Ep. 26 Draft Your Goals

I'm Lacey Jones, and this is Elevate the Individual. Episode 26 Draft Your Goals. Welcome. Welcome. We are continuing our start of year conversation about goals today. And if you remember, remember last week I encouraged you to fill out the 2023 preassessment to kind of establish a starting point in several different areas of your life. And one of the purposes of setting goals is to grow and develop our different strengths and overcome weaknesses. Well, as was mentioned last week, we're not really able to measure that growth and development if we don't have a starting point.

So if you haven't already, please, please be sure to take two minutes and fill out the preassessment. It is so super simple. You get to give yourself gold stars and share some of your initial thoughts about where you stand as we kick off 2023. And I just made it even easier to find if you go to Laceyjonescoaching.com, the homepage is now all of the info that you need to get started on your goal work. So for the time being, you go there to the website, you click on that first item, the 2023 assessment, and that takes you right into the form. You give yourself, like I said, gold stars. You add some thoughts, and then that information will all be emailed right to you so that you can reflect on it anytime that you need to.

And once you've done that, you can dig into the next step. And that's step two on the website and you're going to start drafting some goals. So if you take a look at your preassessment, there will most likely be a few areas just kind of calling for your attention. And you might feel like a natural draw to these areas as you consider how you want to develop within them.

And there might also be an immediate kind of repulsion or avoidance in other areas. There might be a little bit of fear there, or shame or embarrassment. And you have every right to focus on whatever area that you want to focus on first. But I just kind of want to plant this little voice in the back of your head real quick, if you don't mind.

I would challenge you to get real curious with those areas that seem the scariest. Start asking yourself why it's scary, why is there shame? Why is there embarrassment? Why is there fear? Why might you be avoiding digging into them? Right? You're going to kind of gain an awareness of what's really going on and how your thoughts might be keeping you stuck. So you might also start hearing little thoughts that include wishes, right? I wish I were better with money. I wish I had a better relationship with my husband. Or I need statements, I need to stop scrolling so much, I need to lose ten pounds, I need to exercise more.

So as we draft our goals for this new year, it'll be so super important to identify areas. Where do you like to improve and what improvements actually look like? Where do you want to go within each area? What is the change that you want? Is it something that you can measure? Is it a calendar date? Is it a certain weight? Is it something that you will do on a regular basis or something that you will stop doing? Is it a decision that needs to be made? Is it taking action a certain percentage of time? So for example, I will drink 90oz of water per day, at least 50% of this week, or something wild and crazy.

Kind of along those lines, right? So in a general sense, the end of a goal is easier to attain if you can measure it in one way or another.

That way you can keep your eye on a very specific endpoint and stare it down as you work towards it. Now, chances are, as you work towards your goal, you'll have days where you're super motivated to do the work and days where you just want to give up or partially kind of, sort of whatever, commit to the necessary work. This is where it becomes super important to know your why behind each goal. Why do you want the change you are seeking? What will you make it mean when you have achieved your goal? If you don't have solid answers, chances are you won't stick with the program and keep progressing.

When life gets tough and quicker, easier hits of dopamine present themselves that take you off course. So for this week, you have a little more homework to do. Super easy and it's kind of fun, right? So the preassessment has you reflect on eight different areas of your life. We've got self worth, physical health, spiritual health, work life, social media and scrolling habits are combined into one.

Then there's money, time management and family relationships. You're going to rate each area and then add quick thoughts about why you chose that rating and how you feel about it. And then this week, as we start drafting your goals, you're going to again reflect on the rating, ponder on how you would like to improve and develop in each area. And you'll come up with one thought you want to believe in regards to each area. And then you're going to think about your life and how it would be different as you hit your goals.

So kind of a lot there, but as you look at the sheets, it'll be nice and clear, very concise. And as with all things in life, the work you put into these goal sheets will determine the work you get out of them. So no one's forcing you to do them. You might choose to write one or two words for each question, or you might choose to write a couple of paragraphs. Everyone's different. But I promise you that as you put in the work, you will see progress and growth.

I have broken goal setting down into steps because we want to make lasting changes and growth. This isn't a quick fix program where you work for two days and life is magically better and you'll never run into any problems in the future. And it's all sunshine and rainbows. This is some of the most important, life changing work that you will do. It will impact you and how you show up for the people around you. I know it because I've done it. So please take the time to reflect and answer the questions from an honest place. As with all of the coaching work that I do, this is a judgment and shame free zone. We don't invite those friends to the party, even though they just really want to come. Maybe next time, but not today. So as you fill out the worksheets, you'll prep yourself for the work that we'll do next week as we determine the mechanics and protocol for how you will achieve your goals.

So grab a snack, drink some water, and then head to Laceyjonescoaching.com. As you kick off the best year of your life, and if you get stuck at all, be sure to schedule a super quick discovery call with me. We can totally work on this together. It's only 25 minutes, it's free, and I can answer any questions that you might have. Easy peasy. So you can schedule that from the website. The calendar will pop up when it comes to payment.

You type in free for the coupon code and you're on your way. And as you're working on the goal sheets, if you think of a friend who might also enjoy the process, please share the info with them. You can share the link to the website, link to the worksheets. You can share this podcast episode, or maybe your favorite podcast episode. Support systems and teams, they tend to help as you seek to make lasting changes. So I fully encourage you to get some friends involved. But have fun and we will see you next week as we dig into protocols.