CEO Lounge

How To Set Weekly Goals That Actually Lead To Real Progress

• Derrick Thompson & Joselyn Flores • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Setting goals is easy. Making real progress is the hard part.

In this episode of The CEO Lounge, Derrick Thompson and Joselyn Flores break down how entrepreneurs, startups, and business owners can create weekly goals that actually move their business forward.

Too many people stay busy all week without making measurable progress. This episode focuses on building systems, routines, accountability, and weekly priorities that lead to real growth instead of burnout.

Inside this episode:

  • How to set realistic weekly business goals
  • Why most entrepreneurs struggle with consistency
  • The difference between being busy vs productive
  • How to prioritize tasks that actually grow your business
  • Weekly planning strategies for startups
  • How to avoid overwhelm and burnout
  • Building momentum through small wins
  • Turning discipline into long-term success

If you’re an entrepreneur, startup founder, freelancer, content creator, or business owner trying to stay focused and organized, this episode will help you create a weekly system that produces real results.

Subscribe for more conversations on entrepreneurship, leadership, business growth, marketing, mindset, and success.

#Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #StartupTips #Productivity #GoalSetting #SmallBusiness #CEO #Leadership

Busy Is Not Progress

SPEAKER_04

Being busy in progress are not the same thing.

SPEAKER_01

To just be running around, running around, running around just for busy sake, like to me, that's that's that's not a great thing. Man, you're just always exhausted. You're gonna give up. Yeah. They give up. You stay, you stay in the same rat race of where you are, and these big ambitions that you have or these goals, they just at best, they're just your resolution when the next year comes. And the next year comes, and the next year comes.

SPEAKER_04

We're gonna teach you how to fix it.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes, this is key.

SPEAKER_04

Welcome to the CEO Lounge. This show is founded by Derek Thompson, a 30-year entrepreneur who has built multiple ventures from the ground up. And I'm Jocelyn Flores. Uh, five years into my own entrepreneurial journey, here to ask Derek, how do we set weekly goals that actually move the needle forward? Because we believe people don't fail just because they don't have goals. We believe people really fail because they don't have systems set up for progress.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So let me ask you something. Have you ever felt like you have goals, you have vision, you know what you should be doing, but at the end of the week, you are not any closer to where you want to be in life. So basically nothing actually moved.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

If you have ever felt this way, this episode's for you. If you feel busy, but you're not progressing, motivated but inconsistent, you're disciplined, but you're still feeling stuck, this is who this episode is for. So today we're gonna be talking about what probably are the mistakes you're making, how to fix them, and what's gonna happen if you don't learn how to fix this issue. For the person who is doing a lot but not moving forward, if somebody is honest with themselves, how many of their weeks actually move the needle?

SPEAKER_01

Very few. Very few. Um, it's the it's the 80-20 rule.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, where you know, 20% of our effort gives us 80% of the the results. And so, you know, we do a lot of busy work, a lot of tasks that don't move the needle. And if we could replicate that 20%, and actually, my goodness, if you could make that your 80, yeah, oh my gosh, you know, you'd be so, so efficient. But today we're gonna try to put some things in place to help people, you know, be much more efficient with their goal setting to accomplish those longer term term goals. And want to give a shout out to our day ones that are here in the audience. So uh we'll take some questions at the end, but uh so great people that have helped us with the show. So we got Jack here in the audience. Thank you for doing your thing. Yes, yes, zoom in, zoom out. That's uh that's an inside joke, right? You know, yes, yes. We've got LLD Lando here in the building. So I know you're gonna showcase something later, so we can't wait to see that. And then we've got the Reverend, Reverend Kent in the building. Yes, yes. So yeah, I can't wait to see you in many, many, many more that we can't name. Yes, yes, yes. All right.

SPEAKER_04

Love it.

Signs You’re Spinning Your Wheels

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, yeah, to go back to it, um, you know, just have to spend, spend, focus on the right things. Yes. And, you know, again, so much of our time is wasted, and we're gonna talk about how we can not waste so much time.

SPEAKER_04

What are signs that someone is busy but they're not building anything?

SPEAKER_01

Man, you're just always exhausted. You know, you're exhausted from doing all this work and you're still in the same spot. Yeah. You know, you still have these same aspirations that are have the same time mark. You know, it's kind of like when I was talking about leaving corporate America and I got tired of it being two years away, two years away, two years away, was always that same thing. That's for most people. You know, we have these goals that are in place that we have not written down, we've not noted, they're just in our head. That's one mistake.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

And two, it's always that same time marker. Yeah. So um, that's those are big.

SPEAKER_04

Have you seen people that have stayed in this cycle for years?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. What does that usually lead to? A lot.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it leads to it leads to you just give up. You just then stop. You say, ah, well, it it just didn't happen. Yes. You know, it wasn't for me. There's a lot of excuses. Yeah. Um, you know, oh, I you know, could have done it if I if I really wanted to. Um, I've heard the I was afraid of success. So, you know, you know, just we can go on and on about that one, right?

