[buzzsprout episode=’1948178′ player=’true’]
Hello everyone, Welcome back to Hear and Now Podcast, my name’s Sophia, and in this week’s episode we are talking about goal setting and some productivity tips.
Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode, make sure you like our Facebook page at Hear and Now Podcast, follow me on instagram at @sophialebano and subscribe to us on iTunes and Spotify! As always, the link to the transcript of this episode will be in the show notes, or at sophialebano.com/podcast
Before we get started, I want to highlight Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout is a podcast hosting site that makes podcasting a breeze. Buzzsprout has over a hundred thousand podcasters using their platform, and they help you get your podcast into every major site. With a paid plan on Buzzsprout you can get a $20 amazon gift card. Link to check out buzzsprout.com is in the show notes. Thank you to Buzzsprout for being so amazing and convenient and making podcasting fun and easy. So go to buzzsprout.com to learn more.
Make sure you check out my blog, where I post my thoughts, recipes, favorite products, transcripts to my podcast episodes and so much more! Visit sophialebano.com.
This week’s prayer intention is for all those suffering. Suffering has been a word that has come up this week a lot. People suffer from lots of things. It doesn’t have to just be physical. It can be emotional suffering, momentary suffering, etc. So this week, I’m praying for you. I pray that you find some comfort in the midst of suffering.
And for the encouragement of the week – here is a bible verse from Psalms 34:17-20. “17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; 20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.” Whoo! Love it.
Alright, let’s just jump right into the episode.
I have to admit something before we get started. It might only be the last week of october/beginning of november, depending on when you listen to this, but I am just in a festive mood. Once Halloween is over (in a couple days) I can’t wait to put on some Christmas jams. Don’t hate me for that one, but it just makes me so happy and puts me in the best mood from November to December. I put my entire music library on shuffle and Mariah Carey’s Christmas Anthem – All I want for Christmas is you came on. And I didn’t turn it off. My mood instantly boosted and I was so happy. I just wanted to throw that in there because you need to be prepared for the next few weeks I will be bubbly and talk a lot about the holidays. oops. But in all seriousness, it got me thinking. What if everything we do could make us as happy as Christmas makes me? If you go back a few episodes, I talked about speaking life. So if you want to hear me talk about that, you can go back and listen to that one.
One of the things that brings me a lot of joy is writing. Now whether I write and you read, or I write and you listen to the podcast, I am so fulfilled doing that. If you remember two episodes back I joined an online writing community known as hope*writers. I’ve found a lot of joy in sharing my thoughts with the world and gaining friendships! Without getting too much into detail, I decided to start our own sector of the group called a hope*circle, because when you have 2000 people in a group it can get kind of chaotic. I started one for young hope*writers, so we can all stick together and share our message. As the leader of the group, I prompted my fellow writers to join in the thread of the day. Today’s thread was goal setting. I sat at my kitchen table waiting for the words to flow to my fingers. I already knew I wanted to talk about goal setting, but why make it generic? Instead of “what are your goals?” I decided to make it fun.
So I came with a formula for goal setting. Laugh at me all you want, its probably pretty stupid, but I thought oooh this could be a whole podcast episode too. But anyway here’s what I came up with. I love to set goals, whether short term or long term. it gives you clear perspective of what your heart and mind want to do! as writers, we all have goals. It’s the 5x6x7 plan. there are 5 main groups you can goal set in – faith, family/friends, fitness, field, and finance. so set a goal in each group. This is called the Oola balance. the second number, 6, represents the number of months. what is your 6 month goal? 2020 is just around the corner – a new decade, a new year! in just 6 months, where do you aspire to be? and finally, 7. Why 7? 7 is known as the perfect number in the Bible. Jacob waited 7 years to marry Rachel, but was tricked into marrying Leah. He worked for another 7 years before marrying his true love. Good things come to those who work and wait. So what is your 7 year goal? So what are your 5x6x7 goals? I’ll tell you mine.
