✨Stop Goal Setting: Create Your Menu for Success✨

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Are you tired of setting goals you can’t stick to? In this episode, Lisa Hopkins introduces The Menu — a flexible, practical tool designed to set you up for success no matter how busy life gets.

Instead of rigid goals that often lead to guilt or frustration, The Menu offers bite-sized to main-course options you create for yourself. You’re the chef — and each day, the only “goal” is to choose something from your menu.

Discover how to build your own menu of mindfulness, energy, notions, and unwinding so you always have achievable, conscious choices at your fingertips. From a one-minute breathing exercise to a full creative project, The Menu helps you stay consistent, motivated, and guilt-free.

✨ Stop struggling with traditional goal setting. Start choosing from The Menu.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, today I'm bringing back one of the most
practical tools I've ever sharedon the podcast.
It's called the menu.
I created this as a simple wayto set yourself up for success,
no matter how busy life gets.
It evolved out of my coachingpractice.
I work with a lot of very busypeople and I discovered that,

(00:25):
instead of rigid goals that canleave us feeling like we failed,
the menu offers bite-sized tomain course choices that you
design yourself.
The only rule is to choosesomething from your menu every
day.
It's flexible, it's doable andit keeps you moving forward

(00:46):
without the guilt.
This replay is the originalepisode where I first introduced
the menu.
I hope you'll find it usefuland maybe even start creating a

(01:17):
menu of your own.
Enjoy, hear about it, but Ijust want to introduce it here
today.
It's called the Menu, so thisconcept kind of developed during
my coaching sessions.
I started talking to my clientsabout goals and guilt and guilt

(01:43):
around not doing goals and soon and so forth, and somehow out
of that, this evolved.
So the idea is that you have amenu, something that you create.
All the items on the menu areyours, you are the chef and the
goal here is simply each day tochoose something from your menu.

(02:11):
That's it.
Now I'm going to break downwhat the items might be on your
menu, but what this does is ittakes off the pressure of
whether you did or did not dosomething that might be a bigger
goal, like going to the gymfive days a week, or, you know,

(02:32):
reading two books or you knowwhatever it might be writing a
song or finishing this or that.
Okay, so you may or may notwant a pen and paper for this.
Also, if you reach out to me,I'm happy to send you a template
.
So the MENU stands forMindfulness, energy Notions and

(03:03):
Unwinding.
I'll say it one more time soyou can write it down the menu
is an acronym for mindfulness,energy notions and unwinding.
It's all about choice, you guys, conscious choice.

(03:23):
So mindfulness will includeactivities that help you ground
yourself, reflect and connectwith the present moment.
These can be anything you want,and I'm going to talk to you
about how we break it down in amoment.
So again, mindfulness includesactivities that help you ground

(03:47):
yourself, reflect, connect withthe present moment.
All right, the E in menu is forenergy, and energy includes
anything that gets your bodymoving and raises your physical
energy levels that gets yourbody moving and raises your
physical energy levels, allright, and we'll talk about all

(04:09):
the ways and things that we caninclude on your energy category
of the menu.
The N in menu, as I said, standsfor notions, notions.
So notions are anything thatwe're cultivating creativity and

(04:29):
ideas, personal growth,professional projects, anything
that encompasses, well, yourcreative self, and this is not
relegated to actual creativeacts.
It can be, you can includethose in there, but it can be

(04:52):
thinking creatively, it could beexpanding your mind.
Learning fits into here, youknow, taking new courses or
trying new things, anything thatreally stimulates cultivating a
creative mindset and ideas andnewness right, okay.

(05:13):
So that's notions.
So so far, we've got mindfulness, which are the activities that
help you ground yourself,reflect and connect with the
present moment.
We've got energy, which isanything that gets your body
moving and raises your physicalenergy levels, all right.
Then we've got N is for notions, which is that creative space.

