Uploaded and Unfiltered: Conversations about Personal Growth, Mindsets, and Advice with BIPOC Creators for Creators

The Art of Setting Achievable Goals

• Jermaine Pulliam • Season 1 • Episode 79

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This episode explores effective goal-setting strategies tailored for content creators and anyone looking to achieve their dreams. Jermaine shares essential insights on framing goals correctly, avoiding unrealistic expectations, and utilizing the SMART framework to foster measurable progress and a more profound sense of accomplishment.

• Definition of a goal establishes clarity and direction 
• The impact of mental framing on success and failure 
• Differentiating between short-term and long-term goals 
• Identification of unrealistic goals and pitfalls 
• Reframing goals into achievable objectives 
• Introduction of the SMART goal framework for effective goal setting 
• Measuring progress and adapting after setbacks 
• Encouragement towards consistency and enjoying the journey 
• Call to Action for listeners seeking personalized goal-setting assistance

If you’re looking for assistance with setting up your own smart goal, definitely head over to the website and book a session: 

https://www.radiantreflection.best/

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Speaker 1:

Welcome. Welcome back to another episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, the podcast in which I your host Jermaine interviews another content creator in regards to their journey thus far. As I sat back and thought about where I want to take the podcast in a new year, I landed on making sure that not only am I providing stories from other content creators so you can get motivated that way, but I'm also going to share tools and tips on how to get your mindset in the best place possible so you can achieve all of your goals and admirations. So, on New Year's Eve, I put together a presentation for my family in regards to goal setting, just because I believe there's different nuances and things that we need to be aware of when setting up goals. Because, if I'm being honest with you, 90% of y'all make shitty goals, y'all make crappy goals and y'all don't know what you're doing, and that's why you're failing, because they're not attainable. Therefore, your brain's like I'm just not going to do anything because I can't achieve it, so why would I even try? That's what your brain's doing. So, in order to put us on the right path forward, I am putting together a presentation. Hopefully, you'll get a lot of information out of it. All right, without further ado, let's go ahead and get started. The name of the presentation is Reach your Goals Goal Setting by Jermaine Pulliam.

Speaker 1:

So what is a goal? I believe, before we jump into any endeavor when it comes to content creation, we need to define our words, so we're all on the same page. I do this for every client that I meet with. I make sure to define what a goal is, what confidence is, what consistency is, and then we go forward from there. When you are clear and you have clarity on what you're doing, it makes everything so much easier. So what is a goal? A goal is a clear and specific intention that directs focus and action toward achieving something desirable. It's not about fixing what's wrong or compensating for what's missing. Instead, a goal aligns with what feels possible and appealing, inspiring movement forward. Rather than being something you should or need to achieve, a goal is a declaration of where you're directing your energy and attention. It's not about the past, but creating positive outcomes in the present and future.

Speaker 1:

I can't tell you how many times I talk to creators who are stuck in things that happened in the past. Oh, I went for this sponsorship, and because I didn't get it, that means I'm never going to get in the future. Even saying that out loud is telling your brain that you're never going to get it in the future. Therefore, your brain is going to start setting up all kinds of mental blocks. So you don't have to deal with it. So you don't have to deal with that frustration of not getting it because you already declared the future. You're just not happening. That's how our brains work.

Speaker 1:

When we say things out loud, our brain hears that and takes it literally. It doesn't understand sarcasm. It doesn't understand past, present, future. Well, it does understand present. It understands right now. So, if you're thinking, it doesn't understand past, present, future is what it does understand, present and understands right now. So if you're thinking it, it thinks it's happening right now.

Speaker 1:

That small key is what unlocks so many different possibilities for me and hopefully that makes sense to you. So why do we set goals? I know you're probably thinking to yourself I set goals all the time and I don't achieve them, and I'm still in the same spot that I'm at because you make shitty goals. Did I say that already? I don't know if I said that, but this is why you should set goals. Goals provide focus and clarity, aligning your actions with what's important to you. They inspire motivation by highlighting appealing possibilities. Setting goals creates movement, allowing you to experience progress and success intentionally so with that goal.

Speaker 1:

I think the coolest part of this slide is they inspire motivation by highlighting appealing possibilities. If the possibilities are appealing, we are more likely to go after them and do them. That's why I always say you need to figure out a way to make the progress appealing. Nobody wants to do anything that they don't want to do. Like if there's a place that is full of people that you hate and you're forced to go there, you're not going to go there in a positive mindset. Therefore, it's going to be a rough time for you. But if there's something there that is appealing like maybe they have a drink there that you can't get anywhere else yeah, I'm surrounded by a bunch of people that I don't like, but that drink's there, so I'm going to focus on that. Focusing on that will make the outcome of that event better. And that's how it goes for everything Our goals, our admirations, people we like, all that stuff. If we think positively or, at the very least, neutrally about situations, the appealing possibilities will show themselves and we are more likely to go towards those.

