 0.0001% closer, think about how far you'll be in six months, in eight months, in 12 months.
Number six, tell others about your goals. So I know this feels really scary going out in public and telling others about your goals, but it's so important that you have someone to hold you accountable. You have to have some sort of accountability partner that can help you on the days that you're just not wanting to do it, on the days that you just want to flat out quit.
There have been so many studies to show that the likelihood of you following through on your goals increases by 67 or more percent just by having an accountability partner, 67%. Think about that. The likelihood of you actually achieving your goals increases 67% or more by just having an accountability partner. That's crazy. It's so true, though, when you think about it in the times in your life that you've had accountability for certain things. It doesn't always feel good. It doesn't always feel like flowers and daisies and rainbows. It sucks. Somedays it sucks to have an accountability partner that you have to go to and say, “Dang man, I really messed up on this day.” But those are the times that your accountability partner, if you picked the right one or if you were part of the right group, they're going to say, “Hey, it's okay, it's okay. Try again. You've got this.”
Like it's on all about honesty and vulnerability, like when you are authentic about where you are. That is one of the fastest ways for you to be able to get back to where you want to be is by recognizing, okay, “Dang I mess this up but hey, I want to get back on track” like it's so so important. So whether it's someone in real life, whether it's someone in a virtual community, it can be super beneficial and genuinely help you reach towards your goals. Again, remember this when you tell someone your goals and they actually hold you accountable, you can't get mad at them when they push you. You absolutely cannot get mad at them. When you push, you can be frustrated, man. You can say things underneath your tongue. But you have to remember that if you invited them in as an accountability partner, that is their role. That is their sole role is to ensure that you are staying on track. Right? And oftentimes it's that push even. It's that loving push. Even when it doesn't feel good, it's that loving push that will help us to get to where we want to be.
Number seven, expect that you will have setbacks. This is honestly one of the most important things that you need to know about setting goals that it's not if, but it's when you have a setback. So when that does happen, you have to learn to roll with the punches because it will happen at some point. And the best way to minimize the impact of the setback is to plan for it. So what are all the obstacles that could get in your way? You've got to write them down. Then, for each obstacle that may arise, come up with plan B or find a solution. And more importantly, figure out how you could avoid that obstacle in the first place. That's probably the most important thing that you could do when it comes to planning for setbacks.
It's also super important to realize that a setback doesn't necessarily mean that you failed. It doesn't mean that you should quit. And it doesn't mean that you should never reach for that goal again. All it means is that you had a setback. Nothing more than that. So I need you to learn from it and then figure out how to avoid it in the future so that you can continue carrying on. Like having a contingency plan for when things go wrong and being prepared to react and learn from those setbacks can be so incredibly beneficial for you long term.
Number eight Keep tabs on your progress on a weekly basis. Keeping track of your progress can be extremely fun. You can see the small wins and it can help you stay motivated. And at the same time, if you aren't seeing small wins, it's a great way to know if you aren't being as consistent as you should be or if you kind of need to change up the plan. Similar to what I said. These are small wins over time and that's what's going to compound and lead to massive results.
Your big goal is going to be met by reaching this small weekly goals, and I think that's oftentimes something that we forget is that we see other people reaching these massive goals, but we forget that along that journey of them going from point A to point D or point A to Q or F or whatever it is that they had small weekly goals leading up to that, and they likely didn't outwardly celebrate those. So you probably didn't even see that. You didn't even know that Susie has been working towards this goal for the last year and a half, like you're just coming in on her Chapter 13. And so you really have to remember that in terms of when you're kind of looking at other people's and just know that these small wins over time, that's actually what will compound and lead to massive results.
