Minimalist Goal Setting that Works for Lifestyle Designers

Yes that’s right another blog post to be published on the Internet about setting goals and how to stick put in place substantial & solid goals not just flimsy New Years resolutions.

Is that what this blog is all about?

Well sort of but not really, what we want to achieve with this blog post is a whole lot more, we want to provide you with an understanding as to how to set realistic goals which can be achieved and provide you with a step-by-step process of how to support a proper goal setting plan in place.

So where to begin, well first of all I need to segment or compartmentalize the different areas in my life that I want to improve and goals I want to achieve. In this blog I don’t want to just throw out a few big goals that I want to achieve in 2014.

To do this I am going to discuss a number of mindset issues because without the correct frame of mind you will struggle to take action.

After reading the book entitled “Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life” by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus I find myself at the beginning of each year seeking to reset my mind and re-evaluating what’s important in my life. The book by The Minimalists really focuses on cutting out a lot of clutter in your life and focusing on health, relationships, passions, growth and contributions. These 5 dimensions within one’s life are the cornerstone of creating a meaningful life and living life it to its fullest potential. At the beginning of every year when I’m sitting down to assess what the year ahead holds in store for me I like to review this book as it helps me to really focus on what’s important in my life. This allows me to reset my brain and puts me in a frame of mind which can focus on preparing a realistic road map and set of goals to achieve for the coming year.

Why I hate new years resolutions?

To be honest I don’t really like New Years resolutions, I think that they are simply a throw-away line that people say at the beginning of every year however I don’t feel that when people make these New Years resolution statements that they have put a lot of thought into how they intend on achieving these goals and succeeding in doing so.

Other people make statements such as “this year I want to lose 15 kg” or “I want to stop smoking” or “I want to make more money” or “I want to be able to spend more time with my family” or “I want to travel more”. You know what they are, you’ve heard it all before and may have said it all before.

Do you really want to achieve a goal or make a change? It is a serious question you need to sit down and ask yourself. If you answered this question in the positive then you need to ask yourself the further questions – how bad to you want to achieve your goals or make change? And how am I going to accomplish them?

It’s all well and good making these statements and having the intention of achieving them but there’s really no point in making such strong statements unless you can figure out how you’re going to successfully achieve those goals.

Subsequently, most people fail to achieve their New Years resolutions because of this very fact. It comes down to the fact that these types of people are too lazy to sit down and put a road map or a blueprint in place to achieve their New Years resolutions. Either that or they simply just don’t know how to sit down and work out what goals they want and how they are going to achieve it. My thinking is that if you are too lazy or unaware of how you you can sit down and map out exactly what goals you want and how you are going to achieve them then you’re probably too lazy or unaware of  actually achieving those goals by the end of the year.

So how do we make a goal setting road map to follow throughout the year?

Well like I said before we need to segment the different parts of our life into groups and then we need to work out within those groups exactly what we want to achieve no matter how big or small they are. I find that it is better to put in place a larger goal with in each of those groups and then work backwards writing down other little goals which will occur throughout the year which will ultimately work to achieving the main goal in question.

Just like what lifestyle design guru Tim Ferriss looks at in hacking different activities or the 80/20 rule where it is important to deconstruct the process of goal setting and then achieving those goals.

For example lately I have really been getting into a lot of body weight and movement types of exercises. To begin with I couldn’t even do a handstand without any assistance from the wall holding me up. However, after following certain experts in the field of core body strength, body weight exercises and the movement culture such as Ido Portal and local Sydneysider (and more importantly my beloved Sydney Roosters Strength & Conditioning Coach) Keegan Smith, I have come to realize that it is all about progression and building up to that main goal that you want to achieve.

Only 2 months ago I could barely do handstands, however through small progressions and steps I have gone from not being able to do a handstand to being able to do a hand stand unassisted and I’m now working on building my strength up and working my way up to achieving handstand push-ups unassisted without any wall or person holding my legs. I am not there yet but considering only two months ago I could barely do a handstand even up against the wall and I feel that I’m certainly working towards my main goal of being able to do hand stand push-ups and then re-evaluating my goal to push myself further and perform an even harder movement such as a one arm handstand.

