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The podcast for online coaches, PT’s and gym owners who don’t want to settle for average and are consistently striving to fulfil their full potential and raise standards across body, business, brain and balance. This show is dedicated to you and you’ll learn everything you need to know about bulletproofing your body and mind, supercharging your energy, building unstoppable confidence and what it takes to become a world class leader so you can skyrocket your authority, amplify your brand message and deliver world class coaching results. Get the person thriving, the people and profit will follow. Get a pen and paper ready, let’s go.
Yes, team, how are we? Welcome back to another episode of the High Performance Coach podcast, and welcome to a deep dive into how to have your best year in business in 2025. We're going to start with goal setting. I think putting pen to paper can often be challenging, especially when some of your goals might not be built around certain deadlines or even hitting key metrics, or even if they are set around deadlines and key metrics. It's understanding where do these goals come from, how do I get there, what needs to change, what do I need to evolve, what is it I need to step into, and what are the actual action steps that I need to put in place in order for me to be able to walk the path that's going to give me a greater probability of being able to actually attain and achieve those things.
Joe:Not only that, our number one primary driver for motivation is survival, Which means when we're committing to change and transformation, and things start to get challenging, it can be easy to revolve and default back to what feels safe. Behavior change is hard, behavior change takes time, behavior change is a long term game that you have to play. It's not something that's going to be immediate or short term, and you've ever seen that with clients that you've worked with over a sustained period of time. Our primary drivers are survival, reproduction, safety and security, and then status. So, transformation and stepping into evolution and stepping into the unknown and stepping into uncertainty and coming away from what feels known can take a hell of a lot of effort and take a hell of a lot of energy.
Joe:And it's not how we can continue to raise and elevate our expectations and how we behave on our very best days, but it's how we think and behave on the challenging days, the low days, when we're in the valleys, when things aren't going well, when you're thinking about jacking it all in, you're questioning yourself, you're thinking that you're not progressing, you're not moving forward, you're putting in all this work, all this time, and all this effort, and you're not seeing the results or the rewards for the work you've now been putting in, it can feel easy just to go back to that warm safety blanket. So, wanted to put together some questions and a framework for you to now be able to follow that will hopefully help you take that next step, and you can use as a guiding light moving forward into 2025. So, first thing to think about is a three step method. At first you look at what are the core areas of my life, so I have personal, I have the professional, and I also have the physical, and then I'll note down next to each of those, what do I want to attain?
Joe:So what do I want to achieve and have? So personally that could now be travel, trips away, that could now be personal investment targets that I've now set, etc. How much time I want to be spending, obviously having fun, exploring, Often, actually that would be probably the next piece, that would be an attribute more so than anything else is going to say, it's who do I now want to be, and obviously my own relationship with myself, but that's actually the next phase. But then have the professional, attainment, what do I want to achieve and what do I want to have? So that could now be client numbers, revenue targets, that could be how many hours I want to be working within the business.
Joe:Then there might be certain targets I want to be able to hit with respect to podcast, email list, profitability, etc. And then I have the physical. Again, that can now be strength targets, running targets, even just attainment targets with regards to consistency, the amount of sessions that I now want to be able to complete, etc. I then have attributes. Personally, who do I need to be?
Joe:And also, who do I now need? Professionally, who do I need to be? Who do I now need? And physically, who do I need to be? Who do I now need?
Joe:And also within that, what are the behaviors that I'm currently embodying that aren't actually serving me at this present moment in time? And who do I need to be to be the type of person that attains and accomplishes and achieves those things that I've just now spoken about? And then finally, what are the actions that I know that I need to take every single day if I want to behave my way to where it is that I want to go? So what do you want to attain? What are the attributes?
Joe:And then what are the actions that you then know that you need to embody every single day across those different aspects in those areas of your life? And then I ask myself five key questions, and this ties in, which is what do I actually want? So when I put pen to paper on those things, are they actually things that I want to be able to accomplish and attain and achieve and have, be and do? Or is it what I think that I should want based upon expectations, based upon my own assumption, based upon what others are currently doing? And also am I actually owning the success and the ambition that I have?
