74: The Key to Consistency

Episode 74-Planning for Consistency.mp3

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[00:00:10] Time to Level Up podcast. I'm your host business life coach, Andrea Libros. I help women in business commit to their own growth personally and professionally. Each week, I'll bring you strategies to help you think clearly. Gain confidence. Make your time productive. Turn every obstacle into an opportunity. And finally overcome the overwhelm so that you can make money and manage life. Let's create a plan so you have a profitable business, successful career, and best of all, live with unapologetic ambition.

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[00:00:57] Let's do this. Any time to level up. Listeners, welcome back to the podcast. I hope you're having a great week. We just got back from senior spring break in the Dominican, my daughter and 27 of her closest friends and probably 25 adults and we had a great, great time. And the theme of this month, which is we tend to experience what we expect, was kind of true on that trip. I experienced what I expected, right? So I knew it would be a little chaotic. I knew these kids would be celebrating. I knew there would be all sorts of temptations. And what I experienced was just that. But we had a great, great time. It was really I really tried to unplug. I didn't do much work, which is really hard for me. I didn't even read any nonfiction. I really read fiction. Again, super hard for me, but I did it. All right. So here we go. We're going to dig in to the next step in the theme of we tend to experience what we expect, so how do we experience something different? So remember, we started this month talking about our lives as a movie, and then we talked about setting aside our limiting beliefs in that second half of the movie changing. And now how do we create that second half of the movie? And one of the pieces of the puzzle is really planning for things to happen. And a lot of times what I hear from women is that they do have a plan, but they don't follow it or they're not consistent.

[00:02:57] And that is why the movie keeps playing in the same way the first half went in. The movie doesn't change, but starting with kind of a burst of energy. And then failing to follow through really is often the result of secretly doubting your ability to finish the goal or to reach the goal. And in thinking about this, I broke it down into four actions that I think you can take to ensure consistency, to ensure steady incremental progress towards the goals. So let's get started. Number one is actually the goal itself. We have got to get clear on the goal because an UN guided or a poorly crafted goal is not helpful. It then poorly directs our energy and it does no good. So we've got to really clarify the destination. That's what boosts our motivation in writing. The goal down is essential because it forces clarity and it creates accountability. And it allows you to go back and review it. So one goal setting practice that I think is very important is to keep your goals to less than eight. Eight annual goals is kind of the magic number, right? If you've got too many goals, it becomes distracting. And if you can focus just on a handful of goals that you could actually say out loud from memory, and I just tried this because I just planned my next quarter. So I tried to see if I could remember what my annual goals were and repeat them.

[00:04:36] But doing that, that's really best practice, and you can't do that if you have more than eight. So as you're writing your goals and I could have a whole other podcast on goal writing, which I probably should keep them to eight, write them down, make them clear. Second piece in Planning for consistency is identifying the right behaviors. Now, oftentimes we think we need to know all of the right behaviors from the first day. We need to know how it's all going to work out. And. Sometimes then this inhibit or make us stuck if we don't know all of the right behaviors. But here's the thing finding the next right behavior really enables kind of incremental step by step progress towards the goal. So the key is not to know the whole path. The key is just to identify the behavior that when you consistently do it, you will consistently head toward the goal. Now, this might be the same behavior if we're talking about a habit goal, but it also might be different behaviors if we're talking about an achievement goal. But if we. You frequently review our goals and we ask ourselves, what's the next step? Every day we're going to figure out if it is to do the same thing over and over or to do something different, or figure out what the next best step is. So if goals should consistently populate your daily list, and that happens when we ask ourselves the question, what's the next step? So if we have the goal in our head and we ask ourselves, What's the next step, then that next step is going to go on our tasks for the day and keep refreshing our memory of what our goal actually is.

[00:06:38] So number two is identifying the right behaviors. Third thing is tracking progress. No one does this well, including me sometimes. But if we track our progress, it provides self accountability. So when I start working with a client, we do create some goals and I ask them to check in with those goals at least once a month. And if we don't really go back and look at them, or if I don't remind them, oftentimes, sometimes the goals never get looked at. And then they're mad that why they even write them. But if we. Go back and review them and we track progress. It's going to give self accountability. I am probably now a big proponent of the full focus planner. I'm a full focused planner, certified pro, and that offers a lot of help. A great a great resource in goal tracing, tracking and review. And in there doing a weekly preview or using their streak tracker that's specifically designed to reveal progress towards goals. Those are the people who are using those tools that make the progress. And then the fourth piece in planning for consistency or consistent action is to enlist an accountability partner. So the full focus planner can serve as a system systematized accountability partner.

