Who Defines Your Goals

[00:00:21] Another episode of What Else You Got with Mitch and Margo. He's Mitch, I'm Margo. How are you doing, Mitch? Good. What have you been up to? Well, you know, since our last podcast, I've been thinking about the topic of setting goals. I thought maybe we could discuss that a little further. Yeah, I think that's continuing a little bit from our last topic or episode. Do you set your own goals or do you let other people set your goals? Who should set your goals?

[00:00:52] It depends on the context because in some cases for a job, there's very specific goals that are set for you. There's how you set your goals to align with those goals and then there's the goals that you set for yourself. And then there's the goals that you self-subscribe to that are partially imposed, but you choose to accept those goals because you said you want the thing, a.k.a. paying bills. That was quite the explanation.

[00:01:21] On the topic of work, yes, with any new employee, a good workplace is going to define specific, measurable and realistic goals. I think as a good employee, you would then do one of several things.

[00:01:40] You could take the predefined goal that they've given you and break it down into smaller, more easily achievable steps that can be accomplished daily so that your employer can see that you're making actionable progress toward the bigger goal. Additionally, another thing you could do as an employee is take the initiative to set separate goals based on the company's core values and what their long-term vision may be.

[00:02:10] And then your employer is going to see that not only are you working towards the goals they've set for you, but you're taking initiative to achieve goals that are in alignment with their core values. Does that make sense? Yep. Been there, done that. Been there, done that. Built out some crazy stuff.

[00:02:29] And at the same time, sometimes the employer's goals are on the ambitious side, which is good, but you being a independent agent where in theory you're the subject matter expert of what you do, you can advise, hey, hey, you're a little on the ambitious side. I'd recommend this. Of course, they say you can do it on this timeframe, but if they are a good manager, good employer, when you get to the end of their timeframe,

[00:02:57] and you go, I need two more weeks based off the project and you give a valid reason, they go, okay, and they allow it. But sometimes there's goals that are outside of just the employer thing, like regulations on whatever industry you're in. And so sometimes there are that hard deadline, which means you get to work overtime to hit that deadline. Or if it's a soft deadline, you're able to adjust to meet the realistic balance.

[00:03:25] Well, and I think you raise an interesting point also. You talked about, you know, you being the expert on a certain subject matter and you talked about an employer having lofty, possibly unrealistic goals. I think there's a couple things happening here.

[00:03:44] Number one, is the management team setting goals intentionally too lofty, you know, shoot for the moon, land amongst the stars kind of concept. Or is the management team not understanding the actual boots on the ground work that's involved to accomplish the goal.

[00:04:06] Or is the management team spot on and employee is just not equipped for whatever reason to keep up. And so that's from the business employer perspective. From the employee perspective, you may have a better insight, like you mentioned, expert on the subject matter.

[00:04:32] And so that's where you have to determine, are we a good fit or not? Because if you're an expert on a subject matter and management is management and they're not willing to listen or consider the feedback you're bringing to the table, then it might not be a good fit. Because there are some management leadership teams that aren't open to pushback or feedback. And there are others that are.

[00:05:02] And so from the employee perspective, is it a good fit? And or from the employee perspective, maybe you're not the expert on the subject matter. Different ways to approach it. But it's one of those that there's a couple ways to attempt to resolve the problem of the mismatch.

[00:05:27] There's the you stand your ground, debate the case until there's a group consensus on what the goal and objective should be. Which that's good in some regards because you're not spending effort when the direction is most likely going to change. I fit in more of the boat of I will work towards that goal while trying to negotiate the it's outside of reasonable scope.

[00:05:52] And then there's the third camp of you make it happen however you need to to make it happen. And I sit in the middle just because you need to advocate for why the goal is incorrect or why it is correct while trying to move forward. Versus you can either burn out on either end, which could get you stuck in a problem on either end.

[00:06:19] Yeah, you know, and I understand we're talking specifically about workplace environment right now. Now, I am also a believer, again, looking at both perspectives. Management leadership should be checking in with the employees and the staff. Progress, you know, different progress points, different milestones.

[00:06:41] They should be checking in, touching base, not just waiting for the deadline to, you know, the whoosh, the sound of the deadline going and passing. There should be touch points. And from the employee perspective, the employee, if it's a good fit, the employee ought to be able to take that bigger goal and break it down.

[00:07:02] If management hasn't already break it down into touch points, into milestones, progress points and be able to gauge, OK, if they expect this by here, I need to be here by the midpoint. I need to be here by the quarter point. I need to be here by the 10 percent point. And employee needs to then take the initiative and communicate to management.

[00:07:26] OK, I am on target to hit the goal. I am behind schedule. Here's what I need from you in order to help me get back on schedule. I think that there needs to be active communication if workplace goals are to be achieved.

