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Ep. 525 - Turning Dreams into Reality: A Guide to Goal Setting
•Rob Kaiser•Episode 525
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Discover the key to turning your biggest dreams for the upcoming year into reality. Whether it's launching that long-awaited business, embarking on the vacation of a lifetime, moving into your dream home, acquiring the hot rod you've always coveted, or prioritizing health for a more fulfilling life – your aspirations require more than just wishful thinking.
In this episode, Rob delves into the transformative impact of Dan Miller's Goal Setting Guide. Uncover the importance of clarifying your dreams, crafting a strategic plan, and taking actionable steps towards achieving them. Making dreams a reality demands intentionality and a structured approach.
Join us for a 30-minute exploration of Rob's personal journey with Dan Miller's Goal Setting Workbook. Gain insights into decision-making, goal-setting, and discover recommended reads to shift your perspective on life. This episode is a treasure trove of inspiration, geared towards empowering you to become the best version of yourself. Dive into the essence of the All Around Growth podcast and kickstart your journey towards realizing your dreams.
Ready to take the first step? Download Dan Miller's FREE Workbook to guide you on your path to transformation. Your dreams are within reach – it's time to make them a reality.
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Good morning and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today is Tuesday, November 14th, 2023, and this is episode number 525 of a show where you join me on my journey through life here on the homestead at York Meadow Farm. This is a show that is sponsored by York Meadow Farm. And if you would like to support the show and the work that I am doing, then please participate in our groups online. That is the Telegram group at t.me slash allaroundgrowth. You can find our pages on Facebook at all around growth and Instagram at allaroundgrowth. If you like what you hear, please like, share with your friends, your family, on your timeline, whatever the case may be, and help support the show as we are taking active steps to grow the show, to grow our presence and interact a little bit better with you. So without further ado, let's get into the topic of today's show, episode number 525. And the topic of today's show is goals. Okay. And we're going to talk about goals because I have come to believe that the best way to predict your future is to create it. And you know, that sounds all well and good. That sounds relatively easy, right? And sometimes when we talk about goals, a lot of people think, well, that's easier for you to say, or, you know, we've failed with goals, so we don't really set them. So, you know, I there's a couple questions that I have for you. What are you good, what's your big dream for the next year, right? Are you gonna start that business that you've always wanted to start? Are you gonna are you gonna go on that big vacation that's been on your bucket list? Are you gonna move into that dream home with your family? Are you gonna get that hot rod that you've been eyeing for a while? Are you gonna get that one that you've already got fixed up? Are you going to improve your health and have the energy to enjoy this time in your life? Okay, so whatever it is, you can't simply dream it and wish it into reality. You've got to clarify the dream, make a plan, and take action steps toward building and making that dream become reality. It's that kind of stuff that I've heard a lot of people talk. Oh, well, that's just cliche bullshit, Rob. Whatever. And you know, you're entitled to that opinion. But I am going to respectfully disagree. Because I think an opinion like that, I think it's garbage. Okay. So in a little bit, I'm going to talk about a goal setting workbook. I've got to be brief and to the point. I've got some family obligations that I've got to get to this morning. But I'm going to talk a little bit about how I discovered this. I'm going to give credit where credit's due. And ultimately in the show notes, which will be uploaded later today. So by the time you're listening to this, it's probably in the afternoon on Tuesday, November 14th, 2023. But I will have resources and links to everything that I talk about. Okay. So the beginning of this workbook reads as follows. Quote, all beginnings are hopeful is actually a quote from the president of Oxford University spoken to the entering freshman in 1944 in the midst of a world war. This is a concept that we have seen confirmed throughout history. In working with people going through change, I am often struck by the discouragement, frustration, and frequent anger and resentment. I have come to recognize, however, that those feelings always tell me that the person is looking backward at something that has already occurred. As soon as we are able to create a clear plan for the future, those feelings quickly begin to dissipate and are replaced by hope, optimism, and enthusiasm. In all my years of life coaching, I have never seen a person who has clear plans and goals who is also depressed. They just don't go together. Last year was a challenging year for many of us. Have you taken responsibility for the way this year has gone for you, or have you pointed fingers at the economy, the pandemic, the government, the company, and your spouse? I'm convinced that we can create a massive ripple effect to contribute to the solutions for a better life for ourselves, our families, our country, and ultimately the world. You can put yourself in the driver's seat of your life immediately if you create