[00:08:07] But I'm talking now about a human accountability partner. Not only are they great for accountability, but they're also great sources of encouragement. They they can't do the work for you. Right. But their encouragement, their guidance, their support can make all the difference. And if you find an accountability partner, then you've probably found someone who will help you achieve them. Right. So we've got to really be selective in who we share our goals with. I've heard too many stories of someone saying, Yeah, I shared this goal with my aunt and she said, No way. And so I kind of gave up. You've really got to be careful with who you share your goals with. If they are not going to have the same level of excitement about it, they're not going to be motivating to you. Then don't share it. You don't have to share everything with everyone, including your spouse. Sometimes spouses are the worst at motivation because sometimes it means you're doing hard things and they might be inconvenienced for a little bit, or they may see you a little stressed out or grumpy, so maybe don't share with them. But who could be your accountability partner? As a coach, I often serve as an accountability partner, but I always tell my clients I am not doing the work. You are the only one that can do the work. I am just here partnering with you or serving as your Sherpa or guide as you go along the journey to get to the goal.

[00:09:31] I am someone to help you. Ask yourself, Hey, is this belief I have really true? Or What if I was wrong and this actually is going to be easier than I thought? Or how can I make this simple, right? So having an accountability partner who can ask you those questions makes all the difference. And if you have never experienced coaching. This is part of a coaching is all about. It is very freeing to know that you have someone on your team. I often say like I become your paid employee, I'm on your team or I'm now part of your board of directors. Right. I'm they're not just cheering you on. There's a difference between a cheerleader and a coach. So a cheerleader is there for motivation and encouragement. A coach, yes, can be motivating and encouraging, but a coach also challenges you. And pushes you to think outside your comfort zone and accountability partners have to be able to do that. So just having someone that you meet for every week for a walk, that's an accountability partner of one kind. But if we're talking about reaching goals and they're more of achievement goals and habit goals, then you need someone that's going to challenge you. And that's not always a cheerleader, that's a different person. So when we're talking about habit, goals, accountability partners are really great. So when I say habit goal, I mean like exercise three times a week or drink eight glasses of water a day or post on social media four times a week.

[00:11:19] Those are habit goals when I'm talking about achievement goals. That's something that doesn't require a repeated action. It probably requires different actions to get to the goal. And here, my friends, is where the coaching or that accountability partner and coach who will challenge you comes into play. That's a different skill set. Than being your accountability partner for a walk every week. Now, yes, they might encourage you if it's raining out and you don't want to go, they might push you a little. But that's not really pushing your thinking, which is what coaching does, or someone who is helping you guide your mind and where it wants to go and where it needs to go, which are two different things sometimes. So those are my four tips on how you can plan for consistency, which is a way one of the steps in helping us experience what we expect. So if we are expecting to stick with it. Then we will stick with it, right? We tend to experience what we expect. We will stick with things if we plan for consistency, if we plan for inconsistency or wiggle room, it definitely won't happen. All right, my friends, that is it for today. This was kind of a quick podcast, I bet. Yeah, it's not that long. Usually my podcasts are longer, but I think I got in what I wanted to share with you and my homework for you this week is to really analyze your goals and think about which ones are habits and which ones are achievements.

[00:13:05] Think about who is serving as your accountability partner, or is it something you really need a coach for? Who's going to challenge your thinking and then make sure that you're really clear on the goal? You don't have too many goals. You're tracking your progress. You're writing things down and you're asking yourself, what's the next step? And if you want to enlist that coach to help you, you know how to reach me. I love even coaching through DMS. And who needs to listen to this, you guys, who can you share this with? Just one person. One person. I don't want you to share it with the world. Just one person. Share this podcast. And if you're going to do it on social, tag me. But who's one person that needs to know that planning for consistency is one of the keys to experiencing what we expect? And if we expect to reach the goal, then we need to plan for consistency. All right. Until next time, remember? Always time to level up. Always you can always up our game. And that's what leads to success. See you soon. Thanks for listening to the Time to Level Up podcast with me, your host, Andrea Libros. If you know someone who could benefit from listening to this episode, I encourage you to.

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