2024 Goals Podcast
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Kelly: [00:00:00] Hello, welcome to the productivity genius podcast. I'm your host Kelly Fifield. And in this episode, I'm going to give you a simple process for determining and setting up your 2024 goals.
Now, before we do that, just real quick, we want to make sure we understand and are happy with the reason we're setting our goals. The reason to set goals is to put something out in front of us. To chase after, or to go after, to cause us to evolve into the person who can achieve it, or who goes after things like that.
It's an evolvement tool. It's becoming more of who you were meant to be. The purpose of goals isn't To achieve happiness, although that is the message we get from all over the place, right? Like, oh, if we were just skinnier, we'd be so much happier. Or if we had more money, we'd be so much happier. Or if we had more time, we'd be so much happier.
The truth is that happiness comes from the way that we think. So if you want to be [00:01:00] happier, that is where you need to manage your mind. Being happy is just a matter of thinking thoughts that create happiness.
It would be a really inefficient method to try to seek happiness by achieving things because you can achieve it right now By just changing the way that you're thinking This is probably a good thing to keep in mind when you're setting your goals knowing that it's not just going to bring you happiness to reach the goal.
You can have happiness all along the way. Truth be told, you're also going to feel crappy a bunch of the time all along the way. Which is really good to know because that's what makes reaching goals so hard. Because they usually require us to go through lots of negative emotion because we're evolving into a person that's different than we are now.
And when we're doing different things and challenging ourselves it usually feels terrible at least half the time. So half the time it's going to feel like crap, half the time it's not going to feel like crap. And so that is [00:02:00] going to be your experience along the way. And why do we do it? To evolve into the person who is a more advanced version of ourselves.
Who is, I like to think of it as, More true to who we were created to be.
Okay, so here's the process. It's simple and I want to keep it simple so that you can focus on the work of becoming this future version of yourself. Okay, step one, simple.
Brainstorm some goals. Right. Maybe set a timer for two minutes, pick a bunch of goals, write them down. And then step two is just to pick one. I don't really think you need a lot of instruction on how to pick a goal. Pick one that's fun. Pick one that excites you. Pick one that is interesting. One that you think will make you evolve.
Just pick one at a time. That doesn't mean it's the only one you're going to pick, but we're going to. Focus on one at a time rather than try to work on all of the [00:03:00] goals through all of the steps simultaneously It's just cleaner just to do one at a time so you can totally go back and pick another one But let's just go through the process with one and then you can repeat with as many goals as you want to try to accomplish I would try to limit it a bit because you're going to dilute your attention, but let's not worry about that.
Just pick one. Right? Okay. So first we brainstorm goals. Second, we pick one to go through this process. Step three is to spend some time connecting with the future version of you who's achieved it. So what does she do now that's different than what you do now? Does she do more of something? Does she do less of something?
Also, you might want to ask her some questions like, hey, that's amazing. Good job. Congratulations. I'm reaching that goal. What surprised you along the way? Like what was hard? What got in the way?
I know that sounds like a really, really weird process, but if you try to connect with that future version of you, which is you, right? [00:04:00] Like, just like baby you, right? You were, at one point you were a toddler who said funny things, right? That's still you. Same person. And there's a future version of you. Same you.
And she has lots of wisdom. And you actually can access some of her wisdom if you try. So ask her some questions that might be interesting. What surprised you? What was hard? What got in the way? How did you get through that? On tough days, what did you tell yourself? If this is too weird to connect to future you, then you can kind of get some of the same information if you think about someone else who's achieved the goal that you're thinking of.
So maybe you know someone who's achieved this goal. Or you can imagine someone who's achieved the goal. Kind of think what, what's different about them. Right? So step one is brainstorm your goals. Step two is pick one at a time. Step three, spend some time connecting with either future you who's achieved it, kind of get to know that person and how they're different or like another person who's done it.
So that's step three. [00:05:00] Step four is to now that you've kind of introduced yourself to that future you or this other person who's achieved the goal, compare their thoughts and feelings to your current thoughts and feelings, specifically around this goal, right?
So let's say we fast forward. I have a crystal ball. This is another way to think of it. Let's say I have a crystal ball and I can see, holy crap. Congratulations. You did it. You actually achieve the goal, So let's imagine you've achieved it when you think of that future version of you who's achieved the goal How do they think about the goal that's different than how you think about it now?
So, very often when I do this, when I'm thinking about a future goal, and I haven't achieved it yet, and I'm just at the beginning, some of the thoughts I love to think, I really don't love it, but my brain loves to offer thoughts like, I don't think it's going to happen.
