Digitally She Does It Podcast

EPISODE 107: How to stay consistent with your goals

• Karen Davies • Season 1 • Episode 107

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Struggling to stay consistent with your business goals?

In Episode 107 of Digitally She Does It, I’m sharing practical, no-fluff strategies to help you stay on track - even when life gets hectic.

From setting clear, achievable goals and creating flexible routines to using the right tools and overcoming perfectionism, this episode is packed with actionable insights to keep you moving forward. Plus, I’ll reveal how accountability can be your secret weapon for success in 2025 and beyond.

Whether you’re just starting out or ready to level up, you’ll walk away with the confidence and clarity to take control of your business journey.

Tune in now and start making real progress!

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Karen Davies [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome to the digitally she does it show. This is episode one zero seven. And in today's episode, I'm talking about how to stay consistent with your goals. So let's jump right in and let's get started. Welcome to the Digitally She Does It Show. I am your host, Karen, and I'm here to lift the lid on what it actually takes to create a successful business. If you are an ambitious creative ready to build a business on your own terms and without compromise, then this podcast is perfect for you. With my award winning approach to marketing, an expert knowledge in creating online courses, this show will leave you feeling inspired, energized, and ready to bring those big dreams to life.

Karen Davies [00:00:48]:
Join me each week for a dose of motivation and marketing know how, along with actionable step by step strategies to help you accelerate your businesses grow. So let's dive in and don't forget to subscribe to all my upcoming episodes which drop every Wednesday.

Hello, and welcome. Thank you for joining me today. I'm your host, Karen, and I really appreciate you hitting that play button to listen to today's episode. In today's episode, I'm going to be talking about how to stay consistent with your goals, and I'm gonna be sharing some tips that are going to help you stay on track. But before I do, I just want to talk about the Digital Creators Hub. This is your 1 stop shop for getting started online.

Karen Davies [00:01:36]:
Inside the hub, I've got resources. I've got templates. I've got tools. I've got lots of good stuff. So if you are curious about creating an online business, but maybe you don't know where to start or maybe you just want to take the first step and decide what it is that you are wanting to create, then head on over to the hub. It's completely free. You just need to head over to my website, www.karen-davies.com/hub, because there's no better time to get started with your online business than now. So go and grab these free resources and get started today.

Karen Davies [00:02:17]:
Okay. So back to today's episode. And today, I am talking about staying consistent with your goals when life essentially gets crazy. Now, hopefully, you are all having a wonderful Jan. 0. I know here in The UK, I'm down in the Southeast, it's been really cold. We haven't had the weather that the Northwest have had. They've they've had storms and all kinds going on, but but it's been quite mild down here.

Karen Davies [00:02:48]:
But been busy. It's been a really busy time. And what's really interesting is that we're, what, four days, three days by the time this episode goes out or away from the end of the month. And I I sort of think, where's Jan. 0 gone? And what have I actually done? I've been working. I've been doing things. I've been I've been really busy. But when I think about it in line with the goals that I set for myself, it's it's it's really interesting how you think you have all this time ahead of you, and then before you know it, a week's gone by and months go by, and and very little progress has been made.

Karen Davies [00:03:29]:
And so I just really wanted to talk about that because life happens and we have to roll with it. We have to sometimes be reactive to what's going on in our world. I know for me, a lot of my attention this month especially has been in my membership. I've been planning for the year ahead. I wanna make my membership so darn good. I want my members to want to stay. So I am planning, I'm creating, and I'm doing things that are really going to help them to achieve their goals. So, for example, in Jan.

Karen Davies [00:04:08]:
0 this week, I'm running a three day challenge, which is called the Course Kickstarter Challenge, which is all about helping my members kick start their online course. Because it's so easy to get caught up in the overwhelm and to not take action. But things happen when we take action. We only move forward when we take action. So what my challenge is is designed to do is simplify the process so that they can take the first three steps to get in their course outlined so that they can actually make really good progress, which is going to then get them motivated and then keep their momentum so that they can go on and create their course. So I've been really busy with that, and then I've been planning for Feb. 0 as well. So I'm really excited about Feb.

Karen Davies [00:05:03]:
0 because I'm talking about list building. And so next month, I am launching a five day challenge, which is all about building your email list so that you can have an audience to sell to. So I know when I think back on my Jan. 0, I think, oh, actually, I have done quite a lot, but a lot of it has been planning and creating the content in order to be able to support my members. But outside of that, have I have I started to achieve some goals that I've set? I've I've probably done okay, but my attention has been caught up in other places. And I think that's the challenge as entrepreneurs is that we're we're often juggling so many plates that we can kinda come off track really easily. So in my personal world, next week, I am in New York for a week, so I'm not going to be working. I'm really excited about that because that's a trip that my mom and I have planned.

