Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey, hello and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is another episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast. This is the place that you want to be if you are looking for the tips, tools and techniques to create more of a success in your leadership with less sacrifice in your life. And today we're talking about goals, something that we usually talk about this time of year but I've actually got a challenge for you, and it is focusing on one goal only for the next 30 days, so stay tuned.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Welcome to the Getting to Clarity podcast, the place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life. Here's your host, debbie Peterson, of Getting to Clarity.

Speaker 1: 0:54

All right. So you know, as a leader, it is natural to juggle multiple responsibilities, because you're likely managing a team, you're chasing deadlines and not to mention the thinking that you have to do about hey, what is next level growth and how are we going to get there? Either in your leadership or with your team. But when it comes to self-improvement or professional development, getting ahead usually happens by narrowing your focus, and that's what I'm going to encourage you to do, with one key goal that can truly elevate your impact. Here's why, when you zero in on a single objective, you eliminate distractions, you streamline your efforts, you get much more efficient, and it creates room for you to make intentional decisions about your progress and what you want to achieve. So leaders thrive on clarity, because it fuels intentional action. So by focusing on one goal, you'll not only set yourself up for success, but you're going to inspire those around you to adopt that same focused approach. So here's how this challenge works I'm inviting you to commit to improving one specific area of your leadership or your life, depending on what it is that you want to achieve. It could be something like sharpening a professional skill, building a better habit, or maybe even exploring something totally different that helps you to grow. So here's the framework, the steps in the framework. First, just choose your goal, you know. If you want to do a brain dump of all the things that you would like to achieve, sift through them, prioritize and come up with one, the one that is going to make the greatest impact on your role as a leader. Maybe you want to focus on becoming a better communicator. Maybe you want to delegate more, which is always something I advocate for or maybe it's time your time management needs some help. You're chasing absolutely everything and feel like a hamster on the wheel, so focus on something that's going to make a difference for both you and your team. The next step is I want you to break it down, because big goals can feel overwhelming, especially when they're ambiguous. I want to become a better communicator? Okay, but what does that really mean? You've got to be able to spell it out and know what it means for you, so that you can then break that goal down into manageable steps. So, for instance, if your goal is to enhance your team building skills, you're looking to bring your team together. You could start by scheduling one-on-one meetings, or maybe it's a book that you pick up about leadership strategies. Small steps, consistent steps are what lead to the big results. So, once you have broken it down again, you've got a starting place. You've got a roadmap for where you want to go.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Prioritize these lists, and what I advocate for is creating three buckets an A bucket, a B bucket and a C bucket. The A bucket is critical to what you want to achieve. The B bucket is important to what you want to achieve. The C bucket is whatever is left over. Now, as a high-performing professional, you're going to want to put everything in the A bucket and stress yourself out, but we're not going to do that. So you take your list and you divide it among the buckets equally. So if you've got 10 items in A, you can have 10 items in B. You can have 10 items in C.

Speaker 1: 4:38

So, after you've broken it all down, you want to do weekly check-ins. You want to schedule on your calendar to be able to look back at what your week was. You're going to reflect on your journey. How's it going? Is it working? Do you need to shift something? So this flexibility is something that's really important and when you reflect, so say, for instance, I'm going to give you some prompts to help you along the way.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Maybe week one Okay, what's your goal and how will it impact your leadership? You need to understand that. Think about the why behind your focus. Week two All right, you've had a full week under your belt. What's working so far? Okay. What are you going to keep doing? What challenges are you facing? Where do you have an opportunity to overcome some obstacles? Week three what is it that you've learned? What have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about your team? How has your leadership grown? Week four okay, we're at the end of the challenge. What's the biggest takeaway? How will you make sure that you hold onto this lesson, moving forward? So celebrate that, and that helps you to then create your next goal, or maybe your next challenge. So there's something I call the leadership edge of focus, because focus on one particular goal. It amplifies your leadership effectiveness. When you're clear about what you want to achieve, it's easier to have more focus, be more persistent and definitely be more resilient for yourself and for your team.