a clear plan, decide what's important to you, and act. Are you feeling discouraged, miserable in your job, just lost in your business? Or did you just lose your business? Give yourself a new beginning tomorrow, because all beginnings are hopeful. Now those words come from Dan Miller, author of the book 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love. I'll link to that in the show notes as well. And then he continues to write, We become what we think about. And that's a quote from Earl Nightingale, who wrote and read The Strangest Secret, something I also learned about from Dan Miller. And I will link to that in the show notes as well. And if you are a fan of this show and have listened to it for any period of time, you know that back in September we did the 30 Days Challenge, where the challenge was listening to the strangest secret for 30 days straight and engaging in the challenges presented therein. Okay, so this idea, we become what we think about. Dan continues to write. That simple message had a profound impact on me as a poor Ohio farm kid and continues to shape my life and thinking today. Quote, achieving goals is more about our mindset than about the identification of specific targets in our future. Close quote. Dan Miller. He continues by writing, success is something you attract by the way you think and the person you become. You can have more than you have now by becoming more than you are now. You don't have to change the company, the economy, the government, your boss, or your spouse. You get to change you and you'll see your whole world change. Remember, our minds are like gardens. They give us a bigger return of whatever we planted. If you think about negative things, you will see those enlarge in your life. If you expect and think about positive things, you will see more and more of those in your reality. In setting goals, you are indeed creating your own future. He continues writing, quote, with definite goals and release, you release your own power and things start happening. Okay. And he continues writing that this is the basic starting format for goal setting. You may feel you are being rushed or hurried. However, you if you'll find that if you do not begin to make decisions, you will tend to procrastinate and your history will simply repeat itself. A quick decision is often the best decision and is certainly better than no decision. Quote, indecision is the greatest thief of opportunity, close quote. Before I continue reading what Dan Miller's wrote, I'm going to share a quick story with you about decision and how I learned about decision. Many years ago, in one of my past lives, I was working on a project. We were doing utility consulting forestry work for different utilities around the country. And I was happened to be working on a project, managing a project, and my boss, the VP of East Coast Operations, uh, came out to visit me on site. And we went out to breakfast one morning. And as we were ordering breakfast, I hesitated on making a decision with regard to my eggs and how I wanted them. She asked if I wanted them scrambled. You know, how did I want my eggs? And I I hesitated. And when I hesitated just long enough, my boss said, he'll take him busted over hard. And that kind of caught me off guard. I thought it was a little bit rude. But he he he shared with me that if you have to take, I don't even remember what it was that he said, but this reminded me of that. A quick decision is often the best decision and is certainly better than no decision. If I made no decision, I would have gotten no eggs. When it comes to making small decisions, just make the decision and ultimately take action. In that particular context, we were only talking about eggs. We were talking about breakfast. And because it was not important, I can't sit here and tell you what kind of eggs I got, other than the fact that they were busted over hard. I can't tell you what the rest of the breakfast consisted of. But I can tell you that story because it stood out to me and it was a profound moment in my life that indeed led me to believe that a quick decision is often the best decision and is certainly better than no decision. Indecision is indeed the greatest thief of opportunity. Dan continues to write. Goals are not written in concrete and unchangeable terms, but they do give you a starting point and a destination. The important thing is that you are in charge when working on your goals. It is the easiest way to put yourself in the driver's seat of your life. Your life has meaning only when you are working toward goals that you have decided on. We continue reading. Success. Success is the progressive realization of worthwhile goals. With this definition, you are successful as soon as you start moving toward a goal. You are on that path of progressive realization and thus already successful. Knowing how to do this puts you in a 5% category of people in the world. Out of 100 people, you and four others are now on a different path. In order for your purpose in life to be fulfilled, you must set goals in multiple areas. Success is not just career or financial. Family, physical, and spiritual are equally important areas of achievement. They are part of the same whole balanced person. This is the whole person concept of the 48 days to the work and life you love approach. Any stage in life can be an exciting time with many opportunities or a dreary time of confusion and entrapment. You may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can decide that the circumstances won't dominate you. You do have choices. If you've never read this book or listened to it in audio form, I would highly recommend doing so. This is a prime example of the fact that