Me, Myself & My Best-Self

Goal Setting: Crafting a Year of Intentional Growth and Vibrant Habits

• Claire Bennett

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Embark on a transformative journey with me, Claire Bennett, as we embrace the art of setting intentions that celebrate our current magnificence while paving the way for an extraordinary year of growth. This isn't about reinventing ourselves with the dawn of a new year; it's about nurturing the awesomeness that already exists within us. Together, we'll uncover how to align our goals with our deepest values, passions, and strengths, crafting a year that resonates with authenticity and joy. From reducing sugar to managing screen time, I'll share my personal examples and strategies, proving that small, actionable steps can lead to monumental changes.

As we venture deeper, I'll take you through my personal roadmap for creating vibrant new habits and shedding those that no longer serve us. Imagine a life where healthy eating and setting work boundaries are as natural as breathing, where social life and career ambitions complement each other seamlessly. I'll guide you through setting precise goals, understanding your motivations, and crafting a bulletproof plan to overcome any obstacles. Whether it's attracting new coaching clients or launching a group program, the essence of this episode lies in structuring your personal development journey with intention and clarity.

Finally, we close the chapter on self-improvement with a powerful affirmation of our inherent worthiness. Thriving in 2024 is not just a possibility; it's a commitment to recognizing our past achievements, cultivating resilience against challenges, and replacing self-sabotaging habits with life-affirming practices. I'll show you how to break down your big-picture ambitions into achievable milestones, always prioritizing self-care and intentional growth. Don't go at it alone—join our vibrant community, share your stories, and let's hold each other accountable as we make this the year where we live our best, most authentic lives.

Speaker 1:

Hey there, curious minds and self-improvement dabblers, welcome to me, myself and my best self. The podcast where we casually navigate the maze of personal growth without the hype. No promises of overnight transformations or grand life revelations here, just real talk, relatable stories and a few laughs as we figure out this whole becoming our best selves thing. I'm Claire Bennett, your guide through the maze of life's quirks and challenges. Let's wander through it together. No pressure, no perfection, just a touch of curiosity. Well, let me start with happy new year. So it's that time of year when people decide to make some changes. So this week we're going to talk about goal setting, setting resolutions. If you've already decided on your new year goals, don't switch off. Just you still might get some tips on making sure you stick to them. Now, research suggests that most new year goals and resolutions are abandoned by February. But having both life and professional goals does contribute positively to our well being. They give us something to strive for. But I am first going to start with a pet hate. So let's talk about the whole new year new me vibe that's always floating around this time of year Now. I used to dive into each year with a laundry list of resolutions, convinced that complete overhaul would magically transform me. But you know what I've learned? Real change starts from a different place, not from the mindset of I'm not good enough, but rather I'm good enough and I can grow from here. We need to embrace our uniqueness instead of thinking we need a whole new version of ourselves. Let's celebrate the amazing individuals we already are. Embrace our quirks, our strengths and even our quirkier strengths. We need to start with a place of self love. Positive change comes from a place of love, not self criticism. Accepting ourselves as we are right now is a foundation for meaningful growth, and growth, not perfection. Rather than chasing perfection, let's chase growth small, consistent step forwards, fueled by the belief that we are worthy of positive change. So why don't you join me in the I am good enough club? Let's start this year with a different mantra. New year, same awesome me Now.

Speaker 1:

If you've listened to my previous episodes, then you'll know that aligning your goals with your values, your passions, your strengths and what brings me into life is a great tactic. If you'd like to find out more about your own, then you can listen to the episode about uncovering your true self, or you can download a free guide from my website at ClaireBennettcom. I'd also recommend listening to the life audit episode, as this also helps to start the goal process by looking at what your life looks like now. But this week's episode is all about goal setting. You'll need something to write with paper or pen if you want to set them, along with me. So now, before we start listening our goals, we need to look at what is already going well or what has already happened in 2023. And if you've already done the life audit for the other previous episode, it is still worth doing some of these questions, as it kind of cements the clarity, making sure that you understand where you are and what's gone well.

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So step one is to answer the following questions. So, number one, reflecting on the past year, what are the three to five things that you did this year that you are most proud of or that bring a smile to your face when you recall them? So for me, there was getting a new puppy dancing the night away at my sister's birthday party, launching my business rebrand, the yoga retreat that I attended in Turkey, and the day I spent in London with my husband. It was the best date we've had for ages. And now on to the second question. Now list five things that you are grateful for this past year, and why so for me. I'm grateful for my dogs they keep me active and they make me feel loved. I'm grateful for my sisters and my mum, who make me feel supported. I'm grateful to yoga because it helps me feel less stressed. I'm grateful for my husband because he is someone that supports my growth. I'm grateful for my health, because I've overcome a health issue this year and when I'm healthy, I am at my best.

