28. Julie Ellis: Make 2025 Your BEST Year

EPISODE 28

What if you could transform your biggest dreams into tangible achievements? Join me, Julie Ellis, as we journey through the art of setting and conquering big, gorgeous goals in a solo episode of Figure Eight.

Drawing from my book "Big, Gorgeous Goals," I share actionable tools to help you turn ambitions into reality. Together, we'll explore the importance of aligning goals with personal purpose, making space for creativity, and embracing the urgency to redefine our paths. Discover how to manage to-do lists and embrace SMART goals, all while keeping your energy levels high, even on the toughest days.

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• ABOUT Julie

  You can connect with Julie on LinkedIn or Instagram.
  
  Find Julie's writing at her blog or by ordering Big Gorgeous Goals. 
  
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• EPISODE TIMESTAMPS

  Julie discusses…
  
  (00:00:04) Chasing Big, Gorgeous Goals

  (00:05:41) Navigating the Big, Gorgeous Goals

  (00:20:18) Empowering Women Entrepreneurs Through Growth

• EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

  Julie: 0:04

  Welcome to Figure Eight, where we feature inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs who have grown their businesses to seven and eight figures revenue.

  Julie: 0:14

  If you're in the mix of growing a bigger business, these stories are for you. Join us as we explore where the tough spots are, how to overcome them and how to prepare yourself for the next portion of the climb. I'm your host, julie Ellis. I'm an author, entrepreneur and a growth and leadership coach who co-founded, grew and exited an eight-figure business. This led me to exploring why some women achieve great things, and that led to my book Big, gorgeous Goals. Let's explore the systems, processes and people that help us grow our businesses to new heights. If you're interested in growing your business, this podcast will help. Now let's get going. Hello and welcome to this episode of Figure Eight. Today, I am with you over this holiday season and as we end the year in 2024 for a solo episode, and I'm interested in talking about how to make the new year your game-changing year. And, as it turns out, 2025 is the start of the second half of the decade, of the 2020s, and I think, if you're anything like me, the first half of the decade probably didn't go as you planned, and sitting here at the midpoint, it's kind of easy to look back and wonder where five years went, which is all at once a bit of a scary thought, and so I got to thinking about how are we going to shape the next five years so that we don't sit on the eve of 2030 wondering if we got to where we wanted to go, or being a little unsure, or, in fact, knowing we didn't get where we wanted to go. So this principle is or this presentation, rather is rooted really in the principles of my book Big, gorgeous Goals, which is all about setting ambitious, joyful goals and bringing them to life. Today, I want to give you some practical tools and a framework to help you not just dream big, but also take meaningful steps to turn those dreams into reality. So I think we'll talk about things like what are the stages of a big, gorgeous goal, how do we create space for magic so that we can let our creativity flow, and how do we harness our goals by aligning them with our purpose. We'll dive into some actionable first steps. We'll talk about to-do lists and SMART goals, and then we'll wrap up with a little bit of how to evaluate and recalibrate as you go.

  Julie: 3:13

  So, as I said, ending this first half of the decade makes me feel some amount of urgency to figure out where I'm going. The last five years it really went so quickly and so many things happened. I think that it changed certainly my business, where I thought I would be with it. It changed what I want in life and what I think my goals are, and so it's time now to think about how I want to end the decade, where I want to go in the next year, where I want to go in the next three years, five years, and to get there I need to do some work right now. So I hope you'll join me on this ride.

  Julie: 3:57

  Let's talk about chasing our big, gorgeous goals and what it takes to get there. Why do we sometimes feel like we're lost in the dust of our to-do lists, like other people are out there doing really big things and you know we have a nice clean inbox without too many emails in it, or you know a really busy and full calendar, but we're not actually creating the space that we need to to make sure we're dreaming big and to implement all of the plans we need to do in order to get to achieving those dreams. So it doesn't have to be hard, but we all probably need to change some things in order to get to where we want to be. So let's go, let's define a big, gorgeous goal and let's talk about what makes that. What makes any goal a big, gorgeous goal. A big, gorgeous goal, it's not a checkbox on a to-do list, it's aspirational, it excites you, it stretches you, it fills you with joy and it's the kind of goal that energizes you even on tough days. But those big goals can also feel really overwhelming and scary, and it's the first thing you probably feel after you set a big, gorgeous goal is some amount of fear. But if we break down the idea of setting a big, gorgeous goal and starting to move towards it, then we can really make some progress and we can sort of box up the fear and put it off to the side so we can keep moving.

