What Are Your Goals? Start With the Dream, Work Back to Today, and Let the Goals Pull You Out of Bed

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. This is so cool. This is Mornings with Matt, the Dearing Acting Studio Podcast, where we discuss the connection between life and acting. All righty, good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Mornings with Matt show. Welcome back, I should say, it's 2021, we missed you. You missed us. So much. Two. We missed doing this show. So we are back, we're starting off the new year here with a little bit of a new format, just so everyone knows.

So we're going to be starting off with a couple different segments here that we're going to do in every episode. And big news, we got Brian Sweeney back. Hey! The man, the myth, the legend. Joe, it is so good to be back, boys. So good to be back. Dude, you're handsomer than you were. What happened? You know, Joey's cooking some good meals. That's a big part of it now.

It was, dude, getting back, I had a moment with you where you came in and just was so grateful to be back in the space, you know, like, and this just hit me, but I just want to share it. Like, I came over and I just wept, like, to just the fact that I got to be here and that we were blessed with all the things we were blessed with, um, each other, this space, the ability to help people.

And I just got on my knees and just wept and just thankfulness. Like, and, uh, it was just so amazing. So, uh, will you, will you cry for us right now? Would you mind? Just kidding. But we are going into emotional triggers soon. So Brian, we'll be teaching everyone how to do that. I will. On cue. Yeah. But no, I mean, you're right. It was, it was this realization of gratitude and this, this under, and I, I mean, I was right with you.

I was just sitting there going like, uh, I, I told you this, I forgot how much I missed having you here. Yeah. That it was like, I can't even tell you, you walked in the room and this new energy came about me. So, all right, well, we got to stay on time here. So we're going to, we're going to jump into this first, um, this first bit here.

So Joey, you sent us, um, a text message this morning. Yes, I did. I did send a text message this morning to our, to our little group chat, little group chat between me, you and Brian. Yeah. I appreciate that. So I'm going to read this. Somebody sent us this on, on Instagram. So Joey, Joey shared this with us and you know, there's been a lot going on in the world.

Okay. And I'm going to, I'm going to go into that a little bit here in a minute about what's going on and how it's been affecting us and whatnot, and what we're going to do about it to get, to get through some of these times. But, um, somebody sent us this. It says, God is telling you today to be still. Stop stressing yourself of what is going on.

Stop figuring it out with your own understanding. Stop fighting for it because it's yours already. God is saying, leave that to me to handle. I thought that was really great. This idea of letting go and letting go going into goal setting is a really, really great thing. So, all right, here's our first segment. Brian Sweeney is going to start us off with a Bible verse. All right.

We're going to kind of connect that Bible verse into, uh, what we're going to be talking about for the day. So go ahead, Bri Guy. All right, we got Philippians 3, 13, uh, 4, uh, and it's 13, uh, and 14. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have, uh, taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and, and, uh, straining forward what is ahead.

I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Okay, there we go. A little Philippians here. So, so what, what, what are these like these two pieces of information? Okay. We get this from Joey. We get this Bible verse this morning that we're, we're called to. Okay. So, so what's, what, what, what's the idea here? pretty darn tough the last three weeks.

And I'm going to tell you, um, it, it doesn't seem to be getting better this year. Sure. You know, and I said that for a long time. I was like, you know what, everybody, um, we shouldn't be like wishing 2020 to be gone. That's such a silly idea. Right. As if like the turn of the day is going to all of a sudden make everything better. It doesn't, it's not how it works.

Right. So, um, so going back to, to like my own like personal self here, I, one of the reasons why I was feeling down, cause I was feeling very down was because we had three weeks off essentially from classes at night and I had all these goals and I had all these like visions of what we were going to do and accomplish and how far ahead we were going to be in different wanting to know an answer on my time.

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a, that's one of the things that, um, is, is really, uh, outspoken about the Bible is it's all in God's time. There's so many verses about that. Um, I was listening to this pastor and, and it really related to me because he was saying And he was saying that like modern day churches, you know, they've turned into this cruise ship church, which is basically, you know, everybody hop aboard, get your fill, like have fun, have community, um, remember God, you know, we'll talk about them a little bit and then you go into your week and like everything's good.

