High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 397: How to Set Goals for 2021

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” Bruce Lee  High performers set goals and when they do, they consider who they can become in the process. They get clear on what they want and spend time reflecting on their wishes and dreams. They write their goals down. They follow through with their goals and keep them in mind during the year.    Power Phrase this Week:“I am gritty. I am committed to my goals and dreams.”     

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. Dr. Cinder Kampoff joining us today. We're talking well about goals and goal setting. It's that time of year, I suppose, Cinder, where people start thinking about setting their goals and their intentions for the new year. Yes, it's a perfect time to really think about that. You usually start with a quote. What's our quote today?

This is a quote by Bruce Lee. And he said, a goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at. I like that. It doesn't make it feel so bad if you don't quite reach it. But you've got an example to start with. So this is one of my favorite examples of success. And it's a story about Sarah Blakely.

She started a company called Spanx. And she got the idea when she was getting ready for a party. And she tried to put some pantyhose under her pants. And she cut off the bottoms of her pantyhose, but they kept on riding up underneath her pants. And she ended up becoming the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. And what I like about this story is when she is asked what made her successful or how she did that, she talks about how her dad would ask everybody around the dinner table every night, what did you guys fail at this week? And she said if she had nothing to tell them, he'd be disappointed.

And he knew that many people were kind of paralyzed by fear of failure. And this really taught her to define success as not trying something instead of like not achieving the right outcome. So what are we exactly talking about today? And how is that connected to your book Beyond Grit? So we're talking about this idea of setting goals and being gritty. And gritty is really about knowing what your goals are, knowing why you're pursuing them and sticking with them despite obstacles and setbacks. And I think this is a great time of the year to really think about what do you want. And the story of Sarah Blakely connects because we can all let fear of failure get in the way.

And I'm going to encourage you to really think big about what you want and really go for it. And how do you recommend that we go about setting our goals? There's a couple strategies that you use. So I think the first strategy is to consider that goals really are about who you can become and less about checking off a box at the end of the year. And I think when we take that approach, it allows us to not let fear of failure get in the way and really, you know, really think big about who do we want to become this year and what's the goal that's going to help us do that. And your goals really should be a little outside your comfort zone.

So when we take that approach, it allows us to do that. And that's why I really like this Bruce Lee quote we started with, that goals are just something to aim at, less about like feeling bad if you didn't accomplish that goal or not. Right. I like that. What else do you suggest? I'm going to suggest people ink it, not just think it. And what I mean by that is we know that people are more successful if they write their goals down. For example, there's this really cool study by Harvard students, or it was actually about

Harvard students. And once they graduated, they asked how many of them had their goals written down. And only 3% did. And they found out that 30 years later that the 3% that had their goals written down made more money combined than the 97% that did or that did not. So the point is, is that you want to just make sure you write your goals down and frame them more positively than negatively when you write them down. Think about what you want to just make sure you write your goals down and frame them more positively than negatively when you write them down. Think about what you want, not what you don't want. So what's the last strategy that we could use?

The last strategy would be that, you know, an ideal number of goals for the year is about three or four. And more than that gives you a little too much to focus on. And just only one can put a lot of pressure on you. So when you're writing them down, consider three or four goals that you might want to think about, you know, and focus on for the year. And what's your final point today? I would say, you know, this week spent some time reflecting on

what you really would like to accomplish this year and who you can become. And I think this gives us an opportunity to reflect on 2020. You know, there's a lot of things we're not too excited about this year, but there's also some good that came from it. And then focus on three or four goals that you'd like to accomplish this year and write them down. And this increases your chances of success to keep you motivated and

focused for the year to come. Well, Sandra, how would you summarize today for us? Sure. Lisa, I'd say high performers do set goals. And when they do, they consider who they want to become in the process. And they get clear on what they want, spend some time thinking about that and writing their goals down so they can follow through with their goals and keep them in mind for the year. And you always leave us with a power phrase that keeps us feeling good. What is the power phrase for this lesson? It goes like this. I am gritty. I'm committed to my goals and dreams. I like it. Cinder Campoff, how do we get in touch with you and learn more about what it is that you do? You can head over to Dr. Cinder, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com, and you can find out about Beyond Grit, the book, and everything else, the podcast, and everything else that's going on over there. Well, we wish you well into the new year. We will chat with you soon.

Cinder Campoff, thank you so much. Thanks, Lisa. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe and you can head over to Dr. Cinder for show notes and to join my exclusive community for high performers, where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindhra.

That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. See you next week.