Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:55 — 6.9MB) | Embed
Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Mark Des Cotes, The only time I drink Dr Pepper is at Taco Bell and I believe if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share my goals for 2015.
Today’s Fun Fact of the Day: Did you know that rats laugh when you tickle them? It’s true. I wonder if they pee themselves if they’re tickled too much?
Welcome to Wednesday everyone, I’m sure that for many of you, like me, this is your first week back at work following the holidays. Rest assured, this is the half way point and the weekend will be here before you know it. You know what else will be here before you know it? Our Friday Forum. In today’s episode I’m talking about setting resolutions and goals and I think you should set some for yourself and commit to sending something in to us. We’ve made it so easy for you. Just visit our Feedback Page where you can submit a pre-recorded audio file or you can use the Speak Pipe widget right there on the site to record your message. You can also do it old school by calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278.
A great goal to set for yourself is to learn something new. What better place learn could you ask for than Lynda.com. They have over 3000 video courses to choose from, and these aren’t your typical youtube videos. These are professionally produced videos by expert teachers passionate about their subject. They have courses for business people such as how to lead a team, photography courses for artistic people, they even have a course on using the full capabilities of that new XBox One you got for Christmas. Visit goldenspiralmedia.com/lynda and get your first 10 days of learning are FREE!
What I Learned Yesterday:
I’m going to piggyback on Darrell’s recent theme and talk about my 2015 goals. Now, before I get to my actual goals I want to talk to you about the difference between setting resolutions and goals. This is especially important at this time of year when you hear so much about New Year resolutions.
Many people get confused between the two and don’t realize that one is an end and the other is the means to reach and end. Close, but not the same thing.
The definition of a resolution is to make a firm decision to do or not do something. Whereas the definition of a Goal is an aim or desired result achieved through a person’s ambition or effort. Which one sounds more impressive to you? Deciding to do or not to do something OR achieving a desired result through hard effort. If you’re like me, you realize that it’s much better to set goals such as loosing 20 lbs. for example, than it is to follow blind resolutions such as eating healthier.
Now I’m sure you know, just like the majority of people out there know, that most New Year resolutions are not followed through with. In fact, the number I found is 92% of resolutions are discarded within 30 days of making them. And this isn’t just for New Years resolutions either. Almost every time you make a resolution without an end goal in mind you will probably fail. So what’s the point of making resolutions? The point is, resolutions are needed in order to reach an end goal.
You see, resolutions affect now, whereas goals affect the future. You need to follow resolutions today, tomorrow and so on in order to reach a goal down the road.
If you’re still undecided about setting goals or resolutions think of it this way, is the life you’re living today the same life you want to be living in 10 years? If your answer is yes than press stop and skip the rest of this episode and go ahead and follow your resolutions. I wish you all the best. However, I find it hard to believe that you, someone who choses to listen to this podcast, doesn’t want bigger and better things for your future. So if your answer is no, in 10 years you want to be living a better life than you are today then you need to be setting goals.
And not just any goals, you need to be setting S.M.A.R.T. GOALS. I say smart as an acronym, it stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely
Specific: you need to set specific goals. “I want to save $1000” instead of “I want to save money”
Measurable: You need to be able to measure your results so you know when your goal is achieved. “I want to read 10 books” instead of “I want to read more”
Achievable: Make sure it’s a goal you can achieve within your limits. If your goal is to drive a race car, you should get a hold of someone at your local race track to give it a try, don’t start off by calling NASCAR.
Realistic: It’s nice to dream big, but big dreams are not always immediately possible. Saying you’ll have $10,000 in your savings account by December 31st is a lot more realistic than saying you’ll be a millionaire by year’s end. Although, if you do figure out a way to become a millionaire by year’s end give me a call, I want to talk to you.
Timely: If you don’t set deadlines you wont have the incentive to reach your goal. Wanting to run a marathon is nice but wanting to run a marathon by July 1st is something to aim for and gives you a reason to train now.
