It’s that time of year again…time to assist your clients with goal-setting. But it can be a recipe for self-sabotage if they set the bar too low or too high. Help your clients and mastermind group members to set goals that are “just right” for maximum success without sabotage, using these ideas and exercises below.

In this blog post, I share insights, strategies and exercises for changing the way you ask clients to set goals, deal with fear and resistance to change, and hold them accountable for reaching their goals. You can use these immediately in your very next meeting with clients!

The growing edge

When studying motivation, we know there is a “growing edge” where you are most likely to accomplish your goals and move forward on your dreams. Setting goals on this growing edge is a simple skill to learn,  but you have to work with your clients for them to get it just right. Here’s why:

• If you tell yourself something that’s not true, your brain begins to reject all further internal conversation. Let’s say your goal is to double your revenue. If you use postitive affirmations (“I can easily double my revenue!”), your brain says, “Huh? That’s not true!”
• We want to find statements that are true so your brain doesn’t push back too much.
• The growing edge is the place in your mind that says two things that are true: that the goal is challenging AND the goal is doable; that is the place where the most growth can arise without self-sabotage.

Finding that sweet spot is an important task — even if it’s the uncomfortable conversation at first. As a coach, consultant, or facilitator, you can lead them through this journey. I’ll outline it below.

We often resist changes in our life

Fear will inevitably arise as you work on your goals and dreams. Your growing edge goal will naturally bring up your resistance to change — and it should. Resistance shows you where you need to stretch yourself. Tell your clients, “Keep your focus on the vision of possibility while respecting the fears that come up. Don’t spend energy pushing fear away, simply acknowledge that it exists.”

It’s okay to make mistakes as you work through the steps to finishing a big project or reaching a major goal. Taking risks is welcome because it releases creativity and imagination.

How to find your growing edge

When looking for your growing edge goal, always start with the truth of where you really are right now. Do not start with your history or what has prevented you from moving forward in the past. Instead, always start with what’s true right now and your vision for your future.

Many people have two dreams, two visions

You have two ways you look at your future:

• the “big dream” for the distant future (an all-encompassing dream of how we’d like things in the future)
• the “short-term dream” of what can be accomplished today, or this week, or this month.

It’s important to keep both dreams in your mind simultaneously when doing this work because that is where your passion and energy reside.

Where do you want to be a year from now?

And where do you want to be by the end of next month?

What’s your growing edge today?

Your growing edge goals will encompass those projects you need to complete and the habits you have to change, which are both challenging and doable.

• Don’t pick goals that are too easy to do — you won’t put the effort or energy into them the way you would if the goal fired you up.
• On the other hand, don’t pick goals that are so difficult or outside your comfort zone that you’ll resist doing them.

Find the growing edge, the middle ground that ignites your vision and energy, and that will ask you to grow as a human being, without tipping you so far into a goal or project that you’re instantly feeling overwhelmed.

Want to learn how to start a mastermind group? Click here to get my free video tutorial on how to create a mastermind group of your own. No signup required.

Your mastermind group can hold you accountable

Each growing edge is unique and no two people have the exact same growing edge — even if they have the same goal.

Say that you run a business-building mastermind group. Everyone in the group wants to increase revenue, but each member’s individual growing edge will be a different revenue number.

In a mastermind group, all members should be aware of each other’s growing edge. In this way, they can your feet to the fire.

Your mastermind partners should always be asking you: Are you on the growing edge? Or are you either playing safe or overcommitting?

Accountability plays a key role here. Your mastermind group may encourage you to set big goals. But they also make sure you implement your plans and look for failure points.

It’s easy, fun and exciting for a group to come up with huge, wonderful goals for each member. But it’s harder for the individual member to achieve those goals without the group brainstorming and support that happens each month as you implement your action plan. Make sure your group is encouraging you to grow and that you’re all helping each other by making sure those goals are on the growing edge.

For mastermind group facilitators, coaches and consultants

Try these exercises with your clients/members:

• Ask them to define their big picture goal and their one-month goal — are those two goals in alignment?
• When defining their big picture goal, are they choosing goals that are both challenging and doable? Are they on their growing edge? (Hint: this is a great exercise for the group to do together, helping each other craft and refine growing edge goals. It helps them learn the process so they can do it on their own later.)
• How will they help identify the growing edge of the other members and hold them accountable?
• How will individual members self-identify when they’re getting off track and how will they course correct to get back on track?
• How will they identify and discuss fear, resistance to change, and the setting of goals which are too easy or too difficult?

Want to learn how to start a mastermind group? Click here to get my free video tutorial on how to create a mastermind group of your own. No signup required.