Episode 42 - Goals with IMPACT
Episode 42 - Goals with IMPACT
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the Seasons of Joy Podcast!
This is episode 42 entitled Goals with IMPACT.
Thank you for being here and for being a part of the Seasons of Joy Community.
Before I get started on this week’s podcast, I wanted to take a moment and talk about my 12-week Season of Creation Coaching Program.
I am looking for a few more women of faith who are ready to begin creating something new in 2023.
Do you feel stuck in some of your goals? Are you not even sure what you want your goals to be? Do you believe it isn’t possible for you to reach your goals because of your past? Do you find yourself starting a goal and then losing steam to complete it so then you just throw it out the window?
What if it is possible to love yourself to your goal? What if it is possible to reach your goal without any evidence of it from the past? What if wanting and desiring is part of God’s plan for you and will help you become your best self?
For the first 12 weeks of 2023, I want to work with a few women like you to create a path toward their goals and set up their year for success! If you are interested in working with me 1:1, just click on the link in the show notes to get on the interest list.
On to this week’s episode. This episode is about Goals with IMPACT.
Many of us begin the year with new year’s resolutions. We have a desire to improve and become better in different areas in our lives. We start out strong and then our willpower and our resolve weaken over time and eventually give out. We decide that we can’t accomplish our goals and we give up. Then another new year rolls around and we set the same 5 goals that we set the year before and repeat the same pattern all over again. Does this sound familiar? This was a pattern I repeated for many years.
However, over the last few years, I have found a better way.
I am going to share with you 4 concepts that I believe are important to understand about goals and then I am going to share with you the IMPACT Goal Framework that was developed by Tanya Dalton.
1) Live in the Gain
Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan teach a simple concept in their book The Gap and the Gain. I will put a link to it in the show notes. Many people get stuck in what is called the gap. We all have an “ideal” in our lives but this is a moving target that is continually out of reach.
When we measure our progress against our ideal, this keeps us living in “the gap.” We don’t celebrate or appreciate our progress. We tend to beat ourselves up for not reaching our ideal. This can lead us to give up because our goal feels so far away.
I love this quote from The Gap and the Gain, “The future isn’t a reality–it’s a projection. And because it’s not a reality, it can’t be part of any real measurement of your progress. The only way to measure goals is backward, against the past. Use the reality of where you currently are and measure backward from there to the reality of where you started.”
When you measure your progress to your past selves you are in “the gain.” When you look back at your gain, you will be surprised at how far you actually have come. By looking for and celebrating your gains, you create confidence and motivation on your path to future success.
2)You are the creator of your confidence and motivation.
Many people believe that confidence and motivation to accomplish their goals comes from outside of themselves. They wait around from confidence and motivation to just happen. The truth is that you create those emotions for yourself by your thoughts and beliefs and they are the fuel for taking the actions required to reach your ideal.
3) Achieving your goals doesn’t create happiness.
I don’t believe achieving our goals and ideals are what make a person happy. How many times have you thought, “If I could lose weight, then I will be happy,” or “If I make XXX amount of money, then we could be happy,” or “If I had a different job, then I could be happy,” or “if I had more time, then I could be happy.” We all have had thoughts similar to these. However, the things outside us don’t make us happy.
There is a quote in The Gap and the Gain that I love. “I don’t think we set and achieve goals in an effort to become happy. We do it because we are happy and want to expand our happiness.” We work toward our ideal and achieve our goals because it can be fun. They don’t make us more valuable somehow. We don’t earn our worth by how much we accomplish. We came to earth with our value and worth set. Working towards our goals gives us the opportunity to expand on our happiness.
4) The goal is not the goal.
In Tanya Dalton’s book, On Purpose, she says, "Goals are simply landmarks on the path to our bigger lives." We aren’t here on earth to see how many goals we can achieve for the sake of achieving them. Goals themselves invite opportunities to learn, grow, and become more of who we want to be. They do not define us but they allow us to expand and enrich our human experience.
We have all heard of SMART goals but I want to teach you about IMPACT goals. This is a concept that is taught by Tanya Dalton in her book, On Purpose. I will include a link to it in the show notes. There are so many good things in her book but I especially love this concept. Each letter represents a component to the IMPACT goal framework.
The first component of an IMPACT goal is inspiration.
When you begin choosing your goals, decide what you really want out of your goals. Then you want to pay attention to the words you use. It is important to make them exciting and attractive. You are less likely to reach a goal that you are dreading. Focus on the good you want to create by writing the goal as if it is an inevitable result. Focus on what you want to start doing, not what you want to stop doing.
For example, it's not that we want to stop overeating; it's that we want to be an intentional eater.
So step 1 is to start by writing your goal in a positive statement and begin identifying yourself that way.
