Are you looking to take your goals to the next level? This panel conversation I formed at Podcast Movement will help you in achieving your goals with advice and cautionary tales.
A panel of four came together to discuss the power of goals, accountability, and a word of caution to avoid the dark side of goals.
Experienced professionals Aaron Walker, Sha Sparks, and Eric Nevins join me in having a deep discussion on how having goals changed our lives for better or worse, and how you can also apply goals in a way to help you achieve success.
Table of Contents
In this episode, you will learn the following about achieving your goals:
- Jerry Dugan hosted a panel discussion about goals and why they are important.
- One of the panel members does not use goals, but has other elements that make her successful.
- Jerry shared his story of setting a goal at age 14 to change the trajectory of his family.
- Eric shared his journey from having a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
- The importance of having accountability partners was discussed, as well as the need to have people who have a growth mindset in order to be successful.
Meet the Group
Sha Sparks
Shā Sparks is an energetic catalyst and fearless communicator who sparks leaders in transition, who are unclear, go from fear to fired up about their life and business.
Through her renowned Spark Your ALPHA program, Shā’s audiences and clients experience more confidence, amplified emotional intelligence, and the spark that ignites their fearless action. Also, she provides an all inclusive host for hire, podcast in a box service called Spark Your VOICE, Podcasts to Publications.
As the CEO (Chief Excitement Officer) of Sparks of Fire International, she hosts The Power of Investing in People Podcast, is the author of How to Get Your Voice Back, is a Certified Fearless Living Coach and Trainer, and the Co-Founder of the #FIRESTARTERS Book Project.
“Auntie Shā-Shā” to all of her friends’ kids, she is also an expert dog sitter and a rookie kayaker. Most importantly, Shā wants to inspire others to move confidently through change so they can step into their FIRE power!
You are invited to join the Spark Your ALPHA community at www.shasparks.com
Aaron Walker
Aaron leads the ISI Mastermind Facilitators, coaches, and serves as Visionary for View from the Top.
For over 45 years, Aaron, has been a small business owner, committed husband, devoted father, and community leader. He got his first taste of real accountability in a business Mastermind group where he developed genuine friendships and grew alongside Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Ken Abraham, and others.
He currently serves as founder and CEO of View from the Top where Iron Sharpens Iron Masterminds, business coaching, and events all coordinate to achieve the mission.
Eric Nevins
After years of working in the financial industry, Eric Nevins launched his podcast, Halfway There, to tell the whole story about the spiritual journey. He quickly found the community podcasting is known for and started a group to bring Christian podcasters together. Since then, he’s worked with podcasters to launch and improve their podcast, most recently with Christian Podcasters Association.
Eric holds a Master of Divinity from Denver Seminary and still lives in Denver with his wife, four kids, and a wonder dog.
Create Your Own Goals and the Map to Your Path for a Live Beyond the Rut
If you liked what you heard in this episode and want to create your own path beyond the rut, then download this free tool called Measure It to Make It to guide you through setting goals that will have an impact. Now is the time to reflect on where you are, where you want to be, and decide on the actions that will take you there. Quit waiting to arrive at Someday Isle (“Someday I’ll”). Download the workbook now, and get started.
Resources
Subscribe on your favorite podcast player.
Other episodes you’ll enjoy:
How to Get Back on Track with Your Goals in Just 5 Minutes – JS001
How to Achieve Your Goals in 2022 and Beyond – BtR 288
Setting Goals to Achieve Success with This One Powerful Approach – BtR 266
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beyondtherut
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beyondtherut
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrydugan/
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Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
goals, people, life, accountability, eric, mindset, jerry, called, talk, podcast, friends, week, started, aaron, shay, family, growth mindset, tennis coach, writing, che
SPEAKERS
Jerry Dugan, Aaron Walker, Eric Nevins, Sha Sparks
Aaron Walker 00:00
Jerry, I’m curious, where was the pivotal moment for you when you put a stake in the ground and you said, hey, you know what, I’m going to be different, like what transpired in your mindset that caused you to go on that trajectory.
