Working Towards Our Purpose

Welcome Back to episode 42 of Working towards our

Purpose. Thank you for listening and being here today. I want

to talk about goals, but before we get into that, I

do want to have a little intro, talk about what I'm excited about, you

know, in this week. I think I've kind of already done that in the

other episodes, but for whatever reason today I was thinking about it and I was

like, oh, that's like a nice way to start a podcast. Talk about something

that I'm excited about and, you know, something positive. So,

yeah, I think I'll make that like a reoccurring sort of

intro segment. But for this week, a couple things I'm excited

about. As I mentioned last week, my friend Michael Shawn

is having his studio, Unison Studios in North Haven

open and today is an open house.

So I will be there all afternoon kind of hanging out and,

you know, hopefully people will be coming by and trying to check out the

space and I'll be showing them around the space and there's some lessons going on

and some other cool stuff. So if you happen to be in North Haven

at, you know, anytime today, you can pop in. It's at

36 Broadway. And there's also going to

be a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2pm which will be fun through the

Chamber of Commerce and, and yeah, excited to get that

going and having in a place

where music exists and podcasts and all things creative

audio. So yeah, that's one thing.

And then the second thing is I will be at a

farmer's market on Sunday this week. And it's

the old market that I used to manage in Edgewood park in New Haven.

So one of my friends and vendors

that are there, South Haven Farms, Stephanie, asked me to

take over for her. So I will be manning the

tent at South Haven Farms this Sunday. So if you

want to get some produce, you can stop by and say hi to me as

well. Definitely excited to get back into

a farmer's market. Relished Roots

isn't quite there yet, so this is a nice little lake in between.

You know, one time thing that'd be fun to, to be,

to be out in the market environment and to see the community and

yeah, connect with a bunch of friends. So excited about that as well.

So yeah, today I want to talk about goals because

last Saturday I was

going through kind of the goals that I had already set maybe a

month or so ago and sort of refined

them. And yeah, I think it was like a nice

process and I just got me thinking a lot about goals and like How I've

always treated goals and, like, thought about them. And

I think, you know, I've always kind of hated the question, like, in

interviews and stuff, where it's like, where do you see yourself in 10 years

or even 5 years? Because it just seems like such

a long period of time, and it seems almost like

a guess, I guess, you know, where am I going to be in 10 years?

Perhaps that's just me, but that's always

seemed a little too far out of reach. But I would always do, like,

yearly goals. Like, you know, New Year's comes and in late

December, I'd always kind of think about, like, what I wanted to do, whether it

was, like, my business or personal. I would usually have, like, both.

And I would kind of just, like, think about them for a day and, like,

come up with them and write them down and then kind of never look

at them again. And it wasn't really something that was, like,

helpful, I guess maybe it was. Maybe. I don't want to say they

weren't helpful. They certainly, like, you know, got me

excited about the year and, like, pointed my focus

in a direction. But it was never. I

never, like, used those goals to, like, accomplish them.

Like, it was kind of just, like a chance if I. If I did accomplish

them or if I didn't accomplish them. Um, so. So, yeah, just really thinking

about how to, like, make goals useful, because I also

think that they could be, like, a negative thing. I think sometimes you could think

about, like, making goals and it's stressful and you don't want to do it,

or it seems like something that you have to do and it's not actually helpful.

Um, so. So yeah, so today I have, like, three

things that could, like, help make goals useful. Like, help help you

to accomplish your goals and to think about, like,

what they are a little bit more. And. And so the first. The first one

of those three little tips is taking the ego

out of your goal. And I kind of went through this with

one of my goals this past weekend. And so I've always

had a goal of, like, having a music studio

where I could, you know, I envisioned, like, this physical

location where it was like a proper studio, and there was a bunch of equipment

and instruments, gear, all that kind of stuff. And I can

go there, I can make music. It'll make me feel like a

musician. I could have people come in and record them and stuff.

So that was one of my goals. And I really started thinking

about, like, why do I want this goal?

And, like, what was the thing that I really wanted.

And I kind of thought about it for a while and I was

thinking that the thing that I actually wanted was just to be

making music and to be making music with friends and

people that, you know, I admire and, like,

value as musicians. And I don't need

a studio to do that. And I don't know, it's kind of just like a

switch that went off in my head and I was like, oh, yeah, I don't

actually need a studio to do that. I have friends that have

studios. I have friends that have spaces to be

loud. I do all of my recording in my own apartment now,

for the most part. So, like, why do I need a

studio that then becomes this overhead that I then have

to, like, find ways to support and justify

and kind of distract myself from the real

goal of just making music? So. So I kind of

let that go and I was like, well, I don't. I don't think I need

a studio anymore. And then I started thinking about, like, okay, well, what is it

that I want? What is the goal that I,

you know, feel like I want to do? And

then the thing that came to mind was just like, well, what's my next project?

