The arrival of a new year often sparks an enthusiasm that makes us set wildly ambitious resolutions. Shed 60 lbs? On it. Become fluent in French? Let’s go. And then would you believe it, a few weeks down the line, you’re done. One of the biggest reasons why resolutions are set up for failure is because we never stop to break it down into smaller steps.
While we absolutely encourage you to have goals or resolutions (which, by the way, don’t have to start on January 1st!), we also need to make sure we take the *right* approach. In this episode, Nicki and Kate break down how to make our goals more effective, more fulfilling, and more fun!
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A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[1:45] People often set a resolution in January, work on it for a couple of weeks, and then give up. But that doesn’t mean we failed, it means we need to reevaluate it. Was the goal too big?
[5:55] To make any meaningful progress on a goal, you have to break it down into smaller steps. While it’s great to have overarching goals, you need a plan to get there—otherwise it’s just too overwhelming.
[8:32] If you want to achieve a goal, you have to consider what habits you can set up that will make it effectively inevitable for you to get to that end result.
[10:16] You don’t always need to put a hard and fast number on things—giving yourself a range to work toward can be more motivating and avoid feelings of “failure”. For example, if sending five pitches a week is your goal, you might aim to send between three and six pitches a week.
[11:06] If you don’t have that deeper essence of why this goal matters, it’s going to be really hard to get yourself to take these actions.
[12:30] You will find it a lot easier to achieve your goals if you find some way to make them enjoyable.
[14:11] Your resolutions don’t have to be huge, overarching goals. When they’re smaller and more manageable, you’re more likely to do them and feel the benefits of accomplishment.
[15:07] Our hosts suggest their first idea for a resolution: not settling for a crummy job. That doesn’t have to mean that you switch jobs this year—it could just mean you start exploring your options. If you’re already copywriting, it could mean re-evaluating the clients you’re working with.
[16:49] There are lots of different milestones that fall under the general goal of becoming a copywriter. For example, sending out your first pitch, building your portfolio, or telling people you are becoming a copywriter.
[22:47] A lot of new copywriters fall into the trap of wanting to learn everything there is to know, not just about copywriting, but about marketing as a whole. But you’re going to slow yourself down immensely if you try to take on every other career possible within marketing.
[24:27] Feeling like you need to learn everything is a form of resistance kicking up. If someone’s hiring you to be a copywriter, you’re not expected to know anything outside of that.
[26:27] Kate shares that one of her resolutions for this year is to ask for help when needed. It’s important to get comfortable with the feeling of *not* knowing something and that it’s perfectly fine to reach out to people (or other resources) for help.
[29:57] Now is a good time to either go back and relook at the resolutions you set, or maybe set a new resolution. Look for ways to make progress and build habits that will make that progress inevitable (but also fun along the way!).
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“Overall what we would encourage you to do is figure out what direction you want to head and then figure out how you can get there, how you can make it as enjoyable as possible, and how you can make it as fulfilling as possible. And yes, fulfillment comes from doing things outside of your comfort zone so it’s not going to be—and it shouldn’t be— easy because we feel better about when we accomplish things that stretched us a little bit.” – Nicki
“My resolution is to ask for help when I need it. And I think this plays into feeling like we have to be everything for everyone. And we are so afraid to say, ‘I don’t know’, or to ask for help from someone who’s actually an expert in whatever it is that we need help in, or maybe we just want to learn, but we can also ask someone to help teach us.” – Kate
“What’s on your to do list for this next month or this next quarter or this next week? What do you have built out? But look for ways to make steps forward and move forward, because if we’re just staying in one place we’ll never going to get to our goals. So look for ways to make progress but also look for habits you can make that will make that progress inevitable, and look for ways to make those habits or make those steps fun, and celebrate them!” – Nicki
“The other thing to consider when setting resolutions and I’m going to continue to use pitching as an example, is not necessarily putting a hard and fast number on things but to give yourself a range to say, okay, if sending five pitches a week is roughly your goal, maybe you say, okay, I’m going to try to send between three and six pitches a week. And you give yourself kind of a more of a range so that if you’re not hitting that exact number, you’re also not beating yourself up and you’re saying, ‘No, I’m within the range that I want to be in. Yay!’ I think that can be a lot more motivating than not setting a really high goal and then not achieving it.” – Kate
Mentioned on this Episode
Related Links
- Are You Living in the Gap or the Gain?
- Is Manifesting a Copywriting Career Bogus?
- Your Copywriting Business Plan for a Successful Year
- Set Your Future Self Up for Success Right Now
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
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Last Updated on June 12, 2024
