0:00

All right, Ken, do you know what's happening

0:02

right now? No, I have no idea. Well,

0:06

first of all, it's your favorite time of year, finally.

0:08

Yes! We can act, okay, like I

0:10

give approval for us to actually listen to Christmas music now

0:13

that Thanksgiving's over. Jingle bells, jingle. Yes.

0:16

It's our holiday sale here at Full Focus.

0:18

Oh, even better. And we have some really

0:20

awesome deals going on, especially if for some

0:23

reason you missed out on our Black Friday

0:25

deals, this is a great time to get

0:27

your planners and everything for the new year.

0:30

And so we have got some awesome deals. So

0:32

we've got 10% off site-wide. We've

0:35

got where you can get a

0:37

free, your best year

0:40

ever vinyl sticker pack for

0:42

any new planner subscription that you sign up

0:45

for. So these are great to put on

0:47

things like your Stanley mug. Wow,

0:49

you already put them on your Stanley mug? And

0:53

if you got them on Black Friday, these

0:55

are different. These are going to

0:57

be new for the new year, but

0:59

they're great for that. You can also put them on your planner. You can

1:01

put them on your computer, wherever you

1:03

want them. They're great. They're great

1:06

stickers. We're also doing 25% off courses. Let's

1:09

go. So specifically, we've been talking

1:11

a lot about our goal setting course, and

1:14

this is going to be $75

1:17

off and you get a free ticket to

1:19

your best year ever live with your purchase. So

1:21

you definitely don't, it's like a crazy, crazy, crazy

1:23

deal. So you don't want to miss out on that. And

1:26

your favorite thing, which is our

1:28

certification program, we're doing $800 off of it. And

1:32

this is a fantastic time of year to get

1:35

in. We

1:37

are actually going to be doing a beta group

1:39

for our new digital planner. Yes, it's

1:41

going to be fantastic. Which is crazy

1:43

exciting. So anyways, go to fullfocusstore.com

1:46

now, shop our holiday sale. Make

1:48

sure to use the code HOLIDAYTIN

1:50

to get all these deals and

1:53

more. Welcome

2:00

to the podcast. So we have

2:02

a little bit of housekeeping to do when we get

2:05

the content and we do like to

2:07

jump right into it. But what is

2:09

happening this next year, relative to this?

2:13

Well, let me take the duct tape off my

2:15

mouth for a second, because I'm really

2:17

having to use a lot of self control to not

2:20

fill all the beans. I've

2:22

only been authorized to spill like

2:24

a bean, right? Which is that

2:26

the podcast is getting some really

2:29

exciting things happening to it. So we

2:31

can't tell you any details, but in

2:34

the new year, all will be

2:36

revealed. Okay, hang tight. But

2:38

in the meantime, we're

2:41

not going to leave you hanging because we have

2:43

some really important content to help people get prepared

2:45

for a great new year. We do and the one

2:47

thing I want to say about the new podcast

2:50

that we are excited about that we have shared

2:52

before, but it's going to be a new

2:54

format, new emphasis, new name. All

2:57

that's coming soon. We're just trying to

2:59

get all of our ducks in a row. So we can launch

3:01

it in the appropriate way. It's

3:03

just such a tease. Thank you. Some

3:07

people call that marketing. So

3:09

today, we're going to be talking

3:11

about choosing habits or achievement goals.

3:13

And I really like this distinction.

3:15

Me too. Well, and this

3:17

is part of a five part series

3:19

that we have been working our way

3:22

through. And so the first one was

3:24

going further by giving thanks. The

3:26

second one was rescuing your 2023

3:29

goals. Still not too late. Third

3:32

was filling out your wish list for 2024, which

3:34

is kind of like, you know, pre goal setting,

3:36

just starting to let yourself dream again and think

3:38

about the new year. And then this

3:41

week, we're going to be talking about habits

3:43

or achievement goals. And then next week, we're

3:45

going to be talking about jumping into 2024

3:48

with confidence. So I love this because I think

3:50

sometimes, you know, we just go through the holidays

3:52

and we kind of like tumble into

3:54

the new year a little disoriented and it's like,

3:56

oh, yeah, I should probably set some goals, you

3:58

know, and it's helpful. goal, if

4:01

you can begin to kind of put your

4:03

toe in the water and move toward that and

4:05

start getting yourself in a headspace of being ready

4:07

to do it as opposed to just tumbling into

4:10

it. Well, correct me if I'm wrong,

4:12

but futuristic is your number one strength, right?

4:15

Yes, which basically means that I'm

4:17

really good at imagining bad things

4:19

happening in the future. Right.

