🙅🏼‍♂️ My newsletter has been hijacked!

In last week’s newsletter I said this week was going to be all about diary planning and how I've completely changed both the way I plan my diary and the content of what goes in to it. But that’s going to have to wait - because this week’s edition is being hijacked to talk about something urgent…goal setting! Or more specifically how to set goals correctly and ensure that you achieve them every time.

🚤 Have I missed the boat?

I know you think that the time to be talking about goal setting is at the end of December because everyone does goal setting for January and the year ahead.

But that is actually one of the biggest mistakes people make. Thinking that goal setting is a once a year activity. They have a goal or a plan, but then wait for some arbitrary, annual point to actually get on with trying to achieve it.

If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing NOW!

😱 About last week…

Last week I was booked to talk to a team of 35 financial advisors as part of their annual planning and strategy day. I was talking about how to build an 8 figure network. (An updated version of my ‘how to build a 7 figure network talk’ which has been adjusted for inflation, and will soon be coming to my YouTube channel. Subscribe if you haven’t already😉 )!!

Before I went on stage, the CEO was talking to the team about goal setting. A good talk, covering the usual things people expect to hear when it coms to goal setting - SMART goals, dream big, fail to plan and you’ll plan to fail, etc etc.

He then went round the room getting people to write down, and then shout out, their goals for the year ahead.

Lose weight. Make more money. Be a better father. Etc etc. The usual stuff. All admirable goals - but all destined to fail.

Why? Because there was a key ingredient missing. Read on and you’ll find out what it is! (And you’ll hear my awful sex story too!)

So before I started my networking talk I shared with everyone my 3 step process for setting and achieving your goals.

🎯 Step 1: The goal must be very specific.

‘I want to lose weight’ won’t cut it. Nor will ‘I want to be a better father’. Or ‘I want to read more’.

Specific looks like:

‘I want to lose 12kg in 6 months and be able to run 5km in under 30 minutes’.

‘I want to spend 5 mornings a week having breakfast with my kids. Attend every school play, and spend 1 hour of uninterrupted time with them, with no phones, before bed each day’.

‘I want to read 1 new, non-fiction book each month’.

🫡 Step 2: You need a very clear plan of who it will be achieved, broken down in to (ideally) daily actions or habits.

For the weight loss example it is going to look something like:

• A balanced nutrition plan of xxxx calories per day

• 4 strength training sessions each week following a specific program

• 10k steps per day

• 8 hours a night of quality sleep

• Etc etc

(Note to haters: I am not claiming to be able to dish out a fitness plan! this was an example!)

📖 For the book example something like:

• Select your favourite medium to consume books (audio / written)

• Choose a topic or author you love (to make it easier for you)

• Divide the length of the book by 30 to get the number of pages you need to read each day. And plot it in your diary as a daily commitment.

Every goal has a strategy that can be both simply followed to achieve it, and broken down in to granular pieces and daily habits. If you don’t know the strategy then you need to hire a coach, someone who has been there before you and can mentor you on the journey. Without that strategy you are pissing in the wind (or certainly fighting an uphill battle).

🔫 Step 3: You need to find a pain point so strong that if you don’t hit your goal then this punishment will make your life not worth living.

So here comes the story!

All my adult life I wanted to be a little bit thinner and a little bit stronger. I was never fat (or so I thought!) but would have benefited from a little tune up. I knew how to do it - not hard. Exercise more. Eat less. But I also loved wine and Chinese food! And the cost of not eating Chinese food with great red wine wasn’t worth paying, in return for what I saw as very limited upside from being a little slimmer.

So whilst I had a clear goal I wanted to achieve, and a strategy that could be carried out - I never did it. The pain point wasn’t big enough and the cost to me was too high.

But then along came Elena, my girlfriend.

We were 18 months in to a relationship that, whilst it had had a few ups and downs, was going ok - or so I thought! On this particular night in question we were in the middle of having sex, which I thought was going just fine…… then the ending came 💦 (I am trying to choose my words carefully here!) and she was sat on me, looking down, with what I can only describe as a look of absolute disgust!

