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51 I New Year's Goal Setting For Myofunctional Therapists

• Carmen Ball - Myofunctional Therapist, Online Business Coach, Passive Income, Online Courses

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Have you ever looked up and realized you’ve been running your life and business on autopilot?
 
 In this episode, I’m walking you through the exact high-level process I use every year to set goals that actually support the life I want to live, not just numbers on a spreadsheet.
 
 This episode is for the myofunctional therapist who is trained, motivated, and still feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure where to focus next.
 
 We’re talking about intentional evaluation, realistic goal setting, time management methods that work, and how to stop letting procrastination and imposter syndrome run the show.
 
 If you want clarity, structure, and a way to move forward without burning yourself out, this episode will help you reconnect with what actually matters and create a plan that feels doable.
 
 Grab your ☕coffee and your courage - and let’s dive in!
 Xo, Carmen

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SPEAKER_00:

My friend, I love closing a year and setting goals for the new year. And you're gonna be shocked after you listen to this episode to hear how I set goals for the next year and what categories I set them for. You're also going to learn how I evaluate so that I know that I'm not living life on autopilot and that I am consistently improving every day. If you've finished your myofunctional therapy training and feel stuck on how to start, grow, or simplify your business, welcome my friend. I'm Carmen, a dental hygienist who once sat right where you are, trained, motivated, but totally unsure how to turn that training into a real profitable business. If you're ready to attract consistent clients, create predictable income, and simplify your business, grab your coffee and your courage, my friend. Let's make your Maya business make sense and a whole lot of dollars. Wow, my friend, I am so excited to be here recording episode 51 for you because we are talking about setting goals for the new year. And the fact that this is episode 51 means that I'm almost done with my commitment to do a weekly episode for a year, regardless of how many people listen. I don't care if it was just five people a week, and three of them were my mom and my sister and my uh daughter. I did it. Okay. So this is not my first attempt at recording this. Now, the first time I recorded it, it was almost an hour long. I don't want it to be that long. So I'm going to be a little more succinct. But this is part of the new year's goal planning that I do every year in my business. And part of the struggle that I was having is that a lot of you guys are right at the beginning, or you might just literally be hitting start, or you might just be planning to study with me inside my programs in the new year. So doing a big goal planning thing was going to be a little bit overwhelming. But big picture, I am here helping you. My superpower here is to help you build a life that you are bonkers about. And when I started doing this, I thought it was all about the dollar, which I'm not gonna lie, the dollar makes the world go round, but it has become about so much more than the dollar for me. For me, it's about the freedom, it's about the time freedom. It's it's about being able to uh be right here with a pup sitting here at my feet while I record the podcast, um, to have my husband retired and be home with me. There it there is just so much to it. So I decided to um go back to my original plan after several attempts of trying to simplify it. We're gonna go high level here, okay? So I'm gonna walk you through the steps of how I set up my goals for the next year. Now, I will tell you this isn't like financial planning, any of that. This is just like straight up my goals, okay. Now, I can't say that I took uh or that I created this. I do really a mashup of three different mentors or business coaches. Um, I do their their thing, but I kind of mesh them all together. But um, this first one that we're gonna be walking through is from my uh my mentor Olivia. So we're gonna just dive into it. I have some steps here. Like I said, I'm gonna try and keep it succinct, and um, this is very much an actionable uh episode for you. So you can listen through, then I want you to go back and actually do the work. So let me uh let me back up just a little bit. So last week I was on vacation. Um I take a planning vacation every year, and there's really two intentions. This always happens at the end of the year. There's always two intentions. Number one, no working, which is very difficult for me because I love what I do. And then the second one is that I'm gonna plan for next year, okay? And this isn't just planning a couple hours. This is like two half days of work, okay? So um I want you to go through this and do it this time, but also big picture. I want you to go out next year at this time and also give yourself some planning time. Okay. So, step one, my friend, you are going to get a notebook, your journal, wherever you put all your thoughts, okay, and you are going to just brain dump all of your thoughts for the year. Good, bad, all the things. Okay, that's gonna be step one. So I have mine here in front of me, and it says things