And right now, um, he was saying that, that we need to shift into battleship churches. You know, you gotta, you gotta be ready to be, um, to, to preach that word no matter what, you know, to talk about the importance of, um, connecting to spirit, whatever that may be for you, you know? Yeah. And, uh, that was one of the big, like when you're sitting down and going through coming out of here, I had no idea how much media I had watched a, that was like, that's insane.

And I just sort of, um, realized that, that we don't have to put it on us. It's, it's like, does it no good? It's just like, what does it do? Like, we're just going to worry more. And, and if, if we just kind of live in the moment, it's very close to acting. If we live right in this moment right now, trusting that God's there and God's present and there's a reason for it.

Yeah. Living in the moment that is, that is such a huge thing and being present in what you're doing right now. That is the key. So there's this idea of setting goals so that you know where you want the ship to go, where you're hoping it might go, or just so that you have some kind of a direction. And I think that, that we're going to talk about this at, in our next segment, but it's going to come back to the why.

You got to have a strong why. And that's, that's part of what being open is good for you. You know, you talked about with the media, like understanding when to stop, when to, um, keep watching, to stay informed. Right. And, um, as Christians, as, as people with big hearts and, and who, who want the best for people, you know, that's, that's our job is to understand what's going on and pray for those Some are not because, you know, some people's family lives suffer there and, and a lot of people are hurting and that's what we pray for.

We pray for those people to find peace, to find a outlet, to find, um, joy, which is what we try to provide. And I think that's like, I'm so stoked to have people back in for classes today because the energy that brings, you know, they come in and they just release all of that. Yeah, no, I, and I, and I'll agree with you on that. Like I'm very happy for them and I'm, I'm extremely happy for us that we get all those people, but this comes to bring me back to one of the points I wanted to make here.

And, and I'm, and I'm curious, Brian, I'm going to ask you about your personal, um, connection to this, but here, here I can tell you that. Through that time. Okay. This, this last, let's say three weeks, we haven't had people coming in. Okay. So there's been for me more isolation. There's been less things I quote had to do because they're on the schedule. And I filled with a lot of, you know, um, just, just things kind of pouring into my head, making me feel bad.

And I'm biased, but I believe I've got a, you know, a beautiful wife and a wonderful marriage. I've got, I've got kids that, that, that fill me up. Like a lot of things that are so good. And yet I was feeling so sad. Right. And I'm like, I was fighting it, fighting it, fighting it day in and day out. So, so not only do we want to pray for these people, but we want to admit that we are these people.

Yeah. We're in it to the point where I'm going like, at some times I was feeling like physically exhausted from my fear. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we should talk about that now so we can, we can transition to the next, next section here. But, um, so, so let's just dive right in. So, so here, here you're in this, uh, you're in these low points and, uh, understandably so.

And honestly, I'm in a low point, understandably so. What it is, is it's suffering. It's human suffering. Right. And then what, what we do is it's like, it, it depends on how you frame it to yourself and what you do, how you take personal responsibility. So I, I, for instance, you told me, you know what, dude, I realized I have to be a I haven't been taking responsibility for my own life.

Yeah. That's what you said to me. Absolutely. Absolutely. And there's this relief that happens. I'm going to tell everybody this and because this is going to segue us to goals. Okay. Cause I know we're going to talk about goals, but I wanted to talk about all the junk. I couldn't ignore the fact that life has been hard recently for me, which makes me assume it's been hard for you and for you and for you and for you.

So knowing that, understanding it and saying it out loud, I think is important. So when you said that, when you said I'm taking responsibility, I need you to know what happened to me when you said that I got fired up because you said you were going to take responsibility. That made me want to support you. Okay. Yeah. Now along the same lines here and Joey, we're going to go to commercial here in a minute.

Awesome. Um, along the same lines here, I know for a fact, cause I saw it in Joey's energy. I saw it in his body language. Every time I've said it out loud, when I said the words, I got myself addicted to the media, I saw him go, Oh, like, thank God he knows. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But that only comes from me taking responsibility for me. If I try to hide it, blanket it, try to make excuses for it, it doesn't help anybody.