Speaker 1:

So, for the purposes of this presentation, I'm gonna break down goals into two types. We have short-term goals, which I would say maybe one to three months. Those are your short-term goals. Long-term goals, again for the purposes of this presentation year or more, most of my goals that I create are either one to three months or a year. I could make a two, three-year goal, and I do have a two, three-year goal, but I don't. It's just built into, just I know what it is, and every goal that I have is built towards going towards that goal. I'm not sure where this quote came from, but I liked it, so I'm going to read it.

Speaker 1:

Goals are not about reaching. They're about growing in a direction you attend. Does that make sense? If you have a passion for making music and one day you want to make a career out of making music, your goal should not be I want to make a career out of making music. Your goal is well, how do you make a career out of making music? Well, one way is probably consistency. If you're consistently putting out projects, people can see you, and when people see you, they can listen to your music. When they listen to music, they can share with other people. You see what I'm going here. So, yes, making money off your music is the big overall goal, but a better goal would be to be consistent for a span of time, because being consistent is going to allow you to reach your goal.

Speaker 1:

Let's move on. I know that makes sense. I'm not even going to what is an unrealistic goal Now. I was saying this earlier, that most of y'all make stupid goals. I guess the better word would be unrealistic goals, and I'll go ahead and define that for you now.

Speaker 1:

Unrealistic goals are intentions that exceed what feels possible or manageable with your current resources, time or energy. They often lead to frustration or inaction because the mind perceives them as unattainable. Like I was saying earlier, if your mind thinks that it's unattainable, it's going to start setting up mental blocks and things for you to be distracted by, so you don't have to feel that defeat of not attaining what you want. That's why I say always think that you are going to get whatever you ask for, because that's how our brains work. So in order to make better goals, sometimes we need to reframe the ones that we have, and this is the process that I do a lot with my clients is taking our goals and just reframing them so they can actually have a chance of succeeding. So in order to do this, we need to adjust the goal to be challenging but achievable, focusing on progress rather than perfection.

Speaker 1:

Example let's say you had a goal to run a marathon. That's your goal. I goal to run a marathon. That's your goal, I want to run a marathon. The reason why that's unrealistic assuming that you've never ran in your life. That is a daunting task. You're basically telling your brain hey, we never did it before, but we want to go run 26 miles. Make it happen. No Better goal would be I want to be able to run, without dying, a 5k within the next three months. 5k is 3.1 miles, way more achievable, way more attainable. And because it is, it will allow you to gain motivation and excitement in doing it.

Speaker 1:

So what makes a goal unrealistic? Three things, in my opinion, make a goal unrealistic. First up, if you don't have a time frame around your goal, that makes it unrealistic because you're basically just saying I have until forever. That's not going to inspire action. That's not going to inspire excitement. That's not going to inspire you to be motivated to do it because there's no time frame on it. Make sure that you have a time frame on your goals. Second up resources. If you want to throw a million dollar party and you don't have a million dollars, that's probably not a good goal to set. Now, if you want to throw an amazing party, that's different because you're not putting a number on that. An amazing party doesn't need to be expensive. So that goal, I would say, is better because it is achievable.

Speaker 1:

Next up, it's too general. If you make your goals, I want to make 40K a year. That's too general and your brain's probably not going to think that's obtainable. Now, as I say this, this is not for everybody. I personally think that I can make $5,000 a month, no question, and that's a good goal for me because I have ways to do that. I have goals under that to make me get to the 5,000, but I would never set a monetary limit goal. I want all the money in the world, so I'm not going to limit myself to 5,000 a month. I'm just going to start making content, being consistent and doing the things that I need to do. So when it pops off, I'm ready to go. So I've been saying that you've been making bad goals the entire time, and now I'm going to teach you how to make good goals with.

Speaker 1:

I know you've seen it before, I've seen it like so many times. I used to ignore the hell out of it, but SMART goals. Smart goals is an acronym. Well, smart is, and it allows you to make goals that are better geared towards getting you to where you want to go. Goals give you direction. It allows you to stay mentally and physically focused on a road to where you want to go, and without further ado. This is what SMART goals stands for Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.

Speaker 1:

Let's start from the top. Like I said before, you want to make sure that your goal is specific. The more specific a goal, the easier it is for your brain to understand not only what the goal is, but also when you achieve that goal. Measurable, which is where you find out if you achieve that goal. You should know when you have reached your goal. If your goal is to be consistent, upload two videos a week for the rest of the year. Go check your analytics and see did you do that? That's how you're going to measure that. We're not going to rely on our brains and be like I think I uploaded 104 videos. Nah, fuck, that we're going to use every tool available so we don't have to think harder than we need to Next up achievable. Your goals should be achievable Again.

