Fix Burnout With Aligned Goals

I recently heard a really great analogy about goal setting from Dr. Andy Galpin, who's a professor of Kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton, and it goes a little something like this. Imagine you're in an unfamiliar location and you need to get to a grocery store. However, you don't know where grocery store is or a route to get there, so you hop in your car and you just start driving. randomly trying to find a grocery store.

You make turns until you hopefully, eventually come across a grocery store, which you probably would because they're pretty prolific and all roads lead to a grocery store. Right. But is that the most optimal way to find a grocery store? No, of course. The most most optical optimal direct route would be to look up the location of a grocery store, map the route from where you are to where that grocery store is and follow that path, right? Same thing goes for goal setting.

And I often do this where I maybe have an unclear goal in mind. But I have this really great plan or path to to get somewhere, right? I have this system and it's really exciting. We'll talk a little bit more about systems for goals later, but that, that's not really effective if we do not have a destination in mind. Likewise, if we have a destination, but we do not have a tool for getting to that destination, then we are directionless, right?

We just sort of wander and try things until hopefully something sticks and we, we reach a goal. You probably will eventually trial and error. But I can tell you from experience, It's not the most fun or the most optimal way to get there. So let's bring this to what we're talking about today specifically.

with relation to this podcast and who you are as a service leader, we want to talk about goal setting in a sustainable manner, meaning that we want to avoid burning out, overwhelm, running out of resources, or having a, an inefficient route to get to our goals. We wanna be able to fix burnout through the alignment of our goals. So we're gonna talk about three areas today.

In order to do that, the first thing uh, that we're gonna learn today is determining that optimal route to your goal or goals. And we've talked a little bit about this in a previous episode but we're gonna dig into it a little. The second thing that we're gonna talk about is understanding if your goals are aligned with your wellness needs. This is a really important part that I think we often skip over because it's not fun, it's not sexy to talk about our needs.

A lot more fun to talk about goals, right? Like, I wanna make a million dollars, I'm gonna be a millionaire. Like, that's exciting. That's something that I, it's like, that's cool, but to talk about, you know, what my needs and, and perhaps you know, where, where I'm. , you know, have to have to kind of set boundaries in place. That's not, that's not fun to talk about, but it's so necessary. So we're gonna, we're gonna dig into this se step, and I would encourage you not to skip over it.

The third thing that we're gonna talk about today is identifying any potential roadblocks or as Dr. Galpin puts it, the defender that will stop you from reach. Your goals. So determining the optimal route, understanding if your goals are aligned with your needs, and then identifying those roadblocks that'll stop you from reaching your goals. Why is this important major goal setting without considering your wellness needs? It's not sustainable. You must know your abilities. and your limitations.

Plus, you have to consider the X factors that life will invariably present to you in order to truly reach your goals in a sustainable, healthful way. So you need to know your abilities, your limitations, and the potential pitfalls that life will throw at you along the way. So let's dig into this first topic. , the optimal optimization of a route to your goals. Now, this is actually the third episode about goal setting that I've created. I, I, I didn't, intend to do that.

But as I've dug deeper into it, I've, I've uncovered things and it's just become necessary to now have this third episode about goal setting. Perhaps I, I did not plan my route in the most optimal way, , but here we are. I'm learning two folks. So in the first episode about goal setting, we talked about this idea of the marathon.

Creating goals that have your lifeline in mind your values, what your legacy is, what you want to leave behind for, you know, your family for the next generation, and really doing that work necessary to. making sure that your goals are truly aligned with your heart. If you have not listened to that episode, I would encourage you to go back.

And, and it's really a focus and, and mindset and putting yourself in the mental space to be able to create goals in a way that that really truly resonates with. This last episode on goal setting, we dig into Smarter Goal Setting, and Smarter is an acronym. It stands for specific. The M is measurable. A is attainable or actionable, R is relevant or realistic. T stands for. Goals have to have a very specific timeline. Otherwise we do not have the motivation.

So we talk about these lifelong goals, but we have to assign timelines to that or else it's, it's too ambiguous, right? The t. , or rather the e smarter is for evaluate.

