0:07

Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible

0:09

Time podcast . For those that

0:11

may be listening for the first time , our podcast

0:13

is an offshoot from our main platform

0:16

, Youtube . Our channel is called Coffee

0:18

and Bible Time , where our goal is

0:20

to help people delight in God's

0:22

Word and thrive in Christian

0:24

living . We also have a website

0:27

and storefront with Bible studies , prayer

0:29

journals , courses and more . I'm

0:32

Mentor M ama , and today we've

0:35

got an episode for all of you

0:37

goal getters . We

0:39

are going to be diving into the challenge

0:41

a lot of us face , which is

0:43

making our 2024 goals

0:46

a reality . You know

0:48

, the kind that actually stick and

0:51

bring about real change

0:53

in the new year . Do

0:55

you ever catch yourself setting

0:58

ambitious goals only to find

1:00

them abandoned by February

1:02

? Well , we've all been there

1:04

, and one of the biggest mistakes in

1:06

goal setting is the lack of

1:08

solid planning to keep us on

1:11

track , and so joining

1:13

us today to help us on

1:15

our path to clear and strategic

1:17

goal planning is Polly Payne

1:19

. She is going to help us

1:22

begin our year with a solid plan

1:24

so our goals don't fizzle out

1:26

. She will share with us how

1:28

aligning our ambitions with

1:30

a higher purpose will ensure

1:32

our goals are in sync with

1:34

God's will and help guarantee

1:37

they aren't just wishful thinking

1:39

for a few weeks from now . So

1:41

stay tuned and let's take action

1:43

to make our goals a reality in 2024

1:46

. Polly is the

1:49

founder and CEO of

1:51

Horacio printing . Her

1:53

mission is to help Christian women

1:55

pursue and achieve their God

1:57

given dreams . Through her company

2:00

and in partnership with a 21.org

2:02

, she has raised more than $70,000

2:05

to fight human trafficking . Polly

2:08

lives in Lookout Mountain , Georgia

2:11

, with her husband and two children

2:13

. Please welcome Polly .

2:16

Yay , I'm so glad to be here . Thanks

2:18

for having me .

2:19

Thank you so much for being here today

2:21

, Polly . I'm really excited to

2:24

, as we are kicking off

2:26

this new year , to

2:28

just take a time of reflection right

2:31

and really try to explore

2:33

where we want to go . And why don't

2:36

we just start with like what ? What

2:38

significance do New

2:40

Year's goals or

2:42

resolutions hold in

2:44

the context of the Christian faith ?

2:47

You know , I think every morning , you know his mercies

2:49

are new and he's always doing something

2:52

new and what's beautiful

2:54

about a new year

2:56

is everyone's kind of doing

2:59

it with you . I think there's a lot of times for

3:01

rebirth and renewal every

3:03

season , every year , even your birthday

3:05

. For me that's like my own personal New

3:07

Year's and I think

3:10

you know getting for me it's always getting a new

3:12

planner opening up a fresh bucket list

3:14

and it's just a space to

3:17

to have a refresh

3:19

, like why not ? You know , and it doesn't

3:21

have to be January 1st . You might find this episode

3:24

and it's the middle of February , you know

3:26

, and that doesn't mean you missed it , and

3:28

there's You know people say there's something magic about

3:30

January 1st , but I

3:32

think it's a great time in

3:35

winter , which

3:37

is a season of , you know

3:39

, almost like a hibernation

3:42

and quiet and cozy

3:45

, and you

3:47

know things feel dead , but we all know spring

3:49

is coming . I think it's a really beautiful

3:51

time to sit and reflect on

3:54

what you want the next 12 months to bring

3:56

, because I think for

3:58

me what I've learned is

4:01

your schedule will

4:03

determine who you want to become

4:05

, and the most important

4:07

dream I think any of us can have

4:10

is to become who we're called to

4:12

become . That's

4:15

, you can't carry

4:17

any of the lofty dreams or goals

4:19

or callings or purpose if

4:22

you're not physically , mentally , spiritually

4:24

ready to carry it . Which

4:27

is one of the reasons why I think God doesn't place big things

4:29

on us until certain

4:31

parts of our lives get healthy and

4:33

get stable , because

4:36

sometimes a blessing can drown you out

4:38

. You know , like , let's say , I

4:40

wanted my business to go grow to this huge revenue

4:42

goal . You know I could definitely

4:44

see in the back of my mind like , am I ready

4:46

to sustain that , am I

4:48

ready to scale to that ? Because

4:52

many blessings or goals and dreams

4:54

can , can grow to be not to

4:56

be a Debbie Downer but they can grow to be

4:59

a burden . They can be heavy things

5:01

to carry , even just like

5:03

a podcast . You know it's exciting goal to start

5:05

it , but to consistently keep

5:07

it going and to edit and to record

5:09

and to stay organized and to give

5:11

it the the time and energy it needs

5:14

. Like it , it has weight and

5:16

so I think the best , the best dream we

5:18

can really focus on is the dream of

5:20

our own wholeness and

5:22

health , so that God

5:24

can continue to carry it , to

5:26

call us into what we're called to carry .

5:29

Yeah , yeah , how important

5:31

do you think it is to actually

5:33

reflect on the past

5:35

year before

5:38

sort of going into the next

5:40

year , and how do

5:42

you go about doing that ?