Jerry Dugan 00:12
Hey, Raider Nation, welcome to another episode of beyond the rut, the podcast that shares, encouraging stories and practical tools to help pull you out of your rut into a life worth living in the areas of your faith, your family and your career or business. I’m your host, Jerry Dugan. And in this episode, we’re going to be joined by a group of friends I gathered while I was attending Podcast Movement 2022, in Dallas, Texas, we’re going to be talking about goals, why you should have them and why not you should have them. So how to how to goals change your life. And what makes them work really is what we’re going to nail it down to because one of the members in our panel does not use goals, and she shares quite deeply why that’s the case. And when you dig deeper, though, you find that she has the other elements that make goals also successful. So we’re going to be talking about goals, as well as a cautionary tale to keep in mind when using written goals. So sit back and relax unless you’re trying to drive a semi truck that yeah, hijacked from a National Guard Armory, which you really should not because I think just a hunch here. I think that’s a federal offense. And it’s just downright dangerous. Don’t do it. So that disclaimer said let’s begin. All right. Hey, everybody in runner nation. This is Jerry, just like I said in the introduction. And I have here with me in the HubSpot booth. Eric Nevins from Christian podcasters Association. How’re you doing, Eric?
Eric Nevins 01:38
I’m doing great. Really happy to be here. Thanks, Jerry. Awesome. And
Jerry Dugan 01:41
then I’ve got chief excitement officer Shay sparks from the power of investing in people also the Lima Charlie network. Che How are you doing?
Sha Sparks 01:48
Well, of course, I’m excited. Yeah, you
Jerry Dugan 01:50
gotta be the chief accounting officer. Exactly. And then to my left, and everybody’s ears is Aaron Walker. He is the founder and the guy behind iron sharpens iron mastermind group. And we were supposed to get you on the show way back when and we failed. So I’m glad we finally fixed that. Hey,
Aaron Walker 02:08
Jerry, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be awesome.
Jerry Dugan 02:11
Now, what I roped you all into is to have a conversation about the power of having goals, whether they’re written, preferably written, and then how goals have shaped your success in life. And I guess ladies first Shay, if you want to share with us, you know, the power that having goals has had in your life?
Sha Sparks 02:28
Hmm, well, first of all, I learned to give up goals. I know that’s gonna Oh,
Jerry Dugan 02:33
Wow! The counter-argument right off the bat.
Sha Sparks 02:35
gonna be like, everybody’s gonna be like, Oh, my God, this No, no. No, so I had been gotten attached to the goal that I had set for myself so much, then it when I didn’t achieve it, I got into this like, self destructive behavior of beating myself up that inner negative critic that we all have. And when I started to let the goals go and use more affirmation statements, and use more intentions on what I what my goal was to set out to, rather than actually having a specific SMART goal, quote, unquote, life chained. And that’s when things really started to take off, pick up momentum. And, you know, things just really fell into place after that.
Jerry Dugan 03:19
Nice, nice. And that is something worth touching on in a moment. But I want to give Aaron a chance to chime in and then we’ll, we’ll think about Eric, no kidding.
Aaron Walker 03:27
You know, I’ll be the counterbalance. Okay, cuz I’m very goal oriented. I have been 43 years now in my career. But about, I guess, 10 years ago, I was sitting on the patio with a couple of buddies of mine, and I said, Hey, I want to have this many mastermind groups. I want to make this much money. I had retired, you know, 12 years ago. And I said, I want to do this thing financially. And I got really focused, had written tasks for each goal. There were things that I wanted to do each and every day. And I doubled all of the goals because of the intensity of the focus. And I think the accountability to have somebody that walks with you daily, that meets with you weekly, that helps you stay in touch with those tasks. Because you know, when you’re goal oriented, sometimes when they’re three years out, it becomes a very arduous task. Oh, yeah, to stay at that heightened awareness in that’s where the accountability really came into play. So yeah, laser focus, very clear written goals. You can crush it
Jerry Dugan 04:32
if you stay focused. How did you have those broken down into daily tasks?