So we need to be able to evaluate those goals and that's in, in a specific, measurable way. And r is for readjust, readjust for those things that inevitably will come up in life. So if you haven't listened to that episode on goal goal setting, I would encourage you to go and listen to that one. As you're going through this process of goal setting when we go through, you know, you, you'll kind of can kind of look at it as a funnel. We're first starting out with these big ideas, these lofty goals.

Then we're getting more specific with it. Now in this episode, we're really digging into that idea of. what's actually possible? What is possible for you, given your abilities, given your limitations, and being honest about that. This is not a place for ego. And let me tell you, this is not like a, a fun process necessarily. Goal setting that's fun is like, Hey, I, I want to.

, tech startup billionaire, and I want to have that Land Rover defender that, that classic Land Rover defender that I've always wanted with those, those in inward facing seats in the back, those bench seats and the skylights. And I want it to have, you know, a little lift on it and I just wanna be able to take it offroading. That's, that's all I like. I would love to have that. That's a very specific goal, and that's a fun goal for me to think about and to talk about.

For me to bring a reality to that and say well, what does that look like financially? Can I afford that vehicle? Can I afford the maintenance on that vehicle? Does my lifestyle as an entrepreneur, as a new dad, support having a vehicle like, , does it make sense for me? Does it make sense for the environment, right, to get an old school vehicle with you know, not, not great emissions? Is that responsible thing to do?

I don't know. When we start to really dig down into understanding if our, if our goals are aligned with. Our needs, especially when it comes to wellness which can include financial wellness, then it, it, it's just, it's not as, it's not as exciting. Right. I would really encourage you, despite it not being fun to go through this process, go through that process of really determining if those lofty, lifelong goals that you.

Are in fact possible, reasonable, then look at those optimal routes to get there. Use that smarter goal acronym and dig into those specifics. And by the way, there's a resource that I linked in the last episode that, that gets you really a work. Into goal setting. So please check that out. Now we have to ask ourselves what's the intersection of goals and needs. I want to point out here that multiple goals are going to necessitate a bigger strategy and something to point.

, the more goals that we have or the more complex goals that we have, the more challenging they're going to be to accomplish.

So having one specific goal with a very clear timeline set of parameters, understanding each specific step is going to be a lot easier to accomplish. very complex goals, right? So if I wanna be a tech startup billionaire, well, there's a lot that goes into that, right? It's not just happenstance, it's not just luck to accomplish a goal like that.

I mean, there's, there are many, many steps in between, right? . What I want to talk about is whether or not a goal, like being a tech startup billionaire, is really, truly aligned with your wellness needs, so, How do we determine what our needs are? Well I've created conveniently a system called the Five Bridges which is a wellness plan that helps you really understand your lifelong strategy for your needs, and it evolves. And changes as you do.

So the Five Bridges I is a pretty simple construct. It's really a f a framework to help you understand your needs. This is of course not the only system out there. There are lots of different systems. But I'm, I'm going to use Five Bridges for an example of determining needs. So the first bridge well actually before we get into. , the bridges themselves.

We do a little bit of pre-work what we call clarity, understanding truly what our needs are from the sense of you know, what, what we want our lives to feel like. Well, that's not really quantifiable, but it's, it's necessary to kind of build that picture of, you know, The, the, the way that we want our lives to feel.

So if we say, you know, I want to have a, a long, healthy life I wanna be able to grow old and do so in a healthful way, to have energy, to have my mental faculties to, to be able to stay active that's, that's, that's a goal, right? That's something that I, I can see very clearly what that maybe looks like in my mind, but. How do I, how do I quantify that? Well, when we start to drill down into it, it can say, well that means that if I, you know, if I trip and stumble, I can catch myself, right?

I have enough strength, I have enough agility to be able to not fall down and, and break bones. I have enough. to be able to, you know, stay awake for a full day or to be able to, you know, go to dinner or, you know, hold a conversation, play a game of backgammon, apparently with, you know, with people. And, and to have the energy that, to sustain that, I wanna be able to remember things from my youth. I wanna be able to remember the, the people around me.

. And once I understand those more specific goals, then I can start to put in place practices and protocols that will keep me agile at a sustained energy level and keep me mentally sharp and focused. Great. So you're, you're starting to see. , you know, some of this pre-work for for, for understanding your wellness needs and, and your goals related to them. So now we can talk about the five bridges.