you may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can decide that the circumstances won't dominate you. No matter what your circumstances may be. No matter how hard your life is in this moment, you don't have to let your circumstances dominate you. You have choices no matter what the consequences or no matter what the situation is. You have choices. We become what we think about. No matter where we are in life, no matter what the particular challenge, situation, issue, set of circumstances is, we make choices. Okay. Victor Frankel, Man Search for Meaning. If you're not familiar with that book, become familiar with that book. And what I just said about making choices and having the ability to change our perspective on life will become dramatically clearer. Okay, so begin with three-year goals and then work backward to what you need to do today to make deposits in what you want your life to be three years from now. Be specific, creating quantifiable benchmarks that track your deposits of success. And remember, the real quest is not on what you're getting, but on what you're becoming. There is something magical that happens when you write down your goals. The beauty of this workbook is that you can print it out. You can put pen or pencil to paper. When you do that, then you can edit the PDF. I would suggest printing it out and writing it down. There's something, like Dan wrote, there's something magical that happens when you write down your goals. That's physically tangible. Have them on paper. Have them that you can hold. Then type them out and clarify them later. But initially, I want you to download this workbook and I want you to write down your goals. Pen to paper, pencil to paper. He continues by writing, I have seen people transform their levels of success almost instantly, simply as a result of getting clearly defined and written goals. Okay, so he continues by writing, here's the framework for this entire process. You might want to just park on this section for a little while and then incorporate your answers into the following sections. You can write on any of the lines in this document and then print it out for easy reference if you'd like. Again, I would suggest just printing the document out blank, having it on a clipboard, writing things down as they come to mind. Chances are the first thing you write down is the first thing that's dominating your mind. Perhaps the first thing that you should take action on. Consider setting goals in that area. Okay? Then stew on that for a little while, revisit that, and type them out in the document, and then print out the typed document so that you can see it all the time. He continues writing. What are the biggest opportunities that you have that you can focus on and capture to achieve those things? What strengths will you need to reinforce and maximize? And what skills and resources will you need to develop that you don't currently have in order to capture those opportunities? And again, on this particular page, page five in the workbook, we have notes to write out, a space for notes, that is, to write out answers of these questions. What has to have happened during the next three years for us to feel happy about our progress? Think about the person that's delivered this document to us. Think about meeting with Dan Miller, who assembled this document, and then think about that. If you were going to meet him three years from today, what has to have happened during that three-year period for you to feel happy about your progress? What are the biggest challenges you'll have to face and deal with in order to achieve that progress? Do you have financial debt? That's a good start. Are you looking for a new job? That's a good start. Do you not have a job? That is also a good start. What are the biggest opportunities that you have that you can focus on? Something going on that's negatively impacting your health? That can be seen as a negative, it can be seen as a positive, it can be seen as an opportunity. Anything in life can be seen the way that you want to see it. Again, Victor Frankel, Man's Search for Meaning. Consider reading that. What can you focus on? And what strengths will you need to reinforce and maximize? And what skills and resources will you need to develop that you don't currently have in order to make this all happen? Now, in terms of the goal planning guide, I'm not going to sit here and go through each specific area because there's multiple pages outlined for each specific area. Financial, where we look at our income and investments. We've also got a spot for our physical goals, health, appearance, exercise, right? We've got goals for personal development, knowledge, education, self-improvement. We're going to be setting goals for the family aspect of our life, the relationship to others, the development of children, where we want to live. We're going to set goals for our spiritual lives, personal commitments, theological understandings, meditation. Okay, we're also going to set social goals, increase number of friends, community involvement, etc. And then ultimately, last, we're going to set career goals, ambitions, dreams, and hopes. We're going to look at all of these goals three years out. Okay? And be specific. How can we measure what our goals look like three years from now? Then we're going to break it down and look at goals one year from now. And then ultimately we're going to look at things that we can do today. Small action steps that we're going to take today. Okay. What can we do today? As this workbook comes to a close, there's a quote by James Mickiner that reads. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both. James McInner. Guys, that quote is one of the things in this workbook that made me realize this can and will work for me if I put in the work that is required to make it work for me. I wholly believe that what we're here for on this earth is to become masters in the art of living. If we can reach a point where we make little distinction between our work and And our play, our labor and our leisure, our mind and our body, our information and our recreation, our love and our religion. Hardly knowing which is which. Simply pursuing our vision of excellence of whatever we do, leaving others to decide whether we are working or playing. Because if we reach that point, when we reach that point, we will be doing both. Always. And it is at that point where we have become masters in the art of living. Dan concludes the workbook by writing: In order for your purpose in life, your calling to be fulfilled, you must set goals in multiple areas. Success is never just in career or financial areas. Set your goals for success and balance in family, social, physical, and spiritual areas of your life as well. Make sure that you have some response in each and every category. Put these away for two weeks, then come back to them and ask yourself again: are these really my goals? And if they are, then start the process of beginning today to make your deposits. You will be amazed at how they start to come alive and become real. Make a weekly list identifying specific steps for deposits in each area. Important. Every month set aside two hours to review and revise your goals. And then he encourages us, the reader, to let us know your success. And he concludes by saying, Your friend in the process, Dan. Now he says, Let us know your success because I'm not simply going to give you this to download. Because I give credit where credit is due. I'm going to provide you a link where you can download the current version of this workbook. What I read comes from last year's version. I'm going to put in and download the most current version of this workbook myself. If you're on Facebook, I would encourage you to join the 48 Days Facebook group and connect with other people who are going through this workbook as well. If you're on Telegram, then join t.me slash all around growth. Do this with us. Share your progress with us. We are also on Facebook at all around growth, Facebook.com slash all aroundgrowth, and Facebook.com slash groups slash all around growth. Would love to see some interaction with you there as well. These are all great ways to find an accountability partner or several hundred people that can help you identify and hold you accountable to the goals that you've set for yourself. There's also 48 Days Eagles community, which I used to be a part of. I am not currently a part of now, but I look forward to being a part of that later. We'll talk more on the 48 Days Community another time. But a big part of this and why we're talking about this today with regard to personal development is because today is November 14th, 2023. Okay. If we print this out today and write down our goals today, we can set it aside for a couple of days. Type them out. And then put it away for two weeks. Okay? If we put it away, if we write down our goals and do this work for a solid couple of days and then put it away for two weeks, at that point in time, it's this it's November 30th. We have another whole month to fully refine and revise the work that we've done over the past couple of days. We've got we've had two weeks to ruminate on this and run it through the mental digester, as my old boss used to say. And ultimately, we've got a month to further refine and clarify our goals for the next year so that when the first of the year comes around, we aren't taking that valuable time concerning ourselves with what we're going to do and where we're going to go and how we're going to do it. We've already done the work so that when the first of the year comes around, we can simply execute on the goals that we've created and begin to review them two hours a month and change them as appropriate. This isn't some kind of New Year's resolution. This is an active process. This is something that I've been doing for years. And admittedly, last year, I did not do this. In short, I wasn't really in the right mindset last year at this time to do this. So I didn't. On the other hand, in my personal life, I made some significant changes in my own personal life that has resulted in me creating an opportunity for myself to circle back to this so that I can do this again. Because I firmly believe in setting goals in this manner outlined here, and it is this workbook that has become the framework for the show as it stands today. We talk about goals, we talk about balance, we talk about the growth and development of our life in seven different aspects of life: physical, financial, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and career. We talk about them in that order and rotate through them. It is in this way that we find balance in life, and it is in this way that we live in a manner that is conducive towards something resembling all-around growth. So, guys, that's it for today. Next week, we are going to talk about a family topic. And with the holidays coming up, I'm going to share with you how we do Christmas and give you some ideas on how you can do Christmas and do it differently so that you can focus more on family and more on the things that matter and less on the material gifts, which often distracts us from what is really important. And that's family. So, guys, thank you for listening today. I look forward to catching you next week. Have a great week ahead. This is Rob Kaiser. Thank you and God bless.
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