Yep that’s right there you go I said it – 1 armed handstand push up! Quite an impossible feat I would have thought but through practice, consistency & progression I am beginning to think this could really happen.

Oh by the way, if you think that a 1 or even 2 armed handstand push up is not that hard – please give it a go and let me know where you place it on the 1 to 10 difficulty scale.

But like everything that requires practice in this life the most important thing in achieving goals is being consistent about the progress and the steps that you take to achieve those goals.

This issue of consistency is so important that it deserves its own discussion in this article.

The art of consistency!

That’s right the art of consistency is such an important commitment and part of the process to achieving goals. In fact it is so important that in the coming weeks I intend to write a whole blog article solely based on The Art of Consistency.

Because consistency is so important it is for this very reason that we do not just set one major goal to achieve by the years end instead we put in place a lot of small progressing mini goals along the way spread throughout the whole year so that we can work towards achieving those mini goals and ultimately achieve the main goal that we have set for ourselves.

Ultimately, the reason why consistency is so important is because that anyone can sit down and write out the most concise and detailed road map to achieving their goals however if they are not consistent about working towards achieving those goals then they will never achieve them, it is as simple as that!

We are going to focus more on consistency in another blog post and see how we can deconstruct the process of being consistent and putting in place deadlines and ultimatums in order to help people achieve better consistency.

Get yourself a diary.

I think it is extremely important that you put your road map and your goals down on paper so that you can refer to your progress and how you’re going throughout the year. A good way to do this is to buy a diary, and not just some crappy diary or plain notebook that you don’t even like the look of. However you should consider purchasing a diary that you love the look of love the feel of and cannot wait to write entries into that diary.

For me I have just gone out and purchased a new moleskin diary which allocates one page for every single day of the year, this will enable me to jot down all important upcoming dates that I need to know about. This keeps me organised and organisation is a major part in adhering to your road map and achievement of your goals.

What I have done is I have prepared my 2014 road map on a separate piece of paper and is this includes my major goals and all the little goals along the way to help me achieve the major goals I’ve put all this down on one separate A4 piece of paper for each group within my life that I want to achieve major success in. I have then poured this road map together in a bundle and sticky tape them inside the front cover of my new diary.

I need to have easy access to my goals at any time that I’ve got my diary with me as it also enables me to stay committed to the little goals along the way. Preparing and organizing myself with in my diary so that I stick to my progression plan and am able to accomplish the small goals and wins along the way throughout the year.

Practical Step-By-Step Process to Planning Your Goals.

Ok so let’s get down to brass tax and let’s show you the process of exactly how I am going to set out and put in place a good solid road map to achieve my goals.

To make this a little bit easier for you to follow I have put this process into 7 easy yet practical steps.

Step 1 – Get yourself a physical diary or notebook, one that you feel comfortable taking around with you a lot of the time.

Step 2 – Create segmented areas of your life with which you want to achieve specific goals in.

Step 3 – Make a realistic assessment of where you feel you are within each of those segmented groups at this present time.

Step 4 – Work out what main goals and achievements that you want to achieve by the end of the year with in each of these segmented groups in your life.

Step 5 – Deconstruct those major goals by setting smaller quarterly goals and achievements that will work towards achieving the main goals you have set for each segmented group.

Step 6 – Deconstruct those quarterly goals by putting in place daily or weekly habits or rituals which will allows you to work towards achieving the smaller quarterly goals you have set.

Step 7 – Take action on everything that you have planned for with your daily & weekly habits or rituals by diarising them in your notebook or diary so that you have written commitments to work with on a consistent basis. Also diarise the quarterly and yearly goals for your record to view and work towards throughout the year.

My segmented groups of goals!

Everyone will have different groups within their own lives that they wish to achieve certain types of goals for, however for me I have decided to focus on the following important groups within my own life:

Health & Fitness

Current Assessment:

Ok so I consider myself to be quite fit and healthy. At the moment I currently perform 2-3 weight sessions in the gym each week. In addition to this I do 2-3 cardio sessions each week which usually involves either a 30-45 minute run, run and swim in the surf or alternatively I would go for an hour long surf which involves a lot of paddling and is a solid cardio activity. Last year I competed in my first ever long distance running competition. Well it was more of a marathon type of event called the Sydney City to Surf (14km marathon) where I recorded a time of 1hr 20mins and that was starting in a slower group level which involved a lot of slower people in the group slowing down the pace. I know I can do a lot better time and this year it will happen.

