Stop Painting Circles: Goal-Setting That Aligns With God’s Path - Tim Bell

Ever feel busy and productive—yet unsure what you’re actually aiming at? In this episode of Extending Branches, Dr. Mike Courtney sits down with Christian life coach Tim Bell to talk about why goal setting isn’t just another performance checklist, but a way to ask honest questions: Who am I becoming? What matters right now? Where is God inviting me to grow?

Using the classic “Charlie Brown bullseye” illustration, Mike and Tim unpack how goals can bring focus, hope, and forward movement, especially when you start with small, realistic steps. They discuss SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound), the importance of counting the cost, and how accountability with a coach can help you stay faithful to what God is building in your life.

Extending Branches is a biweekly podcast from Branches, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people recover hope, find healing, and experience growth through Christ-centered mental and emotional care.

Thanks for joining us! You can find us online at branches.org.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

One of my favorite Charlie Brown cartoons is a frame where he is standing out behind the barn. He has a bow and arrow. He shoots an arrow into the wall, and then he goes up and paints a circle around it. He does that two or three times and finally says in the last frame, I always hit the bullseye. Somebody said, if you don't aim for anything, you'll hit it every time. We're going to talk today about the importance of setting goals. Have you ever been in that place in your life where it seemed like you forgot what you were shooting at, you forgot where you're headed? Not in a dramatic way, but maybe just a quiet feeling that I don't know where I'm supposed to be anymore or who I am. I'm productive, I'm accomplishing things, but life is just not going the way that I thought it might go. Most of us have been there. Life fills up quickly, we get busy, we have responsibilities and opportunities and distraction. All of those things come. And before long, we're just kind of chasing ourselves around in a circle, hitting something and drawing a circle around it. That's where goal setting comes in. We sometimes misunderstand it. We hear goals and we think, man, that's just another thing I need to do, more things on the performance list. But it's really not about that. Goal setting is about asking good, honest questions. Who am I becoming? What's really important right now? Where is God inviting me to grow? In that sense, goal setting is less about achieving stuff and more about aligning ourselves with the path and the plan that God has for us. Today, our goal, you see what I did there? Today, our goal is to talk about what's so good about goals. I'm Dr. Mike Courtney, and this is Extending Branches.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Welcome to Extending Branches, a mental health podcast committed to helping people recover hope, find healing, and experience growth. Extending Branches is a twice-monthly podcast from Branches, a nonprofit dedicated to compassionate mental and emotional health care rooted in Christ-sived values. Your host is Dr. Mike Courtney, founder of Branches. He is an author, speaker, and pastoral counselor who leads honest conversations about faith, emotional health, and real life growth. Before we jump in, a quick but important note. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a replacement for professional counseling. If you're struggling with suicidal thoughts or facing a mental health crisis, please reach out to a licensed professional or seek immediate help in your area. If you want to learn more about branches or explore support options, you can visit branches.org. We're really glad you're here. Welcome to Extending Branches.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

I am excited to sit with my good friend Tim Bell. For one thing, we don't get to talk as much as we need to. Looking forward to it. Maybe we just need to schedule podcasts so we can sit and talk to each other. We'd enjoy it. I don't know if other people would enjoy it or not. Our goal is not about them. Our goal is about them. And there you are again. Tim is a former collegiate athlete. He's a high school coach and educator. And now he is a Christian life coach here at Branches. And I just have to tell you personally, I'm really excited about that. I'm so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

It's one of those things that you look here and you and you think, wow, all of that brought me to right here at this moment.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Good.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

And it's it's it's a great thing. Yeah, I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I'm right where I'm supposed to be. That's right. That's good. One of the things that you've done for us, Tim, that's just it's just amazing, is you've led us into kind of a corporate relationship that branches is working in corporations and businesses, and you do most of your work off of this campus, but but at Dow Smith and working with employees and people there. So you've kind of taken us in a whole different direction.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Well, it was a door that was opened that I don't know for sure if I even knew what it was going to look like. I don't know that that we knew what is as far as branches, what it was going to look like, but it's been an amazing partnership, uh, an opportunity to help young men, and there are young women there too that are going through coaching and being a part of a team there that is pulling to be the best and the best for their employees. Yeah. And that's it's it's really neat to be able to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