SPEAKER_04

That's what it, yeah. I think we kind of talked about that too in our um hustle culture episode. You know, there's like some uh there's this culture that loves to look super busy. Uh and just for the sake of looking busy to have a to be able to show all the to-do tasks on their planner, to show all the different colors on their Google Calendar, just to show off that they're busy, but you're not actually seeing anything coming out of that busyness. Exactly. And so on that, on this, like, I don't know, this idea that the busier that I look, the more important that I'll probably feel, the more important that I'll look to other people. Why does being busy feel so satisfying to people even when they're not being effective?

SPEAKER_01

So many, many people feel that way. And I'm actually, I'm gonna go back because I have one other example that I want to come back to this because that that's a great, great question. But going back to have I seen people with this, yeah, there's one person in particular that I can think of that we used to always talk about certain goals that they had. And I remember the last time we talked about them having these particular goals, it's been like seven, eight years at least.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And I remember saying, because we every year we would talk about the same thing. I said, okay, when we come back next year, I don't want to, we're we're not gonna have the same goal that we're talking about. You're not gonna be in the same state. Yeah. So let's make sure when we come back, we're at a different state. And I was like really emphatic about it. And we haven't talked about it since, so I'm sure it's still the same thing. And that's the case for for so many of you. For most people. Yeah. But to go to, you know, busy being satisfying, that'll really, that'll really set me off. You know, because I I just that's that's just and for me personally, that's just I find no satisfaction in just being busy for busy's sake. No, that's in some people think I was having lunch with somebody the other day. We were talking about, you know, a lot of people think that's a flex. And it's not that like he, I I want to, when you call me and ask me what I'm doing, I want to say I'm chilling. You know, and that was one thing he said. He was like, Man, I've never heard you say that. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, and I'm I'm mad about it. Yeah. You know, because that means I haven't elevated to a certain point to be able to say I'm chilling. I'm always uh doing this, uh, doing that. I I don't want to be that. I'm doing that because I'm trying to progress and I'm in the you know, the the race of it still, but that's not, but but at least I'm seeing progress with it. But to just be running around, running around, running around just for busy sake, like to me, that's that's that's not a great thing.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and I think there's a misconception that if you're doing a lot, uh then you're like probably meeting a lot of goals, you're progressing. Like I activity, being busy can sometimes feel like progress, but they're not the same thing. Being busy and progress are not the same thing.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no, unless you're you're you're retired and you've already got what you want and staying busy, fine. That's a totally different conversation.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But you know, if you're busy, busy, busy, and there's still all these things you're trying to accomplish and you're not accomplishing any of them, then what are you, what are you really doing?

SPEAKER_04

And so when we're talking about how to set weekly goals that are actually gonna move the needle forward, that are actually gonna move your business forward. And you know, all these things that we've been talking about, if you feel that you relate to that, where you're like, oh man, like yeah, I I I'm constantly exhausted, but I'm not seeing any progress. Or like I look at my to-do list and I go, I can't believe I have ever all of that to do today. And then I look at it again tomorrow and it looks the same, and then the next day it looks the same, but then I look back and I go, wait, but what did I actually accomplish this week, even though I checked so many things off? It's because you do not have a structure for progress.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

Why Goals Don’t Move

SPEAKER_04

So you're doing a lot, but you're not progressing. There's no structure around it. So what's the real reason people don't define a clear weekly target?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I don't know, because they it's like they expect things to just happen. Um, you know, we we we all have things that we're we're trying to accomplish, but we're not writing it down. We're not making it reality that it's just here in our head. So I think that's the number one reason why. I think most people think that that that's enough. As long as I have mentally made a goal, then okay, good, at least I've done that. But okay, we all have goals. We all have things that we're trying to accomplish at some level, personal, business, whatever. There's some facet of our life where there's something that we're trying to achieve. But very few of us make it a reality by notating it. Yeah. So that's that's the issue. We most of it, we just have it up here in our head. So if we have it in our head, then we're clearly probably not doing the other things that it takes to get there because there are other things that you have to do to get to those long-term goals, other than just it being mentally in your head. Every now and then you'll make a step. Yeah. But if it's not right in front of you, you're not going to.

SPEAKER_04

Do you think sometimes we're measuring the wrong things? Or like what counts as you know, these goals?

SPEAKER_01

That's definitely part of it. Um, the the sometimes those some people are measuring, but they're measuring the wrong things, or you're measuring too far out. Okay. You know, and that that can be a problem. You know, you have these three to five year goals. Yeah. Then, okay, if it's three to five years, because you you need to be doing things every week. Yes. Um, some people say every day, you know, there's there's some type of cadence. Some people it's monthly, weekly, daily, but it has to be something in there. Yes. It can't just be yearly. Yeah. Because yearly, because there's a whole lot of steps that have to take place in that. And so, how many of us are actually noting those? We have these couple of big high-level goals that are years out. Okay, what's your tracking mechanism for that throughout the years to make sure that you're actually getting there? So some things just happen by happenstance. You know, you'll look at it when it's New Year's resolution time, you'll come back around. A lot of times it's the same goals that you had the last year, right? It normally don't move. And that should not be the case. When you're making your, you know, New Year's goals, you should see progress there.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and a lot of times we we don't.

