Shownotes
In today's episode, we're going to talk about a powerful technique for enhancing your success rates. Instead of focusing solely on big and intimidating goals, we're going to shift our attention to smaller, achievable milestones - what we call micro goals. These micro goals are like stepping stones that bring us one step closer to our ultimate objectives. By breaking down our larger goals into a series of mini achievements, we can make daunting tasks feel more manageable and definitely within our reach.
I share practical examples of how you can redefine your approach to goals - whether you're training for a marathon or writing a novel - and methods about how you can establish micro goals that will help you achieve substantial progress. Lastly I discuss the significance of not just aiming for end goals, but digging deeper to identify your purpose goals. By understanding the 'why' behind your objectives, you can inject greater clarity, purpose, and growth into your path towards success.
Mentioned in the episode:
Other Helpful Links:
- Join Coffee Perks
- My Favorite Tools
- Free Productivity Power Pack
- 10-Day Operations Challenge
- Website
- Instagram (@mirandamerten)
Do You Need More Structured Help In Your Business?
Subscribe to Coffee Perks where you’ll get Weekly tips, hot finds, and actionable articles and podcast episodes to help you automate your business and reduce tech overwhelm with purposeful productivity. I see the same thing from entrepreneurs like you every day- progress stalls because they get stuck on the tech. Don't let tech keep you stuck!
If you’re ready to get a little extra help in your business, visit mirandamerten.com/coffeeperks to sign up for free.
Ad music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: DYNC5SCX4AW7POZS
Mentioned in this episode:
Coffee Perks Newsletter
Sign up for Coffee Perks: https://mirandamerten.com/coffeeperks
Transcripts
Welcome to Coffee Powered Systems, equipping women with actionable steps to overcome
Speaker:overwhelm and streamline business and life.
Speaker:So grab your favorite drink and come hang out with me.
Speaker:I'm your host, Miranda Merten.
Speaker:Welcome back to coffee powered systems.
Speaker:It's the end of summer.
Speaker:I want you to grab a drink.
Speaker:I am joining with a little bit of water today.
Speaker:Pull up your favorite chair, pull up your favorite drink and come join me as we are back.
Speaker:And it's about the end of summer where I am.
Speaker:I went out into my backyard this morning and saw my grass.
Speaker:And looking at my backyard, it made me remember one of the goals that I had, which was to
Speaker:grow my grass.
Speaker:Now, low backstory, I moved back into this house.
Speaker:We moved back a couple of years ago, actually.
Speaker:We were renting it out for about five years.
Speaker:We went to California, came back, and when I got back, the grass was not grass.
Speaker:There were patches everywhere.
Speaker:There were dirt and mud, and it was kind of devastating.
Speaker:So one of my goals was to grow the grass back.
Speaker:I was looking at the end goal of this huge thing.
Speaker:I was picturing myself running around in the grass with Scout and maybe enjoying a fire
Speaker:pit, enjoying the night, and not having to care about the mud and the dirt that was back
Speaker:there.
Speaker:But what I realized is that it's freaking hard to grow grass.
Speaker:It's really hard.
Speaker:And I learned more about growing grass in the last two years than I have my entire life.
Speaker:And I wasted so much money trying to get to the end before I even got started at the
Speaker:beginning.
Speaker:So that's what I want to talk to you today about, because looking at my graph this morning
Speaker:reminded me of two things.
Speaker:The first thing was that it's the end of summer, or it almost is the end of summer.
Speaker:We're wrapping up here.
Speaker:And then the second thing is that I fell short of this goal of growing my grass correctly.
Speaker:And although it does look a lot better than it did two years ago when it first moved in, I
Speaker:have learned a lot of lessons along the way, and it's making me kind of rethink and
Speaker:reevaluate my goals.
Speaker:And as we get to the end of summer, we wrap up another quarter.
Speaker:We start to think about our intentions and our goals that we've set throughout this year.
