Join us as we finish the third and final step of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method, where we are optimizing and making it happen!
You may have heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals, but today, we are discussing R.E.A.D.Y. goals.
R.E.A.D.Y. goals are designed to work for you while encouraging you to achieve all you've wanted, at the right time and in the right ways.
Let's get right into todays' Truths & Promises and finish out our 2022 goal planning.
Visit our Podcast page to listen online, Google Podcast Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Show Notes:
Bloom Where You're Planted: Finding Your Purpose - To read more, click here.
Proverbs 16:3 - "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
Proverbs 19:21 - "Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails."
Get Caught Up with Episode 8: Rest Stop
F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method Part 3 - Transcription
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Hey, y'all, and welcome to the third installment of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method. If you caught the first two installments, this is the third and final. If you didn't catch the first two installments, go ahead, press pause on this, and roll back a couple of weeks to listen to the first two. The first episode is focused on blooming where you're planted. It's about clarifying your purpose in order to really embrace that vision board party. Because I mean, what's the purpose of a vision if you don't know where you're even going in the first place, AKA, you don't know your purpose. So in that episode, we talk about who you are, who's at the core of who you are, and who's at the core of what you do. And how does that lead you to your purpose and your vision? Then we start into the first step of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method, which is the Free, Write, and Visualize part. This is where you brain up all of your visions, dreams, ideas, wants, and greatest desires onto paper. Get it out of your head and onto the paper. You spend some time sorting through them, subbing and stacking them, organizing them in different ways, and then in the second episode, or the second installment of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method, it's focused on reflection and evaluation. So you start to reflect on where you've been. That episode was released just before the New Year. Then you start to evaluate where you are, embrace who you are, how you want to feel in the New Year, what you want to experience in the New Year, and then finally, you decide what kind of year you will have. So you name it so that you can claim it. Okay, somebody? And then the last part of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method, which we are talking about today, is all about optimizing your goals, and then the "M" in the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. is making it happen. So I'm going to skip over the "O" for a second and just go straight to the "M" because this is very simple and easy to explain.
The seventh step in the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method is to make it happen. That simply means to be accountable. Set up for yourself an accountability group. Now you can do this in a multitude of ways. It can be you and another friend, you and a spouse, it could be you and a group of friends, or you can come on over to Own Your Journey, which is the 1140 insider group that we're doing right there. There are folks that have set their goals. We're talking about accountability; we're holding each other accountable to achieving these goals that we're setting. Also, a pro tip for you all, this episode is being released on January 14th, but inside the group, they've had this information since January 1st. So, if you want the goods before the public gets the goods, then come on over to Own Your Journey and join that group. The seventh step, again, and in the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method. That "M" in F.R.E.E.D.O.M. is make it happen. And that simply means to be accountable. Now, the sixth step, which makes making it happen possible, is simply by optimizing your goals. Optimizing your goals is all about setting R.E.A.D.Y. Goals. In the past, I've set a lot of S.M.A.R.T. Goals, and we'll talk about, sort of, what the difference is between S.M.A.R.T. and R.E.A.D.Y. Goals. But before we do that, I want you all to go back to week one. That's your Free, Write, and Visual part of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method. Are your goals still the same?
I want you to start broad and get more specific about the goals that you're setting, whether you're setting them for the year, the quarter, the month, two weeks; however, you might be setting your goals. I want you to start to really drill down and get more specific about those goals. I want you, throughout this process, to also remember to set goals that focus on who you want to be as opposed to what you want to do. So, for example, instead of setting a goal of losing 20 pounds, say, let's instead set goals to be healthier by eating veggies and exercising daily. So it's more about who you are that you're trying to accomplish and see, come alive as opposed to what you do. So typically, when we talk about setting goals, I think since I was about, I don't know, somewhere in elementary school, maybe about 15 years ago, I started setting goals, and these were S.M.A.R.T. Goals. That's what I was taught. To set S.M.A.R.T. Goals. These are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based or time-specific goals. S.M.A.R.T. Goals seemed like a really great idea in practice, but the S.M.A.R.T. Goals have the tendency to make you feel trapped in a world of "should." And when I don't accomplish what I thought I should have accomplished, then I start to feel like a failure.
I wonder, how many of you also identify with that feeling around S.M.A.R.T. Goals? I mean, I feel like I see it happen every year that folks set new year's resolutions, that this is going to, I'm going to go to the gym for the rest of the year. They go for the first two or three weeks, and then that's it. So S.M.A.R.T. Goals are great. I think in certain circumstances. But I now use R.E.A.D.Y. criteria for setting goals. So R.E.A.D.Y. Goals are realistic, empowering, aligned, demonstrative, and yielding. Okay. A realistic goal is one that is actionable and achievable. It's a goal that, you know, can be done, unlike becoming a princess or for most of us, unless nowadays we're celebrities, going to the moon. An empowering goal inspires you to go after it every single day. Okay. And empowering goal excites you. It doesn't feel like a job or a chore, even if it is, if you have a task that feels really mundane or boring; when you connect it to an empowering goal, even that boring task can excite you.
