Happy 2024! Our latest episode is a compass to guide you through the art of goal setting in the new year, anchoring your choices in your deepest values. Join us as we lay out a simple goal formula that acts as a shield against distractions, enabling you to discern when to seize opportunities and when to let them pass.
Whether it's the realm of business, personal development, or health and fitness, we sculpt your ambitions into SMART goals. By adopting the three Ps—Picture, Plan, and Partner—we empower you to chase your goals with a clear vision, a steadfast strategy, and a circle of accountability that spurs you on.
Enjoy.
Happy 2024! Our latest episode is a compass to guide you through the art of goal setting in the new year, anchoring your choices in your deepest values. Join us as we lay out a simple goal formula that acts as a shield against distractions, enabling you to discern when to seize opportunities and when to let them pass.
Whether it's the realm of business, personal development, or health and fitness, we sculpt your ambitions into SMART goals. By adopting the three Ps—Picture, Plan, and Partner—we empower you to chase your goals with a clear vision, a steadfast strategy, and a circle of accountability that spurs you on.
Enjoy.
Well, it is a brand new year, 2024, is upon us, and, as faith-filled entrepreneurs, we want to do everything that we can to help you launch into greater freedom and success, so that you can see God's Kingdom come in a powerful way in your life, in your family, in your business. And so today we want to talk about goals. Okay, I mean that's very clear. We want to just come right out of the gate, talk about goals, and we did a podcast a little over a year ago Goals 101, where we talked about the difference between urgent tasks and vital tasks and how you can make sure that you stay out of the urgent zone and how important goals are. And then we give you our very simple little goal formula that will help you formulate goals and stay on the straight and narrow. And what I love about goals is they guide you and they guard you. They guide you, which means they'll teach you what to say yes to, and they'll guard you, which means they'll teach you what to say no to. And we know, as faith-filled entrepreneurs, if we're going to accomplish what it is that God wants us to accomplish, we have to make sure that we've got a very clear vision, we've got a very clear mission and we wrap goals around those things. And so today we're going to talk about goals and I am going to go ahead and queue up the podcast we did over a year ago on Goals, because it was good enough, where I thought you know what, let's just crank this thing up right now. So here we go, talking about goals.
Speaker 1:Now you've heard us say many times before if you listen to anything that we say that a dream written down is a goal. But a goal broken down becomes a plan. So what we don't want to do is kingdom entrepreneurs and marketplace believers. What we don't want to do is just dream all the time. Now, dreaming is good. It's very important. We talk all about the reticular activating system, which is how to dream well. You'll go back and listen to one of those podcasts, but I'm not going to talk about that today. So we want to dream well, but you can't just sit there and dream. You actually want to write it down and when you do, that actually becomes a goal.
Speaker 1:The problem is, simply writing something down is not going to cut it. You have to break it down so that it becomes a plan. So what Jason and I want to do today is we want to talk all about goals and how you can accomplish and achieve your goals, because what we don't want to do is maintain, and we know that in Luke, chapter 19,. The master, when he came back to all the servants, that he gave talents to those that multiplied were faithful. Those that maintained were wicked. And we don't want to be wicked. Well, at least because of Christ, we don't have to be. But I got to keep on, jason. We don't want to maintain, we want to multiply. So now, what we want to talk about right now is we want to talk about goals.
Speaker 1:So a dream written down as a goal, a goal broken down as a plan, yes, and I think the foundation for this, though, when it comes to establishing goals, is you have to establish the difference between what's vital and what's urgent. Are you going to go there? No, no, I was going to go to smart. You were. We'll go to smart, but we'll do smart in a minute. You go ahead and do that. Yeah, you got to go urgent versus vital, because if the if you don't make a distinction between those two things, then your goals are going to lead you to the wrong direction. They're going to lead you to the, they're going to lead you in the wrong direction, to the wrong actual goal. All right, explain it, okay. So it's one of the things that's helped me more than anything.