So the first bridge is bond, and bond is how you connect to the people, places, and things that provide some type of support to you. I e your sources of strength. So Bond is. Both a noun and a verb. It is both what we connect to and how we connect to those things that support us. Notice I'm not talking about only people. I'm also talking about places, talking about things which can. Adamant or inanimate objects like, you know, a dog. We can bond to, you know, a, a, a space.

It can be a home, it can be nature, it can be a, a church. We can bond to words, to sacred texts to objects that are meaningful. Or hold some sort of value for us. So bonds can really mean a lot of different things. And in the process of, of the five Bridges, we determine how to bond in a healthy way by creating bound boundaries, managing expectations in relationships understanding, you know, our needs versus the needs of who or what we're bonded.

and it's a, a lot of really fantastic work in, in just developing relationships with ourselves and with others. So how this relates to this idea of goal setting and avoiding burnout. A quick example is if I have a. related to my professional work and I am working in a, you know, toxic environment. Or, or maybe it's not toxic. Maybe it doesn't have to be the extreme. Maybe it's just an environment that is not supportive, as supportive of my wellbeing as I would like.

I don't have the time or space to. de-stress to take care of myself. Perhaps that environment is not conducive to whatever goals I'm setting, right? Understanding how your support systems how having. You know, accountability can impact your goals is really important. The relationships in our life can really set us back if they are not in alignment with who we are and can even prevent us. So that's, you know, one of those roadblocks that I'm talking about.

and and the way that we bond and, and what we bond to can either help or hinder us. The second bridge is fuel, and fuel is anything and everything that goes into your system. So of course this includes, Food beverages, supplements, things of that nature. But we also include anything that can come into your system through any of the five senses. So that could be things that we see visually, things that we hear, auditorially things that we breathe into our system.

Skin contact or things that we absorb through our skin. All of this is a form of fuel, right? Fuel we define as something that has a, a reaction inside of our system, right? So we see something violent on TV and perhaps. stays in your mind, it gives you nightmares. Or in a worst case scenario, it's something that we act out later on, right? That's a form of fuel. Having you know, negative conversations that include, you know, gossip or some sort of toxicity, that's a form of fuel.

Understanding how every form of fuel that comes into our system affects our system, affects our ability to function optimally, is a really, I. Piece of wellness in the five bridges. We dig deep into this idea of fuel. Not only determining, you know, what our, our current fuel list is, but what do we want it to look like? What shifts do we need to make in our fuels in order to feel the best that we can absolutely feel in our lives? . Well, how, how does this impact goal setting?

Well, o of course, if you're not feeling optimized, if you're not feeling energetic, if you are dragged down by, you know, drama and negativity, then how able are you to focus on your goals? Not right. So understanding if your, your well. Is is really in a place to support your goals, but likewise, is your goal going to be detrimental to your wellness in some way? So take the tech billionaire example.

If I am, you know, just hustle and hustle and hustling to make money and I'm eating, you know, fast food all the time because I don't, you know, make time to. Have proper meals, then perhaps that lifestyle of being a tech billionaire is not supporting my overall wellness. The third bridge is move and move is what you do with your body, your kinesthetic output. So, of course this includes physical fitness, mobility, stretching, you know, things of that nature.

But we go deeper and we include both the autonomous and semi-autonomous movements that happen in our body all the time. Breath work, things like digestion our circulatory system the What am I missing? Our our, the electrical impulses that are going through our body all the time through our neurological system blinking all of these things are happening. They're forms of movement that happen in our body all the time. And of course some of them we can control directly.

Some of them we control or we impact in. , right? So movement, I can choose to move, I can choose to walk or to run, or to exercise and to, you know, take care of my body in that way. To increase endurance, to increase strength. And some of the things, some of the movements that happen in our body are determined. That external movement that we choose to do, but also by the fuel that we put in our system, right?

Because if I'm fueling my body in a way that gives me energy, then what's happening in my body. If I'm fueling with things that help my system, you know, keep my cholesterol levels down and keep my heart healthy. then, you know, that fuel impacts that form of movement. Digestion, we all know how having a, you know, a stomach ache or something of that nature can really impact our ability to focus or to, you know, work on a specific goal.