Let me give you an example of the right and wrong way to use resolutions and goals. Let’s say you want to loose weight. A very common theme this time of year. A lot of people will resolve to EAT HEALTHIER or EXERCISE MORE. Always good choices for sure, but how do you measure the results? Does eating healthier mean adding an apple to your lunch every day? That would count as healthier wouldn’t it? But so is eating 2 cookies at lunch instead of 3. Either way, is it really going to help you loose weight? Maybe, but probably not, and the reason is you haven’t actually set a goal. If your goal is to loose weight than define it. Do you want to loose 10 lbs., 20 lbs, 50 lbs.? And by when. Make sure you give yourself a time frame to achieve your goal. Once you figure out that part you can then define your resolutions. Remember the definition? To make a firm decision to do or not do something. In this case it may be to drink water with your meal instead of pop. With the goal of loosing x amount of pounds you’re now on the right track. This one resolution may not be enough to reach your goal so it’s OK to set multiple resolutions for the same goal. Drink Water instead of pop; have a fruit or vegetable for an afternoon snack instead of a bag of chips; go for a walk every day after dinner. These resolutions can help you achieve your goal once you have a desired result in mind.
So even though I set goals for myself I know that resolutions are needed as they’re a means to reach those goals.
So what 2015 goals am I sharing with you?
Using the S.M.A.R.T. acronym of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely I chose the following 4 goals;
1) I want to loose 34 lbs. by Podcast Movement at the end of July. I weighed myself on Monday on our Wii Fit. For the first time ever I fell in the obese category at 234 lbs. Diabetes runs in my family so I have incentive to loose weight. So my goal is to weigh 200 lbs or less by the time I meet Darrell for the first time face to face. To achieve this goal I resolve to exercise more, forgo second helpings no matter how good the food is, and eat healthier snacks throughout the day, which sounds simple since I’m working from home but it’s so much easier to grab a couple of cookies than it is to cut up a carrot so I’ll need willpower for that one. I believe this is a very realistic goal since to achieve it I need to loose less than 1.25 lbs per week.
2) Increase my daily billable hours to a minimum of 4/day. This may sound easy, but anyone that runs their own business knows that there are many hours that go into running a business that you are not directly compensated for. I want to be designing client work for a minimum of 4 hours a day. To achieve this goal I’ve resolved to eliminate distractions by turning off email and social media while I’m working. I’ve scheduled specific windows throughout the day to check these, but then they get turned off again so I can work undisturbed. I’m hoping that by eliminating the distractions I’ll be able to focus more on client work.
3) Follow a defined publishing schedule on Resourceful Designer. Those of you that have been listening to this podcast for a while know that I’m a graphic and web designer. In October I launched a new website at resoucefuldesigner.com where I blog and will be podcasting about running a design studio. My blog posts have been sporadic so far. My goal in 2015 is to release something each week alternating between a blog post and a podcast episode. I’m hoping that sticking to a defined schedule will increase my reader and listeners loyalty.
4) Interview 3 people for Solo Talk Media, my own podcasting network found at solotalkmedia.com. My podcasting journey began when I created Solo Talk Media with Darrell’s help. On a side note here, if any of you are considering starting your own podcast I suggest you don’t do it without consulting Darrell first at Pro Podcast Solutions. He made it so simple for me to get started. You could even help him reach one of his goals by being a consulting client. Anyway, many people have asked me if Solo Talk Media was done since I’m now doing this show for Golden Spiral Media. Rest assured that STM is alive and well. I’ll be back in April when Orphan Black returns for season 3 and again this summer to continue the fun with Under The Dome. I’m also creating a new podcast for a sci-fi show called Killjoys that will premier sometime in 2015. With a couple of seasons under my belt I thinks it’s time to step up my game. I’ve made some connections during the off season and my goal is to land interviews with at least 3 celebrities from the shows I podcast about. I would love to interview more but I think 3 is a realistic and achievable goal.
So there you have it. The 4 goals I’m sharing with you for 2015. If you are interested in following the progress of my, Darrell’s, Mandy’s and even our listeners goals please join us in our Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/StuffILearnedYesterday where you can also share your goals for the year.
Happy New Year everyone, I’m Mark Des Cotes and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
Do you know anyone that may enjoy this show? Stuff I Learned Yesterday is a great starter to introduce people to the world of podcasts. Just tell them to visit stuffilearnedyesterday.com to have a listen. If they enjoy the show there are links on the page where they can subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher.
Follow Golden Spiral Media on Twitter at GSMPodcasts and Facebook.com/GoldenSpiralMedia. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes.
[sc:stuff]
Trackbacks/Pingbacks