Joe:And being able to be okay with that. I know even for me, there's been a level of shame around being able to own what it is that I want to be able to attain and achieve in certain areas of my life that haven't necessarily communicated and conveyed in years gone by because of judgment, fear of opinion, and what others closest to me were now going to think. And also, what I was then going to have to compromise, sacrifice, do in order for me to be able get there. So, what do you actually now want to want? And why do you want those things?
Joe:Because that's going to be huge when the going gets tough, it gets challenging, it gets difficult, and most important for you to be able to now have absolute clarity around why you're working towards those goals. Number two, if you're to fast forward twelve months, what needs to happen across those twelve months in order for you to reflect back and actually deem it a success? So if you're sat where you are today, a year from now, what do you need to reflect back on? What do you need to have accomplished, achieved, being done, seen in order for you to be able to say, yep that was successful and that was aligned and it was how I wanted to live. Number three, reflect back.
Joe:When you've achieved big goals in the past, what were the bright spots that helped you get there? What were the habits, what were the systems that you had in place? Where were you thinking? What were you thinking? Where was your thinking?
Joe:What was the activation energy? What was driving you? Who did you have around you? What did you say no to? What did you say yes to?
Joe:And on the flip side of that, when you've set big goals that you've not accomplished, that you've fallen short on, Why and where did you fall short? And how can you start to look at the trends and the patterns? You can only connect the dots when you look backwards, and I think sometimes when you achieve and accomplish goals, we don't necessarily give ourselves credit for actually what you had to do, what you had to put in place. This doesn't need to be just in the same area of your life that you're now looking to set new goals, this could be in other areas of your life that you can now trackjack, that you can look at what were the systems, what were the habits, how was I thinking, how was I behaving, what did I put in place, that you can then transfer into other aspects and into other areas of your life, you can now go and do exactly the same. And then similarly, when you now look at where did you fall short, it's why did I fall short, and then how can I bring even more intention and awareness to those so I can now ensure that I don't make those same mistakes twice?
Joe:Number four, what am I not and what am I willing to compromise and sacrifice over the next three sixty five days to achieve? Insert the goals that I've now put pen to paper on. So as an example, I'm not willing to compromise and sacrifice my own training, my relationship with Leanne, and what I value most about business in order to grow the company any faster. Because I know that when I've compromised and sacrificed those things in the past, even though I may have got to my goal ever so slightly faster, the level of fulfillment that I've had has been less, the level of enjoyment that I've had has been lower, and the level of energy that I brought was nowhere near my best. Everything that we do has a cost and has a price, and I think it's just understanding what am I willing to do and not willing to do to get to where I want to go in the timeframe that I've now allocated.
Joe:And just because somebody else has got there faster, quicker, or in a certain way, it doesn't mean that that's what you need to do and you need to do exactly the same. Maybe they've been willing to compromise and sacrifice things that you're not willing to compromise and sacrifice, and it's not about what you do, but how you get there that's the most important thing. And it's not the speed that you can attain the thing, but the longevity of getting there and being able to stay there and how you feel, most importantly, the difference between I want that in comparison to I want to feel that. So write down what are you not willing to give up? What are you not willing to do in order for you to be able to get to the targets you've set?
Joe:And that will allow you to create stronger and better boundaries and barriers that will fundamentally protect you. Number five, what am I currently running away from, and what am I running towards? What's the activation energy that I'm now using? So, for example, when I first started out in my business, my activation energy was I'm skinned, I don't have any money, there's very few people that believe that I can actually now do this, I had a bit of a fuck you mentality, and I was now driven through fear, scarcity, it not working, looking like a fool, and also needing to make some money as well. Now, that was obviously what I was running away from.
Joe:I was also then running towards, wanting to have an impact, wanting to be able to make this a job, wanting to now be able to just do something that I massively loved. But the thing that I was running away from at the time was far, far, far, far greater than the thing that I was running towards. There was also the fear of letting people down, not doing my job properly, because there wasn't a blueprint, I didn't know. So therefore I'd overdinivered, I outsourced my own self worth based upon what I thought others thought of me, how hard I was working, what it was that I was doing, and I placed the amount of money that I was making based upon how hard and how difficult and how challenging it was. And I thought the only way then to continue to grow and succeed would then be to have more pain, more challenge, and sacrifice and compromise even more so, and continue to outsource all of the things that were actually really really important to me.