Speaker 1:But, like a, something that is urgent is tied to a daily task, right. Something that is vital is tied to keeping life, is tied to building and growing life, okay. So, for example, I have an urgent task right now. You and I have a goal to get a couple podcasts done today. Got it Right? Okay, that's a goal that's urgent. It's tied to a task. It's urgent because it's time bound and I've got to do it. Now. What's vital is that my bladder gets emptied on a regular basis. I have to go bladder. Go something else? Okay, let's do pancreas that my pancreas keeps working, or my kidneys work, okay. Okay, if I'm so focused on what's urgent, neglecting what's vital, then one day I won't be able to do the urgent things because what's vital has now killed me. You know it's like. That's why margin is so incredibly important. So let me go back to my example, and so I'm gonna use the bladder. I can sit here, we can do podcast after podcast after podcast after podcast, but if we don't stop for a bathroom break, it's gonna end bad. Yeah, to handle what's vital. You know what I'm saying. So you have to first recognize that we want to focus on what's vital over what's urgent. Now here's the key Relationships are the most vital thing that we have.
Speaker 1:You know, obviously we've got our own physical health, but we have relationships. That's the most vital thing we have. But relationships are never urgent. So you have to prioritize relationships and prioritize your life around relationships and your day and your tasks around relationships, so that you make sure that the tyranny of the urgent doesn't stomp on what's vital. Well, that's one of the reasons why you and I do all these marriage mentorships is because that's so vital, and what we've found is that many entrepreneurs and business leaders, they get to the top of the financial mountain only to have neglected the vitality of their relationships or even, quite often, the vitality of their health.
Speaker 1:Yes, so, on a daily, consistent, diligent, slow and steady basis, you wanna prioritize what is vital time with the Lord, time in the gym, time with those that you love, intentional relationship building with your spouse or your children or your extended family, or some of the other relationships that God has placed in your life that bring you life and that you can also bring life to as well. Those are never urgent, ever so. And I like to say, whenever you look at vital versus urgent and you understand that, just having an understanding that there's a difference between the two, then we can move into another phase of this and then we're gonna jump into the SMART system S-M-A-R-T Although there is a smarter but that's a whole different topic but establishing long-term and short-term goals when you focus on what's vital, that moves you toward your long-term goals. When you focus on what's urgent, that moves you towards your short-term goals. So both are very important. It is important that you have short-term goals and long-term goals.
Speaker 1:The long-term goal would be I want to. You know, mine is. I want to celebrate my 65th wedding anniversary with Tori filled with vitality, physically surrounded by my kids, grandkids, great-grandkids. Maybe, I don't know, great-grandkids. You will not have great-grandkids at 65, you, doorknob, I wouldn't be 65. I said 65th wedding anniversary? Oh, I thought you said it 65. That puts me at 90. And I'd rather be heaven.
Speaker 1:But listen, I'm telling you what I pray and this is my long-term goal God. Let me celebrate my 65th wedding anniversary with Tori surrounded by my kids, grandkids, great-grandkids I don't know, maybe some great-great-grandkids, nieces and nephews and may I never bury one of them and may we all have physical, emotional and relational health, and I pray that every single day. But that's a long-term goal. So now I have to focus on the relationships with my wife, with my kids, with my grandkids, my nieces and nephews. See what I'm saying. So that's a long-term goal, okay.
Speaker 1:So focusing on what's vital moves you towards your long-term goals. But then your short-term goals are the things that then give you your day-to-day activities. My short-term goal of okay, so I need to lose an inch and a half or two inches around my waist, which means I gotta go to the gym every single day. Well, that's a short-term goal. I think you just need to put the spoon down with the ice cream. No, let's-, ice cream's not my thing. Abs are made in the kitchen. They are not built in the gym. I know this, yeah, I do. I do know this. But what I'm saying is, if I then pile up so many short-term goals, it's like, okay, now I wanna write a book, you know. Or now I want to close 10 deals in the next quarter, or I want to. Whatever your goal is, if you pile up too many of these short-term goals, then that's when the tyranny of the urgent comes in. So you gotta make sure that you're always prioritizing what's vital, which is your long-term, over what's urgent, which is your short-term. Both have importance, but your short-term, your urgent task, have to come up underneath the vital, long-term. Okay.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about actually achieving those. How do you write them down? What is a goal? So you've heard the acronym SMART before S-M-A-R-T. This is not original to us. We have spoken about this many times before. So you may say well, I've heard this in a podcast, well, you know what, it's great, let's hear it again. I would say your mom has heard it. Yeah, okay, uh-huh, that's junior high. So SMART, it starts with S.