This actually ties in really well with my conversation with Tyson Bradley in episode 38 - I AM ME.
It could be I AM a purposeful partaker or I AM a mindful muncher or I AM a sugar shunner or I AM a fanatic for fitness. You get the idea.
For me in 2023, mine is “I love that I AM a one bite wonder.” This is actually two for one for me. I am going to have one serving and leave at least one bite of food on my plate at every meal. I am working on being a more intentional eater.
The second component is that it needs to be measurable.
It is important to understand that you aren't the measurement no matter what it may be. You are not the number on the scale, the number of followers you have on social media, the number of miles you run, or the number in your bank account. But there is power in measuring our progress.
There are two kinds of numbers, quality and frequency numbers. Quality numbers accumulate over time. Example, I will walk 15 miles a week. Frequency numbers are a pattern of occurrences. Example, I will walk 3 days a week. Both of these are great ways to look at the short term wins, not the long-term. At the end of the week, you measure the gain.
Sometimes, our goal is more abstract such as meal planning or intentional eating. That is when a habit tracker may help you create momentum and intentionally live.
Step 2 is to create a way to measure your progress. This can include quality or frequency numbers or a combination of both. You may also want to implement a habit tracker.
For me, it is a habit tracker.
The third component is that your goal needs to be purpose-driven.
We know that it is important to connect our goals to something meaningful. It doesn't mean we will always love everything in the process of achieving our goals. It is about choosing what you are doing as part of something bigger.
In Tanya Dalton’s book, she talks about a Yale University study that looked at the work of janitors in hospitals. Their motivation and satisfaction in their jobs were significantly higher when they viewed what they did as part of the healing process. Seeing the bigger picture and connecting to your purpose will do the same for you.
Step 3 is to consider what is your bigger why is. What is your purpose and how will this goal help you with your big picture?
For me, it is taking care of my body. It is a gift from God to help me experience life. The better I care for it, the more I am able to do while I am here on earth.
The fourth and fifth components of the IMPACT goal framework are connected and considered together. Your goal needs to be adaptable and challenging. This allows us to meet ourselves where we are while creating momentum. Flexibly in the details allows us to move towards our vision.
Brooke Snow calls these Floors and Ceilings. Floors are the minimum baseline. For example, a floor may be moving my body 15 minutes a day. A ceiling may be moving 60 minutes a day.
It would be stated this way. "Each day I am going to move my body at a minimum of 10 minutes, but I will target moving 60 minutes."
Our goals are not there to either pass or fail. We need to make room for growth and grace. Sometimes we are going to kill it, and other times, we will miss the mark and that is okay.
Step 4 is to create the floor and ceiling for your goal.
For me, each day I am going to leave at least one bite or more of food on my plate at one meal, but I will target leaving a bite or more on my plate at each meal.
The sixth component is timed.
Deadlines allow us to move past "someday." When we put our goals off to someday, we aren't making them a priority and we will never reach them. Stop waiting and start living. I love Mel Robbins quote, "Stop Waiting. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow!"
When creating a deadline, we want to give ourselves enough time but not too much time. We want to create change but it isn't going to happen in a week.
The biggest regrets don't come from the mistakes we have made. Regret comes from the things we don't get around to doing. Let's stop waiting for another day. Let's live life to the fullest today.
Step 5 is to create or use a timeline that will get you moving with a little bit of urgency.
For me, my timeline is one month. After the month of January, I will re-evaluate and see what I have learned and then do another month.
That is the IMPACT Goal Framework.
Inspiration
Measurable
Purpose-driven
Adaptability & Challenging
Timed.
As I have explained this framework, I have shared with you one of my goals which is:
“I love that I am a one bite wonder. I love and care for my body each day, by having one serving and leaving one bite or more of food on my plate for at least one meal, but I will target leaving one bite or more at each meal for the month of January.”
I am going to track my progress and do a report of my gain in February.
I would like to invite you to join me in making a goal with IMPACT.
If you would like some help working on your goal there are two ways to do it. The first is by clicking the link in the show notes to schedule a FREE discovery call with me where I will spend 55 minutes with you working on discovering and wording your IMPACT goal. The second way is to join the Seasons of Joy Community Facebook Group. In January, we will have an IMPACT goal workshop as well as an opening coaching call where you can get coaching on anything. All you have to do is click the link in the show notes to join the community. If you can’t watch the calls live, don’t worry the replays will be available for you to watch later.
Thank you for being here and we will see you in 2023!
Happy New Year!
Click on the link below to learn more about Seasons Coaching and my Seasons of Joy Community Facebook Group.
To contact me about speaking to your group or business, email me at jill@seasons-coaching.com.
Thank you for listening and have a joyful week!