Aaron Walker 04:35
Everyone? Yeah, we use Brian Moran’s 12 week year and each and every day we know exactly what it is that we’re to do.
Jerry Dugan 04:42
All right. And Eric health goals changed your life.
Eric Nevins 04:45
I’m just writing that reference to where I need to get. I’ve heard that. Yeah, you know, so I’m actually probably in between both of you. So I absolutely had ton of lot of success with writing down my goals. And then sometimes my At best, my best way to reach goals to get convinced myself is to actually have more of a skill based goal, I guess maybe where I’m much more invested in if it’s something that’s like, I want to acquire the skill I want to learn. So when I want to learn podcasting, that was how I had to do it in order to make myself get there, because I’m not just but I want to talk with a deep baritone voice. Sorry, I
Jerry Dugan 05:25
didn’t know. I want to add that to my skill goal. No,
Eric Nevins 05:29
I don’t think we all have our limitations.
Aaron Walker 05:33
Right. It’s just an upper limit challenge.
Jerry Dugan 05:38
You know, for me, I mean, I think the first written goal I had in my life, I was about 14 years old. And you know, when I was looking at the family around me, I had three uncles who were going through divorce, and they were not handling it well, to the point where they’re pretty much abusive or neglected to neglecting towards their kids. And I’m like, is this what life is like, I don’t like this, you know, if I go hang out with my cousins, we were the family that your security guards in the stores would follow around. And wow, you know, this is so odd. Like, this doesn’t happen in any of my friends. And so I started in now, kind of cocky, and maybe Joseph from the Bible kind of style of writing that goal down, I wrote it down in Christmas cards. And I gave them out to people in my family. And I just said, Hey, I want you to know that my goal in life is to change the trajectory of this family so that when we walk into a store, security is not following us. And they know our names in a good way that you’ll see our names on buildings that we are known for graduating from college, all that stuff, and, and some of them took it really well. Some of them are like, Who are you, you cocky little bleep bleep bleep. And so wound up being the first one to graduate from college, join the army, I was probably the first cousin to not live at home in his 20s. And it wasn’t until I hit my 30s that some of those cousins started to come back and remind me that because of that card, I held on to that card, and I I went to community college, he got an Associate’s degree. And so like I was doing the thing, and I’m like, wow,
Aaron Walker 07:01
Jerry, do you realize that you change family trees? Yeah, yep, it was. Right, this is going to go on. So man, way to go. Yeah,
Sha Sparks 07:10
What a legacy!
Jerry Dugan 07:11
The The next goal off of that was I need my kids to be better than me. Not that I’m the standard, but that they’re better people, they got better character. And sure enough, they handle stress way better than I do. And my daughter handles relationship issues way better than her mom and dad do. And
Aaron Walker 07:26
yeah, a great lesson in this is it was a mindset shift that you implemented action. It wasn’t just a pipeline dream. It was very goal oriented, but you were very focused and took actionable steps. And so here you are today,
Jerry Dugan 07:39
and then listening to all four of us. I mean, we’ve got you know, I do similar what out Aaron does, where you have like a three to five year plan. You break it down in milestones, and I have that for things like, publish a book or do so many speaking engagement. And then so there are daily activities for those. But then there’s the broader vision, why am I doing this? And, and then, you know, what are skills I need to pick up? So Eric mentioned, you know, some skill based type of goals. And then Shay mentioned, you know, not doing them, because you pick on yourself too much. And right,
Sha Sparks 08:09
but you did the affirmation, literally, you wrote down the affirmation, which is what I that’s what I believe in definitely writing down the affirmation part of it. And that’s
Jerry Dugan 08:17
the key thing, I think, because I mean, we’re gonna have seasons where we don’t hit these goals. And we got to be able to forgive ourselves and say, Hey, this is why I didn’t hit it, or this came up and my priorities shifted, or, you know, it turns out, that really wasn’t my goal. I don’t want to do
Aaron Walker 08:30
that. Well, you got to learn to pivot, right? Yeah, you find out halfway in that it’s not something that you really wanted, or it’s not giving you what you thought it was gonna give you and you pivot. And so, you know, failure is in stopping a failure is not in not succeeding. And so the failure would be not trying. And so it’s very important, I created a program called come as you will be. And what we do is really pick out aspirational goals personally, professionally, relationally, financially and physically. And then we really hyper focus on each goal in each of those areas for that 12 week period. If that way you catch your breath, you know, and then you go and you attack it for additional second 12 weeks, and you just continue to do that forever. How long it’s going to take for you to accomplish your goal.