The next piece of the R.E.A.D.Y. Goals are aligned goals. So an aligned goal is one that is in line with who you are and who you want to be. It's yours. It belongs to you. It's not created by others. You have to be able to own your goals. Okay? Just like we talk about owning your journey, you have to be able to own your goals. And how can you own one that is not aligned with who you are? It's like trying to get into a club with a fake I.D. Own who you are and own your goals. And again, if you're sort of questioning who you are, go back to the first episode and do that work on blooming where you're planted, or maybe even go back to the second episode or installment of the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method where we talk about embracing you. Embracing who you want to be and how you want to feel. That will help you align your goals with who you are. And then, the fourth piece of this is a demonstrative goal. This type of goal is one that has measurable outcomes, and it's quantifiable. Okay. Success of this type of goal can be demonstrated in one way or another. This way, you will know when the goal has been achieved. Again, even when I say it's measurable, don't think "I read 15 books this year." Just think "I read 10 minutes a day this year" or I made sure that I got three hours of reading in this year. And then, finally, the last piece of this is a yielding goal. That means this goal is flexible. We change over time within a year, and even within a month; if you listen to some of the past installments, then you know, some of the goals that I threw out of the window a year ago, I am now doing life. I'm doing a podcast. That was one of the goals that I said. Yep. Nope. Not a goal for me. It doesn't align with who I am. Another one of the goals that I had last year was to be a productivity coach and expert. I decided I didn't want to do that anymore, but I still have those skills. So I share them through productivity installments, like this one through the podcast and Own Your Journey.
But, it is not something that I'm doing or someone that I'm necessarily being this year. So my goals had to be flexible. I change over time, within the year, even within the month, and so my goals also need to be able to shift and change alongside me. I need to be comfortable letting a goal go. Okay.
One of my goals is to become a homeowner. It's to become savvy about homeownership, and so that doesn't necessarily mean I need to purchase a home this year or next year. That just means I need to understand the process. So that's how I've defined it, and because it's a yielding goal, if I find the right deal, then I will purchase, and I will physically become a homeowner.
But my goal is not to have a house; it's to understand the process of getting a house. Right. So really, just having those goals that are flexible. You can turn it on and off, depending on how your interests shift and change over time. When we know better, we can do better and hope for better. Okay. S.M.A.R.T. Goals are rigid, and that might work for some goals that we have, and that might work for some people, but for me, my R.E.A.D.Y. Goals are the best goals there are.
Okay. And R.E.A.D.Y. Goals aren't just the only piece of optimizing. Okay. When I was thinking about goal-setting, I started thinking about how you get ready, aim, fire, or you have ready, set, go. And then I started thinking, well, sometimes when we approach our goals, we mean sort of two different steps in the middle we need ready, right. So our R.E.A.D.Y. Goals are set. This clarifies the priorities that we have. And then we need set. This gives us time to align our time with our goals. Okay. How you invest your time yearly, monthly, weekly, daily. Says a lot about how you value your time, your energy, and ultimately. Yourself. So what's the point of setting goals if you don't make the time to achieve them monthly.
So when we go back to the "M" in the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method, a part of that is making sure, of course, it means making it happen, which means making sure that those goals we have aligned with the time that we have. Right. So putting those goals, introducing those goals to our calendars, to our planners, to make sure that they happen. And then the next pieces of that ready, set, aim, fire - are to aim, to try it out, to test it out, to see what might work. Sometimes when you aim, you know, you start to point towards the target, you realize you're too high, so you have to bring it down, realize you're too low. So you've got to move it up.
I went to a gun range recently and realized if I squint at one, I looked like I was pointing right at the target. If I squinted the other, it looks like I was way off the target. So it takes time to aim. Right? I think sometimes we get ready. We set things onto our calendar, and we say, all right, it's the new year.
Let's go, go, go, go, go. Fire. But we haven't really taken time to aim. And when you take time to aim, that gives you a greater chance of actually hitting your target.
So, I feel like I could dive more into this, right. And I probably will within the Own Your Journey group if folks are interested, but there are different productivity types. There are different ways that you can do quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily planning. So if folks say they're interested. I'm happy to dive deeper, but I do want to keep this podcast installment short, so I will leave it at saying set your R.E.A.D.Y. Goals. Okay, then set those R.E.A.D.Y. Goals onto your calendar, and then take the time to aim. Really find out how you should move, where you should move, and some of that aiming really comes with prayer. Let's just be real. It's like, God, should I go in this direction? I know this is the goal. This is the endpoint, but how do I get there? So you want to take the time to test it out, see what might work, feel out the waters a little bit. A lot of that is going to come through prayer.