5:45

Yeah , so two ways . It's

5:48

so critical . It's just like a

5:50

, like a GPS for your car . You

5:52

know if you want to get somewhere , the

5:55

car or your phone has

5:57

to know the place you're at , has

6:00

to pinpoint where you're at in order to

6:02

even give you directions . It doesn't

6:04

work without knowing where you're

6:06

at . So it's critical to assess

6:08

where you are today . But

6:10

it's super important to reflect on the past

6:13

, not just the good , but especially , especially

6:16

the good . You can reflect on what

6:18

went wrong , what didn't serve

6:21

me , what do I need to let go of

6:23

? What do I not want to carry into the new year ? Especially

6:26

, who do I need to forgive ? We could be

6:28

harboring unseen

6:30

bitterness from the things that have happened

6:32

. You know , let's say , things

6:35

got political in your family or

6:37

someone said something , or someone shared

6:39

something on Facebook and , like you're

6:41

harboring things , and it's so critical

6:43

that we have a clean heart so

6:45

we could have clean dreams for the new

6:48

year . But looking

6:50

back on , what do I want to leave

6:52

behind is such a great question

6:54

to ask . More importantly , what

6:56

went right ? What can I be thankful for , what

6:58

can I praise God for ? What can I share in

7:01

my testimony of faith that

7:03

God has walked me through , because

7:06

in the sharing of the praise reports and

7:08

what went right , we all have elevated

7:10

faith and it's something that I think

7:12

is so easy to neglect is the

7:14

answered praise reports and the prayers that

7:17

were answered and things that we're grateful for

7:19

. So I think that's critical to

7:21

for me . When I start to dream for the next

7:23

year , I always start with what

7:26

went right last year . We can always

7:28

remember what went wrong .

7:29

You know that's easy to pinpoint , but really sitting

7:31

down with what went right , yeah

7:34

, you know I'm thinking about what you

7:36

just said , and one thing

7:38

that sort of happened in my life this past

7:40

year was a ministry

7:43

that I had been involved in

7:45

for two decades came

7:48

to an end and I was

7:50

just so , so

7:54

sad , really , about it . But

7:57

at the same time , I'm like you know what God

7:59

? I have to trust that , trust your plan

8:01

. And now that I've gone

8:03

through this season

8:05

of , I don't think I would

8:07

have done it well if it had been

8:09

because I had so many other

8:11

things going on , and

8:15

I don't know about those of you that are

8:17

listening , but one of the challenges too that I

8:19

have is too many things right , like

8:21

asking myself and my daughters are very good at

8:23

saying , well , mom , do you really need

8:25

to be doing all those things

8:28

? So , yeah , I think , assessing

8:30

too , like , how are you feeling

8:32

throughout the year ? Are you feeling stressed

8:35

or too busy , or

8:38

yeah , so

8:40

looking the dream of less .

8:42

Yeah , you know , we often

8:44

think about all the things we want to put on

8:46

our I call . I call it the canvas

8:48

. Like your life is your canvas ? Like what

8:50

? All the things we want to add on ? You know , trips

8:53

and this , and adventure

8:55

, or this new adventure , this

8:57

thing . But it's so important you

9:00

have to clear stuff out and then we're we're

9:02

. You know , we just did a lot of Christmas shopping for

9:04

our kids and my husband's like they've got to get rid

9:06

of some toys before we're buying more , like we

9:09

cannot fit more toys in this house

9:11

, and I totally agree with them . It's the

9:13

same thing with our life . It gets so full

9:15

. So we have to constantly say

9:17

you know , if God was in charge of

9:19

my schedule , god , what would you erase

9:21

? What would you erase ? What

9:23

would you remove ? And often there's things that

9:25

are obvious . You know the distractions

9:28

, the time wasters . Sometimes

9:30

it is something that

9:32

was once a dream and we go through

9:35

the release of it , which

9:37

is so critical . It all comes down to

9:39

surrender . I think surrender is one of

9:42

the most powerful fuels

9:45

to your dreams , even

9:47

though it seems counterintuitive . But we

9:49

have to get comfortable with

9:52

surrender when we're working on godly

9:55

dreams .

9:55

Yes , yes , absolutely , and

9:59

it might seem at the time , if

10:02

you're following God's will it'll actually

10:04

be a big blessing . Well

10:06

what are some of the biggest mistakes people

10:09

make when it comes to goal setting .