So your big goal, again, is going to be met by reaching those small weekly goals. And so I want to make sure that you're tracking that progress and that you're making it a weekly habitual thing that you were checking into. So whether this is a journal or I love, love, love doing this, I love doing a voice memo series on my phone. So what I do is I open up my voice memos and I just you kind of do like a recap for the week. So whether that's on Friday or Sunday or whatever, I kind of reflect on the week prior and it's so fun to look back on them because I can hear my voice, I can hear like the little things that I'm like, “Oh my gosh, I can't believe X, Y and Z happened.” And then like looking back, you know, six months or 12 months, I'm like. I like to think where I am now. Like thinking that that was a big win in my world is, is just it's really, really cool.
And then also it just reminds you that this is a journey and it also allows you to remember the specific things that you might forget six months from now. And whether you want to one day share this journey publicly or just have it for yourself to have some sort of voice memo series, I don't know. It's just it's been a very special thing for me. And so I thought that I would just pass that along to you because it's really helped me and you can do it in all different areas of your life. So if you have a big career goal or if you have a relationship goal, or if you have a financial goal or a fitness goal, like I always talk about on the podcast, like I want you to have a voice memo series and I want you to do this. And if you do it and you are like four months down the road or six months or you feel like it's helping you, I would love to hear about it because I'm telling you, the Voice Memo series has been a game changer for me.
So again, in those voice memos, whether you're celebrating your successes or your and you're allowing yourself to bask in that or you're frustrated, you're crying, you're you're just letting the frustration out, sometimes it's really good to just talk it out. And even if there's no one on the other end to hear it, knowing that we're recording it, that we can look back and listen to it. And there's something really powerful about that. So I want to encourage you to do that.
Another awesome way, which I've talked about on past previous podcasts, is doing a consistency calendar. So for every day that you stay consistent with the habits that you have, putting an X on those, and then by the end of the month having at least 80% of that calendar being filled with access, that's a great way to just kind of hold yourself accountable and keep tabs on your progress on a weekly basis.
So there you have it. Those are the eight ways for reaching your goals so that you can set yourself up for success. I want to recap those just in case you are a note taker or you just want to have a quick list to refer back to. Number one, set goals that are realistic with your season of life. Number two, map out your plan. Number three, visualize number four, write your future self. A letter number five, take action every day. Number six, tell others about your goals. Number seven, expect that you will have setbacks. And number eight, keep tabs on your progress on a weekly basis.
If you have fitness goals, I do have programs for you. So whether that's workouts, I do have Movement with Julie app or if it's nutritional goals. I do have my Macro Counting Made Simple online academy. I will link both of those in the show notes below. But not only does again having and investing into a program, when you're investing into one of our programs, you're also investing into a community. So inside the Movement with Julie community on a daily basis, inside the Facebook group, we have women sharing sweaty selfies, sharing their victories, sharing their struggles, and there's thousands of other women in there that are alongside you on a very similar journey and can tell you it's so uplifting and it's so encouraging to be alongside of those women.
And then on the flip side, if you're looking for more nutritional accountability and support, we do have the Macro Counting Made Simple online academy. And that does also come with a private Facebook group where other women are on their journey of really trying to be intentional about fueling their body. So I will link both of those in the show notes below both the Macro Counting Made Simple Online academy and the Movement with Julie Dumbbell workouts, which are our weekly dumbbell workouts. If you love this episode, I know you will also love episode 86: 7 Steps to Setting and Actually Reaching Your Goals. So this episode is going to be more on the tactical side of how to set a goal. So combining these two episodes together will for sure set you up for success. So I will also link that in the show notes as well, so that you can easily go listen again, thank you so much for tuning in.
If you have a girlfriend or a friend or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode at a sassy, share it out with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and I love connecting with you guys on Instagram so you can let me know how this podcast impacted you. Again, we love connecting with you guys, whether that's on my main account. @juliealedbetter, @embraceyoureal which is the podcast account or @movementwithjulie which is my dumbbell workouts. I have three accounts. So any of those accounts, we love connecting with you guys and we love seeing your Aha moments from the podcast. That is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so too much and I'll see you in.
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 are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so: @juliealedbetter. Yes, it's with an a in the 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 Podcasts 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.