844: Manifestation Meets Strategy: How to Plan the Business and Life You Dream About

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2:20I'm Jenna Kutcher, your host of the Gold Digger podcast. I escaped the corporate world at the age of 23 with nothing more than a$300 camera from Craigslist and a dream. Now I'm running a seven-figure online business that feels even better than it looks, all from my house in small town Minnesota with my family. Here, we value time as our currency. We mix the woo and the work, and we are in the pursuit of building businesses that give us the freedom to live lives that we love. I've always loved turning big goals into reality, and I'm here to help you do the same. This isn't just a peek behind the curtain.

2:56Come along with me and my guests as we tear the whole curtain down. Every week we tackle practical, no-fluff marketing strategies and host honest discussions on what works and what doesn't. Join me and my expert guests for actionable insights to help you grow your dream business with confidence. Pull up a seat and get ready to be challenged, inspired, and empowered. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Imagine this. You're sitting at your desk, your dream board is in front of you, colorful markers in hand, the scent of a candle is burning, and your favorite playlist is playing on repeat. You are mapping out your dream life, the business you want to grow, the vacations you want to take, the impact you want to make.

3:39And it feels really good, doesn't it? Like you are in full-on manifestation mode, dreaming big, letting your imagination run wild and putting pen to paper with everything that you desire. But here's the thing. What happens when the candle burns out, when that playlist ends, when it's time to close the journal and actually do the work? That's the part that people don't talk about enough. Don't get me wrong. Manifestation is magical, but it's not a one-stop ticket to your dream life. You can't just think it. You've got to build it step by step and strategy by strategy, action by action. In today's episode, we're diving into what happens when manifestation meets strategy.

4:20I'll share how to blend the power of intention, belief, and visualization with practical, actionable steps that help you bring your dreams to life. Because here's the truth, wishing for a thriving business, a fulfilling life, and big goals is only the starting point. It's the strategy, consistency, and the work behind those wishes that make them a reality. So if you're a little bit woo and a whole lot of let's get to work, then this episode is for you. Whether you're a vision board queen or a spreadsheet master, or maybe a mix of the two, I'll show you how to create a plan that bridges the gaps between where you are and where you want to go.

4:58Are you ready to dream, believe, and above all achieve? Well, let's do this. Growing a business isn't for the pain of heart. It's a whole lot of everything, building an audience, nurturing leads, managing channels, tracking metrics, and juggling all the moving pieces of your strategy. And let's not forget those late nights, long days, and working weekends. Sound familiar? Sometimes it feels like you're wishing for just one thing to make it all a little bit easier. Well, meet Breeze, HubSpot's brand new collection of AI tools built specifically for marketers just like you. With Breeze attracting the right audience, increasing leads, and turning those leads into loyal customers just got faster and, dare I say, easier than ever before.

5:41Imagine less stress and more success, more wins and fewer all-nighters. With Breeze, you're not just keeping up, you're staying ahead. And pretty soon, your business is going to have a lot to celebrate. Check out Breeze at HubSpot.com slash marketers to learn more. That's HubSpot.com slash marketers. So the other night I went out to dinner with my friends that are local and there's a group of five of us. We all have kiddos at the same school. We're all mom friends and we've been doing life together for over a year and a half. And we try to get together at least once a month. And we often will volunteer together or see each other at drop off or pick up or try to get into a yoga class on a Friday.

6:26And so it's like my core group of friends. And we rented out the back room of one of the local sushi restaurants. And thank God we were in the back room because as the evening went on and as the night progressed, we just got louder and louder and louder as we were talking. And it's just a really special group of friends. It's just amazing having people that are in such a similar life stage with children around the same age, experiencing a lot of the same things. and one of the things that I kept noticing kept coming up in our conversation was just this inability to know where we're going next what do we want like what do we actually want what is in alignment with the stage and season of our lives and it just felt like for a lot of us things just kind of felt a little murky like there just wasn't a lot of clarity and I've been thinking a lot with the new year and this new energy and people just being so excited about goals and resolutions and all of this, I wanted to talk about some of the experiences I've had and some of the practices I've put into place that really combine this idea of manifestation or what I like to call the woo and bring in the action or the strategy behind it, which I also called The Work.