My diet needs improvement to make myself a lot healthier. I currently eat far too much sugar and often find myself snacking on a bag of lollies to satisfy my cravings especially if I haven’t eaten a substantial meal for a long period of time then my blood sugar levels get low and I get the urge for a quick fix, this is when I fold and get an easy quick bag of lollies.

Major Health Goals:

I really want to cut back my sugar intake significantly by the end if the year. Improve my fruit and vegetable intake to improve my overall health.

Instead of focusing on building mass muscle and eating huge amounts of protein, I want to eat a more well balance diet and include more natural health options like organic fruit and vegetable.

My reason for changing my diet and eating habits is so I can focus more of getting healthy inside my body which will ultimately give me a leaner and healthier look on the outside. I am really focused on living a cleaner life and having a clear laser focused mind.

My body fat percentage sits around 10% to 13% which should be a lot lower considering the amount of activity that I so. My goal is to try and get my body fat percentage down to around 8%, at this range my abdominal muscles should start showing and I will attain a general ripped look all over.

Quarterly Goal:

With these Quarterly goals much of the assessment will be decided on how I am looking and feeling about myself. I can certainly weigh myself and do body fact tests but at the end of the day my overall health will generally be determined by the way I am feeling and looking.

Each Quarter I will assess the following issues in the hope that my daily rituals are helping to achieve my overall health and fitness goals:

• energy levels;
• better sleep patterns;
• body fat percentage;
• weight;
• overall muscular look;
• cardio vascular levels (assessed through running and swimming times and distances)
• overall look of my skin.

Daily Health Habits:

I was given a small health and fitness tracking device for Christmas called a Fitbit. I have begun using this device, which straps onto your wist and delivers data to your mobile phone Fitbit Application. With this device I am able to track the different types of food that I consume each day. I can also log amount of water that I consume. This will go a long way to keeping me accountable for the food that I consume and the general activity that I do on a day to day basis.

But at the end of the day I know what I have to do to stop getting sugar cravings and that is to make sure that I eat regular substantial meals filled with complex carbohydrates. I have researched this issue of my low blood sugar, I have also consulted a Doctor and one cause of my low blood sugar can be a failure to have regular substantial meals. Currently some days go by where I wake up and have a coffee and then by 2pm or 3pm in the afternoon I am so hungry, grumpy and have headaches that I need a quick fix so I binge on a bag of lollies to give me some short term temporary relief. To overcome this sugar binging I need to make time to have breakfast in the morning and then another meal at lunch and then eat my usual dinner.

To achieve my ultimate goal of cutting out sugar, or more importantly processed sugars, I need to make it a mandatory habit every morning to have a bowl of cereal and/or which is quick and easy.

Another way that I am able to increase my fruit and vegetable intake is by blending together smoothie or drink every night so that I can take it with me the next morning when I leave the house and I can consume it when I am on the go. I purchased an Optimum Blender which is similar to a Vitamix but about half the price. I can vary the ingredients a lot but generally what I do is blend the following into a drink:

Ingredients:

• 2-3 peeled oranges
• 1 peeled lemon
• 1 apple
• 1 handful of berries (strawberries/blackberries/raspberries/blueberries)
• 1 banana
• 1 handful of silver beet or spinach
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 litre of water

Whilst my blend in a bottle drink will be great for me during the day I also need to think about a substantial lunch meal to eat.

I find lunch to be the hardest since I can often be out and about with a busy schedule and not turn my mind to eating a substantial meal for lunch. I need to take with me wherever I go a small ready packed lunch that I can eat if I do not end up purchasing a meal from somewhere. This can be as simple as a banana, apple, dried fruit and nuts and/or a tin of tuna.

I know that fruit has sugar in it but it is a far healthier alternative to eating a bag of lollies which is processed junk.

