June 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Last week’s episode lifted the curtain on the five things that get in the way of people turning their ideas into real things. The top two reasons are hard core idea killers! We have a ready made solution for idea killer number one, and that solution is the Bloom Room. The idea killer is that people don’t have an accountability system to help them achieve their dream. Your success rate goes to 65% if you have an accountability partner, and that rate goes up to 95% if you meet with that accountability partner or group once a week and check in. Enter the Bloom Room! Just by joining and checking in once a week on your goal, you’ll be 95% more likely to make it real.
But what about idea killer number two? The culprit is that we keep our ideas vague and undefined instead of making them trackable things that have to pass the rubric of our passion, our authentic desires and our values. They have to be ideas articulated as goals that we celebrate, calendar, and measure as we go. In today’s episode we’ll break down a new take on an old way of thinking about goals.
In today’s episode you’ll learn:
- How to articulate your idea as a goal, break it into milestones and track it across a data proven period of time to increase your success.
- How to make the specifics of your goal sexy, and how to use visualization to get your brain working towards it in your sleep.
- How to make measurable standards so that you can manifest your idea, celebrating every success instead of comparing yourself to what you haven’t done yet.
- How to take the right aim to make something achievable by ensuring it’s in line with your values and what YOU want, and that it’s within your span of control.
- How to keep it real as we choose goals that are relevant to our most authentic selves, our true desires, and that reflect the reasons most important to us.
- How to use time whispering to make it fun, easy and to stay in the flow, instead of getting “bound up” by time.
Mentioned in today’s episode:
How to connect with Marie:
- On the Web | The Local Bloom
- Instagram: @the.bloom.coach
- All Things Marie on LinkTree
JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM!
We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Bloom your Mind podcast, where we take
all of your ideas for what youwant and we turn them into real
things.
I'm your host, certified coachMarie McDonald.
Let's.
Hello, everybody and welcome toepisode 132 of the Bloom your
(00:32):
Mind podcast.
Last episode we talked aboutidea killers the things that get
in the way of people makingtheir ideas into real things and
I promised you that in thisepisode I would do a deep dive
into one of the top two reasonsthat people don't make their
(00:52):
ideas into real things.
So we're going to take a kindof a new look at an old way of
setting goals.
That is one of the main thingsthat helps people either achieve
their goals and make theirideas real or not.
So the top two are that they goit alone because they don't
(01:18):
have a support system to keepthem accountable.
We talked last time about howyou are 65% more likely to reach
your goals, to make your ideasreal, when you have
accountability through anotherperson, and that 65% skyrockets
up to 95%.
You are 95% more likely toachieve your goals when that
(01:42):
accountability system, thatperson, that group, is one that
you meet with every week and youhave regular check-ins with.
So that is the primary thingthat we can do to make our ideas
real.
We already have the bloom roomfor that, or you might have
another accountability system.
So that's the answer there.
And the second, most likely, isthat they keep them vague.
(02:04):
When we keep our ideas vagueand kind of ethereal and this
sort of foggy vision for whatour idea is that we're trying to
make real, instead of turningthat idea into an actual goal
measured in time and space thatwe can track, that's the second
thing that is most likely to getin the way is when people don't
(02:26):
do that, that gets in the wayof them achieving their goal
making their idea real.
So we're going to get into that.
But you know, I always like totell you what's going on around
here and in our house.
The summer bucket list has begun, and the first thing that was
on the summer bucket list for myson was to watch a Star Wars
movie, a specific one that hehasn't seen yet.
So we decided to do a watchparty the day after school got
(02:53):
out, and it was a Star Warsmovie.
So we all dressed up incharacter as Jedi as well.
My husband my six foot twohusband was actually Chewbacca
and my son was on solo, mydaughter was a Jedi like a
random Jedi, and I was Rey, aJedi from the movie that we were
watching, and we made Jedi soupin the kitchen, which is, you
(03:14):
know, like lentil soup that Icalled Jedi soup, but I made it
in character.
And then we went and did a Jedifire outside and ate our Jedi
soup by the Jedi fire, and thenwe came in and put on our big
projector screen and watchedthis movie and it was so fun, oh
my gosh, and it was a couple.
(03:35):
The reason I wanted to share ithere is because two things one,
setting a whole bunch of ideasout like this as a group whether
you're a family or roommates orwhatever group that are things
that you want to knock off anddo, that are things for fun or
experiences you want to have isjust so delightful when
(03:55):
everybody gets on board behindan idea that was generated by
one person, by one person.
And the second thing is thatwhen you really get behind an
idea and you just think what, if, how, can we make this an
unforgettable experience, youcan go so far with things and it
(04:18):
was so easy to just make soupbut call it Jedi soup, you know,
and it was so easy to just pullthings out of our closets that
could make us look like Jedis.
I have to say my husbandalready had a Wookiee outfit.
That's harder to do, but it wasreally easy to do and now we
will never forget it.
And now we have a new traditionfor the day after school gets
out.
Every year we're going to do awatch party.
(04:39):
That is like thematic, becauseit's a way to kick off summer
and make it really, really feellike summer right away.
We like to do this with all theseasons.
We like to like, when it's fall, get into fall, start making
fires, even though it's reallyhot here, or other things that
make it feel like fall, changingout the diffusers for candles
(05:02):
or whatever.
