MindsetGo iCommunicate Podcast
Welcome to the iCommunicate Podcast where we develop the mindset and provide communication strategies to foster confidence, emotional intelligence, as well as organizational, team, or personal growth. Our progress and improvement is not limited to a training session; it embodies a constant cycle of self-reflection and continued learning on individual and communal levels.
MindsetGo iCommunicate Podcast
ICommunicate Radio Show #59: Progress vs Achievement
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The following is a paid program. The opinions are those of the hosts and guests, and not necessarily those of the station or its management.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to iCommunicate on Full Service Radio, AM 830 WCRN. To join the conversation, call 508-871-7000. Now, here's your host, Mark Altman. Good afternoon, everyone.
SPEAKER_02I'm Mark Altman, and I am in a great mood today. I mean, I'm I'm looking outside. It's beautiful weather. My favorite producer, Ted, is back from vacation. Everything is going great in the studio today. So thrilled to be back. This is uh the Mindset Go Radio show. And um have some fun stuff coming your way today. A big theme of today's show is talking about the difference of progress versus achievement and some of the components that go into that. But I I have to get some things off my chest. And I want to start out today. We're at the time of year right now where the uh NBA and NHL finals are uh approaching, and uh you're hearing a lot of athletes talk about how they've battled through adversity all season long. They just use that term, and boy, we've been so resilient, and we've battled through adversity, and you know, we've persevered through tough times. And I just shake my head and I think of do these guys really even understand what tough times are in most cases? I mean, you've got to be kidding me. I mean, in their mind, a four-game losing streak is battling adversity in a tough time. And then I heard uh Portland Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard the other day go the opposite direction. He was asked about some challenges he's overcome, and he said, you know what, people have bigger problems than I do uh in competing in basketball. And it got me thinking you ever have those conversations with someone where you share your some tough things going on in your life or some frustrations, and then you'll talk to someone else and you'll say, Well, you know what, compared to other people, it's really not that bad. And I and I I think a lot when I hear people say that because they say it, I don't really think they believe it deep down. And so what? You know, if they don't believe it, is that such a problem? And what it comes down to is when we talk about words like adversity and perseverance and resilience, it's almost like if we haven't battled something horrible, we don't have uh a cancer or a family member that's died or someone that's been injured in a car accident. We're almost not allowed to say we've been through a tough time because it's either not as bad as someone else, or we need to apologize for feeling the way we're feeling. And that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And one of the reasons why I wanted to focus so much on the difference between progress and achievement today is because whatever everything's relative, and whatever experiences you're going through personally, um, if you can start to develop some of the coping mechanisms and processes and self-awareness to develop resiliency and perseverance in such critical life skills like that, then good for you. And you don't have to diminish the value of that accomplishment based on whatever society's template for earning that right. So, why did I think progress versus achievement would be a great title today? Well, last weekend I had the opportunity to travel down to Washington, D.C. because my uh uh 22-year-old daughter was graduating from George Washington University. And uh talked to a lot of parents of other graduates that were there, and I watched the graduation as I snoozed through all the names being read. We've all been there for that one. And I got to thinking, as I was being so proud of my daughter, I said, what am I actually proud of here? Am I proud of the fact that she graduated from college? I am. Am I proud of the fact at her major and the experiences she she was able to have in college? I am. But when I ended up uh with my family there, I ended up making a little mini speech, dad speech that night, and I found myself complimenting her and really focusing my admiration and pride with her on the habits, on the habits that she had developed that allowed her the opportunity to graduate from college. And my daughter happens to have gone through quite a bit. She is actually in her life, um, she has no interaction with her mother, um, had a very difficult upbringing in some of the issues her mother had, and um actually has shown a tremendous amount of resiliency and perseverance throughout her life. And she's very involved in the mental health community and uh is actually the executive director of a nonprofit called Let's Empower, Advocate, and Do. And the mission of that nonprofit is to get mental health education into high schools uh in conjunction with physical health education. And so I found myself complimenting her on the different behaviors and habits and attitudes I had seen along the way. And it got me thinking that what about all the people who don't experience the outcome of graduating from college or even from high school for that matter? What about the people who work professionally and who don't necessarily garner a lot of awards or outcomes or achievements? How do we measure progress if there is no achievement? And I don't think progress is easily identifiable. And one of the things when I do leadership training for companies, I often talk about is how often do you give a compliment to an employee that isn't obvious? You know, again, not as an outcome. In other words, if someone turns in a project, you're it was well written or well done or whatever. And how often do you look for opportunities to give people non-obvious comments? And so I think there's a