Jerry Dugan 09:14
A lot of us are wired for those short Sprint’s and yeah, that’s that’s powerful, because I mean, ultimately, we’re doing a long run a marathon. But yeah, those short Sprint’s help us get that focus, get that next piece,
Aaron Walker 09:26
so you get in trouble when you etch it in stone, and then you feel like I can’t change it. And that’s not true. It’s like, you know, let’s test it for a 12 week period, and reiterate, you know, pivot and then set your sights on the next 12 weeks.
Sha Sparks 09:39
Well, I think that goes along with the growth mindset. So instead of having a fixed you’re having a growth mindset, where you’re looking at it as not a failure, you didn’t fail at this, you didn’t fail the test. You literally learned something new or learned at an learning experience about what you did. And that’s the thing I shifted in my own mindset about goals is How can I use what I just went through as a learning experience in order to apply it to the next action? Yeah.
Jerry Dugan 10:05
Eric, anything that
Eric Nevins 10:06
so much? I’m just I’m thinking? Yeah, absolutely. I was thinking about my journey from growing up in a place where it’s really fixed mindset, right? You can’t, you can’t like you just are, who you are. And some of the experiences that I had, like, as a kid growing up, and I remember going to baseball trout, little older, like maybe middle school, you know, and not having practice at all, because nobody told me to practice or, or doing musicals. And in high school, I was not a singer I was, but like, what it would have taken to, like, succeed at that, and to where I am now with podcasting, right, where that’s, that is exactly what I’ve done with that growth mindset. Just an interesting journey. About how that how that works, you know, and, you know, we don’t always get that, but then you can you can acquire it, right, which is one of the things I really love, about about goals about mindset. Yeah.
Jerry Dugan 10:59
neuroplasticity, right? That That ability to change your your thought patterns, learn new skills, no matter what age you are.
Aaron Walker 11:07
Carol Dweck talks about that a lot in mindset. And the important factor, though, is the people that you surround yourself with for the accountability has to have a growth mindset. Right. So we got to be careful when we’re selecting partners. Yes,
Jerry Dugan 11:20
yes. My extended family, the one I mentioned earlier, they were definitely not growth mindset there. They wouldn’t be who you grew up with phrases like why you’re reading a book, what’s never gonna get you a job? And I’m like, Oh, well, if I could talk to you today,
Aaron Walker 11:34
I would say I don’t want a job. I want to own the biz. Yeah, you keep working on the business.
Jerry Dugan 11:39
Yeah. You know, just reading, expanding your mindset. And it was, that was like a limiting belief they had and wanted to project on other people. And, you know, that’s something to keep in mind too, is that, you know, when you are sharing it with folks, you’re gonna identify, they’re, they’re gonna let themselves be known who’s that growth mindset person will support you? And who’s that fixed mindset person who’s going to hold you back? Because you represent everything they’re not doing? And there’s no way they’re going to allow that to happen.
Aaron Walker 12:05
Jerry, I’m curious, where was the pivotal moment for you, when you put a stake in the ground and you said, hey, you know what, I’m going to be different, like what transpired in your mindset that caused you to go on that trajectory.