As with everything I find…..I think that PREPARATION is the key here.

Currently I have been consuming at least 2 coffees every day. I want to be able to cut my coffee intake out. I am going to try with small steps to stop drinking coffee by cutting back to one coffee per day.

Then reduce my coffee intake down to 2 or 3 a week on specific coffee drinking days (i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays).

Daily Fitness Habits:

As mentioned in my initial assessment I am quite happy with my overall fitness. However, lately I have been getting into a lot of surfing and bodyweight exercises.

Check out my blog on “Backpackers Guide to Surfing” where I go through the ins and outs of learning how to surf. I have found that getting out there in the surf and doing a great deal of paddling is really a good cardio vascular workout. I have been going for a surf most mornings that the surf conditions are clean and safe.

So far this has been kickstarting my day off with a great bit of exercise which has given me good energy for the rest of the day. In addition to this the salt water exposure is great for my skin as it really invigorates it. Also the salt water and sun tend to make me sleepy earlier in the night compared to when I never used to surf. I have found that whilst an early morning surf kickstarts my energy levels for the day it also makes me more tired at night time and subsequently I have been going to bed earlier and having better nights sleep. It seems surfing has gone a long way to getting my body clock in time.

Surfing has really been a win / win for my health and fitness!

As mentioned previously in this post I have been putting more focus towards my core strength through bodyweight exercises instead of heavy weightlifting in the gym. I have been following Keegan Smith and Ido Portal for information and inspiration. This means that I have been getting outdoors more often to exercise by jogging down to the local exercise bars set up and doing a lot of the following exercises:

• dips
• pull ups
• push up
• air squats
• bars hangs

• 1 armed push ups
• 1 armed chin ups
• 1 legged squats
• full bridge holds
• handstand push ups
• muscle ups

These more experienced exercises are impossible for me to perform at this point in time but by the end of the end my goal is to be able to at least competently perform these exercises even if its just for 1 or 2 repetitions.

Other than these strength and core body weight exercises I intend on taking part in the Sydney City to Surf Marathon Event in August. Well its approximately 14 kilometres but the up and down hill course is not for the faint hearted. Even though this event is on 10th of August and not at the end of the year, it is still my goal for this year to better my time from last years event of 1 hour and 20 minutes.

I am confident of getting a much better time this year but I would really like to run under the 1 hour mark. This may be a goal that is far to ambitious for me but it is something that I will aim towards and I think that I can come at least very close to achieving this time.

In order to achieve this goal I will be doing a lot more outdoor running instead of treadmill running at the gym. I will also do more frequent run sessions each week compared to my lead up to last years event. I intend on making it a habit to perform at the very least 3 running sessions each week comprising of 4 to 6 kilometers right through to April. Then in May and June I will begin performing longer training sessions of at least 10 kilometers per session.

By the time July comes around I will want to cut the number of kilometers that I am training so that I can try and preserve my body and reduce the risk of injury. For the month of July I will cut back to 4 to 6 kilometers but I will try to increase the intensity of the workout.

Finally, by the time August comes around there will be 10 days until the event so I will do a training season on the 1st and 5th of August. these two training sessions will be just light training sessions of 3 to 4 kilometers at a pretty easy pace. That way by the time the even comes around on 10th of August I will be fresh and ready to run.

Work, Money & Productivity

Current Assessment:

Currently, I have just finished building my first small online product. It is an online guide for people who have been caught for drink driving offence in NSW, Australia. The NSW DUI Court Bible provides people with a cost effective way of representing themselves in Court so that they can obtain the best result possible when entering a plea of Guilty. The information product comes complete with a membership site which outlines a step-by-step process for the worker to go through. It’s really a great and informative product.

It’s my first online information product that I have sold and it also my first online membership website that I have successfully set up. To date I have sold about a dozen memberships. So what this tells me is that there is potential there to make sales but indeed to concentrate on some solid online marketing now that the product and systems are all in place.

