Bonus Episode 18: Goal Setting

Transcript

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Hi, this is Stephen McLain of the finance leader podcast. This is bonus episode number 18. This week I am sharing an encore episode from Season number five, Episode Number 36. about goal setting.

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As you already know, goal setting is very important to me, along with mindset and empowerment. Goal setting is a critical process that I believe in. And that is why I am not letting it go. I will continue to bring it up in this forum, we should be continually reviewing our goals ensuring they are realistic, they are measurable, they can be achieved and are time based. It's best when we break up our goal into smaller, more easily achievable pieces, we can then achieve small victories to show progress. And this positively affects our mindset. Our long term goal might be a huge milestone way off in the distance. But it becomes more achievable. As we break it up over several years and parts. What can we do this year, and next year to be on our way to achieving it. Let's schedule the training and development we need and put it on the calendar. Let's continue to measure our progress and mark the items off the individual development plan. When we have a plan that we can actually achieve, it becomes more realistic to us, we can actually do it. We have to follow this process. So we don't alter our mindset, which may result in putting up blocks along our way.

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Our mindset is very critical to our success. People sometimes place themselves in prisons, built by their own minds. I was reminded of this recently, that we often build our very own matrix that serves to create an alternate reality for us. Maybe we get comfortable in our own matrix and we don't push ourselves and we don't achieve what we really want. So please tear down whatever matrix you have built for yourself. And by the way, the matrix was an incredible movie. It was a great series, all three movies, I highly recommend them. I am working on bringing season number six to you, which will debut in a couple of weeks.

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continue to work on your goals.

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measure your progress. Don't give up. Please enjoy this encore episode about goal setting. Thank you is finally 2021 and it's time to figure out what we want to accomplish this year. In 2020, we faced many challenges and learned much what is your big goal for 2021? What do you want to accomplish? We're going to be goal setting and getting things done in 2021. Additionally, you will need a resilience plan for when life happens which causes you to focus on your goals.

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Let's get to planning. Please enjoy the episode. Welcome to the finance leader podcast where leadership is bigger than the numbers. I am your host Stephen McLain. This is the podcast for developing leaders in finance and accounting. This is episode number 36 and the debut of season five, season five is going to be about self development. Today I will be talking about goal setting for 2021 with the following outline.

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Number one, our cheese got moved in 2020. Number two, what is your big goal of 2021 number three, focus on progress over perfection. And four have a resilience plan. Legendary Major League Baseball player Steve Garvey said, you have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought you're stuck with something below your true talent, and potential. I started this podcast a year ago because I know it's important for finance and accounting professionals to grow their leadership skills. leadership can set you apart from your peers, because we are all expected to have a strong technical background in our field. But leadership will get you noticed and provide opportunities for advancement.

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Now why is leadership important and what do leaders do? leaders create opportunities for their teams. opportunities to grow and develop leaders ensure there's fairness across the team and across the organization. Leaders protect their team members and ensure they can perform without distractions or other horrible workplace scenarios, such as harassment or mistreatment.

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Leaders build trust and communicate continually about what is important. Leaders prioritize and set up boundaries around what is the most important. The last year in Episode Two. I discussed the four leadership responsibilities for finance and accounting leader Number one, they develop their people. Number two, they grow their influence in the organization. Number three, they achieve results. And number four, they see the future by understanding trends in the industry, we have finally said goodbye to 2020. But things aren't back to normal yet. And they may never be, you actually got more done in 2020, than you realize you were challenged, and then you figured it out. We learned to embrace change. In our business models also had to change and had to adapt. We had to develop new ideas. And leaders must continually be open to exploring and doing new things, to grow their organization, and to take care of their teams, we must continually be moving forward and ready to adapt and ready for change. Always. That's what 2020 has taught us. 2020 brought a lot of change to us a lot of things we have to get over and figure out and overcome. Now I want you to take that skill set and that mindset and move forward and get more done in 2021. You have grown in your leadership, you have grown and your ability to overcome adverse events, you have built your resilience, because you made it through 2020. Now let's move forward. Goal setting is key to helping us focus and plan our year. For a goal to be effective, it must be written down, it must be specific, and have a completion date. Plus be achievable and also realistic.