This is this a little bit off track, or or maybe this is exactly on track and down at the end, but it's interesting. We're talking about goal settings, set goals, decide what you need to do, but also recognize most of the time God takes us someplace that we never imagined we would be. He just surprises the daylights out of us.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

He does. And and it's in those moments that you stop and you think, well, he is a great God. I know. And he prepared me. Even though sometimes in my life I didn't think I was prepared for that, it's amazing to see how I'm in the right spot at the right time doing what I know I was supposed to do. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Well, talking about preparing you, you you had an athletic background, played sports in high school and college, uh, you were a coach, I mean a a real coach, but you're a real coach now, but you were uh you were an athletic coach. Right. How did all of that prepare you for life coaching? Is there some translation from from blowing the whistle on the basketball court to to working with people at in their workplace?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

You know, it in a way it is a correlation of it, but really and truly when you look at it, it is looking at who's sitting in front of you and how can you help them become the best that they can be. Yeah. And and what you do is you point out the things that they do well, you question some of the things that they don't do well, you try your best to, I call it, raise their arms, lift their arms so that when they get in a struggle, they know that they can look around and see the things that they need to see to be successful. And really and truly that's what I'm doing today. Isn't that fun?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

It is fun. Yeah. It is, it really is. You, I'm sure, have to explain a lot the difference in counseling and coaching. Seems to me like counseling kind of helps us in the middle of our mess to get out of the mess, but coaching starts there and takes us someplace really neat.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Well, the great thing about that is that we get to look forward. Uh hopefully what's in the past has been dealt with, and now you're ready to move forward and and see what is next or maybe what God's leading to. And that's the fun part about this coaching piece is being able to um help people discover that. And that's what my job is, is to ask questions, to point out, and to maybe let them see that there is a lot more left for them to do. I think and that's really it's fun to do that too.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Um this is this this is off the record. We'll cut this out of the podcast. Sure we will. You do a great job. I I I have so many men that'll come to me and say, Man, I want thank you for Tim Bell, working with Tim Bell. And I I was in a this is this is really getting off the record. I was in a a corporate meeting at the hospital here in town, and a man stood up and just said, Hey, I want to in front of the whole group, I want to thank you for Tim Bell. He has made all the difference. So you're doing a great job.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

And and and you realize that I thank you for that, but my heart is I want to make sure that they see Christ in me. But it came from a failure and an opportunity to sit down with a counselor who happens to be sitting across from me now, who said to me, There's more to this, there's more to your story, and being able to use pieces of that story to point people in down the road so that they don't get caught up in what what's stagnant right now in their life. And so you play a major role in that. Well, I appreciate it. That I'm sitting here today, and but I know what you would say is it's God through you and God through branches that brought us here.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

