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This is Goals and Grace with certified high performance coach, Reverend Dr. Juliet Spencer. One practical framework and a faith truth to cut overwhelm and claim your calling. Ready to lead with love, not depletion.
Let's go. Have you ever noticed how overwhelm disappears the moment the path gets clearer? Not because the work vanished, not because life suddenly got easier, but because your brain finally stopped trying to carry 17 priorities at once. Friend, confusion is exhausting.
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One of the reasons so many brilliant capable women stay stuck isn't lack of intelligence. It's lack of clarity, too many tabs open, too many options, too many important things competing for attention. So today we're simplifying.
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Today we're building your five moves, the handful of needle movers that make your goal almost inevitable. And honestly, this episode may save you six months of unnecessary spinning. Here's something I've learned both for ministry and from coaching.
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High performers don't succeed because they do more. They succeed because they identify what matters most and keep returning to it. The women who create momentum in life, leadership, business, health, or faith are usually not doing a thousand things brilliantly.
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They're doing a few important things consistently and that's it. But so many of us, especially high capacity women have a tendency to overcomplicate the process. And to overcomplicate progress.
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We build color coded plans. We buy another notebook. We research for hours upon hours.
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We reorganize the office and the closets. We watch seven YouTube videos titled how I scaled my business while drinking green juice and healing my nervous system. And somehow we still haven't sent the email.
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Can we just laugh lovingly at ourselves for a second? Because I've done it too. Sometimes what looks like preparation is actually avoidance wearing a productivity outfit. And that's why this matters.
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If you cannot clearly identify your five moves, you don't fully own the goal yet. Let me say that again. If you cannot clearly identify your five moves, you don't fully own the goal yet.
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You're still admiring it from a distance, but today we're going to fix that. Whenever I launch something new, I don't begin with perfect plans. I begin with one question.
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What are the few moves that actually create momentum? Because perfection has never been the thing that changed my life. In fact, I'm still waiting on it. But action did.
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In my own career, whether ministry, leadership, coaching, podcasting, or creating something new, every meaningful breakthrough eventually simplified into a surprisingly small number of decisive decisions and decisive actions. Not easy actions, but clear ones and clarity changes everything. When your brain knows the path, resistance loses power.
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It took me a long time to figure that one out, but research is pretty clear and my experience, and I suspect yours proves it. When your brain knows the path, resistance loses power. That's true spirituality too.
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So often in scripture, God didn't reveal 20 years of instructions. God just revealed the next faithful move. To Abram, God said, go.
To Moses, speak. To Esther, approach the king. To Peter, step out of the boat.
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Clarity often comes after movement, not before it. So what are your five moves? They are the essential actions that create the majority of the result. Not every task, not every busy work, not the someday maybe this would help activities, the levers, the actions that change momentum.
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Things like write the proposal, launch the landing page, schedule the creation block, make the sales calls, have the hard conversation, hire the support, record the first episode, submit the application, start the walking routine, start bringing your own lunch. If it doesn't move the needle significantly, it's probably not a move. And that's important.
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Your five moves should feel slightly uncomfortable because comfort rarely creates transformation. When I first mapped out my own five moves for a major project, I realized something embarrassing. I had become incredibly skilled at research.
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I could compare platforms, watch tutorials, read reviews, study strategies, create outlines for the outlines. Meanwhile, the actual work sat untouched. Maybe you've done that too.
You convinced yourself you're working on it, but deep down, you know, you're just circling it. And the moment that changed everything for me was surprisingly small. I finally circled the linchpin move.
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I blocked one focused 50 minute session and did the thing imperfectly. That was it. No fireworks, no angel choir, no dramatic movie soundtrack, just movement, just movement.
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The fog lifted because action creates evidence and evidence builds confidence. That first impact rep proved that I could move forward. I've watched this happen with clients too.
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I had one coaching client come in carrying 27 separate to-dos. 27! Honestly, halfway through the list, I needed a snack and a nap. She was overwhelmed because everything felt equally important to her.
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So we started cutting and cutting and cutting again. And you guessed it until we got to five. Then we circled the linchpin.
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One partnership email that she had been avoiding sending for weeks. And do you know what happened? She sent it before our session even ended. And within one week that single action led to three referrals.
Three. Not because she suddenly became more talented overnight, but because clarity created courage. And that's what happens.
Indecision drains energy. Clarity releases it. So let's do this together.
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And honestly, if you're able, pause the episode between these steps. Don't just listen passively because insight without implementation changes nothing. So first, grab a notebook or a piece of paper.
