Unlocking Your Potential: The 3S System for Setting and Sustaining Your Goals

Ever set a goal and then watched it fizzle out? You're not alone, and that's exactly what I'm addressing in today's episode. 

In it, I reveal the 3S system: Specificity, Significance and Space - your secret weapons for setting, achieving and sustaining your goals. No matter if it's weight loss or starting a business, these principles apply across the board.

And remember, you're not just ticking boxes off a list, you're on a journey, so make sure to celebrate your victories along the way. 

Tune in, listen up, and let's smash those goals together!

SHAUNA GREY
www.simplifiedsavvy.com/
Instagram: @simplifiedsavvy & @thesavvyscooppod
YouTube: Simplified Savvy - The Savvy Scoop Podcast

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back to the Savvy Scoop podcast, where we give you the full scoop on all things living your best life. So if that's your jam, you are in the right place. New episodes drop every Wednesday for you to enjoy, as always. I'm your host, shauna Gray. I'm a business and social media mentor for service-based small business owners. If you're a fan of the show, I would so very much appreciate you rating and giving it a review wherever you listen, or you can also watch the show on YouTube Maybe you are right now and you can subscribe over there too, so you never miss an episode.

Speaker 1: 0:30

Okay, so today I wanted to talk about goal setting because, frankly, it's something we're all constantly doing, given this time of year, especially a time of recording it's December and coming up on, obviously, the new year when people are setting a lot of goals for themselves, and while that is amazing and self-development and self-improvement is so, so important, I mean, really, if we're not growing, then what are we doing? We're either getting better or we're getting worse. So personal development is very, very important to me and I know it's to a lot of you. But there is an art to goal setting and some of them I have a 3S system. But and most of them you will have heard of, but I think the third S you may not have thought of and it is the reason, I think, that most people, if they don't reach a goal, this is why this is the part that they have left out of the process. So let's get started, shall we? So, like I said, it's three Ss, and my first S is being specific. Again, we've heard this. It's like smart goals be very, very specific.

Speaker 1: 1:50

So, throughout this episode, I'm gonna use the goal of losing weight as an example, because it's an easy example. Again, given the new year coming up, that'll be a goal that a lot of people are setting. It is also a personal goal that I have had for myself and met. So I'm gonna use that as an example as we go throughout. But this stuff can apply to any goal that you have. So, like I said, the first one is being specific. You can't just say I want to lose weight, right, you have to get more specific than that. Just saying you wanna lose weight is not good enough. So I want to lose 10 pounds by X date. That is going to be what you need to do. And then I also find it really helpful to not just say it but either tell somebody or even just write it out and have it on a post-it or on a whiteboard or in your journal every day, but somewhere where you will see it every single day. So you are constantly being reminded of that goal and how you are going to be working. Then, every day, you're reminded that you are working towards this goal and hopefully you're doing one thing every day that will help you work towards meeting this goal.

Speaker 1: 3:06

So the second S is significance. Beyond setting the goal now, you need to know why the heck you want to achieve this goal. There has to be a deeper meaning because, frankly, if it doesn't go deeper, when your motivation runs out because it absolutely will your motivation is going to run out. People that sustain their healthy habits or whatever it is, or reach any kind of goal and then keep going, they don't have motivation the whole time. It is, at some point, just your own willpower and the habits that you've set in place. That's what keeps you going and it's this significance that is going to give you that will to keep going.

Speaker 1: 3:53

So for significance of losing weight, it has to go beyond. Like I want to look better in my clothes. While that will feel amazing, it has to go beyond that the feeling. That's what you want to know. What is the significance? What is it about your life that you think will change when you reach this goal? So, with weight loss, will you stop feeling tired and grumpy all the time? Will it help your anxiety? Will it give you more energy to play with your kids? Will it give you the confidence that you need to start your business, whatever it is?

Speaker 1: 4:29

Again, with any goal, it has to go deeper than the surface level. There has to be a deep rooted thing. There is something that you're thinking in your brain like once this I reached this goal, my life is going to be different in this way. Also, don't forget to don't get so fixated on the goal that you miss out on the journey, because, frankly, the journey is the most beautiful part. It really really is. As someone who has set a goal and reached it, I was happy when I reached the goal, but looking back on all the transformation and the change and all the hard work that I put in and things like that, it's all the stuff that you'll learn along the way and that changes for you along the way. That's really the most beautiful part.