Joe:Now if I look at my activation energy, of course, there's still things that I'm running away from, which is fear of failure, letting people down. But there's also so much more that I'm now running towards, which is exploration, curiosity. There's a huge desire to want to now be able to make a huge impact and completely transform and change how coaches can now build a highly profitable business working with customers they love their way. I have a huge activation energy that's built around the financial opportunity that I want to be able to provide and create for my family. There are certain goals and targets that I now have that I want to be able to work towards this year that aren't about me but are about others.
Joe:And there's also a high amount of significance, status that will also be tied into those things as well. So whilst they're selfless endeavours, I'm also aware that a lot of what I'm doing is also selfish because it actually makes me feel good. So what are you currently running away from, and what are you running towards, and what's the activation energy? Because what gets you started isn't necessarily going to be the thing that keeps you going. Because if you're constantly just using that same energy that got you off the ground to keep you going, in my own experience, that's a one way ticket to burnout fatigue, and never really being able to truly enjoy what it is that you're actually building and creating.
Joe:And like I said, it's not about this or that, or all or nothing, I think it's a percentage, and I think the dial shifts based upon where you are, the season of life, what you're working towards, and the change that you're currently going through, what's important to you, and what's happening in not just business, but other aspects in other areas. So, I think it's just acknowledging that as well, and recognizing that that probably will change, but do what you need to do to get the rocket ship off the ground, but once it's in the air and once it's got momentum, what are the changes that you need to make in order for it to be sustainable and for you to continue to now operate from that place of exploration, challenge, curiosity, and growth so that you don't get comfortable, you don't get complacent. And that ties into an important piece that I spoke about on the podcast last week, which is just the need to manufacture and create more urgency. One of the biggest killers in business, once you get to a certain level, I believe is comfort. It's playing not to lose because you're protecting what you have, and then being okay with being able to take that next step by setting stronger deadlines, having a higher level of accountability, having clear consequences and rewards that you're now working towards and now pulling you forwards, that you're not just necessarily running away from.
Joe:When your back's against the wall, it can be easy to act, it can be easy to take action, and I spoke on the podcast about the do well by getting a few clients or having a short term level of success. You get comfortable, you go backwards, you're forced to act, You do well, you get comfortable, you're forced to act. And that's often a revolving cycle that we go through. But what happens if you were to get to the point where you do well, and then you keep doing well, and you keep progressing, you keep evolving, and you keep with that same level of intentionality, same level of behavior and the same level of action that took you from A to B. What if you could keep doing that from B to C, but just realizing that that activation energy has to shift, has to change, have to have a vision, we have to have things that are now pulling you forward, and you have to have new things that are gonna be challenging you, stretching you, and I also think stressing you.
Joe:I would much rather have stress, pressure, and challenge than be bored and be complacent and be comfortable. Now having periods of times of maintenance and being able to get the goalpost to stop moving are important, but I value progress, I value evolution, and I value growing, and I value challenging myself in different ways, And having something to work towards at every single stage and every single level, I think is absolutely key, but you've got to then be able to create that urgency yourself through high levels of accountability, shorter deadlines, and consequences and rewards along the way. And then it's having a clear plan. How are you going to actually achieve the goals that you've now put pen to paper on? What are the key moves that you need to make?
Joe:So if you want to take your business from, I'm gonna make this up, 50,000 to £100,000 in 2025, what do you need to do? What needs to change? How are you going to get there? From a marketing perspective, what are you currently doing? What's the gap?
Joe:From a lead generation perspective, what are you currently doing? What's the gap? From a sales process perspective, what are doing? What's the gap? Where's your price point?
Joe:What's the business model that you're running? From a delivery of systems and a service perspective, What's the gap? Do you know the moves that you're going to make? Do you know the most important pieces that you need to shift and change in alignment with how you want to be able to get there? And how you want to be able to do things that you now know that you need to go and take action on?