[00:07:43] Mm hmm. Very much so. Just because, like you said, all the different measure points, because if we're going off of the you argue the point until it's set in a correct timeline, you're still at zero percent. And you might hit the deadline and you're still arguing it. Then you have the you blitz it side of things where you keep going.

[00:08:07] You either start working an absurd number of hours to keep pace or you or you work exactly on pace or you actually start falling behind because the goal is so large that you can't do it, which at least in quite a few industries, you can build it fast, you can build it cheap or you can build it. Fast, fast, cheap or good. Yeah. Fast, cheap or good. And so how do you start making those timelines?

[00:08:36] You start paying more money to be able to bring in more people to be able to achieve those same timelines. But at the same time, sometimes more people actually slows it down. And so it's really just comes down to what that balance looks like. I heard you use certain words and my ears tend to perk up when certain words or certain. Patterns. Yes. Thank you. When there's certain patterns of words. And so I grabbed my pen and wrote down some of the words you were using.

[00:09:05] And so I find this interesting because before I tell you what these words were, from my perspective, I want teamwork. I want open communication. I want to be striving to consistently hit milestones and touch points. What I heard you say is you have to debate a point. You have to argue a point. Blitz. Absurd. Burnout. These are the words I heard you say.

[00:09:35] And so as a leader, if I hear these words coming from anybody on my team, these are flags to me. And I want to pause. And I want to have a more in-depth conversation with this person to gauge where they are. Because if you were my employee and you were using these words with me, I would put a stop. And I would say, let's have a conversation.

[00:10:05] Are you feeling burned out? Let's talk about why. Are you working too many hours? What's unrealistic here? Tell me where you're coming from your perspective. Because if you're using words like absurd and blitz and arguing and debating, there's some discord. There's some grinding. The cogs are not well-oiled and working together.

[00:10:35] They're grinding. And if you're grinding, the system is going to break down. The goals are not going to be achieved because the system, the machine, is not working. Yep. And which goes back to some of the other conversations we've had of just how my generation, we switch jobs regularly, is because those are the words we generally associate with employment. Just because there's always these lofty goals.

[00:11:04] And most of the management we're usually paired with says, you guys are just lazy. Or my generation did it. You can do it too. When all that changes. And so I applaud you for noticing those words and wanting to have that discussion. Because, no, so use discussion, not debate. Have that discussion. Because it's one of those that is the...

[00:11:33] I have lots of words going through my head, but they all don't quite fit. Because it's not the epitome. It's not the news. It's not the downfall. But it's the... I think burden would be a good word. The burden that a lot of my generation has is we've accrued the burnout debt. We can't offset it, but we still are required to hit these large milestones. But we not only have to complete the job, which the job by itself very much can do it.

[00:12:01] But because we've accrued the burnout debt, it costs more to be able to hit those goals. Accrued or inherited? Depends on which way you're looking. Accrued is per individual. Well, because you're saying accrued the burnout debt. I want to understand what you're saying. So where's the debt coming from?

[00:12:25] So if we're starting with someone fresh out of college, fresh out of high school, who's ready to do the stuff, they're willing to work the 80 hours weeks. They're willing to work crazy hours because that's what's expected of them. And so where does those 80 hours come from? It comes from the inner person where they are paying more than they should, where they don't have that balance. And so as they get older and they keep paying that, they might start shrinking their hours down to 60 because they just can't do the 80 anymore. And then they get a little bit farther.

[00:12:55] They just can't do the 60 more. They have to do the 50. And then there's just not enough of them energy-wise, motivation-wise. And so when you say, hey, I need to work 60 hours, they go, with what? And there's not much left. And so accrued is the right word.

[00:13:12] Yeah, they accrued a debt that's where you start seeing people take skip years, leap years of basically time off of work because they're trying to pay off that debt so that they can come back and be effective again. But that's one of those that it's a cost that a lot of management, it goes back to the idea that you can do it too.

[00:13:38] But it's also one of those things that that cost of the project is never observed. Well, and to your point of your generation and my generation, I've had multiple employees of your generation say to me in one-on-one meetings, they've never had a manager or employer like me who cared about them and their well-being.

[00:14:06] And it makes me feel a little sad to think that they're experiencing what you've just described because we are two different generations and things are supposed to be different now. And I want there to be a sense of... With OnPoint's auto loan beat rate, you can get more out of your car by paying less on your auto loan. Show us your rate from another financial institution and we'll work to show you a better one.

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[00:15:05] With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Open communication and teamwork.

[00:15:32] But it's a culture that can be built. But I'm starting to think that people of your generation don't believe my leadership team when we say that this is the culture we're working toward. I think your generation has had enough negative experiences that when I have a new hire come in, they don't necessarily believe me.

