Welcome to John Gordon's Positive University Podcast, where we share John's interviews with guests as well as key strategies and lessons from his keynotes and more.

Now, on this episode, you'll hear valuable insights from a recent guest interview that John did.

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Hey, this is John Gordon with Positive You, and today my guest is John, J-O-N-A-Cuff. John, how you doing?

I'm great as a J-O-N-No-H-John. It's very exciting to talk to another one. We're out there. We're out there. We're doing stuff.

We are doing stuff. You always make me laugh. I want to bring up one book. It's your older book, though. It's called SoundTracks. I'm holding up right now. SoundTracks.

Amazing book. We've talked about that in the past, and then your new one. I just... I love the title. All it takes is a goal. Incredible book. John, why is it that it's all that it takes? Like, why is it a goal? All that it takes is a goal.

Well, I just think a goal is the fastest path between where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow. And so what I like to do is find an idea you're curious about a desire and then turn it into a goal so you can actually do it.

So I'll give you an example. You and I talk about what does it mean to be good friends? Like, we both invest in friendships. And so one month I was like, you know what? I want to be a better friend. But that's too fuzzy. I can't do anything with that. I got the desire. Let me turn it into a goal. So I said, okay, I'm going to text one person every day for a month and encourage them.

I'm just going to shorten it. So I'm not writing a letter. I'm not making complicated. So for 30 days in a row, I would text people. And I made a list beforehand, because I don't want to get in the middle of the month to get stuck.

So I made a list of friends. And then I would text Jeremy and go, hey, Jeremy, whenever I think of creativity, you're the name that I think of first. Like, it's so fun to watch you create art.

And there wasn't a single person that wrote me back and said, you don't know how this is the worst data send me that 90% of them said, this was something I needed today. You have no idea.

And I said, okay, I want to be a better dad. That's fuzzy too. So I thought, what if I just focus on encouraging my daughter's 30 days in a row, just like find, make a list of 30 things that I really see special in them.

And every morning when she's getting ready for school, I say, hey, that thing you did was really brave the other day. I couldn't have done that at your age. Like, you're so brave. So now I've taken this desire, be a better friend, be a better dad. I've made it a goal. And I've actually accomplished it.

So then at the end of the 30 days, of course, I was a better friend. I spent 30 different moments having conversations, encouraging people.

So it wasn't a fuzzy wish. It was an accomplished goal. That's why I love goals so much. They take things that are not tangible and make them tangible. And then you actually accomplish them.

But being from New York, you know, that skeptic is going to say, but the goal is not all it takes. It's more than a goal. You have to take action. What would you say to that?

Well, yeah, of course. I mean, the, I would say until you have action, it's a wish. Like you're confusing wish with goal. Like until you introduce your desire to your calendar, it's just a wish.

Like the calendar tells the truth. I always say time is the only honest metric. It really is. And so if you say, here's the things that are important to me. And then I go, OK, cool. Let's just look where you're investing in those. And you're not investing at all.

Then they're not important to you. Or you go, whoa, you're right. Let me turn this into a real goal. So yeah, a goal takes action. It takes, you know, positive thinking.

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