4:21

And you're not fully present in the moment. Which

4:24

is why I have

4:26

a great question to determine

4:28

habit or achievement goals in

4:31

this episode because I'm trying to decide, am

4:33

I going to do like a

4:35

mindfulness habit goal or should it be something of

4:37

an achievement goal? So there you go. Okay,

4:40

study. Okay. Well, we'll get to that

4:42

in just a minute. When do you first start thinking about

4:45

personal goal setting for the new year? I

4:47

just want to compare notes here because futuristic is pretty high for me

4:50

too. I

4:54

feel like already in the fourth quarter, I'm thinking

4:56

about it. I don't necessarily have

4:58

like a list going. I think in some years past,

5:00

I've had like an Apple note where I've just started

5:02

dropping things that I was kind of thinking about. But

5:06

probably because about this time of

5:08

year, I'm thinking there's this new

5:10

thing I want to do like mindfulness or

5:12

something like that, that

5:14

I just don't have the bandwidth to add right

5:16

now because it's the holidays, it's wrapping up the

5:18

fiscal year, it's all those things and so it's

5:20

not really a great time to add a new

5:23

habit or a new achievement goal. And

5:25

so I start thinking to myself, oh yeah, that could be

5:27

something to consider for next year. So

5:29

that's about the extent of it, but I am kind of

5:31

thinking about it. I would say I

5:33

start thinking about it usually about

5:36

August or September and that's driven –

5:38

Seriously? Yeah. Wow. That's

5:41

driven in large part because of the

5:43

requests and demands on my

5:45

calendar. So I'm

5:48

getting requests pretty early

5:50

in the fall for the next spring.

5:53

So Jim wants to get ahead of that, Jim's my

5:55

executive assistant, Jim wants to get ahead of that and

5:58

get the annual calendar laid out. out. And

6:01

of course, our practice is to put the

6:03

big rocks in first to use a metaphor

6:05

that Dr. Stephen Covey uses. So

6:07

we want to make sure that there's time for the things

6:09

that are really important. We're not just in reactive mode. Yeah.

6:11

So by necessity, if you're thinking about the calendar for the

6:14

next year, for me at least, I

6:16

started thinking about the goals. And usually

6:18

there's more requests, more to do in the next year that I'm

6:20

going to have time to do. So I'm going

6:22

to have to make choices. So I

6:24

just naturally start thinking about goals. I'm not

6:26

setting goals, but I'm getting into

6:28

that headspace of thinking, what is it that

6:30

I want? Right. Which by the way, that

6:33

is the number one most difficult thing to

6:35

do when it comes to goal setting, is

6:38

figuring out what you want. Yeah. And

6:41

people have a hard time getting

6:43

clarity. And that's part

6:45

of the reason why we wanted people

6:47

to begin doing that wish list, which

6:49

was the last episode to begin to

6:52

think aspirationally about the future, even

6:54

before they dial us in to

6:56

an aspect of smarter goals, which is

6:59

what we're going to talk about today. So

7:02

there are smarter goals, and smarter is kind

7:04

of our interpretation of

7:08

and modification of smart goals, something

7:10

GE I think came out with

7:12

maybe back in the sixties. But

7:15

what a lot of people don't know, and even people

7:17

in our own tribe don't know, is that

7:19

there are two different kinds of smarter goals.

7:22

So there are achievement goals and

7:25

there are habit goals. And

7:28

those are two different things.

7:30

So an achievement goal is like a one and

7:32

done kind of thing. Right. You know, you achieve

7:34

it, you check it off, you go to the

7:37

next thing. So that could be something like

7:39

a financial goal, like I want to save X

7:41

amount of dollars this year, or I want

7:43

to make this much money or something like that.

7:45

Or it could be running a marathon or,

7:48

you know, go into

7:50

a marriage retreat. Yeah, exactly. Those are not

7:52

things you're going to continue doing necessarily.

7:54

They have a starting point and an end point.

7:56

There's going to be the buildup to it. Yeah. And

7:59

then hopefully you achieve it. Check it off. Go

8:01

to the next thing. A habit goal

8:04

is basically implementing

8:06

a recurring behavior like running every

8:08

day or

8:10

having a weekly date night or

8:13

having a morning mindfulness

8:15

practice. It's something you talked about a moment ago.

8:17

So I don't know if you're

8:20

thinking about morning but anyway a mindfulness

8:22

practice. So those are habit goals and

8:25

they're both very useful and

8:28

when to use which is more art

8:30

than science but we want to

8:32

kind of dig into that and

8:35

ask ourselves the question what

8:37

better serves us as we're thinking aspirationally about

8:39

that thing that we want. Do

8:41

we want to use an achievement goal which

8:43

is one tool in our toolbox or do

8:45

we want to use a habit goal or

8:47

there's actually a third alternative which

8:50

is to use an achievement goal

8:52

but to use a habit practice

8:56

to get us there. Like let's say for example

8:58

I wanted to write a 55,000

9:01

word business book nonfiction business book that's the

9:03

achievement goal part of it. Yeah

9:05

we still have to add some things to make sure that

9:08

it conforms to smarter. Yeah conforms to smarter

9:10

but maybe a habit goal is the best way to do

9:12

that. I'm gonna write 500 words a day for the

9:15

X number of days till I get there.

