There’s still time to make progress toward those big goals this year – even if you’ve failed miserably over the past few months. Don’t wait for the new year to begin again. Join me today as we chat about wiping the slate clean (if you need to!) and whether it’s time to start fresh with your goals as we prepare to enter Q4 of 2022. Ready to get started? Let’s do the thing.
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
- Schedule your Mama Business Strategy Session
- Enroll in the Mama Business Blueprint
- Join the Mama Business Community
Related Podcast Episodes:
- #56: 3 Things to Consider When You Aren’t Sure What to Do Next in Business
- #55: How to Design a Marketing Strategy That Works for YOUR Business
- #39: How to Create a Kick-Butt Action Place + Achieve Your Goals in 2023
- #38: How to Choose Goals that ACTUALLY Matter for 2023
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Is it Time to Wipe the Slate Clean?
Well hey there and welcome to another episode of the Mama Business Podcast. I’m your host, Sarah Brumley of brumleymarketing.com and I am so excited to be chatting with you today.
I don’t know about you but I always come off of summer break amazed that we are nearly three-quarters of the way through the year. It’s about this time each year that I pull out my goals planner and check to see what I need to do to accomplish all of the things.
…and that’s a great feeling if I can look at the goals and see that I’ve made good progress to date. But when I’m looking at a notebook full of goals I haven’t started or can no longer reasonably achieve, what then? And trust me…it happens.
I think for most of us, the response tends to be to give up. To decide that we’ll have better luck next year, close the planner, and just coast through to January 1st.
But how does that really help us achieve those bigger goals? How does that help you launch the business dream you have or make the additional income your family desperately needs or lose the baby weight or…whatever else your goals might be?
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. If you coast through to the new year, you’ll just be three months further behind and I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to settle for that.
So, today I’m challenging us to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Let’s not wait until the new year to accomplish something great.
In order to do so, I’m going to talk about three categories we can find ourselves in as it relates to our goals or dream planning at this time of the year. You’ll likely find that you resonate with one more than the others – and that’s great because for each one, I’m providing the exact strategy you need to get back on track and make a bigger impact in quarter 4. So, let’s jump into these three categories you might find yourself in today – and how to move forward in a way that’s most effective for you, your family, AND your business.
Category #1: Kicking Butt and Taking Names
The first category you might find yourself in is what I like to refer to as the “Kicking Butt and Taking Names” category. You know who you are. This is a mama who started out on January 1st with her goals in place and hasn’t wavered since. If you are in this category, you likely hit most of your goals out of the park by the end of Quarter 1 and are still going strong.
If that’s the case, you’re a rock star and probably feel like you’re on top of the world, right? In that case, take a break, go grab yourself a cup of coffee and we’ll see you in the next episode. I’m totally joking so stick around because I do think you’re going to benefit from this.
Because while you are doing amazing things, no matter where you are in your life and business, there’s always room for improvement.
So, my challenge to you today is to look back at the goals you set for this year and ask yourself the following questions:
In what ways might you be allowing that “goal accomplishment” to give you permission to backtrack?
This might not make a lot of sense right off the bat, but stick with me here. Let’s say your goal was to lose 20 pounds this year. You hit the gym every day between January 1 and May 15 and hit that goal – congratulations! But, what are you doing now? Are you continuing to hit the gym and maintain the progress? Or…have you started to slack off? The last thing you want to do is to gain back all of that weight in quarter 4 and then have to add “lose 20 pounds” to your goals list for 2023. Right? Just something to think about.
Is it time to set a bigger goal?
The second question to ask is can I create a bigger goal to accomplish by year end? Maybe you lost that 20 pounds and you need the push to lose 10 more. Maybe you are getting close to hitting your revenue goal for your business, but you know that if you pushed a little harder, you might be able to double it. Like I said before: Quarter 4 can make a huge impact on your life and business, but if you coast through it, you won’t see the results you could have. So, how can you level up those goals?
Is it time to create a new goal?
The third question to ask if you are a rockstar goal accomplisher is “what new goal or goals could I set for this final quarter of the year?” The great thing about accomplishing those goals you set in January is that now you might have the ability to accomplish something bigger than you thought would be possible this year. Does your business need a website? Should you focus more on getting new clients? Whatever it is, don’t let the fact that it’s the middle of the year keep you from creating new goals that will help you move the needle forward in your life and business.
Category #2: Life Circumstances Have Changed
The second category you might find yourself in is what I like to refer to as the “Life Circumstances Have Changed” category. Once again you probably know who you are. This is a mama who started out on January 1st with her goals in place and couldn’t wait to achieve them all. In fact, she might normally fall into that first category, but this year – things just didn’t pan out. If you are in this category, your family or personal life circumstances changed. You may have hit part of your goals, but many of them either no longer apply or will never be achieved, so you struggle with what to do about them.
