Setting Goals: Use This 2-Step Process To Achieve More With Less Stress

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Hey there, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business and life you love. Happy New Year! Or if it’s not January, happy whenever you’re watching this. Because today I’m going to teach you a simple two step process that is perfect to help you start the year off strong and/or perfect to do anytime you have so many things on your plate that you feel like your beautiful head is going to explode. Now, I call this two step process the purge and prune. Now, I know, that kind of sounds like either the most horrible fad diet in the world or an equally horrible old timey pub.

We serve two things here. Purge and prune. We’re all out of prune.

Seriously though, it is simple and it works. I want you to grab a pen, get a notebook, and let’s get cracking. Because step number one is called the purge. Now, you might be asking yourself, what do I mean by this? I mean get all of those incredible dreams and goals and to do’s out of your noggin and down onto the page. I want you to write down all the things that you want to accomplish, that you want to achieve, or the things that you want to experience over the next 12 months. Now, I know this may sound a little basic, but you would be surprised at how many people don’t do this on a regular basis and then they wind up complaining about feeling completely overwhelmed, so much so that they want to go into the corner and do the ugly cry. Now, when I do this kind of brain dump I like to think about it in three spheres.

The first sphere is your self, meaning what are some of the specific things that you want to accomplish this year? In terms of, let’s say, your health and fitness or your self care or your finances or things like your mindset. Or maybe it’s something that you want to learn or practice or any creative projects or giving back. Or maybe something about your home or where you live. I don’t care, whatever it is, all I want you to do is think about how you want to grow yourself this year and write it down.

Now, the second sphere is your relationships. So think about the most important people in your life. Who are they? Is it your spouse or maybe a significant other? Maybe if you have kids or parents or grandparents or nieces or nephews. Or maybe it’s your friends. Do you want to plan some fun visits or vacations or adventures with people that you love? What are some improvements that you want to make in your relationships that are going to require some time and some focus? Think about all that and write those down too. And then the third sphere is your business or career. So what are some of the major projects or goals that you want to work on this year in terms of your professional life? Maybe you want to launch a new product or maybe you want to expand your team. I don’t know, maybe you want to brush up on your resume or ask for a raise or write a book or just do more networking. Once again, think about all of this, write it down. One thing that’s important, do not edit yourself and don’t censor yourself. Don’t stop and think I don’t know how I’m gonna get this one done. All I want you to do is get everything out of your head and onto the page. You know, I do this exercise often and, I have to tell you, it feels so good. You’re gonna get a massive surge in energy once you do this and then you’re gonna be ready for step number two.

And step number two is the prune. Now, what do I mean by this? Anyone who’s a gardener, you know the secret to keeping some of your plants really healthy and strong is sometimes you’ve gotta prune them. Meaning you’ve gotta go in, you take your big old loppers, and you just cut those branches back. And sometimes you do it severely. And I know that might sound a little bit scary. I mean, why would you want to lose all these nice healthy branches on your plant? Well, because when you do all the plant’s energy gets uber focused and the plant grows back a lot healthier, a lot stronger, and more robust than it was before. The same thing is gonna happen to you once you start going in and pruning back your list of what you want to work on over the next 12 months.

Now, you might be saying, Marie, no. I do not want to lose anything off my list. I like all of my projects. I still want to do that and that and that. Don’t make me lop it off, girl. Look, I understand, but here’s the thing. Most ambitious, driven people take on way too much, and I bet you do this all the time. You might have your focus scattered, you’re going to dilute your energy, and then you’re gonna wind up feeling overwhelmed and either quit or just spinning your wheels around and around and never make any meaningful progress. That’s why I’m suggesting that you take the opposite approach. Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to focus on the critical few things rather than the trivial many. Really focus down. What are the small number of projects that are going to give you the highest, most powerful, and meaningful results in your life?

So now my friend it is time for you to prune. I want you to take a look at your list and ask yourself, what do you really want your life to be about this year? How do you want to spend your time over these next 12 months? Who do you want to become? These are big important questions. They’re not necessarily that easy to answer, but it is vital that you do. Now, if you find yourself being torn up about what to prune and what not to prune, you can look at each item on your list through one of these three filters.

So filter number one is ask yourself, what is the payoff for making this project happen? So what’s the impact for reaching this goal and how is that going to impact your life mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, or financially? Filter number two, ask yourself how will this project ultimately benefit others? You know, what’s the payoff for the other people in your life, the people that you love? Whether that’s your family or your team or even greater society. And then filter number three, and I think this one is actually the most important filter, who will you have to become in order to make this goal or this project a reality? So in other words, what habits or skills or character traits will you need to develop in order to make this thing come to life? Big hint here, any project or goal that stretches you, that requires you to grow, is always going to be more rewarding than ones that don’t.

If you go through those filters and think, “That’s not really worth it,” or, “You know what? That’s not a big enough payoff for me right now,” or, “You know what? I’m just not down for that kind of commitment,” it is time to cut that branch. Don’t judge yourself, just lop it off. Cross that thing out. And I do want to say, crossing something out doesn’t mean that you’re never going to take that project on, just that you’re not going to put pressure on yourself to work on that thing this year. And, of course, if you just start crushing through your list of projects and you get things done so fast, you’re like look at me, you can always go back to your list and add more onto your plate.

And now, before you ask, I do want to address this: no, there is no perfect number of projects or plans or goals to end up with, and that’s because every single one of us is so different. You know, some of us are entrepreneurs, some of us are employees or students, some of us have health challenges, some of us have big families to take care of, and all of us are completely unique in terms of our capacity, our current life circumstances, and our ambition. But I will say this, and this is a constant, less is more, so just use your judgment, use your instincts, and cut that list back to make it as tight and right as possible. And that, my friends, is how you purge and prune. And it is so effective we actually made up a dance, which is called the purge and prune.

Purge – get it on out. Prune – now cut it on back. Purge – dump it out on the page. Prune – reel it on in. Purge – get buck, buck wild. Prune – now tighten it on up. Purge – dream big. Prune – plan small. Purge – do a brain dump. Prune – 80/20 rule.

Now, after you purge and prune, the very next step is to transfer all your goals and your projects into your calendar. Because, as I always like to say, if it’s not scheduled it’s not real. See, you know this. Now, if you want a little calendar tool that we use in our company to map out all our big initiatives for the year, you can download it right below. Now, I want to wrap this episode up on a Tweetable.

Sometimes the best way to grow is to cut back.

Now I would love to hear from you, and we’ve got a two parter today. First up, what is the number one goal or project that you are committed to bring to life this year? Tell me about it in terms of the three filters. So what’s the payoff for doing it, how will it impact others, and who will you need to become in order to bring this project to life? And then number two, what’s one project or goal that you pruned as a result of this process and how does it feel to get it go? You know, like let it go, let it go. All that good stuff. I want you to leave a comment below and let me know.

Now, as always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com, so head on over there and leave a comment now. Once you’re there, be sure to subscribe to our email list and become an MF insider. You’ll get instant access to a powerful audio training we created called How to Get Anything You Want. Plus you’re going to get some exclusive content, some special giveaways, and some personal updates from me that I don’t put on social media or anywhere else.

Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time on MarieTV.

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Look at this, just something came in like a little clap, clap.

This is so fun.
Can I spit into this glass? Great.

You need to prune it.