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Now for the third question. Now list two to five situations or circumstances that has posed a challenge for you and write down the lessons that you gained from navigating through them. So, for me, dealing with reducing my migraines was a huge challenge for me, but I learnt that I needed to stress less and to prioritise healthy habits. That's what really got me through and eventually reduced them. And the second one is that I had a few false starts with my business, so the lesson I learnt was to find my niche and stick with it. So number of question four sorry, got distracted there.

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Question four so what are some of the negative ideas, beliefs or bad habits that you want to leave in 2023? Now, I won't list all of mine, we'll be here for the whole episode, but no, seriously, some of mine are. I'm not good enough. It's one of the beliefs that I have. It needs to be perfect. Watching too much TV, not getting up when my alarm goes off and, lastly, eating too much sugar.

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Now, for each of these negative things on your list, you need to answer the following questions what would I love and what actionable step can I take that will move me in the direction of what I would love? So, for example, if I take eating too much sugar, I'd love to eat sugar once or twice a week in the form of a really nice dessert or treat. So my actionable step will be not to buy anything sugary in my weekly food shop. So if I do want something, I must purposely have to leave the house to buy it. Does that make sense? So it's about, for example, another one would be watching too much TV. So what I would love is to choose in the sorry. What I would love is just to watch it in the evening, maybe for an hour, and the one actionable step that I can take is to remove the TV from where I work, and that would really, really help me to not watch it.

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So question number five what do you want to continue doing in 2024? So what do you want to tick with you from 2020? Maybe you started something in 2023 or you got good at something in 2023, and what do you want to continue to do? What do you want to bring into 2024? So the first thing, I want to continue to grow my podcast and do it. Secondly, I want to continue to stay organised at home, and one of the other things is, thirdly, is walking my dogs daily. I've really come to love and appreciate that. That first morning walk with my dogs. Okay.

Speaker 1:

So now I want you to think of three areas of your life that you want to make some changes Now. For me, these would be career, health and relationships, but you could choose any aspect of your life family relationships, social life, community connection. Okay, so you remember the previous episode. We rated our lives using the following categories. So it was daily life, health and wellness, spirituality, significant relationships at your marriage life, partner or dating, family, friends, home, finances and money, community, career or work, personal growth, hobbies and creativity, social adventure and fun. Now for these categories that are most important to you. I want you to quickly list under each one what you would want in that category.

Speaker 1:

So for me, the ones that I will add things to are daily life, health and wellness, marriage, family, social adventure and fun career and work and personal growth. So be specific, be a specific as you can. So, for example, if I take daily life, I want to get into the habit of finishing work at 6 pm and switching off or doing something social. In health, it's to eat healthier. This means only sugar twice a week, minimum of five fruit and veg daily and exercise three times a week. Minimum For work, I want to work with 15 new coaching clients this year and launch my group group coaching program. For social and adventure, I want to have at least one social event per month with my friends. I also want to see more of my mum and my sisters again with one event, but each month. And for my marriage, I want to spend more to also want to spend more time with my husband and a minimum of two evenings a week or at least one great day night a week.

Speaker 1:

So okay, now looking at the list, put them into the following categories. So the first category is habits to implement. So the habits I want to implement are eating fruit and veg daily exercise weekly three times, switching off computer at 6 pm. Now the second category is things to stop. So my things to stop doing is eating sugar, my now. The third category is actions. So these are the things that, to be fair, you just have to do them. There's no real planning or what well. Actually there is a bit of planning, sorry. You just need to take action to make them happen. So, for example, book some social events with family, friends and my husband. And then the last category is your goals. So my goals, within that list of stuff I want to change in 2024 are really attract 50 new clients, coaching clients and launch my group program. So we now have to take these categories and do something different for each of them.

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Okay, so now take the habits to implement and do the following. One answer why do you want to do this? So for me, eating veg, when I eat healthily and increase my veg intake, I feel better, my energy levels increase and I'm more productive. The question two is how are you gonna do this? So my plan is to eat at least two portions of veg or fruit, but mainly veg, with every meal. If I want to snack, then I eat fruit or veg as a snack. I do love apple and peanut butter, so these are the ways that I'm gonna implement this. So, and I most of the time I eat three meals a day. So if I eat two portions of fruit and veg with that, that's already six portions.

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Number three what is the barrier to this habit? So, my barrier to this habit is that I don't have it in easy supply. So I need to make sure that I have a good supply of fruit and veg in the house, make sure that I include it in my weekly shop and also have frozen options just in case. So I need to plan my meals weekly so I know that I have the right ingredients in the house. But also, these meals need to be for me. They need to be quick and easy meals to prepare.