SPEAKER_04

And I love it because you could be, you're checking it off. Like again, I think so many people can relate to the idea of like being so busy, and it's like, well, I barely even had time to breathe this week, yet I can't seem to measure what I actually accomplished. Right. Right. Because, well, you did a whole lot of things without a with there, but there was no goal behind it. It was just doing things, maybe not just to do them, because maybe they needed to get done. Right. But you didn't set a structure around getting any wins out of these tasks. Right. And I so many of us, I think, have been in that position where sometimes we're we're reacting instead of planning.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

Overwhelm, Planning, And Saying No

SPEAKER_04

So like we're waking up and we're just reacting to the day and to everything that's being thrown our way instead of waking up and like kind of even feeling our nervous system a little bit more calm because we have a plan for the day. Yeah. Instead, we're just waking up and reacting to everything that's happening. So, question for you Is overwhelm self-created in most cases?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, I think so. So, overwhelm comes from a lot of times doing too much, putting too much on our plate. That that's something. Overwhelm comes from not planning.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because if you haven't planned, then like you said, you're reacting to the first thing that that happens. So that's that's the importance of quiet time. That's the importance of that because as soon as everybody else gets up, as soon as everyone else gets going, then you're gonna get hit with a million things that you have to do. Yeah. And you're gonna clearly do those because they're in front of you. Yeah, there's a lot of heat around them, there's all that. And it's hard, it's easy to put your own goals to the bottom. And if they're constantly on the bottom, you're never going to get to them. Yes. You know, with the you can be have the best intentions, but there's so many other things that are gonna come up. So you have to have a plan and shorter term plan for that.

SPEAKER_04

And I've been, I mean, I've been learning so much throughout this whole journey. Um, not just even with CEO Lounge, just like with working with you for so long. And just, you know, and I think as you as you grow, you mature, as you spend a couple more years in business, you start to learn so many lessons. And the uh is overwhelmed self-created one. I feel like I can be I can attest to the fact that I think for a very long time I was creating my own overwhelm where I was so overwhelmed by everything. But then if I just looked back and like kind of had like an eagle eye view of my structure, of my processes, of my agenda, even when we did the CEO hack um that how to set up your agenda, and it'd be like, well, there's no plan here. So no wonder I'm constantly stressed. Exactly. No wonder I'm constantly agitated or I'm freaking out because I don't know what to do next, because everything carries the same priority. Because I have not set a structure up. Like I have a million things to do. Yeah, they all need to get done, but I haven't uh I haven't set up a structure for these. So I haven't been spared of myself. And I think in a lot of those times you would be so surprised at how much peace you can bring to your own life. Business is still stressful, right? Like there's gonna be moments of stress, but so much of it is self-created because of no structure.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it comes from no structure. That's the biggest thing. And I say right there, right there, along with it, is saying yes to everything. Saying yes to everything, not saying no. Yes, that is the other thing that will overwhelm you. Overwhelm you, yes. Yeah, you only have so many hours in the day.

Clarity Through Priorities

SPEAKER_04

Exactly. What role does lack of clarity play in inconsistency?

SPEAKER_01

I think that's everything. You know, you have to be clear. You have to be clear, you have to have priority. Yes. And that that goes into clarity. Yeah. If I have 10 things to do, then okay, what am I doing first?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And if you don't clearly have a one through ten, where where do you go?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I always have a to-do list.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

At all times. There's things that I have to do. And by every single item that I have, I have a number, one through whatever, buy it. I prioritize everything. And then sometimes, okay, if I've I have to step away and I come back to it and I look at their priority and I say, is this still the same priority? And a lot of times I'll adjust it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But there has to be some type of hierarchy. Otherwise, I'm just, what are you going? Where are you going? So it has to be that. So I think that's a very um critical piece in clarity is having hierarchy of everything that you're doing.

SPEAKER_04

And would you say too, even clarity and like what is it that you really want to accomplish here? Um, because what whatever business it is, even like it kind of even makes me think a little bit about knowing your uh ideal client and like really getting to know who your ideal client is. Right. Like we've spoken in previous episodes about how you can't send them the right message if you don't really know exactly what they want.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

You can't market to them if you don't know exactly what they want. You can't even create your services. And I feel like that you we can even translate that back to ourselves. So it's like, how can I set up my my wins for the week if I don't even know what long-term goal I want to accomplish? And the long-term goal cannot just be like, I want to be a business owner. Like, no. You like they they're big, but then you break them down. But when you don't even have your big a clear idea of your big goals, there's no way you're gonna be able to break them down into smaller, concise goals.

SPEAKER_01

That's that's very true. And I feel that works the other way. Yeah. As as well. Uh yeah, because there's so many that, you know, you right, you have to have the the big goal to make the little goal. But how how many people actually have, you know, small goals? Yeah. You know, it's just or they they don't have a plan to get there. Yes. So it's I think that's more the thing that I'm trying to say is, you know, we have our big goal. Yeah. Okay, we have that. Great. But what what's your plan to get there? And I think that's one of the reasons why we never elevate because it's not broken down into all of those, those bite-sized chunks. And if you don't have it broken down, it's just gonna become this big overwhelming, overwhelming thing that never gets done, that is on your list again. Come resolution time.