That would be great, but I don't even know where to start. That sounds hard. Right. So thoughts like [00:06:00] this, my brain loves to offer to me, whenever I consider a goal and the emotions that my thoughts create very often are confusion. Like I don't know how to do it. Disappointment. Like I, as soon as I like imagine it, my brain wants to be like, yeah, but don't get excited about it 'cause you might not do it.
And then I feel disappointed. Uh, doubtful. Oh, these are such great emotions, right? Fearful of all the things I might have to do, right? So those are the emotions that I currently feel about my future goal. And of course, if you look at those emotions, those are not going to fuel great actions, right? So it's really good for me to see that when I'm thinking about the goal in this way, it's not going to create a fuel for actions that are going to get me closer to the goal.
But if I compare the future version of me and how they would be thinking about the goal. The person who has actually achieved it, right? They're not doubtful. They've actually done it. They're not fearful. They're feeling proud and accomplished and, capable and confident, [00:07:00] right? Because they've done it.
And the actions that that person takes, who's done the thing, they are more focused than I am, right? They are more willing to invest more attention and time. To that goal because it's more real to them, right? So that future version of me is much more focused and spends more time on the goal Right, which is interesting to see because if you think about that future version of you who's achieved a goal and how much time and attention they would give to the goal compared to how much time and attention you're giving to it now If you really got granular with that and said, okay, really, how much time would I be willing to invest and how much attention would I be willing to invest if I knew with a hundred percent certainty that I was going to reach the goal?
If you really get clear on that, most likely. When you see that, you'll realize, holy crap, if I actually invested that much attention and time in my goal, I would be [00:08:00] so much more likely to achieve it. It's like a catch 22. If we had complete belief in getting, reaching that goal, then we would be willing to give so much more attention and time to the goal.
But because we don't believe we don't give it time and attention and therefore we are dramatically less likely to reach it, So it's just good to see like how would that future version of you be thinking and feeling, because that's what's gonna fuel the action that you need. The way they're thinking and feeling would fuel the actions that get them to the goal.
Just good to see that your current thoughts and feelings probably need some work. Totally fine. It's just great awareness.
Now the bridge there, right, this isn't one of the steps, but just knowing what the bridge is to get to the goal is that you're going to commit to this goal, like right, once we get through this process, you're going to commit, and then the emotion that you probably want to generate [00:09:00] is courage. You're probably going to need a lot of courage if the goal is big.
Right? If it's a tiny goal, then maybe it won't need so much courage. But if it's a big goal, that's kind of scary and you get confused about and disappointed, all those emotions that I feel, then you're probably going to need to generate courage and maybe, commitment. Neither of those emotions are really fun emotions for me.
Courage does not feel good, In order to feel courage, there has to be some fear there. So that's a really rough cocktail for me, but I know that to get to my goal, I'm probably going to have to feel courage a bunch of the time and I'm probably Going to have to feel determined. Determined also doesn't feel great to me.
It feels like I'm like Like sludging through it's like I'm pushing through Like thickness, like it's just hard, right? Commitment and, determination feels hard to me. But that is something that I know I'm going to need to generate on purpose during the year to reach my goal. Once I show up regularly, generating [00:10:00] courage and determination, then I'm going to build my capability, right?
I'm going to have a bunch of losses, and I'm going to have a bunch of wins, at least some, hopefully, and I'll become more capable, and then ultimately, after all of that, I'll finally be able to access a little bit of confidence, but it's, it's a hard road to get there. And I know it's going to be, but I'm willing to do it because I want to evolve.
Okay, so that's step four, is comparing your current thoughts and feelings to the thoughts and feelings of that future you who's achieved the goal. The reason we're looking at the thoughts and feelings is because that's the fuel for your actions. So if you're feeling a bunch of negative emotion, those emotions don't generally fuel positive actions in the right direction.
So you want to just see where that's different so that you can generate some emotions along the way that you need. to get to that goal. So that was step four. Now step five is where we get a little bit more tactical. Now [00:11:00] that we know what emotions and thinking we're gonna need to create.
Now let's think about. What do we think that that future version of us tried along the way? What are all of the possible ideas that we can think of that that future version of us that got to the goal tried along the way? What's a little bit scary here might be thinking that when we write something down.
That we're almost committing to it, like sometimes it's scary to say, well, maybe this person, you know, like got on stage and gave a speech that might sound terrifying to you. So you might not want to write it down. Almost like by writing it, you're admitting that, you know, that maybe this is something you should do.
Let's not put that pressure on ourselves. Just write every possibility down. You don't have to do any of the things on the list. We just want to get some ideas, just get our creative juices going. What are some things we could try? That was step five. And then step six is to take those.
