Deep Dive Dialogues with Dan Woerheide

Finish Strong and Start Planning Ahead: 7 Steps to Lasting Goal Success

• Dan Woerheide • Episode 3

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As the year winds down, it’s tempting to write things off—but now is the time to start building momentum for 2025. In this episode of Deep Dive Dialogues, Dan walks you through a 7-step goal-setting process that goes beyond typical “SMART goals” to help you achieve lasting results. Discover how to define your vision, overcome limiting beliefs, and create a plan that keeps you motivated when things get tough. This episode is your roadmap to start the year ahead with purpose and clarity.

Send me a note here: What is the single greatest frustration you are experiencing when it comes to building your business?

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Dan Woerheide:

Welcome back to Deep Dive Dialogues. I'm your host, D Warheide. Today I want to dig into goal setting. I say because maybe that's not everybody's favorite topic, or maybe you feel like you've got a grasp. Either way, I hope you'll stick around and hear me out. Before I get into the heart of today's content, I want to take just a moment to say that I would love to hear from you right, I've asked the same question and I'll ask it again today.

Dan Woerheide:

As a coach or consultant or creator, what is the greatest challenge, the single biggest frustration that you face right now when it comes to growing your online business? I'd love to hear from you. You can visit my podcast website, podcastdanwus, and there you can leave me a voicemail, send me a note. You can also sign up to receive updates about the podcast and anything else that I promote specifically to that email list. I'd love to hear from you either way, even if it's just to offer some feedback, or maybe you want some specific help answering a question. Feel free to shoot me a note there and I'll hopefully be able to create some content in that regard in the future.

Dan Woerheide:

So back to what I was saying. I want to focus on goal setting, but not just for the rest of this year, of course to add it as a framework to help you move forward into next year with purpose and clarity. I know it's really tempting to ease up as the year wraps up, but this is the perfect time to get real about where it is that you want to go. We're going to talk about building lasting goals that work, so you're not just setting up a new year's resolution that we all know fades out by February. If you go and look at the studies, they show that most new year's resolutions fail because they're not grounded in actionable, realistic plans. They lack the structure needed to keep you motivated over time. That's what I want to help you avoid in today's episode. So let's talk about why goal setting matters. Most people set resolutions with the best of intentions, but only about 9% of them feel successful by the end of the year, and again, a majority drop out as early as February. That's because they often rely on willpower alone or an overly simplistic plan. They don't have the support or tools to get through setbacks, distractions that inevitably come up.

Dan Woerheide:

Today, I want to guide you through some more meaningful processes that go deeper than the standard SMART goals that you may be familiar with or have heard about. Smart goals, as we all know, are a great place to start right. If you're not setting goals at all, smart goals absolutely Start somewhere. Write those down, meet those intentions. They cover the basics, the specificity, the measurability and so on and so forth. But to make lasting progress, we need to go beyond that. In my opinion, it's what I have learned and I have a profound respect for the process that I was taught and I'm going to introduce you here. And we need to get into the heart of why we're setting these goals, how we're setting these goals and how we'll overcome the inevitable challenges along the way. So I'm going to walk you through a seven-step goal-setting process that I have used. I learned this process in the military when I became a master resiliency trainer. I use this in my own coaching. I use these personally. This process does go beyond the basics and will help you dig deeper into creating a plan that's aligned with your values and built to keep you moving forward right, taking regular, intentional action. That's the key.

Dan Woerheide:

So let's jump in Step number one. Let me back up and share with you. First of all, the source of this seven-step goal-setting process really comes from University of Pennsylvania that delivered the model that we taught in the Army around the Master Resiliency Program. It's a really great process. I have adapted these steps based on the real world, the real life experiences that I've encountered in my business and some of the things that I have learned along the way. So what you're getting today is my version, but the foundations came from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dan Woerheide:

So, step one defining your goal. What do you want the end step to look like? That's the first step to define your goal with absolute clarity, not just a broad wish, like I want to get in shape, but a clear vision that you can picture achieving, asking yourself things like what does my successful outcome look like? This is what we call your end state what will be true about your life, your work, your health, etc. When you get there. And then, to make it real, align it with your personal values. Take a look at any online values sheet or chart that help you identify the things that are going to be most important to your goal. Why way that reflects your values, gives it staying power. Values like these drive you forward even when things get tough. So see, we're already going deeper than what smart goals address.

Dan Woerheide:

Step two know where you are right now. You have to understand where it is that you're coming from before you can get to the end state you desire. So get a realistic look at where you are right now. This is the energized phase, because it's about taking stock of where you're starting and finding the motivation in that awareness. What strengths and resources do you already have? What obstacles might you face? Think through categories like your mindset, your physical readiness, the support systems that you have. What are your finances looking like? Any other areas that may impact your ability to achieve that desired end state? This step grounds you in the reality and helps you anticipate those potential roadblocks so that you'll be ready to address them as they come up.