SPEAKER_04

That's exactly how it's like you may not have a motivation problem. Like motivation may not be your issue. Maybe you are motivated, but you have no structure. Um, and and if you can even be consistent, you can even get up very early every day, work really, really hard, but without structure, it's just gonna feel like you're you're not moving forward. So there's there's no structure. Again, if your problem may not be motivation, it may not be consistency, it may not be discipline. It's that you're doing all of these things without any structure, so you're not seeing any progress whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_04

But this is why we're gonna teach you how to fix it.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes, this is key.

The Weekly Win System

SPEAKER_04

And this is where we enter into what I'm really excited to talk about, which is the weekly win system.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_04

So this is why essentially we created the weekly wins, and it, I think that it was really birthed out of like a conversation we were having where you mentioned this concept. And even though it's it's you're gonna realize it's so something so simple. But to me, I was like, whoa, I love this idea of these weekly wins. Yeah. And you had mentioned it to me as something that you already, it's already integrated into your life. Right. It's something that you do. But when you even gave me this example of this thing that you already do in your own life, I said, wait, I want to implement this in my life and in my business and just in my personal life, which is weekly wins. And it may sound very simple, but it's not just anyone, right? Uh, so we're gonna talk about the weekly wins, and it's not to track everything. You're not tracking everything you're doing in a week.

SPEAKER_03

Nope.

SPEAKER_04

It's to focus on things that actually move the needle forward. So, really quick, I'm gonna go into kind of the system of what the weekly win is. Okay. And then we'll break it down and I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions.

SPEAKER_02

All right, let's do it.

SPEAKER_04

So the weekly win, uh, according to the CEO lounge, the system that has been set up is a four-step system. So, step one, it's set one real win before the week starts. So, ask yourself, what actually moves my business forward? What long-term goal does this support? So, a weekly win cannot just be any random task. No, and here's the good part too that like you taught me, it cannot be something that just happens and you and I counted it as a win.

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_04

It has to be something that I I set up before the week started. I wrote it down. Yeah, and it cannot just be admin work, it can't just be any task, it has to be something that actually I know this is gonna push me closer to that goal. Whatever goal it may be, you may have breaking it down into made different goals, but it's pushing you closer. So you know this one thing, if you get this one thing done this week, it'll push you a little bit closer.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

So it's not just any random task, okay? It has to be moving you closer, it has to be set up before the week starts. It can't just randomly happen to you. You had to have set it up as a goal. Number two, so first set one real win to protect it. Protect it. So that means schedule it, prioritize it, remove distractions. So we were talking it's not just thinking about it, write it down somewhere, have somewhere where you can visually see it. Um, and the best case scenario would be even you schedule when you can get this done during the week.

SPEAKER_02

Critical.

SPEAKER_04

Critical. Number three, step three, you execute it by Friday. So the timeline can look different for everybody, but by Friday, you are checking off this goal that you set up before the week started. And then four, reflect on it. So what worked? Yes, what did I learn? What didn't work? Um, what can I tweak? So step one, set one real win. Two, protect it, three, execute it, four, reflect.

SPEAKER_01

And on that reflect, I would say included in that would be to celebrate it. Yeah, beautiful, yeah. Celebrate it, yes.

Action-Based Wins That Move Forward

SPEAKER_04

So then here we go. What makes something a true needle-moving task? Okay. So for everybody watching, like again, it can't just be any random. Right, uh-uh. So so you might be going, okay, how do I know what counts, what doesn't count as a weekly win? Right. So what makes something count as a weekly win? What makes it needle moving? What makes it the right weekly win, not just another completed task?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it has to be intentional. It has to be something that you've noted before the week started. It has to be something that's going to get you closer to that one-year goal, two, three-year goal, whatever that is, get you closer to that. Um, and it has to be an action. You know, we're not so much focused on the result. Um, so for example, if you're trying to land some big, you know, contract with, you know, vendor that took, you know, takes this, you know, bit large amount of time to, you know, get to get uh connected with, we're not so much caught up in the result. We're caught up in the action and the steps that it takes to get to that point. Yes. Right. So I I wouldn't want your weekly win to be, oh, I've got to, you know, win this deal or get excited. Accepted into this program or that or that. You know what I mean? It wants to be the win, should be all the work that's required for you to be in the hunt to get approved for that. You know what I mean? So that's what we're doing. We're just getting in the habit of doing all those tasks that it takes to get successful. The results and those other wins. Our weekly wins are the work action.

SPEAKER_04

But it's not, yes. And I love that because one time you said to me, it's not getting the client. Right. It's what you did to get the client. And I love that because it can be so easy to put as a weekly win, I want to land this client. Right. But the but that that is a win, but it's not a weekly win under this system.

SPEAKER_02

And it's too big.