And that was, like, really helpful

to think about, like, what do I want my next musical

project to be? And then that just became my goal. So. So,

you know, I think last year I set a

specific goal for music related,

and I was like, all right, every month I'm going to write, record and release

a song. And then every month at the end of the month, I'll release a

single. And then by the end of the year, I'll have 12 singles. It'll be,

you know, as many songs as an album, but I'll do the process 12

times instead of kind of doing it one time for

the intention of doing it

more and getting better at it. And so far, I've been,

like, spot on with that goal. I've released

seven. Well, at the end of this week, my seventh song comes out,

seventh single comes out, and I felt really good about that. And

I think part of that goal, like, kind of

coming true was that I made it so specific. And. And

so I was thinking about that as I was thinking about, like, well, what's my

next goal for music if it's not gonna be a studio and

it's going to be a project and it's gonna be an album. I

wanna record. I wanna record an album, but I also wanna, like, bring in

my friends to help me. And

yeah, I have some. I really went

Crazy on the dreaming of it. And I think that

I not only just want to like record an album, but I also want to

record like a live album to accompany the album, which will basically be the

same, you know, same songs. But I want to bring in my friends to have

different variations of it and to do a live recording

and to really get other people involved. I also want my

friend Sam to produce it for me or to, you know, help

produce. And then I started thinking about it and I was like, whoa, man,

it'd be great if I could like pay my friends to, to do this

work. And then I kind of went down the rabbit hole of like, okay, well

how do we fund it? Like, how do I get funding?

And started thinking about like, you know, labels, which,

you know, probably unrealistic for somebody who doesn't have any following.

But then I started thinking about like, well, what about like grants, like for

art and like, you know, what other options are out

there? And started getting really excited about like, how can I

make this project like work for everybody and not just be like

something that's for me. It is for me and it's self serving, but it's also,

you know, getting to do cool things with the people around me.

So. So yeah, got really excited about that goal and.

Yeah, so I guess I would just say, you know, to get back to the

idea of like taking the ego out of the goal. Like, I think sometimes you

can think that you need something or think that you want something,

but maybe you don't actually really want it. And it's just,

you know, something that's been going around in your head for a while. I think

I always thought like, yeah, studio is great. That's what people

who make music have is studios. But when I really thought

about it, I was like, do I really need this? So I guess kind of

a process of just like really stripping down what your

goal is and thinking about the thing that you actually want and the thing that

actually, like, makes you excited about it. Um, so if that makes any

sense, I think taking the ego out of the goal and thinking about

just the, the, the physical thing that you want, like, what is the thing that

I want from this? Um, so, so that was really helpful for, for

that specific musical for me. Um, the

second thing that I think could be really helpful with goals is doing them

now. Like, like not waiting to do them. Um, like I

mentioned earlier when I, when I used to make goals, like yearly goals,

I would just come up with these things that I thought I wanted to do

during the year. And I was like, yeah, you know, maybe like halfway through

the year I'll start doing this thing, or, you know, at some point

when I have enough time, I'll do this thing. And. And then they just

really never end up happening because I didn't,

I didn't have any sort of like direction with it. I just

assumed that they would happen in the future. So I think

something that's been really helpful for me is all the three

goals that I came up with and I feel good about. I'm kind of

doing them already and I think that that makes

them so much more obtainable and you feel like

you're kind of doing it already. And I don't know, I don't know if that

makes sense. But I think that if you can have a goal

that kind of just expands upon the things that you're doing now,

um, that could be really helpful. And of course you want to, like,

the point of goals is to like, do, you know, more things,

bigger things. Um, but I'm. But I'm also doing that

at the same time. So I, I guess kind of just like

challenging what you're doing, but also kind of doing

starting it now. Like, and even if it is a brand new goal, like maybe,

maybe there's something that you can start right of way that's like

super easy and a low lift. But it also gets you

to keep thinking about that goal because I think that's part of it too, is

to think about them more than just when

you're creating them. So that kind of brings me to my

third point here, which is refining your

goals. And you know, this kind of goes hand in hand with, with

the starting now, I guess, but refining your goals

meaning, like, check in on them, like,

like don't just write them down and never look at them again. I think it's

like an active process to like look at your goals and to check in with

them. And this, this came to my attention

because I had written down goals about a month ago and

that some of them felt good and some of them were just like, kind of

arbitrary, like the studio one. But I, but I

went through them again and looked at them and I was like, which one of

these do I really care about? And I kind of refine them

after a month of, you know, working towards some

of them. And then I was really just kind of thinking about

which ones still felt true and which ones like, I didn't really need anymore.