And in winter and in spring thesame thing.
We really like to get behindthe seasons and embrace our
animal nature.
So if you have something thatyou have, that's an idea that
you want to make real with otherpeople for something fun, just
see how far you can take it tomake it unforgettable, all right
(05:23):
.
So let's dig into this new takeon an old method of turning an
idea into a goal.
So, first of all, every 90 daysin the bloom room.
Each person in the bloom roomwho wants to which is, I think,
all of them right now sets 90day goals, because there is a
lot of data to show that thatperiod of time it makes a goal,
(05:46):
something that you can focus inon in a way that's acute enough
to really give it some energyand keep your motivation up and
make it something that feelslike you can accomplish it.
But it's not so long that itfeels like you lose your
momentum and have a lot ofbreakdowns along the way.
You can make a 90-day goal orthree-month goal, part of a
(06:07):
larger goal, which I do all thetime, and that's a great thing
to do.
But when we make it into thisgoal for 90 days, what we do is
we turn the idea into a goal.
So maybe the idea is justsomething we want to experience
and or something we want tocreate or make, or something we
(06:27):
want to change about ourselvesor our lives or the world, and
we take that idea and, afterbuilding a vision around what it
would be like to have thatvision true, that idea in the
world, something that we'reexperiencing and living, and we
have some meditations to workwith, a subconscious mind to
support that vision becomingreal, that idea becoming real,
(06:48):
then what we do is what we callturning the idea into a goal.
So then we take the idea andstate it in a specific way that
is goal-oriented, where we sayby this date I have done this
and it's very, very specific,okay.
Then that becomes our guidingvision for the next 30 days.
(07:10):
If it's part of a larger goal,we can in advance set our 90 day
goals for, for instance, forthe entire year.
If we have a large goal for theyear, we can set those 90 day
goals up in advance, or we cancome up with each one along the
way.
So that's how I like to makeideas into goals, and that's
(07:31):
turning this big goal intosomething that has milestones.
The milestones are each 90-daygoals.
Now, with a 90-day goal, we dothe same thing.
We set milestones for eachmonth.
So we break down a 90-day goalinto three milestones, one that
we want to accomplish at the endof each month, and in that way
(07:52):
it makes it something that'svery trackable and something we
can measure along the way.
How are we doing?
Are we making progress?
What are the action steps wehave to take to get to each
milestone.
It breaks down something thatstarts as nebulous and like
inspiring, you know, in itsnebulosity, but like vague
vision and this motivating, youknow, future vision, into
(08:15):
something that we can actuallybreak down into steps and make
actionable and measurable.
That way our community can keepus accountable to it.
Without the pieces of thatbroken down, there's nothing to
keep us accountable to.
So we like to use all of thesetools and I just want to talk
(08:37):
about how these tools are allbuilt on the concept of SMART
goals.
Are you rolling your eyes?
Right now?
Smart goals have been around forso long and I wanted to take
this fresh take on them becauseI think that sometimes, when we
have a system that is old andtried and true, we kind of roll
(09:00):
our eyes at it.
We think yeah, yeah, yeah, I'veheard that a million times.
Well, I did some research intogoals for us for this episode
and smart goals are just asrelevant as ever and I want to
make a fresh take on them, totake each part of, break down,
each part of the smart goal andtell you sort of my take on why
(09:22):
it's so relevant to us asauthentic human beings, putting
our ideas that only we canbecause we are happening once
ever in the history of the world.
Right, the things that we cando and say and create are only
possible because we are us andthis is never going to happen
again.
So our authentic,once-happening-ever goals and
(09:46):
ideas, those ideas are reallymore successful and more likely
to be real as a true expressionof ourselves in the world.
That brings us into presenceand joy, more freedom all of
this freedom and expression whenwe make them SMART goals.
(10:08):
So the original SMART goal is anacronym for the words specific,
measurable, achievable,relevant and time-bound.
So let's break down each one,talk about why they make sense,
but have a little, you know, hotnew take on them.
So let's take the first one,which is specific.
The reason that specific reallyworks for us in our bloom world
(10:34):
, in this world of making ourauthentic contribution to the
world and making our lives themost incredible, authentic, real
, joyful expressions ofourselves, is that making it
specific makes it sexy.
So you could just replace thatS, that means specific, with the
word sexy, if you want.
The reason specific is so sexyis because it makes it something
(10:59):
that we can visualize andexperience and like we want to
do that right with our goals.
The first reason we want it tobe this really specific goal.
The thing that makes it so sexyis we can visualize it, which
will make it much more likelythat we will achieve it.
So we know from all thesedifferent methodologies you know
(11:25):
the Institute of the FutureI've talked about that a lot
before Olympic athletes.
You know the Institute of theFuture.
I've talked about that a lotbefore Olympic athletes,
hypnotists, all kinds ofdifferent ways, methods, worlds,
kind of thought leaders thatuse visualization, talk about
how effective it is.
In the bloom room we visualizeour idea articulated as a goal
(11:50):
with our five senses.
We use a meditation that breaksdown how to visualize actually
being inside the goal once it'sreal, and using our five senses
to experience it.
What this does is it makes ourbrain think we already have done
it.
It makes our brain experiencethe goal as having happened
(12:11):
already, which does a lot ofthings to us on a subconscious
level.