  Julie: 5:41

  So when we think about the stages of big, gorgeous goals, there are five key stages that I like to think about. So first is we have to make time and space and give ourselves permission to think boldly. We need to dream, we need to imagine what's possible for us and we need to give ourselves permission to think big. We let go of our limitations and we imagine possibility for ourselves. In this dreaming phase, it might mean that you need to say no to things that are cluttering up your calendar. We can all scroll less on social media. We can all binge watch one less show per night. We can find time in order to create a little bit of magic. If you're not doing those things, what can you say no to on your calendar? How can you scrape together 30 to 60 minutes to get outside into nature, to walk, to imagine things and to kind of really explore what are the big things that you're dreaming about? If you were to step boldly into your own magnificence?

  Julie: 6:54

  Next, once we take some time to really dream boldly and imagine those things, we need to clarify our vision. So we need to take that dream and we need to turn it into something tangible. This is where we need to write down our goal. We need to go through a process where we make the notes and do the things and you know, kind of look at it and think about, if I'm successful here, how's that going to feel? What's it going to look like? Where am I going to be Now as you clarify your vision and write down your goal. You may not know everything. There may be big blank spots in how you're going to get there, how you're going to have the money to get there, get the knowledge you need, meet the people you need to meet. That's okay and that's totally normal to not have all of that perfectly clear. It will come.

  Julie: 7:49

  Once you have that vision down, then it's time to start thinking about mapping the journey. This is about identifying your milestones along the way. What steps are going to take you closer to your goal? How are you going to think about those first initial things that you need to do? Creating a little map, a little timeline. It doesn't have to be super detailed and in fact, I would argue with you the farther out you get into the timeline, the less detail you're going to be able to put together and come up with. Once you have that idea of a roadmap, then it's about starting to take action. Idea of a roadmap, then it's about starting to take action, moving forward with purpose, starting small, but starting, and then evaluating and refreshing your goal. So take a minute now and think about what is your big, gorgeous goal for 2025? What's something you've always wanted to achieve, and I want you to write it down. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be something that excites you.

  Julie: 9:00

  One of my favorite concepts in goal setting is creating space for magic, and magic happens to us when we leave room for our intuition, our creativity and the serendipitous moments that happen to guide us towards success. So how do we do that? Well, we start by decluttering. We need to declutter physically, emotionally and mentally. We need to build that white space I talked about earlier into our schedule. We need time to pause, reflect and just be. If you have a little bit of time off over these holidays and you can scoot outside by yourself or with your dog for a walk for half an hour or 45 minutes on your own in the quiet, that can be a great place to start. When you give yourself this space, you'll be amazed at how breakthroughs and fresh ideas show up.

  Julie: 9:59

  For me, I schedule no meeting days or half days where I can focus on creative thinking, and you've got to try the different things until you can figure out where your magic happens. So in order to get to creating the space for magic, we need to figure out learning the strategic no clearing that little bit of space that you need in order to think creatively, you need to stay out of the weeds, because saying I'll do it when my inbox is cleaned out, your inbox probably will never be cleaned out, so you will default to the busy work and I recognize some of the email that you get is probably important but you will default to the busy work that eclipses the big, important things you need to chase. You need to find that time on your calendar for thinking and create the right conditions for dreaming for yourself. Let's go back and talk a little more about harnessing the goals, and this is where you align your goals with your purpose and you build your energy so that you can sustain the chase and the you know you have enough to give for the road that's needed ahead.

  Julie: 11:16

  You've got to ask yourself why does a goal matter? To me, understanding the deeper why. Behind our goals, it creates powerful motivation within us to move towards them. And then we've got to work with our energy when we're at our peak during the day. How do we use that time to really push forward to our big, gorgeous goals? Our most important tasks should be done in the time when we have the most energy. And then how do we use tools to stay on track. You know, visualization is a great way to mentally rehearse our success and to build accountability within us. But I think it's always great to have an accountability, a partner, a mentor or a group that can keep you moving forward. So I highly encourage you to speak your role to someone else and create a process with them, a check-in schedule where you can talk about where you might be stuck and have somebody who really believes in your ability to go forward and achieve.

  Julie: 12:20

  Once you're into first steps, then how do you go from big to small? You know, and I think sometimes big, gorgeous goals can feel overwhelming because they are so big. So the secret is that we have to break them down into small, manageable steps, and we need to start with tasks that build momentum for us so that we get some quick wins and we start to feel accomplished. A written record is key, so make notes, have a goal journal, set up a specific notebook for you to jot your ideas and your dreams into and to also then think about how you're going to. You know, keep moving forward. What are the next steps? How are you going to get towards them and what do you need? Who do you need to meet? What do you need to you know, learn all of the pieces of that, because the first thing that's going to happen to you, after you set some big, gorgeous goals and do the big, big work, think boldly the first thing that will happen is that you will feel afraid because you're pushing at the edges of your comfort zone, your abilities, what you know right now, who you know right now, how you can do these things, and so it always feels scary as we step into the unknown.

