Episode 20: GOAL SETTING: 8 Tips & My Goals for 2019-2020 + TURTLE POWER

Posted on by Wes Wise.

Turtle power! In Episode 20, we’re talking goals!! I’m sharing the goals I achieved in 2019, my goals for 2020, and 8 tips for setting and achieving goals that you can apply to your own life right away. It’s time to make some goal setting GAINS with a little help from my friends Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael!

For show notes, pictures, transcript, and more, go to Wise-Eats.com/Episode20

My 40-Year Old Virgin-style Figure Collection

Episode Timestamps

  • COWABUNGA! It’s Episode 20 of Wise Eats! (0:00)
  • Check out YouTube to see my massive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figure collection (0:10)
  • Wise-Eats.com/Coaching Looking for my first client! (1:00)
  • Check out my 5-minute ab workout at Wise-Eats.com/AbBlaster (1:10)
  • New healthy recipe videos! Piledriver Protein Pudding & Sharpshooter Breakfast Salad! (1:20)
  • Sign up for my free newsletter at WiseChoiceNation.com (1:50)
  • Coming up on today’s episode: GOAL SETTING (2:10)
  • The importance of goal setting and its role in my life (2:30)
  • How journaling helped me lose 90lbs back in 2009 (2:45)
  • My journaling process and how it has evolved over the years (2:45)
  • Journaling gratitude and goals EVERY DAY (3:20)
  • Why I’m sharing my goal setting tactics (4:10)
  • 8 Tips for Setting Goals – #1: Decide where you want to be (5:00)
  • Begin with the end in mind! Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (5:20)
  • #2: Align Your Values (5:30)
  • #3: Identify Your Why (5:50)
  • #4: Set SMART Goals (6:10)
  • #5: Devote time to set your goals and write them down (6:25)
  • #6: Think Big! (6:50)
  • #7: Track and re-evaluate your goals (7:05)
  • #8: Celebrate your wins (7:20)
  • The impact that my health has had on goal setting (7:30)
  • Here are the goals I accomplished in 2019 (8:50)
  • Read seven books and listened to two others. Find out which ones! (9:10)
  • Got in the best shape of my life in 2019 (10:00)
  • Started doing ice baths. Shout out to Kyle Kingsbury, Wim Hof, and the Goop Lab on Netflix (10:15)
  • My average calories, workout time, and steps for 2019 (10:45)
  • The new sleep habits we implemented in 2019 (11:10)
  • Other accomplishments in 2019: Master’s Degree, Finances, Motorcycle, Wise Eats & More (11:30)
  • My Goals for 2020 (12:20)
  • 1) Meditate Daily (12:25)
  • 2) Become a Certified Personal Trainer (12:40)
  • 3) Read 24 Books (13:00)
  • 4) Get down to around 180lbs. Getting shredded for spring! (13:15)
  • 5) Quit drinking permanently (13:30)
  • 6) Complete MAPS HIIT and focus on mobility at least two days per week (14:15)
  • 7) Be the best friend, husband, co-worker, and possibly father I can be (14:50)
  • Why my goals aren’t as big as they could be…yet. (15:00)
  • How I let my poor health get in the way of setting and accomplishing goals in the past! (15:15)
  • Leave a comment on the YouTube video or email wiseeatspodcast@gmail.com with your goals for 2020 (15:45)
  • Wise-Eats.com/Episode20 for show notes, pictures, transcript, and more!

Recipes Mentioned in This Episode:

Articles/Brands/Products Mentioned in This Episode:

Movie Clips

Website Design Thank You: DoeringDesign.com

Logo Design Thank You’s: @this_show, MGSignsDesign.com

Editing Animations Thank You: Darin Roberts aka Misteredit1 on YouTube

The Wise Eats Podcast is written, filmed, edited, and produced by Wesley Wise, and shared by YOU. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Submit questions, comments, feedback to WiseEatsPodcast@gmail.com or to @weswisefitness on Instagram. Thanks for watching, listening, reviewing, liking, subscribing, and sharing. Be good to yourself, be good to others, and make wise choices!

