Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - Real-life steps for achieving BIG GOALS in 2024 | Clutterbug Podcast # 205

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

Why is creating new habits and achieving big goals so hard? Why do we succeed with some of our goals, but fail with others?  There is a SECRET for achieving big things, and it's simple and fast to do. Having a goal is important, but breaking that goal down into daily actionable steps is essential.  In this podcast, I'm sharing exactly how to break down big goals, and I'll give you dozens of real-life examples too! You can download my FREE goal planner printable pack here: https://clutterbug.me/products/goal-setting-printable-pack #goals #2024 #selfhelppodcast #organization    You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/   #clutterbug #podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have always struggled with self-discipline. I am not a naturally disciplined person. I think that's one of my biggest faults. And yet, I've been able to achieve a lot of really awesome things, including having a house that's clean and tidy all the time, despite I hate the word lazy, but I'm going to say it, despite being kind of lazy. And feeling like discipline is still not my strong suit.

Hey, Clutterbugs, welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. I wanted to talk about self-discipline today because I feel like I had one of those aha moments this morning. And I really wanted to share it with you. I, like I said, I'm not a person who is good with discipline. I'm not so great at parenting myself. I'm slightly irresponsible, impulsive. I'm struggle to create new habits and I make a lot of silly choices sometimes. I mean, I'm saying this. I feel like I'm being really hard on myself because there was a time in my life where all I ever did was make bad choices. And now I'm very aware of my impulsivity. I'm very aware that I tend to sometimes just not at all well. So it's something that's always in the back of my mind and I'm like self-correcting quite often to try to keep myself in line, but it's, it's effort. And one of the things I do most is try to come up with ways to get around putting an effort. I like shortcuts. I want to have all the good, amazing things in life, but I don't want to be a person that works 24-7 because that

isn't me. I am not at 5 a.m. I read that book, the 5 a.m. club or whatever. I am not the person. to get up at 5 a.m. and go for a run. I want to be that person. I am not the person to make all my food from scratch and grind my own flour and go get eggs from my chicken coop every morning. I want to be that person. But at the end of the day, I'm too lazy. Ugh, and I hate the word lazy. But I guess maybe that stuff isn't a priority to me. I don't know. But we're going to talk about my aha moment that I had today because I have really big goals for myself. And I've always wanted big, crazy, insane things. When I think about all the actual big goals that I've achieved, what's different between those goals and the ones I have not been able to achieve? I was thinking about

that this morning. And I was also thinking about goals that I was doing really. really well with and then kind of fell off the wagon and kind of getting to like why. And I'm reading books and I'm listening to podcasts. And I was actually listening to Mel Robbins podcast this morning on self-discipline. And she talks about it being simple discipline. That's what she said. Because she struggles with like the big self-discipline like, I'm going to be an amazing superhero person today.

So she focuses more on like simple discipline, like little things like make your bed every day. But even those things, I mean, I know they sound really easy. Make your drink more water. Go for a 10 minute walk. Those things are easy in theory. And yet why am I not doing them? And then the habits that I am doing that are really positive and healthy and seemingly require self-discipline.

Why am I doing those things? Like what is the difference? And I realized what the big difference. was and I'm going to share it with you right now because maybe you are in the same boat. Some areas of your life, you're like, why do I have this under control? Why am I rocking this? Why am I doing so awesome? And then other areas, why am I failing? Why am I really not even getting started or even when I do get started? Why am I not continuing and being consistent and making this a priority? So, looking back for me,

me, the big, big difference is I actually wrote down the goals that I've achieved. Not only did I write down the big goals that I've achieved, but I did more goal planning for those and kind of gave myself, I took a big goal and I broke it down and I have lots of goal planning worksheets and I have videos on goal planning that I've done on my YouTube channel to show you what I mean by this. but I don't know why I didn't realize like this was the key difference for me. When I take a big goal, like I want to have an organized home, and I wrote that down, I took it from a dream and I made it like it was like a dream and a wish and I made it a goal on paper, which scientifically, and I've read studies, so I should have known this,

you are way more likely to achieve it as soon as you write it down. But not only that, I took that big goal. And then I broke that down into little steps like I want to organize the kitchen and I want to create a more functional entrance way. And I want to organize my bedroom closet. And I want to make sure that I don't know, I have a spot for all my Christmas decorations that are organized. Like I literally broke. I thought, I thought about all the things that I actually wanted. Like it's one thing to say I want an organized home or I want a clutter free home. But like, what does this look like and break it down? And then I took one of those little things like I want an organized kitchen and I broke that down even more to I want, you know, a place for all