7:39And I have been talking about this topic on this show in terms of manifestation for years because I think there is absolute power behind it. But what I think has often happened specifically in the realm of women is I feel like it's almost become two camps. There's the manifestation camp where it's like, if you think it, it'll happen. You just got to think hard enough. And then there's like the hustle camp where it's like, if you wake up earlier and work harder and do more, everything will fall into place and success is inevitable. And I don't really reside in either of those two. I think that there has to be this balance.

8:18I think there is so much power in both of those camps. But I think what I've recognized, especially in conversations with the people closest to me, including the peers in this business world, is that I think a lot of us want to find that middle ground, that beautiful place of like, I want to hold these beautiful visions for my life. But I also know that they're not just going to come to fruition just by thinking about them, that I have to be able to back them up with the right action steps and move closer to them every single day. And so as we were talking at our girls' night over sushi, I really started to think about like, what are the practices that have helped me get to this stage of my life where I do feel like I have clarity and I do know that the things I'm doing today will help me get to where I want to be tomorrow.

9:10But I also know how to enjoy today while I'm in the process. And I think that this has been a really hard fought lesson for me is like enjoying the actual journey of it as much, if not more than the destination. Maybe for you, but especially for me, I've had times in my life where I've set these really big audacious goals and I've just really went into grind mode to get to them. And I often achieve at the mountaintop of those goals thinking, oh, wow, this did not feel like I thought it was going to, or I thought this would feel different. And so over the last handful of years, I've really been intentional about not just the goal setting, but like, how do I want to feel in the process of achieving that goal?

9:57What do I want those action steps to feel like? How can I actually enjoy the journey? And if the destination isn't chalked up to what I thought it was going to be, how do I not look back and think I wasted time or I was going after the wrong thing? And what I'm going to share today, I think is what has helped me get there. And I hope that in my own experiences, you see something that will inspire you as well as we just approach 2025 with a lot of hope and joy and hopefully some ease. So the first thing that I want to share, the first step of this process that I think is really, really powerful is anchoring your vision in tangible goals.

10:35So one of the practices that I do, and I highly invite you to do this practice as well, is every single year for the past five years, I've created a secret Pinterest board. And I do this annually and I just title the board, whatever this year is going to be. And I spend about an hour. Sometimes I'll set an alarm. Sometimes I just let myself run wild. But I start to curate images that express not just what I want the year to look like, but how I want to experience it and how I want it to feel. And there can be really like tactical goals on there. Like when my book came out, I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I want to be in New York when my book comes out, or wouldn't it be amazing to be on the Today Show?

11:19Or things like that that are very, very concrete. But there are also a lot of visuals of maybe slow mornings or planting in the garden or running around with my kids. And I just try to source images that encapsulate what I want my year to look like. Think of it as a storyboard for a shoot or a movie or a production. And I love doing this because I know that as women, we are so visual, right? Like seeing something, turn something on in our brain that allows us to see that not only is this a reality, but it also allows us to envision what that reality would be for us. And so this practice is just a really, really fun one.

12:09I mean, who does not love browsing Pinterest? I teach how to market on Pinterest, but girl, I love browsing Pinterest just as much as you do. And so I highly encourage you to anchor your vision using visuals brought to you by a place like Pinterest. And so go on Pinterest, make a secret board, tie in some tangible goals, but also ask yourself, what are some visual representations of how you want to feel this year as you move through the year? Maybe you want to feel strong. Maybe you want to feel at ease. Maybe you want to feel expansive. Maybe you want to feel healthy. Maybe you want to feel vibrant, like whatever those things are.

12:51And in what I was just giving as an example, I shared some of the words of the year that I used over the past few years. I know a few years ago when we were going through our fertility journey, my word of the year was surrender. Another word of my year was vibrant. And that was the year where I really got serious about my health. This last year, my word was ease. And it was just all about bringing in systems and strategies to invite more ease into my life and flow. This year, it's really about spaciousness and feeling expansive when I look at my calendar, feeling like I do have enough time for the things that matter most.

13:28And I have time to just decide how I want to use it. And so having that word can sometimes help you type the right words into the search bar to get the visuals that help represent what you want your year to be. But when I think about manifestation, I don't just think about random thoughts or visuals. I think about clarity, being able to truly visualize and put words and images to your ideal life and business. What does success look and feel like for you. Take that dream and make it specific. And don't be afraid to make it hyper specific to the year that we're finding ourselves in, to the stage of life that you're in.