10:15

The first one is not making any . That's

10:18

the first one , probably , and we're

10:20

all guilty of that , right . The

10:22

second mistake would be just

10:25

making goals and then never looking at them again

10:28

, which we've all made that one too right , and

10:30

I used to do that on my planner business

10:32

, and there's a bucket list in the front

10:34

, and then it's so easy to just go live your

10:36

life and then never go back to

10:38

what was my goal , what was my

10:40

dream . You know , what did I even

10:43

say I was going to do this year and

10:46

some parts of dreaming . It's okay to

10:48

dream , just to dream , because dreaming

10:50

is a it's a symbolic

10:53

and beautiful activity

10:56

of hope . To dream

10:58

is to have hope . That's why , when we feel

11:01

hopeless , it's really hard to dream , and

11:04

so it's , it's a beautiful thing to dream

11:06

, just to dream , really . I'm a big

11:08

believer in that . But how do

11:10

we connect it with our schedule is

11:12

what's so critical , and so we

11:14

have to have goals

11:17

down into bite-sized things

11:19

that can be added into our week , and

11:22

that's what we do in the planner . And so this is how it looks for

11:24

me , which I think we were going to get

11:26

into this a bit later , but I'll go ahead and

11:28

kind of explain it . How

11:30

we do it is you start with an assessment

11:33

of how you're doing in

11:35

all areas of your life spiritually

11:38

, physically , in your

11:40

relationships , you know , if you're married , it's you

11:42

assess your marriage , how you're feeling financially

11:45

in your professional life , all

11:47

areas and from

11:50

there you can really see what part of

11:52

that wheel , what part of that tire

11:54

is low . You kind of find the nails

11:57

in your tire and where your air is leaking out

11:59

. And here's the mistake , why I mentioned

12:01

it Often we build goals

12:04

in the areas that we're really strong

12:06

in . That's going to be our go-to

12:08

. Like , if you're doing really well in your career

12:10

, that's the first place you're goal-setting

12:13

. Why not ? Because

12:15

that's where you're putting your time , that's where you're putting your focus

12:17

, that's where you feel like I have more value

12:20

. If you

12:22

are a really strong athlete

12:25

and maybe you do marathons

12:28

and CrossFit or whatever , you're

12:31

probably setting goals and dreams in that

12:33

area because you're really strong in that area

12:35

. And so what happens is we set

12:38

goals and areas of strength because

12:40

, a , that's something we like , b

12:43

, we're probably going to hit it and

12:46

it's fun . What happens is we neglect

12:48

the areas of our life

12:50

that are low . Like , let's

12:52

say , you're really discouraged in your marriage

12:54

or your finances , it's like well , that's where

12:57

you need to be goal-setting , intending

12:59

and nurturing , because we

13:01

are holistic and if our finances

13:03

are not doing well , that affects our marriage

13:06

, that affects how we show up at our job . We're

13:09

connected beings and so

13:11

that's a big mistake is we'll only set

13:13

goals in areas

13:15

of strength because we want

13:18

to win , we want to have something

13:20

exciting . It's not that we don't set areas in

13:22

our strength , goals in our strength , but

13:25

we want to have them holistically . So

13:28

, setting

13:30

area goals in all areas and

13:33

then connecting it to your schedule

13:35

, and we have a section

13:38

in the front of the planner , in the 2024

13:41

dream planner , where , after you've assessed the wheel

13:43

, you go through a couple steps

13:45

and at the end of it , what you have is

13:47

your fundamental needs or

13:50

your top one thing in each area

13:52

of your life that you schedule

13:55

into your week and basically

13:57

it's a simple thing . Maybe it's , you know

13:59

, 15 minutes to an hour a week

14:01

that you're pouring into each area

14:03

intentionally , and it's not that it's gonna

14:05

make it perfect , but

14:07

it's something you're not skipping

14:10

to intentionally pour into

14:12

your physical health , your finances

14:15

, your marriage , your motherhood , your

14:18

spiritual life , because

14:20

that's the big missing puzzle

14:22

piece that I finally

14:24

found for myself was okay

14:26

, maybe I can't hit a Bible study

14:28

every single day , or I've really

14:31

fallen off the wagon . It was like , okay , let's set this

14:33

goal . You know that's , we're always

14:35

hitting this one , and maybe we don't hit a date night every

14:37

week , but we're always doing our marriage

14:39

journal on Sunday night and that's

14:41

our kind of like the anchor

14:43

in the storm , you know , is I always

14:46

have these things to nourish myself

14:48

, which is ultimately hitting

14:50

my main goal , which is

14:52

a whole and healthy me becoming

14:55

whom , call to become , not not letting myself

14:57

get to a place of absolute burnout and drowning

14:59

and overwhelm , which

15:02

allows me to carry my calling . So

15:04

that's a roundabout way of how

15:06

I go about it in

15:09

the planner , connecting those things . And also

15:11

, if you have a big goal like , let's say

15:13

, a big goal is to start a business or start a podcast

15:16

, you need that in your schedule . You

15:18

know dream . I call them dream blocks

15:20

. Maybe it's on Thursday nights I'm doing

15:22

my dream blocks . That's my night to

15:24

sit down and work on something from my bucket

15:26

list . Start mapping out that project

15:29

, the bigger things in

15:31

your life , and having it on your schedule

15:33

as something that's a gift to yourself . That's

15:35

exciting . Reminding yourself

15:38

it's not selfish to pour into your

15:40

dreams . That

15:42

is that's kind of my method , I

15:45

love all of those tips .

15:47

There's so many good ones there , you

15:49

know . I think it's easy

15:51

for us to like at least for

15:54

me personally to like those

15:56

areas that you aren't good in , like you mentioned

15:58

, to kind of just want to turn your head the other

16:00

way and be like it'll all

16:02

work itself out . But I

16:05

love that we do need to be intentional

16:08

about nurturing those areas

16:10

and I

16:12

know for me personally

16:15

, just getting translating

16:18

that to being on your

16:20

calendar for me has been

16:22

so crucial that

16:24

if it's , if

16:27

it's not on there , then

16:29

yeah , I'll definitely be forgetting

16:31

about those goals that were set

16:34

. And it sounds like something you were

16:36

kind of alluding to . There was , like you

16:38

know , you have like your , it's

16:41

okay to have like a bare minimum

16:43

goal , right , like your , your

16:47

your night with your husband in the journal

16:49

, but then you

16:51

could always go past that right like , oh

16:53

yeah , we are actually going , you

16:56

know , out to a concert tonight or whatever

16:58

.

