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VEST Her Podcast
A podcast exploring the invisible barriers holding women back in the workplace and sharing stories of women navigating careers and building power collectively.
VEST Her Podcast
Establishing Goals and Accountability Systems
In this episode, we dive into why plans, goals, and resolutions often fail—and how to overcome those challenges. We introduce the WOOP Framework (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan) to help you create a personalized action plan and share practical resources to keep you on track all year long.
We’re also sharing key takeaways from a session we hosted for VEST Members, our peer network of women professionals. You’ll learn effective strategies for planning your goals, setting up systems of accountability, and staying motivated. Plus, we guide you through a powerful exercise to help you visualize your future self and see what’s possible when you start applying these tools. Don’t miss this actionable conversation!
Show Notes
VEST Wheel of Life Assessment
How to Build a VEST Vision Board
Mapping Out Goals using the WOOP Framework
VEST Peer Network
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Connect with the VEST Team and Show Hosts
Erika Lucas, Gaby Eichenlaub, Sarah Soetarjo, Jae Johnson
If you enjoyed the episode share it with a friend and don't forget to leave us a review. If you are ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Check out our VEST Membership and apply today! www.VESTHer.co
This week, we hosted an inspiring coaching session with VEST members to plan for a successful 2025. So, beginning of the year, planning goals, intentions and, you know, planning out and mapping out achievements that VEST members want to accomplish in the new year. During the session, we explore why plans, goals and resolutions often fail. We also learn about how to map an individual plan using the WHIP framework Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan. We also participated in peer and accountability breakouts and share valuable resources to help us stay on track throughout the year.
Speaker 1:Now, that was a private session that we couldn't bring to you, so instead we're having this episode where we're highlighting some of the most impactful takeaways that we couldn't bring to you. So instead, we're having this episode where we're highlighting some of the most impactful takeaways that we all learned or took away from that lesson or that session, and we're encouraging everyone that's tuning in for this particular episode to head out to our show notes at wwwvestherco forward slash podcast. There you'll find all of the resources that we use during the session, including step-by-step including a step-by-step guide to mapping your own goals using the WOLF framework. We also share tips for identifying your focus areas using the VestWheel Life Assessment. We have a how to Build a Vision Board and a lot of other resources. So definitely head over to wwwvestorco forward slash podcast to access all of those, but for now, let's go ahead and dive in. Ladies, what were your biggest takeaways from the session?
Speaker 2:I'm happy to share.
Speaker 2:I was moderating the chat, and something that one of our members mentioned was how she finds it easier to prioritize the work habits in her life, and so she accomplishes a lot in her professional life and she reaches a ton of goals but how it can be hard to prioritize the habits that you personally want to achieve.
Speaker 2:And when she said that in the chat, a lot of people chimed in and said that they struggle with the same thing, and I think a lot of us do, and so I found that interesting and I think that it's important for us to try to prioritize ourselves, as hard as that can be. We have to be able to fill up our own cup before we take care of really anything else in our lives, and as women in the professional field, we wear many hats at work and at home, and so to be able to wear those hats properly, we have to be able to prioritize our personal needs, and I think figuring out ways to do that is important. So, whether it's with the WUCP, whether it's SMART goals, I think it's important to just prioritize ourself so that we can wear those hats and wear them well. You know, I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, jay. Great point, jay. I think one of the biggest takeaways I had from the session was just when we went over why plans tend to fail right. So really reflecting on what has worked and what hasn't worked in the past, because I think it's so easy to just jump right into a goal. You know it's the new year, new me like setting resolutions. It's time to go. What are you doing? How are you changing? And I think it's really important to take that time to go. What are you doing? How are you changing? And I think it's really important to take that time to reflect on what you've done, what's worked, what hasn't, to really set yourself up for the goals, the meaningful goals, that you want to achieve in the year, in the month, in life.
Speaker 1:Sarah, how about you?