There was a scripture that I wrote down that I really love. In Providers 16 and 3, it says, "Commit your ways to the Lord, whatever you're doing, committed to the Lord, and he will establish your plans." So we can make plans all day long. The scripture says many are the plans of a man's heart, but only God's purpose prevails.
What does that mean? One, you need to build from heaven down and not from the ground up because at the end of the day, God is going to have His way. So you want to make sure you're aligned with His way. And then that also means that we need to learn to do just, sort of commit those desires to the Lord, commit what we're doing to God and say, God, have your way order my steps, establish my steps, direct my path so that I know which way to aim. Get my aim right, God. Right. So as I gave my example of wanting to learn more about the home-owning process and being a homeowner, this means that I have this goal in mind. I've got a calendar that I know my lease renews here. I will have the money that I need saved here, and I can do X, Y, or Z with my credit score here and here.
Right. All of those things are laid out. So what should I do, fire, fire, fire? No, I'm going to take a moment to aim and say, God, order my steps, show me the neighborhood I should purchase in. Give me a vision of what that house should look like. You know, I want the details. I want the goods. I want to know how I should be going about this.
So, in this new year. I want you all to think. R.E.A.D.Y., set, aim, fire. Okay. Don't R.E.A.D.Y. and fire. Don't just walk into the new year, fire, fire, fire. I want you to R.E.A.D.Y., set those goals, make it very clear about who you want to be. I want you to set them on your calendar so that you know when you're achieving them, how you're doing it, and then I want you to aim.
Remember, those goals should be yielding goals. That's the "Y" in R.E.A.D.Y. Which means that as you aim and God directs your path, perhaps some of those goals change in one way or another. Perhaps the date you set them on is not the date that it's going to happen. I found out, you know, I wanted to purchase a home sooner rather than later. I found out the market might be better a little bit later.
So what are we going to do? We're going to wait and let God order our steps. And then when that time comes after you've already said it, you've gotten your aim right, then it's time to fire. Which is execute, execute, execute. And when you want to make these goals happen, when you want to make freedom happen in your life, remember you can't do it on your own.
I don't know where people get this idea of moving in silence. But moving in silence will have you walking around in the wilderness all by yourself. Remember, it was an entire nation that moved through the wilderness. They needed one another in so many different ways that they couldn't even imagine. But God has created us to do life in community.
If he wanted us to move in silence and do things on our own, he would've put Adam in that garden by himself and left them there, and none of us would exist. But that's not what He did. So I'm not telling you to tell the whole world what you're doing. You don't need to post everything on social media, but I am saying connect with people and pray to God, ask him for those divine connections.
Most of the experiences that I've had in my life have been because of divine connections and networking. So don't move in silence. Okay. Don't move alone. The scripture also says that the enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to pounce on. Okay. Someone. Don't be caught out there being that someone by yourself; you need to be in community to see these things come to life.
So I pray that the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method has been a blessing for each and every one of you. I'm so excited to have been able to share this. There is so much more that I feel like I'm able to share about R.E.A.D.Y. Goals and the R.E.A.D.Y., set, aim, fire framework that God has given me, but like I said, I wanted to keep this short.
Also, if you want those goods, you know where to find me. I don't mind doing this in a group setting. I am no longer taking private productivity clients, but I'm happy to share this information because I think it's key to even the 1140 journey. I mean, Complacency, murmuring complaining. All of that happens when the vision is not clear, right.
We know in Habakkuk it says, write the vision and make it plain. And this is a part of writing the vision and making it plain. Again, the F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Method started with just brain dumping it all onto paper, and then we took the time to weave through all those ideas and dreams we had. And then we took the time to organize them. And now we're optimizing those goals, and we're going to make them happen in the time that they're meant to happen. According to them, aim part of the R.E.A.D.Y. set, aim, fire framework. So I'm happy to talk more about that. I'm sure I've said that like 20 times now. Anyway. Y'all know. I love ya.
Happy New Year. Again, this is a great month. And I'm looking forward to continuing to connect.
As always, I'm so happy that y'all can take a listen to today's episode of the Truths and Promises podcast. If you want to connect with me or 1140 Glory, go on over to eleven40glory.com. There you can find show notes under our blog section, sign up for email lists or join our online community.
If this has blessed you, or if you have topics that you want covered. Let us know in the comments of the blog. And lastly, if you got anything, something, no matter how big or how small, from today's episode, then be sure to share it with one of your friends and one of your family members.
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