Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Hey, you, yes you, what are you doing about setting yourself up for success in 2024? I'm gonna be real.

Erica: I am a little annoyed with all the back and forth on social media right now about resolutions and intentions, and it seems like there's just this divide between them. People are either all about them, or they turn it into this thing where they are bashing people who are doing resolutions. I'm gonna tell you, it does not have to be like that. I love a good resolution and I love a good intention, but if it doesn't work for you, fine, scroll on my friend.

Erica: Now what I absolutely cannot skimp on, though, is goal setting and action planning. Because goal setting, it's not just about jotting down the wishes. It's taking those abstract dreams that reside in your head and turning them into concrete actionable ideas. It's about taking those big beautiful dreams that live in your head and making them your big, beautiful life. Today, I'm gonna walk you through my method of goal setting and goal tracking that is going to set you up to achieve a life filled with purpose, and the best part, it's not gonna burn you out.

Erica: Now I need to make sure that before we get started, you have pen and paper on hand. And you know what, though, if you don't, no worries, bookmark this episode, you're gonna wanna come back to it. What I am about to share with you today is 100% the method that I use to take my big and bold dreams and move them into reality. It's helped me in my role as an HR executive. It has helped me launch my keynote speaking business, going from speaking for free to charging $15,000 for my keynotes.

Erica: It's the method that I use to write my book, which is almost available for presale, and it's helped me focus on strengthening my marriage, my friendships, which, let's be real, when you are ambitious and high achieving women like we are, that can sometimes take a hit when we're in the thick of it. Now my main goal today is to empower you to dream bigger, to stay focused, but also to come alive.

Erica: This is all about making 2024 our best year yet, but that only happens if you do the work. So are you ready? Let's go. Now the first step is to dream big. Maybe you wanna be a CEO one day.

Erica: Maybe you wanna join the two comma club, hey, that's where I wanna go, or maybe you want to leave corporate America and just start your own business. Maybe you were envisioning a life changing adventure that whispers to you in the quiet moments. Whatever it is, write it down. This is a brain dump of sorts. No goal is gonna be too big or too audacious here.

Erica: Now while you think about that, I wanna share with you a story that I recently heard about Serena Williams. She had the goal of becoming a world record holder. And if she was gonna do that, she had to win 18 titles. So she set out to do just that, to win 18 titles. And then her coach challenged her, why just 18, why not set something that's unbeatable?

Erica: And so Serena thought, you know what, why not. And so she went from having a goal of 18 titles to setting a new goal of 30 titles. And you know what happened? She went from winning 18 titles to 19 titles to 20 titles, and then she ended up winning 24 titles. Now she did not hit that goal of 30 titles, but she damn sure blew her original goal of 18 out of the water.

Erica: Now how powerful is that? So I want you to go back to your big goals, and I want you to ask yourself, am I really dreaming big enough? Now step two is all about reflection. And while this episode is all about looking forward, there is value in the past. Think about it.

Erica: What worked well? What went well last year? Even if you had a challenging year, if you can find the good, that will really give you the boost you need to move forward. I want you to think about what didn't work. What was hard to do, or where did you feel that your energy was draining?

Erica: This is about the challenges that you faced and why. I also want you to think about what did you learn, both the good and the bad. Start to think about how will you take those lessons that you learned into the future. And last but not least, I want you to think about gratitude. Gratitude is essential to moving forward.

Erica: That's my belief. And I want you to think about who and what you are grateful for and why from the past year, and write it all down. Acknowledge the challenges, acknowledge the wins, and really just take a moment to be grateful. Doing this is a powerful exercise of self discovery, and discovery is essential to paving the way for a more intentional future.

Erica: Next, I want you to take stock of where you are right now. And we do this because how are you gonna know how far you've come if you don't know where you're starting? Think about the different areas of your life. Now this is gonna be different for everyone, so I'm gonna list a couple categories. Feel free to pick and choose what works for you and maybe add some that I don't have listed.

Erica: But areas like work, family, money, health, friendships, personal growth. And on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the absolute most amazing and best ever, and number one being a total bust, where are you in each area of your life? Now one thing I want you to be aware of is when you do this evaluation, you need to do it on an average day, not a day where everything is just going swimmingly. That's gonna give your evaluation this rose colored tint. And so I don't want you to step into the future with something that might not be totally accurate.

Erica: And I don't want you to do it on a day where things are hitting the fan left and right. Your kids aren't listening, you're mad at your husband, you had bad news from your boss. That's gonna give your evaluation a negative skew. Do it on just an average day.