Speaker 4:Sarah, how about you, I think, just adding on to Gabby's point in terms of learning from what you've done previously um, I think so often, when we don't accomplish something in a day, we just give up, um, and I feel like that shouldn't be the case. You know, know, it's like you. Okay, this day I didn't get to do it, but we'll start again tomorrow and just continuing and giving yourself more grace, because it's 365 days to a year, a long time. So you know, you still have 365 days to get yourself back up and continue doing what you need to do. So I think, yeah, more grace.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's easy, right when it's easy to fall into cynicism. That's how I find myself, like feeling cynic about resolutions or like, oh my gosh, it's just another year or whatever. But in the reality, most of us that are feeling that way, it's because we feel depleted and maybe burned out. And then you actually do take the time to do all of this planning and mapping out resources and figuring out systems that are going to help you, keep you accountable. I think helps a lot with that and helps a lot with, like you said, giving yourself grace when things don't pan out the way you plan them.
Speaker 1:And it doesn't mean that you have to quit, it just means that you hit a bump and you would never you know, never tell your friends or other best members oh my gosh, you suck. You know you failed today. You would. You would just give them grace and say try again tomorrow. So we need to treat, we need to have that same kindness with ourselves as well. Well, what about you individually? What are some of the challenges that you personally face when you're planning out for the year and how do you overcome them? Anyone?
Speaker 3:I think for me it's that overwhelm of wanting to fix so many different areas in my life and not really prioritizing the right one, so getting overwhelmed with too many options and then not being able to find a solid plan for any of them. So then it just kind of feels like nothing is working. But it's really because I didn't take the time to prioritize what I wanted to do. I just kind of was like a squirrel where it's like over here, over here, over here.
Speaker 3:So that's something that I've really been focusing on this year too is just taking the time again to reflect, taking the time to prioritize and then moving on to the next important step, which is planning out right. So what are what are my first steps? Um, and not looking for me, specifically, not looking too far ahead, because then it gets again a little bit more overwhelmed, and just planning out my first steps.
Speaker 1:Love that Sarah.
Speaker 2:I can really um, oh sorry, Sarah, no, you go ahead.
Speaker 2:I can relate with what Gabby said of feeling overwhelmed and there's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 2:I think kind of what you were saying, erica, about the new year and like how are you going to be new and how are you going to be different, and I think it can create like anxiety almost sometimes, even though, but you have to look at it in a certain light for it to not be, uh, filled with anxiety. And I think to help combat that feeling is just talking to people that you really trust, um, and that know your best interest at heart, and explaining kind of the things that you want to change and are willing to change, and getting out of your head, you know, because it can feel overwhelming and you can list off you know 10 things you want to change, but it can feel, you know it can feel lonely at times. So I think being around people that you trust and love and who love you back that can help you walk through those processes are a really good idea too, because we definitely don't have to be alone when doing all this either.
Speaker 1:So I also love that some of the members share. You know, for this year my goal is to rest. It's to not always be on this constant achievement and go-getting mode, and that's okay too. That can be a goal right, like first assessing, maybe, what you need to let go this year, and I love that a lot of members share that. And it has to do with you know, if you're feeling overwhelmed and tired and you just need to refresh and maybe focus on other areas of your life that don't necessarily have to do with work, it's totally fine. So I love that. Thanks for sharing, sarah, anything from you.
Speaker 4:Just to add to what you were just saying, I feel like we are so conditioned to thinking that resting is not productive. You know, know, like you're not like this guilt that you feel for just taking some time off and resting is so productive right it is. It is something that is you're working on it. You're working on re-energizing, recharging, so just sort of changing your mindset to thinking that way when you are taking a rest. So I think that's something that I'm definitely going to work on this year.
Speaker 1:I took my first nap of 2025. I talked about that during the session and I actually did it yesterday. For some reason, my energy was just gone after, like, I think, 1pm yesterday and you're right, sarah, I feel guilty because there's so much to do, but I literally just had no energy and just had to go and take a nap and I felt guilty, but then I also felt great and today I was ready to go and pick back up. So love that A lot of our members share unique approaches some of their unique approach to keeping themselves accountable throughout the year. What strategies maybe stood out to you that some members share, or what strategies do you use to keep yourself accountable throughout the year? Sure?