(05:35):
Right, that space of creativelyworking through problems, of
just, you know, giving yourselfsome time for personal growth
and ideas, all right.
And finally, we've gotunwinding.
So unwinding is all aboutanything that you find enjoyable

(05:57):
, that you consciously choose torelax and decompress.
Again, the important thing hereis that these are enjoyable
activities that you consciouslychoose, not that you default to,
to relax and decompress.
What comes to mind right awayis watching your favorite

(06:19):
program.
Now, a lot of us default tothat when we crash on the couch
and just flip it on and startwatching by default.
Now, a lot of us default tothat when we crash on the couch
and just flip it on and startwatching by default.
Now, this is a great way tounwind, if it's conscious.
So that may or may not be onyour menu under the unwinding
category, just as, I don't know,a glass of wine, or or a bubble

(06:42):
bath, or whatever it might be,but whatever it is, it's
important that each of thesethings, especially in the
unwinding category, is consciousand not done by default.
Okay.
Now here's the thing about amenu.
Like in a restaurant, it's allabout choice.

(07:03):
Okay, what you choose is whatyou get.
What's different about arestaurant right is that you are
the chef.
No longer will you ever feellike you're at a great
restaurant and you're worriedabout ordering the right thing.
Right, because you don't know,maybe you haven't tasted it, or

(07:26):
you haven't experienced it, ormaybe being at a restaurant and
never ordering anything but thesame thing, because you're
nervous that it might besomething different and that
would be called a default right.
So in this, in our menu thatwe're creating, your menu that
you're creating, you're going tohave different.

(07:49):
Like a regular menu, you'regoing to have starters or
appetizers, if you like, a maincourse, a dessert and a snack
Okay, in each category.
So, for instance, formindfulness, a starter might be

(08:11):
a 10 minute meditation sessionor a short journaling session,
maybe two or three prompts,maybe it's reading a chapter of
a book or listening to a guidedmeditation.
Whatever it is, it's up to you,but it's a, it's a starter.
It's a small bite, right, it'sa teaser.
It's not going to take a lot oftime.

(08:31):
So, in the mindfulness category,you can put whatever you want
on your menu.
Be sure to put several things,okay, so that you have choice,
even more choice.
Now, a main course inmindfulness might be a yoga
class or a long mindful walk innature.

(08:54):
It might be.
Well, you fill in the blanks,whatever it might be.
But the main course is a littlemore substantial, right, like a
main course is in a restaurant.
So it's probably going to takea little bit more time, and then
you've got dessert on your menu, right?

(09:15):
So in the mindfulness categoryof your menu, a dessert might be
oh, I don't know an indulgentbath with bubbles, music, glass
of wine, music, glass of wine.

(09:35):
Okay, that was mine.
It can be whatever you want,right?
Might be a guided visualizationor a gratitude practice,
whatever you want.
The sky is the limit.
There are no rules here.
Finally, you've got a snack,right.
Snacks are things that well likea snack that can be done
quickly and really at any time.
Okay, so you might get to theend of your day, and if your

(09:58):
goal has been to choosesomething from your menu,
particularly in the mindfulnesscategory, and perhaps you
haven't done anything yet, noworries, you might look at the
snack section of your menu,which might include, in the
mindfulness category, deepbreathing for three minutes.
No worries, it might be a rolldown as you brush your teeth, it

(10:20):
might be writing down a thoughtor a feeling in a journal,
maybe it's just closing youreyes for a one minute body scan,
or reading a page of aninspiring book.
Whatever it might be, thesesnacks not going to take a long
time, but they make it easy forachieving your goal, and so, as
you're creating your own menu,you'll do the same thing with

(10:44):
each category.
We just did mindfulnesstogether and again I encourage
you to make it your own.
Then you'll do the same thingwith energy.
You'll have a starter or anappetizer, you'll have a main
course, you'll have a dessertand you'll have a snack.
And again, I encourage you tohave multiple choices within
these categories.

(11:05):
And, as a reminder, energy isanything that gets your body
moving or raises your physicalenergy levels, right.
So what might fall into thisare things like well, your
starter might be 10 minutes ofstretching or yoga, it might be
a brisk walk around the block orgoing up and down the stairs in

(11:28):
your building.
It might be a light workoutsession.
A main course in the energycategory might be a full workout
at the gym, right.
Or taking a class or a homeworkout session.
Maybe it's going on a hike orcycling for 30 minutes or an
hour, maybe it's taking up aphysical hobby or going to a
dance class, right.

