Season 6 Episode 99

Listen to this episode to be inspired to use goal setting to make your dreams a reality! 

Show notes:  

Episode Summary:

Do you ever say that you are going to do something when you get around to it? How often does that actually happen?  Getting around to it is a way of delaying something again and again, planning to deal with it later, and more often than not, later never comes.

You already know the power of setting goals and writing down your to-do items. You likely use some sort of calendar or planner and keep track of everything you need to do. Are you using that process for the big things? Where do your big picture dreams and plans fit in?

Today we’re going to talk about goal setting for dream making. This is the third in a series we’re calling Elevate Your Life 2025. You can just listen to these four episodes or you can download our free workbook with places to write your answers, additional activities and links to videos and more. If you want your dreams to come true, don’t miss this episode!

In this episode:

This is not a word for word transcript. On the podcast we often add stories or examples as we talk back and forth. For the best experience, please listen to the show!

Introduction:

This is the third episode in our Elevate Your Life 2025 series. In episode 97 we talked about uncovering the best of 2024 and exploring your talents and gifts so that you can start the new year with strength. Last week, in episode 98, we shared ideas for creating a clear and compelling vision of what you want. Now it is time to get into action. That means goal setting!

Goal Setting for Dream Making

You have likely set and achieve many goals in your life. Here is a process that will help you focus on your big goals and break them down.

You’ve been thinking about your dreams and your perfect day, and creating a vision on what it is you want.

Now it is time to get real. You may want to open your Elevate Your Life Workbook at this point, or if you are listening while you drive or walk the dog, you can go back to the workbook where we have written these questions and there is room to write all of this down. If you haven’t yet gotten your free workbook, head over to inspiredtogetherteachers.com/elevate to grab a copy.

Think about all of the areas of your life such as health, relationships, work, family, friends, leisure or hobbies, spiritual life, community life, service, creative pursuits, adventure, fun, or any other area.

Step 1.  Make a list of the five things you most want in your life.

Step 2. Now, put them in order of importance to you. Number one is your highest and most important goal followed by number two etc.

Step 3. Go back to your list and rate each thing on your list in terms of how each of the things appears in your life now.

Use a scale of 0-5.  Zero means that you aren’t doing it or spending time developing it or acting on it in any way. If you are never acting on it, is it even a goal or dream?  5 means it is currently a priority and you are conscious working on it, developing it or acting on it with intention.

Step 4. Where are you spending time doing the things that are most important to you?  Your priority score and your rating score are equal or close.

Where do you have scores that indicate that you are out of alignment between something that is a priority and the time you spend on it?  Your priority score and your rating score are considerably off.

Where are you spending time on all the obligations or “shoulds” in your life rather than spending time of things that are of importance to you? That is a trap that is easy to fall into, especially for teachers. You have a lot of things to do and it can take over your life.

It is important to understand the difference between what you truly desire in your life and what is keeping you from acting on your desire.

Based on this activity, what is something that you could change to more clearly connect your desire with your actions?

You have just identified a place where you need goals.

Don’t make a goal just because you think it should be a goal. This helps show you where exactly your goals should be.

Break down big dreams to small goals.

Think of this as backwards design, which you may be familiar with if your district has used this model. The idea is to identify the big goal first, then break it down to the daily small goals. This is how you take curricular goals and put them into unit plans, then daily lesson plans.

There is a page in the workbook called Goal Setting for Big Dreams. You can use it for this process. This is a fillable document so that you can add to it or expand the columns as necessary.

Paula gives a great example of different types of traveling. In one, she just hops in a car with friends and takes off with no particular goal in sight. Later, when traveling with her children, she needed to carefully plan how far they would drive each day and when and where they would stop.

For bringing dreams to life, the second option is the better path. What do you need to do and when will you do it?

This is the process we followed when writing our book, and also when we were developing and creating this podcast. We discuss in detail how we broke these projects down into smaller steps and figured out how we would schedule them into our calendars.

Pick ONE big picture goal you have.

Then break it down:

My  “Big Picture” goal:

My 3-5 year goal:

My one- year goal:

My monthly goal:

My weekly goal:

My daily goal:

This break down helps you see how to take big goals and break them into daily goals. Obviously, you will have many different monthly goals, weekly goals and daily goals. Seeing how they are tied to your big goals helps you motivate you to achieve the smaller monthly, weekly, or daily goals.

Once you get used to planning this way, you can see how to fit the big pieces into your daily, weekly or monthly goals. Not everything needs to have a daily goal, but the things that are important to you should fit into your goals in a regular way.

Conclusion:

Big dreams don’t always come true. You have to pay attention to them and act on them.

In closing, we’ll share a bit about actor and comedian Jim Carey. Jim Carey discovered he was funny and good at making comical faces when he was eight years old. At age ten, he wrote a letter to the Carol Burnett show suggesting that he should be on the show because he was a master at impressions.

A few years later, Jim’s father lost his job and the family began living in their van. Jim got various jobs in factories and dropped out of school. While working in the factories, Jim put together a stand-up comedy routine, and he had his first show at age 15. Even though he bombed, he kept trying. His felt like a success when he earned $20. presenting his show at club. That was followed by shows where he was booed off the stage. He kept going. He was rejected from The Tonight Show and from Saturday Night Live multiple times.

Jim Carey regularly reviewed his plans and dreams and kept taking small steps. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1997, he told her that as a struggling actor he would use visualization techniques to get work. At one point he wrote himself a fake check for $10 million dollars for “acting services rendered”. He stuck it in his pocket as inspiration. Seven years later received a $10 million check for his role in Dumb and Dumber.

Achieving your big dreams doesn’t happen by luck, it happens by paying attention and taking action. You need a little goal setting for dream making.

Recap:

Don’t let the small day-do-day activities get in the way of achieving your big dreams and vision. Plan for the important things by breaking them down into smaller parts and scheduling time to pay attention to those goals.

Homework:

In true teacher fashion we end our podcast with homework. Our homework for you today is to fill in the Goal Setting for Big Dreams worksheet. Start with just one goal and break it down. Then take the tasks and mark them on your calendar. Your dream goals just became actionable, achievable to-do items!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Elevate Your Life 2025 Workbook

Related Episodes:

Start Your new year form a Place of Strength Episode 97

Develop Your Dreams and Visions Episode 98

Connect with the Inspired Together Teache\rs Community:

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Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?

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Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.

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