Dan Woerheide:

Next we need to take a look at our priorities, how we set them, or the priorities we set and the challenges you've identified. You want to break that goal down into three to four broad areas that are going to be essential to achieving that desired outcome. If your goal is to start a business, these priorities could include building a network right who am I connected with? Securing financial stability, or maybe even outside funding, whatever that looks like for you, and developing your skillset so that your business in the right place by the time you get to the end state, to help you achieve it. These become your focus areas to make sure that you're not spreading yourself too thin or getting distracted by other things. So these are basically three or four mini goals within the overall goal. By the way, I failed to mention that when you're getting specific about your goal, defining that end state, you want to include things like time right. When do you want to achieve this end state? I failed to mention that earlier on, so I just backed up to step one for a second. So bear with me Moving on though step four, making a plan for steady improvement.

Dan Woerheide:

This is actually where the smart steps come in. Most goal setting processes will teach the smart steps, but they don't break it down into a proven framework or process. That makes smart steps only a single part. So we start building the action steps here. Remember, we're not stopping at smart goals. We're adding that layer of power to these. Power. Statements is what we're going to develop here. These are phrases that will help you keep focused and remind you why you're doing what you're doing. So let's say, one of your smart actions is I'm going to drink 80 ounces of water every day. That's a start, but when you couple that with a power statement like I'm fueling my body so that I can feel my best, it adds a layer of purpose and keeps you motivated. It adds a layer of purpose and keeps you motivated. These SMART and PowerSteps together give you the roadmap and the motivation to keep going.

Dan Woerheide:

Now, smart, as you may or may not recall, specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and time bound. So if you and there's a couple variations of what r and t actually stand for, but they're relatively the same. So keep that in mind as you're building these action steps, so you take those. Let me explain this a little bit better. In step three, you decided what priority those three to four broad areas that are going to be essential to achieving your desired outcome. So once you've identified those three to four broad areas, step four is really about taking those broad areas and defining specific action steps to address each of those throughout the process. So here you're adding action steps used using the smart steps process. So these action steps are clearly defined like mini goals. Again, I will drink 80 ounces of water every day. It's specific, it's measurable, it's actionable, it's relative and it's time bound. So, using that process, you create these steps and then you build these power statements. The power statements support those action steps, those many action steps that you're going to take to help keep you focused when things don't feel perfect. Right, I am fueling my body so that I can feel my best, and the reason you're doing that is so you can achieve the overall desired outcome you defined in step one.

Dan Woerheide:

Step five pursuing regular action. Once you've got your plan, the key is to act intentionally and consistently. You focus on what's important now. There's an acronym called it's WIN. That is simply what's important now. This is where you take action every day, even if it's small steps. You set up a daily routine. You check in with yourself each night or each morning and ask what's the most important thing I can do right now to move closer to my goal? Holding yourself accountable to these small, steady actions will add up over time and keep your momentum strong. So the real focus for step five is deciding what's important now, writing that down and holding yourself accountable towards those daily steps or time bound steps that you outlined in accordance with each of the three or four broader categories. You see how these steps kind of work off building one another.

Dan Woerheide:

So step five is defining your regular actions right? Cliff Ravenscraft. I heard him talking recently on a podcast episode, and it may have been in a coaching session as well, but the word decide isn't enough by itself. I think he attributed this to Tony Robbins even. But the word side is the root of the word decide, and to side, if you go back and look that up, is to kill right. Kill off any other options, and in order to achieve success, once you've made that decision, you have to commit to taking any action that is relative right now, in this moment, or as soon as possible in the next 24 hours. That's going to help drive you in the direction towards being successful at whatever it is that you have set out to achieve. Now. Step six commit yourself completely To see this through. You need to be fully committed to this. That goes back to what I was just saying about deciding.

Dan Woerheide:

Motivation can fade, so it's an essential requirement to create systems that remind you why you're working on this goal, what it is that you're aiming for, find someone to share your goal with and who will help hold you accountable. Sharing that goal with someone else will, you know, inspire them to take action in their own world, potentially, but in this particular case, they're more inclined to check in on you and say hey, you know, you told me that you were working on this, how's that going? That helps with an accountability piece. Set up cues in your environment, right. Posting your goal on a mirror or someplace that you're going to see it every morning when you're brushing your teeth or blow drying your hair or whatever it may be that you do. Putting that goal up in different areas of your house or your living arrangement so that it's in front of you. It's a reminder. Maybe you add a reminder to your phone you know sticky notes in your workspace, but finding ways to stay connected to your goal throughout will help you stay motivated, especially when those challenges arise that we all know are going to present themselves.