Episode 20

Well, Wise Guys and Gals, at last we find ourselves together again. Welcome to Episode 20 of the Wise Eats Podcast! Coming to you live from my basement studio in Mount Clemens, MI. I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the change of scenery on the YouTube video. I’ve been trying to finalize a better studio and figured what better backdrop than my 40-Year-Old virgin style ninja turtle collection. So, if you’re not watching on YouTube, I highly encourage you to do so. Please don’t forget to click thumbs up, subscribe, and leave a comment.

Before we get to the episode, I want to let everyone know that very soon I will be looking for my first coaching client. If you’re serious about hiring a fitness coach to help you with your goals, head over to Wise-Eats.com/Coaching.

I also recently released a couple new recipe videos and a 5-minute ab workout. Those are available at the following:

Ab Workout Wise-Eats.com/AbBlaster

One of my favorite core routines. Inspired by Keith Weber’s Extreme Kettlebell series. Can be done anytime, anywhere. Get ready for spring/summer, because they’re not far away!

Piledriver Protein Pudding Wise-Eats.com/Piledriver

One of my favorite high protein desserts. You should always try to get your protein from whole food sources, but when you’re craving something sweet and want to hit your protein intake for fat loss and muscle building, this is a great recipe to get the job done!

Sharpshooter Breakfast Salad: Wise-Eats.com/Sharpshooter

Salads for breakfast? YES, IT’S TRUE. Kickstart your health each day with this delicious AND nutritious breakfast. My wife used to turn her nose up to these but now she loves them!

Finally, if you haven’t done so already, head over to WiseChoiceNation.com and subscribe to my free newsletter. I don’t send spam e-mails or sales advertisements, just some good tips on making wise choices and whatever new stuff I got going on.

COWABUNGA! IT’S EPISODE 20!

It’s Episode 20 in the year 2020 and we’re talking GOALS! I’m going to share the goals I accomplished in 2019, what goals I have for 2020, and share some tips for goal setting that you can apply to your own life right away.

I think we’ve all heard about the importance of goal setting, and it’s something that’s been extremely useful in my life.

I have been journaling every day since March of 2009. It started simply as a diet journal where I would record calories and macros but I believe it may be the single biggest factor in helping me to change my mindset on health and lose 90lbs.

Eventually, the journal evolved to include other activities of the day, workouts, feelings, whatever. Today, it’s my daily planner, my gratitude journal, my financial planner, it’s everything. I love journaling and probably spend too much time doing it by some standards.

Only problem is, up until 2019, goal setting wasn’t a strong part of my journaling process.

Around the middle of last year, I started the new habit of hand journaling my gratitude and goals every single day, and haven’t missed a day since. Each day, I wake up, get fully hydrated, start my coffee, pull out my notebook, and jot down three things I’m grateful for. Then, I review my main goals for the week and write down what specific things I’m going to do TODAY to get those things done. It’s been a game changer for me!

Now, it’s not a perfect science. Some days I seem to tread water. Yeah, I’m checking off boxes and “getting things done”, but I’m not sure if I’m actually getting anywhere.

Then, there are other days where I feel like I’m absolutely crushing it, and those are why I continue the habit.

Now, I’m not some expert in goal setting, nor have I moved mountains with my goal setting methods. I haven’t built a million-dollar business or impacted the millions of people that I’d like to. I’m a working-class guy who’s trying to grind away like everyone else.

But, I do consider myself to be a high-performing individual destined to do some great things in this life, and it took a lot of failing along the way to get here.

So, I want to share my goals and methods with you so that, hopefully, it can inspire you in some way to get started with or improve your current goal setting process. It’s something I will continue to get better with for the rest of my life!

