May 2, 2023 • 20 mins
In this episode, I discuss the importance of setting specific goals and how it helps us achieve success in life. I'll explore tips and tools that help us get clear on what we want, and share unique perspectives on how to stay motivated and focused on our goals.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Gold Metal Mindset Podcast. I
am your host, Barena Huckabee, three time Paralympic gold medalist snowboarder,
here to encourage you to live a gold medal life,
one that is full of confidence, resilience, empowerment so that
you can be successful in your goals without sacrificing your
mental health and the things you care about most in
(00:21):
this world. Today's episode, we're going to be focused on
the S which is the specific aspect of the smart goals,
but we're going to look at it with a little
bit of a twist. And you're probably wondering what the
heck is a smarkle. Actually, you're probably not wondering that
at all, because you've most likely heard and set your
own smart goals. Yeah, I'm not going to pretend that
you've never heard it. What a sparkle is is it
stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. Framework
(00:45):
was designed to help people create goals that were clear, actionable,
and achievable. It really just creates a roadmap for achieving
your goals and they have found through studies that it
is one of the best ways to write your goals. Now,
there have been many experts have come out in recent
years who are like, oh, smart goals are not the
best way to do goals, and you really shouldn't even
have goals at all because it limits your flexibility and
(01:07):
it hurts your self esteem if you don't reach those goals,
and hurts creativity and all of these issues that could
absolutely come up when you're setting smartles if you don't
do it with a more holistic approach, with purpose and
thinking about the whole person in mind. And so I
will never ever blindly lead you into achievements of that.
(01:30):
Do not look at the whole person. There is more
to life than just achievement. And I have heard this
time and time and time and time and time again,
people from clients, from friends. They set goals that are
just way too They you say, you want to eat better,
you want to be more productive, you would be happier,
you want to save more money. And I'm like, yes, queen,
get it, but you're not going to. You're not going
(01:51):
to with the way that that You're not going to
because it's difficult to track your progress. You can't determine
when you even did the dang thing. Be oh, I
want to eat better at a salad today, So nically
I achieved my goal. It's like, okay, but did you
like you did for today? But like, is that really
the goal that you want? And when you said you
wanted to eat better? So how do you fix this?
Pretty simple? You get more specific. Now, you get clearer,
you get detailed. You make sure that the goal is
(02:12):
going to be measurable, actionable, and you have a clear
timeline for when you want this to be completed. What
are the benefits? So you say this, you want me
to do this, Well, the benefit age you're going to
actually do the dame thing be. It's going to help
you focus on the direction you want to go. You're
going to be more productive. You're going to be doing
tasks that actually matter. You're not going to be like busy, busy, busy,
busy and achieving nothing. I can raise my hand and
(02:34):
say like, oo, been there, done that. Whenever my goals
were not clearly set, because oh my god, I'm doing
all the things. I'm so good. I'm like so busy.
I did it all. And then I look down on
paper and now I look at really what I've achieved,
And I did a whole heck of a lot of nothing.
When you've really gotten clear as clear as you possibly
can on where you want to go, it's going to
really help where you're putting your time. These goals can
(02:56):
trure new habits in your life in other ways. So
for instance, like I have a goal and I want
to increase the quality of my sleep over an eight
hour period of time, aware a sleep tracker, like I
am so nerded out when it comes to my sleep.
What I have noticed is in the habit of having
better sleep, I have cut out alcohol because alcohol drastically
(03:18):
prevents good quality sleep, and I'm like, it's just not
worth it, Like it's not worth it. I don't want
to do it. I want to have that good sleep.
I want to have that good good sleep. In cutting
out alcohol, it's just it's changed, you know, different areas
in my life, different habits have come up. And that's
so profound and beautiful and really when you're setting these goals,
you don't have to like set these new habits now,
(03:39):
but just being more mindful of the other areas that
are being impacted by your goals, and it's really it's
really cool. So getting back to the benefits, of having
clear goals is it helps clarify your priorities too, right,
Like it goes back to that productivity, like I am
going to be doing things that actually matter. I'm going
to cut out like the negative things, things I don't
want to do, things that like I thought I needed
to do in order to be successful, Like all of
(04:01):
these things you're able to say, mmmm, no, it's not
helping me. Like I have my clear, detailed goal and
I know doing this isn't going to help me. And
in some ways as well, if you do have to
do those things that you absolutely do know, you have
more motivation to do them because you're like, Okay, well
I don't want to do this, but like I know
it's going to make me a better person. Making sure
that when you actually decide on your goal, when you've
(04:23):
made that decision of like okay, this is what I'm
going to do, you're going to include action words. So
let's say that I want to get in shape. You're
going to say, mm nope, I want to run a
five K or I want to show up to the
gym three times a week, or I want to have
fruits and vegetables on my plate every single day Once
you do that, you're going to make it purposeful. Look,
I am never going to put you in the direction
(04:46):
of not having holistic, well rounded goals, and so you
want to make sure that it aligns with who you are. Look,
your mom and your daddy, your boyfriend, your husband, your kids, whoever,
are not going to be the one experiencing the process
of achieving this goal. And so you need to make
sure that this is something that I want. This is
something I want to put myself through. There are no
easy things in life, and that includes these amazing goals
(05:07):
that you have set. It's going to get hard. And
once you know that, like, okay, I want to do this.