A lot of our different forms ofbias kick in in a good way.
We start recognizingopportunities that match that
reality, because our brainthinks oh, this is real, so it's
our job to make everythingmatch.
It thinks oh, this is real, soit's our job to make everything
(12:31):
match it.
When we have a thought, when wehave a belief, the brain goes to
work, making sense of it bymaking it real, by selecting all
the things that match it.
So that bias, that cognitivebias that seeks out the things
that match the idea in our head,goes to work as well.
(12:52):
So we have this vision, we'reexperiencing it.
I do it every single morning.
Then our brain goes to work,looking at the world around us
and actually recognizing theopportunities, the actions, the
habits, the things we need to doand say that will match that
reality coming true.
We'll see opportunities thatkick in that we can take hold of
(13:15):
.
So making it specific makes itsexy and allows us to visualize
exactly what we're trying tocreate.
Making it specific also is sexybecause it becomes really clear
and much more doable.
So, for example, if we saysomeone in the bloom room wanted
(13:35):
to get more sleep, we are muchless likely to accomplish
something that's vague like thatthan if we articulate it as I
want to get eight hours of sleepa night, which is where she
ended up landing.
It doesn't mean she has toperfectly achieve eight hours of
sleep a night, but it does meanshe has something to measure
against.
So that sexy specificity ofeight hours of sleep helped her
(14:01):
boost, over the course of two orthree months, her sleep way up
and she experienced incrediblesuccess because she was able to
track every night how she wasdoing against her goal.
When we make it specific, we canwrite down that sexy goal on
anything really.
We can put it on our notes onour phone, we can put it on our
calendar, we can write it on asticky, we can write it on a
(14:23):
piece of paper that we readevery single day when we wake up
.
It allows us to experience ourgoal in a multisensory way.
So instead of just thinkingabout it and visualizing it,
we're also seeing it.
We can also touch and hold it.
It's appearing in front of usin a place where we're likely to
see it every day, and thatmakes it more likely for us to
(14:44):
do it All right.
So that's the first one.
That's sexy specificity.
That's the first one.
It's a smart goal.
The second one, that M, is aboutmaking it measurable, which I
think helps us manifest it.
When it's measurable, we cantrack the thing I talked about
setting milestones for each goal.
(15:07):
When it's measurable, weactually can measure our
progress, almost like doing lapsor having when you're on a hike
and you see the trail markersand they tell you how far you've
gone.
We can not only measure, youknow, the rest of the distance
between us and our goal, whichis not as helpful.
We can measure how far we'vecome.
(15:28):
So if we don't set a milestone,the only distance that is
apparent to us is the distancebetween us and the end.
That is not helpful.
When we measure ourselves bythe gap between ourselves and
the ideal, we are much morelikely to let our negativity
(15:48):
bias in our brain kick in andwe're just going to start to see
all the lack everywhere, allthe ways we're failing and all
the lack.
When, instead, we break thingsdown into milestones, two things
happen.
It's measurable in a way thatallows us to manifest it piece
by piece.
This is what happens youachieve one milestone and then
(16:10):
you experience some successwhich, literally, is
scientifically proven to boostyour confidence.
Confidence compounds.
I just read an article aboutthis yesterday.
Confidence is a product ofconfidence.
When we experience one success,then we build that confidence
and it's a loop that allows usto keep moving forward.
(16:32):
So we want to give ourselvestiny steps so that we can feel
that measurable manifestation ofour goal in little increments,
little bit at a time.
Now, the other thing is, timeand time again I see people when
they put onto their calendarwhich we talked about in the
(16:52):
time whispering course, when youput into your calendar a block
to, let's say, work on your tripplan, when we sit down at our
computer to work on the tripplan, oftentimes people feel
overwhelmed.
They don't know when to start.
When, instead, we break thingsdown into real, measurable
chunks, we can say on this dayI'm going to find two hotels.
(17:15):
Then when we sit down at ourcomputer to do that work, we can
jump right in.
We don't feel overwhelmed, wefeel like it's something that's
doable.
We can bite it off, we can chewit, we can take care of it, we
can get it done off, we can chewit, we can take care of it, we
can get it done and we don'thave to waste time
reprioritizing the entireproject.
That gives us that confidenceboost and that confidence loop.
(17:37):
So we're on our way and that'sgoing to give us more confidence
for the next step and the nextstep and the next step.
So we want to make itmeasurable, which allows us to
manifest our goal by breaking itdown into milestones, by making
each milestone measurable andby making the entire goal
measurable so that we can workbackward from it and we can
(18:00):
really manifest it throughhaving that sexy visualization
and understanding exactly whatit is that we're creating.
Step number three in the SMARTgoals is traditionally, making
it achievable.
I like to think of this asaiming right.
We wanna aim correctly, sotaking aim.
What I mean by this is thatwe've heard me say before most
(18:24):
likely a couple of things thatwe overestimate what we can do
in the short term and weunderestimate what we can do in
the short term and weunderestimate what we can do in
the long term, and this happensagain and again.
So when we really focus onaiming in a way taking aim,
making a goal that is achievablein the time that we are setting
, we can be aware of ourtendency as human beings to
(18:49):
overestimate what we can do inthe short term and underestimate
what we can do in the long term.