Jerry Dugan 12:16
It was a three year window. So my parents divorced when I was 11. And so my, my father was suicidal. My brother and I were staying with my dad. And we saw him attempt to commit suicide every day, for about a month before he finally got caught. He had a scar on his neck that he couldn’t hide. He was in the army. So we went through foster care, we lived with an aunt and uncle finally get reunited with my dad who’s healed. And we moved to California to be, you know, to get support from his extended family from his parents, his brother, so my extended family. And that’s when we hit that family house close to age 12. By then, and everybody in this extended family is hurting going through divorce, you got a grandfather who’s just chipping away at everybody’s ego, because he’s got to be the big dog in the family. And you see the toll it’s taken on the sons, they all feel they’re not adequate. And they all just had wives leave them except for one uncle. And all those dads who had or uncles who had a wife leave them there picking on their kids, actually, I became the runt because I was the biracial outsider in the family. And I didn’t blend in. So I grew up with names like gook and chink and nip and halfbreed. And Bo person, I’m like, this sucks.
Aaron Walker 13:27
But look what you did, though, you took something that most people would have crawled under their desk in a fetal position. And you said, I’m gonna choose to let this devastation this travesty in my life make me better. Yeah, that’s a real encouragement to these listeners today out there that are going through similar things. We have a choice. Yeah. And you chose to make something of yourself. I think
Jerry Dugan 13:47
I had a really good group of friends in middle school, one more high school. So that’s about when I was 14 years old. And I just looked up and looked at my friends. And I’m like, these guys want to go on family vacations, they want to see grandma, grandpa, they love their cousins, I hang out with them. And their cousins. These guys are great people, their parents, if they’re still married, love each other. I’m like, this is completely different than what I’ve got. So what I have does not have to be. And so I just started taking notes, what my friends and their parents were doing and started shaping that I wanted my life to eventually be like, you saw
Eric Nevins 14:22
a vision, like what it could be Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Sha Sparks 14:25
Well, like Erin said, you know, you made that decision, you know, hurt people hurt people because they’re hurting. And I totally believe that empowered people empowered people because they’re empowered, right? And you made that decision like I am drew the line in the sand, I am not going to end up like this. And then you became empowered just by making that decision. And then that led to making more empowered decisions.
Aaron Walker 14:47
I think it’s interesting. Also, a lot of people that make radical transformational experiences are as the result of these devastations people that follow me know that I had an automobile accident and killed a pedestrian and it was pivotal moment in my life, because I said, Hey, I had success, but I had no significance. And now I’ve devoted the entire fourth quarter of my life to helping look out be the giver, not a taker, right? It was that Mike McCalla wits called me recently, he’s writing a new book wanted to interview me about that topic. And he said, more people have these catastrophic events in their life. And they can do one or two things, they can sit down and die, or they can move on. And you chose the greater path. And so it’s very inspiring. So thank you for sharing. Thank
Jerry Dugan 15:31
you. Yeah, I think part of that also was because I had seen my dad attempting suicide. That was not an option for me. I’m like, I’m not gonna go out like that. And so it’s like, well, if I took that off the table, what do I have to do? Now? I don’t want to be like everybody else in this family that why there’s no reason for that. And so yeah, I just thought, what if I do it differently? And oh, man, that was Jesus. I’m 46. Now. So that was 32 years ago. And so it’s not like I drew the line in the sand. I was instantly like this person I wanted to become, it’s like, I had to unlearn 14 years of behavior patterns. And not just Yeah, so that was cash, it took more than double.
Sha Sparks 16:10
The Life’s good for you that you did that. 14, how many people out there that are listening are doing it at 30 at 40 and 50, unlearning all of the generational childhood things that we’ve experienced shape our adult decisions, right? So you allowed it to only go on for 14 years. So if you’re listening, make that decision today to change that.
Jerry Dugan 16:31
I didn’t expect this to turn on me. This is your shows, and we get to interview you. But you know, we don’t showcase me. It’s always about the guests. And I mean, you all got a lot that you bring to the table. That’s that’s why you’re in here. And Wow. Thank you. Now, accountability, we talked about it a little bit, you know, the importance of having people who are growth mindset driven, who are going to be supportive. Tell us a little bit about, we’ll start with Eric, Christian podcasters. Association, CPA gold is a specific membership that helps people. Tell us more about that, and how you help them achieve their goals.