14:07I don't think it's necessarily helpful to pin images that don't even really align with what stage of life you're in, but really look at where you are and how you want to move through it, the things you want to achieve and how you want to feel in the process. The other thing that I think is really important is that when we think about manifestation, a lot of times we don't get super tangible. And I think that defining tangible outcomes help us to stay in alignment and help us to really ask ourselves, is this the actual goal? So instead of just saying like, I want to grow my business this year, I want to generate a hundred thousand dollars in revenue this year by launching what or by selling what.

14:51And so leveraging some of those really smart goal setting methods, like the smart goals, which we've talked about a million times, but leveraging it in a way that allows you to just really get specific and look at that specificity and ask yourself, is this right? Is this the right goal? Is this actually what I say is most important? And is this in alignment with the pursuit of pursuing a year that feels a certain way. This podcast is brought to you by Mercury, banking that helps entrepreneurs do more with their money. Okay, I remember in the early days of my entrepreneurship journey, clients would literally mail me checks, and then I would have to drive all the way to the bank to deposit them.

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17:32And so for me, I like to create a digital vision board using Pinterest, but maybe you are old school. Last year, I actually ordered on Amazon. Yes, this is a thing. They have like vision board books where it just has a bunch of beautiful graphics and it can help you just have something to tear out. Maybe you don't get magazines in the mail. I still do, But I literally went onto Amazon and ordered a vision board book. And it was basically a really thick, nice magazine where you can rip out pages and cut out pictures. And I used that to design in my office right next to me as I'm recording this, a beautiful bulletin board that just holds a lot of the things of my vision.

18:15I'm looking at it right now and I see just a lot of warmth. So I feel like this feeling of warmth. I see healthy food. I see chickens, which is something on my vision board for this year. I want to get chickens this year. I see a campfire. I see like hands being held. I see cozy drinks. I see a bathtub. I see fresh garden food. And so I use that with a mix of magazines to create both a physical vision board in my office, something that I literally see every day. I have pictures of my children. I have artwork from my kids on there. And then I also create the digital vision board on Pinterest. And I feel like just spending a little time asking yourself what encapsulates the vision and how can I just have that visual reminder to tell my brain to see this, to imagine it for myself and to understand that it can be real is a really great place to start.

19:09Another place to help you solidify your vision can be journaling. And so last night I was sitting next to one of my friends and I said, you know, I really just think you need to get your thoughts out. Like she had so many thoughts and questions just ruminating in her brain of like, well, what do I really want? Do I want to cut back? Do I want to cut back fully? Should I go part-time? What does this look like? What would I even do with my time? What are things that bring me joy? And it was all of these questions. And I think that sometimes just journaling without feeling like you need to come to a conclusion, without feeling like you need to land with a perfect answer can really just help get thoughts out of your head.

19:49And we were laughing because we're like, you know, journaling would be great, but when do we have time for it? And if I'm going to do this and do it right, like, you know, and it's like, sometimes there isn't a perfect moment or a right way to do this. Sometimes it is literally when your brain is just so overwhelmed and the thoughts are just spinning, sitting down and getting them out of your head and asking yourself those questions, or even just writing down those questions to help you get it out of your head and onto something physical can be really amazing. Another thing that I highly recommend doing is do an audio recording.

20:22So record yourself talking and describe your future as if it's already happened. And this sounds so silly. Like it is one of those things where you might be embarrassed if somebody walked into the room while you were doing it. But I think there is so much power in it. I have friends who have done this and they listen to it every single morning. Like I'm waking up feeling healthy and energized. I am excited for my day. My calendar feels spacious. I am excited for everything on it. I am eating healthy food. I am fueling my body. I feel energized and ready to move my body. And again, it sounds silly, but when you say things as if they have already happened, there is actually something that happens in your brain that allows you to adopt the identity of that person who has already arrived and you do act differently.

21:18Your day is approached differently. So whether it's a vision board in the flesh on a bulletin board or on a poster board, whether it's a vision board that is digital like Pinterest, whether it's a journal entry or a voice memo. All of these anchors are ideas to help you keep your vision clear and focused and to help you get it out of your head and into your life in a more tangible way. So what I would recommend doing for this step is to choose one to three key goals that represent your vision and define specific metrics for each. So I am not going wild this year and having, you know, 10 super specific SMART goals because my life at this stage of life does not offer as much specificity and timeliness as I often desire in being a mom of two young kids.