big void in communication with recognizing progress when there isn't an outcome and an achievement on the end. And that's why I was so passionate about talking about the show. You know, we're we're we're we're a society that is so obsessed with achievement. You know, we take so much pride in how much we can get done in a given day. How many, you know, I'm one of these people, and I admit it, I fall into the habit where I'll go to work and if I'm not training or coaching or speaking, you know, I'll I'll I'll go through 50 emails and I feel on top of the world. It might not be what I needed to do that day, or my biggest priority, or the best use of my time. But boy, if I if I deleted 50 emails that I was able to read through, I feel like on top of the world because my to-do list has gotten that much smaller. And the problem with these achievement and outcome-based mentality is it really drives our behavior. So if that's what we're looking for, to know how to assess whether we're productive or efficient, then we might be making poor decisions and bad choices. So if you think about it for a second, if you're going to really understand how to make decisions and how you've how to evaluate, how do we build that confidence? If if we're if we're gonna recognize progress without achievement, how can we do it? What are the different ways we can do it? Well, here are the ways that we can do it. One of the most common ways we do it is feedback from other people. We're very we're we're we're a culture that is very reliant on feedback from other people, so much so that one person's feedback could dictate your confidence, your self-esteem, your belief in yourself, your ability to contribute. So, first is feedback. Second is our own self-belief and confidence. So, do we have that confidence to know, hey, I'm making progress? And if we do, what's it based on? You know, how do you assess that? How do you assess progress? You might say you're making progress and you're really not making progress. You might be rationalizing, or your inner voice could be playing tricks on you, or vice versa. So you've got feedback from others, you've got your inner voice, you've also got past experience. So are you trying to improve and progress in a way that is compare comparable to something you've done in the past where you can measure it up against? So that's a third way to do it. But to really understand how to make progress versus achievement and really how to measure it, you have to have some measurement tools in the first place. And I'm not talking about scientific data-driven measurement tools. Uh I'm talking about a thought process. I'm talking about a mindset. I'm talking about incremental improvements. I always t I always tell this story when I'm training, and it's a it's a it's a short story, but it's one of the best habit improvements I've made in the last two years in my life. And I put it up there in one of the all-time greats. So I don't know about you, but I cannot stand going to the dentist. I heard someone say, and for all the dentists, and I I like my dentist, and for all the dentists out there, I apologize, this isn't my joke. I heard this the other day when I was at George Washington, they said, uh, what do you call the person who graduates last in their class in medical school? And they said a dentist. And I said, geez, that's that's kind of harsh. But in any event, I digress. So, point being is that I'm one of these people who goes to the dentist, and every time I go to the dentist, I get the lecture about flossing. You know, you really got a floss. You know, your gums are swollen, you got a floss. And of course, just like so many other people, I'm like, I know, I know. And so I ignored it for years and years. So in December of 2017, right around holiday time, going to bed, and I felt something stuck in my teeth. And so I couldn't get it out. And so I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna floss it out. Okay? So I floss it out, and then I had bought this water pick like four years earlier. And I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna just throw on that water pick and see how that goes. And I throw on the water pick, and I'm thinking to myself, I use it and I look down in the sink, and so much food is in the sink. And I was so disgusted and grossed out. And that was my signature moment. That was my turning point that said, I gotta floss. I I gotta use the water pick. And I'm no word of a lie, in the last, it's been about a year and a half since. So I'm gonna say, in the last 500 to 550 days, not only have I flossed 99% of those days, but in some cases I'll even do it twice a day when in the previous 40 years of my life or 45 years, I hadn't done it at all. And I share that story because most often with progress and habit change, we're looking for some big event to dictate the motivation or urge for that habit change. And you know, if you think of people who stop smoking or who have alcohol addiction or of any kind of addiction, very often something traumatic or dramatic has to happen to push them to make a behavioral or lifestyle change. But a lot of us don't need that. A lot of us don't necessarily need something traumatic or dramatic to happen, but we often depend on it to happen as a primary motivator for that change. And so much of what I'm trying to teach and ingrain in corporate culture right now is understanding what intrinsically motivates, intrinsically motivates and drives you and to want more and to ask for more of yourself, but knowing that you don't have to go from zero to 60 in five seconds. Knowing that progress can take you where you want to go, but to get there, you have to have reasonable standards, you have to have reasonable expectations, and again, you have to set a mindset of how am I going to get there, when am I going to get there, and what am I going to feel good about. So when we come back from our first break, I will continue talking about how to build that mindset and motivation. You're with Mark Altman. This has been the Mindset Go Radio Show. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_01You're listening to I Communicate with your host, Mark Altman, on full service radio, AM 830 WCRN. Once again, here's Mark.