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Goal setting focuses our effort, and helps us to effectively use our time through goal setting, we improve our chance to succeed. Now I love planning my goals. Every year at this time I write out my goals and how I will achieve them. I usually develop three big goals each year. And this is where I focus my effort for the entire year. I ensure I add my plan to the calendar.

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Because without goal setting, how would I focus my effort?

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What would I do? And this is why deliberate goal planning must be done. If you don't have a plan, then you don't know what to do.

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You don't know how to use your time and use your resources.

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You're wasting your time if you don't write down your goals, and then develop an achievable plan around it. Now let's discuss goal setting for 2021. The first thing I want to talk about is that Archie's got moved in 2020.

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Have you ever read the book Who Moved My Cheese? By Dr. Spencer Johnson. It's a classic book about what we should do when conditions change. We all become accustomed to our conditions, and we become accustomed to what's going on around us.

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Eventually, we become complacent. And that's why I talk about complacency. I talk about mindset I talk about growing and developing. Do we move forward with the change? Or do we still still and let the change overcome us, causing us to fail or even lose out to E adapt and be flexible? Or do we dig in, spin our wheels and let the world move forward without us and 2020 our cheese got moved. He had to adapt and become extremely flexible. To overcome the challenges. We must continue to adapt because the cheese is still moving, we still have to be ready for change. In fact, the cheese was always moving. But in 2020 and moved fast, and in unpredictable directions. We must strengthen our mindset to move forward so we can accomplish our goals.

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Now, don't let the obstacles get in your way. Because the obstacles are still out there.

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So keep moving, growing and adapting to change. So the second thing I want to talk about is what's your big goal for 2021. Now I told you, I usually have three goals. And then I prioritize them and break them up into smaller pieces. For now I'm asking you to really focus on what your big goal is for 2021. Now it may be applying for your master's degree or earning your certification. It could be something like that, or it could be wanting to get a new job, or something along that line in your professional development in your career. So what do you want to accomplish in 2021? For goals to be effective, a goal must be written down. It's specific. It has a completion date. It's definitely achievable. And it's always realistic. A goal has a plan. This is the time of year when we hear about New Year's resolutions, which are usually made out of desperation with no real plan. A resolution is an emotional response to something lacking that might trigger us but a goal is achievable because we do the critical thinking and the critical planning A goal is completed over time. Because we build patience and realism into it, we break it up into smaller pieces. And then we put it on the calendar. And we assess it.

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And we also hold ourselves accountable. How can we better plan our goal setting? Let's break down the tasks into achievable pieces. So it's easier to accomplish. Let's make a to do list and also start a calendar. Begin with the end state, I want to accomplish my goal by December 1, for example.

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Now work backwards on your timeline, with achievable smaller objectives, and micro goals, all focused on accomplishing your big goal, what tasks need to be done, when starting to work backwards to the present, I want you to keep assessing and working on your plan. keep updating it, writing down what you have accomplished, assessing will how you can move forward. And what you need to do next, focus on that end state that big goal you want to accomplish, and what date you have listed it out as. And number three, I want you to focus on progress over perfection wants you to keep moving forward even when something doesn't happen to plan. When we focus on being perfect. We get obsessed about not making a mistake or what others think about us.

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Perfection is an obstacle to goal completion. That affects a lot of people. It gives us doubt about our abilities. We don't have to be perfect. We just have to keep moving forward. Don't stop and don't worry about making a mistake. They can be overcome. Don't quit, make adjustments, but please don't quit. It's a mindset issue that seeks to give us doubt when we are not good enough, or that we don't deserve it. That's what perfection does to us. Because we aren't perfect, then maybe we shouldn't be doing it. Because people are gonna judge us.