At the top of the page, write, what outcome do I want in the next 60 to 90 days? And name just one outcome, not 12. One. Underneath it, brain dump.
Everything you can think it will take. And get messy. Write it all down.
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And now here comes the hard part. Cross out anything supportive, but not decisive. Ouch.
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Because some of the things are emotionally comforting, but they're not essential. What remains should be five or fewer major moves. If you still have 10, you're not done simplifying.
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Combine, eliminate, refine, until the true levers remain. Now look at your five moves and ask, which one changes everything else? That one is your linchpin. The move that once functioning makes the rest easier, faster, or more likely.
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It's the gear that turns the whole machine. Sometimes it's the first paying client, the first consistent content rhythm, the childcare solution, the boundary conversation, the automated system, or the first courageous ask. And usually it's the thing you've been avoiding because deep down you already know it matters most.
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Now open your calendar because if your five moves exist only in your notebook, they're wishes. Your calendar reveals your real priorities. And yep, life is full.
I know that. I get that. There are dishes and meeting and family needs and unexpected interruption and laundry that somehow reproduces overnight.
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But your calling, your vision, your ambition, deserve protected space. Aim to spend roughly 60% of your focused maker time advancing move one or your most critical move. And then life will gladly consume the other 40% all by itself.
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You don't have to force distractions into your schedule. They arrive free of charge. Trust me.
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But meaningful progress that requires intention. And this is where rhythm matters. Every Sunday do a short review.
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What progress did I make? What created momentum? What stalled? What needs to double this week? What needs to be deleted? There's no judgment, no shame, just evaluation. High performers reflect. They don't just react and protecting your mornings is really important whenever possible.
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Create before you administrate, because once the world starts talking to you, emails, texts, notifications, news, social media, it becomes harder to hear yourself think or to hear God clearly. When I was pastoring a church full time, I spent the earliest part of the morning doing what was most important to me, which was spending time in prayer and in study of scripture. And before I opened the emails, before I did anything else, as I do today, I looked at my five movers and I looked at my one big goal.
One of my mentors, Brendan Burchard, and I'll admit, I have not actually met him personally, but that's semantics. My mentor, Brendan Burchard, lets everyone know up front. He doesn't check his emails until after lunch.
Why? Because emails are usually other people's agendas, not your own. And so stick to what is the most important thing for you in the morning and do everything else in the afternoon. A few quick warnings before we close.
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Don't confuse research with movement after the initial learning phase. Study long enough to identify the moves and then move. Don't keep adding new goals because you're uncomfortable with depth.
Breath feels exciting. Depth changes lives. And please hear this lovingly.
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Don't let plan B become the reason you never pursue plan A. Be responsible, transition wisely, and use discernment. But don't spend five years getting ready for something that God has already asked you to begin. So let's make this practical.
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Suppose your outcome is, I want to fill my next coaching cohort with 12 ideal clients in 90 days. Your five moves might look like this. Clarify the transformation in pricing, build the interest page and application, book 12 partnerships, podcasts, or guest opportunities, run one weekly value event, make daily personalized invitations.
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That's it. Not 57 strategies, five moves repeated consistently. And the linchpin might simply be getting the first qualified application through the page.
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Because once that system works, you refine and repeat. My friend, this is your moment to simplify. God has already placed gifts inside you.
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God has already opened doors that you have prayed for. God has already planted the desire in your heart for a reason. Now respond.
Not with perfection, not with endless planning, but with faithful action. Choose your five moves, block the time, protect your focus and take the next right step. And remember, progress isn't separate from your faith.
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The disciplined use of your gifts is one way to honor God. So before this episode ends, I want you to do one thing. Schedule a focused block for your linchpin move.
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Then send one invitation, one email, one proposal, one courageous message that moves your future forward. And thank God aloud for the strength, the wisdom, and the will to show up because clarity is a gift, but action is a bridge. Okay, my friend, thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Goals in Grace.
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If it's encouraged you, would you do me a quick favor? Subscribe, leave a positive review and share it with someone who feels overwhelmed and needs clarity right now. That genuinely helps me to continue reaching more people who might benefit from this message. And next week, we'll continue our Decision Fitness Series with Episode 37, Say a Truer No.
And let me just say, this one is going to challenge some people in the best possible way. And it's helpful to remember, I'm always preaching to myself. Until then, have a decisive week, protect what matters most and may God bless you with goals and grace.
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