So I think that that's also a really helpful thing to think about your Goals,

it's okay to change them and to make up your mind on

something. And, you know, for me, like, letting

go of the studio idea, that. That seems like it's such a.

Almost a weight off of my shoulders, because I think that I thought that that's

what I wanted for so long. And now just being like, you know

what? I don't. I don't really need that. That's not something that I.

That I really care about that much. It's not to say maybe I'll

never have one, maybe I will in the future, but right now, that's really not

that important to me. And I think when you can, like,

refine your goals and check back in with them and

be, you know, like, honest with yourself, it

can be a good process of, like, really honing in

on what it is the goal is that you're

trying to accomplish. So I think that's worked well for me,

and I'll probably continue to do that. Like, maybe. Maybe I should set, like, a

reminder once a month or something to kind of, like, check in on my goals

and see if they still feel like good goals and, like, look at the progress

I made and maybe how I can do more of what's working, less of what's

not. But, yeah, I think, like,

having your goals, like, feel good is like something that's

new to me. I've always written down goals and been like,

yeah, those sound great, I think, and then kind of just laid

them aside. So, really looking forward to, like, having these

active goals. And,

yeah, I guess now that

I'm thinking about my goals, maybe it's helpful to also

say what they are, speak them out loud. I think I believe in

accountability, and I think the more you talk about what you're

doing, the more you can, again, refine it and

figure out what exactly you're trying to do. So,

yeah, first music goal for me was next year is to come out

with an album and an accompanying live album with my friends that

are going to play on it and, you know, all kinds of

cool stuff there. And then the second goal, which maybe I mentioned

before, is becoming an author. I have a goal of

writing a book and becoming an author. And

the third goal is to turn

working towards our purpose, the podcast, my substack, into something

that is a business that can sustain and support me.

And, yeah, each of these kind of have, like, different timelines, and

I kind of got a little bit granular with. Or. I don't know if that's

the right word. Granular specific on, like,

you Know, sub steps and stuff like that. And they each take,

you know, different estimations of time. And I got really specific on it.

Again, I think that's a really important thing for

doing, for getting a goal to actually come true

is to be super specific on it. Um, may.

Maybe that's number four that I didn't have on my, on my notes here.

Um, but. But yeah, number four being get really specific with

your goals because the more specific you get, the easier it

is to just, like, put in the work. And

I think it became really easy for me to

just do my musical for this year because I knew exactly what I

had to do. I had to write a song, I had to, you know, get

the arrangements and everything, record it, mix it, master it,

publish it in a month. And every month I'm doing that. And

I know exactly what I have to do. So just going and doing that

becomes a lot easier because I don't have to think about what I'm doing.

It kind of brings to mind like, the classic example of,

like, if you're trying to work out in the morning, lay your clothes out so

you don't have to think about it when you get up, because the more you

think about it, the more distracted you get and the more further away

from actually doing the goal you'll be.

So, so yeah, fourth one would be make your goal super specific.

And yeah, and, you know,

obviously, goals or not, obviously. I told myself before

this, I wasn't, I was going to stop saying that because that's a filler word

that I keep using and I don't like using obviously. So,

so cut that. Um, but

yeah, to recap, you know, four

tips to, to have your goals come true.

One of the first one is taking your ego out of it, thinking about what

it is that you really want without the outside noise of

society or your boss or somebody else telling you what you think you

want. Second tip would be to start

your goals now in some small way. Uh, start all of your

goals as, as fast as you can, as quickly as possible, just to

keep momentum going and, and to keep thinking about them. Third

would be to refine your goals and to keep checking in on them to see

if they're still ring true to you or not. And it's okay to adjust them

and to change them and to have new ones, um, and to just

see how they feel for you and, and to be like, aware of that.

And then the fourth is to be specific and

make your goals specific. And I think the more

specific you can make them, the easier it is to follow

them and to make them come true.

So yeah, hopefully this was helpful

to think about goals and to think about what your goals are and

yeah, challenge you maybe to come up with some goals or to think about your

goals. If you have some already, how can you refine them?

So yeah, just another reminder

what I set up or set on the end of the last episode,

you can book a free 30 minute call with me to talk about your dreams.

There's a link in the show notes and yeah, I'd

love to talk about things that you're excited

about. So I love to do that. And

yeah, I got a Google link where you can pick a time that works within

my schedule and works for you. And then

lastly to also follow me on substack. I think that's

the right now the biggest way to support what I'm doing is to follow me

on substack to share my substack. And

yeah, that's all I got for you today. Hope you got a great week.

Hopefully maybe I'll see you at the studio later on or at the

market on Sunday and if not I'll see you next week on an

episode. All right, take care of it.