This aligns really well with me and with my purpose
and what I care about in life, Like I'm so ready,
then you know you're on the right. So make purposeful
and then get clear about it. What exactly is it
and why is it important to you? And then you're
gonna write it down. You're gonna write it down and
you're gonna look at it. You're gonna review it regularly
(05:29):
so that you're staying on track. You're gonna make a
plan for how you want to achieve it. You're going
to anticipate potential obstacles, and then you're gonna focus on
the process. You're gonna focus on that process, maybe not
just the outcome, and you're going to celebrate all those
small wins and you're not going to get yourself down
when the inevitable failures happen. They are going to happen,
(05:51):
and how you recover from them and how you see
yourself when they do is so freaking important. So you're
gonna plan for those. You're gonna know that they're coming,
you're gonna anticipate them, and you're going to be ready
for them. And the last thing that you can do
is you can share your goals with others for accountability
and for support. There are so many people. When you
share what you're trying to accomplish in life with trusted people,
(06:12):
you know you'll notice like more doors open. People are like,
oh my god, hey I thought of you when I
saw this, and I really think this could really help you.
Or hey, I have a good friend who's like really
good at X, Y and Z solve your problem. So
when you share with others, you're really allowing community support
and you're allowing accountability. Maybe somebody can check in and say, hey,
how's that goal doing. Did you achieve what you wanted to?
(06:33):
Life is inevitably going to throw you roadblocks, curve balls,
all the things that ain't nobody want. Life is going
to give it to you. And so when you set
your goals in mind, with allowing yourself to be flexible,
allowing yourself to adapt to changes, you're setting yourself up
for success. And when you do this, it's going to
help increase that resilience, that creativity, you're problem solving skills,
(06:53):
and this is going to help you just navigate challenges
to achieve success not only in your professional life, but
also in your personal life. Like the benefits of goal
setting and achievement and all of those things they flow together,
both personally and professionally. And so when you recognize that,
I think it's a little bit easier to motivate yourself
to achieve those goals. But anyway, let's get back to
that flexibility. Oh so what does it look like to
(07:17):
be flexible? Well, it's receptive, right, be receptive, adjust as
needed based on feedback, based on your progress, based on
changing circumstances. Right, Like things are going to change in life,
and when you're receptive to those changes. You're open to
those changes. It's going to make life a whole heck
of a lot easier. Be willing to adapt as a
(07:37):
disabled woman, telling you to adapt to unexpected changes like
life is never ever, I'm going to say never, never
going to go as planned. And so when you adapt
to these unexpected changes, you're allowing yourself to overcome obstacles
and you're allowing yourself to plan for them, and you're
allowing yourself to stay motivated and committed to achieving your
goals when it doesn't look the way that you thought
(07:59):
it would. Ability also is being open to new opportunities.
This is a big one because things come up and
you're like, wait, I was on this path, I was
on this goal, and I'm like, wait, no, this is
a way better position for me, or a way better goal,
or oh my god, no, like I would much rather this.
And when you allow yourself, like when you're setting this goals,
to say consciously like, Okay, if something better comes up,
(08:21):
then that's the way that I'm going to go. And
what you'll notice, and this has happened in my own
personal life as well, is I will be on the
path of achieving a goal that I wanted so desperately,
and then something will come up and I'm like, wait,
this actually is better stuited. So like, for instance, when
I started goal Mental Mindset, this podcast and coaching was
like at the forefront of what I wanted to do,
and then what had happened is speaking had come up
(08:41):
out of nowhere, and I'm like, wait, no, I actually
really am very aligned with speaking right now, like I
want to put my focus and attention and efforts in that,
And so I shifted my goals towards speaking, and then
now like that that is is on its way and
it's doing really well. I'm like, okay, I can come
back to that original goal of the podcast and coaching
and so well being open of like, hey, I can
(09:01):
always a come back to this goal if something new
presents itself, or be like, hey, maybe this wasn't right
for me, or it was right for me in this moment,
but now as I have grown, shifted and evolved, there
are better opportunities out there that I would like to
take a look at. And so being flexible with your
goals it doesn't mean that you're given up on them.