It allows us to take that intoaccount and take it into account
as we set our goal.
We also making it achievableallows us to focus within our
realm of control.
(19:09):
So we want to make sure it'ssomething that we can actually
have control over.
Whatever that achievable goalis, we're aiming at something
that we can impact, that we canachieve, and I'm going to talk
about that a little bit more ina minute.
What I really want to say withthis idea of making it
achievable and aiming correctlyis that life always gets in the
(19:30):
way, and this is one of thethings that I talked about in
the last podcast that a lot oftimes people get excited about a
goal and forget to plug thegoal into the life that they
already have.
It is okay to deprioritizethings.
It's great to deprioritizethings that are not regenerative
for us in our lives, or thatare not regenerative for us in
our lives or that are not asimportant for us as achieving
(19:51):
our goal, and we also have toknow that the unknown is going
to happen.
The life is going to continueto happen.
Crisis will come up or justcomplication, or people will get
sick.
It doesn't mean I was justworking with a client who said
you know, I knew this was goingto happen as soon as I started
working towards my goal, andthen we talked about the actual
(20:13):
circumstance of what washappening and we realized
something like what's happeningnow has always been happening.
Her mind was just correlatingit with when she's working on a
goal.
When she separated those things, she realized oh, I'm just not
planning for life to continue tohappen as I'm working on my
goals, and we were able to seeit in a really different light
(20:35):
and set her up for success.
So when we aim right, when wemake something achievable, we're
setting our goal up to happenin our life, with all of the
other responsibilities that wecan already see and with the
ones that we'll get in the waythat we can't see yet.
So that is what we mean byaiming right and making
(20:55):
something achievable.
Number four out of five in theSMART goal acronym is that R,
and it usually stands forrelevant.
What I like to say is let's bereal here.
Let's be real First.
Let's make sure it matters toyou Like are we setting a goal
because you think you'resupposed to do it, because
there's a lot of societalpressure, because you have low
(21:17):
self-worth and you think thatpeople will love you if you do
this thing?
Let's just catch ourselves,because we all have thoughts
like that.
Let's catch ourselves.
If that's why we're doingsomething.
That's not why we do things.
We do them because we'repassionate about them.
They're an expression ofourselves.
They're where our heart's deeplonging meets the world's deep
need.
It's because it's what we wantto do, not because it's what
(21:38):
we're supposed to do, right?
So let's be real.
Let's make sure it matters toyou and that it's authentic for
you, and within that, let's makesure we know your why.
Once you find that why that'snot about making other people
happy, not about living up tosome weird blueprint of you that
lives who knows where insomebody's head, maybe only on
(22:00):
your own Then what is the reasonthat you love?
Is it because it feels likefreedom?
Is it because it feels likewhat you want to do?
What is your why?
Is it because you've alwayswanted to see this change in the
world and you're all fired upto make it?
What is your why?
(22:21):
When we're being real and we'rechoosing relevant goals, the
relevance is that we understandwhy we're dedicating the
resource of our time and energyto this goal.
Because we're being real and,again, we want to make sure that
it's within your realm ofcontrol and your realm of
influence.
You're not choosing a goalthat's actually not something
(22:43):
that's yours to do or create orcontrol, that's outside of your
control, that you don't have alot of influence over.
We want to make sure it's inline with your values, your
pillars and your realm ofcontrol.
So that's making it relevantand being real.
And then our last letter isthat T, and originally they call
(23:05):
it time bound.
We like to use time whisperingbecause it makes it way more fun
.
We don't want to bind ourselvesup Ew, we want to be time
whispers where we use theresource of time in a way that
feels playful and good andwonderful.
Time is the only resource weever have.
(23:26):
What we spend our energy andour attention on in this moment
is all we ever have.
There is nothing other thanthis moment.
Right, we all know this.
So when we make it enjoyable byplanning time to dedicate to
this goal and we use timewhispering skills to make it not
(23:49):
stressful but make it wonderful, we use our time whispering
skills to organize our calendarand our lists and our time so
that they feel like a party,with our favorite guest list,
with our favorite people doingour favorite things.
The whole process of using 90day goals and these cycles,
(24:11):
plugging it into our calendar,tracking our progress, breaking
it into chunks, planning intoour calendar, by the result that
we're going to create.
With that time I'm going tohave booked two hotels, not I'm
going to work on my trip.
We're planning it in chunks andwe're planning it with results
first.
Then it feels so fun, we'retime whispering, we're not all
(24:34):
bound up in time, and there's alot of important evidence to
show that when we focus in onone thing at a time rather than
five things at once, forinstance, when we set one or two
90 day goals and I like to makeone that's related to my work
in the world professionally andone personal goal that's maybe
(24:55):
related to relationships orhealth or something like that I
like to have one of each every90 days and we are so much more
likely to compound our progressover time by accomplishing one
goal after the next, after thenext, after the next right, and
after a year I've accomplishedfour goals in my professional
and my personal life rather thanstretching myself thin and for
(25:21):
all five of them right and notdoing any of them that well, I
know I have had that experience.
I don't know if you have, butit's much less likely that we'll
have that experience.
If we make our goals smart,make them sexy, manifest them,
aim right, be real and be a timewhisperer.
