Five wild turkeys strut outside my window this morning, rooting around for whatever turkeys eat. As my mind chases down tactics for how to get this business to profit, I’m reminded of the sermon on the mount. Particularly the verses from my favorite translation – The Jesus Storybook Bible.
“See those birds over there?” Jesus said. Everyone looked. Little sparrows were pecking at seeds along the stony path. “Where do they get their food? Perhaps they have pantries all stocked up? Cabinets full of food?”
Everyone laughed – who’s ever seen a bird with a bag of groceries?
“No,” Jesus said. “They don’t need to worry about that. Because God knows what they need and he feeds them.”
...
“Little flock,” Jesus said, “you are more important than birds! More important than flowers! The birds and the flowers don’t sit and worry about things. And God doesn’t’ want his children to worry either. God loves to look after the birds and the flowers. And he loves to look after you, too.”
Turkeys man. They make you think.
I’ve chosen a new format. Instead of running this newsletter out of CappaWork, I launched it on substack so anyone can join in. If you want to keep getting this newsletter please hit subscribe!
Three Thoughts from Nate.
There are three types of goals.
1. Achievement goals –This is the type that we’re most familiar with. It’s the “win the championship” or “run the marathon” goal. It centers around a particular event. When I swam competitively our coach would taper our sets in order to hit peak performance at the district swim meet. You get one attempt at an achievement goal and it either goes well or doesn’t.
These are really important goals when you are moving through a scheduled, like a student in school, or an athlete in a season. When your attempts are limited, you want to make achievement goals, so that you can identify fundamentals and move through incremental improvements.
Remembering that good habits are what actually accomplishes a goal, set achievement goals when you already have the fundamental habits and need to tweak the nuanced ones.
Example – Goal: “Finish in the top 3 at the district swim meet in the 100 Free.” Your fundamentals must already be good. Your stroke and kick must be solid. But there are all sorts of gains to be made in improvements of the start, the turn, streamlining, endurance etc.
Example – Goal “Make down payment of $1800 on a new, used Ford Flex.” If you are already saving $100 a week, you can set an achievement goal of putting a down payment on a car for $1800 at the end of 13 weeks. That continues your fundamental of $100 a week, but also pushes you to find another $40 a week. Or to make $500 more. It also sets you up to continue payments. (Shoutout to the Ford Flex, it’s a people mover for sure)
2. Progress goals – My goal last quarter was a progress goal. It was to 10x my social following, which I missed. But the benefit of a progress goal is the speed of learning. Because I had no idea how to 10x a following on social media, I had to learn really fast. What made these platforms tick? What am I comfortable posting? What can I keep up? A progress goal is beneficial when it’s the direction you need to head in but doesn’t have an event to anchor it. Eventually I will 10x my social media following. I need to head that direction quickly, but the date isn’t important.
If you set a very high progress goal, you will need to learn fast. Your first few weeks of the quarter will be spent testing tactics, rapidly crossing off ones that won’t get you to the required progress in time.
But, if you have a progress goal quarter, I recommend following it with a Centering or Achievement quarter. Testing tactics doesn’t allow for the consolidation of habits, because you’re changing them often.
Progress goals are amazing when you don’t know how to accomplish something. The speed at which you’ll learn will surprise you. Be careful with these though, they can be a lil stressy.
Example – Goal “Write 45,000 words on my memoir by X date.” 45,000 is a lot of words. Especially if you have a day job and kids that are running around. But 45,000 words also turns out to about 90 pages. Which means a page a day. The progress here is figuring out how to consistently write a page a day, learning to be comfortable with bad writing and learning what editing process works for you.
Example – Goal “5x sales from the last quarter, to hit 50k.” To make a shift like this in one quarter you have to really dig into what was working last quarter, but wasn’t good enough. And then you have to change what was working. SCARY STUFF. If you need to 5x your sales, email me. I had to do that for scaling product at a corporation and it took shifting some fundamentals. It’s doable though.
3. Centering goals – This is a term I use, coined last week in a conversation with a friend. You’re on the cutting edge here. Centering goals are used when you know the habits that you should be putting on, but you just haven’t been able to make stick. When life is tumultuous and you need to be the even keel, pick a centering goal. I’ve chosen a centering goal for this quarter. There will be times when you know that a disruptive event is coming, but you still want to be able to keep your momentum.