SPEAKER_02Okay, welcome back to the Mindset Go Radio Show. I'm your host, Mark Altman, and we're talking about uh the difference between progress and achievement. And uh wanted to start out with uh an experience that I had recently that really dictates this. I was talking to someone who is trying to get to the gym, and my uh business partner teases me all the time. And, you know, I signed up for a gym membership a couple of months ago, and I keep telling myself I'm gonna go. And I'm like, well, I did the first part, I signed up, and he teases me, he said, I'm their favorite client because I pay them and I never go. And I'm like, I am absolutely their favorite client. So what I was thinking about is so many people either work out or aspire to work out. And I think about the kind of conversation you might have with someone that's working out. And so typically, if someone's going to the gym, especially as a man, the stereotype of being a man, if you're weightlifting, it's, you know, how much can you bench press? Or, you know, what is the what is the outcome at the gym? You know, how many miles can you run? How much can you bench press? Uh, you know, what how do you measure your endurance? Things like that. And I think we we tend to go to that versus asking how we're progressing at the gym. So for instance, for me, if I was able to go three weeks to the gym and go twice a week when I had gone none, I would love someone to say, how's your effort been going and trying to get to the gym? And that's progress. And it's not necessarily, I mean, if I did nothing else but go on a treadmill for an hour, that's progress. And so I just got to think that's such a common area where people struggle to be motivated, to stay motivated. And it's all it's an area we still typically dictate outcomes and achievements. So one of the things I think that's interesting about progress is I think of the employee life cycle. And the employee life cycle has many different parts, but the parts I'm going to focus on today, um, the first one I'm gonna start on is the last step in the employee life cycle, and that's the exit. And when employees leave companies, I often think, wow, why are they leaving the company? And is it because the company was deficient in some way, or was it just because the company, maybe the employee was thrilled with the company, but they just went on to greener pastures and bigger challenges. But for the premise of this discussion today, and we're talking about why do employees leave companies, I think about the concept of an exit interview. And an exit interview is something that some companies do, some companies don't, but it's an it's an opportunity to really evaluate what you can learn from that person about perhaps the current culture at the company, perhaps about some of the leadership people in the company, a perspective on what is good and isn't good about the company. So a lot of companies will take the time to do that exit interview because it's a learning opportunity, because it provides them data and feedback on how they can get better. What's interesting about that is what I try to train companies on is the importance not of exit interviews, the importance of stay interviews. And stay interviews requiring regular milestone check-ins with your team, leadership team, entire uh company base to understand how things are going. And do they feel like the company is making progress? Do they feel like they're making progress? And do they feel like they are a part of the company's progress? And very, very few companies do stay interviews. Why? Well, because of time, right? That precious commodity that everybody has run out of. Time. Everybody's always so busy. We talk about this on past shows. So to do a stay interview and to invest the time, well, think about this. Most companies only do one performance review a year. So if you only do one performance review, a question I always often ask leadership is well, whatever goals and metrics you set mutually in that performance review, how are you measuring that from one year to another? Because if you're not talking and looking back at that performance review more than once a year, boy, that's very hard to enforce and difficult to keep track of. So look at all the touch points as opportunities you could have. You could have a performance review, you could have either annually or perhaps quarterly, you could have an exit interview, you could have a stay interview. But the question really becomes if you're trying to understand and assess someone's progress at a company, whether it's skill set, knowledge, experience, initiative, problem-solving skills, you name it, then if you're not doing those stay interviews and if you're not doing reviews more than once a year, that's when and where you're going to have issues with employee engagement, culture issues, and very likely issues with your client base. Because internal customer service directly impacts external customer service. And internal customer service is the way you treat your employees, the way you treat your leadership, the way you treat the environment. It's the environment you create. And so, from a progress perspective, I think that those stay interviews are such a prime opportunity to get feedback and to get data aside from assessments, aside from surveys, to really evaluate the progress of your company and the individuals within that company. And this demon of time just continues to haunt us all. And I was joking with a with a group I was working with the other day that when you actually ask someone to do something for you, with you, professionally, personally, and that person responds and says, or or uh whether they say this exact phraseology or they paraphrase and they say, Oh, geez, sorry, I don't have time, they might as well hold up a sign when they say that to you and say, Well, I do have time, it's just