Karen Davies [00:06:09]:
My mom is in her seventies, and we we we decided actually, when she turns 70, we were going to do five days in New York where we can go and see the sites and go shopping and have a really lovely time. Build those memories. Because the reality is we don't know how long people are going to be around for. My husband, bless him, he he lost his parents quite young. His dad, I think, passed at the age of 50, and his mom passed at 59. So he doesn't have the privilege of being able to build those memories with his parents. So I guess part of why I do what I do in my business is to be able to give myself that freedom and flexibility to spend it with my favorite people and to do things that that bring me joy as well. Because my family, when all said and done, is pretty much why I do what I do.

Karen Davies [00:07:08]:
So it's really lovely to be able to have time out of the business, go and have a week with my mom, go and build those memories, and then just kind of, I suppose, spend that time having a break and thinking about what Feb. 0 is gonna be like when I get back because it is busy. I was planning out last week. I was doing twelve months and planning all my events that I've got going on this year, and I've got a lot of events. I'm going to I'm I'm doing a lot of speaking this year, and I'm trying to get more organized and more ahead of myself almost so that I'm not in reactive mode all the time. And 1 of my goals is to be doing more public speaking. So it's great opportunities that are coming my way, and I'm getting them booked in the calendar. But already, I can see the months ahead being really busy, and I'm going to a couple of events as well.

Karen Davies [00:08:13]:
I've got a couple of business events that I want to go to. And one's in Newcastle, one's in London. I'm hoping to go out to LA November, December time for an event. So I've got a plan so that I still am able to make progress in my business even in the midst of all the craziness that's kinda going on around it. And then this year as well, in my personal world, you know, my my youngest daughter, she's finishing primary school. She's going to be moving over to secondary. We're getting her ready for that. She's got the SATs.

Karen Davies [00:08:49]:
My eldest daughter is in year 8, so she's quite busy with all her school life and all those activities. And and then you get to the weekend, and then the weekend is just crazy. And I always try and do a little bit of work in order to plan for the week ahead. But I just find that I get into the weekend, and time seems to speed up. And then before I know it, I haven't got round to doing the things that I need I want to get round to doing because then I'm into making sure the house is nice and keeping on top of the washing and doing the food shopping and all of those things. And it's just busy. It's just busy all the time. And I don't think I'm the only 1 that has this.

Karen Davies [00:09:33]:
I think we're all dealing with things in our world, and I think sometimes it can just be hard to keep up with ourselves when you are having to be reactive to things that are going on. So that's why I think it's really important that we put things in place that are going to support us so that we can ultimately achieve the things that we want to achieve throughout the year. So today, I want to share 5 tips, and these 5 tips will help you to stay consistent with your business goals in 2025. And I say 2025. It could be anytime, but, essentially, this year. So no matter what life throws your way, you will be able to stay focused and motivated so you can make that progress that you're looking to make in your business. So my first goal is about setting clear and achievable goals and also keeping them visible so they're always in front of you. Now when I create my goals in I often do that at the end of the year.

Karen Davies [00:10:57]:
So I I like to do mine around Dec. 0. I tend to go into a reflective mode, and then I set my goals on what I want to achieve for the year. And then what I find is the first couple of weeks in Jan. 0, I'm almost, like, polishing them off. But I think what's really important is to have those goals visible all of the time. So whether that's by creating some kind of vision board or having a whiteboard and then writing your goals on that whiteboard or having a business planner that you can use, I think that will help you to stay focused so that you always know what it is that you're working towards. And then you can break them down into smaller chunks as well so that they feel more achievable.

Karen Davies [00:11:47]:
Because when we don't achieve our goals right away, then we can, of course, get discouraged. So we don't want that. So instead of saying, I want to make, say, a hundred grand this year, think about breaking it down into small mini goals. For example, get your online course created, launch your online course, spend some time growing your email list, or focus on getting your first ten students. If you create those goals and you put them somewhere so they're visible all of the time on your wall, in your planner, on your phone, wherever, seeing your goals every day is going to help help them stay front and center of your mind when your life gets crazy. It almost pulls you back to what you need to be focus focusing on. 1 of the tools that I use is the daily greatness business planner. I find that really useful because you can map out all your goals for the year.

Karen Davies [00:12:56]:
You can plan out your strategy. And then as you run through your month, you can carry those goals over. So it gives you a space to write your top 4 goals for the week or your top 4 goals for the month. And because it's undated, you can use it to however it suits you. But I find that really effective and it just helps me to just stay on top of what my goals are. My second tip is about creating a routine, but don't be so hard on yourself that you're not building in flexibility. Now as I said, I know full well how easy it is to fall off track when life when life gets busy, but 1 thing that's really helped me stay consistent is creating a routine. Now I'm not talking about a rigid minute by minute schedule.