[00:15:59] Which that's one of those that I've come across phenomenal managers that they actually do care. But then it's their manager that is the one that takes away their ability to care. And so it's one of those that our immediate manager, we have enough belief where we're willing to join and try. But it's usually the manager above them is why we leave. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. Okay. So, yeah. So it's just one of those really interesting dynamics.

[00:16:30] And it's really, at least for me, every time I go on social media and I see people in completely different industries in the same age bracket. And I'm going, it goes back to the, it's weird how we all collectively had the same childhood, which is one of those that you look at and go, how do you all have the same childhood? And you ask just about any millennial. There's certain things that someone says to go, oh, yeah, I had that too. I say Tamagotchi. Everyone either knows of it or has had one.

[00:17:00] And it's just one of those small things. And then I say the word secret tunnel. And half our viewers that are millennials just start singing the song. What a secret tunnel. It's from one of the best cartoons growing up that was around. I don't even know what it's referencing. It's Avatar The Last Airbender. There's literally just one episode that it's in that it was that good of an episode. And it was that weird enough of a song where it just stuck with all of us. Well, and you talk about shared childhood.

[00:17:30] I think it's because it's shared experience, you know, shared culture, the TV, the movies, the games, the toys. It's a shared culture. And so when somebody says you have the same childhood, so not just a shared culture, but you were raised, you know, stereotypically, statistically, you were raised by the same generation, generational parents. Right.

[00:18:27] And it's just like what you described. And it's just like what you described. And it's just like what you described. And it's just like what you described.

[00:19:11] And it's very interesting. I had the opportunity to go to a retreat recently. And I had set specific goals for me going to this retreat. And I, you know, I didn't fully understand what I was getting into. And so I was surprised on the first day when one of the first activities was every single person had a body composition scan done.

[00:19:39] And so caught me by surprise. And, and so the person who reviewed the body composition scan with me, she was very quick to set some specific goals for me. And in my head, I thought, I understand from your perspective, that's what you think would be good for me. But that those weren't the goals of why I had gone on this retreat.

[00:20:04] And so when we're talking about who is setting our goals, that's something to take in mind. Also, if we're talking about our physical fitness and our well-being, who are we allowing to set the goals for us? Are we letting social media tell us what ingredients we should be putting in our smoothie? Are we reading the latest book on the latest diet trend and deciding those will be our goals?

[00:20:30] Who are we allowing to set goals in our personal lives? Yeah. And so I like how you shifted over to the personal goals. And you talked about the fitness evaluator who was giving you goals because one of the interesting things, I want to mix a bunch of what we just talked about together. Since I've been working as a financial advisor, it's one of those that I have literally seen the generational differences.

[00:20:57] I've seen the generational teaching of different things between generations because it's really interesting how I can sit down with a millennial client and go, hey, you're taught, go to school, get a good job, and you'll be set for life. And all of us go, yep, that's not true. And it's one of those that I go talk to someone older and go, hey, you were taught these things. And they go, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. And it's doing me well. And it's very interesting to see the differences.

[00:21:28] But it's one of those that just with setting goals financially, it's one of those that the clearer you understand what you're trying to achieve, the better you can describe it. And I know you and I have had discussions on the side about what the dream state looks like. And it really comes down to it's not so much the dream as much as can you visualize what you're trying to achieve, the better you can describe it, the better you can work towards it.

[00:21:55] And that's where myself as a financial advisor comes in and says, all right, let's take a look at what your goal is. Let's figure out what it looks like. And then from there, we can work backwards to figure out what your today goal looks like to get to tomorrow. And so the cool thing about the finance world is it's decently linear in the sense of you can draw the straight lines.

[00:22:18] But the hard part is knowing what someone's actually working towards and what you were talking about of I can give advice, but I don't know what's really in their head. I don't really know what's in their heart. That's part of what the discussion is supposed to be where I can start seeing that. But it also comes down to what are you wanting to do? Well, and you talked about the big dream, the big lofty goal. And that kind of circles back also to the goals being set at work.

[00:22:48] You know, you can have your employer set this huge lofty goal. In your personal life, you can have this huge lofty retirement or dream goal. And in my mind, that's what you identify first. And then you break it down to the ridiculous. It's kind of like a sales concept. Also, you've got a sewing machine that costs $15,000. Who can afford a $15,000 sewing machine?

[00:23:11] But as a salesperson, you break it down to the ridiculous to where you identify it's actually only going to cost you this many pennies per day to operate. 50 cents a day, which means you use it five hours a day. It costs you 10 cents an hour. Exactly. You break it down to the ridiculous. And so it's a sales concept that can be applied to goal setting. You want to have $6 million when you retire? Okay, you break it down backwards to the ridiculous. That means you only need to save this many dollars per month.

