How Setting Goals Will Change Your Life

Many of you may know this but I lead a team of over 200 skincare consultations for a living. It is the best job I could have ever picked for myself and I am honored to be able to grow such an amazing team of micro-entrepreneurs! One of the biggest topics we talk about as a team is setting GOALS and so I thought I would share my philosophy on goal-setting here and how it can truly change your life. 

Let’s start with at the beginning. 

A goal is a dream or wish you PLAN to attain. Notice my verbiage there. A goal is not something you WISH to attain, it’s something you PLAN for. A goal is something that takes planning and preparation. I think a lot of times we get our aspirations and our goals mixed up. For example, stating that you would like to run a marathon is an aspiration; actually training for that marathon, is a goal. 

I think a lot of people think that they have goals, but they really just have aspirations. Dreaming and aspiring to do great things really is awesome… until those things never happen because you lack preparation and planning. Through owning a business and building a lifestyle brand, I have learned the power of goal-setting. There truly is so much power in writing out your goals and working hard to achieve them! 

I explain goals to my team in this way: If you don’t have goals, you are like a fish swimming in a fish bowl. You may swim round and round and round but you will never really get anywhere. When you have goals for yourself/business/family/ etc. you are like a fish in the ocean. You have SO much more opportunity ahead of you because you have a road map. 

Setting goals for your life can be simple, they don’t have to be extreme. Simply setting a goal to drink more water is a great place to start… And then actually come up with a game plan on how you are going to drink more water. ;)

Below I have my fool-proof goal-setting strategy. If you set these parameters around your goals, I truly believe you are setting yourself up for future success! 

MY GOAL-SETTING STRATEGY

This is my system on how I effectively set goals: 

1.    Write out what you would like to achieve, get better at, accomplish, or excel at in life

2.    Write out what you are already doing to achieve your goal

3.    Write out what you could be doing BETTER to achieve, accomplish, or excel at your goal

4.    Plan out specific times in your calendar that you will be working towards achieving your goal

5.    Lastly, give yourself a time limit on how long it should take for you to achieve your goal 

When you set goals this way, you are planning for success. You aren’t leaving your goals up to chance or luck, you are MAKING THEM HAPPEN with your action! This is how goals can be truly life-changing!

Obviously, things don’t always go as planned and so if you don’t reach out goal at your allotted time, don’t beat yourself up about it! The most important thing is that you are working towards what you want to achieve in life. If your goals are worth it enough to you, you will do what it takes to achieve them! Remember, effective goal planning is only the first step. After you make your goals, it’s time to turn your plans into ACTION! 

It’s time to RUN after your dreams! I truly believe that you can create massive change in your life by setting goals & working hard to achieve them! 

Comment on this post and share one of your goals with the community! Let’s all help motivate each other to effectively plan and reach our goals!!

Your friend,

 

Lauren

How to live a life of FREEDOM

As Independence Day is approaching, I've been thinking about Freedom in all different areas of life. Here in the United States, we live in one of the most free and opportunity rich countries in the entire world. The world is our oyster and opportunities are available for anyone who wishes to work hard for them. That being said, I think there are many things that still hold us captive and keep us from living out our purpose. Here are a few things that may be holding you back, they hold me back too! If we can master these areas in our lives, we will be able to live lives of more clarity, purpose, and direction which will FREE us up to do what we are made to do! 

1. TRUST YOUR GUT

I think that many times, we KNOW the right decision we need to make, but outside influences keep us from doing what we know is best. Have you ever been caught between what you feel you truly want to do and what you think you should do? Sometimes, it's important to clean our house because we should do it, but thats not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about when we know in our hearts that we have to take a leap of faith, build a business, start a blog, apply for a new job, etc. but we don't because its risky and we feel like we should stay in our comfortable, stable life and not rock the boat. I'm speaking from my heart when I say that true freedom comes when you are spending your days doing something that makes your soul light on fire. No stability or predicability in the world will be able to out-weigh that type of creative freedom and passion! 

2. LET GO

We all have something we need help letting go of. Maybe its a negative influence or an unhealthy relationship. It could also be the fear of what others may think of you. Maybe you need to let go of your ego, which is keeping you in a prideful position and unable to experience any type of personal growth. Many people need to let go of insecurities and expectations which create a permanent negative mindset for themselves. For me, letting go of friendships and negative relationships is something that has been the hardest for me. Letting go doesn't mean you're giving up, it means you are starting over. Letting go of something means that you are creating space for something new. 

3. PEOPLE PLEASING MAKES YOU A SLAVE TO PEOPLE

It sounds pretty obvious, but you will never be able to experience more freedom in your life when you are living your life to please others. I HATE disappointing people or letting anyone down. I also HATE having to say "no" to anything. #REALTALKWITHLO: My first year living in Hawaii was hard for me to follow my dreams with this blog because I was so worried about making new friends and pleasing others. I would drop everything I was doing to go hangout with a friend, and I let all my personal goals & aspirations lay to the way-side. I had to choose to make myself & my goals a priority and fit outside influences in my life around that. Of course I still put my close family and friends pretty much before anything, but having the mindset that my dreams MATTER, has changed everything for me. 

4. DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF

I'm speaking to myself here because this is something I am personally working on. When you limit yourself, consciously or unconsciously, you put a cap on your success. I am constantly fighting with feeling undeserving of success. I don't know why I feel this way but I have always felt that I am not deserving of true success and happiness. It's a horribly negative mindset and LIE that I have been believing that I am working on letting go of. YOU ARE WORTHY FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS AND BEING SUCCESSFUL!!!! Don't limit the amount of impact you can have on the world. Keep doing your thing and keep making your goals bigger and bigger! True freedom comes when you truly believe that you can achieve ANYTHING! 

5. CONTINUE TO GROW

I love this quote, "If you aren't growing, your dying." This is SO TRUE. If you feel stagnant in your career, relationships, or in any area, it's probably because you aren't intentionally focussing on personal development. Personal development has been SO HUGE in my personal success and ambitions and it truly is the missing link for so many people who want to take their lives to the next level but they aren't sure how. We have SO much knowledge at our fingertips, we should be hungry for growth in all areas! 

I hope these tips help you stay focussed on your goals, re-priotize what's important, and help you live a life of FREEDOM in all areas! I would love to know which tip spoke out to you most! 

and here are some of my all-time favorite personal development books...

I hope you all have an amazing 4th of July!!! 

xo,

Lo