Karen Davies [00:13:49]:
I can't work like that. I'm a creative. I need to feel free and flexible, and I need to be able to kind of almost sort of go with my mood as well. So I I do need to have a little bit of leeway. But what I do like is having a routine so that I know what it is that I'm going to be doing through the course of my day. So my my my day often has structure. So often, before I start in the morning, I would just put aside ten minutes to plan my day. I do it in the daily greatness business planner, and I just write down my key focus for the day and what it is that I wanna get done.

Karen Davies [00:14:33]:
And then I make sure that through at lunchtime, I always take a break. I always take a lunch break. I'm not great through the day. I don't take enough breaks. I don't stand up enough. I don't move enough because I do get very focused and I get caught up in my work. But what I do make sure I do is take a lunch break, and that helps just to reset myself so that I'm I'm having quite a decent break from my computer. And then the other thing that I will do is at the end of the day, I will just go through my to do list, my task list, and I will check things off.

Karen Davies [00:15:09]:
So I'm just building in a routine that keeps me focused on what it is that I'm I'm I'm looking to achieve during that day. If I don't achieve something that I'm looking to achieve if I don't achieve something, I just carry it over to the following day, and then I write it in my daily greatness plan out on the following day. And and I just had I there's a space at the top that says your 3 key focuses, and I find that really helps me because I can write down what they are and then that will focus me to getting them done. So find a routine. It doesn't have to be anything too fancy. It could just be small things that you do that just help to structure your day to support you in what you're trying to do. My third tip is about using the right tools to help you stay organized. I love it all.

Karen Davies [00:16:11]:
If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that I love it all. The tool that I'm a huge fan on of that keeps me super super organized is a tool called Notion. Again, this is absolutely brilliant because what Notion does, it allows you to build out sort of calendars and task lists and things that are going to help you to stay productive. And I found that to be the best tool out of all of the productivity tools that are out there on the market. I've pretty much used them all. I've used Asana. I've used Trello. I've used ClickUp, Monday, all of them.

Karen Davies [00:16:58]:
I love it all, so I love exploring them. But Notion is by far the best tool. What I love about Notion is you can build it out a bit like a website where the pages are nested. So I have a a dashboard that is for my business. All my business stuff is within Notion, and this dashboard links through to pages within sort of my my area, if you like, my business. So I've got an area for my marketing. I've got an area for my goals. I've got an area for my finance, and it's all in 1 place.

Karen Davies [00:17:32]:
And on the dashboard, I have a, a year planner. And then in each month, I have what my focus is during that month. So my daily greatness helps me to stay focused outside of my laptop, but Notion is great because this is something that I can use to also keep me focused, but I can collaborate with my VA as well and with my other team members. So I run my content calendar in there. I write my landing page copy in there. I do all my ad stuff. I do everything, and it's all from 1 place. And what I tend to do is link my pages so they all sit within a calendar.

Karen Davies [00:18:16]:
So for today, if I'm supposed to be focusing on something like I'm launching a new, freebie, then my all of that work will sit within Notion, and I'll just work on it in 1 place. And it just helps me to stay motivated, to stay focused, and most importantly, to keep that productivity up because I'm not having to constantly go and find files. It's all in 1 place. It's super easy. You can make it look really beautiful and visual, and I just enjoy using it. So choose a tool that you find that works for you because not everybody loves Notion. Some people like Trello and Asana and all of that. Find your tool and set it up so that it helps you to achieve your goals.

Karen Davies [00:19:08]:
And just have fun with it. Play with the tools. See what you can do. Learn it and then use it to support you as you're making progress. My fourth tip is about focusing on progress and not perfection. Hands up if you are a perfectionist. Now I suspect pretty much most people listening to this will be putting their hands up. I've got my hands up.

Karen Davies [00:19:36]:
I'm totally guilty of perfectionism isms because I'm creative. I love things to be spot on. I'm I'm very much into detail, and I want everything to be right before I put it out into the world. But the thing is, and what I've come to learn in my business, is that progress over perfection will win every time. How many times have we all gotten stuck because we want things to be perfect before we launch or we post something? What perfection does, it stops us taking action because what we then do is procrastinate over the thing that we're trying to make perfect. We tell ourselves it's not ready yet. I can do better. I just need to tweak this.

Karen Davies [00:20:31]:
I just need to do that. But the thing is, you do not need everything to be perfect in order to make progress. And I have made the most progress in my business when I have stopped trying to make everything perfect. As as I said, I'm so guilty of this. I will spend so much time over, you know, some kind of visual that I'm creating for something. And then I get really cross with myself because it's like it good is good enough. It doesn't have to be perfect. The perfection doesn't exist.