Speaker 3:I think, picking back on what, jay, you said earlier about finding someone you trust, I was super energized after our session on Wednesday and I think it is that having a trusted group where we're sharing and we're communicating to each other right is like you first have to be vulnerable enough to share your goal with someone else, and so I'm so glad that so many of the members did share their goals, but also their tips and tricks and just how they deal with things. I think that information sharing has been super valuable and just re-energizing, especially during this overwhelming year again the new year. Just re-energizing, especially during this overwhelming year again the new year, new me season Not just in our session but also in our chats with members throughout this month. Again, they've just shared so much and it's just re-energized.
Speaker 1:And it re-energizes a lot Like I love. I think one of our Rachel, one of our members share. She wasn't able to attend the session but she shared on the chat how her morning routine. Just seeing that, for me it was like, oh my God, because it's real right, like we read so much online about, like what you should do at the beginning, and I don't know about you guys, but for me it just doesn't feel like. It just feels too, I don't know, not practical, and I just love hearing all the practical ways in which you know all the VAS members were managing and navigating life and work so well.
Speaker 1:Gabby, I want to turn it over to you. You facilitated most of the session and kind of guided us through the two exercise. The two exercises and in your recent, I know you did a lot of research to kind of, you know, go over what gets in the way of people achieving their goals. What are some of the ways in which you can hack your habits and and keep yourself accountable? What was one key insight about why people often fail that you found very interesting?
Speaker 3:I think for me, it was that accountability part of it, right. One of the things that we shared with members and on our social media was that 42% that just by writing down your goal, you increase your chances of achieving it by 42% right? I know we also had a session with another best coach where she talked about accountability, right, and creating those systems and how the more you went through the accountability steps, the more likely you were to achieve your goals, right. So it's just that aspect of again being vulnerable enough to really sit down and think about your goals and you know what is important being vulnerable enough to share that, whether it's on paper, on pen, in person, with someone else, right, talking about it, talking about it just once, right, explaining that.
Speaker 3:And then the accountability part of like, okay, we're going to do check-ins, we're going to talk about this and we're going to see where we are, not in a shaming way, right, but just in a what can we do better? What? What worked, what didn't work again, that reflection aspect of it, um. So I think I think that's something, um, that can get missed, right. You, you think about your goals and you think about what am I doing, how am I supposed to do it um, what is my plan? But then that actual sharing aspect of it gets lost. So you bring someone along with you on your journey and you learn from them as they share tips and tricks, and you keep each other accountable by continuing to do it together, right? So I think that's a. That was super eye-opening for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love that. Jay, you mentioned during the session that you and your husband he's reading the book but also bringing you along and kind of together. You guys are implementing some of the strategies in the Atomic Habits book that a lot of members actually commented that they are also. They've either already read, some have implemented in it, but overall everybody loves that book. Um, but you specifically talked about habit, uh, stacking. Can you break down how you're using that habit stacking? Uh? How does, how does that look like for you? Or what are you? Um, are you and Noah thinking about in terms of implementing that in this new year?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So habit stacking has been really helpful for me because it kind of takes away that overwhelming aspect of reaching a goal by breaking it down into small habits that feel easier to implement in your day-to-day life. You know, like Gabby and I were talking about, you sit down and you're like okay, here's the things I want to change, here's the goal I want to hit, but whoa, like there's a lot of steps to get there and this feels overwhelming. So, um, looking at how your you know your day-to-day life already is, what habits do you already have implemented? Um, and talking about morning routines, that's where I'm trying to implement my good habits.
Speaker 2:So what do we do every morning? I, I brush my teeth every morning and I wash my face every morning. So writing those uh, having a set habit that you can build off of, is essentially what habit stacking is. So after I brush my teeth and wash my face, then I'm going to read my book for 10 to 20 minutes. So reading in the morning, that's a habit that I would like to stack on to my already habits that I'm already doing, habits I'm already doing. After I do the reading, then I'm going to have a nice protein filled breakfast to help my energy levels and then, after I have my protein breakfast, then I'll have my vitamins, which will also help my energy levels, and that's something that I am trying to work on and that's kind of my goal is to have more energy.