not important enough what you're suggesting. Because that's really what they're saying. We all have those choices, don't we? Yes, there are certain responsibilities we have on a daily basis, but we all have those choices. And so when we don't have the time or make the time, we're either making a conscious decision that it's not important enough, we're disorganized and we don't have our priorities in order in the first place. We're playing catch up and being reactive, like so many professionals are every day where they're where their to-do list and their time management is dictated by reactive methods and strategies. And so those are the challenges we face. And that kind of behavior and that kind of thought process directly impacts your ability to move forward and progress. And your ability to move forward and progress translates into the outcomes and the achievements and the goals that you want. Goals are a funny term to me. You know, I hear a lot of people talk about goals. You know, we do strategic planning at companies, we have employees that we ask them to set goals, we set Goals for them. And I always I always kind of chuckle. I used to have such a uh a trigger and a pet peeve around when people talked about goals because there's so much of a focus and emphasis on a goal, but not nearly enough to match on how you're going to achieve the goal. And that's the important part because if you set a goal but you don't know the roadmap or the achievement on how you're going to get the goal, so what? And then what happens is it's really a damaging process because what will happen is when you don't meet your goal, what happens? There goes that inner voice telling you you're a failure, telling you you're not doing what you're supposed to do, telling you you're not good enough. That's what happens. And then when we go to set more goals in the future and try again, then that inner voice kicks in again and says, ah, you know what? I tried this before, I'm not going to be able to do it. And that that record, for you young people out there who don't know what a record is, I mean Leonard Skinnard was on a record. So that record keeps playing over and over, and the deeper ingrained it gets in our thought process of not having the confidence to achieve goals, the harder it becomes. So when I come back from the break, we're going to talk about it's one thing to set goals, it's another thing to understand the critical thinking and thought process you need to have to realistically achieve them, and also really decide if those are the goals you want to pursue and aspire to achieve. And also understanding the uh pieces of progress you can uh experience along the way to know that even if you don't hit that goal, maybe you improve some habits, maybe you improve some attitudes, maybe you improve some behaviors. So I'm Mark Altman, founder of Mindset Go, and uh this is the Mindset Go Radio Show, and we will be back right after the break.
SPEAKER_01You're listening to i Communicate with your host, Mark Altman, on full service radio, AM 830 W C R N. Once again, here's Mark.
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the Mindset Go Radio Show, and uh we're gonna get into a discussion about goals, but before I do, we have a caller. Uh, caller, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00Hi, Mark.
SPEAKER_02How are you?
SPEAKER_00I'm good, I'm good. So my name is Georgia, and I had a question for you.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, so in the past, I've listened to some of your shows before. And in the past, um, you've talked about the importance of processes and organizations striving to build those processes to replicate um success. And I was wondering, you've talked about the importance of communication so much. And why do you think organizations don't build communication processes or don't prioritize that uh internally?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a great question, Georgia. And thanks for uh being a listener of the show and calling. Thrilled to hear from you. Uh you know, it's it's it's it's really tricky. You know, I think the word processes sounds very uh technical and analytical. You see a lot of processes in manufacturing and project management. Um often there'll be processes even around critical thinking and problem solving, which of course are very essential. But in the most fundamental life skill and communication, and let's face it, Georgia, communication is a really big word. So to say build communication processes, that could cover a hundred different things. But but I think what I see is that one of the biggest areas we need to build processes, especially to improve corporate culture and engagement, is around self-advocacy, believe it or not. Um we're in an environment now where so many people are talking about collaboration and the importance of exchanging ideas and thoughts and the the focus around innovation. And I think I think self-advocacy feels like such a heavy word. Um but it's it's so impactful because there's multiple ways you you could build processes in the workplace. So, for example, let's talk about meetings and having effective meetings. So I've talked to so many companies who say their meetings aren't effective, and what they see as the reason their meetings aren't effective is because they're repetitive or they're redundant or you know, people just don't care. And it's usually a blame on the people participating in the meetings. But how do you what is the process for the meeting to make it effective? How do you empower the people in the meeting to feel heard and feel valued so they feel like they're contributing and have an impact? So for someone to sit down and say, you know what, well, we better create a process for meetings, I'm not talking about an agenda. I'm talking about a process to foster and enhance collaboration and communication.