Karen Davies [00:21:08]:
That's what we have to tell ourselves. Perfection doesn't exist. Perfection is subjective. What I think is perfect to somebody else is really not perfect. It could be the absolute opposite. And if if it's subjective and it doesn't exist, then why are we stressing over it? We have to move forward by taking action, Whether that's writing a blog post, recording a video, or just getting started with building an email list, you need to create momentum. You need to take action, and that action's going to lead to momentum. And that momentum is going to move you further and further and further towards your goals.

Karen Davies [00:21:53]:
So if it's not perfect, it's okay. It doesn't have to be perfect. You just need to take action and get things done. Accountability. Accountability is so important. It is a game changer. If you have somebody that you can turn to that can give you support, that can be a game changer when it comes to achieving your goals. So I have a few accountability groups that I lean on.

Karen Davies [00:22:27]:
I've got somebody that I have worked with for a long time who runs their own business. And each week, we share our goals with each other. And then at the end of the week, we will review what we've achieved, and we'll share it. And that gives us both accountability. We'll also, more often not, speak to 1 another in the week. So if I'm struggling over something, I will give her a call and likewise with me as well. And I have to say, I highly value the relationship that I have built with her because it has helped me move forward and get really clear on where it is I'm going and what it is I actually want to achieve. And I think part of that is being able to talk things through and being able to succinctly put that plan together, but then also to share it with somebody and also at times for them to challenge me to actually come back to me and question if what I'm doing is right or am I making things too complicated.

Karen Davies [00:23:33]:
And I really value that because I do also have a tendency of overcomplicating when somebody else that is not caught up in the weeds like I am can look at what it is I'm trying to do and be more objective. And so I really value that accountability partnership. And if you don't have that currently in your business, I highly recommend that you find somebody that you trust that is on the safe wavelength that with you that you can actually lean on and become accountability buddies because that in itself, as I said, is a game changer. The other thing I do is every week on a Friday, I meet with a group of people that are also building similar businesses to me. We met within a program that we're all a part of, so we've all done the same training. But every single Friday, I look forward to that session because I get to talk about what I'm focusing on and the challenges that I'm facing or that I faced and also the wins that I've had as well. And then I get the people in the group that become cheerleaders that not only are cheerleading me on, but also are giving me their opinions and sharing what they're doing as well. And I find that really helpful because, interestingly, in the group, we're all approaching our businesses very differently.

Karen Davies [00:25:08]:
We all have different strategies that we're employing to do what we wanna do, but we're all subscribed to the same training program. So I find that really inspiring because I always come away feeling inspired, motivated, focused. And also I just really value the opportunity to just talk. Talk about the things that I'm doing, but also hear from others that are facing similar challenges and similar wins and how they are dealing with it as well. So I really value the accountability that I have set up in my business, and I would go as far as to say that it's actually probably my secret weapon because the progress I made last year was immense, And I credit that to the support that I actually had around me and being able to stay focused when things did get busy and crazy and, you know, I was losing sort of my marbles And having people on my side cheering me on, supporting me, but also giving me their valuable feedback and, you know, where possible, criticizing as well or or or at least just helping me where I needed the help. So if you don't have an accountability partnership in your business, I would highly recommend that you set it up. Find a coach. Find a mentor.

Karen Davies [00:26:37]:
Find a friend. Find somebody that you can check-in with because it can make all the difference. Okay. So there you have it. My 5 tips to staying consistent with your business goals in 2025. So let's recap. We've got number 1, it's about setting clear, achievable goals and keeping them visible at all times. Number 2 is about creating a flexible routine that works for you.

Karen Davies [00:27:08]:
Number 3 is about finding the right tools to help you stay organized. Number 4 is about focusing on progress and not perfection. And number 5 is lean on accountability because that's going to keep you going when life gets crazy. Now consistency isn't about being perfect every day. It's about showing up even on those tough days where life is chaotic. So keep moving forward. Keep doing what you're doing. Implement my 5 tips because that will make a massive difference.

Karen Davies [00:27:49]:
And just stay motivated. Keep the focus. And I promise you you'll smash your goals for this year.

Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you found this episode of value and, of course, please do feel free to share it with others who you may think will also benefit from today's episode. If today's discussion has sparked some inspiration and you're eager to dive deeper into creating your online presence, then be sure to visit my website, www.karen-davies.com, because you'll find a whole load of resources that you can download to help you kick start your online journey.

And if you're ready to take the next step and create your very first online course, then join my membership, sell your brilliance online, which is designed to guide you through the simple process of creating your very first online course. Head over to my website, www.karen-davies.com/membership.

Karen Davies [00:28:54]:
I will be back next week with another episode, but until then, have a great week. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the digitally she does it show. Don't forget to check out the show notes for all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode. New episodes drop every week on a Wednesday. So, why not rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode? Thank you for tuning in today, and I will see you next time.