SPEAKER_04

Yes. Under this system, the weekly win is the task that you did that got you closer to landing that client. Because yes, that is a win on itself. But if we're talking about the structure of the weekly wins, it's that task that got you a little bit closer to that goal. Exactly. Um so what should someone do if they don't complete their weekly win?

SPEAKER_01

So and with this, I would say I would intentionally have maybe a couple of weeks that you're taking off to have built in. So that way your success rate is higher. We know they're 52 weeks in a year.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. But you don't have to have 52 weekly wins, right? Scale that down to 48. Scale that down to something. So that's one thing right there that will help you because we're gonna take vacations. We're gonna do certain things. We have holidays and whatnot. That's one of the reasons why I'm not saying it's a daily win. But yeah, some people say, oh, every day, you know, we gotta be getting something done. And I'm like, okay. Now that that is unrealistic. Yes. Right? And you will crash and burn because there's so many just daily life demands. You have your keeping the lights on tasks that, you know, it that's always gonna be low priority then. So in order to make it higher priority, we're making it weekly goals because you can find somewhere in that week where you can get that task done. So I would say, first off, pinpoint your couple of weeks in the year that you're just not gonna have this on your list. So that helps you, number one. And then number two, if you happen to have a week where you don't accomplish it, then you simply move it to that next week.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So don't let it continue to go on. Let's not be two, three months down the line and we still have the same weekly wins on our board. So then, now, now we we can't have that. But that's the point of this is okay, you know, most of us we're maybe, because we're it's in our brain. So a year later, maybe we've really done two or three things in the year at best to get to that goal. So now, at least with this system, okay, if I've picked 48 weeks and then all right, I've got maybe another 10, let's say. Yeah. That I, you know, some things happened and I didn't make it. Well, shoot, that's still 38, you know, really good weeks. Yeah. That's still way better than you know what would have happened before. So I would say, yeah, simply to easily answer that, just simply then make that the go that next week and really make it an even higher priority. Say, okay, I gotta have this. I can't have two weeks where this is still on my board. I've got to get this off my board. So I would say make that a challenge. So number one, take a few weeks off, predetermine it, you know. And then number two, try not to have ever have more than two weeks where you have the same thing on your list. Yes. And also scale it down. Don't try to have a million weekly wins off the bat.

SPEAKER_04

We'll we'll get to that. Yeah. And it's so important because this is also how you're gonna stay motivated.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_04

Because again, we don't see those very giant wins all the time. Like you uh, for most people, um, especially if you're in the earlier years of your business or your journey as an entrepreneur, uh, or even if you're in the starting stages of it, for most people in that area, you are not gonna see a new client every week or every two weeks. So you're not gonna be booking a project every so often. But you can do a task every week that gets you closer to booking that client or closer to closing on that project. So that's gonna keep you motivated because uh uh ourselves, like sometimes we need that little thing of like, oh, I we need a win. We we always need a win. And we're sometimes measuring just the big wins and not these small tasks that get us to the big ones.

SPEAKER_01

I would look at it like project management, which a lot of people are in right now. Just look at it as building a house. Look at it as this beautiful studio that we're in, you know? Yeah. Joe, it took him a certain amount of time to build this studio.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So he had the goal in his brain, okay, I want to have this nice new studio. Where there were things that he had to do every single week to get to where we have this finished product right here. It didn't just happen in one day or a week. It happened over several weeks. And there were things that he had to do to say, okay, I got to get the floors in, gotta put the drywall up this week, I gotta do this this week, gotta get the TV. So, you know, it's the same, same process. Take your big goals that you have, break it down, and make sure you're doing something every week to get there.

SPEAKER_04

Love it. So remember, it's set one real win, and we define what that win is. And again, it's like, oh, well, why can't it just be? And no, it can't just be any win because there's a method behind this and for a reason. Um, it has to be well, predetermined before the week starts. A needle moving action. Again, look at what's actually gonna get me closer to this goal. Not just, oh, I cleaned out my inbox this week. Like, not things that you do every week. Right. Like every week, maybe you answer phone calls, every week, maybe you you check uh your email every week. It cannot be things you do every single week. It's it's one task that's a little bit different that moves the needle forward. Yeah, write it down, write it down before the week starts, schedule it, prioritize it, execute it by Friday, and celebrate. Celebrate. Reflect. That's it. Uh see how it did. Even if it didn't go great, celebrate that you did your win for the week.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04

Uh again, we were talking about how to set weekly goals that push the needle forward. Why? Because we were discussing that so many of us are in this cycle of just doing, doing, doing and not seeing any results. Yeah. So many, I know so many people can relate to weeks of just exhaustion, days that feel like 15 hours long, and then you wake up the next day and you go, like, what did I even get done? Even though I did all this. Right. So we're we're telling you there's no structure there. This is happening because you're lacking a structure. Now we've presented the structure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