(11:49):
These things, again, are moresubstantial, like main courses
are, and you can choose.
So, with that goal of going tothe gym five days of the week,
that's no longer the goal.
The goal is to choose somethingfrom your menu.
So you may then decide tochoose something from your
energy menu each day, and it mayvery well be something from the

(12:12):
main course, which might be aworkout, in which case you might
end up working out five days aweek.
But if you don't, well thenguess what?
You don't fail.
You might have chosen a dessertinstead because you were
shorter on time, and a dessertmight be a fun outdoor activity
or a dance party with friends,trying something new like rock

(12:33):
climbing or swimming.
Desserts are flavorful, rightand delicious.
Or maybe you've had a busy day,like we so often do, and as
you're coming to bed, you thinkabout the menu and you think, oh
yeah, I had a goal to chooseone thing from my menu today,

(12:55):
and if energy was in your goalset, then you might say well, I
have time for a snack, becauseyou always have time for a snack
.
So be sure on your menu to putsomething on here that is
totally doable, right in a veryshort period of time.
So a roll down or a quickstretch routine, a five minute

(13:15):
yoga break, maybe walking up anddownstairs for five minutes,
whatever it is.
Whatever it is, you've achievedyour goal that day.
Do you see how this works?
So you'll go on and you'll dothe same thing for notions,
right, and I can take youthrough those.
A starter might be a shortcreative session, drafting a

(13:37):
brief outline for a project or anew idea.
Who knows a brainstorm?
Maybe it's improvising orjournaling, or maybe it's simply
daydreaming.
That might be a starter.
It simply daydreaming?
That might be a starter in yournotion category.
And again, the menu is yours tocreate.
You are the chef.
A main course in the notionsection might be a deep dive

(13:59):
into a creative project.
It might be participating in acreative workshop or a course,
or taking painting or knittingor, who knows, maybe trying
photography or something new.
A dessert in the notiondepartment?
Well, that could be a funoutdoor activity or doing

(14:20):
something with friends.
Maybe it's trying a new recipe,trying something new.
These are all creativeendeavors.
Thinking about somethingdifferently makes things twice
as sweet.
No-transcript.

(14:44):
You might be listening to alittle ping or writing yourself
a note or a post-it and puttingit up about something that you
want to look into later.
Also very doable, you guys.
Finally, on the unwind sectionof your menu, it's all about
unwinding, right, and we all doit, but the key thing is, do we

(15:07):
do it consciously or do weunwind by default?
This is a really, really greatarea to work on in your practice
.
A starter, a conscious starter,if you're unwinding, might be
journaling, getting yourthoughts out, could even be

(15:29):
singing.
Maybe you're not a singer, butmaybe singing in the shower is
how you like to unwind.
Maybe it's doing a craft or Idon't know, collaging.
It could be anything.
It could be listening to musicthat calms you, or putting on
cozy sweats, having a cup of tea, having a glass of wine
whatever it is, it's importantthat it's conscious.

(15:52):
Those are starters.
A main course might be who knows, taking again, taking a yoga
class and you'll see some ofthese intermingle, right.
Or doing a yoga stretchyourself.
It might be calling your friendand walking around the lake,
talking to her for an hour.

(16:12):
That's what I do.
Whatever it is, guys, it'syours to create.
A dessert might be a funoutdoor activity, right, it
might be going out to look atthe stars.
It might be a stroll afterdinner, unwinding as a snack.

(16:33):
Well, that could be anything,guys.
That could just be a shoulderroll.
It could be a deep breath.
It could literally be smilingand thinking about all that you
accomplished that day.
You might be playing the topthree things game that I love so
much and just thinking aboutgratitude for three things that

(16:56):
you're grateful for from thatday.
So, guys, this is just a quickkind of walkthrough of what my
menu is, and I encourage you tostart playing around with it.
I've got other aspects of howyou can incorporate it into your
life, which I'll talk to youguys about in a future episode.

(17:21):
Please, please, reach out to meand let me know.
Let me know how this resonateswith you and share it with
somebody else, if you thinksomebody would benefit from this
idea of not setting yourself upwith daunting goals and only
setting yourself up with thegoal of choosing something that
you created from your menu, somemore ambitious than others, all

(17:46):
of them completely doable,depending on what you choose and
your context.
I can't wait to hear what youthink about this, guys.
I'm rolling it out and I wantyou to try it, so let me know.
Let me know what yourexperience is.
Hashtag the menu.
Lots of love.
I'm Lisa Hopkins.

(18:07):
Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the
moment.