9:18

I was gonna try to do the math in my head but never.

9:21

Never do math in real life. No never do math

9:23

in front of people. It's like trying to do spelling

9:26

on the whiteboard. Oh just

9:28

try to spell success on the whiteboard just knock

9:30

yourself out. Okay

9:35

so I have a very important question for you

9:37

that I have wondered myself even

9:39

though this is our methodology and

9:41

I feel very immersed in all

9:44

the goal achievement literature.

9:46

You come into the right place. Great

9:49

I feel like there should be like a screen between us or

9:51

something. Okay so. Why did

9:53

you say that? I don't know like you

9:55

know like a confessional. Oh okay. Yeah

9:58

I'm not trying to create separation. Anyway,

10:00

this is awkward now Okay,

10:03

okay my real question is this There

10:07

is a lot of buzz and there has been for

10:09

a long time About

10:11

habits as being the superior way

10:13

to improve your life. So

10:16

in other words You know your

10:18

habits are basically what determine the quality of your

10:20

life And so if you want a better life,

10:22

you should just focus on your habits and

10:25

kind of dismissive of achievement goals So what do you think

10:27

about that? I mean, are you first of all, are you

10:29

familiar with that kind of sentiment? Yep There

10:32

there are a lot of people that have that sentiment.

10:35

I would say this, you know I

10:37

don't think that achievement goals are worthless, but

10:39

I would say if possible Do

10:42

choose to have a goal Because

10:44

I think it's a little bit more manageable it's

10:48

more difficult to forget because you're

10:50

doing it with more frequency and So

10:53

you you won't as easily lose visibility

10:56

on it, which is another component of

10:58

being successful But but I still

11:00

do think there's achievement goals that are really worthy and

11:02

maybe the best Is to

11:04

have an achievement goal that has a

11:06

habit practice to get there But

11:08

one of the things you've got to be really careful of and I know we've

11:11

talked about this a lot is That you can

11:13

end up like if you have eight to ten goals for

11:15

the year and they were all habit goals. I Mean

11:18

let's be honest if you could acquire two new

11:20

habits or three new habits in the new year

11:22

that were really meaningful That would be life-changing Yeah

11:25

You don't need ten new habits in your life

11:27

and you probably don't have time for ten new habits and

11:29

that's a setup to fail Well, and I

11:31

think it's very easy for people to think When

11:34

you say that that they're the exception Right

11:37

now don't ask me how I know that you're not special

11:39

you are special, but you're not that kind of special Yeah,

11:41

so I've done this before I've thought

11:43

well, you know, I've got great

11:46

focus And I've got the time

11:49

and I'm just gonna do more habits that I probably

11:51

should and the problem is Anybody

11:53

can start well start strong, right?

11:56

But it's what happens after you get

11:58

going that determines whether you continue on on because

12:00

the habit goal is worthless if

12:02

you don't install it. Right. And the

12:04

installation process takes some time. So

12:11

today we're going to walk through three

12:13

considerations you could weigh as you're

12:15

deciding whether or not to set a habit goal or

12:17

an achievement goal. OK, so

12:19

what's the first consideration? Well,

12:21

the first one is permanence. So habit

12:24

goals are intended to be permanent. I

12:26

mean, think about it. We want to have

12:28

these habits. It's like we have this vision

12:30

for what is a good life

12:33

ultimately entail or what is a healthy life or

12:35

however you

12:37

would describe it. And that usually does

12:39

consist of certain achievements and certain habits.

12:41

And so we're not looking, for example,

12:43

in my idea of the mindfulness practice,

12:45

I'm not looking to do that for

12:48

eight weeks or 12 weeks. And

12:51

then I'm done. I'm

12:53

looking to do that for the rest of my life

12:55

as a way to better

12:57

manage stress without damaging my body.

13:00

That's my motivation for that. So

13:03

I think that this is

13:05

an important thing to think about. Are you just trying to

13:07

do something for a short period of time? Like you're going

13:09

to be running because you want to run a marathon. But

13:11

then you might like to do a lot of different things.

13:13

You might pick some other competition you want to do, like

13:16

a Tough Mudder or something like that. That's different.

13:19

Yeah, I don't want that to be perfect. Could you

13:21

think of an example of a

13:23

habit goal in your own life that's

13:26

had persistence for years? Yeah,

13:29

well, two. I

13:31

guess I would all go under the umbrella of my

13:33

morning ritual. But a part of

13:36

that, the two most consistent parts of

13:38

that are devotional time that I do.