And you can use whatever kind of criteria there. Some of them might be [00:12:00] like, wow, yeah, if I did this. I for sure would hit the goal, but that is like a huge ask. Maybe it's a huge investment of time. Maybe it's a huge investment of money. Maybe it's just way too scary. And so maybe it would be the thing that would get you closest to the goal, but it's just so hard that there's no way you want to start with that.
So rank them in whatever order. I would suggest you rank them in order of some chronological things, right, like some things don't make sense to do first. so keep that in mind a bit, but also the impact. Like what things do you think would be most impactful?
Try to put some of those first. So that's step six is to rank them. And then the last step is to schedule them. That's what we're working on in this podcast, right? Is getting good on scheduling. So you're going to put them on your schedule and then you're going to follow through The challenge in following through is going to be those negative emotions that come up,
The follow through part is our actions and our actions are fueled by our emotions and When we're going after goals a lot of times there's gonna be lots of negative emotion So [00:13:00] don't beat yourself up too much if you put things on your calendar and you don't do them just show up the next day
Use it as a learning opportunity. Why didn't I do that thing? What came up for me? What was I thinking? What got in the way? What obstacle was there? And then solve for that obstacle and keep going.
To make reaching your goal a little bit more likely, you might want to create a singular focus for the year that would make all of your goals easier to reach. So you can go back and do this process with, with that whole. List of goals and pick some other ones, but you might want like an underlying theme.
Now for me, for years, that theme has been my one thing, which is time management and productivity. I've now gotten so good at that. I'm no longer nervous that I'm not going to do the things on my schedule. So for me, putting something on my calendar, it's as good as done.
Now that is magical. That took me a long time to get to. If you're not there, [00:14:00] then personally, that's what I would suggest you make your one thing for the year is learning how to create a schedule, manage your tasks, follow through on your schedule, and you're in the right spot. Keep listening to the podcast each week.
I'm going to give you help and mindset shifts to make that easier and easier. My one thing for the year is I have dedicated myself to a year of imperfection. Now that probably sounds like a bad idea. In fact, maybe I do a different podcast episode on that. But just to be So I'm going to be really quick about what I mean by that is perfecting things is what really slows me down, and so many of us claim to be perfectionist, and we kind of mean it in a way to compliment ourselves, right?
Like, oh, I'm such a perfectionist, and in some ways, I really did kind of like that identity for most of my life, like I loved when people said, Oh, you're such a perfectionist, right? Because it, It seemed to imply that I was constantly outputting, like, really great things, [00:15:00] but the truth is that my perfectionist tendencies really are just a sign of my fear, right?
When I try to perfect something, it's a way of me, one, not getting my work out into the world, and that's super great because then no one can reject it. Right? And the more quote unquote perfect it is, the less likely it is that someone's going to judge it negatively. So I've dedicated myself, my focus for the year is a year of imperfection.
And the reason I'm committing to that is because that's going to allow me to help more people to get out there more often, to work much more quickly and to be less focused on myself and people judging me. I'm more focused on seeing how many people I can help. Because the truth is, when I'm like, say, creating a PDF or something like that, right?
I'm going to like, create a handout for you, and I'm going to put it out into the world. When I'm messing around with logos and images and [00:16:00] fonts and stuff, You don't care, right? You don't care if it's the most spectacularly beautiful PDF you've ever seen. I care because I'm making it about me and you judging me or something like that or someone rejecting it.
So it's more important that I get you the content than that I make it the most beautiful PDF you've ever seen. I like to think of it honestly as like a weakness to be a perfectionist. Because I'm trying to disconnect my kind of affinity. I kind of like the identity of being called a perfectionist and I don't want to like it because I know it's slowing me down and making me less likely to help people.
So I want to create a situation in my brain where when I'm thinking, I'm perfecting this or I'm being a perfectionist that I think about that in a negative way in a way that I'm not proud of it in a way that that signals to me, Oh, you are being weak right now. I don't know why I have to beat myself up about it.
Maybe I need to do a little more mind work on this, but yeah. [00:17:00] You kind of catch my drift. So I'm not going to go off too much. I've already gone off too much on it. But that is my focus for the year is a year of imperfection. That feels amazing to me. It opens me up. It speeds me up. And I feel excited about getting more help out into the world.
You might want to pick another one. Maybe it is time management. Maybe it's something else, but you might want to have just this. overarching theme that if you were to kind of use this as your lens to view the things that you're going to do this year, what would be helpful? So maybe it is something like it's all about love, like what would love to do here?
I think that's a fantastic focus for the year. if you have one, I would love to hear it. Reach out to me on Instagram at productivity genius coach. Couldn't remember my Instagram for a second. I'd be excited to hear your focus. All right. I hope you found this helpful. I hope you. Support yourself along your goal journey, and I'm excited to see you next week.
Bye for now.