Honestly, this is the category I fall into at the moment.
I started off the year all gung ho that I was going to meet all of my goals, but when I opened my goal planner at the beginning of August, it was clear that I’ve met some of those goals, but there are others that either, no longer apply or there’s no way that I can achieve them even if I set my mind to it right now.
If I continue to look at those goals the way that I wrote them or set them on January 1, I’ll end the year feeling like I’ve failed.
Are you in that category? If so, I want to encourage you today to recognize that life happens. Goals are meant to move us in the right direction, not to be set in concrete. Circumstances change. Our desires and dreams change. Why? Because we are human.
And this is where wiping the slate clean comes into play. Throw out the goals playbook from the beginning of the year and do the following. (And I recommend doing this on a separate piece of paper or in a separate goals journal than your January ones. Why? Because, we really want to leave behind any reason to feel that guilt come December 31.)
So, here’s what to do next:
1. Determine which goals you have accomplished or can still accomplish this year. Write those in your new goal planner. You might even decide to uplevel those goals, like losing a bit more weight or getting a couple more clients, or whatever it might be.
I’ll use my own goals as an example here. I made goals this year in eight categories: health, friends, finances, faith, marriage, business, family, and recreation. As of the date of this recording, I’ve met my health goal and am on track to reach my business and friends goals. Seriously friends, those are the only goals of the ones I created in January that I’m going to be able to achieve this year. So, I’m going to write those down on my new goals planner. Now, I know I already met my health goal which was to lose the baby weight, so I’m going to uplevel that goal by adding in three HIIT or Pilates workouts on top of my regular walking schedule. If you know me, I love to walk, but I know I need to do some toning – so that’s going to level up that goal. By doing so, I know that I’ll reach the end of 2022 even further along than where I thought I could be.
2. Eliminate any goals that no longer apply – whether those are personal goals, business goals, or something else. If your life circumstances have changed or you just don’t want to do that thing anymore, that’s okay. Let it go.
At this point, I am NOT going to be able to achieve my finances, family, marriage, or recreation goals this year. In fact, the original goals I set in these areas aren’t even applicable at the moment, so I’m going to scrap them entirely.
You know what? That’s okay. It doesn’t mean that I haven’t accomplished things in these areas, it just means that, based on the changes in our life this year, the things I set out to accomplish aren’t the things that will move the needle forward as we end 2022.
3. Create new goals, if needed
Take a few minutes to think about the areas of your life that are priorities for you over the next few months. Do you have a goal you are currently working toward in that area (you know, one you were already doing awesome with?) or do you need to create a new one?
In my case, I know that I have goals that I’m working on or going to accomplish in my health, business, and friends categories, but I also know that I prioritize my marriage, family, and finances as well, so I’m going to create some new goals to accomplish before the end of the year. They obviously will be goals tailored to the shortened time period – I’m not expecting to accomplish a year-long goal in a quarter, right? Neither should you.
So that’s the “Life Circumstances Have Changed” category and that brings us to the last category you might fall into, which is:
Category #3: Goals? What Goals?
Haha…if you are in this category, you know exactly what I mean by this. You created goals – or didn’t – and haven’t done anything with them since January 1. In fact, you couldn’t find a copy of them even if you tried.
The good news at this moment is that your slate is already clean! But, it’s time to make some plans for the upcoming quarter. What will you accomplish during this seasons? How will you progress toward creating that dream business and life?
The best part? I have a FREE Goals Download to help you narrow your focus and determine what matters most to you. You can grab it at brumleymarketing.com/goals or click through the link in the show notes.
Take Action: Start Fresh With Your Goals
And that brings us to the action part of this episode. I’m a huge proponent of taking action, because action is where the dreams turn into the reality. And that’s why every Mama Business episode comes with action steps you can take immediately to up level your mama life and business. Ideally you’ll take action on all of the things we’ve discussed today, but if you only have time for one, it’s this:
ACTION: No matter which of these categories you are in, today’s challenge is to give yourself permission to wipe the slate clean today of anything and everything you haven’t accomplished yet this year. Then, start fresh with new goals that will help you move closer to what you dream of for your life, family and business. Because mama, the last thing you want to do is get to December 31 and find yourself, your business, your life at the same place it was at the start of the year.
I know from personal experience that I am more likely to accomplish what I set out to do if I’m accountable to someone. So DM me on Instagram and let me know what your biggest goal is for this upcoming season. Honestly, there’s nothing I love better than the opportunity to support another mama business.
And…until next time, just know that I’m cheering you on. You’ve got this, mama!
Have an awesome day.