It doesn't mean that you're compromising your values. It's just
being willing to adjust your approach, your timeline in what
(09:24):
it is that you want to do to achieve your
desired outcome. So I have obviously, like as a disabled woman,
I overcome many different challenges and being flexible in my
goals in different ways. And one of them, obviously that
I think is just so important to speak on, is disability. Right, Like,
I had an acquired disability I before became disabled, and
(09:46):
I had a goal of being one of the top
rated and cuaagmnasts in the nation. That was my goal.
I was gonna do it, guys, I was got to
do it. And then I got cancer and had an amutation,
and obviously that goal, that dream just it was no
longer in my reach. And what I have learned through
that whole process and that experience is I had not
only wrapped up my goal in my life towards that outcome,
(10:09):
but I had wrapped up my identity and into that
goal into that outcome. I was not flexible with that goal.
I really was like, this is what I'm going to do,
and I'm going to dedicate my entire, my entire childhood
and adolescence to it and then and then it it
inevitably fails due to life circumstance, and how do you
overcome that? And now, as somebody who has gone through that,
who has gone through the process of figuring out how
(10:31):
to become flexible when flexibility flexibility is your only option,
I now know, like, Okay, when I set a goal,
anything can happen. I mean, I'm hoping that it's never
another amputation, but anything can really happen in our life
and in our goals. And whenever I set goals, I
do not wrap my identity up with them. I say,
you know what, this is who I am in this moment,
(10:51):
and this is what I want to do, and this
is what I want to experience. But I also understand
life changes, I change and things change. And so obviously
after my ampie no we're in c doublea gymnastics, I
had fallen found snowboarding and there was no way I
could have anticipated that being my next goal. But what
I was was open and receptive to seeing where life
was going to take me. And I did. I did it.
(11:13):
I became a snowboarder and now I have four Paralympic medals,
going to the Games twice and gearing up for hopefully
a third and you never you never know where life
is going to take you. And I also like, if
you heard that just there hopefully a third, right, Like
that's the goal, but I also understand things can change. Right,
I have a direction, I have a path. I have,
it's specific, it's clear, But I also understand that that
(11:35):
life has a really funny way of directing our steps. Now,
I want to get a little woo. Okay, I like
to look at things holistically. I like to have like
a really well rounded approach to goals. And one way
is I like to use my brain as a way
to help me achieve my goals. And what I mean
by this is your conscious mind. Right, she's going to
set the goal. She's going to be like, Okay, this
(11:56):
is what we're going to do. This is the goal
that we're going to have. But you're uncaught, which mine
is the one that's going to go get your goal?
And there are a few ways to kind of tap
into this power, and one of them is making sure
that you're setting your goal with purpose. Right. We want
to make sure that this is something that you are
aligned with, you care about, because when you do that
you're going to have this more intrinsic motivation that's going
(12:18):
to keep you going when things get hard. And when
you do this, you're allowing yourself to be open to
clear possibilities, to clear signs that you were on the
right path. And one of these clear signs is something
called the reticular activation system. I learned about at a
few years ago. And I have always sound just to
be so fascinating. But when you have something in your
mind that you're like, you're what right. For instance, when
(12:40):
I wanted a new car, I used to drive like
a pretty beat up car, and I was like, you know,
I'm ready, Like I might have a goal of getting
this new car, and I had my steps, I knew
how I was going to do it. I was going
to achieve it regardless. I wanted a specific car. I
wanted a Volkswagen tore Egg TDI, and this is a
specific car that I wanted. And as I was, you know,
going through that process, I would see them everywhere, like
(13:02):
I'd be like, oh my god, why are they following me?
They're everywhere on the roads. But what happened was is
I had put it into my unconscious mind that this
is something that I so desperately wanted. I'm I'm really
really aligned with that. I cared about it, and it
really it made my brain open up and see all
the areas that I could have this in all the
areas that I could achieve it, and it kept me
feeling motivated towards that goal. It's so cool how it
(13:24):
does that your reticular activation system in your brain facilitates
motivation towards your goal. And another way that your unconscious
mind will dictate whether or not you're going to achieve
those goals is if your beliefs on whether or not
you can achieve this goal are not aligned with the
goal that is set, it will determine your I mean
is like, if you do not deep down believe that
(13:45):
you either deserve this goal, if you can achieve this goal,
if you'd not believed this is something that you're meant
to have, well you're not going to have it. And
so when you get into that unconscious mind, when you
get into those belief systems that you have, they need
to be aligned with with who you are and what
you want, because if they're not, you're not going to
get it. And so a lot of this can be
(14:06):
done through a coach, through a therapist, you're through journaling.
But regardless, this is such an important step of the
process and I highly recommend that as you're setting this goal,
being honest with yourself and asking yourself questions, ask yourself like,
do I believe with certainty that I can achieve this goal?
Do I have the confidence to go after this goal?
Why is this goal important to me? Isn't important to me?