Eric Nevins 17:04
Yeah, so that’s part of our larger group of Christian podcasters is associated with Shun, which is a Facebook group. We have about 3000 people in there, which is great Christian podcasters, helping them connect, learn about the, you know, how to do all the things. And then, you know, just grow, I really believe that podcasting is as much a personal growth journey as it is an audience growth journey. But then within the specific membership, we get together every Tuesday night, and we talk, we go through the I say from mindset to monetization, so all the things and we bring in speakers, sometimes we mastermind sometimes, and we just challenge each other to do that. And so we do, you know, sometimes I’ll, we’ll talk about goals, right? We’ll say, okay, what are you working on? We do that twice a year. So at the end of the year, in the middle of the year review, what have we done? What do you want to do? And, and kind of set that on paper so that we know we have a target that we’re working towards? Yeah,
Jerry Dugan 18:02
yeah. We just went to that conversation a couple of weeks ago, in fact, yeah. So I got I got some work to do. I’m gonna ask you about that December, right. Yeah. And a couple more months. It’s like, Hey, where are you with these things? Or in
Eric Nevins 18:13
a in a in a group? So sometimes we update as well. Yeah, see what we’re doing. Shay.
Jerry Dugan 18:17
I know. I’m thinking about Lima Charlie network, but you’re also involved with something called firestarters. And the military creator con and your net worked in in a bunch of networks. Tell us about where you draw, like accountability and support. And yeah,
Sha Sparks 18:33
well, I’m just thinking about the story. When you were 14, you had this amazing network already. That was literally speaking life into you at that moment. And for me, I heard and I’m gonna get the quote wrong. It’s, you become the five people that you surround yourself with, right? And I was looked around and don’t get me wrong, my friends, my my support system, my family was okay. But I wanted more than where they were. And I was like, okay, so if I want more than what they were, what do I need to do? And I literally just started on the computer on the good ol internet, researching millionaires and billionaires and like, okay, so what is it that they do? And there were so many different answers that I got, right? And I started to then read books, like how to influence people, right? And one of the things is, meet people be a Go Giver, like Bob Berg talks about right? I love that book, go giver. So you know, give, introduce people connect people. If you help enough people get what they want, eventually, you’ll get what you want, right? And I just have lived my life like that. So that’s how I got connected. That’s what Podcast Movement has done for me and since 2018, where we first met Jerry and and Eric do and it was like, Oh my gosh, this is just such an amazing community. But then I live my life like that. So yeah, Lima Charlie network is that what we’re part of, is just this fantastic group of individuals that really help each other grow in their podcasting and in their personal life to have they need something that so they can reach out and be like hamster toggling with this like I had a recent move. And all of you guys were so great. Like, you know, do you need something? Can I help you? You need to vent? Like, how was the transition going? Because you will have had lots of experience with transitions within the military and I hadn’t. So it was just such it was so amazing to just be able to find different networks in whether it’s Facebook, or whether it was a meetup group to just look at people as How can I help them? And how can I connect them, which is what I do all day long. And I love it, it brings me energy. Because just like right here, I’m like, Hey, have you met this person? Oh, you need to meet this person. And this just happened at another podcast conference we were at in May, I literally had been hanging out with these two people separately for the whole week. And at the last night, I’m like, Hey, have you met each other because you’re both out in LA. And they’re like, No, and come to find out. One is a tennis coach, the other one has been walking by the gym that that tennis coach works in and needs a tennis coach. And I was like, there we go, My job here is done. So for me, it’s about being able to one be vulnerable, and ask for help when I needed it. And to surrounding yourself with people that are literally going to lift you up. And also be honest and transparent with you. If they’re like, Yeah, you don’t want to do that.
