In this episode, Jessie and Angela focus on setting realistic goals for balance. The discussion emphasizes the importance of setting goals that are not only ambitious but also achievable and relevant to individual circumstances. They introduce their "Balance Journal," which is designed to aid in setting balanced goals. The journal incorporates what they call the "5 P's of Balance": Prioritize, Plan, Protect, Persist, and Ponder. Each P represents a step in the goal-setting process:
1. Prioritize: Identifying what's most important and aligning goals with these priorities.
2. Plan: Breaking goals into manageable steps and considering potential obstacles.
3. Protect: Preparing for and addressing potential obstacles to goals.
4. Persist: Staying committed to goals even when challenges arise.
5. Ponder: Reflecting on progress and adjusting goals as needed.
They stress the importance of setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound) and discuss strategies for maintaining motivation and accountability. The conversation also touches on the importance of enjoying the journey towards achieving these goals and not just focusing on the end results. The Balance Journal, available for free on their website, is designed to guide individuals through this process.
RESOURCES:
**ANNOUNCEMENT** After nearly 3 years, the Marketing Moms podcast is sunsetting. Thank you so much for the unwavering support, well-wishes, and memories. This has been the experience of a lifetime <3
It's coffee time!
Jessie & Angela
00:00.00
Angela
Hello Everyone Happy New Year today. We're going to be talking about setting goals for balance.
00:41.59
Angela
Goal setting happy New year
00:43.77
jessievalle
Happy New year
00:50.57
jessievalle
Ah I mean I know we've done a lot of goal setting in the past but I feel like it's something we have to continue to revisit because it's very important to us here at marketing moms that we set.
00:59.40
Angela
Yes.
01:09.13
jessievalle
Realistic goals that actually have a purpose and ah end in sight.
01:10.16
Angela
Yes.
01:19.62
Angela
Yes, and as much as we ah don't particularly care for like the year long goal setting. Um this is the time of year when people are talking about it. Everybody's talking about it at the new Year setting new goals for the new year and
01:31.85
jessievalle
It's true.
01:36.88
Angela
All of that so it seemed like a good time to revisit and remind ourselves and our listeners how to set realistic goals and make sure everything is prioritized properly because I think at this time of year. It's easy to be like I'm going to do.
01:50.51
jessievalle
Yeah. A.
01:56.30
Angela
All the things because everybody else is excited and making big goals and it's easy to get caught up in that and feel like you have to make big sweeping changing goals and that's not necessarily true.
02:07.41
jessievalle
Yeah, sometimes it's the little tweaks that make the big difference in the end and I also find that just from Motherhood or whatever perspective that I know that it's like that Cliche. It's the journey not the destination but it's kind of true because when we focus so much on the end. We forget to enjoy the ride there and I just want to make sure that whatever goals that we have that.
02:28.83
Angela
And.
02:44.19
jessievalle
We don't forget to enjoy the moments along the way, especially with our growing children.
02:49.61
Angela
Yes, and they are growing so fast.
02:53.32
jessievalle
I know so one of the things that Angela and I have developed in the past is called our balance journal so it's kind of goal setting towards the idea of balance and we've.
03:07.10
Angela
He.
03:11.48
jessievalle
Dove deep into this in the past balance is different for everyone. Balance is truly not something that's ever one ah hundred percent attainable but because just at different points in your life. You're going to have different focuses but you can also work. Towards that life. You want to have not necessarily just setting goals for the sake of goals like we want them to matter and also. To us be all encompassing in your life.
03:54.48
Angela
Yeah, and I feel like that's what we run into a lot this time of year is that goal setting just for the sake of having goals like I'm sure the last week has been filled with what are your new Year's resolutions. What's your word of the year what's your goals this year what are you gonna accomplish this year
04:08.94
jessievalle
Um, yeah, yeah, and it's like well at the end of it all does it really matter if you don't if if the goal at the end is not to have that balance or we like to say peace in your life.
04:26.94
jessievalle
So Angela and I had actually developed a balance journal that walks you through what we call the 5 p's of balance to kind of take you on that journey to just work toward balance and peace.
04:37.90
Angela
I.