Joe:Because having a goal of adding 25 clients or $150 to my revenue or none of my business is just setting a goal that's not tangible, it's not clear, it's not aligned. And it doesn't give you a sense of grounding of understanding of actually what are the changes I need to make. So, whenever you set a goal, it's like, do I know what I need to do in order for me to be able to get there? If I want to be able to attain and achieve that level of thing, what are the steps I now need to take? And then how can you reverse engineer that into the quarterly, into the monthly, into the weekly, and then also into the daily?
Joe:What do you need to let go of? What do you need to step into? Because without that, you're just going be reliant upon hope, winging it, and reacting to the needs of the business, and reacting to what's happening, which is then what happens when it gets difficult, you've got back to what you've always done, which then leaves you frustrated because you're sat in that messy middle, because you know that you had the potential to accomplish and achieve, and you had these big goals, these big aspirations you wanted to be able to accomplish, but right now you feel as though that you've gone backwards, and you're not moving closer to where you want to go, which is then leading to a lack of confidence, which is then leading you to question your own competence and whether you've actually got the belief to now make the thing the thing that you want to be able to do. And that's when you need to know how you're making progress, and whether you're actually now progressing and moving forward in the right direction. Because setting the goal of done my business, or add 25 clients, or whatever it now might potentially be, is great, but often it just feels as though it's an uphill battle, you're getting constantly punched in the face because you're having to go through change, and you're having to step into new territory.
Joe:And it will feel as though it's a million miles away, and you're swimming against the tide. And in that process, it can be easy to then lose hope, it can be easy then to look at what everybody else is doing, where you're not, what you don't have, what you haven't been able to accomplish, you haven't been able to achieve, and you haven't got anything to hang your hat on. That gives you that appreciation and acknowledgement that you're moving forward in the right direction. So of course, tracking your numbers, looking at your metrics and data across the key areas that you're looking to improve upon, so let's use business. So now I'm going, okay, from booking perspective, how many books?
Joe:How many calls am I now currently booking on a monthly basis? On a weekly basis? On a daily basis? How many calls am I now currently converting? What are my engagement numbers and stats?
Joe:How many chats am I now currently having? How many clients have I got? How many results am I currently getting on a weekly, daily, monthly basis, what's on my retention, how many referrals am I getting? So, there's a whole host of different data metric points you can now start to look at, where's the profitability of the company just now, etc. I think it's also being able to hang your hat on emotionally where are you and how are you currently feeling, and one of the best things that I've done that you don't realize you don't appreciate, and sometimes you're like I can't really be asked to do this, is being able to put pen to paper every single Sunday and just write down how the last seven days have been.
Joe:Not really good with a structure, and actually I just free write, I just write whatever comes to my mind, sometimes it's really easy and I can write for pages, and other times I just feel as though that I'm just staring at a blank page and I just write something and I'm like, ah, just feel as though nothing's really coming out. But whenever I look back, week upon week upon week, It gives me so much appreciation of where I was, how I was thinking, how I was viewing the world, how I was viewing the challenges that I was currently going through at that at that given time. And it gives me a sense of perspective to acknowledge how much I'm actually then growing and moving in the right direction, even if I haven't been able to see it in the moment. So, look at the metrics you're not tracking in terms of data points. And then also, put pen to paper, and commit to doing that, and then commit to every single week.
Joe:When you do that, just reflect and read back and review what you've said in the previous weeks gone by, and that will allow you to then acknowledge and see the momentum that you're actually gaining and building, because growth and success and progress is slow, it's small, it's steady, it doesn't really often feel as though you're doing anything that's now grand or monumental, and that's the point. It's compounding for you or it's compounding against you, and it's those small little changes that you make that have such a monumental effect over a sustained period. And it's being okay with recognizing and realizing that you're not going to see it, there's going be a level of patience, and there's going to be so many times you're going to be questioning yourself, am I doing the right thing? Am I placing my energy in the right areas? Am I focusing and putting my intentions into the right places?