Speaker 1:Your goals need to be simple. Now that's you know, as we think that through the simplicity of goals, it goes back to the old African proverb how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, baby. That is so simple, you know, and very simple goals will actually allow you to release dopamine. That, like.
Speaker 1:Think about it this way At the end of six days of creation, at the end of each day, did God achieve his ultimate goal, mill? No Other than this, he achieved his short-term goal. Yeah Right, he created the stars, he created the light and he separated the light from the dark right. And then he stops and says it's bueno, it is good, all right, stop. That is a simple, short-term goal that he stopped, looked at it and said good, that releases dopamine for us.
Speaker 1:Did you know that dopamine is a feel-good chemical that literally heals your body? Yes, and dopamine is released. It's the pleasure hormone. It's released all sorts of times, but one of the best ways that it's ever released is in the pursuit and the accomplishment of a goal. That's right.
Speaker 1:So that's why these young kids, now these young dudes who are playing video games all the time there are girls out there who can't find a guy because the guy is too tied to a video game. And he's tied to a video game it's not because he's constantly playing it, it's that when he is playing it it releases so much dopamine in his body. Well, it's not just the hooking, it's the fact that he doesn't care to pursue anything else. He may only play video games one hour a day, but that gives him the dopamine hit that he needs. So whenever he's in college having just played the video game and now he's sitting in the lunch room. Well, he don't care about sharking, he ain't got no game.
Speaker 1:Listen, I tell my boys sorry, my voice is raising, I'm getting hot. I tell my boys there ain't a woman alive that's out there that can't wait to get married to a gamer. Just cut that nonsense out, unless it's making you a bunch of money, and you could do it that way. So here we are simple, simple goals, and so God even shows us that he breaks it down Like the whole goal was creation, like everything, and man and woman in the garden, the whole nine yards. But he stops and he just breaks it down simply, jason and I have consulted a ton of people in real estate and there are people that come to us and they say I want $5,000 a month or $10,000 a month and passive income off of real estate.
Speaker 1:Okay, great, let's start. Let's get your first one done at $500 a month, and when we get that, let's look at it and say it's good, set yourself a little reward like get that going. And then all we got to do is just pile those short term simple goals one on top of the other to reach the ultimate goal. That's why we say the ultimate goal, in my opinion. I've always said it's a dream, right, but a dream written down becomes a goal, a goal broken down becomes a plan.
Speaker 1:You want to be number one, simple. You want your goals to be simple and one of the best ways to keep them simple is just to categorize them. That's all Like simple, like personal, business, spiritual fitness. Yeah, you can put family however you want to do it, or you can do all the F's that we've seen a million times Family, fitness, finances, friendships and fun Faith, oh, okay. Yeah, I missed that. Whoops might want to read your Bible, sorry, god. Okay.
Speaker 1:So the next acronym is M in the smart acronym is measurable. Yeah, it's got to be measurable. A goal cannot just be lose weight. That's not a goal, that's not measurable. Lose weight is not measurable. It has to be lose 10 pounds and I don't want to finish because that's also time bound but lose 10 pounds by X. Yeah, are you going to break that down Like if it says lose 10 pounds by X or lose 10 pounds by? You know, in 30 days that would be a ton. That's probably too much. You might be going nuts.
Speaker 1:Let's say, lose 10 pounds by February 28th If it starts January 1. Yeah, run a 5K by February 28. Okay, so now you've got lose 10 pounds by February 28. Run a 5K by February 28. It is now time bound. Now, then, you have to break that down. The 10 pounds needs to be broken down into meal prep. 5 meals every Sunday afternoon or for the health, would be work out three days a week for 30 minutes a day. Right now, you're actually breaking that goal down into much smaller things.