13:40

I use the philosophical version of the daily

13:42

hours that are based on the Book of

13:44

Common Prayer. Done that for years. It's very

13:47

efficient. I can do it in like five

13:49

minutes, which is great. I mean, it's very

13:51

consistent. And then also using my full focus

13:53

planner and filling out the daily page, I

13:55

do almost every single day, even

13:58

on the weekends, without fail. Wow,

14:01

I'm impressed. Yeah, and so those two things

14:03

I would say like exercise is another one but Due

14:07

to some injuries have been a little less consistent in the last year

14:10

Yeah, I think for me. Okay, this sounds

14:12

stupid But there was a time when I

14:14

didn't do this but flossing my teeth like

14:16

I literally can't go to bed Wow Without

14:18

that okay, but it served me. Well, I still

14:20

have my teeth Congratulations,

14:23

I know and like my wife says only floss

14:25

the ones you want to keep. Yeah I

14:29

would say another one is reading through the Bible every

14:31

year now to be fair and to be honest I

14:34

don't always make it all the way through But

14:37

I use the one-year Bible and it's got a reading for

14:39

every day. Uh-huh. And so if I miss a day Don't

14:41

worry about it. I just kind of pick up and and

14:43

keep going so it may take me a year and a

14:45

half to Get through it, but I've done that for Maybe

14:48

35 years Wow.

14:50

So do you think you've been through the whole Bible 35

14:52

times? Yeah, probably 25

14:55

times that's a lot of times though. Yeah, I remember

14:57

one one time when I was in college It

15:01

was my first exposure to the Bible I got all

15:03

excited about it and not saying that

15:05

sometimes I go overboard on the front end But

15:07

I decided to read through the whole Bible in 90

15:09

days and I found a plan that could do that

15:11

Oh, and so one summer That

15:14

was my project I

15:17

didn't it didn't take that long. I would say

15:19

it probably took about 45 minutes to an hour a day No,

15:23

like to read through the Bible in any year

15:26

using the one-year Bible, which you know, they're not

15:28

an affiliate We're not getting Commissioned

15:30

on this but I love that product It's published by Tyndall

15:33

house and a lot of publishers have a lot of different

15:35

versions of it But it literally takes me

15:37

15 minutes a day and you can read through

15:39

the entire Bible in a year Wow in 15 minutes a day

15:42

Okay, I might have a new idea for a habit. Oh, yeah

15:46

So anyway, that's kind of cool. Okay, so back but back

15:48

to the point the idea is That

15:50

this is a habit you want to

15:52

permanently install or behavior you want to Repeat

15:55

on a permanent basis with some regularity

15:57

that you've defined, right? Where's

16:00

an achievement goal as it

16:02

relates to the permanence consideration that

16:04

is a one and done thing so

16:07

I ran a half marathon and

16:10

I decided to do it again the next year and I think

16:12

I ended up doing like five of them and So

16:15

that could have looked like a habit like

16:17

an annual habit, right? But I really

16:19

didn't have any intention even when I began to do that every year

16:21

forever And so there was just

16:24

a point where I said, okay, I'm done at that.