Speaker 2:And, um, I think, like we're talking about Erica, morning routines can like, when you read about them, they can feel so practical or impractical and you're like I don't know if I'm going to be able to stick to that, cause it sounds a little like I just kind of want to start my day.
Speaker 2:But really, when you slow down and you take your time, it can make your day flow better. And you have this more. You have this sense of, you know, natural energy just from taking care of yourself in the morning. And that's essentially what habit stacking is is taking your habits that you've already done and adding a couple every day that that um is reaching towards your goals. So for me, it's, you know, it's reading, um, my book for 20 minutes and then eating a really great breakfast and taking my vitamins, and those three stackable habits alone are helping me feel more energized throughout the day, which is which is what I've been wanting. So, um, yeah, it's been really cool to, to, to not specifically read that book, but to learn from from Noah and get some great advice and um, it's been really helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love that. Um, even before, you talked about, uh, stacking habits. Um, actually, sarah, you talked about how one of your goals is doing eight to 10,000 steps but also spending more time intentionally with your kids, and so now you go on walks but take your kids. I mean, that's a form of stacking right, like you're spending more time with the kiddos but then you're also taking them out for a walk to achieve your step count. And I haven't read the book recently, but, if I remember, I think part of the benefits of stacking goals is also to make it uber obvious, right, because the more obvious that it is, the more disciplined you're likely to be right, like it's part of building a system of accountability. It's like, just make it obvious so that you don't miss it and you don't even question. It's no longer a decision because you've already decided I'm going to brush my teeth and then I'm going to read my book and then I'm going to take my vitamins. It's not. You don't have to add energy to your brain to make a decision, or what should I read my? Know you're? That's just what you're going to do and you're just going to stack things and make it easier. Same with you, sarah, and your steps and spending time with your babies, so I love that.
Speaker 1:Another question that I have, sarah and Gabby, particularly for you, because you know we talk about this all the time. I mean, as a society, women still bear most of the caregiving responsibility, household management, chores, etc. And I know that it's particularly harder when you have small little ones at home, which both of you have. So just curious as to maybe some tips that you can share with us in how you're both balancing work and raising children. Do you have a specific approach in setting realistic goals for the year while you're still managing home and professional responsibilities?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think for me, when you're in this season of life, so much of what you can achieve really depends on your support system. So my approach, at least this year, when I set my goal, was to work on it with my husband and vice versa, so we would set individual goals and then what our goal is as a family, so we can both understand what is needed to support one another to be able to succeed, making it realistic. And then another thing is just to break down my goals into smaller, actionable steps that you can incorporate into your daily routine so that it doesn't get lost, and then they essentially become habits. So it's not your point, erica, it's not given a decision Like that's just something that you do. You go and watch, that's what we do, so we'll see how it goes. I found it quite useful. So far, so far, so good.
Speaker 3:Good, I love what you said in terms of that season of life, because I have an eight and an almost four year old and I feel like every every year is a little different. And I was at the beginning of this year when we were talking about my husband and I were talking about our goals. We were just kind of reflecting on last year and at this stage my eight-year-old is very much into sports and last year we were like inundated with sports and afterschool activities, and even for my three-year-old as well. So daycare events and school events, and it gets so easy, you know, you think toddler stage, baby stage, like it's all about the children. But you can also carry that into like their later stages as well, and I love attending those games and I love attending those school sessions and you know, after school activities.
Speaker 3:But just looking back on it, like we really didn't prioritize ourselves, we didn't prioritize our needs and goals, and so there was definitely a lot of uh burnout on on our end.