Speaker 1:What you're creating is a process. So you've heard the phrase trust the process. Well, a lot of people don't accomplish their goals because they don't write out a process. So write down the goal, like what David said. You know I wanna lose 10 pounds by February 15th. Okay, well, what's your process for how you're gonna do that? Well, I'm going to not eat after six, I'm going to meal prep every Sunday and I'm going to hit four workouts a week, you know? Okay, well, then do that. So you have to create the process, and only when you create the process, and then you stay on the process, can you trust the process. That's exactly right. So that's measurable. So it's simple, measurable.
Speaker 1:The next one is A is attainable. That's the thing is, you can't just say I'm gonna run the Boston marathon this year, it's like, okay, that's great, that is, you actually can make it attainable. But if you don't break it down into small steps it's not attainable. You have to create your process. Here's one you're 47, me and Jason. We're 47 years old, we are divorced and we live in a van down by the river. You know that is a lie. Jason was quoting Chris Farley. That is Saturday Night Live. For those of you that have never seen that, it was Chris Farley acting as Matt Foley, the motivational speaker. So it's got to be attainable.
Speaker 1:And so your goals sometimes can be so lofty that they're not attainable and you can't. You don't actually get the satisfaction of achieving the small pieces of that goal because it's just unattainable. And I said, jason and I are 47. If I were to say I am going to dunk a basketball with two hands again Now, I used to could do that. But now if I say I'm gonna do that by 48. That is not an attainable goal, unless I want to give up my Achilles tendon at this point, both Achilles, or even just some other ridiculous. You know I want to be a millionaire by. You know I'm 24, I want to be a millionaire by 25. Okay, well, that's great. Look, I'm not here to you know, throw shade on your dreams, but make it attainable. Maybe you could be a millionaire at some point, but make it attainable for this year. Like, what can you attain? That's why one of the most important things is that when, if you don't know exactly what's attainable for you, just write down the goal anyway and then you have to refine halfway through. So if it's like I want to lose 40 pounds in 60 days and you get to 30 days and you're 14 pounds in and it is literally like you're running uphill the whole time, we'll refine that, drop it back to 28 pounds in 60 days and embrace the process. That's the beauty.
Speaker 1:I had a guy I was consulting last month and he's got a very large company. It's been awesome. And I said, okay, well, let's talk about your health. And as we're talking about his health, he says, okay, I'm gonna wake up. And now this is a younger man, married, with three very small kids at home. He is not divorced, he's not living in a van down by the river. Okay, stop interrupting. He goes.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna wake up at 515 every single day. I'm gonna be in the gym for 45 minutes and then I'm gonna come home and then he starts running through this whole thing and then he says and I'm not gonna eat after six, I'm gonna cut my calories down to 2000 calories. And I'm like, oh my gosh, you are going to kill yourself, bro, stop. First of all, you're only gonna work out three days a week. You're not going in at 515. Spend that time from 515 to six, in the word, and then some you know some coffee time with the Lord, that way it doesn't kill you. Then you can go into the gym. Let's scale back your exercising. We're not gonna go down to 2000 calories, let's go to 2800, right. So it's just, you wanna make things attainable so that you can actually enjoy life, and at the same time you're moving forward little by little At the end of the day.
Speaker 1:In scripture it's called the Christian walk, the walk of faith. It does not say the sprint, does not say the run, it doesn't say the journey, it says the walk. And walking means, yeah, your heart rates up a little, but you're just slow and steady, one foot in front of the other. And since it's Christmas time, I always sing that song from the claymation. Remember, I forgot what it's called route, not route off, the red nose reindeer, but the other one, santa Claus, coming to town where they, the claymation characters, says you put one foot in front of the other. Remember that. Yeah, soon You'll be headed out the door. Okay, sorry, that was horrible, but just put one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 1:So it's simple. It's measurable, it's attainable, or attainable is also achievable, yeah, achievable. But then also realistic, yeah, and that that is important. It's. It's realistic, relevant. There's a, there's a lot of ours. R stands for realistic or relevant. Yeah basically means it's got to make sense within you, the life that you're living.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my son Is a. He's a manager at Lipscomb. Jason's boy is a shooting guard at Lipscomb, starting shooting guard number three, trey been. I'll go to ESPN plus and watch lips complete. It's pretty awesome. But my son Ty this is a David's boy is a manager for the team now.