Dan Woerheide:

Step seven consistently monitor your progress right. Part of setting goals is monitoring where you're at in the process of achieving that goal. Monitoring your progress is essential. This is where you're going to check in with yourself regularly Whatever makes sense to your goal. Maybe it's weekly, maybe it's bi-weekly, whatever works for you and the goal that you have set to achieve. Whatever works for you and the goal that you have set to achieve right. You're not going to be developing a goal of running a 10 mile. Run a 10 mile like the army or Marine Corps 10 K. It's a 10 K, not a 10 mile. Anyway, army has a 10 miler. Uh, you're not going to set up a goal to run a marathon period if you've never run before and expect that you can just do it without checking in.

Dan Woerheide:

And a goal like a marathon, if you've never run before, might require weekly check-ins. What was my progress this week towards being able to complete a marathon? How many days this week did I run? How far did I run? Things like that. It's all about determining are you making progress? What is working? What adjustments do I need to make to what I'm doing to ensure that I'm staying on track? Be sure to lean on your values when things do get tough. They'll help you find the solutions that you're looking for and to remind you of the bigger picture in the first place, this regular review again, whatever you set up that makes sense, keeps you on track and allows for small adjustments or tweaks as you go, helping you stay focused, stay in tune and grow, continue towards progressing and achieving your desired outcomes.

Dan Woerheide:

So there it is. Pretty simple, pretty short a deeper seven step process to set and achieve meaningful goals as we head into the next year, think of this as a start of your journey, not just making a resolution. Not just making a resolution. Instead of setting a goal that fizzles out by February, start with building the foundation that's going to help you sustain for the long haul. This is when it's time to finish strong this year. Now is that time. Get clear, build momentum and continue to carry that forward.

Dan Woerheide:

And before I go, let's just go back and revisit, in summary, right step one. Step one is defining your desired end state. Define your goal. What is it you want to achieve? Now? An important note here is just to say that it's not enough to define your goal and when you'd like to achieve it by, but you also want to ensure that it is a goal that is worthy of going through a full seven-step process to achieve. You know, if it's, I want to do X by next month. Does it require a full on evaluation to help you maintain motivation over the duration of the next 30 days? Maybe not. That's for you to decide.

Dan Woerheide:

The seven step process, though, that I've outlined and I'm going to summarize here in a second is really designed to help you achieve the bigger, more long-term goals. It doesn't have to be a year, maybe it's three years, maybe it's six months, but the goal that you decide here to use this process for should be something that's worthy of going through a seven step goal setting process to achieve. So, step one defining that and state your desired goal or outcome. Step number two taking inventory of where it is that you're right, where it is that you are right now. Knowing where you're coming from will help you develop the rest of this process.

Dan Woerheide:

Step three decide what you need to develop. What are the priority areas? Again, this is three to four broad areas that are going to be essential to your overall goal, breaking it down into things like mindset, physical, financial, etc. Step four make a plan for steady improvement. This is where the smart steps come in. These are designed to create miniature steps that in each of those three to four broad areas defined in step three.

Dan Woerheide:

Step number five what are you going to do now? What are the regular action steps that you're going to take? What's important right now? Step number six commit yourself completely. Decide and fully commit yourself to. These are the things, the desired outcomes, that I am going to achieve. And then, step seven monitor your progress, check in, decide how often you need to check in to determine your progress and then what adjustments need to be made along the way if you're not achieving the track that you have set out. So there it is. Seven-step goal setting process.

Dan Woerheide:

If you have questions, I'm here to help. I'd love to talk with you or, you know, join you to walk through setting some realistic goals, helping you develop this plan and to continue to carry forward as you grow your business. Thanks for joining me today. As always, I want to wish you a great week and, before I go, I want to remind you I'd love to hear from you, you know. Do you have ideas or something specific you'd like to hear discussed in an upcoming episode? Is there a specific challenge that you're facing? And the question I ask there is what is the single greatest challenge that you're facing when it comes to growing or starting your business?

Dan Woerheide:

Right now, you can visit podcastdanwus, get on my mailing list, hear updates about the podcast and other things. I do have something that's coming up. I'm going to put a date of the first week of December as a five-day challenge. I'm going to be walking people through only by email and only available to people who are on my email list for this podcast, so I hope that you'll sign up there, but you could also send me a short voicemail or a note on that page and share your thoughts or your answer to the question. I'd love to hear from you, and if there is someone you think can benefit from setting achievable, realistic goals and could benefit from a seven-step process, I'd love it if you'd share this episode with them. So until next time, have a great week.