And if we strive towardsachieving our goals, making our
(25:45):
ideas into real things byarticulating them as goals and
doing it in the company of otherpeople who are keeping us
accountable, that's the new take.
It's sexy, we're manifesting,we're aiming right, we're being
real and we're time whispering.
All that stuff makes our ideasreal and that's the world I want
(26:09):
to be in, the one where I'mjust rolling around in all the
ideas that started out asglimmering glimmers of
possibility in my mind and noware just the life that I'm
walking around in.
That's what I've got for youtoday.
(26:40):
If you want to talk more aboutthis, if you want some help
making your ideas into realthings, you got to come and join
us in the Bloom Room.
This is a year-round membershipwhere we take all of these
concepts and we apply them toreal life in a community where
we have each other's backs andwe bring out the best in each
(27:00):
other.
We're all there to make ourideas real, one idea at a time.
I'll see you in the Bloom Room.
Welcome to the Bloom your Mind podcast, where we take
all of your ideas for what youwant and we turn them into real
things.
I'm your host, certified coachMarie McDonald.
Let's.
Hello, everybody and welcome toepisode 132 of the Bloom your
(00:32):
Mind podcast.
Last episode we talked aboutidea killers the things that get
in the way of people makingtheir ideas into real things and
I promised you that in thisepisode I would do a deep dive
into one of the top two reasonsthat people don't make their
(00:52):
ideas into real things.
So we're going to take a kindof a new look at an old way of
setting goals.
That is one of the main thingsthat helps people either achieve
their goals and make theirideas real or not.
So the top two are that they goit alone because they don't
(01:18):
have a support system to keepthem accountable.
We talked last time about howyou are 65% more likely to reach
your goals, to make your ideasreal, when you have
accountability through anotherperson, and that 65% skyrockets
up to 95%.
You are 95% more likely toachieve your goals when that
(01:42):
accountability system, thatperson, that group, is one that
you meet with every week and youhave regular check-ins with.
So that is the primary thingthat we can do to make our ideas
real.
We already have the bloom roomfor that, or you might have
another accountability system.
So that's the answer there.
And the second, most likely, isthat they keep them vague.
(02:04):
When we keep our ideas vagueand kind of ethereal and this
sort of foggy vision for whatour idea is that we're trying to
make real, instead of turningthat idea into an actual goal
measured in time and space thatwe can track, that's the second
thing that is most likely to getin the way is when people don't
(02:26):
do that, that gets in the wayof them achieving their goal
making their idea real.
So we're going to get into that.
But you know, I always like totell you what's going on around
here and in our house.
The summer bucket list has begun, and the first thing that was
on the summer bucket list for myson was to watch a Star Wars
movie, a specific one that hehasn't seen yet.
So we decided to do a watchparty the day after school got
(02:53):
out, and it was a Star Warsmovie.
So we all dressed up incharacter as Jedi as well.
My husband my six foot twohusband was actually Chewbacca
and my son was on solo, mydaughter was a Jedi like a
random Jedi, and I was Rey, aJedi from the movie that we were
watching, and we made Jedi soupin the kitchen, which is, you
(03:14):
know, like lentil soup that Icalled Jedi soup, but I made it
in character.
And then we went and did a Jedifire outside and ate our Jedi
soup by the Jedi fire, and thenwe came in and put on our big
projector screen and watchedthis movie and it was so fun, oh
my gosh, and it was a couple.
(03:35):
The reason I wanted to share ithere is because two things one,
setting a whole bunch of ideasout like this as a group whether
you're a family or roommates orwhatever group that are things
that you want to knock off anddo, that are things for fun or
experiences you want to have isjust so delightful when
(03:55):
everybody gets on board behindan idea that was generated by
one person, by one person.
And the second thing is thatwhen you really get behind an
idea and you just think what, if, how, can we make this an
unforgettable experience, youcan go so far with things and it
(04:18):
was so easy to just make soupbut call it Jedi soup, you know,
and it was so easy to just pullthings out of our closets that
could make us look like Jedis.
I have to say my husbandalready had a Wookiee outfit.
That's harder to do, but it wasreally easy to do and now we
will never forget it.
And now we have a new traditionfor the day after school gets
out.
Every year we're going to do awatch party.
(04:39):
That is like thematic, becauseit's a way to kick off summer
and make it really, really feellike summer right away.
We like to do this with all theseasons.
We like to like, when it's fall, get into fall, start making
fires, even though it's reallyhot here, or other things that
make it feel like fall, changingout the diffusers for candles
(05:02):
or whatever.
And in winter and in spring thesame thing.
We really like to get behindthe seasons and embrace our
animal nature.
So if you have something thatyou have, that's an idea that
you want to make real with otherpeople for something fun, just
see how far you can take it tomake it unforgettable, all right
(05:23):
.
So let's dig into this new takeon an old method of turning an
idea into a goal.
So, first of all, every 90 daysin the bloom room.
Each person in the bloom roomwho wants to which is, I think,
all of them right now sets 90day goals, because there is a
lot of data to show that thatperiod of time it makes a goal,
(05:46):
something that you can focus inon in a way that's acute enough
to really give it some energyand keep your motivation up and
make it something that feelslike you can accomplish it.
But it's not so long that itfeels like you lose your
momentum and have a lot ofbreakdowns along the way.