Speaker 1: 6:19

I also recommend a NLP technique, so neuro-linguistic programming, and that's what I'm trained in, and this technique can help you stay motivated and proactive. So one strategy that I can recommend is reframing, and here's how it works when you encounter a challenge or an obstacle, you will you have an opportunity to reframe it as an opportunity. So if you've got a team member, for instance, and they struggle with a task, instead of seeing it as a setback, you are going to reframe how you look at it and instead see it as a chance to coach this person, to give them what they need to move ahead, to empower them. So reframing shifts your perspective from something negative to something positive, and then you can tackle problems with more of a growth mindset.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Now accountability is somewhere I want to go next, because you need to build it into your leadership journey. So, even as a leader, you don't have to go it alone. Share your goal with a mentor, if you have one, a coach, if you're working with someone or, at the very least, someone that you trust. So, say, for instance, a leadership coach, they can help you develop strategies to hold you accountable for taking action. I actually have an accountability coach that keeps me focused on what I'm going to do, what I say I'm going to do to make sure I get it done. So if your goal is team focused, maybe you can bring them into the goal by being open about your goal and your intention and seeking their input. That way it is a conversation. Accountability creates momentum and it keeps you grounded. It keeps you focused.

Speaker 1: 8:09

So how do you get started? Great question, number one you really want to figure out what your objective is. You want to get clarity around that, so write it down and define what success looks like to you. You've got to name it, to claim it, so be specific, and the more specific the better. Number two review weekly, every week, what is going on, what is working, what isn't. What do you need to do a little differently? What have you learned? Number three engage with the people that support you. Who's in your network? Share your goal with someone who can offer their experience, their feedback, their encouragement, because leaders don't grow in isolation. It's the connections that you build that are going to help accelerate your journey.

Speaker 1: 8:54

One thing I emphasize to leaders is the power of daily intention setting. We were just having a conversation about this with a leadership cohort that I facilitate. So, for instance, each morning, visualize your day. Maybe it is achieving what you set out. That's going to move you towards your goal. To make sure that you're clear, you're focused, that you are reaffirming your commitment to the goal, then get clear on just one thing, just one thing that you can accomplish that day. That'll move the needle towards achieving this, and it will be different day to day. Some days you'll have a little more room. Some days you won't have any room at all, except maybe to order a book on Amazon or capture a website of something that you want to research. It doesn't matter, as long as you do something. That is what is going to keep you focused, engaged and aligned with what you want to achieve.

Speaker 1: 9:50

So, as a leader, you know that challenges are part of any process, but when you face a setback, all you have to do is ask yourself what the lesson is. How can I approach this differently? It's an opportunity to learn something for you. So look at challenges as opportunities to grow and don't forget to celebrate the wins along the way, because growth is never linear, but anything that you do, any progress adds up. So focusing on one goal as a leader helps you to be more disciplined, more intentional. You're going to develop some really good habits that extend beyond this challenge and be more intentional as a leader.

Speaker 1: 10:38

So imagine applying the same sort of clarity to other goals that you have, whether that's in your career, your leadership or perhaps an area of life, and pretty soon you will start putting together and moving toward this aligned vision for yourself. At the end of the month, take a little bit of time, look back and ask yourself how has focusing on just one goal changed you? How has it influenced your leadership? What have you learned about yourself and what have you learned about your team? And then use these lessons to build upon them for the next thing that you want to achieve.

Speaker 1: 11:17

So if you are ready to lead with clarity, then define your one goal today, or at least within the next 48 hours, take an opportunity to break it into actionable steps and share it with someone that can hold you accountable, and this is your chance to lead by example, while growing personally and inspiring others along the way. So for more insights and resources, you can head on over to my website at wwwdebbypetersonspeakscom, and here is wishing you all the clarity you deserve so that you can achieve the goals you desire. Challenge on Talk to you soon. Bye-bye for now.

Speaker 2: 11:58

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity Podcast with Debbie Peterson. If you enjoyed this show, please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit DebbiePetersonSpeakscom.