Structure Beats Talent Every Time

SPEAKER_04

So now what happens if somebody ignores this advice on the structure?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. It's good to they give up. Yeah. They give up. You you stay, you stay in the same rat race of where you are, and these big ambitions that you have of these goals, they just at best, they're just your resolution when the next year comes. And the next year comes, and the next year comes. And then you get to a certain point, get to a certain age, and it starts to you know dissipate and wind down. And so that that's what all ultimately, ultimately happens. So you have to, yeah, you have to see it, you have to take action consistently. And that consistency is weekly.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, those weekly wins. And I think we've both seen or most like people walk away when they probably had so much potential.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So much potential and um and so much more to give, but like they just were never able to build this momentum.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And I mean, even like the beginning, um, and earlier today, I was talking uh to somebody. And like, yeah, like it, I was there was times where I was struggling so, so bad. And like my husband, who's in the audience, he's like a testament to me, like breaking down sometimes. I mean, like, I don't know if this is for me. Like, I feel like I'm doing so much, but I am not seeing results. That's right. And then even saying, even to the point of going, like, I feel like I am becoming a burden to us because I want to be able, you know, and like maybe I'm getting like very vulnerable on camera here, but that's but that's the truth of it. That it was like, I'm doing so much. I feel like I'm I'm I'm trying and I'm trying and I'm trying, and I'm doing the things that I think I should be doing, but I'm not seeing any results. And this is really leading me to just like doubt myself, feel like I'm becoming a burden. Um, somebody's trusted me and been so gracious and so patient, but I don't want to like overtake advantage. If I'm being honest with myself, I look at that person, I go, you had no structure, like zero structure, zero plan, zero like written goals. It was just like you were doing a million things at once, but you were not moving forward.

SPEAKER_01

And you you were going off raw talent.

SPEAKER_04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Because I'd be like, I'm good at this, I know I can do it. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. No structure.

SPEAKER_04

And then uh here I was like at midnight crying, be like, I don't really. But like I I have a hundred percent been there. Yeah. Um, and I've just seen like just so much of the power of that structure for success. That being mindful of it.

Building The Weekly Wins Platform

SPEAKER_01

It's normal. It's normal for you to be there. Um, I've had those same thoughts many times during during my journey. So I think most entrepreneurs, I think we all have those thoughts. And we don't want to be a burden. Sometimes, you know, one of us is the entrepreneur, the other one oftentimes is working, you know, got their insurance and all that, and there's a give and take. And that's many, many situations. And so um that that's very, very normal. But that that structure is uh necessary, that visualization is necessary. And so speaking of the structure, um, because this is something we haven't fully been able to even talk about. So we'll talk about this live here on camera. You know, we've been I've been looking at different platforms because we um want to have our weekly win goal setting system. So we've looked at many that I'm not even gonna name. And I've been we've been close to rolling it out, and we haven't rolled it out yet. The reason being is because as we're going through and setting these up, they all lack something that's critical to TV.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

There's something that's lacking, either it, you know, it doesn't allow you to do this, doesn't allow you you to do that. And, you know, I've piloted this weekly win um project with many, many people. And it's something that is so difficult to do that there's not a lot of people that are able to stick with it. Yeah because it is hard. Yeah, it's hard to have weekly goals that are not part of your day-to-day. Yes. That you're actually actually accomplishing every single week. And so, really, the only way you can do that is by having structure, but the the right structure. Yeah. So we're actually with CEO Lounge, we are going to have to custom build our own platform in order to do it. Okay. Because there's many that have some pieces and other pieces, but I want this thing to be perfect.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I really want this to help people. Yeah. And part of it is one of the big, big items that none of the platforms gave was privacy.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

You know, they all, it was like public. Yeah. To where you had to share your goals with everybody. And everybody doesn't want to do that. Yeah. You know, so I want it to be a platform to where you can load your goals, you have metrics and reporting so you can see what's that. That's what a lot of these others lacked, was the metrics. It was just like a feed. Yeah. You know, which, okay, fine. But no, I want it to be like a weight loss app that you go to, you know what I mean? Where you're seeing progress, tracks, all of that. You can see it, and it's private to you. Okay, but this is where you go and hold yourself accountable. But then, if there's certain things that you want to share with the peer group and with the community to get support, then you can. Yeah. You can pick and choose where it's not one or the other. So we see what the need is, and we're in the process of actually building something custom for our CEO lounge community so they can be successful because without this, odds are it's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04