So movement is very far reaching and we, we really look at movement in a holistic way, and of course how it's connected to the other bridges. This feeds right into, you know, this idea that if, if our goals are set that inhibit us from having movement in a sustainable way in our, in our. Then perhaps that goal is, needs to be adjusted, right?

So if I'm a, I'm, I'm not tech startup, billionaire or aspiring one, then in a, is that lifestyle going to let me move my body in a healthful way where I can maintain that agility, that stamina, that mental presence that I want to when I'm. You see how the intersectionality of these start to become kind of, kind of complex, but we have to have these checks and balances in place. Now let's move on to the fourth bridge, which is rest. So naturally after movement comes rest.

Rest of course includes our sleep hygiene, but we go deeper than that to look at many forms of rest including things like stillness mindfulness meditation, or longer forms of rest like like retreat or sabbatical. understanding of our goals are going to allow us to, you know, or interfere with the rest that we need. Not just our ability to get, you know, the rest that we need at night, but our ability to take breaks and rest throughout the day.

as well, or through the week, or you know, can we take that time to really unplug on a regular basis, whether that's monthly, quarterly, annually to really get a fresh start and a new perspective. The fifth and final bridge is give. And give is your positive output. This is how we energetically contribute back to the world, to the universe that is supporting us in so many ways. Give is the highest form of wellness.

And you'll notice that it's it comes last in this list because we build ourselves up through our bonds, through fueling, through moving through rest, so that we are able to give in a sustainable way. And oftentimes this is interlinked with our lifelong goals and our values as well. So if a goal that we have does not allow us to give in a sustainable way then perhaps there's, you know, something we need to adjust there as well.

Now, of course, like I said, five Bridges is just one construct, just one set of, you know, wellness protocols, but, having some type of measure for your wellness, being able to quantify that so you can really look at your goal and compare it to each each element of your wellness plan or program or approach. And if you don't have one I would encourage you to find one because random.

Just like the grocery store analogy, randomly trying to hit a a moving target of wellness is, is not really going to get you there. You might get it right some of the time, but having a clear goal of wellness and understanding how that's aligned with your, the other goals that you have in your life. that, that's where we truly, I think, find sustainability and can live that optimized life. And hey, don't fret if you, you know, Don't have a system or you don't know how to determine one.

There are resources. I'll leave them in the show notes here where you can find something that works for you. Alright, so let's move on to this third and final takeaway for this episode, which is identifying the roadblocks that will stop you from reaching your goals both wellness and other goals in life. . So let's just first, you know, throw out some ideas of these roadblocks or defenders that will keep you from reaching your goals or goal.

One big one. I think that a, a, a bucket of roadblocks would be time management. . Oftentimes, I think especially people who are service leaders who want to, you know, do a lot and accomplish a lot take on too much. I know. I do. And not being able to fully, you know, fulfill everything on our agenda or everything on our goals list is is a, is a real problem. And it's not just this sense of. Oh, hey, I, I, I made a goal but I didn't reach it.

And what impact that has on our self sense of self or self-esteem. But it also has real world effects on those that we work with. And those who were accountable too. I've learned this lesson in a really hard way by over-committing and under-delivering. And and it's led to disappointment and it's led to. People feeling like on, on my team specifically, like they're not appreciated or like, I don't value the work that they're doing. And and it's been a hard lesson to learn.

And I by no means have, you know, mastered it or fixed it. But just looking at my time, measure management and really understanding what's reasonable I, Dr. Galpin said something else in his his conversation with Dr. Huberman on huberman Lab podcast, which was oftentimes you know, when, when you set a goal scale it back by 10% I think high achievers especially over. You know anticipate what they can accomplish. So, you know, set your goal and then scale it back by 10%.

So when it comes to time, if you think that something's going to take you, you know, 20 minutes to do schedule, 30 minutes, schedule 40 minutes even to get that task accomplished, if you know you have a, you know, something that needs to be delivered in six weeks can you, you know, Extend that by eight or can you, you know, give yourself a timeline that's more, more generous or reduce the workload to actually fit into that timeline.

So another roadblock that I, I think a lot of people run into is lack of resources or access to resources. And this is, you know, I, I think something to really take a look at. Do you actually have everything you need or have access to everything that you need in order to accomplish your goals? And. being an eternal optimist, I often, you know, will say, well, I'll, I'll find that, I'll find access to that resource. I, I will create that resource. I, I will make that.