16:26

I've done it now I'm gonna just yeah me too

16:28

focus on the habit, right? Which

16:30

in your case turned out not to

16:32

be running it turned out to be daily exercise Exactly,

16:35

right? Yep. So it's a mix of cardio and

16:37

strength training Okay, so

16:39

how permanent do you want this to be? I think that's

16:41

the question to ask if yeah as you're considering this Aspiration

16:45

this thing that you want to do how

16:47

permanent do you want it to be now? Here's an odd

16:49

one. So for decades

16:53

We've had a weekly date night. Yeah, and

16:55

I have and that

16:57

was a weekly habit goal By

17:00

the way, once it's installed, this is really

17:02

important. It doesn't need to continue to show

17:04

up on your goal list Thank goodness,

17:06

right? Yeah, so people ask that all the

17:08

time. Well, okay You know, I've been doing

17:10

a weekly date night for this last quarter

17:12

Do I need to do it the next quarter if

17:15

you consider it installed like

17:17

you don't have to try anymore, right? It's like brushing

17:19

your teeth. You're not like who I better write down brush

17:21

my teeth in my planner Right, you don't do that. You

17:23

just do it every day I just do it and I

17:25

literally can't go to bed without brushing my teeth and flossing

17:28

I mean that's an installed right habit and that's like actually

17:30

how they should work. That's right. It should be on it

17:32

It's a way of self automating. Yeah,

17:35

so our weekly date night persisted

17:37

after we became empty nesters

17:40

But then we just realized pretty much

17:42

we have every meal together. We go

17:45

do things like like the other night Mom

17:48

needed to run to Walgreens to pick up a prescription and

17:51

I said, well, let me go with you And

17:53

so we just rode together, you know, so there's

17:55

a lot of togetherness so it doesn't really take

17:57

a lot of planning but I

17:59

would say that that that's the kind of thing where when you

18:01

start it, that might be good to think of

18:03

it. That's permanent enough to be a habit goal to

18:06

focus on. Okay, how

18:08

many habit goals do

18:10

you think you can set reasonably

18:12

in one year? Because the last

18:16

R of the smarter goal

18:18

framework is relevant, which means

18:20

everything has to work together. It has to be

18:22

compatible with your season of life. You

18:25

know, don't set 10 habit goals if you

18:27

have a newborn baby or you just started a new

18:29

job and moved across the country like set up

18:31

to fail. Yeah, I would say probably

18:33

one per quarter or at

18:35

least one one till it's installed. I

18:39

think that's a really good rule of

18:41

thought. And again, don't think you're the

18:43

exception. Because you're not. Because you're not. I mean,

18:45

you're a person, you're a human and we have

18:47

limitations and you could end up in effort to

18:49

do all of it. You could think, you

18:52

know, your best efforts on even a few.

18:54

Yeah. And by the way, I'm preaching myself

18:56

because I have often tried to do

18:59

more than one. And what happens is

19:01

I don't really install either one of them.

19:03

Have you ever succeeded with that? With

19:05

what? With doing multiple habits at the same

19:07

time over the long haul, like over

19:10

a period of years. I'd have to think about it,

19:12

but I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think I

19:14

have. No. It just

19:16

takes a lot of energy. I mean, you wake up

19:18

in the morning, maybe this is a limiting belief, but

19:21

with a certain amount of willpower. And

19:23

I think that's not a limiting belief. That's part of the

19:25

research. Yeah. I think that's actually right.

19:28

Okay. Joel is over in the corner and

19:30

he's saying sort of kind of. So.

19:36

It's a disputed finding that is not

19:38

replicable. So knock

19:40

yourself out. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah. Don't

19:43

knock yourself out. Well, in my

19:45

experience, let's speak anecdotally, I have never,

19:47

I don't think I've ever

19:49

been able to work on more than one goal or

19:52

one have a goal at a time. Yeah, I agree. Because

19:54

it takes a lot of focus. And for me

19:56

at least, it feels like willpower,

19:58

there's a fixed amount of willpower. power and

20:02

particularly if I get tired, like here's

20:04

the thing for me is

20:06

and right now I'm trying to install a

20:09

meditation practice. But

20:13

if I get tired, I'll blow it off.

20:17

And what that does is it prolongs,

20:20

you know, I allow myself when I say to have a

20:22

goal is I allow myself

20:24

a certain amount, I try to define the

20:26

compliance, like how compliant do I have to

20:28

be before I have to completely

20:31

start over. Like for example, if

20:33

I miss one time, that

20:36

doesn't warrant me totally starting over. If

20:40

I miss, like if it's going to take me

20:42

90 days to install it or 120 days to install it,

20:46

then I might give myself like a 5% non-compliance

20:50

factor. Make sense? It

20:53

does make sense. Marissa,

21:02

I cannot tell you how excited

21:04

I am for your best year

21:07

ever live coming up January 5th.

21:10

Yes, I'm so excited to I can't wait. Yes,

21:12

this is the event that you would want to

21:14

come attend if you're just like, man, I don't

21:16

want to look at how what did I do

21:18

in the past, but I also want to set

21:20

myself up for success to have like we call

21:22

it in the title, your best year ever. This

21:25

is the event you want to be at. We have

21:27

thousands of people coming to this event already. And

21:30

you and I will be emceeing this event. Yes. So

21:32

there's gonna be a lot of fun, a lot of

21:34

excitement to come join us to make it a great

21:37

year for you. Now, in order for

21:39

you to receive it, all you have to do

21:41

is buy the full focus

21:44

goal setting course, and

21:46

you get a ticket to your best year

21:48

ever. Yes. And the best part

21:50

is that that course is 25% off right now. So you're

21:54

going to get a discount and a ticket

21:56

to the live event, which is normally $197. That's

21:59

a killer deal. It's a killer deal. It's a no-brainer

22:01

in my opinion. But

22:03

definitely join us. It's gonna be so much

22:05

fun. January 5th, it's totally virtual. So no

22:08

matter where you are in the world or

22:10

whether you can get on a plane or

22:12

not, don't worry about it. You don't have

22:14

to. You can do this from the comfort

22:16

of your own home and we'll be right

22:18

there. Yeah, and just imagine having your

22:20

goals already set for the entire year

22:22

and a plan to execute them.

22:24

That's worth all the money that you can. And the

22:26

best part, it's a free event for you if you

22:28

buy the Full Focus Goal Setting Course. Yes. All

22:31

right, well, we would love to see you there. So

22:33

make sure to go to fullfocusstore.com and

22:37

take advantage of this deal. We'd love to

22:39

see you at your best driver live. All

22:41

right. Okay,

22:47

so the next consideration, first is

22:49

permanent. The next one

22:51

is flexibility. I

22:53

really like this point because I think

22:55

this has helped me although

22:58

I wouldn't have maybe used this language

23:00

to determine habit or achievement goal because

23:02

for example, if you

23:04

have an outcome in mind like you

23:07

wanna save $20,000 this year

23:11

or you want to go on a vacation

23:13

to Europe or something like that, it's

23:16

gonna be difficult if you don't have a

23:18

clear strategy for that to become a habit.