17:00

So I think that that maybe helps too

17:02

with making

17:04

them achievable oh

17:06

yeah , the biggest way

17:08

to help your goals happen is to cut them

17:11

in half . That's a great lesson

17:13

tip from John

17:16

A Cuff's book finish . He's

17:19

a book called start , because at first he

17:21

wrote a book about you know , it's all about you just

17:23

got to start and then he was like actually

17:25

you got to finish , and so in the book

17:27

about finish he's like cut it in half , cut

17:30

it in half and then cut it in half again . Make

17:32

it so simple that you can actually achieve

17:34

it , because , as humans

17:37

, like we really thrive on rewards

17:39

and if you hit a goal

17:41

it's exciting and you can double

17:43

the goal and triple the goal and you can just

17:46

make it smaller . Often when

17:48

people especially in my world

17:50

of the planner girls , a little bit type

17:52

A , you know , high achievers

17:55

deal with perfectionism I don't know

17:57

if any of you listeners are you like that's

17:59

me , but perfectionism

18:01

is the biggest killer of all this and what we

18:03

want to do is we want to be perfect tomorrow . So

18:05

we're like all right , new year , new me , I'm

18:08

, you know , gonna do dry January

18:10

, whole 30 , you know , work

18:13

out five days a week and

18:15

what happens is here comes January

18:17

4th or 5th , you've

18:19

nailed it for three days . And then

18:21

it's the day after perfect and maybe for

18:24

you listening , this is your day after perfect

18:26

. You , you're listening like yep , today's

18:28

the day . Actually , I did fall off the wagon , I didn't hit the workout

18:30

, I didn't have my vitamins or whatever

18:33

it is , and we give up . And

18:35

you've set the bar so high . Yeah

18:38

, you set the bar so high . And then also , you

18:40

have to be prepared for

18:42

the day after perfect . There's nothing wrong

18:44

with attempting a whole 30 . I

18:46

usually do it in January . It's like my jam

18:49

. I love that , but I don't always hit it

18:51

. And and whole 30s really strict

18:53

it goes . You know , if you mess up , you start over from the beginning

18:55

. Well , how about we just give

18:57

ourselves grace and be

18:59

prepared for the day after perfect and tell

19:01

myself oh , here it is , this

19:03

is the day after perfect , the day I would normally

19:05

give up . But instead I'm gonna

19:08

do my best , I'm gonna

19:10

get myself grace and I'm gonna keep going

19:12

tomorrow because I , even

19:14

though I've done three days perfect , that's more

19:16

than none . Yay , let's keep going . So

19:19

for me , it's just ample's amount of

19:21

grace and potentially cutting

19:23

your goals in half great

19:25

tips there .

19:27

Anything else that you want to add

19:29

to helping make our resolution

19:31

stick .

19:34

I think the biggest thing is , if

19:38

you have a personal goal , make

19:40

sure it's in your schedule that's

19:42

huge and have some sort of visual

19:44

tracker . We're all different

20:39

in how we handle

20:42

systems and how we handle

20:44

goals . Some people are really

20:46

visual . Some people need , like , if

20:48

I get seven in a row

20:50

, I'm going to give myself some sort of like

20:53

. We're all different in terms of how

20:55

we do reward

20:57

systems or fear-based like . We're

20:59

all different . So try different

21:01

things . Like , don't be afraid to experiment . Maybe

21:04

you want to build a little habit tracker in your

21:06

planner and check it off and see

21:09

that progress for yourself . As

21:11

humans , our brains love to see

21:13

data . So , even though , like

21:15

, if you're on like a weight loss journey and you want to you

21:17

know , I don't know feel better in your genes

21:20

or whatever , and you the

21:22

scale is what you would normally do , why

21:25

don't you just mark , like , the days you do

21:27

, whatever fitness tracking you're doing , and

21:30

lay off the scale ? Like try something

21:32

different . If whatever is working isn't working

21:34

, try something new , try

21:37

something different . And so that would

21:39

be one of my biggest advice

21:41

is there Keep yourself grace and

21:44

ask yourself the question how can

21:46

I make this fun ? How

21:48

can I make this fun , like , maybe it's all

21:50

right I'm trying to do this , but I'm really on a strict diet

21:52

. I want to feel better in my genes . How

21:55

can I make this fun ? Well , maybe it's a signing

21:57

up for Zumba , maybe it's doing something

21:59

really life-giving , that is your workout

22:01

. Maybe it's listening to really fun audiobooks

22:04

on your walk or doing a

22:06

you know a step challenge with somebody

22:08

getting a buddy

22:11

. How can I make this

22:13

fun ? Because sometimes we see goal setting

22:15

and these things as really

22:17

stifling or it should feel

22:20

painful , and it doesn't have to

22:22

. You know , your life is your canvas . You

22:24

can build it the way you want and

22:26

you're creating your life every day , whether

22:29

you believe it or not . So create

22:31

it into something that can be fun and life-giving

22:33

for you and for me . When it comes

22:36

to health , I always choose sleep first . That's

22:38

like my foundation of pyramid of health . It's like

22:40

if you're not getting

22:42

enough rest , no amount

22:45

of exercise and diets going to really change

22:47

anything . So just make sure

22:49

you're taking care of you mind

22:52

, body , soul in the process

22:54

and make it fun .