(14:28):
Am I worthy of this goal? And you want to
make sure that your words are positive. Once you do
answer those questions and you've decided, you want to make
sure that it's positive and it's aligned with action and
making sure that your words and your actions aligned. Now,
this is my favorite part to talk about when it
comes to setting goals, and it's how do you actually
(14:50):
like use tools to activate your unconscious mind to help
you achieve what you want to achieve. And there are
a few techniques and this can be super w to
some people, but I am here to tell you they
are proven to actually help, and so one of them
is hypnosis. This one I have tried for me. However,
what it will do is it will help you focus
on your whole mind, on the desired hol the other
(15:11):
thing you could do is visualization. And this one is
like shafskis and it creates a mental image in your
and so you're going to like visualize yourself being successful
in your goal. You're going to visualize the type of
person that you are that has achieved this goal. Again,
this is just going to create that mental image of
your goal. It's going to increase motivation because you're like,
oh my gosh, this is what it feels like to
(15:33):
have this. I want this, I love this. This is
like so aligned with who I am. So visualization is
something that I use constantly even today. Like when I
was going for the Paralympics, I would set, like if
I run this training, which is like my least favorite
way to train, what I would do is I would
close my eyes while I was doing the training, and
I would visualize myself on top of the podium. I
could hear the crowd, I could hear the announcer say
(15:55):
my name. I could like see them give me my medal.
And so visualization is such a powerful tool because it
gives you like this alignment with your goal. It keeps
you motivated. You're seeing like your outcome of like where
you could go and so you're not having to like
give up that focus and you allow yourself to like
stay focused on about like giving up the enjoyment of
(16:16):
the process. And so it's basically like giving yourself these
intentional moments of celebrating that outcome, of reminding yourself where
you're trying to go. And I think if you don't
give yourself that intentional time, your outcome's going to dictate
the rest of your life. So giving yourself inten time
to like go through what you want, go through your
desired outcome, but also like when you're living in the
(16:37):
rest of your life, letting go of that outcome and
just focusing on the process and being present in the moment.
They're a VERI full tool is like just consciously thinking about, Okay,
if something can potentially go wrong, what am I going
to do to solve it? And that's just going to
again keep you flexed knowing that problems arise and how
you're going to deal with it, okay, And the last
(16:58):
but certainly not tap into that mind tap into like
a more holistic approach is include affirmations. Daily affirmations to
remind you of your goal, remind you of your ability
to achieve your goal, and it just helps like counteract
any negativity that you may encounter and just reminds you that, hey,
like I freaking got this, and it just reminds your
(17:19):
brain that like, hey, we freaking got this. So I
am just a firm believer in affirmations that relate to
your goal and making sure that you do them daily,
maybe in the morning or at night, and just to
kind of remind yourself, like, hey, I freaking got this.
So we know, like we shouldn't set fig goals. We
know we need to be specific. We know how to
be specific, We know how to tap into the unconscious
(17:41):
mind for your goal achievement. And the last thing I
kind of want to touch on is why you should
care about mindset work when it comes to your goals.
And I will say, we're not going to get into
like a deep dive of this two day, but there
will be many episodes in the future that will touch
on the mindset behind the goals. And so the reasons
(18:02):
you want to do this is because there may be
internal barriers to achieving your goal. And we kind of
touched on this a little bit with the unconscious mind,
but it's basically finding ways to kind of rework those
negative beliefs and biases so that you can overcome those barriers,
so that you can find ways to feel aligned internally
(18:22):
that you've got this goal, that this is something that
you want and that you deserve and you are worthy
of having. And so the mindset is really going to
help you sustain those goals and prevent you from too soon.
So I am a firm believer in overcoming your limiting
beliefs and really working on that mindset so that you
(18:45):
can set realistic goals and have the ability to celebrate
them as you freaking achieve them. And so with that,
that is the end of today's episode of getting specific
within your goals. I encourage you to set your own goals.
To think about your goals we're going to do in
the future with the M, the A, the R, and
the T. But now you know like how to be specific,
(19:06):
why you should be specific, and so go and look
at your goal and is it specific? Is it clear?
If so, maybe you can start visualizing the outcome of
your goal and start connecting that unconscious mind to what
it is that you want in this life. And so
just remember setting those specific goals and making them challenging
is going to be crucial for your personal and professional development.