You can make a 90-day goal orthree-month goal, part of a
(06:07):
larger goal, which I do all thetime, and that's a great thing
to do.
But when we make it into thisgoal for 90 days, what we do is
we turn the idea into a goal.
So maybe the idea is justsomething we want to experience
and or something we want tocreate or make, or something we
(06:27):
want to change about ourselvesor our lives or the world, and
we take that idea and, afterbuilding a vision around what it
would be like to have thatvision true, that idea in the
world, something that we'reexperiencing and living, and we
have some meditations to workwith, a subconscious mind to
support that vision becomingreal, that idea becoming real,
(06:48):
then what we do is what we callturning the idea into a goal.
So then we take the idea andstate it in a specific way that
is goal-oriented, where we sayby this date I have done this
and it's very, very specific,okay.
Then that becomes our guidingvision for the next 30 days.
(07:10):
If it's part of a larger goal,we can in advance set our 90 day
goals for, for instance, forthe entire year.
If we have a large goal for theyear, we can set those 90 day
goals up in advance, or we cancome up with each one along the
way.
So that's how I like to makeideas into goals, and that's
(07:31):
turning this big goal intosomething that has milestones.
The milestones are each 90-daygoals.
Now, with a 90-day goal, we dothe same thing.
We set milestones for eachmonth.
So we break down a 90-day goalinto three milestones, one that
we want to accomplish at the endof each month, and in that way
(07:52):
it makes it something that'svery trackable and something we
can measure along the way.
How are we doing?
Are we making progress?
What are the action steps wehave to take to get to each
milestone.
It breaks down something thatstarts as nebulous and like
inspiring, you know, in itsnebulosity, but like vague
vision and this motivating, youknow, future vision, into
(08:15):
something that we can actuallybreak down into steps and make
actionable and measurable.
That way our community can keepus accountable to it.
Without the pieces of thatbroken down, there's nothing to
keep us accountable to.
So we like to use all of thesetools and I just want to talk
(08:37):
about how these tools are allbuilt on the concept of SMART
goals.
Are you rolling your eyes?
Right now?
Smart goals have been around forso long and I wanted to take
this fresh take on them becauseI think that sometimes, when we
have a system that is old andtried and true, we kind of roll
(09:00):
our eyes at it.
We think yeah, yeah, yeah, I'veheard that a million times.
Well, I did some research intogoals for us for this episode
and smart goals are just asrelevant as ever and I want to
make a fresh take on them, totake each part of, break down,
each part of the smart goal andtell you sort of my take on why
(09:22):
it's so relevant to us asauthentic human beings, putting
our ideas that only we canbecause we are happening once
ever in the history of the world.
Right, the things that we cando and say and create are only
possible because we are us andthis is never going to happen
again.
So our authentic,once-happening-ever goals and
(09:46):
ideas, those ideas are reallymore successful and more likely
to be real as a true expressionof ourselves in the world.
That brings us into presenceand joy, more freedom all of
this freedom and expression whenwe make them SMART goals.
(10:08):
So the original SMART goal is anacronym for the words specific,
measurable, achievable,relevant and time-bound.
So let's break down each one,talk about why they make sense,
but have a little, you know, hotnew take on them.
So let's take the first one,which is specific.
The reason that specific reallyworks for us in our bloom world
(10:34):
, in this world of making ourauthentic contribution to the
world and making our lives themost incredible, authentic, real
, joyful expressions ofourselves, is that making it
specific makes it sexy.
So you could just replace thatS, that means specific, with the
word sexy, if you want.
The reason specific is so sexyis because it makes it something
(10:59):
that we can visualize andexperience and like we want to
do that right with our goals.
The first reason we want it tobe this really specific goal.
The thing that makes it so sexyis we can visualize it, which
will make it much more likelythat we will achieve it.
So we know from all thesedifferent methodologies you know
(11:25):
the Institute of the FutureI've talked about that a lot
before Olympic athletes.
You know the Institute of theFuture.
I've talked about that a lotbefore Olympic athletes,
hypnotists, all kinds ofdifferent ways, methods, worlds,
kind of thought leaders thatuse visualization, talk about
how effective it is.
In the bloom room we visualizeour idea articulated as a goal
(11:50):
with our five senses.
We use a meditation that breaksdown how to visualize actually
being inside the goal once it'sreal, and using our five senses
to experience it.
What this does is it makes ourbrain think we already have done
it.
It makes our brain experiencethe goal as having happened
(12:11):
already, which does a lot ofthings to us on a subconscious
level.
A lot of our different forms ofbias kick in in a good way.
We start recognizingopportunities that match that
reality, because our brainthinks oh, this is real, so it's
our job to make everythingmatch.
It thinks oh, this is real, soit's our job to make everything
(12:31):
match it.
When we have a thought, when wehave a belief, the brain goes to
work, making sense of it bymaking it real, by selecting all
the things that match it.
So that bias, that cognitivebias that seeks out the things
that match the idea in our head,goes to work as well.
(12:52):
So we have this vision, we'reexperiencing it.
I do it every single morning.
Then our brain goes to work,looking at the world around us
and actually recognizing theopportunities, the actions, the
habits, the things we need to doand say that will match that
reality coming true.
We'll see opportunities thatkick in that we can take hold of
(13:15):
.