Mm hmm. Okay. So how do you get yourself out of this? How do you, how do you really turn the corner? Well, a, you make a decision. Okay. B, you turn to God and you go, okay, let me get to my center. Let me get to this middle space and make it just about like, not about the world, but about like what's going on in here. Okay.

And then, and then third, I do believe in fighting back. You know, there are some attacks that are happening right now on a spiritual level. And I believe in attacking back. And how do we attack back? We attack back with love and we attack back by not ignoring it and by being honest and truthful. Okay. So now by being truthful, what I realized is I'm going, okay, through my suffering, through my pain, through my like new mini media addiction for three weeks, what did I do?

I selfishly removed this show from other people's lives, those who maybe needed to hear it. That's on me. And I, and I was like, no more, Matt, no more. Can you be selfish? You got to get on the air. You got to do your thing. You got to help people. You got to, you got to connect with, with Brian and Joey. Like this has got to happen because we have a very specific mission.

Our why is to spread light and love throughout the planet. Right? So it comes back to the why. If you don't have a why writing goals are irrelevant. You have to have a why or you're always going to give up on your goals. All right. In our next section, we're going to dive a little bit into goal setting and, um, and, and some of the ways that we goal set and how we recommend that you do so and stay consistent with doing that throughout the year.

We'll be right back. All right. We are back. Welcome everybody. Okay. So we've been talking about, um, how hard everything was of course, and is right now. The fact that we're, we're personally pulling ourselves out of our boots straps and we were hoping that you're going to do the same thing. And, and, and the last thing mentioned was you got to have a strong why. And I think, I think you found a strong why Brian to get up and get out of the, get out of the bed, you know?

And it was like this idea of gratitude and being back and finding a way to, to contribute. Like, like we felt this for a long time. There's, there's more that you're supposed to do, right? Yeah. And, and from you taking accountability and you now taking a new responsibility for your life, every part of it, that is going to add to this, this transition of from suffering into the understanding of suffering.

So then you'll have something to really help people with. Absolutely. Right. Yeah. And then you can, you can sort of like let yourself really, like the thing I've done in my past, again, responsibility wise, like these things will all happen. And then, and I mentioned this to the troop the other night and then a few months later, whatever it is, it's then back to normal, you know, back to the just standard every single day.

And you're not grateful for what you have. You're not taking responsibility for the things that, um, that you can. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was cool. Like what's, what's your takeaway? Yeah. And he thought about it for a second. And that was what he said. He said, you know, treating every day as a blessing. And that's something I think a lot of people say, but not many people live out.

And I told him, especially in our business, especially with what we do here, that's so important because it can feel like a, you know, copy paste job with what we do. You know, you got class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all at the same times, you know, it's kind of runs, you do stuff in the morning. We have this awesome show. And if you're not careful, if you don't take that time with God, if you're filling your time with media and other things, uh, whether that be shows, movies, whatever, um, you start to lose track of that.

And so I was so empowered by that. It inspired me when he said that. Cause I was like, that is, that is the biggest takeaway you could have gotten. Well, you take that and put it right into setting your goals and each one, like specifically, that's where like, you got to look at it and, and know exactly what's going on. And let's say we've got all these things set up, things will be changing.

Things will be continuously changing, but you've got to have your master, I think, goal and just know where you want to like take it. That's kind of something that I saw as well was this idea of realizing like what we're doing here and what we want to do. So, well, okay. So in your own life, here's what you need to do right now to set your goals and set yourself up for success this year is set goals.

And, but one of your goals has got to be to continuously be setting goals. That should be number one. You should always be checking on them and, and finding ways to refine those goals for the situation that you're in. So if I can be very honest again, going back to my three weeks of blah, I wasn't doing that. I wasn't refining my goals. As a matter of fact, Joey's like, I want to talk about goals today.