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And then, number four what action do I need to take? So mine would be adding the calendar time to plan my meals and do my weekly shop, and also to identify 12 to 15 recipes that I like to cook and eat for inspiration. Now, I say 12 to 15 because that's pretty much three weeks worth of eating something different every night and most of us would kind of eat the same thing. So 12 to 15 recipes. If I get stuck about what to eat, then I've got a list that I can refer to. Okay, so that's the habit.

Speaker 1:

So you need to take each of the habits that you want to introduce and need to answer the questions why do I want this, how am I gonna do this, what are the barriers to this habit and how can I overcome them, and what actions do I need to take? Okay, then, for stop doing something. Okay, so mine is eating sugar. Now to stop doing something, you need to add in as much resistance as you can, and what I mean is that you need to make it as hard as possible to keep doing the action. So you need to ask how can I make this as difficult as possible?

Speaker 1:

So for me, it's not buying any sugary snacks with my weekly shop, and if I do buy something, then buy enough for only one portion. So don't buy those. What is it? Buy two, get one, free of Snickers bars, or because then you've got three in the house. Buy one and the actions. So I'm gonna book in a time, sorry. So, yeah, don't buy three, buy one.

Speaker 1:

Okay now, the third category was actions. Okay, so these are just stuff that you need to do, but maybe you need to do it regularly. And so, for example, social events, you don't want to book your whole year social events in one go, and so what I'm gonna do is put a time in my calendar that if I haven't got any social events going on then I will book some. And so it's booking time each month to begin social events and plan what I'd like to do, and I'm gonna pencil in the last Friday of the month to begin stuff for the next month plus one. Say, for example, in January I'll book for March, in February I'll book for April, etc. And this will be for both my friends and my husband. Another action for me will be to book a regular breakfast or dinner with my mom and sisters, and if we have a regular date, then it'll be harder not to do it. Say, for example, the last Friday of every month we can go for breakfast or go for lunch or go for dinner, and I know that's a good day and for most of us as well. My mom and my one, my mom and one of my sisters don't work on a Friday and the me and my other sister could probably get away with a breakfast, so look at, book it in. If it's in there, people are less likely to cancel.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so now for the harder bit our goals. So now this is the last bit, but definitely not the least. So one of my goals and my main goal is to attract 50 new clients, and this year. So the first question I need to ask is why do I want this? So if I work with 50 new clients, this will give me the level of income that means I can a hundred percent only do coaching as my career. This means that I'll be doing something that I love. So how can I achieve this? Now you need to write as many ways that you can achieve this as possible so I can increase my social media, follow, following and post regularly. I can network with my potential clients. I can look up websites and directories I can put, can promote my services on, tell as many people as possible what I'm doing, tell friends, or this could be featuring in someone's podcast or featuring in an article.

Speaker 1:

So think of all the ways that you can get to your goal. For example, yours might be I want to lose a stone in weight. Okay, now the ways you can get that is you can increase your activity levels, you can reduce your calorie intake, you can do a detox, you can cut out sugar, you can cut out alcohol. There's many ways that you can. There's many ways that you can achieve that. And then you look at each area or Each possibility and think about the one that you think will have the biggest impact and start with that one. It may well be that in January you think actually just by cutting out alcohol, I drank enough alcohol. In December, by cutting out alcohol or reducing my alcohol content will really help me to start to lose that way. So it's not about doing it really really quickly although some people that's what they want but it's about those incremental steps.

Speaker 1:

When you're trying to lose weight, it's not just about losing weight, it's about then keeping it off. So the slower it comes off, apparently, the slower it stays off. But the more sorry, the more it stays off. But so, but back to mine. So I've got different possibilities that I can get To attract 50 new clients. Now what does this realistically look like? So how quickly do I want this to happen? So for me, 50 clients in a year, that's roughly four to five clients each month. Okay, that's doable. The same as when you're losing weight. I want to lose a stone. Maybe you want to lose a stone in six months. That's two to three pounds a month, if my math is correct, and that is doable.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now you need to look at those different options and decide which one you want to start with and break it down into steps. So, looking at mine, the easiest one to do, and the one that is Not necessarily going to get me the fastest result, but the quickest one, is probably to Look at websites or directories that I can promote my services on. So, number one, I'm going to research coaching directories and add my services, and so what does complete look like? So what does what? What? When will I know that this step has been completed? So it will be when I found at least five directories and Research them and then added myself to at least one of those directories, the one that I think is Right fit for me. Okay. So Then you need to look at when are you going to do this by? So for me, I'm going to do this within a week. It's quite easy to be fair. I've already Started to research some of this stuff. So by Friday I'm going to have researched my coaching directories and advertise my services on at least one. Okay, then that's a big tick.