like it was an adventure. We bought our paradise, I moved across the country, I got married, we adopted a kitty, I met new friends, um, I welcomed lots of students into my$12,000 program. I um completed a lot of projects, I developed a routine, I spent time with family, I um grew professionally, I completed my podcast promise to each other. So you're going to just go down your list with all of these things, okay? Then you're going to let me see, how do I want to simplify this? Then you're going to um, we're going to go over what's called the life will, okay? So there are eight areas that are considered part of the life will, okay. So you're going to on your list of paper write down business, finances, health, friends and family, romance, personal development, fun and recreation, and physical environment. Okay. All of those are self-explanatory. Physical environment is like your house, your office, like your physical space. Okay. So when you start planning for next year, you're gonna consider all of these areas, okay? And this is why I really struggled because I wanted to keep simplifying it and not overwhelm you with eight areas of your life. But like I said, I'm helping you build a life you are bonkers about. So year in and year out, I want you to learn to be able to do a process like this so that you can see where you're at, and you know, so you know where you're going. Okay. Evaluation is so very important. So of these areas, those eight areas, you're gonna go through and you're going to record on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the best, your satisfaction with that area, okay? Business, finance, health, all of those areas. Is it a magnificent uh 10? Okay. Is it uh a one? Terrible. Is it somewhere in between? Okay, so just go through, don't give it too much thought. Just give your number. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Okay. Um, let me see what I had for mine. I am going to, gosh, I've got so many pages here. Okay, so when I went through on mine, my career satisfaction was a seven, finances was a seven, health. Uh-oh, was a two. Family and friends was a six. Romance was a seven. Personal development was an eight. Fun and recreation was an eight. Physical environment was a nine. Okay. I will tell you this that I am really terrible at assigning a number to things, but that's what I came up with. Okay. So then we're going to evaluate all of those areas. Okay. And this might be a little bit harder for you if this is the first time you're doing this. It's okay. Next year it's going to be so much easier and you're going to be so excited to do it. So then on your notebook or wherever you're writing, I encourage you to at the top of every page put one of those categories. So give a whole page to business, give a whole page to finances, give a whole page to health. Because the first thing that we're going to do now that you have evaluated your satisfaction, you've given yourself a number there, we're going to take a deeper dive into why you rated it that way. Okay. So it is important to evaluate, not just set goals and not just like plug along through life. You need to evaluate because, my friend, dream lives don't happen by accident. They don't just show up. You don't just have an amazing life. They require that you are intentional. And so when you evaluate things, it keeps you from going on autopilot and just all of a sudden having lost a decade of your life. It keeps you intentional. It allows you to highlight the good. That's one of my biggest problems, is I never celebrate things. I'm always just like, check next item, check next item. Um, it helps you get into problem solving mode when you have data to back things up. Okay, so you have probably heard me say before, I am a huge fan of data-driven decisions. That is absolutely true. And when I go through this year-end process to evaluate and plan for the new year, this really helps. Okay. And then last, it ensures that you are constantly improving. I do not care what goal I set, all I want every single day is that I'm better today than I was yesterday. That's the biggest thing. Now, the good thing, my friend, is it's easy to evaluate. We're gonna follow a three-step process in evaluating what worked, what didn't work, and what are you gonna do differently. So the first thing at the at all of for all of those categories that you wrote at the top of the page, you're gonna go through and write down what worked. I want you to start here. I want you to focus on the good. Our brain is so doggone good at finding out what doesn't work, what what we failed at. It is so good at serving us up garbage, but it is it's harder pressed to find good things. So we're gonna start with what worked, okay? So for every one of those categories, you're going to go through and make a list of what worked. Okay, now all of these are not going to be the same by any means. Okay. So, like if I look at my career and business, which I rated a seven, I um I wrote down for, you know, just a couple of things that worked. That, you know, I produced a podcast and content every week. I really got dialed in on my standard operating procedures. Um then like finances had just a couple. And then remember, health was a two. My friend, I only had a couple things at the top for what worked, but I have a whole lot of stuff for what didn't work. So, anyhow, you're gonna go through, pause this if you need