our snacks to go. I want to have a cabinet just for food storage containers. I want to organize my freezer. I want to have a junk drawer that's really organized. I want to decant some things in the pantry and like set up my pantry with containers like I took a big goal and now broke it down even into smaller goals and then you could take one of those and break it down even more and and why I think this is so important it sounds like a lot of work maybe your eyes are rolling and you're like whatever cast here's the thing we have a million things to remember in any given day and a million things going on and thoughts in our minds and especially if you're overwhelmed overworked whatever it is, we forget to remember. And we can't always take these big goals and immediately

break them down. So say we have an extra 10 minutes today. We're not thinking about what can we do in that 10 minutes to get us closer to a goal because we're not even thinking about our goal. We're not thinking about the goal of organizing our house until we look at the mess and we're like, oh, I really want to get that figured out in 2020. and that's it. I'm going to spend next weekend organizing and that's it. Like, that's not enough. That isn't helpful. That isn't a lack. The reason we're not doing it isn't a lack of self-discipline. It's a lack of proper planning. Proper planning. And proper planning isn't as crazy pants as you think. If you're watching the YouTube video of this, I'm going to show you some

examples. Proper planning is taking 10 minutes to write down a big goal and then break that down into baby goals and then take one of those baby goals and write down the steps you want to achieve it and end stop. And then rinse and repeat. So I'm going to actually give you examples because I find examples really helpful. And I also want to tell you about my aha moment. I'm going to tell you about that this morning like specifically what happened this morning that just like changed my world. Okay. So say your goal is like, I want to clutter free home. That's your big goal. Your little goal would be I want to declutter the bedroom closet. I want to declutter the pantry or I want to declutter the kitchen. I want to declutter the coats and shoes. I want to declutter my kids toys. I want to declutter my craft supplies.

So now we have this big thing. We've broken it down. And then we pick one of those and we break it down even further. So say we want to, I don't know, declutter our storage room. What's something we can do? Well, we can gather boxes and bags. We can schedule a charity to come pick up the donations and do that today have that day, we can invite a friend over on that on the Saturday to help us with that. Like, we have a plan now. Not only do we have a goal, but we have a plan. And maybe you don't want to be like super structured like that. That's like, oh, that's horrible. Okay, cool. What about every day you just spend 10 minutes finding 10 things to go? Like you're just hunting randomly around your house. Every day, it's like 10 things to go.

Like, it doesn't have to be this crazy thing. And maybe that's not your goal. And you're listening to me for other reasons and you have nothing to do with organizing or decluttering your home or anything like that. But we can apply this same principle to every area of our lives. A lot of us, and for a long time, my goal was to get out of debt. And then it was to save enough money that I could feel really safe and secure. And that sounded really great and it was a big thing. And I never achieved it for years and years and

years because I just kept saying, oh, I want to get out of debt. Oh, I want to save money. But I didn't have, that was like a wish because A, I didn't write it down. And B, I didn't write down a plan of what that looked like. I just kept talking about it and thinking about it in this like sky and the pie really high thing. And I didn't give myself actionable steps that I could do on a daily basis. So if saving money is a plan, can you set up a transfer that every day you get paid 10% goes into a savings account that you can't touch? Can you do that? Can you wrap a sticky note around your credit card that's just reminding you that this is important? Like, hey, make sure this is something that you actually want and need and isn't an impulse buy? Because we forget to remember.

Freeze your credit card. Go on a cash budget. Like what, how much are you going to save every single month? What's your plan? And how can you possibly know that if you haven't actually made a budget yet? So there's all these steps that we can do to achieve our bigger goal. But until we've taken the time to write that down to actually goal plan. Like real for real, take our big goal, break it down, take one of those little broken down and break it down again into steps. Until we've done that, we're going to fail 99% of the time because we do not have a plan. So for me, let's talk about my aha moment today. I, you guys know I really want to get healthy and focus on my health. I've been talking about this for freaking ever. And I've done,