‘What’s the matter?’ I asked. Assuming there must be some other unrelated issues going on in her head. Oh, how wrong was I!

‘You are so fat! You make me feel sick!’ Was the reply that I was neither expecting nor prepared for! ‘I have never been with a guy who doesn’t have a six-pack, and I am embarrassed for my family to meet you!’

Many people may have focused on the delivery of the message and helped her pack her bags! (And beleive me, that would have been easy to do!) But as I always want to learn and grow, I was more interested in the issue itself, and I am always up for a challenge!

‘Well that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear, and I also have to disagree with the extremity of your view! But that said, I have always been looking for a little extra motivation to loose a few pounds so you just watch me now!’

By ‘little extra motivation’ I mean a pain point so strong and horrific that nothing was going to stop me from achieving my goal!

And off I went! I don’t think I ate for the next 4 days! I got a diet, I got a new trainer, I got a doctor to work on my hormones, I walked 20k steps a day, and I moved into the sauna! I did whatever it took to achieve that goals.

And 4 months later I was 10kg lighter, felt 20 years younger, and have maintained or improved upon that position ever since for the last 4 years.

I couldn’t have done it (as I have proven for the previous 15 plus years) without finding something worth paying the price for. A pain point so high that I could no longer not achieve my goals to cure it.

So, as someone who heard me talk last week said, ‘you must go and find your own Elena’!

What does that look like to you? 

What do you really care about? Because the only reason you haven’t hit your goals yet is because you don’t care enough. It doesn’t hurt enough.

You are happy being broke. You are happy being fat. You are happy not achieving the qualifications you claimed to have wanted. Or whatever it may be……….

Please just read that again and digest it. Because it is the simple truth and you need to understand it. You know what you need to do to hit your goal, because it is usually reasonably simple - you just don’t care enough about it to actually do it.

So go away and find your pain. Or reset your goals if you need to. Don’t worry that it isn’t the first of January. And if you happen to pick this newsletter up later in the year then don’t let that stop you either. The time is always NOW! And the path is always clearer than you think. The journey just has to be worth it.

Until next week,

Matt ‘10kg lighter’ Haycox

🎙️This Week On The Pod!

This week on No Bollocks with Matt Haycox, I’ve served up two game-changing episodes you simply can’t afford to miss!

🚀 Business Exit Expert: 90% Of Businesses Fail to Sell – Do These 3 Things to Fix It!
I sat down with Marc Adams, the ultimate authority on selling your business smartly and cashing out tax-free. Marc reveals why most businesses don’t sell and shares actionable strategies to make your business irresistible to buyers.

💡 Highlights you can’t miss:

• Why 90% of businesses fail to sell (and how to ensure yours isn’t one of them).

• Proven ways to maximise value through profitability, systems, and scalability.

• Secrets to minimising taxes on your exit in both the UK and USA.

🎯 If you’ve ever dreamed of selling your business or just want to build a more valuable one, this episode is your blueprint for success.

🎢 Jonathan Goodman: Why Success Could Be Your Biggest Failure
In this unfiltered conversation, I get personal with Jonathan Goodman, a millionaire coach who’s redefined what success means after scaling, losing, and rebuilding his business.

💡 Key takeaways:

• Why achieving success might leave you more lost than ever.

• Jonathan’s journey from burnout to balance—and how you can do it too.

• Practical strategies for building businesses that run without you.

🎯 This episode is a must-listen for anyone feeling burned out or stuck in the rat race.

Don’t just listen—take action! Share these episodes with anyone building a business, chasing success, or looking for clarity in the chaos. Your next breakthrough might just be one episode away.

Team Talk 💪🏼

Every week someone from my team hijacks this section of the newsletter to write about a must have strategy or tip that they have been implementing within our businesses.

Issie Hannah, SEO Lead

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Here’s how:
📞 Get coaching with me: Real, no-bullshit advice tailored to your business. Book a 15 minute power coaching call here.
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💡 Let’s cut the bollocks and get to work. Book a call today, or reach out to my team, and take the next step toward making your business unstoppable!