22:55

Yeah , absolutely , and I think

22:57

the same sort of theory holds

22:59

true in taking . If

23:02

you take care of yourself

23:04

, then you're more capable and

23:06

able to care for

23:08

other people , especially as

23:11

moms , when you have so many other

23:15

potentially little ones or bigger ones that

23:17

you're trying to also help

23:20

along . Well , let's talk

23:22

about spiritual

23:24

goals and just the

23:26

process of incorporating

23:29

God's will and

23:31

making sure that God is in the center

23:34

of our goals . How do we go about doing that

23:36

?

23:37

Well , it's a couple different parts to

23:40

it . I think the first part is making sure

23:42

you're in relationship with Him

23:44

, foundationally , spending

23:47

time with Him in

23:49

His Word , spending time

23:52

in prayer and in His

23:54

presence . That's

23:56

where things will be born and

23:58

shared and faith

24:01

will rise . So that's

24:03

the foundation part of it . And someone listening

24:05

might be going , yep , that already done , that , check , check , check

24:07

. And some people are like , oh , maybe I need

24:10

to hang out with Him . And

24:12

yeah , he wants to hang out with you , so make

24:15

time to hang . And

24:17

I totally understand the

24:20

busy , stressed out mom

24:23

listening who is like I

24:25

don't have time , I

24:27

don't have time , I don't have time . And

24:29

so for the busy , stressed out mom listening

24:32

, I totally feel you . I've got a four

24:35

year old and almost two year old and

24:38

it is tricky to get the

24:40

time alone . And then , when you have the time

24:42

, there's 100 things on the list and

24:46

spending time with God , while

24:48

incredibly important , it's not

24:50

urgent . No one's emailing

24:52

you saying , hey , did you spend time with God today ? And

24:54

I'm like no one's , I need that by end of day , you know

24:56

, like no one's on your back

24:59

about it and so it's an easy

25:01

thing to neglect and so don't

25:04

feel bad , but I do want to remind

25:06

you that God will show up as

25:08

your everyday , ordinary life . He's

25:10

all around you . He's not just in

25:12

the sacred times with the coffee and

25:14

the Bible and the peace

25:17

. He is in the diaper changes

25:19

, he's in the dishes , and so you

25:21

know you can turn moments of washing

25:23

dishes into worship

25:26

. You know , put the music on , pray

25:28

to him and just hang out

25:30

as much as you can in those , in those moments

25:32

with him . So that's my encouragement

25:35

there . I also love doing

25:37

a morning app called

25:39

Lectio 365 , where I just

25:41

sit and it's about five minutes long , super

25:43

short , and I'll just listen

25:45

and they just read scripture and then

25:47

a few notes and things

25:50

and prayer and it's just , it's quick

25:52

. You could do it while you're nursing your child

25:54

, just pop your earbuds

25:56

in , and that was really helpful for me

25:58

in like the tougher seasons of newborn

26:01

life and stuff . So

26:03

that's the first part is making sure you're spending

26:05

time with him so he can

26:08

transform you , he can reveal

26:10

things to you , he can speak

26:12

to the parts of you that

26:15

need him , and they're all of you

26:17

. So that's the first part

26:20

, is spending time with him . The second part is

26:22

we really have to look at our hearts

26:24

. Dreams are born out

26:26

of our heart , just

26:29

like our words are born out of our heart . Above

26:32

all else , guard your heart , because everything

26:34

you do flows from it . And

26:36

so Proverbs 4.23 , that

26:39

incredible scripture it just reminds us that our

26:41

heart is so important , and our eyes

26:43

and our ears are the pathway

26:46

to our heart . So everything

26:49

is born from the heart and that's why , if we

26:51

are harboring that bitterness , the

26:54

unforgiveness , we

26:56

can birth bitter dreams

26:59

. We can start to wish ill

27:01

on other people and actually have

27:03

dreams that are really

27:05

dark , and we see this all over the world . That's

27:08

why we're all created in the image of God , but some people

27:10

out there , created in the image of God , are

27:12

doing horrible dreams . They have

27:15

horrible goals . They are killing

27:17

people , murdering people , torturing people . You

27:19

know what I mean ? Bad stuff and

27:21

those are dreams , but they're

27:24

born out of really dark

27:26

hearts and we have to be

27:28

careful about our hearts and what we're letting

27:30

in . And

27:32

that's why spending time with God and saying , hey , god , here's

27:34

my heart , search it , what needs to

27:36

go , what needs to be removed , who

27:40

do I need to forgive ? Because I want to birth clean

27:43

things . And when our heart is healthy

27:45

. We can birth healthy dreams and

27:48

we can trust our dreams . You

27:51

know , we can trust it and say , hey , I have

27:53

this dream . It's kind of crazy . What do you

27:55

think you know ? And

27:57

so that's the biggest part

27:59

is heart health . Our heart

28:01

gets healthy from spending time with God

28:03

, from being in his word , getting his

28:06

word in us so

28:08

we can discern