Nothing. Why? Why is it that I was able to achieve financial freedom and get my house under control and start a business and write books and do courses and all these really like super cool amazing things, but I cannot get a handle on this. I've never done the actual planning. Never. I say I'm going to and I've never actually written it down. I've made myself a vision board of like a healthy person running and a chick looking hot in a bathing suit. But like, that's not a plan. That's a, is the universe going to just manifest that for me? No, that's bull crap. I totally don't believe in that. I think it is important to remind myself, which is what a vision board does of the goal that I have. But if I don't have actual steps and if I don't know what to do in an instant

without thinking to make that goal, that dream, that wish happen because I haven't taken the time to write the plan out, I'm going to fail, which is why I've been failing. So here we go. What happened today? While I was getting ready, I was listening to Mel Robbins and she brought up something about eating more protein. And every meal having, she was talking like how many grams you should eat and my eyes were glazing over a little bit because that's not my jam. But I instantly realized like, oh yeah, after I had my weight loss surgery, I was having a lot of success. And my only goal was to eat protein with every meal and every snack. That was it. That was like, that's all I was focused on. And weight was just melting off. And yes, I had the

weight loss surgery, so that was part of it. But as I started to regain years later, I realized this morning that I no longer even ever think about protein. And why am I not doing that? I forget to remember. I forget that that's a small thing that I can do. I want to be healthier. It's not about weight. I want to maintain muscle. I want to be healthy. I want to live longer. And that's a key thing that I can do is have more protein in my diet. It is essential that I eat more protein, especially as I'm going through metapause, which I am right now. I'm losing muscle mass because of my hormones.

I need to eat way more protein than I am, but I always forget to remember. So I went downstairs for breakfast and I was like, protein, protein, protein. Oh, I have some cottage cheese and peaches. And it was delicious. And it was great. And for lunch, I had a Greek yogurt parfait and a pepperette stick. And it was awesome. And for dinner, I'm going to eat some sort of meat. And then for bedtime snack, can I have cheese and crackers or can I have peanut butter on an apple? Like, why have I not been remembering to always pair

a protein? Because I didn't have it written down. Because it wasn't somewhere visible to remind me. So that's what I'm doing today. I'm writing down some actual steps that I can do. So here's another example. I can say, oh, I want to get healthy. What does that look like? I don't know.

I want to be healthier. I'll never achieve it, friends. I can say I want to drink more water. That's super great. That's a great goal. But is it a plan? No. What's my plan to drink more water?

What if I get one of those big water bottles and I drink two a day. That's a plan. I get the water bottle out. I leave it out beside the fridge. Now it's a visual cue to remember I got to drink two of those a day. That's an attainable goal. Not just drink more water. Drink two of these water bottles that are out on the counter a day. Attainable plan, attainable goal. It's an easier way. It isn't about self-discipline. Like that's what I'm more. really realizing here, this isn't about being more disciplined, friends. This is about creating an actual, tangible plan and reminding ourselves of what that is. So here's a simple thing that we can do every single day that I have been doing, but I haven't been doing it right. I'm going to

readjust for 2024. Every day, you better rewriting yourself a to-do list. Every day. And somewhere on that to-do list, there should be not just go to the doctor appointment or, you know, the regular crap we got to get done, which is great. I mean, if I don't write a daily to-do list, I do, I accomplish nothing. If I do write a daily to-do list, I crush the world. I do so much more than I would. But is my daily to-do list including doing something to get me towards bigger goals?

No, that's where I've been failing. So now I've incorporated my daily to-do and I've adjusted it a little bit and I'm using a one-day daily planner. It's on my website. It's free. You can go to clutterbug.com under the printable section and you will find the one-day daily planner and I'm going to use this to incorporate, drink those two bottles of water, eat protein with every meal, and check it off as I go. So two little things that I can do,

actual tangible things that I can do every day that is incorporated in my daily to-do list that will have all the other things that I'm going to do in that day. So I do not forget to remember that this is important, that these are new habits that I want to start incorporating. And right now, I'm not in the habit of doing them. So I'm not remembering to do them. And it is, it is simple as writing it down. I got to take one quick second to thank today's podcast sponsor, Hello Fresh. I'm a huge fan of Hello Fresh. I don't love cooking, but I want to have really healthy, nutritious meals. And I just find HelloFresh makes it easier. It's America's number one meal kit. I get three meals delivered each and every week. And they're healthy, delicious,

so easy to put together that even I can't mess it up with step-by-step instructions. There's over 40 recipes to choose from. It takes a lot of pressure off me. If this is something that sounds like it would interest you, you can go to Hellofresh.com slash clutter pod. free and use the code clutter pod free for free breakfast for life. That means they're going to put one breakfast item in every box while your subscription is active. That's a free breakfast for life at hellofresh.com slash clutter pod, P-O-D-free with the code clutter pod free. So as you're listening to this podcast, I want you to grab a piece of paper or you can go to my website, clutterbug.com,