(19:26):
Making sure those goals have direction, purpose and a clear
roadmap to follow is going to make your goal achievable. Okay,
and so I am so proud of you guys. I
can't wait to hear about ways that you have changed
and challenged the way that you upset your goals, and
I encourage you to apply these tips for your own
(19:48):
goal setting process. If you haven't already, joined the Gold
Metal Mindset online community through the email in the show notes,
and I will see you in the next episode where
we crush our goals with confidence the secret to measuring
your process, and again, don't you worry because it's going
to have a very holistic twist. Bye you guys, I
(20:09):
love you, and I will see you in the next episode.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Gold Metal Mindset Podcast. I
am your host, Barena Huckabee, three time Paralympic gold medalist snowboarder,
here to encourage you to live a gold medal life,
one that is full of confidence, resilience, empowerment so that
you can be successful in your goals without sacrificing your
mental health and the things you care about most in
(00:21):
this world. Today's episode, we're going to be focused on
the S which is the specific aspect of the smart goals,
but we're going to look at it with a little
bit of a twist. And you're probably wondering what the
heck is a smarkle. Actually, you're probably not wondering that
at all, because you've most likely heard and set your
own smart goals. Yeah, I'm not going to pretend that
you've never heard it. What a sparkle is is it
stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. Framework
(00:45):
was designed to help people create goals that were clear, actionable,
and achievable. It really just creates a roadmap for achieving
your goals and they have found through studies that it
is one of the best ways to write your goals. Now,
there have been many experts have come out in recent
years who are like, oh, smart goals are not the
best way to do goals, and you really shouldn't even
have goals at all because it limits your flexibility and
(01:07):
it hurts your self esteem if you don't reach those goals,
and hurts creativity and all of these issues that could
absolutely come up when you're setting smartles if you don't
do it with a more holistic approach, with purpose and
thinking about the whole person in mind. And so I
will never ever blindly lead you into achievements of that.
(01:30):
Do not look at the whole person. There is more
to life than just achievement. And I have heard this
time and time and time and time and time again,
people from clients, from friends. They set goals that are
just way too They you say, you want to eat better,
you want to be more productive, you would be happier,
you want to save more money. And I'm like, yes, queen,
get it, but you're not going to. You're not going
(01:51):
to with the way that that You're not going to
because it's difficult to track your progress. You can't determine
when you even did the dang thing. Be oh, I
want to eat better at a salad today, So nically
I achieved my goal. It's like, okay, but did you
like you did for today? But like, is that really
the goal that you want? And when you said you
wanted to eat better? So how do you fix this?
Pretty simple? You get more specific. Now, you get clearer,
you get detailed. You make sure that the goal is
(02:12):
going to be measurable, actionable, and you have a clear
timeline for when you want this to be completed. What
are the benefits? So you say this, you want me
to do this, Well, the benefit age you're going to
actually do the dame thing be. It's going to help
you focus on the direction you want to go. You're
going to be more productive. You're going to be doing
tasks that actually matter. You're not going to be like busy, busy, busy,
busy and achieving nothing. I can raise my hand and
(02:34):
say like, oo, been there, done that. Whenever my goals
were not clearly set, because oh my god, I'm doing
all the things. I'm so good. I'm like so busy.
I did it all. And then I look down on
paper and now I look at really what I've achieved,
And I did a whole heck of a lot of nothing.
When you've really gotten clear as clear as you possibly
can on where you want to go, it's going to
really help where you're putting your time. These goals can
(02:56):
trure new habits in your life in other ways. So
for instance, like I have a goal and I want
to increase the quality of my sleep over an eight
hour period of time, aware a sleep tracker, like I
am so nerded out when it comes to my sleep.
What I have noticed is in the habit of having
better sleep, I have cut out alcohol because alcohol drastically
(03:18):
prevents good quality sleep, and I'm like, it's just not
worth it, Like it's not worth it. I don't want
to do it. I want to have that good sleep.
I want to have that good good sleep. In cutting
out alcohol, it's just it's changed, you know, different areas
in my life, different habits have come up. And that's
so profound and beautiful and really when you're setting these goals,
you don't have to like set these new habits now,
(03:39):
but just being more mindful of the other areas that
are being impacted by your goals, and it's really it's
really cool. So getting back to the benefits, of having
clear goals is it helps clarify your priorities too, right,
Like it goes back to that productivity, like I am
going to be doing things that actually matter. I'm going
to cut out like the negative things, things I don't
want to do, things that like I thought I needed
to do in order to be successful, Like all of
(04:01):
these things you're able to say, mmmm, no, it's not
helping me. Like I have my clear, detailed goal and
I know doing this isn't going to help me. And
in some ways as well, if you do have to
do those things that you absolutely do know, you have
more motivation to do them because you're like, Okay, well
I don't want to do this, but like I know
it's going to make me a better person. Making sure
that when you actually decide on your goal, when you've
(04:23):
made that decision of like okay, this is what I'm
going to do, you're going to include action words. So
let's say that I want to get in shape. You're
going to say, mm nope, I want to run a
five K or I want to show up to the
gym three times a week, or I want to have
fruits and vegetables on my plate every single day Once
you do that, you're going to make it purposeful. Look,
I am never going to put you in the direction
(04:46):
of not having holistic, well rounded goals, and so you
want to make sure that it aligns with who you are. Look,
your mom and your daddy, your boyfriend, your husband, your kids, whoever,
are not going to be the one experiencing the process
of achieving this goal. And so you need to make
sure that this is something that I want. This is
something I want to put myself through. There are no
easy things in life, and that includes these amazing goals
(05:07):
that you have set. It's going to get hard. And
once you know that, like, okay, I want to do this.