28:10

our dreams against his word . And

28:13

yeah , and being

28:15

around heart , healthy community , people

28:17

around us that are also in relationship

28:20

with Jesus , trying to become a better person

28:22

, spending time in the word , those

28:25

are the ways that we kind of dream

28:27

with a healthy heart and also speak

28:30

life . That's how we learn to speak life is

28:32

by having a healthy heart . And so

28:34

that's

28:36

the two big pieces . After

28:39

you've done that , you know , when

28:42

you are sitting in a place of heart

28:44

health and you're sitting in a place of spending

28:47

time with God , I think you're really just free to

28:49

dream . That's how I feel . I feel like we

28:51

get so caught up with is

28:53

this God's will , is it not ? Is it God's will , is

28:55

it not ? And it reminds me of this , this

28:59

book , this Dallas Willard

29:01

book , and he was talking about people being obsessed

29:03

with being in God's will , and

29:06

he told this analogy of him

29:09

as a father watching his children play

29:11

outside . And

29:14

because they were playing outside , in his

29:16

view they were in his will

29:18

. It didn't matter if they were doing hopscotch

29:21

or , you

29:23

know , jump rope or playing

30:03

in the sandbox All three

30:05

things they could play out there , you know , kickball

30:08

, whatever it is . That was all in his

30:10

will because they were his children and

30:12

they were playing , and

30:14

that's what I kind of see as dreaming . It's like he

30:17

does . He gives us free will and

30:19

he gives us our imagination . So , like

30:21

, don't be afraid to

30:23

dream , don't

30:25

be afraid to dream stuff . And when

30:28

a dream fails , all

30:30

it must not have been God's will . Well , was

30:33

it ? Was it not ? Did you learn something

30:35

? Because just

30:38

because something fails doesn't

30:40

mean it's absolutely not God's

30:42

will for you to learn those lessons or learn

30:45

how to deal with disappointment . You know

30:47

, not God's

30:49

will isn't that everything goes smoothly and

30:51

perfectly and you crush everything

30:54

you've ever tried . You know , like that wouldn't

30:56

really help us grow . You know we have

30:58

to stumble and we have to

31:00

fail , because the mistakes help

31:02

us not make those it a bigger scale

31:04

later on . And so I

31:07

think in a lot of ways , god's like dream play

31:09

, have fun . But the key

31:11

to it all at the end of the dreaming

31:13

you surrender

31:15

it all to him . In

31:18

my planner , when I take people through

31:20

the dream planning method and

31:23

we sit down and do it , which there's a course that comes with

31:25

the planner that teaches you this . I always

31:27

have my students draw a circle

31:29

in the middle of their bucket list and they draw all

31:31

their dreams around it and in

31:33

that circle we write I will be done . Which

31:36

they could write , a variation of that they don't want to go , you know

31:38

, king James version . But you know I surrender

31:40

my dreams or whatever they want to write . But

31:43

we have to surrender it to

31:45

him . We can try

31:47

, we can show up , pick the ones we want the most

31:49

, go for it , put that in your schedule

31:51

, but only

31:53

he can do it . And

31:56

by surrendering our dreams we're

31:59

also helping

32:01

us not fall into the trap

32:03

of letting our dreams be an idol or

32:06

letting our dreams become

32:08

a source of identity and value

32:10

. If this wins , if

32:12

I do it , I have value . If

32:16

it fails , I stink . You

32:18

know , and I never

32:20

was supposed to do it . It's like no , neither

32:22

of that . You're a child of God , like your identity

32:25

, your greatness , your

32:27

value is always

32:29

in him and who you're created

32:31

by and who you're loved by . These

32:34

are just icing on the cake , you

32:36

know , and so that's

32:39

why I go back to surrender . But

32:42

God says dream , dream , go

32:44

ahead . I gave you imagination , I gave you

32:46

curiosities , I gave you

32:48

free will , I gave you

32:50

a strong mind , I

32:53

gave you creativity . I

32:55

gave you all of these things that

32:57

you would be curious about , and

32:59

you're welcome to follow

33:01

them and to learn , as

33:03

long as you take care of the blessings

33:06

you're given and take care of

33:08

you , because you can't

33:10

carry any of those things in the long run unless

33:12

you're taking care of you Right . So

33:14

that's kind of like the whole

33:16

spiel about it that God's been kind of slowly

33:19

unyining to me over the years of

33:22

dreaming , because I've had a lot of people ask and

33:24

be scared of the

33:26

dreaming and or

33:29

scared to make the wrong move , and I get it like

33:31

nobody . And if God speaks to

33:33

you and says don't do it , oh my gosh , follow him . You

33:35

know like . But I

33:37

think we have a

33:39

lot more freedom than we understand

33:41

and sometimes , when it's like you know

33:43

A or B , it's like both are in the sandbox

33:46

. God says play . You know like he

33:48

will direct you , just continue to seek

33:51

him and his presence and

33:53

continue to show up .