In addition to this I have reignited my passion for my Backpacking Addictz blog, that’s right, the blog you are reading now. But of late my interest in this blog has widened somewhat to include a lot more information about lifestyle design and digital nomads. To be more specific topics and issues surrounding fitness, health, motivation, life hacking, entrepreneurship, financial freedom, making money online and location independent issues. Obviously one of the main underlying themes surrounding backpacking and travel will continue to dominate the information that this blog presents.

In addition to these online works I have plans to setup another blog surrounding Law Firm startups and law firm entrepreneurship. These ideas are in their initial inception and I plan to take my time in developing these ideas.

I need to be very careful because I am constantly having wonderful ideas for online business & internet marketing ventures that I wish to undertake yet this can often detract away from focussing on some of the more established works that I am involved in.

Major Work & Money Goals:

I want to be realistic and by doing this I do not intend to or think I will set the world on fire and become the next big thing in the online arena. But what I do hope to do is be able to subsidise my existing income with some additional online passive income streams.

By the end if the year I would be happy to be able to earn an additional $1000 per month in passive income. To do this I will need to set up some more online products and scale up on my existing products by promoting them more rigorously through various online channels.

I would also like to have my new “Law Firm Entrepreneur” project off the ground. This new project will involve the creation of a new blog & paid online course to help lawyers who want to startup their own law firm and build it into a successful and profitable business. Whilst I have a strong passion for online marketing and business, I also have a background in the legal profession as I am a practicing lawyer myself. I feel that I have enough knowledge to help other lawyers build successful legal startups.

Major Productivity Goals:

The other major goal that I want to have is to not let my work get to me and frustrate me like it has done in the past. Not making the money that I would have wished for or coming across small menial tasks that I find difficult to get past have often been a source of major frustration and have ultimately affected my mood and stress levels which can often make me an unsatisfied person. This is not me and not who I want to be so my plan is to take a step back and just try and enjoy what I am doing without having the urgency of huge expectations. I do not see this as a defeatist attitude but one which will enable me to maintain my sanity and be a more enjoyable person to be around. Through being more organized I believe that I will able to accomplish more anyway.

Probably one of my biggest GOALS for the year is to minimize my faults & increase my productivity.

Productivity will not just happen it is something that I need to sit down and focus on each and every single day, this will in turn help me drive forward to reaching my quarterly and yearly goals. So how to I assess my productivity at the end of the year, well its probably not as easy as applying it to a measuring scale, but the proof will be in the pudding as to what I have accomplished in other areas and goals. If I am happy with where my major projects are sitting and the income that I have coming in and I have changed my work rate to be more focused and productive then I will be satisfied that these productivity goals have been reached.

My productivity goals will be measured through my accomplishment of other major goals I have set for myself and this will apply to all areas of my life.

Quarterly Goals:

At the end of each Quarter I really need to sit down and assess my progress in relation to money made and furthering of my works.

What I have scaled down in the way of clutter and having too many projects on the go at one time. Also I need to up scale what is working and what holds value to driving my work and projects forward. I need to believe in my projects and the plans that I have set for them and stick to them, be focused and consistent.

It will be important to sit down and assess what is working and what is not working in the way of bring in more money and gaining more traction for my online projects.

The critical issue here will be to decide if something is not working then do I need to spend more time in making it work or do I make a decision to scrap that particular task, idea, job or project.

I think that this will involve some outlaying of funds to pay for a solid AdWords campaign. I believe in my product “NSW DUI Court Bible” and I have put a great deal of time in it to make it the best kind of product of its kind. Therefore I have a strong belief that it will sell and be successful but I think at this early stage of its sales journey I need to get the product before the right set of eyes for people who are specifically searching for this type of information.

Daily Work & Money Habits:

Well we all know that content is pretty much still KING so what I want to do is create a small amount of content every single day and I want to get into the habit of doing this religiously. Whether it be writing a blog post, creating some audio, creating a video or a slide share presentation or even preparing a number of social blasts to send out on the various social platforms for now and into the future. The fact is I need to be able to put aside a bit of time every single day to create some content which will obviously be published for the purpose of driving forward my main online business project and my set goals.