22:12But I feel like having one to three key goals where like if nothing else happens in this year, but these one to three things, you will have finished a year feeling so proud of yourself, feeling so excited. And so having those specific metrics and then having those visual or audio or written down cues will, again, allow you to get into the headspace of somebody who has the clarity necessary to start moving towards the life or the business that they want. Once you have that vision, the second thing that I want for you to do is to reverse engineer the steps on how you are actually going to get there.

22:53Big dreams become achievable when you take the time to break them into actionable and small steps. And I'm not just talking about like small, I'm talking about like stupid small steps. Think of your goal as this mountain. We've talked about getting to the top of the mountain. Think of your goal as a mountain. And you need to reverse engineer the climb by mapping out the base camps that you need to reach along the way. So I am talking about how do you take this big specific goal and make sure that when December 1st rolls around, you are in alignment with either having already achieved it or you are about to achieve it.

23:32And so how do we take these big, audacious goals and break them into small bite-sized pieces that don't leave us standing in a state of analysis paralysis or waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect time or the perfect website or the perfect anything to get started, how do we make it so that we feel like we are equipped to start taking action right now? And here is something that I want for you to do. I want for you to consider using ChatGPT to help you with this step of reverse engineering. Okay, let me just tell you a quick story from our girls' night. So one of my friends was dealing with a situation with a family member, and this whole conversation was happening through text message.

24:15And she said, she's like, I need to respond to this, but like, I honestly don't even know what to say. And she's like, here's what I really want to say, but I clearly cannot send this. And so while we were at the table, I was like, wait, wait, wait, let's do this. And so I opened up chat GPT. I used the audio feature and I recorded a voice memo and I explained the situation, the context, who she needed to respond to, the tone she wanted to respond with and what she wanted to make sure was covered in the text message. And we were all dying laughing, like tears rolling down our cheeks laughing at how great the chat GPT response was.

24:50And it was one of those situations where we knew where we wanted to go and we knew what we wanted the end result to be, but we didn't know how to get there. And sometimes when we do that, especially when it comes to goal setting, we need some help breaking out the action steps. And so if you are somebody who you're like, I'm really great at setting the big audacious goals. But once I do that, I literally do not even know where to go from there. My challenge for you is to go to chat GBT and type in all the context that you can give. The more context you can give it, the better. Think of it as a conversation where you're saying, here's the size of my business.

25:30Here's what it looks like right now. Here's the support I have. Here's what I'm really great at. And this is the goal I want to achieve. What three steps do I need to take and what would be the preferred or recommended timeline in order to reach this goal by X, Y, or Z? And the better input you give chat GBT, the better output it's going to give you. And here's what I'll tell you. Do not settle for the first output it gives you. That one's decent. Have it take it to a level five, have it refine it, go back and forth with it, conversate with it. Imagine that it is your business coach and they're giving you the steps.

26:03And if you're like, Hey, that doesn't quite seem feasible with my schedule. Can you break it down into even smaller steps or, okay, that's a great first place. Where do I start with that first step? And so again, have that conversation, but I think that Chad GPT is incredible at helping you reverse engineer the steps so that you have a clear roadmap that you can follow. Let me give you a personal story on this. So I remember, oh gosh, it was probably a year and a half ago, I met with Thea. And if you have read my book, Thea is just an amazing person in my life. She's the person who inspired me to actually write my book.

26:42And she is just a very intuitive, incredible human being that I met by total fate. And I had met with her and we were sitting on the porch in Grand Marais, Minnesota, looking at Lake Superior. And it was kind of in a stage of my life in business where I just was like, I don't really know what's next. I don't feel like I have enough time to myself to even figure it out. I just feel like I'm constantly going from work to motherhood back and forth. And I feel like I just need some quiet time to myself to figure out what's next. And on that day, she was like, well, what would it take for you to get more clarity?

27:16And I said, I need a little bit of time to myself where I'm not working or mothering. I said, well, what would that look like? And we kept going further and further and further. And it was around this time where we had started to talk about this idea of what would it look like to just get a little bit of help for the kids? And I want you to understand that for the first nearly five years of parenthood, we had no outside help. We'd never had a nanny. We didn't even really have a consistent babysitter. My mom would help out when she could, but as she had more grandchildren, things got busier. Her life is busy as it is.