Скачать или смотреть GP Ep165 CLIPS: 2026 Goal Setting for Lawyers Part 1: Why Your Plan Gets Hijacked

Most lawyers don’t struggle with setting goals. They struggle with protecting them.

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As the year winds down, many high performers find themselves frustrated, tired, and wondering why carefully written plans never quite survive real life. This episode of Great Practice, Great Life reframes that frustration and explains why it’s not a personal failure, a discipline issue, or a lack of ambition.

In the first part of a two-part goal-setting series, Steve lays the groundwork for designing a stronger 2026 by honestly assessing what happened in 2025. Instead of jumping straight into new goals, he focuses on how attention, energy, and focus get hijacked during the year and why even great plans fall apart when they aren’t protected.

Using a simple but powerful driving metaphor, Steve breaks goal execution into four core elements: your map, your steering, your windshield, and your lane. Altogether, they explain how distractions, interruptions, and cognitive overload quietly pull lawyers away from what matters most, often without them realizing it until months later.

This episode is a strategy session, not a pep talk. It invites listeners to use a rear-view mirror approach, studying how they actually operated during the year so that they can design a more resilient structure for the year ahead. Before building the 2026 plan, this conversation helps ensure it won’t get hijacked the same way.

In this episode, you will hear:
-Goal setting versus goal protecting and why most plans fail
-The difference between writing goals and actually doing them
-Map, steering, windshield, and lane as focus fundamentals
-How cognitive overload quietly derails execution
-The four “Ds” that hijack attention during the year
-Why 2025 wasn’t a failure but was a teacher

Chapter
00:00 - Why goals fail
02:35 - Protect your goals
04:43 - Who’s steering you?
06:25 - The four D’s

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Supporting Resources:
Steve Riley: atticusadvantage.com/team/steve-riley
Worksheet: 2025 Rearview Mirror Check (link coming)
Limited-time offer! My Great Life Focus: Get a one-year supply (4 quarterly focusers) for $99 (4 for the price of 2 / 50% off) with this link. Valid through January 31, 2026. Claim the offer → gn477.infusionsoft.app/app/orderForms/My-Great-Life-Focus-Podcast-Year-Bundle
Distracting adults during task makes them behave like children (Wan and Sloutsky study): news.osu.edu/distracting-adults-during-task-makes-them-behave-like-children

Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.

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