Speaker:After we're done relaxing at the beach, when the kids get back into school, we're done
Speaker:lounging around at the pool, it's time to get back in and refocus.
Speaker:And we think, Q four is going to be different.
Speaker:It's always the next quarter.
Speaker:It's fresh.
Speaker:Think about how many times that you have been so gung ho on your goals, whether it is
Speaker:January 1 or you have a big milestone birthday coming up or it's Monday.
Speaker:Diet starts again on Monday.
Speaker:We have all been there.
Speaker:The excitement is real.
Speaker:We're so excited.
Speaker:The planning, the freshness.
Speaker:Looking at the future is always so much more exciting than where we currently are.
Speaker:And our current selves are telling our future selves exactly how it's going to go down.
Speaker:And we are looking six months out, we're looking a year out, trying to figure out these
Speaker:things.
Speaker:And sometimes we get way ahead of where we should actually be.
Speaker:Over the summer, I was reading a book called Joyful Productivity by George Cowell and he
Speaker:brought up something that really hit home.
Speaker:He said that we should create a system of micro goals and then use those micro goals to
Speaker:then achieve our relevant milestones along the way to get to that big goal.
Speaker:So meaning the bigger the goals, the less we can accurately predict if or when we're
Speaker:actually going to finish it.
Speaker:So instead of creating these big, huge goals like I did, I was like, I'm just going to
Speaker:grow the grass and it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker:We should create smaller micro goals and then we are more likely to actually complete
Speaker:those goals.
Speaker:So let's go over a couple of examples of this.
Speaker:So for simplicity, let's do a couple of simple ones.
Speaker:The goal, for instance, might be you want to run in the New York City Marathon at the end
Speaker:of the year, which I believe is in November.
Speaker:So if it is January, depending on your fitness level, that's going to be a pretty lofty
Speaker:goal.
Speaker:If you're like me, where you exercise a couple times a week and you sit for most of the
Speaker:day.
Speaker:If your job is sedentary, then that's going to be a pretty big goal.
Speaker:It might be a stretch goal.
Speaker:So you want to start where you are, because if you look at the big end goal and you're
Speaker:looking at November and you're thinking, well, how the hell am I going to run that
Speaker:marathon?
Speaker:I can barely run for ten minutes at a time.
Speaker:You're going to stop before you even get started.
Speaker:Looking at that big goal at the end is going to look very bleak because you know you won't
Speaker:be able to get there.
Speaker:So instead of looking at that big picture, what system could we create for that goal?
Speaker:We are going to create one small system, which would be maybe run ten minutes a day.
Speaker:If you know that you can run ten minutes a day, or maybe even five, you could start even
Speaker:slower and then work your way up.
Speaker:Small.
Speaker:Yes, that's the point.
Speaker:It's supposed to be a small micro goal that we know that we can achieve.
Speaker:And then as we get better, or as we work harder at that, then you can add on to the micro
Speaker:goal.
Speaker:Maybe after two weeks you work up to eleven minutes.
Speaker:After four weeks you're up to 15 minutes.
Speaker:And as you increase those, your progress increases.
Speaker:And before you know it, your stamina is increasing, and you are going to make your final
Speaker:goal.
Speaker:So another goal could be to write a book.
Speaker:That's another one.
Speaker:I have your system for that one.
Speaker:Instead of looking at the big picture, you're going to say maybe you want to write 500
Speaker:words a day or 250, wherever you are, start where you are.
Speaker:If you look at the fact that your novel needs to be 50,000 words that you eventually have
Speaker:to write, you are going to quit before you get going.
Speaker:And you don't want that.
Speaker:So you want to create again an achievable micro goal that's going to likely help you inch
Speaker:toward that big end of your goal.
Speaker:Because as you're writing those 500 words every day, you're not even going to be paying
Speaker:attention.
Speaker:And then you're going to hit 10,000 pretty quickly, and then you're going to hit 30,000,
Speaker:and before you know it, that novel is going to be done.
Speaker:These microachievements not only give you the results that you can see, but they also help
Speaker:you to create more meaning in your life.