Take for example a baby, like the one my wife is due with next week . Babies are incredible! The literal life of God breathed into a new person. But they’re also unpredictable. When do they arrive? When do they sleep? Do they sleep? My role within my call this quarter is to be the steadying force for our family. I need to be the lead weight in the center of the boat. That means consistency.
So, my goal this quarter is based around 5 habits that I know to be good.
Planning my day – ie using my CappaWork Planner.
Writing 1 bad page every day. Not a good page, just writing something.
Posting on social every day (especially reels on IG, learned that last quarter).
Having 20 minutes of quiet time.
Exercising for 20 minutes.
These are Centering habits because I have been doing each of them inconsistently. I know they are good. I’m at 60-70% in consistency for each one of them. I need to get them to a point where they are habits.Why do you need to set a goal to set habits? Mostly this is because of the reward. Often, we value ourselves below others around us. Our spouses, kids, coworkers all come first. When this happens, personal habits can get pushed aside. By setting a reward for your completion of these personal habits you help yourself to prioritize your growth, so that you can share it with others.
Example – Goal “20, 21. 20 minutes of quiet time each day, 21 miles of running each week.”
Example – Goal “5 daily habits, with 10 weeks of 5 days in a row” This is mine. You saw the habits above. It can be any 10 weeks, it can be any 5 days in a row.
There are many ways to set a good goal. Achievement, Progress and Centering goals are three types. Then add the “Big, Specific, Measureable and For Others” framework to. When you have limited chances to do something big, choose achievement. When you need to learn fast, choose progress. When you need to remember that the turkeys don’t worry where they’ll get their next meal, choose centering. I need to be like a turkey this quarter.
A Long Quote From a Book
Today’s quote is from The Jesus Storybook Bible. I’m going to guess that most of you haven’t read it.
My wife and I started a habit of reading one story from this bible each night to the kids. It’s wonderfully done, tracing salvation history from when the “Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love” first casts the stars into the sky until the lost children are reunited with the Father. This nightly habit has already borne fruit, I think in my kids, but definitely in me. Prior to reading this bible, I’d always read in parts, unable to see the whole. I’d read the story of Babel and the story of Pentacost many times, but never realized how they mirrored each other and showed a correct ordering toward the good.
As we remember in the tower of Babel, the people all spoke one language and “had a great idea, Lets build a really tall tower to reach up to heaven!”. They started building, achieved a great deal and made it quite far, but they were trying to live without God. God stopped their plans by confusing their languages. They didn’t know if they were working together or fighting so they scattered. “God knew, however high they reached, however hard they tried, people could never get back to heaven by themselves. People didn’t need a staircase, they needed a Rescuer.”
At Pentacost, Jesus has died, resurrected and returned to heaven. Before he left he gives a promise to his disciples. “Wait in Jerusalem,” Jesus told them “I am going to send you a special present. God’s power is going to come into you. God’s Holy Spirit is coming.” ... “Suddenly a strong wind filled the little room, whistling through the walls, rustling the straw on the floor. And there – on everyone’s heads, shining in the gloom – were flickering flames. Fire that didn’t hurt or burn.”
...
“They had seen Jesus go away, but now he was closer than he had ever been – inside their hearts. And this time nothing could ever separate them. Jesus would always be there. With them. Loving them. Whispering the promise that would get rid of the poison and the terrible lie and the sickness in their hearts. God’s wonderful promise to them: ‘You are my child. And I love you.’”
“They unlocked the door and surged out into the streets – as if they had never been afraid. Peter spoke in a loud voice, so everyone could hear: ‘Jesus died for you!’ he said. ‘Because he loves you. But God made him alive again. He has rescued you?”
...
“There were lots of people from faraway countries in Jerusalem. They couldn’t speak the same language but as they listened to Peter, everyone could understand what he was saying – in their own languages! Many people believed. And became Jesus’ new friends and helpers. And the wonderful news of Jesus spread. Like sparks from a fire. To villages. Towns. Cities.”
See the juxtaposition? When we strive to achieve level footing with God, we will always fail. We are not defined by our achievements. We are not defined by our goals, whether or not we reach them. We are defined by God’s Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. The love that He gives freely to you and to me. And when His love is ordered first, we are not scattered each lost in our own language, we are unified.
Christ asked his followers to be the salt of the earth. Stay salty.
Until soon,
-Nate