So making it specific makes itsexy and allows us to visualize
exactly what we're trying tocreate.
Making it specific also is sexybecause it becomes really clear
and much more doable.
So, for example, if we saysomeone in the bloom room wanted
(13:35):
to get more sleep, we are muchless likely to accomplish
something that's vague like thatthan if we articulate it as I
want to get eight hours of sleepa night, which is where she
ended up landing.
It doesn't mean she has toperfectly achieve eight hours of
sleep a night, but it does meanshe has something to measure
against.
So that sexy specificity ofeight hours of sleep helped her
(14:01):
boost, over the course of two orthree months, her sleep way up
and she experienced incrediblesuccess because she was able to
track every night how she wasdoing against her goal.
When we make it specific, we canwrite down that sexy goal on
anything really.
We can put it on our notes onour phone, we can put it on our
calendar, we can write it on asticky, we can write it on a
(14:23):
piece of paper that we readevery single day when we wake up
.
It allows us to experience ourgoal in a multisensory way.
So instead of just thinkingabout it and visualizing it,
we're also seeing it.
We can also touch and hold it.
It's appearing in front of usin a place where we're likely to
see it every day, and thatmakes it more likely for us to
(14:44):
do it All right.
So that's the first one.
That's sexy specificity.
That's the first one.
It's a smart goal.
The second one, that M, is aboutmaking it measurable, which I
think helps us manifest it.
When it's measurable, we cantrack the thing I talked about
setting milestones for each goal.
(15:07):
When it's measurable, weactually can measure our
progress, almost like doing lapsor having when you're on a hike
and you see the trail markersand they tell you how far you've
gone.
We can not only measure, youknow, the rest of the distance
between us and our goal, whichis not as helpful.
We can measure how far we'vecome.
(15:28):
So if we don't set a milestone,the only distance that is
apparent to us is the distancebetween us and the end.
That is not helpful.
When we measure ourselves bythe gap between ourselves and
the ideal, we are much morelikely to let our negativity
(15:48):
bias in our brain kick in andwe're just going to start to see
all the lack everywhere, allthe ways we're failing and all
the lack.
When, instead, we break thingsdown into milestones, two things
happen.
It's measurable in a way thatallows us to manifest it piece
by piece.
This is what happens youachieve one milestone and then
(16:10):
you experience some successwhich, literally, is
scientifically proven to boostyour confidence.
Confidence compounds.
I just read an article aboutthis yesterday.
Confidence is a product ofconfidence.
When we experience one success,then we build that confidence
and it's a loop that allows usto keep moving forward.
(16:32):
So we want to give ourselvestiny steps so that we can feel
that measurable manifestation ofour goal in little increments,
little bit at a time.
Now, the other thing is, timeand time again I see people when
they put onto their calendarwhich we talked about in the
(16:52):
time whispering course, when youput into your calendar a block
to, let's say, work on your tripplan, when we sit down at our
computer to work on the tripplan, oftentimes people feel
overwhelmed.
They don't know when to start.
When, instead, we break thingsdown into real, measurable
chunks, we can say on this dayI'm going to find two hotels.
(17:15):
Then when we sit down at ourcomputer to do that work, we can
jump right in.
We don't feel overwhelmed, wefeel like it's something that's
doable.
We can bite it off, we can chewit, we can take care of it, we
can get it done off, we can chewit, we can take care of it, we
can get it done and we don'thave to waste time
reprioritizing the entireproject.
That gives us that confidenceboost and that confidence loop.
(17:37):
So we're on our way and that'sgoing to give us more confidence
for the next step and the nextstep and the next step.
So we want to make itmeasurable, which allows us to
manifest our goal by breaking itdown into milestones, by making
each milestone measurable andby making the entire goal
measurable so that we can workbackward from it and we can
(18:00):
really manifest it throughhaving that sexy visualization
and understanding exactly whatit is that we're creating.
Step number three in the SMARTgoals is traditionally, making
it achievable.
I like to think of this asaiming right.
We wanna aim correctly, sotaking aim.
What I mean by this is thatwe've heard me say before most
(18:24):
likely a couple of things thatwe overestimate what we can do
in the short term and weunderestimate what we can do in
the short term and weunderestimate what we can do in
the long term, and this happensagain and again.
So when we really focus onaiming in a way taking aim,
making a goal that is achievablein the time that we are setting
, we can be aware of ourtendency as human beings to
(18:49):
overestimate what we can do inthe short term and underestimate
what we can do in the long term.
It allows us to take that intoaccount and take it into account
as we set our goal.
We also making it achievableallows us to focus within our
realm of control.
(19:09):
So we want to make sure it'ssomething that we can actually
have control over.
Whatever that achievable goalis, we're aiming at something
that we can impact, that we canachieve, and I'm going to talk
about that a little bit more ina minute.
What I really want to say withthis idea of making it
achievable and aiming correctlyis that life always gets in the
(19:30):
way, and this is one of thethings that I talked about in
the last podcast that a lot oftimes people get excited about a
goal and forget to plug thegoal into the life that they
already have.
It is okay to deprioritizethings.
It's great to deprioritizethings that are not regenerative
for us in our lives, or thatare not regenerative for us in
our lives or that are not asimportant for us as achieving
(19:51):
our goal, and we also have toknow that the unknown is going
to happen.