Speaker 1: 5:17

So don't also say, like my life will change when I get to this goal, so until then I can't enjoy anything. Like, please, now, please, continue to enjoy and actually celebrate yourself along the way, because celebrating yourself along the way is also what's going to keep you going, frankly, cause, like I said, that motivation is going to run out. So how are you going to keep yourself going in? You know, six weeks time, when that motivation has run out, how are you going to keep yourself going? You have to celebrate and give yourself little wins along the way, celebrate your progress. Remember it's progress over perfection always. So, um, yeah, like, don't get so fixated on the goal that you don't, you don't enjoy the journey. It really is the best part.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Um, the final S that this is the one that I really think people miss out on is and this is the thing that will make it sustainable is the space you have to give yourself the space in your life, in your day, in your calendar, to reach that goal. Because if you have a goal, that means what you're doing right now, the things you're doing right now, the habits that you have, they all of that, like some of them, aren't ones that are getting you closer to that goal. So some or many things in your daily habits need to change in order to achieve that goal. So you really have to sit down and think about this one what's coming out? What habits need to come out so that you can put the new habits in there? You know we all only have so much time in a day. I know we're all busy, and that's why some of these goals aren't happening for us. So because you're busy, it's not necessarily just adding new habits in, because, frankly, you're going to overload yourself, you're going to burn out, and then those new habits they're not ingrained enough yet, so they're going to be the ones that go away first and then you're not reaching that goal again. So this is a huge one. You really, really, really have to make the space.

Speaker 1: 7:19

So for me and this might not be something that you're necessarily able to do, but this is what I had to do when I wanted to focus on my health again I had to say, okay, nothing else is coming in this year or for the however long, for the next six months. This is it. I'm not adding more things to my plate, I am not making any changes in my business. Everything needs to stay as it is, because this is the thing that I have to focus on. So, again, what are the habits that have to come out? What are the things, the habits that are sabotaging you really, really? You have to get rid of those and replace them with the new habits that are going to help you reach your goal, for instance, weight loss. It's not just I'm going to eat healthier and I'll exercise four days a week and there we go. I'm losing, I've lost my 10 pounds by whatever day. No, it's both of those things and more.

Speaker 1: 8:14

You need to eat well and move more, but how are you gonna do that? You need to plan for it and give yourself the time. So that means scheduling in your workouts, cause if you're gonna work out four days a week, when are you working out? When are you moving your body? You have to put it in your calendar. Or if you just say, okay, tomorrow I'm gonna work, I'm gonna work out Monday, Tuesday, thursday, friday, okay, but if you don't actually schedule that, you're gonna wake up on Thursday and be like, eh, I don't feel like it. Oh, the day got away from me, no, no, no. You have to put it in your calendar.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Okay, you also make sure you need to have, like, the equipment and the things that you need. I mean, you don't need much to move your body, you can just walk outside. But the fact of the matter is, if you say you wanna start lifting weights, well, do you have weights? Or do you have something in your house that you can use for weights until your weights arrive? You know things like that.

Speaker 1: 8:58

For eating better, okay, but that means meal planning, maybe it means meal prepping getting all the healthy groceries in that you want so you have healthy food options available. It means going to bed at a reasonable time so that you get up earlier to do your workout. You know that's what I mean by this. Like, there's so many things that come along with, like the goal setting the goal is great and being specific about the goal is great, but you really, really, really need to look at your calendar and see what makes sense, make sure the goal is something that you can actually achieve and for it to be sustainable, it has to be reasonable and it has to be something that you can have time for on a regular basis. So I I mean honestly, I still have these things in my calendar. My workouts are in my calendar. I have when I will make my meal plan and order my groceries in my calendar.

Speaker 1: 9:52

It's not like I'm going to forget at this point I'm two years in to this like healthier lifestyle, but until it's even when it's a lifestyle, it's still something that I just want to make sure I'm not going to forget, but it's still there, so it makes sure that I do it. My bedtime is in my calendar. I'm still working on that, let's be honest. But you know, I also build in buffer time for like in the morning, like getting dressed to work out. There's time in my calendar for that. There's buffer time.

Speaker 1: 10:19

So, like I said, the space really is the thing that, the place that I see most people not think about and it is the reason I believe that most people, if they fail at meeting a goal, that is the reason why they didn't create the space in their calendar.

Speaker 1: 10:36

They didn't because, like I said, as soon as life gets in the way, if you, these new habits are new, so you're going to get rid of them and fall back into your old habits. Those old habits have to be put away and the new habits have to be in place for the success to happen. So that is the short and sweet one about goal setting, but it was timely and I do get asked about it fairly often, so I wanted to make sure that I covered it and hopefully this helps you when you're setting those new years goals and resolutions. I hope that you will really think about this and if you have questions, you know you can follow me on Instagram, dm me over at simplified savvy, and I would love to talk more about this there. Until next time, I'll see you later.