Speaker 1:

Now then, looking at what a slightly bigger thing is Going to be I need to increase my social media following and post regularly. So what I need to do for that one is write a social media plan. I'm going to write it by the end of January and Complete would look like for me having a clear message strategy for each of my trades and platforms, and have a clear strategy for how many times a week and on what days I will post, and Then also adding time in my diary to complete these actions on a weekly basis going forward. So now, maybe it can be what once I but you, I'm sorry I'll need to do the plan first before I need, before I can really understand how much time a week I'd need to dedicate to regularly posting on social media. So I also need to estimate how long it's going to take for me to complete the plan. Now I'm going to suggest eight hours, so I need to plan. So I need to plan in 12 hours. So I'm saying it will take me eight hours, but I need to plan for 12. So and this is when, given a time. I take my estimate and then add on 50%, because we often underestimate how long things will take. So giving yourself a buffer means that you kind of have some extra time. So now, between now and the end of the 31st of January, I'm going I need to work on this for 12 hours. So I'm going to block out three hours over the next four weeks to do this task. So I'm going to do three hours between 11 and two on a Monday morning.

Speaker 1:

Now what if I fail? If I fail, then I'm going to have to work harder to build my following. I'll be no further forward on my goal and I will not have a clear marketing strategy for social media. So how am I going to stay on track? So I'm going to make this my number one thing for January. So and I'm also going to get some accountability for doing this so I'm going to speak to my coach and I'm going to say that this is what I want to do and I'm going to ask for her to keep me accountable. And then you're going to plan the other things that are in that list, but just roughly plan them for the next three months. So February I'm going to look at network and opportunities, whether that's face-to-face or online. In March, I'm going to look at podcast articles that I can be part of and reach out to those, and all you need to do is make a high-level commitment. Don't overplan these things yet.

Speaker 1:

Now, looking at these goals, are there any habits that I can implement to increase my chances of this happening, or any changes to my routine? So for me, I'm going to spend an hour a day on sales. Now this could be replying to emails, reaching out to potential clients, researching sales technique, as this is my number one goal. I'm going to block out an hour a day to do this, monday to Friday, and I'll do this from nine to 10 every day. So I'm nice and fresh, can write those emails, I can reach out to those clients, and then I'm going to do the same for launching my group coaching program. So I'm going to go back through this Now. It may well be and for me, I think this is what it will be is that January is going to be focused on this one particular goal, and then the launching of my group program will probably come, maybe March or April. Now that seems like a long way away, but if I could get between then. So if I started in March and I've got 10 clients, then also that will help with my group coaching program, because I'll know what's working for me and not working for me.

Speaker 1:

And I think what we do is we try and do everything now and we need to plan it. We have a year, okay, and if we try and do everything at once, we're just going to run out of steam and energy and there's also other stuff that we need to do right, other life stuff. So I'm literally going to take it slow this year. I'm not going to over. I'm basically not going to over promise to myself. So now I have a clear idea of what I want to accomplish 2024, why I want to and how I'm going to get there.

Speaker 1:

Now I'm not going to try and do everything, as I said, at once. I'll take one habit, one goal at a time and prioritize it. Once I've done it consistently for a month or so, I'll then prioritize the next one. For me, my habit that I'll be prioritizing is eating five fruit and veg daily and working on my 15 new clients Now on a monthly basis. You should review your progress and make adjustments as needed. So what is working and what is not working and then plan for the next month. So remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and most people that fail on their goals and resolutions just try and change too much at once and basically we get tired or we get bored or we just run out of steam. So take it slowly. Identify your goals, your habits, what you don't want to stop doing and the actions that you can take now. So, as we wrap up this episode, I hope you feel inspired to approach your goals with a fresh perspective this year.

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Instead of succumbing to the pressures of new year, new me transformation. Let us acknowledge the incredible individuals we already are. Remember, real change starts from a place of self-love and acceptance. Celebrate your uniqueness, embrace your strengths and take pride in who you are. Growth isn't about becoming someone different. It's about evolving from a foundation of self-worth, whether you are already set your goals or just getting started, focus on small, consistent steps forward.

Speaker 1:

Join the I'm Good Enough Club and affirm that this year is about being the same awesome year, with the potential for growth and fulfillment. Encourage you to reflect on your past achievements, express gratitude and face challenges with resilience. Let go of negative beliefs and habits, replacing them with positive alternatives that align with your values. As you plan your goals for the coming year, break them down into manageable steps, prioritise self-love, positive habits and intentional growth. Regularly review your progress, make adjustments and celebrate the journey. Thank you for joining me for this episode. If you found value in our discussion, don't forget to subscribe, share and leave a review. You can also follow me on Instagram ClaireFallLiving. Here's to making 2024 a year of purpose, joy and success. Until next time, keep thriving on your journey.