Erica: Now I also wanna take one moment and say, it's not about having tens in all categories. This isn't about improving every category either. You can't do it all at the same time. So I'm gonna ask you to pick three areas. Circle those areas, star those areas, highlight those areas, whatever you gotta do.

Erica: But I want you to think about, where do you wanna focus your energy this quarter? Do you wanna focus on family, health, friendships? Now be careful. Make sure that when you think about these categories and you think about your goals that you're not falling into that trap of the shoulds, what other people think you should do or you think you should do this. I want you to really be intentional and think about what is going to make the most spectacular year for you, and I want you to star those areas.

Erica: Next, I want you to consider what really matters. Now I was having an amazing conversation with a woman who was able to reflect on the time that she spent in meetings that had no agenda. You know what I'm talking about, those kind of meetings where people say, hey, I'd love to just chit chat and get to know you. And she used to love those meetings. But when she totaled up the hours that she spent on those types of meetings, those meetings with no agenda, she realized that she spent one hundred and sixty hours in 2023 in those types of meetings.

Erica: Y'all, that is twenty-eight, eight hour days. That's almost a month. Now while some of those meetings may have resulted in revenue generating ideas or friendships, sure, but I just, I offer this up to you because I want you to be very intentional about how you spend your time. So think about it. What are you saying no to in 2024, and what are you saying yes to?

Erica: Now before we dive into the nitty gritty, I want to talk about the three types of goals. BHAG, those big hairy audacious goals, completion goals, and habit shaping goals. So if you're a goal getter, you're probably are, you're on this podcast, those big, hairy, audacious goals, those are the ones that have no end in sight, but they're more about a way of living. So for example, you wanna have a healthy marriage, maybe you want to be physically fit, maybe you want to feel calm, feel present with your kids.

Erica: Those are goals that, again, no end in sight, it's more about that way of living, but you still have to do things to achieve those goals. You don't just wake up and have a healthy marriage without doing the work. Right? Now completion goals, those are goals that have a finish line. So, obviously, something like having a healthy marriage is not a completion goal, because you can't check done that one.

Erica: I mean, I guess unless until you die, but you get my point. So completion goals are things like write a book, run a marathon, organize my entire home, whatever it is. Habits are the daily, weekly, or monthly activities and a way of life that you really wanna incorporate, and those little habits lead to BHAGs or completion goals. So for example, if you wanna be healthy, flossing daily might be a daily habit that you need to start incorporating. Maybe it's being home for dinner every night so that you can eat as a family.

Erica: Maybe it's having a weekly meal plan. You're going to need a mix of these goals to get to that big, beautiful life that you wanna be living. So when you think about what you need to do to get to those big goals, break them out into these different categories so that you can see them, you understand where they are, and you know how to get there. Now if you're listening today, I wanna tell you I actually did something extra special just for you. I created a digital version of the tracker in Google Sheets.

Erica: I'm going to drop it in the show notes. All you have to do is click it to download it, make yourself a copy. You may have to request access, I'll figure all that out, but it's going to be in the show notes for you. So make sure that you grab that digital tracker, because this is how I track everything, and it keeps me accountable. It's fun to check off what I accomplished, and I really love looking back on how far I've come.

Erica: And then my friend, you're just gonna live it out. Now I'm gonna be honest, I have a few more steps that really do solidify this practice, and they truly help me achieve all that I do. And y'all know I do a lot, but it's hard to do that in a podcast. So I'm gonna let you know that I'm gonna open up one small group coaching cohort.

Erica: It's not gonna be for everyone, and it's not gonna be just anyone who wants to join can join. I actually do an interview process for this, so that I make sure that the people who are selected are the right people for this small group coaching cohorts, because you've gotta be a fit. I wanna make sure that the people that I'm putting together and that I'm working with are true goal getters. But if you wanna get in on this, if you're interested in this small group coaching sessions with me, shoot me a message or a DM, and we'll take it from there.

Erica: But everything that I went over today will get you going, and it's going to take you far if you do the work. So friends, I know you've got this, we got this. Let's get out there and make 2024 the best year yet. But one more thing before you go, let me be your hype girl.

Erica: Hit me up with your big goal. Send me a message so I can support you. Remember, turning your dreams into actions, it's a journey, and it's one that we're on together. So until next time, stop putting a ceiling on what is possible and start breaking through them.