33:55

Yeah , you know , I kind of see

33:57

that as just holding

34:01

those goals with your hand

34:04

open and not

34:06

being so , you

34:08

know , clenched fisted on

34:10

this is what I am going

34:12

to accomplish , but yet to

34:14

let God be a part of

34:16

it and open to his leading throughout

34:19

the process . You know , one of

34:21

the things that you mentioned is

34:23

part of this whole process is , you

34:25

know , we like to think of being

34:29

in God's word as a

34:31

gift and really like

34:33

not something that you're just have to

34:35

check off each day . And this

34:37

morning I was just so reminded

34:40

in a

34:42

couple verses that I read about

34:44

this , that

34:46

prayer also is

34:49

just such a gift , and Psalm

34:51

116 , verses

34:54

1 and 2 , say I love

34:56

the Lord because he hears my

34:59

voice and my prayer for

35:01

mercy , because he bends

35:03

down to listen . I

35:06

will pray as long as I have

35:08

breath and

35:11

. I love that because

35:13

it just demonstrates how

35:16

God

35:18

wants to be involved

35:20

and cares about

35:22

you know us in communication

35:25

with him , and this whole

35:27

process of you

35:30

know meeting our goals and

35:32

finding them , and just the prayer incorporating

35:36

that all together is

35:39

so beautiful . Well

35:41

, let's talk about revisiting

35:44

your goals , because you know things

35:47

, life happens and changes . How

35:49

often do you suggest revisiting

35:53

them and then also like

35:55

maybe tweaking them or how

35:57

does that go ?

36:00

So I definitely do it in like a

36:02

full reassessment

36:04

every quarter . Every quarter I'll

36:06

redo my assessment wheel , I'll

36:09

reset my goals in all areas

36:11

for 90 days and then once

36:13

a month I'll flip back

36:15

to them . For sure . But how

36:17

I kind of keep it going is in

36:20

my planner I have my grade

36:22

8 fundamental needs , which , by the way , is a system

36:25

that Chelsea Jo Moore taught . She

36:27

was teaching with my planner for years and then

36:29

I connected with her and we edited the planner

36:31

to add her system in . So

36:34

she technically has trademarked the fundamental

36:37

needs , which I love , and she recommends

36:39

putting them in orange . So I

36:41

just never forget that in my planner it's

36:43

like in orange , my fundamental needs , and

36:45

by now they're memorized and

36:48

so they become routine . And

36:51

so every week when I sit down to plan

36:53

my week , those are going in first

36:55

and I'm making sure

36:57

I'm getting those important things of . You

36:59

know time with the house cleaning and time

37:02

with my husband , a special

37:04

family time with all of us , not

37:06

that we're not hanging out all week , but just a

37:08

really special time where

37:10

me and my husband aren't just playing

37:13

hot potato like hey , you got him , I got him , you

37:15

know , we're all like intentionally having fun

37:17

, and then my quiet time , time

37:19

to assess my budget etc

37:22

. So it's kind of on a weekly , monthly

37:25

and quarterly . But quarterly

37:27

is really when I sit down and reassess and

37:29

like make some changes .

37:31

Okay , you know , I

37:34

think one of the struggles

37:36

, especially that very

37:38

busy people have

37:41

, is making time

37:43

for fun and

37:46

just joy , whether that's art

37:48

or whatever . You enjoy being outside

37:51

all these different things . What

37:54

do you suggest to the person

37:57

who just feels

37:59

guilty or doesn't

38:02

take the time to do that ?

38:07

I would have them build a list of

38:10

all the things that

38:12

make your heart sing , like all of them

38:14

Dance class , art , whatever

38:16

it is , things you haven't done in a long time

38:19

, things that after you get done

38:21

doing it , you're like I'm so glad I did that . You

38:23

know , I'm so glad to put my sneakers on and went and did that

38:25

, whatever it is . And

38:28

then make a list of all your distractions

38:31

. What are the things that

38:33

you do to escape ? What

38:35

are the actions you

38:37

do after

38:40

a long day or whatever it is ? List

38:42

out every single distraction

38:45

mentally and

38:47

then what you do in your life , like sometimes it's

38:49

self-pity , or like replaying stories

38:51

in your mind , or social

38:53

media , whatever

38:55

it is . And then look at those two

38:57

lists and

39:00

like what could you , for

39:02

the next 30 days , say

39:05

no to and make time for and

39:07

replace it and

39:09

just do one little swap . Just

39:13

do one little swap . Just try

39:15

something different . You know some people's homes

39:17

it's like as soon as they get home , the TV's on for background

39:20

noise . Don't do it . Try something

39:22

else . I lived without

39:24

a TV for a couple years in New York

39:26

and people thought I was crazy and it was like

39:28

incredible , you

39:31

know . And so try something different and

39:34

I would just swap . But seeing the list

39:37

is just really helpful . I'm a visual

39:39

person so like , okay , I'm going to swap this out

39:41

for this , I'm going to make more time

39:43

for my passions .

39:44

Yes , yes , I love what you said at the beginning

39:47

, just how you know , our lives are this

39:49

blank canvas and be

39:52

encouraged that you can

39:54

put that on your canvas if you really

39:57

want to do it and find something

39:59

to swap it out for . Oh , I love

40:01

that . Well , holly , as we

40:03

start to ramp things up , just why don't you

40:05

tell us a little bit about

40:07

your business with

40:09

Dream Planner and how it can

40:11

help people and how they can find you

40:13

?