Alright, before I dive into just exactly what I did in 2019, let me share my tips for setting and achieving goals:

8 Tips for Setting and Achieving Goals

  1. Decide on where you want to be. For me, this is the hardest part. What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Once you take time to self-reflect and decide on what you really want, creating the action steps to achieve it are the easy part. “Begin with the end in mind.” That’s a quote from the classic self-help masterpiece, the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey
  2. Create goals that align with your values. If you don’t know what your values are, figure those out! Some principles I live by are:
  • To be a lifetime student. Read, go to school, stimulate your mind by learning new things. FOREVER.
  • To constantly improve. Health, relationships, finances, happiness, skills. Strive to get 1% better every day.
  • To be respectful.
  • To be kind.
  • To be honest.
  • To have integrity. Life is just easier when you’re a good person.
  • To laugh as much as possible and not take life too seriously.

3. Identify your WHY. You need to be motivated to accomplish what you set out to achieve. Once you’ve identified good reasons to pursue your goals, then you know you’ve found something worth fighting for.

4. Follow the SMART acronym: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-sensitive. One of my goals in 2020 is to meditate daily. So, here’s what SMART looks like for me:

My Goal: To meditate for at least 5 minutes in the morning every day in 2020.

  • Specific: I’m not just saying “I want to meditate more”.
  • Measurable: At least 5 minutes every day
  • Attainable: This is a very attainable goal. Challenge yourself but don’t set a goal that’s totally out of the realm of possibility.
  • Realistic: This goal is probably too realistic. It’s nothing to take 5 minutes out of my morning to meditate. Easy breezy!
  • Relevant: This is a bonus R I believe should be included in the SMART system. What is your WHY for accomplishing this goal? Be sure to decide that this is something you truly want and that you’re prepared to dedicate significant effort and time into! I want to meditate more to reduce stress, be more present, achieve greater control over my focus, and to make generally make me a better, more focused person.
  • Time Sensitive: I have already completed nearly two successful months of meditating every day, and plan to continue for the rest of 2020.

5. Devote time to actually set your goals and physically write them down. I do this every single day. Every morning, I get fully hydrated, pull out my notebook, and write down my goals for the day along with 3 things I’m grateful for. I also set reminders in my phone so I can always refer to my list and keep myself on track. Once a week, my wife and I sit down, go over our goals for the week, discuss and share.

6. Think big. This is something I’m challenging myself on for 2020. I want to think and dream bigger. I’ve accomplished many things already that I’m proud of, but want to get better at setting goals that stretch me further than I’ve gone before. Sure, it’s fun to make task lists and check things off, but if we’re only staying productive for the sake of being productive, we can get complacent in our thinking. I’m always trying to think of goals that make me uncomfortable or stretch me in some way.

7. Track & Re-Re-Evaluate. Don’t just write them down once and forget all about them. Refer to them monthly, weekly, even daily. The more you keep them your focus, the better.

8. Celebrate your wins. Take time to reflect on your successes throughout the year and celebrate your achievements. That’s part of the fun of accomplishing goals!

Setting goals has become so much more important to me now that I’ve achieved optimal health. I no longer have obesity or disordered eating or problem drinking holding me back from realizing my fullest potential. Now, instead of focusing so much on creating just fitness goals for myself, which I still do, of course, I can set more personal and professional goals that fulfill me and ignite my passions. 10 years ago, I could never have even dreamed of having a master’s degree or producing my own podcast or building a website or going back to school to become a CPT just for the fun of it. I was too busy feeling like crap from drinking the night before and daydreaming about the next delicious junk food meal I was getting ready to eat. Rather than slugging my way through each day, I’m attacking every single day with incredible energy. I go to work excited to contribute and make a difference. I come home excited to walk and play with my dogs and cook dinner with my wife and set aside some time to write and film and record and edit and post on social media and interact with others. At 36 years’ old, I’m getting better every single day, not older.

With that said, I want to continue to lead by example, and I hear lots of successful people talk about how to achieve goals without addressing what they’re specifically doing in their own life, so:

Here are some of the things I got done in 2019:

I read 7 books and listened to two others, which is not very many but a personal best for me. This, of course, was while I finished grad school.