5: Faith: to grow closer to God and really know him as my best friend
Family/friends: to develop lasting, impactful relationships with other Christ-like people
Fitness: to feel good about myself and my body, and to see myself like God does – beautiful. Field: to publish my novel and work on pursuing writing/filming a documentary
Finance: to be able to self-sustain off of profits from my writing and podcasting
By the way, it’s the first time I’ve admitted I think to a lot of people that I am writing a book. I’m not going to splurge the details yet, because it’s still very early on in writing it, but I am very excited about it and can’t wait to see it flourish! This is my second month in my podcast, but I want to share my message with the world.
6: My 6 month goal is to get sponsorships and gain readers and listeners. I will do this by building my platform on social media and continue to share my work.
7: My 7 year goal is to be a published author, successful podcaster, and a loving daughter of God. These are generic, but I’ll explain why in a few minutes.
2020 is just a few weeks away, and I am so motivated to have fresh new beginnings and start over. 2019 has been a very rough year, but I am dedicating this upcoming year to being the best version of myself that I can be. I’m ready now more than ever.
The only way I can do that is making my goals SMART.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely. Okay so specific – don’t make your goals too general. An example would be I want to pay off my debt, but a specific goal would be I want to pay off $4,000 of debt by an X day. The next one is measurable. Make your goal measurable. If you want to pay off your debt, how will you know that your goal has been achieved? Obviously with debt you can see your results, but for something less tangible, how can you see it’s been met? That’s measurable.
After measurable is achievable or attainable. Given your resources, is it likely you can achieve this goal? Let’s again use the debt example. If you plan to pay off $4k, but you only have $2k, that’s not an attainable goal! That one is pretty self-explanatory, so let’s go on to Relevant. If this goal is met, how would it make an overall impact on your other goals? If you pay off $4k, how would that impact the rest of your everyday life? Paying that off will give you more financial freedom in your life. So it’s definitely relevant. And finally, timely. Can you fit this goal into a timeline? If you want to pay off your debt, give it a time Frame to set aside money into savings or go towards paying that off each month or paycheck. So say for 6 months you want to set aside x amount of dollars to go towards that. It’s simple!
What needs to be done this week or today? Be disciplined in your goal setting and in working towards those goals. Part of being disciplined is knowing yourself. Are you a chronic procrastinator? Or are you a self-starter? It’s super easy to get distracted by everything around us, but knowing your limits and weaknesses will help you achieve your goals. I gave the example earlier about how I am doing that facebook group – I have to be a self-starter so I can keep everyone accountable in my group! I set a reminder on my phone and in my calendar to make sure I check in at certain times with my members.
So make your goals SMART! Use the 5x6x7 method. 2020 is so close and I am so excited to jump on making my new years resolutions, but why wait? November begins on Friday, and we have 8 weeks to get stuff done! I don’t want to wait until January to make a change when I can do that today! I want to get that content uploaded or finish my book (that’s a stretch) but why do I have to wait? We only have four more days of October. And I am going to drop this in right now – you should go follow my on instagram to keep in the loop with fun surprises coming up in the next two months. Follow her on Instagram @houseofloveandlaughterblog
So if you want to start that podcast, or that blog, or that. business, don’t wait! Do it today. The best time is now! Hence the name of this show – hear and now! Ahh. I love it.
One final thing- while I was writing this script, I got distracted and opened Facebook to the a funny quote someone in my writing group posted. She said “I find myself oscillating between passion, enthusiasm, excitement, and a real intense desire to sit in the corner with a quilt over my head. One of my friends replied – then write under the quilt!” I love that. Thank you Beverly and Erin for that morning motivation. So that’s how we shall achieve goals – even if we have to hide in the corner under a blanket, we can still figure out how to do it anyway!
So thank you guys so so much for listening in on this episode. If you liked this please leave a review or rating, subscribe to the show, follow me on instagram, like the facebook page, and check out Buzzsprout for convenience in starting your podcast and to get a $20 amazon gift card with the purchase of any paid plan.
Alright guys, Happy Halloween and I will see y’all in November! Peace out.