00:00:00
while goal setting is fun and can get us
00:00:02
excited about the year ahead goal
00:00:04
planning is even better rather than just
00:00:07
announcing what we want to do with the
00:00:08
year ahead when we plan a goal we make
00:00:10
it so much more likely to actually be
00:00:13
achieved we know what we have to do when
00:00:15
we have to do it and by taking action on
00:00:17
the plan we get things accomplished in
00:00:19
this video I'm going to take you through
00:00:21
step by step with how I like to plan my
00:00:23
goals using one of my actual goals for
00:00:25
next year as an example our first step
00:00:27
is to turn to the next available page in
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whatever writing on you can do this on a
00:00:31
scrap piece of paper if you like to but
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I personally prefer to use a gol planner
00:00:35
this is just a journal that is
00:00:37
specifically dedicated to planning out
00:00:38
my goals doing things like quarterly
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Reflections thinking about my
00:00:42
achievements any challenges goal-
00:00:44
getting tactics that have and haven't
00:00:46
worked I like to have them all in the
00:00:48
same place because then I can flip back
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through the pages and consider what does
00:00:51
and doesn't work for me as a goal getter
00:00:53
and use that information to make further
00:00:55
progress in the future on this planning
00:00:57
page though I have just put a highlight
00:00:58
at the top because I like to have a
00:01:00
highlight as a header and we're going to
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write out a brief description or title
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for the page that kind of describes what
00:01:05
your goal is this doesn't have to be
00:01:07
perfectly worded it's just something
00:01:09
that's memorable for your goal and in my
00:01:10
case I'm calling this one work
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boundaries while the title just gives us
00:01:14
a nice easy to see caption for what this
00:01:16
page is going to be about it is
00:01:17
important also to write down what your
00:01:19
actual goal is when writing out a goal
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statement Some people prefer to use the
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smart system I personally don't like the
00:01:26
smart system I don't think it works for
00:01:28
a vast majority of goals that we have
00:01:30
have so instead I just like to word mine
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so it's going to be simple easy to
00:01:33
remember and it's using wording that
00:01:35
resonates with me at the end of the day
00:01:37
this is going to be my goal and I need
00:01:38
to be able to remember it and I want to
00:01:40
make sure that the wording of the goal
00:01:41
doesn't bring up any negative feelings
00:01:43
it's something that I can feel connected
00:01:45
to in terms of my goal while the heading
00:01:47
was work boundaries the goal itself is
00:01:49
to set and keep time boundaries for my
00:01:52
work hours to increase my time for other
00:01:54
life areas while I could have just kept
00:01:56
this as set and keep time boundaries for
00:01:58
my work hours by adding in that little
00:02:00
extra part at the end of the statement
00:02:02
it helps to remind me of my reasoning
00:02:04
behind this goal which is the next thing
00:02:05
we're going to write down I like to call
00:02:07
this section the goal's purpose and it's
00:02:09
effectively just the why or reasoning
00:02:11
behind the goal now it can be tempting
00:02:13
at this point to write out a laundry
00:02:14
list of things behind this goal and why
00:02:16
you want to work on it but it's actually
00:02:18
going to be more impactful if you can
00:02:19
get to a root y behind it something
00:02:22
that's quite meaningful something that
00:02:24
really does resonate with you not only
00:02:26
will it be easier to remember that one
00:02:27
more compelling reason but because it's
00:02:30
more compelling it means that you're
00:02:31
going to be more likely to not forget
00:02:32
about this goal and more likely to work
00:02:34
on it it is very important at this stage
00:02:36
to be honest with yourself don't write
00:02:38
down a purpose just because it sounds
00:02:40
good or it's what you think other people
00:02:42
would want to hear you say with relation
00:02:43
to the goal if it's not the true reason
00:02:45
behind working on it or if that reason
00:02:48
isn't really compelling to you
00:02:49
personally then it's not really going to
00:02:51
incentivize you to get to work the
00:02:53
reason I've given myself here is to
00:02:54
avoid burning myself out allowing me the
00:02:57
rest to show up in all of my life areas
00:02:59
is the best version version of myself
00:03:00
this effectively acts as a reminder to
00:03:02
