Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 2: Today's tip is that when you are making goals, focus
Speaker 2: on the process and not on the outcome. The process
Speaker 2: is usually far more in your control, so focusing on
Speaker 2: that can make goals in general feel more doable. So
Speaker 2: I have talked with a lot of people about their
Speaker 2: goals over.
Speaker 1: The years, and I find that many of them are
Speaker 1: about a desired outcome, like lose fifteen pounds and fit
Speaker 1: in your old genes, or get an amazing new job,
Speaker 1: meet someone special, see your net worth cross a million dollars. Now,
Speaker 1: there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting any of these things.
Speaker 1: The trouble is that some aspects of these goals are
Speaker 1: not going to be entirely within your control. The market
Speaker 1: might tank just as your brokerage account gets close to
Speaker 1: seven figures. Unless you plan to work for yourself, you
Speaker 1: need the organization where you want to work to agree
Speaker 1: to hire you, and your dream company might be in
Speaker 1: the middle of a hiring freeze. Many of us have
Speaker 1: had the experience of working hard to lose weight and
Speaker 1: then needing to take medication for something that then puts
Speaker 1: back on the pounds that you work to lose. All
Speaker 1: of this can be frustrating if we are not careful.
Speaker 1: These setbacks can make us question our agency over our lives.
Speaker 1: But when we focus on process, not outcome, all of
Speaker 1: this changes. I may or may not lose fifteen pounds,
Speaker 1: but I can focus on eating more vegetables and fewer
Speaker 1: empty calories. I can exercise regularly and get enough sleep.
Speaker 1: I can drink more water and less of anything else.
Speaker 1: All of those things might nudge the scale or they
Speaker 1: might not, depending on what else is going on, but
Speaker 1: they will make me healthier, and they are within my control. Likewise,
Speaker 1: you can vastly increase the chances of landing your dream
Speaker 1: job by sending three notes to people in your network
Speaker 1: daily talking about what you are looking for that is
Speaker 1: within your control. The market can go up and down.
Speaker 1: You probably need to be invested in the market to
Speaker 1: build any sort of substantial wealth, but you can create
Speaker 1: a budget that allows for emergencies and also allows you
Speaker 1: to save twenty percent of your income. You can then
Speaker 1: faithfully follow that budget and also invest in index funds,
Speaker 1: making small orders every month or so. You may or
Speaker 1: may not meet mister or missus right immediately. But you
Speaker 1: can set up online dating profiles and arrange to go
Speaker 1: on one first date per week or so until someone clicks.
Speaker 1: You can ask everyone you know to set you up
Speaker 1: with people, and you can put the positive mental energy
Speaker 1: into this process that it often demands that is within
Speaker 1: your control. I have found that focusing on process helps
Speaker 1: me stick with my goals. Broadly, I would like to
Speaker 1: be a well read person. So as part of that goal,
Speaker 1: each year I choose a year long reading project. This year,
Speaker 1: I'm reading all the works of Jane Austen at a
Speaker 1: rate of ten pages per day. That's not much I
Speaker 1: can control whether or not I read ten pages, and
Speaker 1: so I do it. How could you focus on process?
Speaker 1: Whatever your desires happen to be, Think if there is
Speaker 1: something you could commit to doing regularly that would help
Speaker 1: you move in that direction. Choose doable actions that won't
Speaker 1: be too hard to do. You just might achieve big
Speaker 1: things over time, but you will feel more in control
Speaker 1: and feel more agency over your life, and that may
Speaker 1: be the most powerful goal achieving strategy of all. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to making the most of our time.
Speaker 3: Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 3: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 3: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Speaker 3: Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod.
Speaker 3: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 3: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 3: out with all the letters.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 4: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
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Speaker 4: you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: Oh Oo, Gang gangga
Speaker 4: Mm hmm