This aligns really well with me and with my purpose
and what I care about in life, Like I'm so ready,
then you know you're on the right. So make purposeful
and then get clear about it. What exactly is it
and why is it important to you? And then you're
gonna write it down. You're gonna write it down and
you're gonna look at it. You're gonna review it regularly
(05:29):
so that you're staying on track. You're gonna make a
plan for how you want to achieve it. You're going
to anticipate potential obstacles, and then you're gonna focus on
the process. You're gonna focus on that process, maybe not
just the outcome, and you're going to celebrate all those
small wins and you're not going to get yourself down
when the inevitable failures happen. They are going to happen,
(05:51):
and how you recover from them and how you see
yourself when they do is so freaking important. So you're
gonna plan for those. You're gonna know that they're coming,
you're gonna anticipate them, and you're going to be ready
for them. And the last thing that you can do
is you can share your goals with others for accountability
and for support. There are so many people. When you
share what you're trying to accomplish in life with trusted people,
(06:12):
you know you'll notice like more doors open. People are like,
oh my god, hey I thought of you when I
saw this, and I really think this could really help you.
Or hey, I have a good friend who's like really
good at X, Y and Z solve your problem. So
when you share with others, you're really allowing community support
and you're allowing accountability. Maybe somebody can check in and say, hey,
how's that goal doing. Did you achieve what you wanted to?
(06:33):
Life is inevitably going to throw you roadblocks, curve balls,
all the things that ain't nobody want. Life is going
to give it to you. And so when you set
your goals in mind, with allowing yourself to be flexible,
allowing yourself to adapt to changes, you're setting yourself up
for success. And when you do this, it's going to
help increase that resilience, that creativity, you're problem solving skills,
(06:53):
and this is going to help you just navigate challenges
to achieve success not only in your professional life, but
also in your personal life. Like the benefits of goal
setting and achievement and all of those things they flow together,
both personally and professionally. And so when you recognize that,
I think it's a little bit easier to motivate yourself
to achieve those goals. But anyway, let's get back to
that flexibility. Oh so what does it look like to
(07:17):
be flexible? Well, it's receptive, right, be receptive, adjust as
needed based on feedback, based on your progress, based on
changing circumstances. Right, Like things are going to change in life,
and when you're receptive to those changes. You're open to
those changes. It's going to make life a whole heck
of a lot easier. Be willing to adapt as a
(07:37):
disabled woman, telling you to adapt to unexpected changes like
life is never ever, I'm going to say never, never
going to go as planned. And so when you adapt
to these unexpected changes, you're allowing yourself to overcome obstacles
and you're allowing yourself to plan for them, and you're
allowing yourself to stay motivated and committed to achieving your
goals when it doesn't look the way that you thought
(07:59):
it would. Ability also is being open to new opportunities.
This is a big one because things come up and
you're like, wait, I was on this path, I was
on this goal, and I'm like, wait, no, this is
a way better position for me, or a way better goal,
or oh my god, no, like I would much rather this.
And when you allow yourself, like when you're setting this goals,
to say consciously like, Okay, if something better comes up,
(08:21):
then that's the way that I'm going to go. And
what you'll notice, and this has happened in my own
personal life as well, is I will be on the
path of achieving a goal that I wanted so desperately,
and then something will come up and I'm like, wait,
this actually is better stuited. So like, for instance, when
I started goal Mental Mindset, this podcast and coaching was
like at the forefront of what I wanted to do,
and then what had happened is speaking had come up
(08:41):
out of nowhere, and I'm like, wait, no, I actually
really am very aligned with speaking right now, like I
want to put my focus and attention and efforts in that,
And so I shifted my goals towards speaking, and then
now like that that is is on its way and
it's doing really well. I'm like, okay, I can come
back to that original goal of the podcast and coaching
and so well being open of like, hey, I can
(09:01):
always a come back to this goal if something new
presents itself, or be like, hey, maybe this wasn't right
for me, or it was right for me in this moment,
but now as I have grown, shifted and evolved, there
are better opportunities out there that I would like to
take a look at. And so being flexible with your
goals it doesn't mean that you're given up on them.
It doesn't mean that you're compromising your values. It's just
being willing to adjust your approach, your timeline in what
(09:24):
it is that you want to do to achieve your
desired outcome. So I have obviously, like as a disabled woman,
I overcome many different challenges and being flexible in my
goals in different ways. And one of them, obviously that
I think is just so important to speak on, is disability. Right, Like,
I had an acquired disability I before became disabled, and
(09:46):
I had a goal of being one of the top
rated and cuaagmnasts in the nation. That was my goal.
