330 - Knowing Your Goals

0:00Knowing your goals. It's really important that you're working toward your goals and not somebody else's. And what I see often in business acquisition is that a lot of people are all working towards this big goal of acquiring multiple businesses and rolling them up. And that's good for many. That's the goal. But they're doing that because, or in some ways anyway, because that's what everybody else is doing. and they're not doing that necessarily because it aligns with what their personal needs are and their personal goals are. And so I think it's really important to understand whether or not you are in alignment because when you're out of alignment, you're done.

0:44And that is why your why is so important. So let's talk about that and how you can maybe frame up what you're doing so that you don't run into those problems. So first, start with your vision. Define what success looks like for you personally, not based on someone else's blueprint. Evaluate your current path and ask yourself if the actions you're taking today are genuinely aligned with your long-term goals or if they're reactive to some external pressures. It can be other people, that can be your family, etc. Differentiate between short and long-term goals. Short-term wins are great, and I encourage you to have short-term wins, short-term affirmations, as well as the long-term ones, but they should contribute to a bigger picture rather than distract from it.

1:40That's important. And then avoid the comparison trap. It's easy to look at others in your field and assume their goals should be yours. So why is that mindset dangerous? So let's talk about the avoiding the comparison trap. It's natural to compare yourself to others in the same field or industry, but this can lead to a dangerous mindset where you begin to adopt goals that truly aren't yours. And here's why that's problematical. You can have misaligned motivation. When you focus on somebody else's success, you might be tempted to pursue their vision without considering if it fits with your personal values or circumstances.

2:24And that can lead to burnout, dissatisfaction, because you're not working towards something that fulfills you, and you should be. You know, you could have some surface level success. What you see from others is often kind of like a highlight reel, not the struggles or sacrifices it took to get there. So their success might have required trade-offs you're not willing or able to make. You can have problems with loss of originality. By mimicking others, you risk losing sight of your unique strengths and perspectives and talents, which are often what set successful people apart. And then lastly, paralysis by analysis.

3:09Constant comparison can make you feel inadequate, and it can lead to overthinking and procrastination instead of taking meaningful action towards your goals. So how do you do that? How do you make this your own? First, focus on your own journey. Keep a journal of your wins and progress, no matter how small they are, and that will help you to build confidence in what you're doing. Use others' achievement as inspiration, but not as a roadmap. Ask yourself, what about their journey resonates with me, and how can I adapt it to align with my goals? And then remember your why. Super important. Keep your deeper purpose at the forefront of your mind, and let it guide your decisions instead of external pressures.

4:00That comparison trap is one a lot of people focus on and ask me about with respect to other mentees. The important to focus, scattered efforts lead to scattered results. Stay clear on your specific objectives and avoid shiny object syndrome. We've talked about things like the Ivy Lee where every day you write the three most important things for the next day. regularly assess and reassess life changes and so do priority so periodically check if your goals are still resonating with your current aspirations your why is really and should be your compass talk about how with yourself talk about how defining your deeper purpose can help you make better decisions, even when challenges arise.

4:52So look at that. That why may change or need to be refined over time. Celebrate small wins along the way. Progress is indeed made up of step-by-step progress, and recognizing those small achievements can help you stay motivated and aligned. And again, I'm a big fan of doing that in affirmations and goals. Have some smaller ones, which when you achieve them also teaches your mind, hey, these affirmations work. And then, you know, I think that a lot of this is just you can get problems with misalignment between your goal and someone else's. And I've seen that with a couple of people recently that I've worked with that have said they got into a business because they thought that was the business they should get into, the industry.

5:43and then they learned, oh, I don't like being around sick people or any number of other things. So make this selection yours. There's no magic industry. There are problems with some industries, but the industry should resonate with you. And I think if you follow those steps, you will be in a much better position of having your why be your own, having the industry be your own, have the reasons for why you're doing this be your own. Super important. We talk about all these things in group coaching, and we've got two groups. One is a replace your income group, which is small amount of acquisitions, and the other is the empire building, which is multiple acquisitions towards building an empire.

6:36So you can see both the details on those over at BruceWhipple.com. But think about making this your own, because if it's not your own, and if it doesn't resonate with you, when things go bad, which they always will, you will have a tendency to quit as opposed to saying, this is so important to me, I don't care how tough it is, I'm going to adapt and overcome.