Speaker:And at the end of that big goal, there's always going to be another step.
Speaker:So if you get a little deeper into the why of all of your goals, you'll likely find some
Speaker:more purpose, clarity or growth or something that you want to achieve that's going to make
Speaker:yourself even better.
Speaker:If you make yourself just 1% better every day, micro goals and systems are going to help
Speaker:you get there, thereby helping you achieve that process.
Speaker:So if we go back to my original goal, my original goal wasn't to get better grass, get
Speaker:green grass.
Speaker:It was actually to be living in a better quality of life on the weekends, having a better
Speaker:backyard, which would lead to me spending more time outdoors, getting fresh air, exercise,
Speaker:spending time with the family.
Speaker:That is a bigger end goal than just having green grass.
Speaker:Going back to the novel goal, it's not just to write a book.
Speaker:It's not just to say that you wrote a book.
Speaker:It would be maybe you want to leave something back for your family or your kids, or just
Speaker:to leave your mark on the world so that there's some piece of you to leave behind or
Speaker:something that you can look at and say that you've actually accomplished.
Speaker:So those reasons are ultimately better than just having green grass or writing a book.
Speaker:Those bigger purpose goals are what is going to keep you going.
Speaker:How can you create systems or micro goals around your business goals?
Speaker:So I want you to take a look at one of your bigger goals that you currently have.
Speaker:Whether it's income related or product related, maybe it's health related, whatever your
Speaker:goal is for the quarter and think about what are some micro goals that you could use or
Speaker:you could create to inch your way step by step toward that bigger goal.
Speaker:Instead of looking at the giant, huge, hairy, scary goal.
Speaker:And then I want you to take it a step further and go beyond that goal and really dig into
Speaker:the why of your goal, dig into your end goal.
Speaker:And then chances are that everything will lead to your end goal, your purpose, your
Speaker:growth, your clarity.
Speaker:And that's what we are trying to get to.
Speaker:We're trying to dig into your purpose goals so that you can make a bigger change and
Speaker:knowing that will give you a bigger reason to complete those micro goals.
Speaker:Because if my goal for the grass was just get green grass, it's a lot easier for me to
Speaker:give up that goal if I don't do it.
Speaker:Because who cares at the end of the day, right?
Speaker:Who cares about the green grass?
Speaker:But if I actually look at it and say, hey, I want to spend more time outdoors, I want to
Speaker:spend more time with my family on the weekends, that is a bigger goal.
Speaker:And that is going to make me want to do the grass step by step.
Speaker:And of course, instead of trying to do the entire yard, maybe I do it in little patches,
Speaker:maybe I plant the seed one weekend, maybe I do the fertilizer the next weekend, or however
Speaker:it goes, just smaller goals to help me achieve those bigger things.
Speaker:So if you are looking for a simple way to organize your goals into those micro smaller
Speaker:goals or systems, I created a Google spreadsheet for you.
Speaker:It's actually four different tabs.
Speaker:And I also created a notion, one if you prefer.
Speaker:Notion if you go Miranda Merten.com goals, the link to both of those will be on there.
Speaker:They're just $7 for each spreadsheet.
Speaker:But if you cannot swing the $7, there's also a freebie on that page that's just going to
Speaker:be helping you.
Speaker:How to break down big goals into smaller tasks, and how to figure out how to do your goal
Speaker:hierarchy, and then also how to put that into your project management.
Speaker:Either a spreadsheet or your software.
Speaker:Whatever you have on whatever you are using.
Speaker:So again, that Miranda Merten.com goals.
Speaker:That is all I have for you today.
Speaker:I will see you next time.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to Coffee powered systems.
Speaker:You can find links to everything mentioned in the episode down in the Show Notes or on the
Speaker:website Miranda Merten.com.
Speaker:If you enjoyed this episode, rate and review it in itunes or where you enjoy listening so
Speaker:others can find it too.
Speaker:And join me here next time.