SPEAKER_00Now, forgive me for interrupting. No, you're fine. Do you think that creating that process is more centered around the organizational structure, like taking the initiative and creating that process? Or do you think that's more of a part of the company culture as a whole, or do you see it as one and the same?
SPEAKER_02No, I think that's a great point, actually. I might have to put you on payroll, Georgia, with insight like that. Um So um no, I think it's gotta be a part of the culture. As a matter of fact, uh a lot of times when companies bring me in for training on a variety of topics, they'll say, they'll say, okay, we want you to train these people. Here's the problem, here's what we're trying to fix. And and my response is, well, it's gotta start from the top. Um the leadership has to support and and model the behavior that they're wanting from from the team. So to your point, Georgia, if uh if if there's if there's gonna be processes like that that are built, but if the leadership team doesn't really prioritize that and they're not they're not modeling or teaching that kind of behavior, and then to ask uh other people to do it in the comp within the company, I just feel like that that that's gonna fail. Um so I think it has to be um it has to be a cultural thing. But I also think that a lot of times leadership doesn't take the time to do it because they feel like uh they have to be the ones to do it. And I think the the team that's actually in the trenches and doing the work would be more than capable of creating a process like that. But I just don't think, Georgia, that it it enters the thought process to build processes for advocating in meetings, or how about this, advocating when you're struggling and don't know the answers to something. And how do I go to my manager and say, boy, I don't I don't want to be judged. I don't I don't want to be let people down or disappoint people, but I really have questions and want to feel comfortable. I mean, like it might be silly to have a process for that, but the other thing, Georgia, but a process is it doesn't have to be 10 steps, it could be a three-step process. Hey, here are the three things to keep in mind when you want to seek feedback or seek support from a manager. Are you with me?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_02So I I think I think there's a it's I think there's three key things, Georgia, it comes down to one, um, building this thought process of communication into the company culture. I think second is is removing the stigma that a process has to be mechanical or digital, and and then also removing the stigma that a process has to be super long and time consuming.
SPEAKER_00Definitely.
SPEAKER_02So I think those are three of the issues.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I I would agree. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_02Well, thanks for the call. Please call again. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02All right, have a great day. So uh Georgia brought up some really good points, and you know, I I know a lot of people will say that uh uh, you know, hey, I I I wouldn't have thought of this or I didn't think about this, which is fine. I mean, that's human. We all we all have said that or done that at one point or another. But when you look at if you were to break down the primary problems that exist in the workplace today and identify the root cause of why those problems exist, let's take a quick look. If you look at engagement, employee engagement, why do we have employee engagement problems? Because there isn't a connection between the vision and the goals and the interests of the company with the employee. Now that's a very high-level umbrella look at it. But if that connection isn't there, what does that mean? The root cause is there's a breakdown in communication. If you're having trouble retaining your employees, employee retention is as big a problem as ever. Why are you not able to keep your employees? Because you're not able to satisfy their needs, you're not able to engage them. Why aren't you? Because there isn't a clear open channel line of communication where you truly understand their expectations and have given them the opportunity to articulate those expectations. When you look at sales, why do why does revenue stagnate or why does growth stop? Why does service and performance struggle always, always, always gets back to the root of communication. So when I think of processes, I think of first communication processes. And those processes could be as simple as dealing with a client complaint, how to have that conversation on the phone. I mean, the big bucket that I refer to this at Mindset Go is called conversation intelligence. So these communication processes are all incorporating three aspects. This is how you know it's a good process. It has these three aspects. One, conversation intelligence. What is conversation intelligence? It's every time you have a conversation with someone, keeping in top of mind what you're saying, how you're saying it, your listening skills, and your body language, right? So that's the elements of conversation intelligence to build into your process. Second is emotional intelligence, having some self-awareness that when you have these discussions and you have the multitude of conversations you're going to have every day, how do how do the people you're speaking with perceive you? What is the pattern of behavior they have had with you? How do you perceive your knowledge and credibility going into these