Nope. And that and the the visualization of it is so important. Yeah. And that's why like I'm I'm working on trying to build up my own little area where I can have my weekly wins. And we were discussing too, it doesn't just have to be business. Right. Right? It's like different areas of your life. Um, so like I would divide mine into three, one of them being business, and then I would have two other areas that I've structured out. And uh, it's so important also to know you do not have to have a weekly win every single week for every single one, but to have a place where you can visualize it, where you can physically see it, where it's a reminder, because if you like you said in the beginning, we sometimes we think, but if it lives in your head, you didn't write it down, you didn't actually make it real, you're probably not gonna get it done. So have a physical area, whether whether it's your agenda, we're gonna see an example here later on in a little bit, uh, or in your office, uh, a bulletin board, whatever it is. Have a place that you can see it, that you can structure, and you know this is my weekly win. And again, like the the thing that I think is the most important part of it is that it cannot be something that happened to you that week. And it cannot be something you do every week. It has to be something that you know this is gonna get me closer to that goal. Even if it's small, but you know it's gonna get you closer to that goal, that is a weekly win. That's it. That is the definition of the weekly win. Exactly. Because so, because imagine what happens if, I like you said, if every week you actually complete one year old thing and you weren't even talking about the 52 weeks a year, right? Like and you said, even if we had 48, and let's say we for some reason we missed 10 out of those 48, that's still 38 wins. Right. And I know for a fact if you have 38 wins, you accomplished one of those big goals. I just know you did. Exactly. But that only happens with structure, like getting there with structure. You are, I guess you you already spoke about a little bit of the community. So before we go, I do want to ask you uh two more questions. One, um, do you think most people fail because they lack ability or because they lack structure? And I think we've talked about it, but if you could put the little icing on the key for that, yeah, structure.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. There's so many talented people. There's talented people, great people, but we all have so much going on. You know, we have so much going on. And, you know, we have our lights on, yeah, you know, keeping the lights on tasks that we have to do day to day that you can't neglect. And then we have our things that are to move forward. And so, of course, those things are gonna get, you know, pushed by the the the wayside. So um you have to have a structure, and uh I think that's why most people don't accomplish those. It's not for a lack of talent, it's typically uh structure.

SPEAKER_04

And but I love how you said earlier, and this is just like I uh as we also like I've been doing this a little bit more, and I'm like, man, Derek's starting to know me a little too much and call me out a little too much, but that's okay. I respect it. You're like, you were running on raw talent. I was like, that's so true. I was like on this, just this thought of like, I know how to do this, I can do this. I've been told I was good at this, and I like doing it, so I'm gonna do it. Zero structure, 100% led to burnout, led to me crying at three in the morning, waking my husband up and be like, I don't know if I should be doing this. Like, help me, tell me if I should keep going or not. Uh, years later, looking back, there's still so much growth to be had and so many more goals to accomplish, but to be in like, man, would you look at that? Would you look at like where we are now compared to where we were before? But now there's a structure in place where there used to not be a structure. So if somebody had to reset their entire workflow starting this week, what would you tell them to do first?

SPEAKER_01

So I would have three steps.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Three steps. So number one, look at your long-term goal. Okay. Number two, set one win. Just one win. Don't get into three, four, five, just one win, because you want to get into that habit. Yeah. And it becomes uh addictive. Once you start to see those, like, oh man, okay, I got this. I got this. Then add your two, three. Yeah. But do that one goal. And then number three, just track, repeat, and grow.

SPEAKER_04

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01

Track, repeat, grow.

SPEAKER_04

Goals, they're not built in these big moments. Businesses aren't built in by these giant moments. They're built in the consistent ones. And these the these small moments, that's what's gonna build the business of your dreams.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

It's not those big, well, yes, those big goals, but in order to get there, you have to have all of these small wins in order to reach those, those. And again, so we're measuring sometimes the wrong thing. And that's why we feel burnt out. That's why we feel like we're not seeing progress. Um, not only we're measuring, we're not tracking, we have no, we have no structure, but we just presented to you a structure that um, I mean, listen, every every intro to every episode, it's the exact same thing, right? I tell you exactly who Derek is and I tell you exactly who I am. And I am here asking Derek all these questions because, like I say in the beginning, every time we're speaking to a 30-year entrepreneur who uh has a track record to show that he has built multiple ventures from the ground up. So if this is a method or structure that we're presenting, it's not just coming out of thin air, it's coming out of again, a conversation that you mentioned to me, this thing that was already a part of your life, that I was like, oh wow, I think this could help me a lot. And I got so excited out hearing it. And then I kept telling you, like, every time you kept saying that, I was like, wow, that is so true.

SPEAKER_01

So simple, but but sometimes when you don't Yeah, and I didn't even fully realize it. Like it in decoding what I've been doing over these last 30 years, preparing for the show, this show helped me realize. I was like, dang, okay. The reason I was able to accomplish the long-term goals that I had was because I was doing something every week. Yeah. So yeah, and it wasn't even back then, it wasn't a structured thing. I just subconsciously, I was noting, subconsciously, I was doing things. Like I was writing down things that I needed to do each week. Yeah, but it wasn't like a formal, okay, this is my weekly win. Yeah. I just kind of knew that okay, I need if if I wasn't doing something this week, there's no way I was gonna get to what that was. And so in preparing for some of our show topics, it hit me. I said, oh dang. Okay, this is what I was doing. Let's, you know, put, you know, let's kind of coin it and you know, make it something that everybody can um can do themselves.