and write down it because on the website I do have a goal planners as well a goal planning pack it's free completely free that will show you how to write down your big goals break them down into more little stepping stone goals and then break those down into actual steps so it has the whole plan for you and then grab that daily planner or even just any to-do list that you have it could be a scrap piece of paper and make sure to incorporate one or two of those actionable steps that you want to take every single day towards your bigger goal. So not only you writing down the things you go grocery shopping, I got a vacuum the house, write down, I'm going to find 10 things to declutter today. Put that on there too. Or write down, I'm going to set up an auto transfer

of my savings account today. Or I'm going to save $5 today. There's going to be something that I'm not going to buy today that's going to save me $5, whether it's a coffee or I'm at the grocery store and I'm going to like, oh, I want to put these chips in the cart. Nope, I'm not going to because I'm going to save $5 today. Like every day I'm going to try to not spend $5. I don't know what your goal is.

That's the whole point. Everybody's different. and I'm just like spitballing a bunch of ideas for you here because now looking back, having that aha moment today, realizing why I've been failing, it's because I haven't planned. It's because I haven't incorporated these things into my daily life and I haven't broken big things down into little actionable steps and I haven't been utilizing my to-do list properly. And if you are a person who does not do a daily to-do list, friends, your life will change. It is amazing. I get so much more done now that I have it, but it has to be out somewhere where you'll see it to remind you to do those things and you have to do it every single day.

And we should remind ourselves right now, right now, we should write it down. we should incorporate those little stepping stones, those little plans towards our bigger goals that we want to achieve. So we remember to do them. So we remind ourselves that they're important and we do them every day. Here's another example of one. Never leave a room empty handed. That's like, that's, it sounds really obvious, but we forget to remember. But what if you had that on the bottom of your everyday to-do list. It's just like remind yourself not to leave a room empty handed. And you just write it down somewhere you'll see it every day. And you're like, oh, yeah, oh, I got to do that. And all throughout the day while you're looking at your to-do list and you're

like, what else do I have to do? Oh, I've got to drop off the mail to the post office. Oh, I've got to make sure that I do the dishes. Oh, I got to make sure I declutter 10 things. Oh, I'm I also, oh yeah, don't leave a room. I'm empty-handed. So if I'm coming downstairs from the bedroom, I'm going to bring down the dirty dishes with me. If I'm going back up, can I bring the laundry basket up with me? Or can I bring some rolls of toilet paper to put in the bathroom when I'm upstairs? Oh, can I bring down the garbage to empty while I'm up there? It's a small little thing that can have a huge impact on our lives, but not if we don't remember to do it. This isn't about self-discipline.

You have tons of self-discipline. You're just forgetting to do it. You're forgetting it's a priority. Your goals aren't simple and straightforward and like you don't have actionable steps to achieve it. Self-discipline isn't like every day, I'm going to be healthy and I'm going to exercise. It's like, no, man, what does that look like? I'm going to go for a walk, a 10 minute walk after dinner every day. That's, instead of I'm going to be, I'm going to exercise every day.

That's not an actionable goal. What does that look like? I'm going to every morning do 10 minutes of yoga before I get in the shower. That's an actionable goal. And then write that sucker down and put it somewhere so you remember. And there might be days that you don't do it. And that's okay. This isn't about perfection.

I have been forgetting to eat protein with every meal for like a year and a half. But I can promise you I won't anymore because I'm going to write it down and I'm going to put it beside the fridge. And when I'm meal planning or snack planning or grocery shopping, I'm going to remind myself, I'm going to write it right on my grocery list, protein with every meal. So I'm like at the grocery store thinking, okay, what kind of, for breakfast, like, what kind of protein can I get to incorporate into my breakfast or my snacks or my lunch? I'm going to remember because I've written it down in a place and multiple places to remind me. Okay.

I don't know. Is this a weird one today, this podcast? I just really wanted to share this with you because you might be in the same place. Whatever thing it is that you want to achieve. and you haven't been able to really get there yet or you've worked on it and then you kind of fall off the wagon and you feel like, why can't I get this? This could be the missing piece for you. The goal planning piece, the breaking it down, the putting it somewhere every single day to remind you that this is important. It can be reminders on your Alexa, on your phone,

but not just a reminder, get organized. that's not helpful. You need a real concrete plan with actionable steps, and then you need to incorporate those into your day. Okay, I hope this is helpful, you guys. Love spending time with you, your amaze balls. I'm going to go eat some protein. I'm going to drink some water.

I'm totally going on Amazon and buying a new water bottle that breaks it down every day because part of the fun is buying the tools you need for the new... No, that's bad, Cass, that's bad. I'm not going to do it. do that. I've got lots of Yeties upstairs I can use because I'm saving money too. All right. I'll see you guys next time.