Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Energetics of Goal Setting: Why the Process Matters
124 Plays13 days ago
Episode Summary:
In this empowering episode of Empowered, we’re diving deep into the energy behind goal setting, what makes it healthy, what makes it toxic, and how to approach your goals in a way that actually supports your growth as an artist and business owner. I’m sharing my personal reflections, including how using a phrase or word to guide your year can be just as powerful as setting a traditional goal. Whether you’re chasing six figures or simply trying to show up more consistently, this episode will help you reframe your goals and embrace the process.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why attaching your self-worth to your goals can become toxic
- How to shift your focus from the outcome to the process
- A powerful practice to guide your year with intention
Links & Resources:
Check out my Simple Pricing Worksheet
Connect With Me:
Follow me on Instagram
Join my Facebook Community
Visit my Website for More!
Subscribe & Review:
If you loved this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps the podcast reach more photographers like you. 💛
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & New Year's Energy
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey there, and if you are new to Empowered, welcome and happy new year. I know it's a little bit late to be talking about new year because we are in February. If you're listening to these in real time, we're in February of 2024, but I think that the new year energy is still
Understanding Goal Setting Energy
00:00:19
Speaker
surrounding us. And so today I want to talk a little bit about goals and goal setting and the energetic energetics, excuse me, around goals to ensure really that you just aren't falling into that toxic goal setting trap that a lot of us fall into.
00:00:37
Speaker
and Full disclosure, I love goals. I am a huge fan of goals. I think that setting goals is important. I think that speaking your goals into the reality of your everyday is very important. I think having friends who know about your goals is important because you are then accountable, but it can become a little toxic. so Let's talk about that for a moment.
Dangers of Attaching Self-Worth to Goals
00:00:59
Speaker
So the unhealthy why behind a goal is when you attach your identity or your self-worthiness to achieving that goal.
00:01:11
Speaker
So I'm going to say that one more time. The unhealthy why behind you setting a goal is when you think that who you are or your self-worth is directly attached to that goal.
00:01:25
Speaker
So for example, one of the biggest goals that a lot of us have as photographers in the new year is raising our prices. And so we might say, i will be worthy of charging $1,000 per session if I book 20 clients by June.
00:01:41
Speaker
Or I will feel safe raising my prices if I'm able to book so many sessions by June.
The Illusion of External Accomplishments
00:01:51
Speaker
Another way that this could, I'm trying to give concrete examples, another way that this could be ah made to understand better is you might say, i will feel safe marketing myself or sharing my business one i once I win a certain award or get published.
00:02:07
Speaker
So you are attaching your own self-worth, the value of your business by charging more, the ability to show up based on achieving a goal.
00:02:20
Speaker
This unhealthy attachment to your goal means that you believe that your external accomplishments will fill a void inside of you and that your external accomplishments will validate you as an artist or a human.
Focusing on Personal Growth over Outcomes
00:02:33
Speaker
When you have this unhealthy attachment to your goals, you see the money in the bank account that you want or you win the award that you wanted, but you don't see a change in yourself.
00:02:47
Speaker
And that leads to a major letdown. So you think that getting that thing is going to make you feel better about yourself when the truth is that if you aren't working on yourself while you're working on your goals, you may feel a major letdown.
00:03:05
Speaker
So instead, set your goals with the intention to become the person necessary in order for that goal to be possible. Do not attach just to the outcome of the goal, but also to the entire journey, the process that it takes to get there.
00:03:26
Speaker
So it might sound trite. Maybe this is something you've heard before, but you have to also aware intentional about the process and the changes that are necessary in yourself in order for you to get to that goal.
Reframing Failure and Inherent Self-Worth
00:03:42
Speaker
Without an attachment to the outcome, you either get the satisfaction of achieving the goal or you learn the lessons that come along with not achieving the goal. There is no such thing as failure in your photography business, in your art, in life.
00:03:57
Speaker
It's all just information and an opportunity to expand who you are and become a better human. So even if you don't get the exact goal that you have set out to achieve, if you pay attention to the process, you will be a better, more evolved artist and business person regardless of what happens.
00:04:18
Speaker
Your worth is inherent and has zero to do with whether or not you reach the goals that you're setting this
Personal Strategies for Goal Setting
00:04:24
Speaker
year. The process of getting to your goals is even more important, or at least at the very minimum, just as important as reaching the goal itself.
00:04:36
Speaker
To give you a little bit of an insight on some of the things that I do for goal setting or one of the things that I've been doing is that instead of making only the big you know goals that i want to achieve every year, I also have a word or a phrase. And I know i'm not the only one doing this.
00:04:50
Speaker
I didn't invent it. But I come up with word or a phrase to really encompass what it is that I'm trying to accomplish. for the year. And this year, my phrase is take it all in.
Reflecting on Past Strategies and Their Impact
00:05:01
Speaker
I'm trying to slow down a little bit and be really intentional in my life, in my business. I really want to take it all in. Last year, my goal, my phrase, I guess, was ah to let it be easy.
00:05:16
Speaker
i chose the phrase, let it be easy. and i allowed this to really lead me in business and art and in my personal life and it was super interesting first off it was not easy for me to let go of control and let things be easy i actually operate really well under stress it's a toxic form of motivation and survival for me so the practice of letting things be easy was actually very hard I paid close attention to my internal dialogue and I did a lot of journaling when I felt the desire to create stress.
00:05:47
Speaker
So just that phrase, let it be easy, helped me to really pay attention to that toxic trait that I have inside of me. I did a lot of guided meditations too, really to just build my trust in myself and the flow that I've created in my life.
00:06:01
Speaker
What I noticed is that with this phrase as my guide, last year in 2023, I actually ended up with a lot more playfulness. So many silly nights with friends. I played a lot of pickleball, which was really funny.
00:06:12
Speaker
I slept in a lot more and I noticed a lightness and playfulness with my kids. so by letting things be easy i let go of my constant need for control sort of which really left more time for play which i think is kind of cool so anyway that was my phrase for last year let it be easy my phrase for this year is to take it all in and i'm you know it's only february 12th when i'm recording this i'm still actually having to actively work on that i definitely have a tendency to always look
Learning from the Journey in Goal Setting
00:06:43
Speaker
ahead. And so why I wanted to bring my phrase in is because with goal setting, I just want you to also, instead of always looking ahead to that goal, remember that the process is just as important, if not more important.
00:06:56
Speaker
And even if you don't get the exact goal you're looking for you're or you're going out to achieve, what you have learned in the process will make you a better person. And it's just information.