Speaker 3:So really taking the time to uh figure out like what do we want to do, not what do we have to do, but what do we want to do and how do we want to take care of ourselves and you know what do we want to achieve and where do we want to go this year. So really like asking ourselves this question upfront, versus kind of reflecting at the end of the year when it's already happened and you realize that the whole year has passed and you haven't really done what you wanted to do. So that I think that was a really great talk that we had at the beginning of this year. And then, as far as tool, I honestly like live by a calendar, just like being able to write everything down and seeing what the month looks like, how it gets filled out. Is it too crazy? Is it too? I guess, even this year? Is it too kid activity filled? And is there time to prioritize myself, my relationship, my hobbies, things that I want to get into this year?
Speaker 1:So yeah, I love that and yeah, I think obviously all of us work together. So all of us have seen Gabby's organizing skills in her calendar. You know, mega mapping plans. So definitely, gabby, we've experienced it firsthand how you work and how you think.
Speaker 1:And another thing that I love here is that everybody kind of seems like to make the time to discuss and plan their goals with their significant other. That's great, because I do think it's important having that. You know, I love, love, sarah, how you started answering the question of balancing by saying it depends on the support system that you have. You know, and I think that all of us four here are very privileged that we are in a healthy relationship where we do have that support system, and we also want to recognize that not everybody has that right and not everybody has that in a romantic relationship and or a family support system or even a friend support system and a community support system. Those of us that have executive boards, you know, or boards that we have to report to and we have to report to on a monthly basis or quarterly basis or annual basis, we know that it works. We may not like it, you know, getting ready for those stakeholder meetings and doing all of that, but at the end of the day, it does work because we measure right Is it working? Is it not working, what do we need, what do we not need? So it just helps in such a in such a way.
Speaker 1:So I always encourage everyone that you know you need your own advisory board. If you don't have one, and even if you do have one for work, you need a personal one, right? Somebody that can kind of help you assess how you're doing life in your own terms. So, just, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I think that we are very privileged and that I also discuss my goals with Chris and how we did the previous years with our financials, with our personal goals, with our business goals, but also recognizing that not everybody has that. And so if you don't have that, it's even more important that you find yourself a support system to be there for you, and it can be friends, it can be family, it can be, you know, if you don't have that right now, maybe joining a peer group it doesn't have to be best, but of course we would love to have you invest. So if you're thinking about having a support system, please do check out our peer group and we would welcome you with open arms. Before we close and we turn it over to having like a segment for listeners to do their own planning and exercise, I want to ask all of you anything else that you want to share from this week's session and this and for this episode that might be super helpful for this. Those listening.
Speaker 2:I think, something that we've touched on a few times and that's really important. It's just. I just want to talk about rest again, because I think it's so important and I think we have such a hard time, um, with feeling okay about it, um. But I think, just to kind of simplify it down in a way that we can try to not feel so guilty is, if you are feeling physically, mentally, emotionally, like you need to rest, then I think, just trust your body, and I think it's just as simple as that, and I don't think I think we can.
Speaker 2:If we just really focus on that, then maybe we can take away some of the guilt because, um, I think we should always trust our, not only our instincts and our gut, but also our body, um and uh, our body is our emotional and mental state as well, and so, even if you aren't physically tired and you're like, well, I didn't even move enough today, well, you might have done a lot of other mental work that you're not even aware of yet. So I think, when it comes to rest and taking naps and taking that time for yourself to try to take away some of the guilt if your body or your mind is telling you that you're just tired. I think that's all the permission that you need. So I would just encourage all of us to really just trust ourselves and our bodies, that's another book.
Speaker 2:What's it called? The Body Keeps the Score. I've heard really good things about that book I want to read, but I think it's basically about that, like trusting your body and and what it tells you.
Speaker 1:So let's put it on the, let's put it on the show notes. Uh, if members want to check it out as well. Listeners. Sarah Gabby, what about you guys?
Speaker 3:I think for me, a standout thing, a takeaway from the session, was definitely to take the time to not only reflect on what's important, but then also to reflect on those small wins. I think it's so easy to focus on the big overarching goal and it can seem so far away, but as you look back you tend to forget how far you've come from when you started. So, not only taking the time to reflect, but also taking the time to really celebrate those small wins, to celebrate progress over perfection I think I'm undiagnosed perfectionist, self-diagnosed perfectionist, and so really taking the time to think it may not be perfect, but it's done, or you know, look how far I've come I think it's super important.