conversations? Uh, what is the person's knowledge and experience having these conversations? That's all self-awareness, right? Then you have the self-control. You know when you get in these conversations, many of these people you're conversing with, you know how they're going to react. You know their personality, you know what frustrates you them, you know what motivates them. But that's part of emotional intelligence is recognizing those items when you're having those conversations. And the third is a behavioral intelligence. Understanding the different pieces of what it takes to influence, persuade, motivate, support, encourage. So when you build the process, I'm not talking about a process that says, remember to motivate, remember to encourage, although having reminders built in as part of your process are wonderful. There's no downside. But I'm talking about, and I'm also not talking about a script, because when it comes to communication processes, I would never want anybody to be scripted. It will impact their ability to listen, it will impact their ability to ask questions, and it will make them too tunnel-visioned in the agenda of the conversation. What I'm talking about is creating a simple outline to understand and remind yourself these are the things I need to be thinking about, these are the things I need to be talking about, these are the things I need to be taking into consideration when I have these conversations. And I mean, there is so many processes in communication I have built for companies. But at the end of the day, here's what it comes down to. The analogy I made before about going signing up for the gym was only the that was the easy part in step one. Well, here's the analogy I can make for you. Building the communication process is actually the easy part. And it's not easy, but it's the easy part. It's changing the habit to start using it. Because remember, most people have never had or used a communication process before. So that would require one of two things, which often can make people very uncomfortable. One is when you go into these conversations, pulling out this process, reviewing it, and making sure this is the right thing, and creating the mindset and creating the mindfulness to know you want to get better and make progress to have more effective conversations. And the second thing is the habit change itself, which is why do I want to do this? How is it going to help? Why am I going to take the time to pull out this piece of paper? Heck, why am I going to have to take the time to have this piece of paper and have notes in front of me when I have this conversation, knowing that the other person might be like, What are you looking at? To which I would say, Oh, this is actually a process created to keep my thoughts organized and to be emotionally intelligent. What do you think a person would say if that's why you explained you had a piece of paper in front of you? I think they'd be impressed. But you have to have the motivation, you actually have to believe it's going to lead to something. And when I come back for our final segment of the show today, we're going to talk about how setting goals and knowing how you're going to achieve those goals is directly attributed an impact by knowing why you're why you have those goals in the first place and why you'd want them and why you'd even want to achieve them. So this is the Mindset Go Radio Show.
SPEAKER_01I'm your host, Mark Altman, and we'll be back after the break. You're listening to I Communicate with your host, Mark Altman, on Full Service Radio, AM 830 WCRN. Once again, here's Mark.
SPEAKER_02All right, good to be back. Final segment of the show today, talking about uh progress versus achievement. And we're going to finish up uh talking about some goals and uh but they move with a focus on the progress within those goals. So, you know, I was just talking about before the break your why. And so I find a lot of people set goals because they're supposed to. Because someone tells me they someone tells you they need to. Oh, maybe, you know, Ted, that might have been a Freudian slip when I said tell me. I mean, I'm just saying, I've just caught myself doing that. I'm sure that's true, actually. Uh so but all kidding aside, what's the motivation? Is it society tells you you should be better at this? Is it the people around you saying that you have to be better at this? Or intrinsically, do you want to be better at it? And that's big because your chance of success at reaching a goal is significantly higher if you are intrinsically motivated and if you really understand your why of how this is gonna help. Now, one of the things that's tricky about goals is what is the end result? So, for example, if I said that I'm gonna for the next week um not check emails for the first two hours of every workday, the question is over the next five or ten business days, how many times do I need to do that where I can consider being proud of myself or where I could recognize achievement? And this is where things start to go off the rails with setting goals. And that is so if five of the next 10 days I'm able to accomplish that, did I, did I, did I achieve something? Did I hit a goal? Well, it wasn't the end goal. I didn't do a 10 for 10, but you have to know when you're setting goals, you have to set parameters for progress and growth. Because if you go into that goal and you expect perfection 10 out of 10, and you don't give yourself leeway and you don't give yourself some room for life, it's really going to impact your mindset in future when