  Julie: 13:38

  Once the goals are recorded, then we're just going to map out what are the first things we're going to do At least three steps. Consider the gaps who, what or money or knowledge, people, achievable, relative and time-bound. So if you're going to set, you know, goals like that, they can help you get towards the big thing. But then it's a little bit like a mountain. You look at the top and the top is really far away. So tuck the big part of the goal away and put your head down and start putting one foot in front of the other. Get those three steps underway, start moving, and then you go back in a little while and you look and you're like I made some progress. I actually, if I look behind me, I can see those steps that I made. And then you set out some more steps. You put your head back down and you keep walking, because the mountaintops are always really far away. And so if you have a little process where you can, you know, take those small steps forward and make yourself go, take your eye off the big prize and work on just making some progress, you can start to see an accumulation of things you've been able to do and, although it still looks really far away to get to the goal, you know that you're accumulating and growing yourself towards it. So take a few minutes now and get out that notebook and write down some tasks, a to-do list or a SMART goal for the big, gorgeous goal that you identified already.

  Julie: 15:35

  So now that you're ready to go, let's talk about how you're going to evaluate and calibrate. Every three months you need to take time and reflect on the three A's. You need to assess, analyze and adjust. So first of all is assess when are you compared to your goal? How did you do on those first few steps that you wrote down? Then we're going to analyze what's working, what's not working, where are you stuck? What help do you need in order to get things moving again? And then we're going to adjust. We're going to make those changes to our plan. We're going to look up at the big goal. We're going to make those changes to our plan. We're going to look up at the big goal. We're going to make sure it's still the right place for us to be moving towards, and we're going to come back down, figure out our next few steps, adjust the plan if needed.

  Julie: 16:30

  This is also a great time to celebrate any wins you've been able to accumulate over the last quarter. They are so key. Thinking about what went well keeps you motivated, and I think we have to be unafraid to pivot if something isn't working. Flexibility has to be a part of our process. And you know what? If you haven't actually gotten anything done, give yourself some grace replan, look forward and think about getting moving again. It happens to us all that we get stuck, and figuring out when we're stuck, how to get moving again, is such an important part of people who achieve their big, gorgeous goals. They're able to get moving again. It is not that they don't get stuck. We all get stuck. It's figuring out how to get yourself going again. That sets apart people who achieve their big, gorgeous goals from those who might feel like they're caught in those to-dos and the tiny steps.

  Julie: 17:35

  So think about how you can get quarterly evaluations into your 2025 schedule. What tools will you use? Are you going to journal? Are you going to use an app? Are you going to do something else? Can you schedule the time into your calendar right now and, once it's there, honor it fiercely? All right, so take out your calendar now and schedule those check-ins. I recommend half a day each quarter, no screens, a notebook, a pen or a marker. Review the goal, review the steps you needed, figure out how to get to the next spot and what you're going to do for the next 90 days. Dream a little more. Make sure that the goal you're chasing is the right one and adjust it. If you're not, if you're learning more about it and you need to make adjustments, do it All right.

  Julie: 18:29

  So today we've talked about big, gorgeous goals. They're ambitious, they're joyful, they're transformative and we need to create the space for magic, to allow our creativity to flow and imagine what's possible for us and what we really want. Then we need to harness our goals, we need to align them with our purpose and we need to figure out what are our first steps. What are the tasks, to-do lists and SMART goals that are going to make them actionable? What are the tasks, to-do lists and SMART goals that are going to make them actionable? And then our quarterly evaluations are going to keep us on track and make sure that we stay flexible and adaptable to what we need. I want to leave you with a question today. What's one thing you're going to do right now to make 2025 your game-changing year? Write it down and commit to it.

  Julie: 19:29

  Thank you for listening to my podcast. Over the last year, I have so enjoyed my conversations with other women entrepreneurs and learning about their businesses and why they decided they wanted to grow bigger businesses. I'm looking forward to bringing you more stories in 2025. And I hope that if you or someone you know would be a great guest on my podcast, that you reach out. I would love to meet you and I would love to speak to the people who inspire you. Thank you, and I'm wishing you all the best for a game-changing year in 2025. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please remember to hit subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you won't miss any episodes.

  Julie: 20:18

  Figure Eight isn't just a podcast. It's a way of seeing the big, gorgeous goals of women entrepreneurs coming to life. If you're interested in learning more, you can find my book Big, gorgeous Goals on Amazon, anywhere you might live. For more about my growth and leadership training programs. Visit www. julieellis.ca to see how we might work together. Read my blog or sign up to get your free diagnostic. Are you ready for growth? Once again, that's www. julieellis.ca. When we work together, we all win. See you again soon for another episode of Figure Eight.