to, and go write down what worked for all of those categories, okay? Then once you're done with that, then we're ready to start evaluating what didn't work and what you're going to do differently. Okay. So the thing is, when you do this on your paper, I like to put two columns, a left and right. On the left is what worked, what didn't work, and on the right is what am I gonna do differently. And the reason that I like to do that is so that immediately when I write down, hey, this didn't work because of A, B, and C, then in the right column, I can offer up a solution how I'm gonna correct A, B, and C. Okay. So this is gonna take you some time. This took me every bit of two half days to do this because I think about it and I would come back to it. I think about it and I would come back to it. The thing is, my friend, is if your answers are not very intentional and if they're not really um, like if you don't put any effort into them, if you don't have a meaningful answer to the question, like then garbage in, garbage out, right? If you write down because something didn't work, um my health, you know, I rated it a two because, you know, like what didn't work, if you write down, well, because I I just didn't do anything. That gives you zero to go off of in improving yourself for the next year and then setting that next goal. So definitely put some effort. That's why I said you need to have time to do this, okay? So you're um, so you're going to evaluate those things, okay? What worked, what didn't work, what are you gonna do differently? Okay, so then once you have all that information, my friend, then we're going to set goals for the next year. And and again, going back to why I really struggled with with recording this podcast and having it be longer and have so many things in it, is because in in building a life you're a bonkers about, you've got to have all of those areas. Because if you're imbalanced in one area, you're going to feel it and know it. So for myself, I read you my scores. Everything was really, really good, except a health was a two. And trust me, I feel it. I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my joints, I feel, I feel it in the waistband and my knickers. I mean, come on. You um for me to have an amazing, outrageous uh life that I'm bonkers about, I want all of these areas to be a better than a two, okay? So I digressed, right? Um, so as you go through figuring out what worked, what didn't work, what are you gonna do differently? Then we're gonna come up with a goal for each of these categories, okay? So I want you to practice constraint and we're going to set a goal for one goal for one category. Okay, hopefully that's clear. So for career, for business, you are going to create one goal for that. Okay, so take pause this, go through and write all of your goals. Now, the the thing that I do want you to remember, my friend, A, you only have so much bandwidth, there's only so many hours in the day. You only get one goal per category. Once you meet it, then you can make another one. But but I want you to consider your bandwidth and then the whole quality of life wheel, meaning. Um, so for example, like when I look at what I scored, fun and entertainment, I think it was a nine. Uh, let me see, fun and recreation, it was an eight. So then when I go and I look at what worked, I mean, you guys, I was all over. I vacationed every month, I did so many things, but I don't have the bandwidth and also I don't want to do that for the next year. So, in setting my goals, I chose for fun and entertainment to read two books a month. So, as you're mapping these all out, writing down those goals, please don't start with a career goal of$100,000 this year if you're just starting your myofunctional therapy journey because that's going to likely not happen. Okay, not terrain on your parade, but we're also being uh realistic here. So you're gonna practice constraint, you're gonna go through these setting these goals. Okay. Also, I want you to think about these SMART goals. They need to be specific, they need to be measurable, they need to be attainable. So, like I said, don't don't want to make a million dollars this year. Um, they need to be uh relevant and they need to be time-bound. Basically, if I sent you an email and said, Hey, Karen, did you um earn nine thousand dollars in January? Okay, um, did you reach out to four new providers each month for the first six months of the year? Okay. So get very specific. Consider what you have time for and make sure that they are um that they are all smart goals, okay? If you, how do I want to word this? If you have an area, for example, my health was a two. So in going into 2026, I have a huge focus on bringing that number up, which means my bandwidth for doing other things is gonna go down. Hence why I'm not traveling. I can't travel 50% of the time and also get my 10,000 steps in a day and sit in my sauna and lift weights three days a week, and all of the other self-care things that I do. So, so that's why I had to um do less robust goals in other areas. Okay. So once you're happy with your goals for each category, okay, career, finances, health, friends and family, fun and entertainment, personal development, physical inter physical environment, and romance, then the next step is you're going to reverse engineer a road path, a road path, a road map to accomplishing that. Okay. So for example, if your