So that's good.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Well, as we're doing that, as we're helping people see where they are, that God's not done with them, there are things ahead. One of the important tools that we can kind of give to people is is goal setting, is talk to them about putting some things out in front of them that they might work towards too. What what about goal setting? What what is it that we do? How do you help people with that? What's so I mean just what's so important about setting goals?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Well, there's there's a lot of different views of that. Some people love setting goals and then other people it's like pulling teeth. They just do not. My goal is to not have any goals. Set any goals and just to get through. Uh but what I think it does is I I really believe it helps you focus in and and be more specific in what you're wanting to do and where you're wanting to go. And then it gives you some accountability in there. It gives you some cost, it gives you a lot of different things in looking at where you want to be and how you're gonna get there. And that's the the fun part for me is to say maybe we don't know what the next season is, maybe we don't know what the next step is, but let's look at where we are right now, making sure we're doing the things that we need to do, and then here's where you want to be, here's where you think you want to be, and then let's look and see how it works.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Wow, that's good. I I especially like the word cost in there. That, you know, we one of the things that goal setting does is help me to know, am I willing to pay the price to do this? You know, Jesus said uh a rich man before he builds a tower, he's gonna sit down and measure the cost and see if he has enough. So I I had not thought of that. That goal setting, part of what it does is help me to know uh this is what it's gonna cost, are you willing to pay that price?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I also think it gives hope. That you can see, and then that you see that you are getting closer to the the the prize, if you want to call it that, the whatever that goal was. And and boy, don't we need hope sometimes in in setting around and and some some people, some of the men that I've talked to are kind of stuck. I'm I'm kind of just why am I here and I can't get forward. Yeah. And one of the things in is setting a let's set a short goal, let's set a goal not so far away, and let's take a step and let's see what that step does. Oh, good. And that really, once you reach it, it's like, well, wait a minute. I didn't know that. I was able to do that. So if I can do that, let's see what the next one is. And then the next thing you know, you're stretching them. Yeah and you're getting them to go beyond what they thought they could, but also to a place where they really want to be.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah, that's good, Tim. Well, that that leads me then to this thought that there are, we use this acronym SMART goals. There are SMART goals. I guess that implies there's also dumb goals.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Well, no, there are no dumb questions and there are no dumb goals. How about that?

SPEAKER_02 11:26

But there are SMART goals. What talk about that a little bit? What kind of goals are you helping people to set?

SPEAKER_01 11:32

SMART goals. Uh to use that, it would be specific. We're gonna try our best to get as close to where we know we want to be and be specific about it. We need it to be measurable. It's not something that is just out there and we've just thrown it out there. I think about the New Year's resolutions that we've thrown out in our life that we didn't do. We want to do that. I don't think I heard somewhere 16 days, they last 16 days. Yeah. But if if that statement is true that that we are 10 times more apt to reach our goal if we set a goal, then I want to make sure that it is specific. I want to make sure that it's measurable, uh, that I am getting closer to it, that I can see the light there. I want to make sure that it's uh achievable. I wouldn't want to set a goal that I want to go back and play in the NBA. Yeah. I mean, I would love to think that maybe there were some skills there, but that's not all it's not attainable. So you want to make it a lot of people. I've seen you play. It's not a good idea. It's not thank you for that. Uh I never met a shot I didn't like. Um but then but then if you go with that and and you say, all right, it's it's specific, it's measurable, it's attainable, and and then it's got to have a time. We don't want it to just be so far down the road that we don't. So we want to make sure that it's something within the next few weeks or maybe the next month.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Or things along those lines. So when you start narrowing it down, it gives them a clear view of what they're really shooting for.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

And then what you can do is start adding those pieces to it and helping them get there.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

That's good. Well, I can see that's especially important. You talked about just helping them set a small goal first, and then maybe eventually I can set some goals for a year down the road, but for right now I've got to have some small wins.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

The R in there is relevant. Oh yeah, we left that out. Not only is it time, but you want to make sure that it's relevant to where they are. Yeah, does it mean something and and what is what are they looking at really getting to?

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Well, you've you've you've kind of said this all the way through and and talk so you don't just help them set goals and then say, I'll see you later, and call me when you get them all done. Yeah, good luck with that. But but the life coach really becomes important in helping them be accountable and stay on track. Tell tell me about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

To me, that's the the icing on the cake, if you want to say. Uh building that cake is really cool, and it can really be effective and it can really be good. Sometimes that cake you eat with it's really good. But being able to come in and put that little flavor on top of it, the icing on it, and that's what life coaching to me is, is being able to walk with them. Not for I don't walk for them, I don't walk ahead of them, running away from them, I don't stand behind them and push them. I really ro walk alongside of them so that uh if they get into a spot, it it they can turn and say, hey, what do you think here? Yeah uh and and I think there's some trust in there once you really do sit down and build that smart goal, that there is some trust that, hey, I can I can share that. I can. And there's also a time of, hey, it didn't work the way you thought it did, but what's the next way you're gonna do that? And asking the right question to get them to say, let's not get caught up if it is a failure. Yeah, let's move forward.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