And I find myself often in positions where I'm stuck because I don't actually have what I need to take the next step. Had I scaled, A goal or scaled back a timeline and took the time to make sure that I had access to a resource or created a resource first. Then when I got to the step where I needed that, well, I wouldn't have hit a roadblock. So this goes back to our, our goal planning, those smarter goals and making sure that we truly understand every step, right?

If we have a goal in mind, we need to reverse engineer it to where we are. If there's a step that we try to skip over. Stop, go back and, and really focus back in on every little micro step along the way. I know it's not fun, but it's just so necessary. Another road back block that I think pops up for people is related to accountability or community. Not having a person or people that.

You, you know, have some sort of obligation to, and you know, and, and maybe that's not in the sense of like, you know, I, I have a deliverable at work that someone, you know, else is depending on, but maybe that's just, you know, a group of people that you know, you care about or respect and you, you know, have empowered them to keep you accountable. You know, I think mastermind groups are, are great for this. Really.

You know, having people who are like-minded, who've got your back and keep you, you know, moving forward to a, towards a goal. Accountability for me is, is huge. Especially as, you know, an entrepreneur and someone who You know, doesn't have community outside of community that I create. I need to purposefully seek out people who aren't on my team that can, my peers I e that that can, I can be accountable to. Another road that, that I think pops up a lot is a motivation.

And, and I think this goes back to that marathon mindset goal setting from a couple of episodes. And making sure that your goals are really aligned with your values. That there is a, a, a, you know, very large carrot at the end of the stick that is keeping you motivated towards a goal. And you know, the psychology behind goal setting. You know, of course it needs to be aligned with your values. But then, you know, setting intermediary goals and having.

Built in rewards getting that dopamine hit measuring and, you know, reassessing and evaluating. The, all of these steps help keep us motivated. So making sure that you have the proper motivation in place to reach a goal, because if it's not truly something that matters to you and, and it's, and it's a lot of work, what's the likelihood of you actually following through with it? Maybe less than. Might like.

Right. So really, I, I think taking a look at those roadblocks and being honest about them this includes your limitations understanding, you know, who you are, where you live, what financial resources you have, what your physical health is, what your cognitive ability is. , all of these things factor into whether or not you're going to be able to reasonably accomplish a goal and determining those roadblocks.

Now, nothing that I'm talking about here has to mean that your goal is not possible or not achievable. All I'm suggesting is that you, once you identify a roadblock or a potential roadblock, that is an opportunity to d.

a detour, a way to get around that roadblock. And that may mean enlisting the help of someone else that may be learning a new skillset that may be, you know, pausing and shoring up resources. There's lots of ways to find a detour around a roadblock. But you gotta identify those roadblocks in order to, you know, creatively understand how to circumvent them. All right.

So we'll we'll end there today, but just to recap what we've talked about you know, first step in this process is to really determine the optimal route to your goals. And that goes back to those smarter goals. Take a look at that resource and, and really understand, you know, that optimal route. Don't skip steps along the way.

Then the second thing is understanding if your goals are truly aligned with your wellness needs and you know, what's sustainable for you and your needs as just a human being. The third thing is identifying the roadblocks that will stop you from reaching your goals. Folks, if it feels like a lot, if you're feeling overwhelmed, that's okay. It's normal. Take a step back, take a breath, and just focus on one goal at a time.

If you want extra support with this process, please reach out to me, to my team. We have five bridge's guides who can help you through the process. Goal setting of really understanding your wellness needs and where, you know, the intersection of those exists. We'll leave a link in the show notes for you to reach out and to connect in, in case that's something that might be helpful for you.

I, if I could, just before I let you go, I would love to ask you to hop over to YouTube, youtube.com/ Jacob Moore and subscribe to this. , that is a zero cost way of helping support my work and the work of my team by doing that. You help allow us to continue to do this this show which is funded really out of, out of my own budget. And having, you know, supplemental support sources of support for that is, is really helpful and, and YouTube is a vehicle for that.

So I would appreciate you subscribing. Please comment read all the comments and as you're able share and rate as. Well, thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it. And until next time, be well.