Audience Story And Stacking Wins

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And I think the most important thing is define is knowing the definition of the weekly win. And I know we've already talked about it, and we define what it is, but make sure like you really understand what that is, because you will not see progress if you're just doing weekly tasks that you do on a weekly basis. Like if you're if your weekly win is constantly um that clearing out your inbox, that's not a task that's moving the needle forward. Uh, or if it's something that just happened at the end of the week, you go, hey, this great thing happened. That's my weekly win. It's a win, but under this structure, it doesn't count as a weekly win. Um, but how Derek mentioned that is also why uh there is a community that is going to be built. And it's currently being built so that there's a place to be able to track uh your weekly wins, to be able to share your weekly wins, to be able to see a community of people that are tr building something and that they're also participating in this. So you're you're not doing this alone. Uh and hopefully you'll be able to also be a part of a community and really see with your own eyes that you are not doing this alone. Exactly. Um, thank you. Thank you for this. You're welcome. For the uh one, thank you for mentioning the weekly wins when you did. Because again, that was just, you know, something that really opened up my eyes. And then from there, as we had a conversation, for you to go, you know what, Jos, I think I want to, I want us to make this weekly wins thing like real. I want us to put it out there and make it a thing. Yeah. And now it's becoming something bigger. It is. Uh and I and speaking about bigger, I think we also have questions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We definitely, we definitely have questions. So we'll take questions from the audience. But again, for now, note your we note your weekly wins. Make sure you note them. However, Apple notes on a journal, however, make sure you track your wins uh however you can. We'll have uh a way for you to do it through us soon. And uh we're gonna take some questions from the audience.

SPEAKER_00

Love it.

SPEAKER_01

All right.

SPEAKER_00

This isn't really your question. Um, but weekly wins has really helped me. Uh my wonderful mentor of three, four years now. Yes, totally helped me out with getting me this cool little chalkboard where I can uh write my weekly wins. So I put the new ones for this week, but I actually got I've I've been sending them to three, three, three week weekly wins every week, and I actually got all of them done.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, all right.

SPEAKER_00

Sweet, sweet, yes, yes, yes, yes. So I'm bio work certified now. So now on this one, um I do sing, so I I've been trying to figure out what I want to go into business in or like invest in or whatever, but in the meantime, I wanted to hit the goals that I know I've been procrastinating on a lot. And I am an artist and I'm still yet to sing. So one of my goals is to record a verse and record a song. So that's the one bye. I just wanted to thank y'all. Y'all have been awesome, and this show is great.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Oh man, wow. That's that's what that's what this is all about, especially because we will procrastinate. We'll procrastinate with goals. If they're just kind of here and whatnot, you know, we'll procrastinate and the years will go by and it'll still be goals. Some of those things have been probably on your list for a long, long time. So just in one week, she's not she's knocked out, you know, three things. So you just stack that on top of each other, on top of each other. It's like a time lapse when you see a building being built or something like that. You know, those are, you know, if you just have a that. Camera on there for a moment, you know, an hour moment in time, you're not going to see a lot of movement. But then when you run all those days together, then it's like, oh my gosh, you see the whole, you know, facility being built. It's the same thing with our with our weekly wins.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. No, I mean that it makes me so excited. One, congratulations. That's so exciting. And then it just makes me really looking forward to the community and to see everybody sharing it and to know that it's going to serve as motivation for everybody who's part of it, motivation for myself, uh, to be able to see because sometimes we need to see others doing something kind of similar to keep us motivated. Um and then sometimes you can like play off of each other where you're like, well, if they did that, then like I want to make sure that I also do it. So I just think it's gonna be something that's gonna be great. I'm very excited. I can't wait, you know, and I know that um it'll be something that it's not gonna come out until it's absolutely perfect. Because if there's one thing that I have noticed, it's like things do not like you'll tell me to hold back on a lot of things, which I appreciate that because you'll go, you'll go, we're gonna hold back on that. And I'll go, oh, how come? I thought we had like a good I a good idea for it or a good basis for it, and you're like, no, because this and this needs to be done first before it can act before anybody can see it. And I think that uh in itself is just such a great lesson of like, even if you're so excited to announce something, you've definitely been like, no, we're gonna hold back. We're not gonna show anything like that yet until it looks or it is exactly what we want it to be because you don't get that first impression back. No, uh, you can't get that first impression back. So, you know, I can't wait to see what what what's gonna come of it, but I know it's gonna be great, and I think the weekly wins is definitely something that I've started implementing in my life that has helped me a ton, and I think it just can help so many people too.

Final Shout Outs And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01

Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. Well, I wanna before we wrap, I want to give two quick shout-outs. Uh, one again to Londo here. Um, thank you so much for all the help that you did. I think it's like two years ago now, with helping with build the show and show concepts and the voice notes and all the things that we did. So I wanted to give you your proper flowers for making this show a reality. So thank you for that. Uh big shout out to Sanchan. Yes, Sanchan, you didn't think I was gonna call you out. He's been helping with the weekly wins.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And we've been meeting on a weekly basis.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01

Tested many, many platforms, and finally earlier this week, we were just like, man, none of these have what we need. So now we're in deep discussions on all right, we gotta, you know, create our own. So he's gonna help a lot with that. So I wanted to give him some love and shout out, and shout out to you. Very proud of you for your journey, where you've come, where you're going, and got a lot more to do, partner.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, we got a lot more to do. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_01

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_04

Love it. Thank you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01

All right, we'll see y'all next time. CEO Lounge. Set your goals. All right, thank you.