Regarding my health, I:

  • Got into the best shape of my life. Completed the Bigger Leaner Stronger, Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger and MAPS Anabolic Workout programs. Shout out to Mind Pump and Mike Matthews. The strongest I’ve ever been.
  • Started doing ice baths in my backyard using a horse trough I got from my in-laws.
  • Averaged 3,736 calories per day for the year. I only know that because I’m an absolute FREAK about tracking.
  • Averaged 10,579 steps per day.
  • Exercised approximately 18,295 minutes for an average of 350 minutes per week
  • Focused more on sleep by getting to bed earlier, keeping the temperature low, and removing all electronics from the room

Regarding Wise Eats, I:

  • Published 45 Blog Posts
  • Published 14 Podcast Episodes Including my First-Ever Interview

Regarding my professional life, I:

  • Earned my master’s degree in Finance.
  • Journaled my goals every single day.
  • Became a Dolce Diet Certified coach.

Regarding my personal life, I:

  • Learned how to ride a motorcycle and got my endorsement.
  • Helped my wife find a passion for lifting weights and thereby accidentally found my first coaching client.
  • Focused on finances by analyzing our expenses, starting a Roth IRA, and finding new ways to earn supplemental income. Now, if I can just start to earn a fortune doing Wise Eats, we’ll be all set!
  • Started going to the movies with my dad and took him to a Detroit Tigers game.

What didn’t I do in 2019?

  • I didn’t watch much TV. I can count on one hand how many shows I watched. I did binge watch Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. And more than my fair share of football.
  • Ate almost no fast food.
  • Didn’t drink one soda.
  • Didn’t smoke one cigarette.
  • Did let excuses get in the way of fulfilling my obligations to my friends, my family, my job, or my health.

My Goals for 2020

  • Meditation every single day. At least 5 minutes. I haven’t missed a day yet and will report on this later.
  • Become a Certified Personal Trainer. This is my focus for the early part of 2020. Currently taking the class and will be certified in April 2020. Wise-Eats.com/Coaching!
  • Read at least 24 Books. This is bold considering I only read 7 in 2019, but I think I can do it.
  • Get down to 180lbs by April 2nd. This will be the lowest bodyweight I’ve ever been at while also holding them most muscle. I will be pretty shredded at that weight! Right now, I’m very happy with the amount of muscle I have, and just want to lose some weight and feel good because SUMMER IS COMING!
  • Quit drinking, permanently. This is something I’ve considered for a while, and decided it’s what I want to do. I recently finished reading the book, “How to Stop Drinking Without Willpower” by Allen Carr. It dives into the mental aspect of why we drink and it was a game changer in my mentality. I can’t wait to see how sobriety affects my mood, energy levels, productivity, workouts, and my relationships!
  • Incorporate more A.M. workouts. Right now I mostly do my routines at lunchtime or after work. Getting things done early in the morning would be an amazing shift. To achieve this, I’m getting to bed earlier and waking up earlier to create more time to fit these in.
  • Going to get away from the traditional weight lifting I’ve done in previous years, at least temporarily. Going to try some new workout programs (currently doing MAPS HIIT) and will also make mobility a focus for my fitness routine.
  • Continue to be the best husband, friend, co-worker, and POSSIBLY father I can be.

So, those are some of my initial goals for 2020. Maybe they’re impressive, maybe not. You might be listening to these and saying Wes you need to step you’re game up! You’re not dreaming big enough! And I would agree with you! I’m so late to the goal setting party because I allowed my physical health to deteriorate for so many years. Now, it’s time to Wise Up and start making some goal setting gains!

So, enough about me already. What are YOU going to accomplish in 2020? January and February went fast, and the rest of the year isn’t far behind. Don’t let this year slip away like past years.

With that, I hope you found this episode helpful. If you enjoyed it, please share on social media. Also, leave a comment on the YouTube video. What goals did you accomplish in 2019? What are you goals for 2020? What are your thoughts on my goals? Am I aiming too low? Let me know your thoughts! I’d love to hear the good and the bad! I hope you crushed it last year and get even better this year! I hope you’re sitting there saying Wes you need to wise up and set bigger goals because I crushed it!!

But remember: Don’t compare yourself to other people.  Compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Get 1% better every day, that’s the key to happiness. Be an example to yourself, be an example to others. Thanks for listening. Now, aim big, set your sights high, get to work, and make wise choices!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *