127. 4 Categories of Powerful Professional Goals

Episode Transcript

Blake Stratton:
Let me, let me do this.

Verbs Boyer:
What’s happening?

Blake Stratton:
Hang on. We got a special guest for this one. Right? [inaudible 00:00:13] the podcast.

Felicity Stratton:
Yeah

Blake Stratton:
All right.

Nick Jaworski:
It’s the first time. Oh my gosh. It’s happening.

Blake Stratton:
Felicity wants [crosstalk 00:00:20] wanted to be on the podcast. So what we do is we talk into there that fuzzy mic and we can say happy Monday. That’s something that we say. You can say, hi, there’s Verbs right there. Mr. Verbs. And that’s Nick.

Nick Jaworski:
Hi, Felicity.

Blake Stratton:
They’re waving at you.

Verbs Boyer:
Hello?

Blake Stratton:
Oh, and you want to introduce him to this? Who’s this?

Alaina Stratton:
You have to [inaudible 00:00:48]. Who is it?

Blake Stratton:
Who is it in your hand?

Alaina Stratton:
It’s special fan. Do you have a name?

Verbs Boyer:
Is that a cow?

Blake Stratton:
What? Is it a cow?

Felicity Stratton:
No it’s a Lamby.

Verbs Boyer:
Oh, it’s a Lamby. I thought that’s who that was.

Nick Jaworski:
Oh.

Verbs Boyer:
Did Lamby have a good morning?

Felicity Stratton:
Yeah.

Verbs Boyer:
Yeah.

Blake Stratton:
Lamby had a good morning. Oh, I know what you could do. Why don’t you do your dinosaur character?

Felicity Stratton:
Yeah. Wow.

Verbs Boyer:
Oh, so scary. Oh my gosh.

Blake Stratton:
Can you say hello?

Verbs Boyer:
Well, this will be important historically for her first podcast appearance.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah. This is her first podcast recording. Lamby’s waving goodbye.

Verbs Boyer:
Bye. Lamby.

Blake Stratton:
What Felicity is going to say? Are you going to say hello?

Felicity Stratton:
Wow.

Verbs Boyer:
Welcome to another episode of Focus on This. The most productive podcast on the internet. So you can banish distractions, get the right stuff done and finally start loving Mondays. I’m Verbs here once again with Blake Stratton. Happy Monday to you, Blake.

Blake Stratton:
Happy Monday to you Verbs.

Verbs Boyer:
Thank you very much sir.

Blake Stratton:
Sadly, today we are without my friend and yours, Courtney Baker. She can’t be here today, but you listening, I know from the bottom of her heart, what she would love to say to you more than anything, is that today’s a great day to buy a subscription to the full focus planner as our chief marketing officer. I’m sure there’s nothing else. She could wish you this happy Monday, but Verbs we are here. I’m excited to talk with you about today’s topic. What are we diving into today?

Verbs Boyer:
So today we’re going to be talking about setting professional goals, and there’s a couple of categories that we’re going to walk through to consider when we are setting those professional goals, but just giving some kind of framework around the ways to experience a more enriching and fulfilling life professionally, but then also make sure we’re catering to the other areas of life as well.

Blake Stratton:
So we’re going to talk about setting professional goals, but you’re saying when we set professional goals, we’re going to do it in such a way so as to protect our personal life, or are we also talking about personal goals?

Verbs Boyer:
Well, mainly how to really dial in those professional goals that we do want to set. Just so we’re clear on those, because again, maybe the year started off on a sluggish foot for some, and you’re still feeling drained from just that Q4 dash or maybe there’s distractions or obstacles that are coming at you from all sides and there’s things that you want to do to develop or grow professionally. And so we’re going to talk about what those could look like, because some of them may go outside of your normal professional work hours. Some of them may not, but how do they all fit into whatever it is that you want to accomplish or how you want to frame up that professional goal?

Blake Stratton:
I’m excited for this for myself because usually you can… If you’ve been at your job for any length of time, especially more than a couple of years, maybe you start to feel like, oh, okay. So basically we’re going to same thing, but a little bit more, or it just has a little bit more and maybe it’s feels a little dry or maybe goals, quote unquote were handed to you by your executive team or your supervisor or whatever. And I think it’s really powerful to own our professional goals ourselves. So what we have for you is four different categories to not just keep professional goals in this box of, “Okay, I’m trying to make X number of sales so that my boss doesn’t fire me and maybe I can get a promotion or something like that.” But actually dive a little bit deeper in to professional goals, to liven them up for you, to clarify them for you and to get you on a path towards the actual working life and career that you really want to have.

Verbs Boyer:
So let’s hop into category number one, which is accomplishments. Now there’s many companies who have their employees set professional goals for the year and department heads and their managers are tasked with assessing business needs. As you mentioned Blake, and then determining how the contributors will play a role in pushing those things forward. But if that’s you, then this is the perfect opportunity to connect with your manager about what those professional goals look like.

Verbs Boyer:
And it’s likely that goals will be assigned to you and that’s normal and that’s to be expected. And we’re just going to consider an area or two where you would like to accomplish something and present that to your manager. So Blake, I know there’s some thoughts you probably have around this as far as what is it when we know that there’s something that’s expected of us as an employee or as a team member. And maybe that could be a little bit different about something that we want to do that we can present to our supervisor or manager or boss or whoever that will help us grow professionally but isn’t exactly explicitly stated in the goals that they’re expecting us to accomplish. Does that make sense?

Blake Stratton:
Yeah, it does. So this first category, we have four categories to share with people. This first category is probably the most obvious because so often this is the only way that we think of professional goals is the big accomplishment. The big finish will line. And oftentimes it’s handed down to us as you just mentioned. So let’s just say this so that if you’re an employer or a leader we’re covering our bases here, your first priority, when it comes to goals is to achieve what you’ve been charged to achieve. If you’ve been given a goal for a certain accomplishment, what we’re not saying is, “Oh yeah. You know, take it, leave it, but go ahead and write your own goal of what you want to accomplish.” That’s not what we’re saying. What we are saying is to embrace those accomplishments that have maybe been handed down to you and you know what, if those accomplishments… If you have a 100% alignment and excitement and feel like you’ve got a whole plate for that, then that’s great.

Blake Stratton:
Your work is done, but there may be some of you that go like, all right. Yeah. I’ve got to improve my increase at my sales or increase this thing by 15%. And yeah, I kind of got that, but it doesn’t really get me excited. Maybe you want to about other accomplishments, the big projects that you may want to do throughout the course of the year or a quarter. So I’m in sales so I’ll think in terms of a sales metaphor. I’ve got specific revenue numbers for categories that I’m supposed to hit. That’s my goal, but perhaps I want to have another accomplishment, like maybe it’s important to me to have a certain just number of conversations that are totally I’m… They weren’t handed to me, but they were new conversations that I generated from LinkedIn or something.

Blake Stratton:
And that would be something that I could show my boss to say, Hey, you know what? I was generating new conversations totally on my own. I took initiative. I had 500 new conversations this year that were completely self-generated conversations. And here’s how that played out in terms of playing into the goal that you set for me. So that would be an example of taking ownership of your goal, but looking at it a little bit closer and maybe finding something that would still bring value to your team and to your company, but that you can get excited about as well. Does that make sense?

Verbs Boyer:
Yeah. No, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think depending on what type of business you’re in, it may look a little bit different obviously for some of us. So if we’re in with inside an organization or we’re running or leading the organization, or maybe we’re even a solopreneur, but whichever way it looks for you and your business, it still means assessing what the business need is writing down the desired goal to achieve it, and then breaking those tasks down that you need to complete to accomplish the goal by whatever the said target date is. So if you’re a solopreneur, it could be you setting a goal for a new product launch by a particular date. It could be a launch of a new website or a company branding. It could be a goal to transition to a new integration for your online store or developing something just for a smoother customer experience. So there’s a lot to different goals that you could set that’s going to develop you or your business to whatever degree that you’re hoping for.

Blake Stratton:
So I think to wrap this first category Verbs, what I would challenge the listeners with is to examine what accomplishment goals have already been set for them. If they have, if they haven’t then obviously connect with your supervisor and collaborate on, “Hey, what would be a great outcome?” Or what’s really my goal, because I want to make sure we’re on the same page and have alignment here with that accomplishment, but regardless of where you’re at in terms of the having management or being on your own or whatever, I want to encourage you to focus on the E of the smarter frame work when it comes to an accomplishment. Start with what would be really exciting for me to achieve this year professionally. Start there. Start with what would really excite me and then work on connecting the dots logistically with the timing, with what the business needs might be or how logistically you could accomplish that. So that’s my advice, I think for this first category to think professionally is what accomplishments would be really exciting.

Verbs Boyer:
All right. So moving along to category number two, which is habits. Now we talked a little bit of about this in a previous episode when we were talking about Workday startup shutdowns, morning and evening rituals. But the fact of the matter is we all have habits that we already have in play in our lives. Now, whether or not those habits are working to our benefit could be the question and is the question that we should discuss. What kind of habits can we establish to really help us achieve these professional goals? Or what are some of the bad habits that we’ve kind of accumulated to get in the way of us really dialing in and knocking those goals out

Blake Stratton:
With this category of goal setting professionally, I like it because it shifts us from the destination into the mindset of the process. So you’re thinking… In the previous category you’re thinking, where do I want to end up with this category? You’re thinking, how do I want to get there? And focusing on the system that you’re developing in your professional life can bear huge returns in the long term. What we know about habits is so much of our life is dictated by our unconscious habits. This the things that we do without even thinking. So consider for yourself what would be awesome to just do unconsciously.

Blake Stratton:
Like if I didn’t even have to think about doing this habit, it would make my work life way more successful or it would keep me from the distractions that divert me from the most important things in my workday.

Verbs Boyer:
Sure.

Blake Stratton:
That’s a way to, I think get excited about habits is to shift out. Sometimes we go, oh, I really ought to do more of this. So I really ought to not be in my email all day long. But think about it and go, Hey, I already have habits. How can I edit my current habits to make success inevitable? How can I edit my habits to make success inevitable. Verbs are there any habits that you’ve intentionally installed or edited in your working life?

Verbs Boyer:
Yeah. No and I think it’s good that you mentioned that I think commonly, we always think of habits as bad things that we do that we need to eliminate from our lives versus establishing these good habits or these habits is going to help us grow, help us be more productive. One of the things that I’ve started doing is if I know I’m looking at my day, I’ve set my big three that’s established, and I know that, Hey, this is going to take a certain amount of focus. Then I’m going to have to mentally say, I can’t allow myself to be distracted because it’s going to break up the momentum of what I’m trying to do.

Verbs Boyer:
And then once that momentum is broken, then you know it takes a little bit of time to get back into the flow of whatever the project is. And so I don’t do this consistently as I probably need to, but normally when I know focus is definitely needed to accomplish something, then I’m shutting down a lot of the open windows that I have on my computer as far as the applications.

Verbs Boyer:
So that Slack, that’s email. I’ll just clear all of that stuff out of the way, because I’m always going to be tempted. If I know I have Slack open that something’s going to pop through that I think I need to attend to, or at least have considered, but I’ll just send a message to our team in Slack and say, “Hey, I’m going to be off the grid for a while.” I’ll check back in at lunchtime, then I’ll check back in at the end of the day.

Verbs Boyer:
That way there’s nothing that they’re waiting on. There’s no expectation there and that really helps me to also mentally make a mark that everybody knows, you know what I’ve notified the team. Everybody knows what I’m doing, what I’m working on, where I’m at. So there’s no expectation there either. So I shut that down. I shut down email, even my phone. I’ll just go take that and put it into another room somewhere. So I’m not tempted to pick that up and enter into another thread or a mode of work of some sort. So that’s been helpful for me just to maintain the focus that I need to knock out whatever I’m trying to accomplish for that day. It’s going to just give me the momentum that I need.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah. I think a challenge sometimes with the habit thing is it’s like a delayed gratification and the first time you do a habit, it’s like, all right, sure. I guess that was fun. And until the it’s fully installed and it’s been running for a while, you may not see the fruits of it.

Verbs Boyer:
Sure.

Blake Stratton:
So that’s a challenge. I started making that point Verbs just now and I don’t even know that I have a great way around it for people, but I was just thinking what habits have I started to create? And I think it’s such a different mindset from the accomplishment thing, because when we think about the accomplishments we go big 10X, big moves, let’s go fast and do it now. And habits it’s the exact opposite. It’s what’s the smallest thing that if I were to do that just on autopilot for the next year would probably have this compound interest in my professional life.

Blake Stratton:
A small thing that I started doing last year was just in my follow up when I would have a sales call with somebody, I would just… I made it part of my workday start at ritual. I would look at the previous day, look at the calls I had, send them a message, connect on LinkedIn. And that was it. It did not take more than three minutes maximum, probably in any given day. It also didn’t result in a huge tidal wave of sales or something a week after doing it. But sure enough, the end of last year, I had quite a few people reach out to me and say, “Hey, we talked about this a year ago.” Or, “Hey, we talked about this four months ago. I’d like to open the conversation back up.” And they had my contact information. It was easy for them. They had seen me posting. It’s just those small things. You got to be patient with a habit.

Verbs Boyer:
Exactly. It’s like those habits are those small little variables that contribute to these little Easter eggs that you discover through the rest of the year. It’s like, “Hey, I didn’t expect it, but it was there and it was a pleasant surprise, but it was because you established those little practices throughout your process.” All right so category number two was habits moving to category number three, which is growth

Blake Stratton:
Growth. I love this habit. I love this habit and I’ve got good news for you listening. You’ve already established a growth habit, which is you’ve downloaded our podcast and you’re listening to it. Maybe you’re on your way to work or something right now. And maybe when I’m yammering on about, Hey, yeah, let’s give it up. Thanks, Nick. Let’s put the applause in for you. Maybe it doesn’t feel like professional growth when I’m yammering on about nineties R&B music or some off topic thing, but it’s helpful. Sometimes I listen to… I’ll listen to a podcast or an audio book and it’s not even about the stuff that I got out of it that day. It’s just it puts me in this mindset of growth. It puts me kind of in that head space of like, yeah, self-improvement. So what we’re talking about with this category is what would it look like for you to set a goal that wasn’t about a one-time accomplishment, wasn’t even a habit necessarily, but was specifically for you an investment in the account of your skillset and of your professional development.

Blake Stratton:
And I said, when you introduce this, I think this might be my favorite one. I get really excited about personal growth-

Verbs Boyer:
Why is that?

Blake Stratton:
… and professional growth? You know why I think it is, Verbs, is that investing in your skills is a recession proof investment. So if I invest in real estate, real estate’s maybe a bad example because it’s one of the most secure, typically investments that you could make there’s not new land being invented, but you know, the market can go up and down.

Verbs Boyer:
Crypto. You invest in crypto, let’s go.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah. Let’s say crypto. If I buy an NFT of Michael Jordan dunking over Patrick Ewing, you know the one where he starts going down the baseline turns around and turns back around and dunks on pat Ewing. That’s got to worth a million dollars, but let’s just say it takes-

Nick Jaworski:
Introducing new Focus on This NFTs. So, yeah. Why aren’t we doing this? Pause everything.

Blake Stratton:
Wow. But investing in your skills is recession proof. I like the idea. No, I’m an employed, and I enjoy that, but I like the idea of creating almost like building equity or adding to this investment that can grow and grow and grow. And no one can really take that away. Let’s say for instance you are working in accounting or something, but you’ve always wanted to get into marketing. You could set a goal to say, I’m going to take a copywriting class and just because I’ve always wanted to do that.

Blake Stratton:
Well, guess what the skill of copywriting is going to pay off all the time. Even if you’re not even in the marketing role, but you can build on that. Or I think in sales, like I said, I’m in sales, investing in becoming better at sales, yes, it’s going to help me now, but it’s also going to help me for whatever other chapter of my life is going to come. That skillset is something that no one can take away from me. So when you’re investing, if it’s a course, if it’s a book, if it’s a new area of study or just going deeper in your main skillset, it’s amazing because those types of goals are built and they compound in value over time.

Verbs Boyer:
Yeah. And I think I agree with you on this one. I think this is probably my favorite category as well. The one thing I love about our company is continuous growth is actually a value at our company. So when we come on to this team, we understand that this is how much this company considers growth important because it’s an actual value. And so you come on board on that, not only that, but they’re creating opportunities for us to provide resources for us to grow professionally in whatever areas that we see, we need to grow in for our specific roles that we play here.

Verbs Boyer:
So I love that. But the fact that the matter is if we don’t grow, then we stay stagnant and we never go anywhere. I mean, whether it’s professional, whether it’s personal, I think any opportunities that we take to contribute to our own growth is going to benefit not only just us as humans, but then also benefits any arenas that we come in contact with, whether it just be relational and obviously professional as well. So the importance of taking on the opportunity, like you said, it might be a book, it might be a podcast, but it’s how did you describe it? You said it’s your recession proofing yourself.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah. You’re recession proofing yourself.

Verbs Boyer:
So you’re doing that. And then you’re making yourself more of a valuable asset to your team as well. And a professional sense of, “Hey, you guys hired me because you understood I had this skillset, but I also need know that this needs to continue to grow while I’m here so I can stay a contributing member of our team and making sure that we’re offering our best creativity, our best ideas, our best innovation, because we’re continue to upgrade our skillsets and taking the time to do that.”

Blake Stratton:
This is a great category because it has guaranteed I think positive outcomes for you really? Even if you… Maybe it’s very direct. My sister is getting her master’s right now. She’s a teacher. When she gets her masters, she also will qualify to be paid more. So that’s a very clear and obvious direct connection to that professional growth goal that she has. But I’m telling you, even if it’s not that direct, I promise you, it will bring value to you.

Verbs Boyer:
Absolutely.

Blake Stratton:
And it could be as small as, “Hey, I’m going to find a mentor in this area and just be with that person once a month or I’m going to go deep in a topic. I’m going to look at Amazon and go, what are the up 10 books on sales? What are the top 10 books on management, conflict management or something like that. And I’m going to read all of those this year.” Just go deep in that topic.

Blake Stratton:
It is just guaranteed returns and yeah, don’t get too worried by the way of, is this the right course? Is this the right book? Is this the right mentor? The way that growth is it’s almost impossible. When you set the intention to grow, even if you choose the quote, not best path, you still grow because it’s just a lesson you weren’t expecting to absolutely to learn. If you read a book and you kind of disagree with it, or you try a method and it didn’t work, guess what? That’s still growth, that’s still learning. This one is a great category, because it’s hard to get it wrong. And when you get it right, it’s going to bear results and fruit in your life for years and years to come.

Verbs Boyer:
Blake, before we move to the next category, is there any professional goals that you have set maybe for this year or maybe one that you recently completed

Blake Stratton:
For professional growth?

Verbs Boyer:
Professional growth, yes.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah. Well last year I… This probably towed the line of professional and personal growth. It certainly helped me professionally, but I found this author in December of last year and I really liked it. It was kind of this, just a book about the mental and emotional game of real productivity, which shocker, like I was attracted to that. I was into that and I found out he had a coaching group. And so I signed up for the coaching group. It’s not super high commitment, but I’ve had number of conversations with him over the last year. It was my best year ever in my life from a… Just in terms of a professional standpoint, I would say it was one of my most successful ever and financially my most successful ever. And even in other ways, it was really successful. And I would attribute that to just not overthinking it. I got value out of the book. I took the next step to say, okay, I’m going to actually get some coaching really in this area. And it was extremely, extremely helpful to me.

Verbs Boyer:
So that was category number three, growth. Moving to category number four, opportunities. Opportunities. This is probably one also the people enjoy the most because there’s a newness to it. There’s a fresh effect as we talked about a couple episodes ago about a newness of a possible opportunity or a possible new adventure that could be ahead of us, but then setting a goal around it.

Verbs Boyer:
And the interesting thing, I think just over the last couple years that we’ve seen is people seeking new career opportunities because of what’s been going on, but shutdowns and pandemics and all these things is they said, Hey, you know what? I actually don’t enjoy doing what I’m doing as much as I thought I did. And this is a perfect time for me to seek out a new opportunity. I don’t know if you have any thoughts around this Blake, or have seen it just in some of the calls that you have with business owners and how that’s these opportunities have impacted either or negatively or in a positive way, but just any thoughts you have on goals with opportunities specifically in new professional careers and those sorts of things?

Blake Stratton:
I love that we’re talking about this category last because in a lot of ways, it is an outcome category of successfully pursuing the other three categories of professional goals. You-

Verbs Boyer:
I see what you did.

Blake Stratton:
… reach certain achievements, you establish great habits and build longer term wins for yourself. You’ve invested in your personal growth. You’ve increased your value to your employer and in the marketplace. And category four is opportunities. If you try to pursue, I think a lot of these types of opportunity, Hey, let’s grass is greener over there type of goals without paying attention first to the other three, it might be tough sledding, but let’s just assume that yeah, you’ve got aspirations. I think one win for having goals in this category, Verbs, is hope. Maybe you find yourself in a challenging work environment. Yeah. I don’t like you’re driving to work right now and you’re dreading it. Having a goal for opportunities can spark hope. And the cool thing about hope is that it doesn’t… Hope is not very tidy. It doesn’t stay in its lane. It bleeds into other areas of your life in a very awesome way.

Blake Stratton:
So maybe the opportunity is just, “Hey, I’m going to…” Let’s say you want to change jobs, change companies or something like that. “I’m going to start building connections with people at this company or at a handful of companies.” “I’m going to write a list of my top 10 dream companies to work for. And I’m just, every day just going to, before I go to work, I’m going to reach out, send an email, read about that company, do something in that direction.” You will naturally find yourself in a better mood and having more energy because you’re having hope, you’re cultivating hope for a better future. And then when you’re at your current job that you don’t like, people are going to be like, “Hey, why are you so happy?” It’s like, “Because I’m getting out of this joint.” Well, you probably can say that an escape route, but have you experienced that, Verbs, where… And maybe it’s not about leaving your job, but even just those, “Hey, it’s not here yet, but I’m going to sow into new opportunities” can spark that hope and that energy where you’re at in your place.

Verbs Boyer:
Absolutely. And I think you’re right, it’s just allowing that hope to break through, allowing your mind to shift into what is possible. Because if you’re, like you said, if somebody’s driving in the car, they’re already dreading to get to their work situation today, then you’re already starting to feel stuck and you’ve shut down what could possibly be. And so just getting that exercise of, like you said, letting that hope out, exercise that hope a little bit, what could be possible beyond where you are currently? This is just a quick example. This is many years ago. I was 19 years old moving to Nashville to establish myself in the music industry. And there were jobs that I would have to take on just to sustain myself until I could get to that point.

Verbs Boyer:
But the one thing that I remember back then was there was opportunity that I had moved here for that was totally possible and whatever I had to do in the moment, whatever job I had to take on, the thing that kept me from being discouraged or the monotony of the day to day of what I was doing at that time, was the fact that there was hope outside of that I knew I could get to if I just established and work the plan. So yeah, I think what you’re saying is man, just allowing that hope to kind of bubble up and see where it takes you through these small little steps that you could do, whether it’s sending an email, whether it’s hopping on LinkedIn, whether it’s starting a conversation’s going to be helpful.

Blake Stratton:
Yeah. I know if Courtney was here, maybe she would share her own story in this, which she had an opportunity goal to become an executive, to be able to be at that chief marketing officer level. And maybe that feels impossible. I know when she had written that down, it was like obviously she’s not showing that everyone on the team or something like that, but it was a goal and it was exciting to her and the effect that has maybe that opportunity seems far away, or it seems impossible or you want to ascend in your own company, but you can’t see a path because, well, so and so is there and they’re doing a great job, but I don’t wish to them to not have what they want, but by writing that down and cultivating that hope and that excitement, I know for Courtney, what that resulted in was she crushed it in her current role.

Blake Stratton:
So I think that’s the effect that you’re looking for. When you set an opportunity goal, you start to then go, okay, if I want to end up there or end up at a new position or a higher level or a different industry, whatever it is, the power of setting a goal in that direction is that you can then dial it back to today. So then how then do I conduct myself today? And that is a topic for another podcast. How to connect all the dots to your goal. But if you need some energy and some excitement and some hope, I encourage you to set a goal in this category of opportunities.

Verbs Boyer:
So the good news is you don’t have to settle for a professional low or remain stagnant in your career. You can pursue professional goals through project-oriented accomplishments, instilling habits, being intentional about growth and remaining open to new opportunities. Blake, any final thoughts for our Focus on This listeners?

Blake Stratton:
Verbs, do you have a final thought?

Verbs Boyer:
You know what I don’t, but I would like to refer back to what you said earlier when we talked about the opportunities and just how you mentioned, if you’re not doing those other three categories, as far as accomplishments, tackling the habits and committing to growth, that you’re not necessarily setting yourself up for an opportunity when or whenever that may come. It may be this year, it could be two years down the road, but just getting into the flow of really committing to growing professionally in whatever ways that you can and taking those opportunities or those moments now is really going to help you prepare yourself for an opportunity change again, when it comes down the pipe.

Blake Stratton:
Absolutely. Verbs, we did it. People at the top of this episode, they’re like, well, Courtney’s not here. I wonder how [crosstalk 00:34:08]-

Verbs Boyer:
Should I listen?

Blake Stratton:
…should I even listen to it? We made it. Thank you very much for listening to Focus on This. It’s an honor to be in your headphones today or through your car speakers. You know what they say Verbs, the kids on the street, they keep saying, this is the most productive podcast on the internet. I’ve heard the scuttlebutt.

Verbs Boyer:
The kids also say scuttlebutt.

Blake Stratton:
They definitely, they definitely say that.

Verbs Boyer:
Yes, it’s definitely the most-

Blake Stratton:
This is why I don’t try to take your line. This is your part.

Verbs Boyer:
Now I’m totally thrown off just from the scuttlebutt mention. But it is true. The streets are talking, this is the most productive podcast on the internet. So make sure you take an opportunity and share with your friends. Also, hop in to that Full Focus Planner community right there on Facebook. And we’ll be here next week with another great episode. So until then stay, stay focused.