1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 2 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: tip is to make sure you know exactly what success 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: will look like. How will you know exactly if you 5 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: have achieved your goal? By being specific about knowing when 6 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: you have one, as it were, you will be able 7 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: to take the actions that will help you get there. So, 8 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: this is a time of year when a lot of 9 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: people are working toward goals or New Year's resolutions. For instance, 10 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: you may have decided to declutter your house, or revamp 11 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 1: your wardrobe, or repair a broken relationship with your brother. 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: You may have other goals related to work or health, 13 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: or relationships, hobbies or something else. I love goals, But 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: one of the reasons people have trouble with resolutions is 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: that it is often hard to know if you have succeeded. 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: What exactly is a decluttered home? How will you know 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: if your home is officially decluttered. How will you know 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: if you have gotten in shape or are in a 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: better place with a relationship? What exactly will success look like? Now, 20 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: for some things there is a lot of natural ambiguity, 21 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,919 Speaker 1: but even so, it might help to visualize what success means, 22 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: and set some sort of metric that you will be 23 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: able to work toward achieving. You want to know when 24 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: you have crossed the fetish line. Sometimes people like to 25 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: motivate themselves with visions of a changed life. A decluttered 26 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: home means you have calm mornings when you know where 27 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: your keys are on days you work from home, you 28 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: don't have to blur your background to hide the mess. 29 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: Those can definitely be motivating goals, but even within that, 30 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: I would suggest making a more concrete list of steps 31 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: you can take that will then allow you to declare 32 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 1: victory when you have done them. For instance, maybe you 33 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: make a list of thirty spots in your house that 34 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: you would like to see addressed. These could be quite granular. 35 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: Each closet is a different item on the list, each bathroom, 36 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: each shelf or drawer, even in a particularly cluttered area. 37 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: When you have addressed each of these in turn and 38 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: remove things that are unnecessary and have put back things 39 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: where they belong, then you can declare victory your house 40 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: is decluttered. As for getting in shape, another popular resolution, 41 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: maybe this means going to the gym three times per 42 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: week when you are home and you aren't sick, or 43 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: maybe this is a specific goal like being able to 44 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: run a five k or lift a certain amount of weight. 45 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: All of these can work. If you make it to 46 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: the gym on average three times a week during the 47 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: forty five weeks of the year you are around, then 48 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: you know that you have succeeded. If you run that 49 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: five k without stopping, you have won at your goal. 50 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: You know what success looks like, and you can work 51 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: toward that now. Some goals, like repairing a relationship are 52 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: clearly a little less obvious. What does success mean when 53 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: it comes to feeling closer to friends or family members? 54 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: But I believe that if you put some thought into it, 55 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: you could still brainstorm some potential metrics. Maybe you decide 56 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: to reach out in low key ways at least six 57 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: times over the next two months. If you start getting 58 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: civil or even friendly responses, you have succeeded. Or maybe 59 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: success is getting together once, even if it's a bit 60 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: of a frosty get together. Hey, it's a start. Having 61 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: a vision of what you are working toward lets you 62 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: know what actions you need to take. A resolution stops 63 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: being some vague and unlikely thing and starts being a 64 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: bit more like something you can put on a to 65 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: do list and do that concrete sense of what the 66 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: finish line looks like just may be the thing that 67 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: gets you going. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks 68 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. 69 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, 70 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura 71 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. 72 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,239 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 73 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.