result for 2026 for health is to lose, well, let me go look. Let me just look at mine. Mine, um, I think my goal, now I can't find it. Let's just say your goal um in for How many six months is to lose 30 pounds. I'm doing easy math here. Six months, lose 30 pounds. So that the if I do the math, that would be five pounds a month. Okay. So then I'm going to roadmap and back into it to get that result. I need to lose five pounds per month. Therefore, I need to do this. I need to do this. I need to do this. Make it very specific. Okay. I want dates. I want deadlines. I want how much, when, frequency, all of that stuff. Okay. Then the nice thing about doing that is if you're coming up with a roadmap, you are planning, you're problem solving ahead of time. Okay. So again, for example, if I want to do all these things to improve my health score for next year, because that's an important goal of mine, I'm going to have to have that time on the calendar. I'm going to have to be very specific. And it's on there. Okay. So it allows me to problem solve ahead of time. Like for example, Wednesday is my day that I see clients until the evening time. So for myself to get my walk in, my 10,000 steps, and sit in the sauna and lift weights, that's very likely not going to happen. So I'm going to decide ahead of time that that is not going to work in that schedule that day. And I will plan according. Okay. So when you're planning like this and you're laying out a roadmap, it allows you to problem solve ahead of time. All right. So at this point, you would have eight goals for next year. Like I said, one at a time, and you're only working on that one. Okay. My career goal, I have one career goal written down. I don't get to work on three others. I get to work on that one that's on my list. And I have a roadmap of exactly what I need to do to get there. Okay. And then last, I come up with a word of the year. And this typically just kind of bubbles up for me for myself. It was very apparent this year that my word of the year needed to be something like honor and not that I'm not an honorable person, anything like that. Quite, quite uh the contrary, because I honor everything to everybody and I never honor it, or I'm obviously failing to honor it for myself. So rather than saying, you know, no, I can't do that right now, I do do it, and then maybe I don't go get my workout in, or I don't go for that bike ride I wanted to, or something like that. So you will know, or you can do some thinking. Um, like, what if you, what do you want more of? What's missing? What do you need to achieve your goal? So for me to achieve my biggest health goal for next year, that means that I need to honor my calendar. Okay. I need to honor myself. I need to honor my schedule. I need to honor my promise to myself. So, whatever your word is, my friend, I want you to put it everywhere. Okay. I don't know if you're a journaling human, but I journal every morning and I can guarantee you that that word of the day ends up in there. Okay, so this was a lot. My friend, what do I want you to do with this information? Two things. I want you to go to your calendar next year and block out a couple half days so that you can do your annual end-of-the-year planning next year. This year is gonna kind of be a little bit wonky because you're just getting into it, but eventually you will look forward to it. Okay, so go out there in the future and block that time off. I don't care how you have to do it, just do it. I don't care if you have to take two half Saturdays or whatever, make it happen. And then for this year, I want you to do the work. If you didn't do it while you were listening to this podcast, then go back and do it. You're gonna braind what you thought about this year. You're gonna identify uh your satisfaction with those categories. You're gonna evaluate. Okay. Remember, evaluation is so important. And then you're going to come up with one specific goal for each category. And I love that. Remember, you want to be well-rounded. So, again, because I'm spending so much time on my health next year, because it was a two. Um, the other things are supporting that, okay? Like fun and entertainment. I'm not gonna vacation all over the globe. I'm going to stay home and read a book. Okay, that's gonna help me meet my health goals. And then, my friend, I want you to follow it. Okay. And so we'll be really diving into that next year about honoring our calendar, honoring our commitments, you know, doing the things that we say we're gonna do, which will be really important for you as you build your business. So that is a wrap, my friend. That is all I have for you today. It only took me about 10 times to get here. I hope that this episode was uh helpful for you. And I've given you your action items. Okay, I've given you your homework. So go get started. And more importantly, until I am back next time, thank you so much for letting me be part of you building a life that you are bonkers about. I hope you loved today's episode, friend. I pray that it lifted you up, motivated you, and taught you something. If so, would you stop right now and go to Apple Podcasts and leave us a review? And lastly, make sure you've joined the profitable myofunctional therapist Facebook community. Links to all the goodies can be found wherever you're listening to this podcast. That's it for now. Cheering you on, my friend, and we'll chat soon.