Speaker 4:Absolutely love that. I was going to say something very similar to Gabby, I think I'm. I focus on the, on just achieving being perfect. But you know you tend to give up on the goals once you make a small mistake. But to my point earlier, it's 365 days in a year. You know your work in progress. Celebrate the small win. So small, small steps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know that saying perfection and growth can't coexist, right? So it's about giving ourselves the grace to be imperfect and also realizing the beauty of being imperfect is that there's always room for growth and learning opportunities. Well, with that, you know, we want to turn it over to the listeners that are taking the time to listen to this episode or watching this on YouTube. However, you're consuming this content, one of the most powerful exercises that we actually had Vast members complete during the session was to envision their future self, right, imagining let's. Often, especially as women, it's very easy for us to think about what if things don't work out? What if things go south? But what if things go right? Right Like. We often tend to go through that trail of negativity and fail to think well, what if everything works? What if we achieve everything that we set out to in the next year? What would that future self look like? And so we ask them to reflect on that Right Like. Imagine yourself a year from now having achieved everything you set out to. What does it feel like? What are you doing? Who are you spending time with? And then we ask them to reflect what needs to change today in order for you to become that version of yourself, and so it was a very powerful exercise. We received a lot of good feedback from the members that participated, and we want to now invite those of you listening to do the same.
Speaker 1:Take a moment to imagine yourself a year from now and everything that you set out to accomplish. Imagine that you've realized. What does your future self look like? You know what again. Where are you? What are you doing? Again, where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? How does it feel like? How are you spending your day With whom? And once you picture yourself doing that, take a step back and reflect on the changes that need to happen again. So, what habits need to change? Are there any unproductive patterns holding you back? Relationships holding you back? What relationships need to shift? Who in your circle is actually supporting your growth and who might be getting in the way of you becoming that future self? And then be real about what systems you need to implement right. How are you going to keep yourself accountable? How are you going to make those systems obvious, actionable and sustainable over time, so that you can stay consistent?
Speaker 1:Take the minute to do that, and if you are one of we had a lot of members that are struggling with like even identifying where to focus their energy because they can't feel overwhelmed, as you guys mentioned. So we also put together the Vest Wheel of Life Assessment and the toolkit that I mentioned. So, again, you can go to wwwvestorco forward slash podcast and click on this episode and in the show notes you'll see all of the tools that we provided, including this Vest Wheel of Life Assessment. This tool will help you evaluate the areas in your life, whether it's personal, professional or beyond, and pinpoint where you might need more attention on improvement. This is, if you don't know where to start, if you don't know where to focus, if you are just feeling overwhelmed. I really suggest that you take the time to do this exercise. This is another thing that, sarah, you mentioned. You actually did with your husband and it was pretty similar. So that's fun too. You can maybe do it with a loved one or with friends. Get together with friends and do that, yeah. So again, wwwvestorco forward slash podcast and you can access. Click on the episode and you'll be able to access all of the show notes.
Speaker 1:And finally, just remember that navigating life, building habits and staying accountable is hard work. It's not something that we're meant to do alone. You know this whole myth of meritocracy that you're supposed to do all of this. Keep your head down, work hard and things will come to you. It just ends up. Even if you do achieve, like many of us have, and whether it's corporate America or whatever your profession is, we end up feeling very lonely. So this is where community is really important, and having a support system is very important Again. Whether it's VAST or another peer community, it can make all of the difference. So be sure that you look for that. If you don't already have a group of like-minded individuals that can provide you encouragement, accountability and support, be sure to look for one this year. Make it, maybe make it one of your goals. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy the episode, share with the front and don't forget to leave us a review, as it enables us to reach even more women. No-transcript.
Speaker 5:And if you're ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. A review and if you're ready to take your career to the next level, apply to join our community of professional women, all eager to help you get there and stay there. Go to wwwvestherco and apply today.