04:46.85
jessievalle
And your life and so we have certainly gone over each one of the the 5 p's in depth in past episodes. But today in the new year we thought we would just kind of revisit everything kind of holistically and then we will link in the show notes below. Where you can where you can find all the other episodes and snag your free balance journal at marketing mouse podcast dot com for it. Slash balance balance and it's free and we like it.
05:13.76
Angela
And balance.
05:24.92
jessievalle
Because we tried to make it no fluff just what you need on your way so all right? Our 5 piece of balance are prioritize plan protect persist.
05:27.32
Angela
Yes.
05:43.85
jessievalle
And ponder so starting with prioritize. That's where we figure out what's most important to ourselves right? because what I think is most important in my life and what I want to prioritize is not what you're going to want to prioritize.
05:52.30
Angela
Um, yeah.
06:00.42
Angela
Yeah, and I think.
06:02.44
jessievalle
And I was just going to say what is most pride like a highest priorityity right now is not going to be the highest priority to you six months from now most likely.
06:10.41
Angela
Right? Yeah, definitely going to have to revisit those well and I was just going to say it also kind of goes to what we were talking about last week that like your priority may not be. Priorities that you're seeing pushed right now, especially this time of year of like grow your business get healthy, get skinny get more money do all the things like those may not be your priorities and that's okay, like.
06:31.84
jessievalle
Um, yeah.
06:40.75
jessievalle
A.
06:43.21
Angela
It's okay to just be like I want to enjoy my family or I just want to maintain where I'm at in my business I don't want to grow another 2 3 figures like it's okay, it's just that you have to find out what's. Important to you and not what everybody else says should be important to you.
07:02.85
jessievalle
Right? And one of the things I like about our balance Journal is it asks not just what is most like what is most important to you where do you want your priorities to be but what are you giving your focus to and does it align.
07:20.13
Angela
Yeah, probably not.
07:21.79
jessievalle
Because chances are the answer is no and so that's one of the the things that I like about our journal is just kind of saying okay well, where do I want to be and am I doing it. Okay, so again I like there's a.
07:32.55
Angela
Um, yeah.
07:40.74
jessievalle
There's a whole section about setting our priorities and then also moving into our goals which Angela and I are big on smart goals and if you haven't heard of smart goals. It's an acronym for specific.
07:53.60
Angela
Yes.
08:00.59
jessievalle
Measurable Attainable realistic and time bound meaning you set goals that can actually be measured that are specific enough to like at the end of it is it yes or no did I reach it like but also time bound so that it's not like.
08:14.10
Angela
Yeah.
08:19.40
jessievalle
I Want to do this for the rest of my life. No not so much.
08:20.40
Angela
Yeah, yeah I think anyone who's tried a diet or exercise plan knows that that's not going to happen for the whole rest of your life.
08:30.16
jessievalle
Um, ah, that's ah okay so that kind of sums up the first p of prioritize and so once you've actually set. Your specific goal goals again, it's all up to you how many you want to take on but don't take on too many. We say like 3 tops maybe 4 but even that's a huge stretch because you can really only prioritize your time.
08:56.28
Angela
Um, yeah, yeah, um, yeah.
09:05.33
jessievalle
Um, so much right? Okay, so after you have your goals we move on to the next which is plan. So yeah.
09:14.79
Angela
This is the part everybody likes is the planning part.
09:22.66
jessievalle
So they like setting the goals and they like planning but when it actually comes to ah you know doing it. That's the hard part. So in the planning phases when you take those new shiny Bright goals.
09:29.66
Angela
The rest of it.
09:39.27
jessievalle
And you actually break them down into manageable chunks right? and then you ask yourself? Okay, what am I realistically going to tackle in the next month because to us the realistic part is the most important. It's it's the thing where you have to actually look deep inside yourself and say okay am I realistically going to do this thing and we have habit trackers in there so that you can actually plan things out. Um. You know, planning your weeks your days. Whatever is going to help you in achieving your your goals.
10:23.96
Angela
Yeah, and we also have in there just to take into consideration what might get in the way of your goals so that you kind of can be proactive about Okay I've tried this before and this is what came up or this is what I foresee as being difficult about this goal. And kind of getting into the mindset of overcoming those and ways that you might be able to mitigate those.