If it’s writing content then I want to put aside a bit of time to create 400 to 500 words every single day now these writings or ramblings of content will not necessarily be perfectly presented in the proper grammar or form ready for publishing. But what it will provide for is written content for me to go back and review and edit when I want to publish a really good blog post or publication that I am working on at the time. I do a little bit of PowerPoint presentation and slideshow creations and also videos for video marketing but my main form of content creation is in written form and I still think it is some of the best and most shared content out there. But in saying this I do want to explore the audio and podcasting at some point this year, it’s not high on my list but it is something that I do want to start looking at.

I want to put a lot more time into my AdWords campaign to really upscale some of my online products so basically what this means is that I will have to spend a small amount of time every single day on analysing my google analytics and really assessing what’s working and what’s not. My reviews of the daily analytics needs to become a a daily habit of mine.

Not only will it be important to see where my visitors are coming from in Google but it will be really important to see where my money is going in my AdWords campaign and also to see where various other sources of traffic coming from some other external and outbound links that I’ve gained through my link building strategies.

Daily Productivity Habits – WORKSTATION POPCORN

I think it probably rings true with everyone that procrastination is a major inhibitor to getting work done in an efficient manner.

Procrastination is the Devil!!

So how do I intend to overcome this devilish problem, well a fellow by the name of Joel Runyon provided the answer in a blog post of his recently.

Welcome to the Workstation Popcorn technique…

Basically, what the workstation popcorn technique aims to achieve is to get you to plan out what work you have to achieve and then segment that work up into smaller chunks where you can tick off each chunk as you go along and moving to a different environment to perform each section of your plans were that you want to achieve.

Basically the WORKSTATION POPCORN works like this…..

Create A List Of Things To Do Today:

Write down a to do list of things that you need to achieve for the day and it is a very important that each item on the To Do list is very specific and not they so that you know exactly what work you have to do and the direction that you need to work towards to successfully complete the job.

Break That List Up Into Three Equal Sections

Once you’ve got your To Do list together you need to sit down and break the To Do list up into three equal segments. Each of these segments should roughly take the same amount of time to complete Each segment successfully.

You will want to break these 3 segments up into group similar to the ones below:

Group #1

• Task 1 (1 hour)
• Task 2 (45 minutes)
• Task 3 (45 minutes)
  • Total time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Group #2

• Task 1 (1 hour)
• Task 2 (30 minutes)
• Task 3 (1 hour)
  • Total time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Group #3

• Task 1 (30 minutes)
• Task 2 (45 minutes)
• Task 3 (45 minutes)
  • Total time: 2 hours

Of course you can extend or shorten the times or customize these groups to your liking but the groups above give you a good idea of how the planning should be set out.

Find Three Locations To Work From:

Joel Runyon suggests that you choose three separate locations for you to complete each working second. This will definitely be something new to me however I am willing to give it a try.

Think the ideas behind choosing a separate location is so that as you start each segment of your work you have new surroundings and is your able to almost kind of start fresh and have a clear a new focus on the work that you’re beginning with each section and location that you’re involved with.

Joel mentions that working at home is probably the least desirable place all location to work from instead you should consider a good coffee shop and outlets outside your home which has good Internet Wi-Fi or just an open space to work where there is limited distractions such as TV or games.

Take Action:

This part is about taking action it simply about performing in exactly the plan that you have already put in place and that we have just discussed above. Step one go to your particular location, step to start working on action the items in that group. Don’t stop working on that segmented group of things to do until you have completed and then once you’ve completed that that whole segment or group of tasks get moved here
Case in and begin working on group to set of tasks.

The time between moving to another location will allow you to get a drink or a bite to wait or get some exercise which will cost we your minds and prepare you for beginning the new working task at your new working location.

NOTES & EXTRAS:

• The Science of Setting Goals
• Think Act Get with James Schramko & Ezra Firestone about Goals
• Impossible HQ by Joel Runyon
• Coach Keegan by Keegan Smith
• Functional Movement by Ido Portal
• The Minimalists by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus

We look forward to hearing from you and how you have put measures in place to work towards achieving your goals – please leave your comments, progress and achievements in the comments section below……And remember it is never too late to start your Minimalist Goal Setting that works for Lifestyle Designers.