23:20

And sometimes you don't know it's gonna work

23:22

yet. And this is true for me. I

23:25

think I talked about this in the last podcast or

23:28

maybe the one before, but last year I had a weight

23:30

loss goal. And the

23:33

strategy that I was using

23:35

initially, though I was

23:37

very faithful to it, was not effective. And

23:41

so because I had an achievement goal and

23:43

not a habit goal, it

23:45

meant that I felt very free to try

23:47

something completely different to get to

23:49

the outcome which ultimately was very successful for me.

23:52

But in that

23:54

case, I was holding tight to the outcome that

23:57

I was committed to, but holding loosely to the strategy.

24:00

I began with because it was just kind of like my best guess

24:02

for how I was going to get there and then I needed to

24:04

adjust. So I think if you find

24:06

yourself in a situation where you're like, I know what I

24:08

want the end result to be, but I'm really not sure

24:10

what it's going to take to get there, then that's

24:13

where like an achievement goal might be the right choice. I

24:16

love that. Do you agree? I do agree with

24:18

that. And I think that that does allow

24:20

for maximum flexibility and keeps you from getting

24:22

locked into an ineffective strategy. And

24:25

one of the things that we've talked about a lot, particularly

24:27

in the context of strategic planning, is

24:29

that you've got to make sure that the

24:31

strategy serves the goal. And

24:35

you've also got to make sure that you don't derail

24:37

the goal on the front end because you can't

24:39

think of a strategy. You know, clarity is the first and

24:41

most important thing. Get clear on what it is that you

24:43

want to achieve. And then secondarily,

24:46

what you can do is pick the strategy

24:48

that you think will get you there. But

24:51

if the goal is sufficiently, if the achievement goal

24:53

is sufficiently risky, as we, you

24:55

know, at first are in the smarter

24:57

framework says, if it's sufficiently risky, you

25:00

probably don't know what strategy is

25:02

going to be successful. Right. You

25:04

haven't done it before, by definition. That's right.

25:07

And so you have to, you kind of have to be experimental. Like

25:09

I'm going to try this, but if that didn't work, I'm going to try something else.

25:12

But I'm not going to give up on the achievement goal

25:14

just because the strategy I chose didn't work. So

25:17

back to our mindfulness or meditation example,

25:19

you know, you could have

25:22

set an achievement goal around mindfulness because

25:24

what's the outcome? Like it's not measurable.

25:27

I mean, if your outcome with a

25:29

mindfulness or meditation goal is less stress,

25:32

you know, better sleep or whatever, I mean, how

25:34

can you measure that as like a singular outcome?

25:37

But a habit is really easy to think about that,

25:39

you know, that every day for 10 minutes or 15

25:41

minutes or something like that, you're going to practice mindfulness.

25:45

Well, absolutely. And I do

25:47

think that this is

25:49

a great way to solve for an aspiration.

25:52

You can't quantify it. Like

25:55

I'm using a habit goal. Using a habit goal.

25:57

So for example, like I'd really like to love

25:59

Gail more. Well, how

26:01

do we quantify that? Well, maybe we

26:04

don't. Maybe we just do a habit goal that we know

26:06

that will move us toward that aspiration. Right. I

26:08

mean... People get into this with like spiritual

26:10

goals, like they want a closer relationship with God or something.

26:13

Well, I mean, you literally cannot measure that. Right. But

26:15

there are behaviors that would lead

26:18

to that naturally if you repeated

26:20

them frequently enough. Yes.

26:23

And that's where the habit comes

26:26

in. Yes. Okay. Okay.

26:29

So that's flexibility. So then the last

26:31

consideration, if you're deciding between habit goals

26:33

and achievement goals, is motivation. I mean,

26:35

this kind of sounds basic, but I

26:37

think it's a good checkpoint. And I

26:39

think this is an area that I

26:41

have ignored in

26:43

the past. Like, what is your motivation telling

26:45

you? Does it sound better? Does it sound

26:48

more fun to do a habit goal or

26:50

an achievement goal? And sometimes

26:52

you think about a habit goal and you're just like

26:54

grown to yourself, you know,

26:56

because you don't actually like the idea of doing

26:58

the habit. And sometimes an

27:01

achievement goal sounds really exciting. Or maybe the

27:03

achievement goal sounds really intimidating. But

27:05

if you think about it like a habit breaking it down into something

27:07

you're going to do every day or every week,

27:09

you can imagine that and you could really wrap

27:11

your head around it and you can get excited and

27:13

engaged and motivated to do that. So

27:15

I think that's kind of a seemingly

27:18

easy thing to pass over as a criterion

27:20

here. But it's a great way to think

27:22

about what am I more motivated by?