The life is going to continueto happen.
Crisis will come up or justcomplication, or people will get
sick.
It doesn't mean I was justworking with a client who said
you know, I knew this was goingto happen as soon as I started
working towards my goal, andthen we talked about the actual
(20:13):
circumstance of what washappening and we realized
something like what's happeningnow has always been happening.
Her mind was just correlatingit with when she's working on a
goal.
When she separated those things, she realized oh, I'm just not
planning for life to continue tohappen as I'm working on my
goals, and we were able to seeit in a really different light
(20:35):
and set her up for success.
So when we aim right, when wemake something achievable, we're
setting our goal up to happenin our life, with all of the
other responsibilities that wecan already see and with the
ones that we'll get in the waythat we can't see yet.
So that is what we mean byaiming right and making
(20:55):
something achievable.
Number four out of five in theSMART goal acronym is that R,
and it usually stands forrelevant.
What I like to say is let's bereal here.
Let's be real First.
Let's make sure it matters toyou Like are we setting a goal
because you think you'resupposed to do it, because
there's a lot of societalpressure, because you have low
(21:17):
self-worth and you think thatpeople will love you if you do
this thing?
Let's just catch ourselves,because we all have thoughts
like that.
Let's catch ourselves.
If that's why we're doingsomething.
That's not why we do things.
We do them because we'repassionate about them.
They're an expression ofourselves.
They're where our heart's deeplonging meets the world's deep
need.
It's because it's what we wantto do, not because it's what
(21:38):
we're supposed to do, right?
So let's be real.
Let's make sure it matters toyou and that it's authentic for
you, and within that, let's makesure we know your why.
Once you find that why that'snot about making other people
happy, not about living up tosome weird blueprint of you that
lives who knows where insomebody's head, maybe only on
(22:00):
your own Then what is the reasonthat you love?
Is it because it feels likefreedom?
Is it because it feels likewhat you want to do?
What is your why?
Is it because you've alwayswanted to see this change in the
world and you're all fired upto make it?
What is your why?
(22:21):
When we're being real and we'rechoosing relevant goals, the
relevance is that we understandwhy we're dedicating the
resource of our time and energyto this goal.
Because we're being real and,again, we want to make sure that
it's within your realm ofcontrol and your realm of
influence.
You're not choosing a goalthat's actually not something
(22:43):
that's yours to do or create orcontrol, that's outside of your
control, that you don't have alot of influence over.
We want to make sure it's inline with your values, your
pillars and your realm ofcontrol.
So that's making it relevantand being real.
And then our last letter isthat T, and originally they call
(23:05):
it time bound.
We like to use time whisperingbecause it makes it way more fun
.
We don't want to bind ourselvesup Ew, we want to be time
whispers where we use theresource of time in a way that
feels playful and good andwonderful.
Time is the only resource weever have.
(23:26):
What we spend our energy andour attention on in this moment
is all we ever have.
There is nothing other thanthis moment.
Right, we all know this.
So when we make it enjoyable byplanning time to dedicate to
this goal and we use timewhispering skills to make it not
(23:49):
stressful but make it wonderful, we use our time whispering
skills to organize our calendarand our lists and our time so
that they feel like a party,with our favorite guest list,
with our favorite people doingour favorite things.
The whole process of using 90day goals and these cycles,
(24:11):
plugging it into our calendar,tracking our progress, breaking
it into chunks, planning intoour calendar, by the result that
we're going to create.
With that time I'm going tohave booked two hotels, not I'm
going to work on my trip.
We're planning it in chunks andwe're planning it with results
first.
Then it feels so fun, we'retime whispering, we're not all
(24:34):
bound up in time, and there's alot of important evidence to
show that when we focus in onone thing at a time rather than
five things at once, forinstance, when we set one or two
90 day goals and I like to makeone that's related to my work
in the world professionally andone personal goal that's maybe
(24:55):
related to relationships orhealth or something like that I
like to have one of each every90 days and we are so much more
likely to compound our progressover time by accomplishing one
goal after the next, after thenext, after the next right, and
after a year I've accomplishedfour goals in my professional
and my personal life rather thanstretching myself thin and for
(25:21):
all five of them right and notdoing any of them that well, I
know I have had that experience.
I don't know if you have, butit's much less likely that we'll
have that experience.
If we make our goals smart,make them sexy, manifest them,
aim right, be real and be a timewhisperer.
And if we strive towardsachieving our goals, making our
(25:45):
ideas into real things byarticulating them as goals and
doing it in the company of otherpeople who are keeping us
accountable, that's the new take.
It's sexy, we're manifesting,we're aiming right, we're being
real and we're time whispering.
All that stuff makes our ideasreal and that's the world I want
(26:09):
to be in, the one where I'mjust rolling around in all the
ideas that started out asglimmering glimmers of
possibility in my mind and noware just the life that I'm
walking around in.
That's what I've got for youtoday.
(26:40):
If you want to talk more aboutthis, if you want some help
making your ideas into realthings, you got to come and join
us in the Bloom Room.
This is a year-round membershipwhere we take all of these
concepts and we apply them toreal life in a community where
we have each other's backs andwe bring out the best in each
(27:00):
other.
We're all there to make ourideas real, one idea at a time.
I'll see you in the Bloom Room.
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