Yeah. That's good. That's really good. I don't want to put too much pressure on you, but you know, Jesus said, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit to walk alongside you. You're kind of doing that comforter walking alongside thing that's really important.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Well, you said Christian life coach at the beginning when you introduced me. And one of the things it's it's not a force feed, it's not uh it but it is an invitation that that Holy Spirit would open that path and be that they would be not where Tim wants them to be, not sometimes maybe where they thought they were gonna be, but where God wants them to be. And man, when they get there, you don't have to say anything else. They start screaming and shouting, and it's all good. That's neat. That's neat. That part is fun.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Um I didn't tell you we were gonna talk about this, but I just wanted to ask. You want to say a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah, I would love to do that. We uh we did it through New Life University or Branches University now, and one of the things that we found was that there were people that wanted tools, uh, maybe didn't want to be a life coach, but maybe were finding themselves in situations with people where they were maybe felt a little bit over their head. And what we found through uh life coaching teaching was that there was there was some gift there of being able to use the past experiences of our lives and say, hey, we can help you learn and get those tools. Not that you want to go out and be a life coach, but that you could be in a situation with some of your friends and instead of working to try to fix, finding that right question that might help them see where God's working in their life. And so we do, we do a training, it's about oh, there's two classes and and then some we do kind of what I used to do when I was in education, a student teaching type deal where you would get a client and that would give us an opportunity to walk beside you in coaching. And boy, we found that it's it's pretty effective. And so we we that's another thing that I really enjoy doing is training the uh training the teacher or training the coach.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Yeah, and that part is fun.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Not that we're experts on this side of it by no means because we're always learning, but to watch them see that they can have those tools that they needed to help those people in the moment of crisis or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Tim, you're one of my heroes. I just need to tell you, you you really are, and I thank you so much for doing this. I was thinking when you were talking earlier that everybody is a life coach. Everybody does life coach. You either do it poorly or you do it well. You either try to fix people like you said, we're not supposed to do, or you just come along aside and ask them good questions and encourage them. And and you do that really well. You've done that in me, you've encouraged me, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. I've enjoyed this. Good, good. Well, goal setting. We've we've learned it's not drudgery, it's not, it's not just a to-do list. It really is about aligning ourselves with the plan that God has for us and and trying to move in the right direction. Having said that, it's an intentional process. It takes some smart goals, being specific and making them measurable, and and having somebody to walk alongside us and and talk through it. And it's very interesting that once we've done that, once we've been through that kind of process, we may very well decide we want to take other people through that. And that's the whole kind of life coaching paradigm that I will take my own experiences and and and use them to help you be in a better place. Tim Bell does that really, really well. And I'm grateful for him. If you'd like to know more about the life coach training at Branches, you can go to branches.org and kind of follow the prompts and find your way to what we used to call New Life University. Now it's Branches Education. Um, but but goal setting. It's important and thank you for being a part of this. It's been helpful. It's been good to talk to someone who understands that God is at work in their lives and they can then pay that forward to coach other people through the difficult circumstances of life and set some goals to stop being stuck and move to where you're supposed to be. Well, thank you for joining us on Extending Branches. Extending Branches is a twice-a-month podcast that's produced by branches intended to help you find hope, experience healing, and enjoy growth in your life and your walk with God. If you'd like to know more about branches or like to find more podcasts or other things that branches has produced, you can go to branches.org. Also, we would love it if this has been helpful for you. If you'd like and share this podcast across whatever platforms you do podcast on, follow us, do all the things that you've you've heard the list, do all the things you're supposed to do with podcasts, but help us to encourage other people to continue being a part of this. Jesus said, I'm the vine and you're the branches. Our goal is to continue extending the branches.