27:24

Well, and I don't think that

27:27

achievement goals are inherently more motivational.

27:29

No. You and I may disagree on this.

27:31

I don't know. No, I do agree with you. Okay.

27:34

But I do think that if you have a habit goal, like, for

27:36

example, in the goal I'm working on right now, which is to meditate

27:39

for 20 minutes a day, I don't

27:42

get excited about that. I mean, that sounds

27:44

like boring. It's all I can do to

27:46

make myself do it. But

27:49

I love the idea of how

27:51

that's going to make me feel more at peace,

27:55

have less stress in my life, and

27:58

really impact my overall health. health. In

28:00

fact, I think it's job number one. So

28:03

when I think about the outcome or

28:05

what it's going to be like once that

28:07

habit is installed and I'm consistently

28:09

practicing, that I can

28:12

get motivated about, that I can get excited about. There's

28:14

kind of some layers here. This is

28:16

definitely more art than science. There's not

28:18

some quiz that you can give yourself.

28:21

But it is important to pay attention to what

28:23

comes up when you think about casting your

28:25

goals as habits or achievements. And

28:28

are you excited about it or are you not excited about it?

28:30

Well, it's why I think we have to start with the aspirations

28:32

first, like we talked about in the last episode, is

28:35

that you need to get really

28:37

clear on what you want. And

28:40

then you can define once you define what it

28:42

is that you want, without by the way, quantifying

28:44

it or turning it into a smarter goal yet.

28:46

But once you decide what you want, I want

28:48

a better marriage or I want better health or

28:51

I want more well-behaved kids,

28:53

whatever it is, then you can

28:55

decide what's the

28:57

right goal format to

28:59

use here. Do I want to use a habit goal or

29:01

an achievement goal? What will better

29:04

serve me accomplishing that thing or

29:06

getting to that thing that I want? That's

29:08

great. There's a sense in which the habit

29:10

goal and the achievement goal in

29:12

and of themselves are a strategy. True.

29:14

I've never thought of that before. Yeah. It's

29:16

more of an internal strategy, like what's going to be

29:19

the easiest for me to fulfill, but

29:21

it's still a strategy. Yep. Okay.

29:27

So let's review these real quick. So

29:29

when you're thinking about whether to

29:31

set your goals as achievement goals

29:33

or habit goals, there are three

29:35

considerations for which one to choose.

29:38

The first is permanence. Do

29:40

you intend for this goal to be

29:42

a permanent fixture in your life, like

29:44

a habit, or are you just really

29:46

invested in the outcome? Flexibility,

29:49

where you're thinking more about that outcome

29:51

and less about the strategy. And then

29:54

lastly, motivation, which sounds more exciting

29:56

to you? Does it sound more exciting to have

29:58

a habit installed? in your

30:00

life or be really focused on a defined

30:02

outcome that is over and done once you've

30:04

achieved it. Okay. So as

30:06

you look towards 2024, and then

30:08

talk just about you, Megan, but about all of our listeners,

30:10

as you, as you look towards, uh, 2024, you

30:13

might begin

30:16

to kind of frame these up as possibilities. And

30:19

the thing that I've done for years is I

30:21

will create a note currently I'm doing no

30:23

shit, but you could use Evernote, Apple notes,

30:26

Google docs, whatever you want. Doesn't matter, you

30:28

know, a page in your focus

30:30

planner and good

30:33

old sticky note. Good old sticky note. I

30:35

don't recommend that, but, uh, you

30:37

had a little bit more permanence, but I would,

30:39

I would put two categories, achievement goals and habit

30:41

goals, and then begin to populate

30:44

both of those lists with candidates for next

30:46

year. So don't feel like, and

30:48

I think this, this too heavy of a lift. You

30:50

think, Oh, you know, I just want

30:52

to get myself, you know, six achievement goals for

30:54

this next year, and you start sorting and prioritizing

30:56

and deleting and adding, no, just get it all

30:58

out there. Do it, do a brain dump. You

31:01

can come back and sort it later, but that

31:03

is a ongoing list so

31:06

that if I have, you know,

31:08

a thought about something I want to achieve or a

31:10

habit I want to install, great goes in that file.

31:12

And then when I sit down and plan this

31:15

next year, when I do the best year ever

31:17

program, then I will decide what's going

31:19

to be actually done next year. I like

31:21

that. You know, the older I get, the more,

31:23

I think it's really valuable to give yourself the

31:26

benefit of marinating on things or

31:28

in things, I guess the right way to say that, you know, just sit

31:31

with it for a little bit before you

31:33

decide because oftentimes what's

31:36

really important will just rise to the top

31:38

and it will become clear, the clarity is

31:40

easier to come by when you give things

31:42

time and you have the benefit of that right now. Well,

31:45

and I think preparing for anything, if you

31:47

can give yourself that sort of that gestation period,

31:50

it's better. Agreed. Yeah. Okay.