Speaker 1:

The quickest way to fail a goal is make it unattainable. Make it something that is not in your reality, something that you can achieve. Doing so would guarantee you to fail that goal. Relevant, now relevant. I use this to make sure that it is relevant to my overall goal. Now I have a huge goal. Any goal that I make towards that, make sure that it's relevant. So, for instance, I want to help as many Black creators as possible find their voice and start creating content on a consistent basis. Doing so will allow us to take control of our narrative and show the world the side of us that we want to show and not have to be policed by whoever's policing it. So that's my overall goal. I wouldn't set that as a main goal because that's too big, but the things that I set up as my goal are gonna help me achieve that. I'm going to do more educational content. I'm going to upload more videos and I'm going to upload more shorts. I'm going to get my face out there more so I can have opportunities to interact with those who need my help. That makes sense, all right.

Speaker 1:

Next up time bound Again. If your goal isn't time bound, you're setting yourself up for failure. You forever are going to see that goal and be like you know what I should probably work on it, but there's no time bound to it, so I'm just not going to do it. That's what happens. So SMART is the acronym when you're about to go. Sit down and write your goals. Write down SMART. Write down exactly what each letter means and then start building out your goal. Write down exactly what each letter means and then start building out your goal.

Speaker 1:

Now here is a copy of my well, at least one goal, and I'm going to show you how I use this sheet to actually break down my goal, to make sure that I am going to stay on task and actually hit that goal. So specific I want to upload two videos a week for YouTube one for reading and reflection and one for my main channel. So two videos a week. I'll check my analytics at least once a week to see and make sure that I'm staying on task. Is this attainable? Yes, as soon as I set up a routine and I just get into the flow of it, I know that it's obtainable because I've been posting a podcast once a week for the last 74, 75 weeks. It's doable. Is it relevant? The broader goal for this one is to grow both of my channels so I can bring in more clients and monetize on both. So, yeah, being consistent is going to help me with that goal, and I set a time bound expiration date of June 30th 2025.

Speaker 1:

I think it's going to take me about that time to lock in and make sure that I have a process and I'll evaluate at that point and if I don't, then we get data If I fail this goal. The beautiful thing about smart goals is I'll have data. I'll be able to go look, what weeks did I miss? Was there something going on during that week that interfered with me posting content? Can I double up and make three videos in one week and just siphon them out? You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1:

Like, there are different things that you can start analyzing rather than just saying, oh, I filled this goal, I'm the worst. Stop when you fill a goal, if it happens. Start analyzing, start doing some math because, if I'm being honest, there is no way for you to succeed without failing and again, failing is not a bad word. Failing is you getting data so you can execute upon whatever tasks you are, so you can move to the next level. You are, so you can move to the next level. When you become successful in anything and I've learned this over the last 42 years of my life when you become successful the initial success you're kind of shocked and you're like, oh, I got it, I made it here, but this is what you planned for and you got there. Now, once things start to dip a little bit, that's what makes or break the people who are super successful.

Speaker 1:

Let's say that you're used to streaming to 30 people on Twitch consistently and for some reason, there's a string of a month, maybe two, that you only stream to 10 people. Most novice people would see that and freak out Woes me. I'm the worst, I don't know what I'm doing. Most novice people would see that and freak out. Woe is me. I'm the worst, I don't know what I'm doing. You being a smart individual, you're going to look and start analyzing. What do you have at your resources you can use to figure out what's been going on? There's so many different sites. There's Twitch analytics. You could just look at your VODs, see if the sound was off, see if the video was off. Just start checking stuff and then, if you don't find anything, define a plan to move forward. Or, if you do find something, define a plan to move forward.

Speaker 1:

Regardless, in order to be successful, you need to be able to take that failure and flip it and use it to your advantage. To take that failure and flip it and use it to your advantage and you can never quit. If you quit, you can't be successful. It doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there, and I think time is one of those things that when people hear, oh, it took 10 years to do this, they get discouraged and they feel like that's unattainable because in our minds, time is so vast and crazy. 10 years ain't shit. If I told you it's going to take you 10 years to make, let's say, $70,000 a month from your content, just think about your mental like. You would not worry about, you would enjoy the ride until you got there, guaranteed in 10 years. Now, I'm not going to say that it's guaranteed only if you stay consistent for that 10 years. Now, I'm not going to say that it's guaranteed only if you stay consistent for that 10 years. Could you do it? I would love to do that, and that's what my goal. That's the mindset I'm in now. I just need to be consistent and eventually things will pop off.

Speaker 1:

We have reached the end of the podcast. I appreciate you for listening. I hope you learned something today. If you want to see the video version of this, it will be up on my Radiant Reflection YouTube channel. That's Radiant Reflection with no S, and I hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 1:

Other than that, as always, if you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, uploaded and unfiltered, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and do so. Also, leave me a review and for any of those out there who need assistance with goal setting, I have set up a service to help people with setting up one concrete, beautiful goal and blueprints on how to not only achieve that goal but to set up other goals. If that's something that you're interested in, go ahead and hit the link in the description of this podcast and we'll make it happen, or you can hit to radiantreflectionbest and sign up for a session. My goal is to get everybody to understand that creating goals is how is one part of being successful. It's not the only thing that we need, but it's definitely a huge part, and I'm here to help. So, other than that, I appreciate you, thank you for listening and, as always, protect your mental, keep creating content and I'll see you in the next one, peace.