40:14

Yeah , absolutely so . My company's called Horacio

40:17

Printing Horacio with a C . I

40:19

lived on Horacio Street in New York when I started

40:21

it , which is why it's the name . It

40:23

means timekeeper in Latin . But

40:26

we create the Dream Planner

40:28

which we have our 2024

40:30

Dream Planner available now . We also

40:32

have SOAP Bible studies using

40:35

the SOAP method . They're called Seasons of SOAP and

40:37

you can pick what season of life you're in and

40:39

open up the Bible study and

40:42

just kind of choose your own adventure of what kind

40:44

of scripture you're needing . So if you're in a season of

40:46

transition or a season of anxiety or season

40:49

of looking for your purpose , we've

40:51

kind of curated scriptures around different

40:54

seasons of life . We have four volumes of that

40:56

and that's all . At HoracioPrintingcom

40:58

we have some journals and accessories

41:01

and then , lastly , last

41:05

year I opened up my own

41:07

print school for other people who

41:09

have the dream to

41:11

publish and print their own product

41:13

. I've been running my shop now for

41:15

over nine years and

41:18

it was about year five that I really started getting

41:20

a lot of emails of like , hey , I'm going to print

41:22

a planner , can you help me print my planner ? And

41:25

for a while , you know , I was kind of helping people and I started

41:27

doing one-on-one coaching , and

41:29

then I built out a full program called

41:32

Print School , where you get access to my

41:34

printer , you get access to my

41:36

designer and teaching how

41:38

to design your own product or you can hire

41:40

them directly to design your product for

41:43

you . And it goes through . You know

41:45

, sample printing , ideation

41:47

, just how to set up an entire luxury

41:49

paper product , and that leads you right

41:51

into launch school , where you learn how to

41:53

sell and launch and either

41:56

pre-order campaign or straight

41:58

up , just buy and bulk and

42:00

then fulfill it and use a warehouse

42:02

and set up your website and all of that

42:04

. So that's all at HoracioPrinting . com

42:07

, and that's what

42:09

I really love . I love empowering

42:11

other people who have a dream similar

42:13

to mine and they can't

42:15

find the answers of how to do it because no one's

42:17

out there teaching it . No , certainly no one

42:20

was teaching it when I was getting started and so I had to

42:22

learn a lot of things the hard way . But

42:24

yeah , and if you're interested , I also have a free workshop

42:26

, horacioprintingcom slash

42:29

workshop , where you can

42:31

watch a video and I train

42:33

you on the dream printing method , and that workshop's

42:36

absolutely free .

42:37

That's great . Well , we will make sure that we put

42:39

all of those links in our short

42:41

notes . So before we go , though , I need to ask

42:44

you some of our favorite Bible study

42:46

tool questions what Bible is your

42:48

go-to Bible , and what translation is

42:50

it ?

42:52

So I would say the

42:54

one I grab the most often is the message

42:57

. I took

42:59

a break from it for a while because I had

43:01

a lot of heat from oh , it's not that simple

43:03

. But then I went back and I was like I

43:05

just love it , I love how it just it just pulls

43:08

me in , and then I'm hopping to

43:10

other translations to see what it says . You

43:12

know it , just I love it , I just love it

43:14

, I just anyway so , yeah , okay

43:16

, the message Awesome .

43:18

Do you have any favorite journaling supplies or

43:21

anything that you like to use

43:23

to enhance your Bible study experience

43:25

?

43:26

One of my favorite new

43:29

ones , if you guys are watching , is

43:31

the Primrosia dual

43:33

tip markers . These are incredible . I

43:36

was just had one in my hand while we

43:38

were talking , but one side is a

43:40

brush tip and one side is a fine tip

43:42

and they're just stunning . I

43:44

love them . And

43:47

then I also have a Keros app on

43:49

my phone if I want to look up the like

43:51

lexicon or

43:53

, like you know , dig

43:56

a little deeper into the word .

43:57

Yes , okay , so that was going to be my last question

43:59

. Your favorite app or website , would

44:02

you say it would be that one , yeah

44:05

, that one for sure . Okay

44:07

, maybe you should spell that for someone who's listening

44:09

, who doesn't know .

44:11

It's so weird . In my app

44:13

it just says Bible

44:15

, but when you open it it

44:17

says Keros K-A-I-R-O-S

44:21

.

44:21

K-A-I-R-O-S . We will open it . K-a-i-r-o-s

44:23

, we will also put the link in there

44:25

. Well , polly , thank you so much

44:27

for joining us today to

44:29

help all of us create some

44:32

solid plans to

44:34

overcome the problem of making

44:37

real change stick that can

44:39

prevent us from reaching our goals . So

44:42

I've been a joy to have you here .

44:45

Thanks so much for having me it's been an honor

44:47

and for our listeners .

44:48

be sure to follow the link in the show

44:50

notes and head over to Horacio

44:53

Printing and get your beautiful

44:55

dream planner or learn

44:57

how to make one of your own . It's

45:00

a great way to get organized for 2024

45:02

. So happy New Year

45:04

to everyone . We love you all

45:07

and appreciate you listening so much . Have

45:09

a blessed day .