31:53

So right now we've got an incredible

31:55

offer for our full focus goal setting

31:57

course. If you buy the full focus.

32:00

focus goal setting course, before the end

32:02

of the year, you're gonna get a

32:04

free ticket to the best year ever, to your

32:06

best year ever live event. I

32:08

can't wait to do this again, it's so

32:10

fun. I can't either, and it's really one

32:12

of my favorite things to do in the

32:15

entire year. It's so full of hope, so

32:17

exciting to look at that

32:19

blank canvas and to begin to imagine what could

32:21

be, and that's what that event's all

32:24

around. It's so important if you're thinking

32:26

about goals, and maybe this is an area you've struggled,

32:28

or you just have a sense that you have more

32:30

potential than what you've realized so far, don't

32:33

do the DIY version. Don't just do

32:35

what you've always done, setting New Year's

32:37

resolutions, or kinda sitting there with your

32:39

journal by yourself the day after Christmas

32:42

or New Year's or whatever. Like

32:44

work through a proven process that

32:46

has the backing of science

32:48

and it's evidence-based, and it's been refined and

32:51

refined and refined, and that's what your best

32:53

year ever is. I mean this is a

32:56

program that you can trust to

32:58

enable you to reach your full potential, and you get better

33:00

and better at it the more you do it. Well I think

33:02

we've had like 50,000 people go through that

33:05

course over the last 10 years, which is amazing.

33:07

So we're gonna walk you through a five-step process. Megan and

33:09

I will be leading it, but it's gonna

33:11

be virtual by the way. But

33:14

you're gonna end the day with not only a complete list of goals for

33:16

2024 that excite you, but

33:18

also an actionable plan to accomplish

33:21

them. And that's $197 value, that event alone, but

33:26

you get it free when

33:28

you buy the Full Focus

33:30

Goal Setting course. So head

33:33

over to fullfocus.co/goal setting. Again

33:35

that's fullfocus.co/goal setting. Pick

33:37

up your copy of the Full Focus Goal Setting course,

33:39

and then get your free ticket to

33:42

the best year ever live event. Well

33:44

thanks so much for joining us everybody. Hopefully

33:46

you have some clarity about whether

33:48

your goals need to be habit goals or

33:51

achievement goals and a helpful framework to

33:53

understand that. Okay so

33:55

next week we're gonna wrap this mini

33:57

series and we're gonna be talking about.

34:00

Jumping into 2024 with confidence. Confidence

34:04

is a difference maker and if you want more confidence as

34:06

you enter the new year, don't miss

34:08

that episode. See you then. Music

34:28

Alright Ken, do you know what's happening right now? No,

34:30

I have no idea. Well

34:33

first of all, it's your favorite time of year finally. Yes! I

34:36

give approval for us to actually listen to

34:39

Christmas music now that Thanksgiving is over. Jingle

34:41

bells, jingle bells. It's

34:43

our holiday sale here at Full Focus. Oh, even

34:45

better. And we have some really

34:47

awesome deals going on, especially if for some

34:49

reason you missed out on our Black Friday

34:51

deals, this is a great time to get

34:53

your planners and everything for the new year.

34:56

And so we have got some awesome deals. So

34:59

we've got 10% off site wide. We've

35:02

got where you can get a

35:04

free, your best year

35:06

ever vinyl sticker pack for

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any new planner subscription that you sign

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up for. So these are great to

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put on things like your Stanley mug.

35:16

Wow, you already put them on your Stanley mug? And

35:18

if you got them on Black Friday, these are different. These

35:22

are going to be new for the new year. But

35:25

they're great for that. You can also put them on your planner. You can

35:27

put them on your computer wherever you want them. They're

35:31

great. They're great stickers. We're also doing 25%

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off courses. Let's go. So

35:36

specifically, we've been talking a lot about our

35:38

goal setting course. And

35:41

this is going to be $75 off and you

35:43

get a free ticket to your best year ever

35:45

live with your purchase. So you definitely don't. It's

35:47

like a crazy, crazy, crazy deal. So you don't

35:50

want to miss out on that. And

35:52

your favorite thing, which is our

35:55

certification program. We're doing $800 off

35:57

of it. And this is... It's

36:00

a fantastic time of year to get in. We

36:04

are actually going to be doing a beta group

36:06

for our new digital planner. Yes, it's

36:08

going to be fantastic. Which is crazy exciting.

36:10

So anyways, go to fullfocusstore.com now,

36:13

shop our holiday sale. Make sure

36:15

to use the code HOLIDAYTIN to

36:17

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