myself as yes you do enjoy your work but
00:03:04
if you don't rest then you can't do your
00:03:06
best work whether that's in your actual
00:03:08
kind of job or work in other life areas
00:03:11
too the next thing to think about though
00:03:13
is our ideal outcome for this goal what
00:03:15
does 100% crazy success look like here
00:03:18
this is our opportunity to dream big
00:03:20
thinking about the goal that we've set
00:03:22
for ourself what would it look like what
00:03:24
would it feel like if you achieved 100%
00:03:26
of this to the very best possible
00:03:28
version of completion we're not doing
00:03:30
this as a way to kind of manifest the
00:03:32
goal or anything like that but more so
00:03:34
by outlining this ideal outcome we know
00:03:36
what we're striving for as we work on it
00:03:38
this can also help to incentivize us to
00:03:40
work on the goal giving us that reminder
00:03:42
of what we're aiming for here what this
00:03:44
ideal outcome is not though is a
00:03:46
standard to hold ourselves to and then
00:03:48
beat ourselves up when we don't quite
00:03:50
reach it while achieving this ideal
00:03:52
outcome is you know ideally what we're
00:03:54
hoping for that doesn't necessarily mean
00:03:56
it's going to happen quite this way
00:03:58
especially because we haven't really
00:04:00
started working on the goal just yet and
00:04:02
we might find that once we start to get
00:04:03
underway with it our ideal outcome might
00:04:05
actually change for that reason I don't
00:04:07
consider this to be something to hold
00:04:09
over my head and get all down on myself
00:04:11
when my actual outcome doesn't align
00:04:13
perfectly with this Vision but it's a
00:04:15
lot easier to take a journey to a
00:04:16
destination if you know where you're
00:04:18
going in this section we don't
00:04:19
necessarily just want to think about the
00:04:21
tangible things around the goal but also
00:04:23
any thoughts or feelings we're going to
00:04:25
have around it once we've accomplished
00:04:26
it in terms of the ideal outcome that
00:04:28
I've written down for me I've got that I
00:04:30
have set work hours both during the week
00:04:32
and on weekends that allow me sufficient
00:04:35
time to do my work and plenty of time
00:04:37
for fun connection home care and
00:04:39
learning I don't feel pressured during
00:04:41
my workday and instead have systems that
00:04:43
help me get my work done calmly and to a
00:04:46
high standard well in advance of
00:04:48
deadlines I have at least one dedicated
00:04:50
day off each week and I don't work in
00:04:52
the evenings my work quality and output
00:04:55
rate doesn't diminish from the
00:04:56
boundaries I'm keeping now as we know
00:04:58
where we're headed and why we're heading
00:05:00
there it's time to start thinking about
00:05:02
how we're going to get there or
00:05:04
essentially what action steps or tasks
00:05:06
are we going to be doing in order to
00:05:08
realize this goal this is essentially
00:05:10
where we want to brainstorm the
00:05:11
different things that we can do to work
00:05:13
on the goal whether they be things that
00:05:14
we do once or things that we have to do
00:05:16
repeatedly I typically like to give
00:05:18
myself quite a lot of space to do this
00:05:20
part because I don't necessarily know in
00:05:22
advance how many action steps there are
00:05:24
going to be and the initial list that
00:05:26
I'm coming up with I think of this as a
00:05:27
brainstorm some of these might get
00:05:29
crossed off some of them might not
00:05:31
actually end up being done but because
00:05:33
it's a brainstorm to start with it's a
00:05:34
lot more low risk we can write things
00:05:36
down that seem a little bit silly we can
00:05:38
play around with different options for
00:05:40
how to realize a goal because often
00:05:42
times goal dependent there are a lot of
00:05:44
different ways we could take action on
00:05:46
it I'm writing my actions list out on
00:05:48
the right hand side and you can see I
00:05:50
have some different columns running down
00:05:52
the left hand of the page these are just
00:05:54
to indicate the different types of tasks
00:05:55
I have or how frequently they're going
00:05:57
to be done so are they oneoff or are
00:05:59
they repeated and if they are repeated
00:06:01
how often am I repeating them the
00:06:03
initials I'm using here are o for once C
00:06:06
for cyclic or monthly W for weekly and D
00:06:10
for daily you don't necessarily have to
00:06:12
do it in this system you can just write
00:06:14
a running list of all the things you
00:06:15
want to do doesn't have to have any
00:06:17
sorting or organization I just find that
00:06:19
this is going to be really helpful when
00:06:21
it comes to trying to take this actions
00:06:22
list and putting it into my monthly
00:06:24
setups that way I can pull out the
00:06:26
things that need to go on a routines or
00:06:27
habit tracker I can pull out the things
00:06:29
that need to go on a monthly action list
00:06:31
