WEBVTT - What will success look like?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to make sure you know exactly what success

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<v Speaker 1>will look like. How will you know exactly if you

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<v Speaker 1>have achieved your goal? By being specific about knowing when

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<v Speaker 1>you have one, as it were, you will be able

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<v Speaker 1>to take the actions that will help you get there. So,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a time of year when a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people are working toward goals or New Year's resolutions. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>you may have decided to declutter your house, or revamp

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<v Speaker 1>your wardrobe, or repair a broken relationship with your brother.

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<v Speaker 1>You may have other goals related to work or health,

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<v Speaker 1>or relationships, hobbies or something else. I love goals, But

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<v Speaker 1>one of the reasons people have trouble with resolutions is

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<v Speaker 1>that it is often hard to know if you have succeeded.

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<v Speaker 1>What exactly is a decluttered home? How will you know

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<v Speaker 1>if your home is officially decluttered. How will you know

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<v Speaker 1>if you have gotten in shape or are in a

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<v Speaker 1>better place with a relationship? What exactly will success look like? Now,

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<v Speaker 1>for some things there is a lot of natural ambiguity,

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<v Speaker 1>but even so, it might help to visualize what success means,

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<v Speaker 1>and set some sort of metric that you will be

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<v Speaker 1>able to work toward achieving. You want to know when

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<v Speaker 1>you have crossed the fetish line. Sometimes people like to

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<v Speaker 1>motivate themselves with visions of a changed life. A decluttered

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<v Speaker 1>home means you have calm mornings when you know where

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<v Speaker 1>your keys are on days you work from home, you

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<v Speaker 1>don't have to blur your background to hide the mess.

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<v Speaker 1>Those can definitely be motivating goals, but even within that,

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<v Speaker 1>I would suggest making a more concrete list of steps

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<v Speaker 1>you can take that will then allow you to declare

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<v Speaker 1>victory when you have done them. For instance, maybe you

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<v Speaker 1>make a list of thirty spots in your house that

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<v Speaker 1>you would like to see addressed. These could be quite granular.

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<v Speaker 1>Each closet is a different item on the list, each bathroom,

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<v Speaker 1>each shelf or drawer, even in a particularly cluttered area.

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<v Speaker 1>When you have addressed each of these in turn and

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<v Speaker 1>remove things that are unnecessary and have put back things

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<v Speaker 1>where they belong, then you can declare victory your house

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<v Speaker 1>is decluttered. As for getting in shape, another popular resolution,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe this means going to the gym three times per

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<v Speaker 1>week when you are home and you aren't sick, or

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<v Speaker 1>maybe this is a specific goal like being able to

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<v Speaker 1>run a five k or lift a certain amount of weight.

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<v Speaker 1>All of these can work. If you make it to

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<v Speaker 1>the gym on average three times a week during the

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<v Speaker 1>forty five weeks of the year you are around, then

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<v Speaker 1>you know that you have succeeded. If you run that

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<v Speaker 1>five k without stopping, you have won at your goal.

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<v Speaker 1>You know what success looks like, and you can work

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<v Speaker 1>toward that now. Some goals, like repairing a relationship are

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<v Speaker 1>clearly a little less obvious. What does success mean when

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<v Speaker 1>it comes to feeling closer to friends or family members?

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<v Speaker 1>But I believe that if you put some thought into it,

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<v Speaker 1>you could still brainstorm some potential metrics. Maybe you decide

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<v Speaker 1>to reach out in low key ways at least six

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<v Speaker 1>times over the next two months. If you start getting

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<v Speaker 1>civil or even friendly responses, you have succeeded. Or maybe

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<v Speaker 1>success is getting together once, even if it's a bit

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<v Speaker 1>of a frosty get together. Hey, it's a start. Having

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<v Speaker 1>a vision of what you are working toward lets you

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<v Speaker 1>know what actions you need to take. A resolution stops

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<v Speaker 1>being some vague and unlikely thing and starts being a

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<v Speaker 1>bit more like something you can put on a to

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<v Speaker 1>do list and do that concrete sense of what the

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<v Speaker 1>finish line looks like just may be the thing that

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<v Speaker 1>gets you going. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,

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<v Speaker 1>or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura

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<v Speaker 1>vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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