Um, uh, you know, first show back, we want to talk about goals and new year. And I'm like, dude, okay. Thank goodness. I was up at three 30 this morning. I did my goals this morning. I had to do, I told him, I was like, I can't talk about goals unless I've done them. I can, I'm a hypocrite if I do that. Yeah. Okay. So I sat down, I got, I blasted through my goals and I felt so good afterward, but then I realized like, ah, man, like, like, what were you thinking?

You, you knew you wanted to do this back in December 28th before January started. It would have given you the, reminded you of your why. Cause it's all about keeping your eyes on the why. Okay. So when you do your framework for goals, you want to start here. You want to start big. You want to start with, with a longterm. Okay. Here's some dream goals. So like, um, you guys want to maybe share a dream goal, but I've like one of my dream goals because I'm an Arizona kid.

I've lived here forever. I, I don't love the Arizona summers. They're just kind of brutal. I don't think anybody does. I don't know. I, some people are like, Oh, I just really despise them. Sure. Okay. So one of my goals is literally to be gone from Arizona. For three months in the summer when it's miserable here and go someplace beautiful, a beautiful destination with my family, invite friends there, something like a lake house, um, and just be away.

That's a goal. That's like a dream goal that's out there. Okay. So, so, so, so, um, so do you guys have one? Do you guys have a dream goal? Like it's like a big, a big one, a huge dream goal. Yeah. Like that. Like one that's like out there, like for me to, for me to just be not doing the studio or not being here for three months, that's pretty big goal.

You know what I mean? Sure. Yeah. You can think about it if you don't have one off the top of your head. I mean that I haven't figured out exactly how it looks, but there's something super big that just goes with going down the river more often being with the family, like in that, that 4th of July type trip. So, um, it, and it's definitely connected to summer.

So, so just out of here in the summer, honestly, I know you said it, but same, same idea then. Okay, cool. All right. So yeah, go ahead. For me, it's, uh, I, I want to do something with sports, like in a big way. Right. So I want to, I want to have a voice in the sports industry specifically with football, but I like basketball too. Um, but just to where, you know, um, people are watching, listening to what I have to say because I feel, um, called to that.

I, I really enjoy it and I'm not an expert in that field. I didn't go to college for that sort of thing. I didn't ever play football, but I do understand it. Um, so it's interesting. That's definitely something I want in the future is to have, um, uh, people listen, like have a say when it comes to sports and, um, and football. So cool. All right, good.

So, um, so, so, so number one, you said this big goal. Okay. So, so for me, it's this, uh, three months away from Arizona and it's got to be specific too. So you guys can like keep working on your specifics. I'm going to have to, okay. But that's what happens when you write it down. That's the, that's the difference, right? Yeah. Okay. So I, I, I have a picture in my mind.

It's, it's three months, 90 days away from Arizona at a B it's got to be a beautiful destination of my dreams with my family, inviting my friends to be, to be this place. Now, eventually I'll probably find the place that would be my dream and I can put that down on paper. Okay, good. So then the next thing you do after the dream is you go, okay, let me, let me dial it down a little bit and go, where would I have to be five years from now for that to be true?

So, so for me, for this one goal, it's like all those beautiful, like little detail words that I said are all true, but then I say 21 days, 21 days. Okay. Then it's like, okay, let me, let me boil that. I'm sorry. No, my five-year goal is six weeks, six weeks. So it's like basically half of that time. Okay. This year I'd like to get to where I've, where I hit the three weeks.

Mark, the 21 day Mark. So now whether I hit that or not, I got to then go deeper and deeper and more specific and more specific. So now one of my goals for this month, for January is to plan my summer vacation. I haven't taken a summer vacation. I can't tell you how long it's been. It's been years. Yeah. Years and years where I've planned it and did something specific.

And it's usually because my wife and I keep making kids as part of the, as part of the problem. But, but, um, but really like it's, it's, it's something. So then it's like, okay, I want to plan it and pay for it by the end of the month. Hmm. By doing that, I'm stuck to it. Yeah. Yeah. Done ahead of, yeah, absolutely. And it's done ahead of time.