Joe:Because growing can often feel lonely, it can feel as though that you're going on a journey that nobody else now really gets, and you're having to leave what you've known to step into the unknown, which is why it's really important. Whenever you're looking at these goals, a great question to ask yourself is, what are my expectations? And is this realistic? Because so often we try to change too many things at once. And like I said, change is hard.
Joe:We're wired for survival, we're wired for safety, security, and reproduction. Not for growth and progress and big transformation. So, if you're looking at making a big change in your business this year, maybe look at your athletic goals and think, you know what, is setting those challenges and goals and targets supportive of me being able to place the energy that I need to into my business, or is it a distraction? The same with personally, if your goal is big personal shifts and changes, do you now really want to have a disruptive year where you're looking at destroying and recreating your company? Or does there need to be a level of stability with the business whilst you're changing and going through the things that you're on a personal level so that you have something to hang your hat on?
Joe:We all need safety and we all need certainty and we need anchor points, And whenever you're trying to change too many things at once, whilst that can feel good in the moment, when things get hard and when things get heavy, that's when we need to be able to rely on the things that now give us safety and certainty and stability. So, focus on what's the most important aspect and area of my life that I now know that I want to be able to put the majority of my effort and energy into. And then, how can I make the other aspects and areas feel like effortless effort? That I still have intentions, I still have aspirations, I still have goals that I want to be able to accomplish, entertain, and achieve, but aren't necessarily going to require as much activation energy, as much thought, and can be something that is more efficient for you whilst you're then really placing your focus into the thing that really is trying to stretch and challenge you. And final piece that I want to close on, and we do this with every customer journey, and no doubt you do this with your clients as well, is just being able to forecast the peaks and the valleys along the way.
Joe:What are the barriers and challenges that you perceive that you'll come up against? And what can you put in place to protect you? What would your old self do? What would your new self do? And how can you put the systems and habits in place that will allow you to bounce back faster, so that you can navigate through the challenges which are going to be inevitable with a few less bumps and a few less bruises.
Joe:And that's really the difference that makes the difference. Because if you can forecast, plan ahead, and you can just recognise and bring more awareness to what it is that you know that you're going to bump up against it, then you can make sure that you've got the right people, the right plan, the right systems, and you've already been able to understand the questions you need to ask yourself, the decisions that you need to make, and the way in which you need to behave, you then also start to outsource your thinking, which I believe your future self will thank your current self for monumentally. And to close, this year, what would your 80 year old self want you to do, and what would your eight year old self think of you? Whenever I'm at my best, I'm always operating from a space in a place where I can zoom out, and I always I I use this with quite a few clients actually. I think what would your grandad say, what would your grandad think, what would your grandad do, or what would a grandparent think they'll do?
Joe:My grandad for me is my sage, so I think about what he would think, what he would say, and what he would do. Quite often in certain situations and certain scenarios whenever I'm making any decisions, or whether I'm deciding what my next move is going to be, or even how I'm currently treating myself within that given moment. So, if you're stuck and you bump up against old patterns and you don't know what your next move is, you don't know how to think, what what would your 80 year old self want you to do? And I think that for me allows me to appreciate and realise that more often than not, I already have the answers. It's whispering in the background, there's just all this noise that's going on around me that means that quite often I can't hear it, but when you stop, you pause, you create some space, and you ask yourself better questions, you know what you're doing and where you're wanting to go and why you're wanting to go there and you've got the right people around you, you're going get a damn sight closer to where it is that you want to be, the life that you want to build, the business that you're proud of, and all the things that you want to be able to attain and achieve.
Joe:And there's also been times where I've set goals and I've missed the mark, but I've only ever been a month or two or three months away from them being able to achieve that. So even if you do have objectives with deadlines, and you don't reach them, it's on its way. If you're doing the right things, you're growing, you just can't see it yet. And the best thing that you can do for your future self is allow yourself to keep putting those two b's into the machine. And goals are there to stretch you and challenge you, not define you.
Joe:So I hope that's given you something to think about, some questions to explore, and some things just to put pens and paper on. If this podcast has been of value, then I would love you to be able to share it with another coach that you think would benefit from listening to this. And until next time, I appreciate you, and I shall speak to you soon. Take care.