or anything like that when thinking
00:06:33
about these action steps do give
00:06:34
yourself a decent amount of time to kind
00:06:36
of think through Ponder the
00:06:38
possibilities for how you're going to
00:06:39
action this goal but don't get too Lost
00:06:41
In The Weeds of it often times I find if
00:06:44
I set myself a time limit for this I'm
00:06:46
going to be one more focused on the task
00:06:48
at hand and two it means that I have a
00:06:50
definite end point so I'm not just
00:06:52
sitting here uming and iring trying to
00:06:54
think of every single thing and getting
00:06:56
it out of my head often times we don't
00:06:58
need a perfect plan to get started on
00:06:59
our goals so don't let perfectionism in
00:07:02
this stage or any of the other ones hold
00:07:04
you back from taking the action that's
00:07:05
going to get you to where you want to go
00:07:07
another thing you can consider when
00:07:08
thinking about your actions list is
00:07:10
backwards planning from the ideal
00:07:12
outcome you have in mind so taking your
00:07:14
ideal outcome what is the thing that has
00:07:16
to happen directly before that what has
00:07:18
to happen directly before that this
00:07:20
won't necessarily be helpful for every
00:07:22
type of goal but if you have a goal
00:07:24
that's very much kind of Project based
00:07:25
it has a set of sequence steps that you
00:07:27
need to take it can be a good way to
00:07:29
start start your brainstorming once you
00:07:30
have your action step brainstorm then
00:07:32
it's time to go through and start to
00:07:34
prune back think about any of the ones
00:07:36
that realistically you don't have to do
00:07:38
them they're not necessarily essential
00:07:40
for getting to where you want to go
00:07:42
mainly because if you can have the
00:07:43
smallest list possible of things you
00:07:45
have to do in order to reach the goal
00:07:47
then it's going to be a lot less
00:07:48
overwhelming and we're more likely to be
00:07:50
able to get there the next step we're
00:07:52
going to do though is think about how we
00:07:53
know we're making progress on our goal I
00:07:56
like to call these the metrics of
00:07:57
success or they're effectively the
00:07:59
Stones we're going to hit along the way
00:08:01
to working on our goal while we do have
00:08:03
the ideal outcome that we're aiming for
00:08:05
for some of our goals that can feel like
00:08:06
quite a way away we might have a
00:08:08
long-term goal that we're working on and
00:08:10
getting to that end point isn't
00:08:12
realistically going to happen in the
00:08:13
next week or month or possibly even year
00:08:17
so it's nice to have some little winds
00:08:18
to hit along the way just so that we
00:08:20
know that we're headed in the right
00:08:21
direction I like to write these ones off
00:08:23
so that it's a checklist that I can
00:08:25
either check off or cross out to say I
00:08:27
have done that thing and you might also
00:08:29
want to consider how you can reward
00:08:31
yourself for this progress as well just
00:08:33
make sure that any rewards you're giving
00:08:34
yourself don't undo your progress
00:08:36
towards your goal for instance if you
00:08:38
have a goal around finances then maybe
00:08:40
spending a whole heap of money on
00:08:42
rewards isn't how you want to play this
00:08:44
what are some low cost or free rewards
00:08:45
you could use instead I'm not going to
00:08:47
be putting any rewards onto mine mainly
00:08:49
because I find that hitting the
00:08:50
Milestone is usually enough for me but
00:08:53
as I write these down I do try and
00:08:54
sequence them in order of when I'll
00:08:56
probably hit them this can mean
00:08:58
brainstorming in a separate piece of the
00:08:59
paper first and then bringing it into
00:09:01
the plan or if this is just all of your
00:09:02
messy work before you go and write it up
00:09:04
formally it's all good to put it in any
00:09:06
order on here one of the ways that I
00:09:08
find entries for my metrics of success
00:09:10
list is to look over my actions list and
00:09:12
think if there are any key actions in
00:09:14
there that will feel like a milestone
00:09:16
when I've completed them this can
00:09:18
sometimes be because they're an action
00:09:19
step that comes after a series of other
00:09:21
ones so there are other things on the
00:09:23
actions list that feed into this or in
00:09:25
order to do that Milestone type task I
00:09:28
really have to have done some other ones
00:09:29
first but otherwise you can just
00:09:31
brainstorm for things outside of your
00:09:33
task list so they're not so much things
00:09:35
that you're going to do but maybe things
00:09:37
that you can achieve through your action
00:09:39
taking again just like our ideal outcome
00:09:42
you don't necessarily have to hit every
00:09:44
single metric of success to get to the
00:09:46
end point of your goal but by being
00:09:48
intentional about these writing them in
00:09:50
a sequential order and having them as