you decide to set goals again. So to me, if someone told me, if a friend or colleague or family member told me, hey, my goal is to not check emails five of the next or uh all of the next 10 days. And then I talked to them two weeks later and I said, How'd you do? And I would, they said, you know what, you know what I typically hear in situations like this is, uh, I did okay. You know, I I really didn't hit the goal. I was able to do it some of the time, but not all of the time. So the question I ask you on the show today is if you're on the receiving end of a conversation like that, what's your response? Is your response go, oh, that's a bummer? Or is your response go, great job? Wow, you started to change your habit. You made progress. You know? And then my next question would be you know, what's your next goal? Maybe seven of ten or eight of ten? Because a lot of times when people, and I'm and I'm really embellishing by using this term on purpose, a lot of times when people quote unquote fall off the wagon, they, their future progress and success could totally hinge on the person they go to and how they react. And if that person says, oh, bummer, versus that person says, congratulations, that could change everything. And I know that might seem like a lot of pressure, but that's the reality. Since feedback is one of the primary drivers of where we get our confidence and mindset, it's huge. So I talk about knowing your why and understanding where it comes from. I talk about knowing that progress and incremental growth along the way still counts. And a big part of that is if you were only able to do five out of ten, then to do some self-assessment, say what got in the way the other five days? And then can you build a process to reinforce the goal that you're trying to do to give you a greater chance of success? That is critical. Now, there's a term that most of us, perhaps not all of us, have heard, and that's the acronym for SMART goals. Now, what SMART goals, the acronym stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. And I'm just gonna quickly walk through a couple of these because they're important. When we talk about specific, here's an example. I'd like to lose weight. That's not specific. Okay? Saying I'd like to lose 10 pounds is not only specific, but it's also measurable. So if you don't give yourself a specific and measurable goal, you're totally not only setting yourself up for failure, but you really are not able to actually recognize progress if you're not measuring it against something. Attainable. Attainable is big. If I'm to hire a salesperson or if I'm to manage a sales team and I tell them in their first year I expect them to sell a half million dollars, and they're like, okay, but they don't have any idea on how they'll be able to accomplish it, or if they even think that's realistic, don't even bother. Because if you don't believe deep down you can hit this goal, why even have it? And I know there's a lot of people out there probably right now who are saying, well, what about stretch goals? Okay, well, stretch goals are good, stretch goals are valuable, but even the stretch goals should be attainable. Even if it's a long shot, it still should be attainable. Relevance. Well, that's the why. We talked about that, the relevance of the goal. But how will this help me? What will I notice when I hit this goal? How will my life change? How will my job change? How will relationships change with people around me? How will it affect my life? Hey, listen, it's like being in a classroom in school. Most of us don't care to learn unless it's relevant. Most of us don't care to hit a goal unless it's relevant. And lastly, timely. The element of timeliness. What does timely mean? Um, is this something that's going to have direct impact on your life right now? Why are you putting this goal to the forefront? Why has this all of a sudden become a priority? These are the kinds of questions. And so, lastly, now that you understand the SMART goals and the three elements, what's the action plan? How are you going to get there? What are the steps you have to take? What is the process you have to build? Every time, every day, every week, or whatever the frequency or timeliness of the The goal is what are the steps you are going to have to take that will pave the way for you to hit that goal? That has got to happen. If you do not outline the steps, if you do not outline the behavioral intelligence you will need to execute, if you do not outline the emotional intelligence steps you'll have to execute, it's probably not going to happen. So the final thought on this topic for today? Here are the three things I'm going to tell you that are emotionally important to hit your goals. One, growth mindset. Embrace personal growth. If you're going to take the time to be hard on yourself, beat yourself up, give yourself negative self-talk, prioritize personal growth and development. Second, overcome and let go of the fear. Fear is the biggest impediment to growth and progress and change. And lastly, let go. Understand the barriers and obstacles that are going to get in the way for you to achieving this goal. It really involves all of those components. So, with that said, hope you enjoyed the show today. Look forward to seeing you again next week. I'm your host, Mark Altman. This has been the Mindset Go Radio Show. Hope you have a wonderful afternoon. And the next time we talk, the Bruins will have been in the Stanley Cup. Have a great week. And join us for the Frankie Boyer show coming up next. Thanks, Ted.