I was gonna do it, guys, I was got to
do it. And then I got cancer and had an amutation,
and obviously that goal, that dream just it was no
longer in my reach. And what I have learned through
that whole process and that experience is I had not
only wrapped up my goal in my life towards that outcome,
(10:09):
but I had wrapped up my identity and into that
goal into that outcome. I was not flexible with that goal.
I really was like, this is what I'm going to do,
and I'm going to dedicate my entire, my entire childhood
and adolescence to it and then and then it it
inevitably fails due to life circumstance, and how do you
overcome that? And now, as somebody who has gone through that,
who has gone through the process of figuring out how
(10:31):
to become flexible when flexibility flexibility is your only option,
I now know, like, Okay, when I set a goal,
anything can happen. I mean, I'm hoping that it's never
another amputation, but anything can really happen in our life
and in our goals. And whenever I set goals, I
do not wrap my identity up with them. I say,
you know what, this is who I am in this moment,
(10:51):
and this is what I want to do, and this
is what I want to experience. But I also understand
life changes, I change and things change. And so obviously
after my ampie no we're in c doublea gymnastics, I
had fallen found snowboarding and there was no way I
could have anticipated that being my next goal. But what
I was was open and receptive to seeing where life
was going to take me. And I did. I did it.
(11:13):
I became a snowboarder and now I have four Paralympic medals,
going to the Games twice and gearing up for hopefully
a third and you never you never know where life
is going to take you. And I also like, if
you heard that just there hopefully a third, right, Like
that's the goal, but I also understand things can change. Right,
I have a direction, I have a path. I have,
it's specific, it's clear, But I also understand that that
(11:35):
life has a really funny way of directing our steps. Now,
I want to get a little woo. Okay, I like
to look at things holistically. I like to have like
a really well rounded approach to goals. And one way
is I like to use my brain as a way
to help me achieve my goals. And what I mean
by this is your conscious mind. Right, she's going to
set the goal. She's going to be like, Okay, this
(11:56):
is what we're going to do. This is the goal
that we're going to have. But you're uncaught, which mine
is the one that's going to go get your goal?
And there are a few ways to kind of tap
into this power, and one of them is making sure
that you're setting your goal with purpose. Right. We want
to make sure that this is something that you are
aligned with, you care about, because when you do that
you're going to have this more intrinsic motivation that's going
(12:18):
to keep you going when things get hard. And when
you do this, you're allowing yourself to be open to
clear possibilities, to clear signs that you were on the
right path. And one of these clear signs is something
called the reticular activation system. I learned about at a
few years ago. And I have always sound just to
be so fascinating. But when you have something in your
mind that you're like, you're what right. For instance, when
(12:40):
I wanted a new car, I used to drive like
a pretty beat up car, and I was like, you know,
I'm ready, Like I might have a goal of getting
this new car, and I had my steps, I knew
how I was going to do it. I was going
to achieve it regardless. I wanted a specific car. I
wanted a Volkswagen tore Egg TDI, and this is a
specific car that I wanted. And as I was, you know,
going through that process, I would see them everywhere, like
(13:02):
I'd be like, oh my god, why are they following me?
They're everywhere on the roads. But what happened was is
I had put it into my unconscious mind that this
is something that I so desperately wanted. I'm I'm really
really aligned with that. I cared about it, and it
really it made my brain open up and see all
the areas that I could have this in all the
areas that I could achieve it, and it kept me
feeling motivated towards that goal. It's so cool how it
(13:24):
does that your reticular activation system in your brain facilitates
motivation towards your goal. And another way that your unconscious
mind will dictate whether or not you're going to achieve
those goals is if your beliefs on whether or not
you can achieve this goal are not aligned with the
goal that is set, it will determine your I mean
is like, if you do not deep down believe that
(13:45):
you either deserve this goal, if you can achieve this goal,
if you'd not believed this is something that you're meant
to have, well you're not going to have it. And
so when you get into that unconscious mind, when you
get into those belief systems that you have, they need
to be aligned with with who you are and what
you want, because if they're not, you're not going to
get it. And so a lot of this can be
(14:06):
done through a coach, through a therapist, you're through journaling.
But regardless, this is such an important step of the
process and I highly recommend that as you're setting this goal,
being honest with yourself and asking yourself questions, ask yourself like,
do I believe with certainty that I can achieve this goal?
Do I have the confidence to go after this goal?
Why is this goal important to me? Isn't important to me?
