Person and Process — The Goal-Setting Reframe That Actually Works

So much of what we know about goal setting may actually be

wrong, and it's time to fix it.

I am so glad that you are here because one of the great things

about what I get to do is, I guess I kinda do your pushups for you.

I read deeply.

I spend most of my days deeply immersed in one way or another with the best

thinking, writing, viewing on the whole personal development field because

I love it, I'm passionate about it.

Most of my life is about optimization.

Drives some of my family crazy, but I'm always trying to find some way

to do things fractionally better.

It's a great way to live.

It's better than just collapsing into accepting that whatever life hands

you is what you have to put up with.

I'm all for optimization and marginal gains.

And so this week, early in the morning, so my routine at the moment is by

30, 5:00 AM, I try and lock in for two hours of solid reading.

And I've got my diary there and I'm reading some stuff, and I started

thinking, "What explains the fact that so many people have goals, and they

really sort of write them down sometimes, and they're passionate about it, but

eventually nothing seems to happen?"

You ever done that?

Like you've-- y- you don't have a problem kinda knowing what you want.

If I came up to you and said, "Hey, look, let's take some time.

What do you really want?

You know, what do you want for your health?

What do you want in business?

What do you want in relationships?" All the key areas of life that matter to

you, if we had a little bit of time, you can usually figure out what it is

that you want But the fact is that the vast majority of people never get what

they want, even if they do have goals.

So what is actually wrong?

And the great thing about this moment in history is there's so many great

universities and thinkers around the world going deep into the psychology,

the sociology that helps us understand how we operate personally, how we operate

in groups, and how we can improve.

So there is good news.

There's plenty of science to help us explore what explains the fact

that maybe you haven't reached the goals that you've set for yourself.

I've done it.

I can look back through years of journals and see things that I was setting and

wonder, "Why didn't that happen?" So we have some good news, and it's this.

I came across the idea this week that has resonated so deeply with me.

My poor daughter, again, she is like my testing ground.

On the weekends, we're driving somewhere, and I'll, uh, I'll just

sort of bombard her with my latest thinking, and she's so lovely.

She sits there quietly.

Hopefully, it's useful to her.

But this morning, before I came into the studio, I really worked this

through with her, and it's a very simple idea, and it's very powerful.

You ready?

I wanna introduce you to something I call person and process.

Person and process.

You see, when it comes to goals, most of the time, what are people doing?

They're writing down, "I will lose 10 kilos by this date," or, "I will

apply for this many jobs." Look, it's better than nothing, and, and

it's really good that we do that.

But I wanna give you this much deeper lens of person and process.

You ready for it?

It's very simple.

It's this.

To attain a meaningful goal, the latest research is suggesting that

where you actually need to focus is these two areas, person and process.

What does it mean?

It's this.

What sort of person would you need to become to experience the

outcome that you're going after?

What sort of person would you need to become to pursue and to attain

whatever is important to you?

It's a really interesting reframe.

It takes us from how do we bridge this chasm from where we are, and this is one

of the problems with goals, is people have the-- Th- they see the end state, right?

They're like, "Yeah, well, I want this house," or this car, or

this relationship, or this much income, or this new promotion.

People can see the end state.

But where this stuff tends to break down is that we actually struggle

with all the steps in between.

So this first lens of person can be really useful, my friend, because basically it

helps you go, "Who do I need to become?

Who do I need to become if I was going to get that kind of result?" You know,

let's just say there's a really nice car you like, and it's really beautiful, and

ever since you were little, you thought, "Well, I'd love a car like that." And the

question isn't, like, setting a goal, but it's like if it's an expensive car, it

can be a huge gulf in your mind, right?

The gap between where you are now and what it costs.

But the better question is, what sort of person would I need to

become to have that experience?

So that's the first piece I want you to start thinking about when

you write down what's important for you and what you're going after,

and the second piece is the process.

You see, people who attain these kind of outcomes, what the data

tells us is that it's not luck.

It's not just, you know-- Luck's a thing.

It does exist.

You know, sometimes just weird things happen, right place, right time.

But in general, what we find with successful people is that they're

clear on who they need to become, and they're really clear on a process,

and that process is often daily.

You know, I train a great deal.

I say it every, almost every episode.

I share with you some of the, the stuff that I'm working on.

I've got a very, very calibrated training program, and it's-- I love it.

It gives me structure.

But if you saw my daily processes, they are so rigorous,

so meticulous, so repetitive.

There are these processes that I go through all throughout the day

that gradually help me to grow, develop, so I can serve more people.

So I've got a clear sense of the person that I want to become over

any given timeframe, and then I've got a very clear sense of processes.

So that's really what I want to offer you today, is person and process.

Person and process.

If you want to get after something meaningful to you, just take some

time in the next twenty-four hours to sit down with a notebook, a diary, a

journal, and ask yourself this question.

Whatever it is that you want to attain, what sort of person

attains that kind of thing?

What sort of person attains that outcome?

Think about that person in your mind.

What sort of-- What do they do?

What do they think, or what do they look like?

And you wanna become that person.

And second is what are the processes?

What do you need to start doing?

What does that kind of person do?

How do they use their time?

What's their energy levels like?

What are the things that they do each day to move them closer to that?

I hope that's useful.

That's all I wanna share with you today.

And, uh, look, there's gonna be another one tomorrow.

So if you're a new listener, make sure you subscribe, 'cause I'm gonna be

doing one of these every single day, 365 days a year, and you never know

which one is really gonna shift you.

So make sure you hit that subscribe button.

Everything else is on the website, jonathandoyle.co.

You can find me at YouTube, Jonathan Doyle Speaks, and on Instagram, JDoyleSpeaks.

God bless you, my friend.

Go get this done.

Person and process.

You got this.

Go get it