Stephen Scoggins breaks down five principles for goals that actually work: start small with a 12-month horizon, define outcomes clearly instead of vague wishes, work backwards from results to daily steps, commit to 60 days of consistent action, and track progress with a mentor. Momentum comes from focused intensity over time.
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Are you frustrated with the results you've been getting? Do you set goals to only watch them never actually take shape? Well, in this episode, I'm going to share with you the same goal setting principles and processes I use to actually get results and let you in on those secrets. So stay tuned.
To be honest, I really didn't want to do a lesson on goal setting, and here's why. I think goal setting has become way more of a buzzword than actually about achieving results. For years, I struggled to follow through on achieving things I truly wanted most. The problem is, goal setting is typically ineffective for several reasons, and here are a few of them. First of all, they're way too broad. The second thing is, they're often too far out. The third thing is, they're typically way unclear and not concise enough. Then they're not written or posted where you can see them. And finally, they actually aren't tied to an internal motivation clock, if you will. In other words, goal setting has become a process with no heart and no passion. And if you're going to win, you got to do it with passion. Why waste time on creating goals that you don't actually feel like you could accomplish? Or, let's be honest, you probably won't actually put in the work to achieve, so why waste the time? Many of you guys know Connor from the podcast. If you don't, please go watch the podcast. He would come to me fairly often back in the day and say, hey, I want to achieve blank. So how do I do it? I give him a simple answer and he would always fire back at me with some perceived thing that he said was holding him back from doing it. For example, once we were in the car together and he said, hey man, I really want to get more done during the day. I said, remove the distractions and focus on taking action. Not even 15 minutes later, he said, hey man, I seriously, I want to get more done. How can I become more successful? But I feel like I just hold myself back and I would say, just do the work, take more action. He kept insisting that it's not that simple and asking me for, well, what was holding him back? No, really. No, seriously, what's holding me back? Why can't I take action? Why can't I take more action? This continued on for a while, and then I finally said, very simply, you keep asking me the same question over and over again in different ways and expecting a different answer. You can't do that. It's like you're asking me, how do I build a bigger chest and I say do push ups. And you come back and ask again, hey, how do I build a bigger chest? And I'd say do push ups. It really is as simple as just putting in the work and implementing what I'm trying to teach you. I wanted to mention this brief story because at the end of the day I'm going to share with you the principles and the processes that have actually worked for me. But you're going to have to make the decision and actually take the action. I know you see all kinds of people of all ages with their show off toys if you will, and there's a great possibility that at some time you probably want to be like them. But here's the thing. It's been my experience that that's a bit of a fantasy world. Now I'm not saying it's an unattainable dream, but I'm saying that you are not just going to stumble your way into it. If you want to win in your life, you have to do the push ups. This one phrase has become an internal metaphor for our whole organization. You're going to have to fully put into place what I'm about to share with you and follow through with it. When you do, you'll begin to win and if you don't, you'll stay stuck in place. I personally believe that you deserve to win, but only if you earn it. Wealth without wisdom is poison to the soul and you can actually kill yourself with the wrong information and the wrong tactics by accident. If you want to be wealthy in any area of your life, then you have to work. Rocky never just showed up to a fight and knocked out some dude. He always had this major timeframe where he's lifting the weight and doing the work. So you gotta do it. Alright, enough of my ranting. Here are the five principles so you can start winning. Principle one, Start small. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make and I've made myself is thinking way too far ahead and say foolish things like hey, I want a million dollars or I want to buy a Ferrari. Now I'm not against anyone having nice things but, but I am against having that be the number one goal. Especially if you're in your 20s and with a low income like I was. One of my personal goals is I want to transform a million lives. But the reality of me doing so in year one is way beyond a far stretch goal. I personally just have to focus on building a larger success on the foundations of the smaller ones. If I seek fame, I'll never find it but if I seek make an impact, I'm already going to do that at scale. Now you can totally put the goal into long range outcome category. But for now, everyone needs to think in terms of 12 months. Consider this. How far could you really go if you really stretch yourself just for 12 months and then move on to principle number two? Principle two clearly define your outcomes, not your goals. Outcomes are clearly laid out based on what you will experience when you actually achieve the results. My hope is that you'll remove the buzzword of goal and focus on achieving the results. When you focus on obtaining your actual result or what we like to call an outcome, we also like to say that you'll see ten times the Remember that goals are expendable. Outcomes are mandatory. You must clearly define in detail what the outcome looks like realized. It may be a good idea to make a vision board and paste things around the house or some way to keep things in front of you, especially for the first 12 months. Don't be broad, be specific. Otherwise you won't be set up for Principle three. So Principle three is this Organize and create your strategy. A strategy is nothing more than starting with the outcome and working backwards while discovering the daily steps you need to take to get there. It lays the foundation of working from the last step to the first step. Sometimes we hear the word strategy and we overthink it a lot and the more complex it is or the more complex it becomes, the more your brain doesn't want to do it. Think practically. Use actual action steps. Always be thinking of practical action steps. Dream during your replenishment time and work towards your outcome above everything else. Then we can move on to Principle 4, which is apply the daily routine. Commit to yourself to use a calendar and put into practice a daily routine, laying out each of your action steps in order that you created and then take daily action. In other words, do the push ups. Commit to 60 days of taking those routine actions with no interruptions and it'll become part of you and your new unstoppable lifestyle. If you want to win at your career, do the push ups. If you want to win at your finances, do the push ups. If you want to win at your love life, do the push ups. Resolve in yourself that you're worth more than you've settled for in past. Raise your standard and get to work and that way you can keep things moving. With Principle 5. Keep an eye on things. Work with a mentor or life strategist and report your successes and your struggles. Let them work with you to tweak your strategy and avoid unnecessary struggles and roadblocks. But even if adversity hits you and it rises, keep moving forward and that way you'll master Principle six. And yes, it's a bonus Master the momentum theorem about 10 years ago, I was stuck in my business. I needed some help, and that's when I first got to know the Dave Ramsey Organization, or the Ramsey Solutions as I like to call it, and their program entre leadership and and that's when Dave shared the Momentum Theorem. And here it is, straight from Dave's heart and mind. Focused intensity over time multiplied by God's grace equals unstoppable momentum. And whether you're a person of faith or not, you can still learn a great deal from the Momentum Theorem. And here's what I mean. If I focus intensely on making progress and I want to take the daily action steps to get there in time, I'll overcome and then I get to multiply it become unstoppable. If you implement these six principles, you'll find that you will hit your goals, AKA your outcomes much more often and a whole lot more consistently, leading you towards a path of winning and lack of frustration. See you in the next one. If you like this video and you want to learn just a bit more about how to actually make goal setting work for you for real, you'll also want to check out our other whiteboard lessons where we do an even deeper dive on that subject. Also, we've put together an Entire Life Mastery 101 playlist right here on YouTube, so go ahead and check that out.