[00:23:40] And it makes it more reasonable, more achievable and doable. And one thing I want to add to that is, yes, I said finance is linear. But if you're working backwards from like the $6 million goal, you also have to take into account a slight curve at the end, which means you have to figure out loosely what percentage rate you're going off of. But then once you get that, then you can break down your curve and then you break it down to $6 million.

[00:24:09] Okay, you're young enough where it'll cost you $4,000 a month to get there. And people go, $4,000 a month are going, yeah, it means you either need to increase what you're making or you need to change what your big goal is if you realize it's outside your reach. But $4,000 a month is something that people can achieve if they set things up correctly. Well, and you talk about a curve at the end financially.

[00:24:31] That can be used as a metaphor also because when you set big lofty goals, as you start getting closer and closer, I believe there is an inherent curve in goal achievement. Financial, you're talking about something slightly different. But if you're talking about other goals, when you see that you're getting close, there is a forward momentum that accelerates with you and it curves up. It lifts you up.

[00:25:00] It gives you extra momentum. You know, it's that final push toward the goal. There's just that extra zhuzh there. And as you say that, the very first thing I think of is runners. Very special group of people in so many different definitions. When people start, they go, I'm going to go run one lap. And you get through that lap. And they go, all right, I'm going to shoot for a 5K. They work their way up to a 5K.

[00:25:25] And then their very next goal, which 5K is three-ish miles. And their very next goal is, I want to go do a half marathon. Well, they just went from three miles to, was it 12.1 or something like that? I don't know. Not a runner. Yeah. So they go from one lap to three miles to 12 miles. And then their very next goal is, I'm going to go do a full marathon. So they just doubled their last goal.

[00:25:54] And what's the timeline? It's, every step is the exact same increment, but their distance drastically increases. And so to your point, you do get that curve effect because it's not, the first part is you're just trying to figure out how to do it. Second part is you're trying to figure out how to get better at it. Third part is you're trying to get the endurance. And the next thing you know, you're trying to figure out how far you can push your endurance. Yep. And you talked a minute ago about visualizing too. You need to be able to visualize what that end goal is.

[00:26:23] And I, I happened to see an old time. I don't know what year it was filmed, but I just saw a really old Tony Robbins video. That's his name, right? A really old video where, where he had two guys stand up and, and stick their arm out straight and then see without moving their feet, see how far they could turn and twist their body.

[00:26:51] See how far they could get their arm to go around behind them. And then he had them come back to starting position, had them put their arm down, had them close their eyes. And then visualize once, just visualizing in their brain, doing that motion, visualizing coming back to starting and then visualize it again in their mind, seeing how much further they could turn.

[00:27:20] Imagining just as far as possible, coming back to starting position and then have them open their eyes, do it again. And they far exceeded their original twist ability. And he asked them, what was the difference? And so number one, visualizing number two, imagining a much greater potential, a much greater ending position.

[00:27:46] And then it's telling the brain, oh, this is actually possible. And your brain buys into it because what you're visualizing in your brain, your brain really latches onto that. And then when you go to actually do it, you're more capable because you've visualized it. Your brain believes it's possible and you can go and do it. And I'm going to throw a really interesting jump on this one. Okay. Placebo effect.

[00:28:17] Sure. Why does it work? Because you think it works. Yes. Yes. Your brain will believe what you tell it. And this is a great topic. I think this is a pause point where we can wrap this episode up, but I love talking about this stuff. So we absolutely could have a follow-up episode where we talk more specifically about personal goal setting. Where do you begin with? I'm not talking about New Year's resolutions.

[00:28:46] I think we've touched on that before. But how do you decide what you want your personal goals to be? Is it even necessary and why? So I think we could probably follow up with that in a future episode. Yeah. For now, I think this is a good pause point. So what else you got, Mitch? Well, as you said, this is where we're going to invite everyone to come back next time to see what we've got for personal goal settings.

[00:29:13] It might not actually be next time, but we'll get to it in a very near topic. But this has been another episode of What else you got with Mitch and Margo. Like, comment, subscribe. Provide what your goals and ambitions are. And we will see you guys on the next episode.

[00:29:57] With OnPoint's auto loan beat rate, you can get more out of your car by paying less on your auto loan. Show us your rate from another financial institution, and we'll work to show you a better one. We keep the process simple and streamlined, so you can enjoy every mile from now on just a little bit more. It's another example of how OnPoint puts members in the driver's seat. Learn more at onpointcu.com. OnPoint Community Credit Union. Federally insured by NCUA.

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