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That's all in your mind. I want you to keep moving forward. Even if you make that mistake, even if you didn't do something perfect. Keep assessing, keep adjusting. Adjust your plan around your goal. If one piece didn't work out, right? Then redo it, replan it, put it on the calendar, change the date, keep moving forward, keep moving forward, even if you have a setback, keep moving forward and don't let something derail your progress. Stop, reassess, make a plan and execute again, keep moving forward. Now what's your resilience plan? When we plan out our lives, resistance can often come out against us. And then maybe our own mindset, we talked about perfection. In the last item. Maybe we have unsupportive people in our life.

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And I've talked about that before. I've talked about your circle of friends and the circle of people you keep in your life, the people you have closest to you. Are they supportive of you?

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Do they help you along? Or do they judge you and try to stop you because they're jealous, or because they don't believe in you. And they're trying to stop you from your dreams and stopping you from your goals.

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you sometimes have to remove people out of your life that aren't supportive, and that's okay. That's a good decision.

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Life happens sometimes in our goals get delayed, life will happen. things will happen in your life that will delay your progress. You have to have a plan around this. You have to have resilience, you have to be ready for adversity, you have to be ready. When life happens, something's going to happen an accident, something's going to happen to a close friend or close relative, something's going to happen in your job or in your personal life. You have to account for this and you have to be ready for it. When you make a goal, the universe is going to start working against you. And this is why New Year's resolutions easily wither away, because life gets into our way.

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But if you have a written down plan, it helps to stay on track.

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So what's your plan going to be?

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What are you going to do to not stop you? What are you going to do when life starts to get in your way? How are you going to focus? How are you going to get things done? How are you going to keep staying on track? Are you going to continue to grow your mindset you can accomplish anything that you can get through this complex that goal is often about the choices in our life. And what's our priority? Be watchful about what gets in the way of your goal accomplishment, continue to stay focused, stay on track, be watchful of what's going to get in your way and have that strong mindset of accomplishment. keep adjusting your plan. Keep working on your plan. Even if one thing doesn't work out, make the change. Update your plan.

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It's okay mindset is critical to goal accomplishment. How we think how we see ourselves in the world affects our motivation, and our determination. Our mindset is directly linked to our success.

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People who accomplish goals usually have a growth mindset, not a fixed one. You a growth mindset helps us with challenges so we can continue to grow. I believe that if you change your mindset, you will change your outcome. Keep working on your mindset. The last thing, again, I'm going to say it is what is your big goal for 2021? What's it gonna be? Let's put it on the calendar and work backwards. So for an easy one today, let's start planning our goals for 2021. Let's start today. Write down your plan and determine the smaller, achievable pieces. Now put down on the calendar of when you want to get it done. And then I want you to keep reassessing, adjusting and moving forward and achieving it.

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Strengthen that mindset and get ready for when things get in your way of accomplishing your goal for this year.

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I have a free guide for you.

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It's called the leadership growth blueprint for finance and accounting managers. In the guide, I talked about three leadership areas, communication, team growth, and empowerment.

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Plus a few recommendations around challenges with the systems you are probably using to complete your work. The link to the guide is in the episode description. Or you can go to Stephen McLain calm. Please use it to help you with a few leadership wins today. Thank you. This episode is sponsored by my new online course offerings through finance leader Academy is called Advanced your finance and accounting career, developing a promotion strategy that will set you apart. Are you having difficulty getting recognition from your leadership, despite all the hard work you pour into your job and your organization? This course helps you analyze what you bring to the organization, how you can set yourself apart from your peers through high visibility work, and developing your leadership skills. Plus how you can devise a strategy to move ahead. You can go to Stephen McLain calm for more details.

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Today I talked about goal setting for 2021 with the following outline. Number one, our cheese got moved in 2020.

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Number two, what is your big goal of 2021 number three, we're going to focus on progress over perfection. And four, we must have a resilience plan. Next week in Episode 37. I will be discussing about being coachable and preparing ourselves for critical feedback so we can continue to grow. I hope you enjoyed the finance leader podcast is dedicated to helping you grow your leadership. I hope you enjoyed the show. You can get this episode wherever you find podcasts. Until next time, you can check out more resources at Stephen McLain calm and sign up for my updates so you don't miss an episode from the show.

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And now lead your team and I'll see you next time. Thank you

Bonus Episode 18: Goal Setting

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