00:09:52
things that we can check off along the
00:09:54
way it can help keep us more motivated
00:09:56
to continue working on our goal before
00:09:58
we get into the next stage of our
00:10:00
planning process if you're wondering
00:10:01
about the system we're using here and
00:10:03
the system that I use for all of my goal
00:10:05
setting planning and getting this is
00:10:08
what we call Epic goals epic here stands
00:10:10
for enjoyable practical impactful and
00:10:13
challenging and it's very much a system
00:10:15
for people who have found that
00:10:17
traditional goal setting systems they've
00:10:18
tried previously just haven't really
00:10:20
worked for them I was very much the kind
00:10:22
of person who was just frustrated by
00:10:24
traditional goal setting systems and
00:10:26
finding that they didn't fit with me the
00:10:28
way my brain works the way my life is so
00:10:31
I set out to make myself a system that
00:10:33
was flexible enough for any type of goal
00:10:35
I wanted to work on but robust enough
00:10:37
that I had a set sequence to follow in
00:10:39
order to brainstorm select plan and then
00:10:42
action my goals this is the system that
00:10:44
I've used with hundreds of students to
00:10:46
help them go and achieve their goals and
00:10:48
I'd love to help you achieve your goals
00:10:49
for 2025 if you're enjoying the content
00:10:52
of this video and you want some help for
00:10:53
your goal setting for 2025 then I would
00:10:55
love to help you there's a link in the
00:10:57
description box for where you can find
00:10:59
more information about epic once we have
00:11:01
those metrics of success though another
00:11:03
helpful step can be timelining these so
00:11:05
taking these different steps and
00:11:07
thinking about when we want to have them
00:11:08
accomplished by again this is not
00:11:10
something we're going to hold over our
00:11:12
heads it's like oh I said I was going to
00:11:13
do this this week and it happened the
00:11:15
next week or anything like that but it
00:11:17
can help us think about whether the
00:11:18
timelines we have in our head for
00:11:20
achieving our goals are actually going
00:11:22
to be realistic if you have a small
00:11:24
laundry list of tasks that you need to
00:11:26
do for this goal and you're like oh yeah
00:11:27
I'm going to get all of this done in the
00:11:28
first week of the year I mean maybe we
00:11:31
could do that depending on the size of
00:11:32
the tasks but remember there are other
00:11:34
things going on in our lives outside of
00:11:36
just our goal workor we need to account
00:11:38
for the fact that those are happening
00:11:39
too and you might be working on multiple
00:11:41
goals at once while I'm not going to be
00:11:43
writing a timeline for this goal an
00:11:45
example that we have from a previous
00:11:47
goal plan that I made was this one here
00:11:49
I like to plan my goals in 13 we blocks
00:11:52
or the quarters of the year and because
00:11:54
I have 13 cm across in my journal makes
00:11:56
it very easy along the timeline though I
00:11:58
can just put in the little labels to say
00:12:00
when I want to have particular things
00:12:01
done you can also use color coding and
00:12:03
such to indicate time where you're going
00:12:05
to be busy and maybe you don't want to
00:12:06
schedule too many deadlines at that time
00:12:09
but as said this can be very helpful for
00:12:11
making sure we're not overburdening
00:12:12
ourselves or trying to put too much
00:12:14
pressure on ourselves in pinch points
00:12:16
flipping back to our current goal plan
00:12:18
though once we've got all of these
00:12:20
stages in with the optional step of
00:12:21
timelining then it's time to actually
00:12:23
use the information we have on here I
00:12:25
typically like to go through my action
00:12:27
steps list and think about which one I
00:12:29
can reasonably action in the month
00:12:31
coming up and I'll move those into my
00:12:33
actions list space that I have in my
00:12:34
monthly dashboard by just taking out the
00:12:36
things that I want to specifically
00:12:38
action in that month it means that I
00:12:40
don't get overwhelmed looking at the
00:12:42
whole list especially considering some
00:12:44
goals that we work on have quite a lot
00:12:46
of steps that we need to do as said this
00:12:48
is the system that I use to plan out all
00:12:49
of my goals because it's flexible enough
00:12:51
to be used with any type of goal if you
00:12:54
found this video helpful do make sure to
00:12:55
go check out epic goals I would love to
00:12:57
have you over there with us and help you
00:12:59
set your goals for 2025 but to check out
00:13:02
the other goal related content we have
00:13:03
on the channel the playlist at the top
00:13:05
is where it's at that one includes all
00:13:06
of our previous goal related videos
00:13:09
including our Deep dive workshops on how
00:13:10
to set your goals for the new year so
00:13:12
click or tap on that one and I'll see
00:13:14
you over there
