Happy 2020! Not only is it the start of a new year, but it is also the start of a brand new decade, which makes it the perfect time to start thinking about goals, and more specifically, goal setting to cultivate a life you love! No pressure right? Well, the good news is I have brought in my good friend Crystal Richard to help you get those goals set. Crystal not only talks the goal-setting talk, but she walks the goal-setting walk and is going to share with us how and why she chooses the goals she does both in her professional and personal life.
In fact, Crystal and I had so much to talk about when it came to this topic that I’ve had to break the interview up into two parts, check out part one below and check back on Friday, January 17th for the second half of our conversation.
But for now, let’s get right into the interview and how you can start to cultivate a life you love!
Goal Setting to Cultivate a Life You Love with Crystal Richard
If you don’t have time or are unable to listen to today’s podcast interview, here are some of the key takeaways as well as links mentioned in today’s episode, but I really urge you to find time to sit down and listen because there is so much more in the audio that you won’t find below.
Take time to daydream
Before sitting down and putting pen to paper and setting your goals for the week/month/quarter/year/decade/etc. take some time to daydream.
During that daydreaming time, it’s important to sit down and reflect. You can set good goals for the next year without taking the time to reflect on the previous year. Think about your last year and ask yourself some questions like:.
- What worked and what didn’t
- What were the things that really made you happy?
- How can you incorporate more of that into your life?
- What were the things that made you unhappy or stressed?
- Is there anything you can do to have less of that?
- What does an ideal day in your dream life look like?
- What things do you want to do/accomplish?
It’s important to let yourself daydream about things you want out of life, but it’s also important to keep your goals realistic. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of “new year, new me” but once the new year excitement wears off, you still need to be excited about that goal. Ask yourself:
- Do I have the time to make this happen?
- Do I have the money or resources?
Sure we’d all like to make a million dollars this year, but if you are working in a job that earns you $50,000, unless you are going to make some pretty drastic changes this year – that’s a goal that you are unlikely to achieve! But if you made $50,000 last year and have the possibility to get a promotion or raise or change positions that would have you earning $75,000 – well that is definitely possible.
Remember, when you were learning to drive and they told you to look where you want to go? The same is true for goal setting, but when setting a goal you not only need to know where you WANT to go but where you are starting.
At least one goal should make you nervous
Crystal and I both agree it’s good to have at least one goal on your list that makes you a little be nervous or seems like a stretch, but if every one of your goals makes you feel like that it’s pretty likely you’ll find yourself frozen or throwing in the towel the first time you perceived that you’ve failed.
One of my tips, especially when setting income goals in my business is to set two separate goals. One is a goal based on past performance and what I think I can expect for a product launch. The second goal is my stretch goal – the one that seems out of reach but would be really, really nice if I achieved it. Why bother setting two? Because it gives me a little extra push while also preventing me from feeling defeated if I don’t quite achieve one.
Performance-Based Goals and Stretch Goals
To be clear, the following numbers are not based on my business, I’m just making them up for the purpose of this example.
Let’s say I’m launching a new program that is $300. If in the past I’ve sold similar programs for $275 and historically have averaged 50 sales during the launch period I could realistically set my past performance goal at $15,000 ($300 x 50 units). If I’m feeling really good about the launch and think I could sell more than my past average I may bump that up to $16,500 or so. But then I would also set a stretch goal. An, “I don’t think it is going to happen, but holy cow would it ever be awesome if it did!” goal of $22,500 or 75 units.
If I only set the stretch goal of $22,500 and ended up selling $18,000 I might feel bummed that I didn’t hit my goal. If I just set the past performance goal of $15,000, once I hit that goal I might not try to push for those last few sales because I’d already hit my goal. But because I like to set two, assuming I hit the first goal (P.S. that doesn’t always happen!), I then get fired up all over again because then it becomes a game of – ok! How close can I get to my stretch goal!?
Most times I land somewhere in the middle between the two, and it feels SO DANG GOOD! Even the times I fall short on my first goal, I don’t beat myself up, because I know I tried my best and sometimes things just happen.
This example talks about money and income but it’s easy to translate it into other areas of your life. Want to get in better shape? Instead of declaring you will exercise every day (not realistic) set a past performance goal to exercise 3 times/week for 25 minutes (or whatever is an achievable goal based on your history), then set a stretch goal to exercise 4 times/week for 45 minutes. Sometimes you’ll only hit the past performance goal, but other weeks you’ll have more time and can hit your stretch goal. And occasionally you might not hit either – but at least you are giving yourself a better chance to succeed.
Listen to Wellness Simplified Episode 2: When S.M.A.R.T Goals are Stupid
Focus on FEELINGS
Tangible goals are great and important, especially professionally speaking but you are doing yourself a disservice if you only ever focus on physical accomplishments. Crystal and I both love the idea of reflecting on how you want to feel – your core desires and feelings as outlined in Danielle LaPorte’s The Desire Map.
Instead of choosing a random income or weight loss goal which you may or may not achieve, think about the feelings you want to have.
When you say you want to lose 50 pounds – how would 50 pounds lighter FEEL? Really stop and think about it. Some possible answers might be that you would FEEL…
- as though you could do the activities you want to do
- more energetic
- stronger
- happier
- healthier
- like you were a positive role model
What can you do NOW to get you closer to those core feelings/desires faster?
Now instead of focusing on at 50-pound benchmark, what are the things you can do right now to help you achieve those desired feelings. Well, some answers to that might be to
- start to exercise 3 days/week
- cut back on take-out and eat more fruits and vegetables
- get more sleep
- practice gratitude daily
Interesting….the action items that will help you achieve those desired feelings will ALSO help you achieve that tangible goal 😉 what an idea!
Wouldn’t it be amazing to focus on the things you can do to feel your cire desired feelings NOW while also working on that big goal you have in the back of your head? Or would you rather just focus on losing 50 pounds and feeling defeated weeks the scale doesn’t move (because it’s not always going to move)?
Personally, I think we’ll all get a whole lot farther if we focused our goals on how we want to feel rather than the outcome we want because you know what – you may actually find that after losing 36.8 pounds you have achieved all those desired feelings. Weight ain’t nothing but a number so why force yourself to lose more just so you can hit a number you pulled out of the air?
That numbers (on the scale and in your bank account) do matter, but feelings matter more!
And that’s where I’m going to wrap things up for today. I hope you’ve found this helpful and it is allowing you to reimagine any goals you’ve already set in order to help you cultivate a life you love. Next Friday I’ll be back with the second half of my interview with Crystal where we talk more about choosing a word of the year, and you get to go along for the ride as we choose a word for me!
Find Crystal:
Instagram: @crystal_catherine
Blog: East Coast Mermaid
Shop: www.sandytoesshop.com