Like it's done. And I'm stuck to it. I can't not do it when it doesn't because it's never going to be convenient to do that thing. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So then it's like, well, you don't have the money. Well, fine. Then do seven days, do five days, do, do, but do something. Yeah. Because otherwise you'll never get to that next thing. Mm hmm. Right. So quick question there.

So do you recommend then, cause that's kind of what it sounds like to me, starting with the big dream goals, like you said, and then working your way backwards to, to today. Yes. What do I have to do today to get there in five years? Right. That's how you, it's how I do it, but I whittle it down to really big, to kind of big, to okay, big, but achievable.

And then down to the day, then down to the month, the week, the day. And it's like, okay, if you're not thinking about it, if it's not on your mind, cause what you think about comes true. If you're not thinking about it, it's not going to, it's not going to happen for you. So, so what do you need to do? How do you put that in play?

And then you find a way. It's what's the interesting thing about it. It's like, all of a sudden it'll be on my schedule as something I have to do to plan my summer vacation that I haven't taken in four or five years. And that should be, I imagine, all the way around, like with all the pieces, you look at your, that, that's your, your big, huge goal that's, that's in this one spot, but that would be in everything.

That would be. That's right. That's just the very first goal. That'd be like for all the things. That's right. And then you kind of like, and then our, our beautiful, wonderful situation, help each other, uh, achieve each of those goals, both personally and, um, in the business. What's beautiful when your goals intertwine with other people and when you can connect and be on the same page and be looking like, if I know what fills you up and you know, what fills me up, we can support each other in those things and be happy to let the other person have the thing that fills them up.

If it doesn't fill me up, like, what does it matter? Right? Yeah. So, so I don't need to be a part of everything that you're doing. You don't need to be a part of everything I'm doing, but you could be supportive and grateful and happy for me or whatever. If I'm getting one of my goals that I've got that I'm put out there. Right. And then this comes back to this mastermind idea, which is a totally different episode we'll do on mastermind.

But if, if, if you have a collective group of people that all benefit from the idea and they can all benefit from the, the thing coming true and everyone buys into it, they all understand their why you can really do something extraordinary. And that's what we're trying to do here at the studio. That's what we are doing here at the studio is we are, we are connected to this one vision of spreading light driven content to the planet and, and, and teaching light driven, like sense of self and, and helping people honestly draw closer to God and to Jesus Christ specifically.

We are, we are open to that in our classes, in our programming. I mean, it is something where we're never going to be exclusive of anybody, but we will speak our truth from, from how we know it. Definitely. You know? And I mean, I'm so open. I'm, we, I do a show with Paul. We do a show with Paul called divine roots and he's not Christian, right?

But he's spiritual. And, and we get to, and I get to question him and I love questioning him. I think he's very smart dude. And I think that he's in a lot of ways further spiritually than I am. Mm hmm. And, but I also still believe in Jesus Christ. So I'm like, okay, cool. Stay curious. It's your lesson. And stay curious. That's right. Well, that's, that's the thing about religion that's so interesting is, you know, no matter what way it calls to you or you believe it, um, there is that center of love and of a higher power of, um, trust in something that you can't see, right?

No, I'm just kidding. Um, but yeah, that idea of the, that's exactly what we do. You know, we're Christians and we have to speak from that place. Otherwise we're not being truthful. That's right. Otherwise we're dishonest. But we are inclusive of those people and those people tend to fit in because no matter what religion you practice, you all have this center value of, we believe in a higher power, whatever that may be.

Right? Yeah. Well, and, and, and, and we steer you, we're going to, there's a reason you're drawn here. If, if, if you're not drawn here based on what we're talking about, you're not drawn here. Yeah. And then one day you will be. Dude. Maybe. And, and if that's the case, then like come, you know what I mean? But if there's something just nagging at you going like, I got to try that out.

There's a reason for that. I believe there's a reason why everybody walks through these doors here. Dude. Down to the smallest detail. Um, like, like you said, people are coming here and even all the way down to like this, like, like if you wake up earlier than when you were expecting to wake up, you're the king of that. I mean, that happened to me this morning and I've just felt so much better at this morning, like way better having gotten up earlier than expected because it was just a small teeny little voice.

