How to Make a Goal Sandwich
episode 4
how to make a goal sandwich
Sue Campbell
Settings goals is crucial for your success as an author. But there are some pitfalls to goal-setting. The biggest one is getting graspy and desperate to reach our goals. In this episode, I'm introducing the "goal sandwich" as a way to get yourself mentally prepared to set goals from a place of already feeling worthy.
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey writers, you're listening to the Pages & Platforms podcast with book marketing and mindset coach Sue Campbell.
Today I want to talk about setting goals and more importantly, I want to talk about, um, a way of setting goals that I call the goals sandwich. And I learned this from one of the many life coaches that I follow and admire. Uh, first we need to back up a little bit and talk about why we set goals in the first place. Really, I think the reason that we set goals is because we want to create a feeling when we accomplish those goals, right? We think accomplishing X will mean that we will feel Y. And I really think at the base of it, the feeling that we're after when we set a goal is we want to be proud of ourselves. We want to feel that we've accomplished something, we want to feel worthy. And it's really important when you're setting goals to try to come from a place of worthiness from the get go.
One of the pitfalls of goal setting that can happen is that we get really graspy where it's this mentality of I've set this goal and I have to have to achieve it. And you get this sort of desperate, clingy feeling to the result, to the end result of your goal. And that can feel really yucky. It feels yucky to us. It can feel yucky to others, and it really just doesn't work. It's not a great motivator for actually doing what it takes to fulfill a longterm goal. So I think the goal sandwich is really good at addressing, um, and that feeling of grasping and helping you overcome it. Because what we want to do is approach our goals from this calm, confident place. And from this feeling of worthiness, if we start with worthiness, we know that we have set a goal because we want a personal development opportunity rather than to validate ourselves or prove our own worth.
We want to start from a place of already knowing that we're worthwhile and that we're valued or we're going to be disappointed when we actually reach our goal. So one of the ways we can do this is a little bit of a little bit of a brain trick, I think, but it's a worthy one. Many of them are. So here are the steps to doing a goal sandwich, as I like to call it. So step one is make a list of things that you want for your career. So think really big. These are your outlandish goals, right? How many books do you want to have published? Um, where do you want to be a speaker? How many copies do you want to? So all of those sorts of big lofty, in your dreams, type goals, I want you to make a list of all of those and try to think really, really big. You can even pause this podcast while you make the list. I highly recommend doing the goal sandwich in real time because the next step is a bit of a revelation and it's much better if you've already made the list of things you want. So go ahead and pause and come back.
And then for step two, now I want you to make a list of things for your career that you already have, right? If we're going to come from a place of worthiness and belief and create that feeling that we want, we need to look at what we've already managed to accomplish, both the big and the small things that have got us to the place where we're even willing to admit that we're a writer. So maybe you have already written a book or a couple of books. Maybe you're almost done with a manuscript and it feels like a huge accomplishment. Maybe you have already hit a bestseller list in a category on Amazon. Maybe you've already been a speaker somewhere, maybe you've already had a book signing. Make a list of all of those things that you wanted and that you've already achieved. Too often when we think about what we want, we only talk about the things that we don't have, right?
I have a lot in my life already that I want and I still want, and I would make that same choice again and again. And when we remind ourselves of that, it's very, very validating. So that's step two and I think it's the most important step. And again, hat tip to life coach Brooke Castillo of the life coach school for turning me on to this exercise to begin with. Uh, but I think it's an extra valuable one for writers. So then step three is take one of your goals that you haven't accomplished yet and sandwich it into the middle of things that you do have. So I want you to actually write this out. For example, I have published two books, something that's you already have. And then in the middle I'm going to be a speaker at South by Southwest, something that hasn't happened yet.
And then at the end, and I have another manuscript nearing completion. All right? So you're sandwiching the thing that you haven't yet achieved in between two things that you have achieved. And it's really important to word your goal in the first person present tense, as if it's already a fact, and be as specific about it as you can. You want your brain to feel that cognitive dissonance and problem solve to make it true, to help you make it true. And then once you've done that, step five is you're going to set "do goals." So the "do goals" are those little actionable goals that you have totally within your control. And I highly recommend you create systems to achieve those goals, right? So if you want to finish another book by the end of the summer, you want to set up a system to get there.
When are you going to write, when are you going to have your outline completed? Who's your editor going to be? Set up your systems now and your "do goals" are all those little actionable steps that have to happen if you're ever going to achieve those big, outlandish goals. So what is this goal sandwich do? Those are the five steps. You're going to make a list of things you want for your career, make a list of things for your career that you already have, and then you're going to sandwich something you don't have in between things that you do have. Once you have those in place. Step five is you're going to make a list of your do goals, those small actionable steps to get there. Those are the five steps. So what are we actually doing here? What the goal sandwich does is it actually uses the reticular activating system of your brain.
That part of your brain is responsible for mental alertness, right? So it's going to keep this at the top of your awareness at the top of your mind, and it's also responsible for filtering what is most important. So your brain will know, Oh, this is actually important. I'm going to keep revisiting these goals and I've set these do goals, and now I know what I'm supposed to do. I know how to problem solve, right? This, the brain is a wonderful servant and a horrible master. Have you heard that expression before? Right? So if we sort of let our brain do whatever it wants and never set any goals, it's going to be very hard to get somewhere. If we use the executive functioning part of our brain to set up goals, the rest of our brain will go to work. To figure out how we're going to do that. Again, as long as we're coming from this very calm, confident, grounded place rather than this really graspy desperate place. So that is the goal sandwich concept. I hope it is useful for you. If you give it a try, let me know. I would love to hear about how it's working for you.
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