10:49.22
jessievalle
Yeah, and then actually adding it to your schedule. So it's not just a oh I'm going to do this this month note like when put it down make your hold yourself accountable here.
10:53.80
Angela
Yes. when when this month are you doing it.
11:05.64
jessievalle
And then we also Angela and I have talked about different ways to plot your days. Um, Angela's a huge fan of time blocking. So we have some resources in there to help you with that I'm a huge fan of the eisenhower matrix of labeling things as important and urgent and so we have those.
11:08.71
Angela
Oh.
11:24.36
jessievalle
Resources in there for you. Whatever you need to to help kind of make your goals slash dreams come true. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so you've actually.
11:33.20
Angela
Yes, and you don't have to use all of them just use what works for you.
11:44.27
jessievalle
Plotted it all out. You've planned it all the fun stuff. Um, you know we're getting to the end of the fun stuff. That's all I have to say now we have to actually be like okay next the next P is protect.
11:51.95
Angela
Yeah.
12:02.35
jessievalle
What are we going to do to protect the goals that we've set so we got to think about those obstacles things that are outside of our control things that are inside our head and deciding how we're going to actually tackle.
12:02.75
Angela
Ah.
12:21.61
jessievalle
Those obstacles so that we can not let them get in the way.
12:30.56
Angela
So yes, so as an example, if I were going into this year wanting to be healthier, eat healthier exercise more do things like that to make myself healthy. Um.
12:47.42
Angela
1 of the obstacles that I would consider is that we have birthday season coming up. My kids have birthdays back to back to back month after month after month the beginning of the school year which means birthday cake it means ice cream it means treats and snacks.
12:52.14
jessievalle
Who. A.
13:01.61
Angela
And so I have to consider that am I going to let myself have a piece of birthday cake or an ice cream am I going to have both am I going to have one or the other am I going to find something else to eat instead. How am I going to handle those things that are I know are coming up.
13:16.72
jessievalle
Right? Yeah, and again be realististic about it for myself if you told me oh yeah, I'm just going to skip it. Ah no I can't do that So I have to be realistic about it. Maybe I only grab half a piece of cake.
13:29.36
Angela
Yeah, right? ah.
13:33.44
Angela
Is.
13:36.63
jessievalle
Or maybe I do Forego the ice cream and just have the cake or you know another thing that I realized in this is just ah again, you know your life whatever but sometimes it's not about the piece of cake.
13:54.16
Angela
So yeah.
13:56.24
jessievalle
It's about participating with the family in the celebration and I did that 1 time where I skipped the cake and everything and I felt like I was missing out on being a part of the celebration.
14:10.92
Angela
What.
14:14.93
jessievalle
So I feel like you also have to take those things realistically into consideration I didn't want to alienate or put a big target on myself on someone else's special day So take the piece of cake and eat half. You know.
14:31.30
Angela
Yeah, exactly.
14:34.50
jessievalle
Anyway, and the last thing in here is how are you going to stay accountable right? So I want you to actually plan it out. Is there someone else you're going to tell about what you're doing who can support you is it. I Don't know. Are you going to set up some reminders in your phone. Um I know there are actually a lot of Habit Tracker Apps. So Maybe that would be good for you now or and ones that can set reminders to pop up like I know my sister had used this one that would.
14:59.35
Angela
Yeah, there are quite a few of those.
15:06.64
Angela
Thanks.
15:11.42
jessievalle
Help them? Um, she and her husband were working on delegating chores and they're like listen we want to do this every this day of the week or even remember to take out the trash on this day of the week and it's like so they used an app to help them do that and.
15:17.26
Angela
Ah, who.
15:19.69
Angela
Yeah, right? Yeah, exactly.
15:30.48
jessievalle
Or she wanted to be better at I don't know flossing or something like that it could remind her to do those things. So how are you going to stay accountable a ready So after protecting our goals now. It's the persist.
15:36.95
Angela
Um, yeah, there are a lot of options.
15:50.34
jessievalle
And if you ask me? this is the hardest one because it's it. It's just like okay now go do it all that fun stuff you planned like you got to do it So that's why we start this section with asking.
15:51.00
Angela
Yeah, this is the hardest 1 for sure. Yeah, go to it and keep doing it. Yeah.
16:08.39
jessievalle
For encouraging words of wisdom that you have for yourself on days when you feel like giving up.
16:11.73
Angela
Ah, her.
16:15.23
Angela
Yeah, because those days are gonna happen. You're going to miss a day flossing. You're going to forget to do a thing. Something's gonna come up and you're not gonna have time to go exercise. These things are going to happen. And the hard part is getting back up and going at it again the next day
16:39.20
jessievalle
Um, yeah, and that's when ah again, those things that we talk about realistically you're gonna have days where you fall behind and you're gonna have days where you excel and you feel on top of the world. Just.
16:48.31
Angela
Um, yes, yep and I know for some people. Yes, and I know for some people habits are very hard, especially like people who have adh D and things like that have a hard time.
16:54.79
jessievalle
Act both.
17:04.53
Angela
I always used to hear people talk about oh if you do things for a month then it just becomes a habit and if you miss it like it feels off or you know you you feel like you've missed out on something and I have never been like that I can do something for every day for six months and forget one day and then never do it again. Ah so plan for things like that.
17:20.45
jessievalle
Yeah, yeah.
17:24.45
Angela
Happen and to get and if you if you go and you realize oh I've like this whole week I haven't done whatever it's okay, just get right back up and start at it again. You haven't failed. It didn't all fall apart. Just get back up and start again.
17:43.50
jessievalle
Um, for sure. Okay, so after you've done the hard part now the last Pe is ponder and what that means is it is like a self-reflection time.
17:56.63
Angela
Here.
17:59.00
jessievalle
Right? So you have to reflect back on what went well and what struggles did you face but then also and this is the hardest 1 in my opinion on a scale of 0 to 5 How would you rate your effort towards this goal.
18:15.11
Angela
Yeah, that one's hard that one hurts your feelings sometimes. Ah.
18:20.23
jessievalle
I Know even though you're like the only person that sees it. You're like oh my God you're right I Only put a one effort towards that. Ah I don't know why I failed.
18:26.55
Angela
You're right I didn't really Yeah. Ah. Ah, yeah I can't imagine.
18:34.81
jessievalle
So no, yeah, now is where you kind of decide. Okay did I not put the effort towards it because why do I need to break it down more does it need to adjust was it not what I really wanted and that's when you kind of do the pondering the reflection. Okay, what can I do so again I didn't I don't want to go too far in depth with all of this but that's kind of it right? So you really got to just.
19:03.86
Angela
Yeah.
19:10.40
jessievalle
Go through those 5 p's right.
19:14.33
Angela
Yes, go through um set some realistic goals go into the new Year confident and ready to make changes if you feel like changes need to be made. Maybe you're like no I'm doing pretty good.
19:28.96
Angela
My goal is just to keep doing good.
19:29.15
jessievalle
Yeah, and I also feel like as Angela and I said last week if we want to focus on moms with businesses who are ready to maintain and not necessarily grow grow grow. That's what you need to figure out for yourself.
19:40.49
Angela
So here. Right.
19:47.51
jessievalle
You need to figure out what is it in my life that I want to maintain what do I want to focus on where do I want my focus to be in the coming days months year.
19:57.90
Angela
Yeah.
20:00.90
jessievalle
And let's prioritize that like why am I not prioritizing what's important to me so again, the rundown is prioritize plan protect persist and ponder so figure out what's important.
20:04.99
Angela
Oh.
20:20.27
jessievalle
Plot it out create a system to support you do the thing and then reflect on it if you want access to our free balanced journal head over to marketing momspodcast.com/balance and we will also put links in the show notes below and if you have any questions or anything that you'd like our support with reach out. We are at marketing mom's podcast on Instagram and we are always here for you? yeah. Anything else, you'd like to add and.
20:56.41
Angela
Have a great year happy New Year it'll be December again before you know it.
21:01.47
jessievalle
Happy New Year totally and then we'll be scrounging for wait. What is my kid into this year for presence. Ah.
21:10.76
Angela
Yeah, exactly bye.
21:17.80
jessievalle
Bye. Everyone.