(14:28):
Am I worthy of this goal? And you want to
make sure that your words are positive. Once you do
answer those questions and you've decided, you want to make
sure that it's positive and it's aligned with action and
making sure that your words and your actions aligned. Now,
this is my favorite part to talk about when it
comes to setting goals, and it's how do you actually
(14:50):
like use tools to activate your unconscious mind to help
you achieve what you want to achieve. And there are
a few techniques and this can be super w to
some people, but I am here to tell you they
are proven to actually help, and so one of them
is hypnosis. This one I have tried for me. However,
what it will do is it will help you focus
on your whole mind, on the desired hol the other
(15:11):
thing you could do is visualization. And this one is
like shafskis and it creates a mental image in your
and so you're going to like visualize yourself being successful
in your goal. You're going to visualize the type of
person that you are that has achieved this goal. Again,
this is just going to create that mental image of
your goal. It's going to increase motivation because you're like,
oh my gosh, this is what it feels like to
(15:33):
have this. I want this, I love this. This is
like so aligned with who I am. So visualization is
something that I use constantly even today. Like when I
was going for the Paralympics, I would set, like if
I run this training, which is like my least favorite
way to train, what I would do is I would
close my eyes while I was doing the training, and
I would visualize myself on top of the podium. I
could hear the crowd, I could hear the announcer say
(15:55):
my name. I could like see them give me my medal.
And so visualization is such a powerful tool because it
gives you like this alignment with your goal. It keeps
you motivated. You're seeing like your outcome of like where
you could go and so you're not having to like
give up that focus and you allow yourself to like
stay focused on about like giving up the enjoyment of
(16:16):
the process. And so it's basically like giving yourself these
intentional moments of celebrating that outcome, of reminding yourself where
you're trying to go. And I think if you don't
give yourself that intentional time, your outcome's going to dictate
the rest of your life. So giving yourself inten time
to like go through what you want, go through your
desired outcome, but also like when you're living in the
(16:37):
rest of your life, letting go of that outcome and
just focusing on the process and being present in the moment.
They're a VERI full tool is like just consciously thinking about, Okay,
if something can potentially go wrong, what am I going
to do to solve it? And that's just going to
again keep you flexed knowing that problems arise and how
you're going to deal with it, okay, And the last
(16:58):
but certainly not tap into that mind tap into like
a more holistic approach is include affirmations. Daily affirmations to
remind you of your goal, remind you of your ability
to achieve your goal, and it just helps like counteract
any negativity that you may encounter and just reminds you that, hey,
like I freaking got this, and it just reminds your
(17:19):
brain that like, hey, we freaking got this. So I
am just a firm believer in affirmations that relate to
your goal and making sure that you do them daily,
maybe in the morning or at night, and just to
kind of remind yourself, like, hey, I freaking got this.
So we know, like we shouldn't set fig goals. We
know we need to be specific. We know how to
be specific, We know how to tap into the unconscious
(17:41):
mind for your goal achievement. And the last thing I
kind of want to touch on is why you should
care about mindset work when it comes to your goals.
And I will say, we're not going to get into
like a deep dive of this two day, but there
will be many episodes in the future that will touch
on the mindset behind the goals. And so the reasons
(18:02):
you want to do this is because there may be
internal barriers to achieving your goal. And we kind of
touched on this a little bit with the unconscious mind,
but it's basically finding ways to kind of rework those
negative beliefs and biases so that you can overcome those barriers,
so that you can find ways to feel aligned internally
(18:22):
that you've got this goal, that this is something that
you want and that you deserve and you are worthy
of having. And so the mindset is really going to
help you sustain those goals and prevent you from too soon.
So I am a firm believer in overcoming your limiting
beliefs and really working on that mindset so that you
(18:45):
can set realistic goals and have the ability to celebrate
them as you freaking achieve them. And so with that,
that is the end of today's episode of getting specific
within your goals. I encourage you to set your own goals.
To think about your goals we're going to do in
the future with the M, the A, the R, and
the T. But now you know like how to be specific,
(19:06):
why you should be specific, and so go and look
at your goal and is it specific? Is it clear?
If so, maybe you can start visualizing the outcome of
your goal and start connecting that unconscious mind to what
it is that you want in this life. And so
just remember setting those specific goals and making them challenging
is going to be crucial for your personal and professional development.
(19:26):
Making sure those goals have direction, purpose and a clear
roadmap to follow is going to make your goal achievable. Okay,
and so I am so proud of you guys. I
can't wait to hear about ways that you have changed
and challenged the way that you upset your goals, and
I encourage you to apply these tips for your own
(19:48):
goal setting process. If you haven't already, joined the Gold
Metal Mindset online community through the email in the show notes,
and I will see you in the next episode where
we crush our goals with confidence the secret to measuring
your process, and again, don't you worry because it's going
to have a very holistic twist. Bye you guys, I
(20:09):
love you, and I will see you in the next episode.
Host
Brenna Huckaby
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