Jerry Dugan 21:15
And that’s powerful, too, and goes back to the having those affirmations for what you want your life to be like, and then surround yourself with people that you know will be supportive and and help you grow as opposed to not don’t do that or not do that. Because I don’t want you to do better than me. Yeah, that’s yeah, you avoid those folks.
Sha Sparks 21:34
Well, that’s a fear based thing. Don’t do that as a fear based thing. So you know, that’s what I coach in, so I can see right through that. But if they’re asking me or telling me literally like that, what is that going to do for you? They ask, they support me in a different way than just saying an order of don’t do that. Right? They’ll ask you tell me your thought process around that. So someone who asked questions, I think would be huge.
Jerry Dugan 21:55
Oh, nice. Yeah. That’s something to look for folks, when you’re looking for that accountability with your goals. I looked at Eric when I said that. I don’t know why.
Sha Sparks 22:04
He’s gonna ask you questions later. Why don’t ya know,
Jerry Dugan 22:06
right? Like, darn it. It wasn’t our show, too. He knows I know. So Aaron. Rothstein, my head I’m talking about iron sharpens iron the mastermind group, how does that help people achieve that next level for
Aaron Walker 22:17
every applicant that signs up for iron sharpens iron mastermind, one of the key things that they say is they need to be held accountable. And so you got to break that down, you got to think about what does that even mean? And it’s got to be a willing participant. First of all, you can’t impose accountability on anybody. You’ve got to be willing to subject yourself to the scrutiny of other individuals, of people that want to walk alongside you. So what are you going to do to anybody anyway? Right? I mean, just like what, okay, you didn’t do it? So what am I going to do to you now, I can’t send you to jail. And so but people want to be held accountable, they want to be called up, they want to be called to a higher standard. So for us, we created the comm as you will be program and we aligned with that a digital accountability tool, that every week, you have to rank yourself where you’re at with your task in all five areas. So every week that accountability tool is posted in your group’s Facebook, everybody gets to see the result. Well, nobody wants to go in there not have accomplished their tasks. Like you don’t have a loser on your forehead. Yeah. Right. So you do the thing. And so when you don’t, it’s like, come on, Jerry, you can do this. Well, if you don’t have accountability, who’s gonna say, hey, Jerry, you got to do this, nobody. So we procrastinate, we kick the can down the road. Next thing you know, you’ve got a new goal, and no one’s held you accountable to the previous goal. So we really focus at a very high level, we have accountability partners, we assigned you every month you have a new partner. So people are walking with you every day, on a personal level, for me 30 years, every Monday at 630. I meet with three guys. And we do this in person. And they asked me intimately questions about my personal life, they know everything about me. If I didn’t have that, I probably would have made some horrific decisions along the way. And I know I’ve got to report to these guys, every single week, you do that for three decades, that’s a high level of accountability. That kind of keeps the guardrails up and helps you walk the straight and narrow.
Jerry Dugan 24:11
I’ve got small group of guys, we call ourselves Bible and bacon. Because we’d go to Steve’s house and eat bacon and talk about the Bible. But we dig into our lives, like what’s going well, what’s not going well? How would you rate your marriage going on right now or your relationship with your kids? And just to get it out there and get feedback, based on like, how we’re talking, just our mindset as we’re talking about the event. It would help us reframe our perspective on the situation all sudden, like, we’re like superstar husband, when we go home, we’re like, Hey, honey, what do you think about this? And she’s like, Yeah, I didn’t think you understood where I was coming from for that. I’m like, oh, man, I love these guys.
Aaron Walker 24:49
We’ll see. It’s pretty cool. When you have people around you that know you intimately, they can ask you those accountable questions because we’re in isolation. The pandemic really did that too. us to a higher level of degree and isolation is the enemy of excellence. And if we want to really excel, we’ve got to get around other competent, capable people that can hold you accountable.