Speaker 1:He, unfortunately, likes LeBron James. I have tried my best, I've prayed, I've tried to fast this out of him, but he likes LeBron Jay. He does not like his political views or even his crybabiness, but he really loves him as an athlete. And so the thing is is that I've Consistently told my boy. I mean I say consistently, just whenever it ever comes up, I say don't ever look at LeBron James as something you want to be or act like, not just you know, not just in terms of you know a lot of his nonsense that he goes out and crybabies about all kinds of stuff, but he's a crybaby but. But the one thing that I say is a lot of these young boys will look at these NBA players as if they want to be them and Look, these guys were literally born like LeBron James. Yeah, he's put some work in, but that dude was just born. He was born as big as he is. He was born, you know, I say as big as he is. He obviously wasn't born as big as he is currently, but he was born and God just supernaturally gifted this man.
Speaker 1:Don't try to compare yourself to some other person, whether it's in business or whether it's some health challenge or whether it's Some skill set you want to develop. Make it realistic for who God made you to be. Yeah, that is so important. So realistic or relevant is Relevant to the, your talents and abilities. Realistic for who God made you to be, without comparing to other people. And the last is T Time-bound. Now we did hit that when it came to measurable. Measurable is all about Making sure that you are constantly checking in and measuring T. Time-bound means don't have. I want to become a better husband this year. No, it's. I'm gonna go on a date night once a week, which that needs to be a goal. Tori and I talk about.
Speaker 1:You need two things when it comes to to your relationship. Actually, you need a lot of things, but when it comes to spending time together, you need a daily digest, daily debrief, whatever you want to call it, where it's no less than 10 to 15 minutes it should be a lot longer than that, honestly but that daily debrief where you can talk about stuff you know, turn off, turn off the TV and actually look at each other. You're talking away, for heaven's sake. That's what bothers me. Look and I'm saying I'm speaking to myself as well my son, literally last night we were doing his homework and my phone I saw a notification pop up and it was from a guy I've been negotiating a deal with and I picked it up and I knew instinctively I should probably not do that. But then I went ahead and read it real fast and started to respond. And my son, my youngest one of five Said you're an idiot. No, he goes, he goes, dad. For the last few weeks, whenever you and I are talking, you picked that phone up a lot. He like called me out yes, what you get. So it's my fault, I'm, I gotta, I gotta make that.
Speaker 1:So let me go back to anyway, with the marriage thing, it's yeah, it's, it's the daily, it's the daily digest, the daily debrief. You also want the weekly date night and then you need an annual overnight. Like, just just keep that rhythm, make that a goal for 2023, that you're gonna do that with your spouse. But that's what time bound is, is it's it's making sure that you have something that you will accomplish by a certain date. Yes, okay, so you can say if you want a date night every week, you can say I want 12 date nights by what's the end of it, march 31st, we will have gone on 12 date nights and count it right. Tori and I are gonna be releasing a Marriage challenge in February. It's only five days. That's gonna be a goal of yours and you're gonna like it. So it's really good.
Speaker 1:I actually I was the beta guy and Lori, lori loved it. I loved it too. David's always been beta, I've always been alpha Okay. So we've got smart goals simple, measurable, attainable or achievable, realistic and time-bound. And lastly, I do want to say this Do not do goals without a partner.
Speaker 1:Hmm, you've got to bring people into it. So, in every facet of your life, if you've got them categorized out, you need to make sure that you've got partners. So if it's a physical goal and you want to lose weight, get somebody else that wants to lose weight too, okay. If it's a mental goal and you want to actually read a book a month or whatever, find somebody else that'll do that with you. That's right, don't do it alone.