But it was like, told me to do that. Yeah. I'm going to do that little tiny thing. And when you've got all your goals set up that are there, then you'll be able to do it. I, one of my struggles is because I don't have all this laid out yet and I'm still kind of figuring out me. Like I, I sat there and went, I don't, what do I do now?

Like I woke up, I'm not going to just go back to sleep. It's 345. I'm just going to do my thing. Like, what do I do? Yeah. And I think those little voices like don't have that cup of coffee. So, so I'll tell you then today, and this goes for anybody, just do the goals. No excuses. It took me an hour this morning. I honestly, I didn't want to do it.

I tried to get out of it. I was like, Joey, I'm going to, I'm going to look at the, I might as I said, too late to change the topic. And he's like, he's like, I could, I guess, you know, whatever. And I was like, no, let me see if I can make it work. But I, I couldn't, I believe in not being a hypocrite. So I couldn't talk about goal setting, having not done my goals.

And yet at the same time, I couldn't talk about goal setting and not admit that I did my goals this morning. Sure. Okay. But then like you're saying, like you feel better, you're going to feel great. So no excuses right now. I'm going to, I'm going to hold you to this and everybody else out there, I'm going to hold you to this as well. Do them today.

So tomorrow on the show that commit right now, I'm going to do it today. So tomorrow on the show, you're like, I have a goal. I have all my goals. They're done for the month. Not, you know, not forever. Like just my, my, so I know my direction because that will, it'll pop you out of bed. Yeah. You have to be pulled out of bed. If you have to push your way out, it's too much work.

It's too much effort always to have to push yourself out of bed. It's too hard. Yeah. We don't have the willpower. We need to be pulled out. That's a good way to put it. I like that. And the goals are going to pull you out of bed. They're going to, they're going to just burst you out of bed because it's like, you know why you're getting up and you go to bed thinking about it so that your mind all night can't, it can't, it's like, it's resting for the sole purpose of getting up to go do the thing you're meant to do.

Yeah. So when your body's done resting, it's like, and you just explode and go. Love it. So quick question here. This is from me, not from the audience, but you know, we talked about the, the, the beautiful aspect of the three of us being like minded, knowing what each other's goals are, knowing what we like. Do you recommend then that these people look at their contact list, look at the people they talk to and go, okay, who's, who's, who's at that level with me and let me share this with them so they can hold me accountable.

Yes, I do. But let me tell you, I would say that we, that you might've misspoke a little bit because we don't know each other's goals around here all that well. We know the one super goal for the studio. Yeah. Because I, because I've shared that and we connected to it and we all believe in that one big super goal. But to be honest, it's a waste of my time to share my goals with Brian if he hasn't done it.

Sure. Oh, okay. So you've got to find somebody like you said, who's at the same level, somebody who wants it as bad as you do, who's going to run as hard as you are, because otherwise you'll end up getting defeated by trying too hard to push somebody to want to want something for somebody, but they got to want it for themselves. Sure. That's why I got so excited when Brian said he was taking responsibility for him because I'm like, that's somebody I can help.

Yeah. Yeah. Now I've, now I'm in like everyone else was helping you when you want to just be helped. And I'm wanting to help when you want to help yourself and I'm going, oh, hell yeah. Let me give you a better shovel. Yeah. You know, that's, that's, that's my outlook on it. So I love that. So yes. And yes, you should find other people and that will come in.

We will talk a little bit about a mastermind group. I don't think tomorrow, but, um, that'll be a topic we'll come up with here pretty soon. Gotcha. All right, everybody. Thank you so much for watching. It's been the mornings of Matt show, the Dearing acting studio podcast. Thank you so much for watching, helping us spread this light driven content. To the planet. Thank you so much. And God bless.

Thanks for listening to mornings with Matt. Please like subscribe and follow us at Dearing acting studio to keep up with the latest content. For more information on classes, private lessons, or professional development coaching, visit www.dearingstudio.com. Have a Dearing day, everyone. Have a chippy day, everyone. Rough.