Jerry Dugan 25:09
I’ve got one guy, friend of mine, Scott Brown. When he holds his friends accountable, the guy is powerful when he does it, cuz he just asked you a question. And he stares at you says nothing else. He’s gives you the time to think about your excuse, get past your excuse to get to the answer. And then he holds you accountable to the answer. And you’re like, hey, this guy. I love this guy. But yeah, it just made me think about Scott. Now folks want to get in touch with you learn more about iron sharpens iron. How do they find Yeah,
Aaron Walker 25:36
go to View from the top.com. We would love to interact with you to see if we can help you. You know, fill out an application you’re not committed because of that. But it gives us an opportunity to discuss where you’re at. If you want to accomplish some amazing goals, and be held accountable. Reach out to us.
Jerry Dugan 25:53
Awesome. Shay, if people want to reach out to you and learn more about the chief excitement officer, how do they reach out to you?
Sha Sparks 26:00
Yeah, you can go to my website at Shea sparks.com at the J SP AR K s.com. And you can connect with me on all my social media links as well that’s on the page. But I go by Shea sparks on everything. And send me a message I love to hear. You know, people always ask me questions all the time. My email is ask che sparks at Gmail. And I have a che che sparks.com. And people ask me things that are so random. And yet it’s it’s not random at all. I feel like everyone has a question about something and it can be relationships or business related or podcasts or even veteran resources. And on my my, on my podcast, if I may, there’s a intro they can have a call with me, they can go straight to my calendar link and set up a connection call and see how I can how I can connect with them and support them.
Jerry Dugan 26:44
Nice, nice. And Eric, I know your phone number is 555-867-5309. So just give them a call. Send them you know what you’re eating for dinner? Oh, like it’s no kidding. How do people reach out to you? Yeah.
Eric Nevins 26:56
So the websites, Christian podcasters association.com, you can connect there. Check out all the all the memberships and everything that we offer. So
Jerry Dugan 27:05
nice. And then going back around the horn. One last word of wisdom you’d like to share with those listening right now?
Eric Nevins 27:12
Yeah, well, whatever your goal is, you just need to start, right. So just get get going and take that one step. And so that all begins with that with that one action.
Sha Sparks 27:22
I’m gonna say, find someone that’s doing better than you and then connect with for you that aspirational goal that you want that they already have, connect with them and see how they got there. Listen to their journey. I guarantee it wasn’t a straight line to success. So
Aaron Walker 27:35
yeah. Yeah, you know, I think fear really holds a lot of people back. And I just want to encourage you today to fear missing the opportunity more than you fear failure, and develop a mindset of I can do that my mom had a saying when I was a child can’t couldn’t do it, but could did it all. And I’ve adopted that mindset for my entire career. So just develop a mindset of I can do it. And just be fearful of missing that opportunity more than your fear failure.
Jerry Dugan 28:04
Nice. Nice. Eric. Aaron Shay, thanks so much for jumping on here to talk to runner nation. Glad to know y’all. And we’ll get you on again to have your own solo shows.
Aaron Walker 28:14
Thank you. Thanks to you.
Jerry Dugan 28:16
Now, I hope you got a lot out of this conversation I had with Eric Shea and Aaron, as we talked about goals, why we should have them how they work for us why Shay does not have goals. And we also talked about the value of accountability and checking in with somebody with regular reports, and tracking our progress. So if you found value in that, hit the share button and share this episode with somebody you know, a friend, a family member, a co worker or that neighbor across the street. That’s right. And if you want a free tool to help you write down your goals, your why your big bucket list and then break it down into actionable items, then I recommend you download my free resource called measure it to make it because you get what you inspect. And as you track your progress. Even if you share it with a friend, or somebody you trust like a coach, you’re gonna find that you’re able to see when you’re hitting success and where you’re falling away from it. But as che said, keep in mind that you don’t want to beat yourself up with that. So to get that free resource go to beyond the rut.com/goals. There you can download that for yourself. If you want to check out the show notes and find where do these folks live on the internet. Then go to beyond the rut.com/ 337 though you’ll find links to their shows to their websites and also this whole tool I was just talking about measure it to make it now I’m glad you joined me this week and I look forward to joining you again next week. But until next time, go live life beyond the rut. Take care