Speaker 1:So, jason and I have the three Ps if you want to accomplish these goals it's the picture, the plan and the partner. Yeah, you got to have a picture of what you want to accomplish, and that could be across any number of things. It could be your fitness, it could be your faith, it could be your finances, friendships, whatever that may be family I got all the F's in there fun, fudge sickles, yeah. But you want to have a picture of what you want to accomplish. Then you want to break it down into a plan. Remember a dream written down as a goal, goal broken down as a plan.
Speaker 1:And if you're gonna break it down into a plan, it needs to Be simple, measurable, attainable or achievable, realistic and time-bound. And then you want a partner. Could be your spouse, could be your kids, could be Some buddies or friends at work, could be anybody. You just want to make sure you have a partner. That. And that partner Needs to be disciplined and diligent. Yes, if that partner is not disciplined and diligent, you will find yourself dragging them along like an anchor, and you do not want that. You want if two disciplined people, or three disciplined people, and three diligent people or two diligent people get together, a Lot can be accomplished. Yeah, that's what you want to be. And the last thing that you have to do once you've got all this listed out, you got it categorized, you got the smart goals, you got all that stuff, you got a partner and all that the last thing you need to do is pray consistently over these things.
Speaker 1:I used to claim Proverb 16 3 when I was in college. I had three goals graduate with a 3.5 GPA, get drafted, meet my wife. And then I claim Proverb 16 3 commit your plans to the Lord, commit everything you do to Lord, your way to the Lord and and your plans will succeed. That's right and I would pray that and claim it. So, thanks for hanging out with us. Hold on, we got to do own it or loan it. Own it or loan it.
Speaker 1:Macros, macros yeah, you talk about measuring your macros. Measuring your macros, I mean you have to own it. I don't do it just because I. I just don't like that. I just like eating paleo and stopping when I'm full. If I do that.
Speaker 1:Paleo. Paleo is, you can only five things Lean protein, fruits, veggies, seeds and nuts. Well, where's the ice cream? That's on the cheat day. That's so. It's, listen, 80% paleo, 20% paleo. But what if your 20% paleo is such an extreme that you actually start gaining? Well, then you do the weekend warrior thing, because that's what it sounds like the weekend warrior is is the thing where you can Crush it and eat, perfect during the week, and then, friday night to Sunday afternoon, you become a different person. I don't think that. And then, by my no, it is by Tuesday. If you're really doing well, you'll be back to your way. It's not about weight, it's about gallbladder. No, I agree that function. It's about insulin resistance and I'll talk.
Speaker 1:Well, that, make it honey and grass-fed butter and all that kind of stuff. Don't do. I mean, I would never tell somebody to put cornstarch in their mouth, corn syrup and like stuff that Marshmallows are made out, that's what, yeah, that's what kids eat. So don't do that. But shouldn't even be in that stuff. But dark chocolate, come on, make it good like dark chocolate, you know, with Sun butter. Yeah, there's some good stuff. You can get it. Earth fare yeah, whole foods, trader Joe's, do it. Okay, well, I own the macros, my fitness pal. Well, I don't get an affiliate for my fitness pal, but I'm still kind of plugging them or chronometer, and Plugging in your macros and kind of sticking to it. At least do it for like 60 to 90 days and then you kind of get a feel and and your body begins to regulate itself. It feels great, I like that, yeah, okay. Okay, well, you got it.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, go out, subscribe, rate and review. Share this with anybody that you can try. If You've got anyone in your sphere of influence that's slightly younger than you, please share this podcast with them as a discipleship tool and then encourage them to maybe, even if they're in your sphere of influence. Maybe come alongside them and help them out. And lastly, if you haven't joined owner suite expert ownership, owner suite you need to go to expert ownership. Calm, you will absolutely love what we got going on there, but it's very fun. You want to join owner suite? All right. God bless you, guys. Peace.