GoalBuddy.io 1

Table of content

GoalBuddy.io 2

Contents

Introducton to the Goal Buddy system ................................................. 3

The Goal Buddy Mission ............................................................................ 6

About us ...................................................................................................... 8

Step 1: The Confidence Fuel tank ........................................................ 11

Step 2: The True Goals Discovery Process ........................................... 14

Step 3: The What I Want Manifesto ...................................................... 20

Step 4: The Vision Game Plan ................................................................ 23

Step 5: The 90-Day Focus ....................................................................... 28

Step 6: Setup The GoalBuddy Support System ................................... 29

Step 7: The Goal Buddy Meetings (aka Goal Reviews) .................... 33

GoalBuddy.io 3

Introduction to the Goal Buddy system

This is an advanced goal setting guide. It’s not a 5-minute read. It

requires time, but if you can invest the time, you will learn amazing

lifelong skill – the skill to set and achieve your goals.

There is a real danger that this system will help you to achieve your

goals, dreams and be successful! But we have found out that most

people have a fear of success, not a fear of failure. If you’re not

ready for success, we don’t recommend reading further.

We discovered a goal setting system so powerful, we decided it

would be a shame to keep it only for us.

Thus, we decided to share our system with the world.

It was not initially planned to share this system. We created it for

ourselves because we needed it.

We are just two guys with big dreams. Our journey started about 10

years ago. Initially on our own then we combined our efforts and

support. We researched, tested and finally put together the pieces

of the GoalBuddy system.

So, here it is – a time-tested system for setting goals in 7 easy to

replicate steps.

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Why we created this goal setting guide

We created this guide because we could not find full featured goal

setting system. We found only parts of goal setting processes and …

a gazillion useless generic articles what SMART goals are. And

strangely enough most of them were even giving bad advice.

For example, smart goals are not smart if they are one-year goals.

This is a huge mistake that contributes to goal failure. If goals are

specific and actionable they should be limited to 90 days (we will

clarify later why this limit).

We must warn you, goals can boost your confidence like nothing

else, but also can ruin your confidence if you don’t know what you

are doing. Our advice is that it’s better to not set goals, instead of

setting goals and failing to achieve them.

Imagine a person who has no system and sets goals on his own like

a “weight loss goal” and then fails multiple times to achieve this

goal. This may prove that “goals don’t work” and worse… this could

ruin this person’s self-confidence and could set limiting beliefs that

prevent him from living his dreams.

That’s why we highly recommend reading a proven guide like this

one.

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So, this is a 7 steps process that gives you:

➢ Clarity – what you want from life and why you want it;

➢ Confidence that you are good enough to reach these goals;

➢ Motivation to jump out of bed full of energy.

If you are still not convinced that goal setting makes sense, read our

full article on why set goals.

Before you start exploring the 7 steps process it is best to download

and print the goal setting templates.

If you haven’t received the goal setting templates, you can

download them here.

Please, bear in mind that this takes time. You don’t suddenly find

clarity about your life for 5min.

If you’ve never set goals, this can take a whole day. But this would

be one of the best days this year.

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The Goal Buddy Mission

Before we begin, we would like to share with you why we do this

and who we are.

We believe that the world will become a better place if more

people have clarity about their dreams and have a tested goal-

setting system how to achieve them.

The mission of the Goal Buddy Foundation is to develop this modern

and innovative system that supports people to set and achieve their

goals.

The most critical problem for most people is the lack of support

system during their goal setting and goal achieving process. Studies

have shown that 94% of people abandon their goals just two weeks

after setting them. This is a key problem that the “Goal Buddy”

system elegantly solves.

The purpose of Goal Buddy (a digital goal setting mentor) is to

create a website where people can find quality and practical

information about achieving their goals.

The system consists of three key components: web-based training

materials; web-based tools with exercises and a free mobile

application.

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By developing a method for setting and achieve goals our goal is

to create value for people, allowing them to reach their full

potential and a state of sustainable happiness.

Our mission is to help people achieve their dreams by giving them

not only information and a proven system for setting and achieving

goals but a whole support mechanism called “Goal Buddy”.

The system was developed by the two of the founders and originally

used for personal purposes. After years of working with it, they

decided to share it with the world.

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About us

Hey there, we are Ivan

and Nikolay and we are

goal buddies.

What is a goal buddy?

А goal buddy is someone,

usually a friend, who helps

you stay on track with

your goals.

All of us are busy and

even if we set goals, most of us forget about them and don’t check

them regularly. You may relate to the statistics that 94% of all new

years resolutions fail … usually within the first two weeks.

Our experience is that if you have a goal buddy, 94% of the goals

will be achieved.

Your goal buddy would call you weekly and walk through your list

with goals. Questions like these get asked and discussed: What have

you accomplished this week? What are the next actions for this goal

for next week?

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This is a very simple, yet extremely powerful system for taking your

life to the next level.

So… we discovered this concept and became “goal buddies”.

Each week we have a call and we help each other with our goals.

Through the years we expanded the concept and developed a

whole system for setting and achieving goals. We research the

science behind it, we test it and improve it. We have specific

exercises that we make on a quarterly or yearly basis.

The “goal buddy system” as we call it became so powerful that our

friends started asking about it.

And then we decided that it would be a shame to keep it only for

us. So, this the GoalBuddy Foundation was born.

We are just two ordinary guys who want to achieve more in life and

want to bring value to the world. We both have families and two

kids each and we both have very busy careers.

Nikolay is CTO of a large software company and is also a sports fan.

He used to fly with paragliders before his kids were born but lately

his passion is for windsurfing and biking.

Ivan is a founder of several companies. He is passionate about

teaching and he is CEO of the largest online educational center for

software in Bulgaria.

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What we teach in

this book is a paper

version of our live

goal setting

workshop. This is a

one-day event

where people

dream about their

life and set up their

goal setting and

goal achieving

system.

The feedback from

this workshop is

amazing and now

we have also this

ebook which will

introduce you to the

system.

GoalBuddy.io 11

Step 1: The Goal Setting Fuel tank

If you have confidence, you can achieve anything

Let’s start with the first step of the goal setting process and we start

by travelling with the time machine.

Firstly, we will visit the past to discover our success in the past and

recharge our “goal setting fuel tank”. You don’t even want to start

with an empty fuel tank.

And only then we will visit the future to see what it looks like when

our goals are reached.

You might be tempted to skip this step and go straight to setting

your future goals. Don’t do this, you will be starting on a 500 mile trip

with an almost empty fuel tank.

So, the first step is to put confidence in your goal setting fuel tank.

We will look at what worked for you in the past (everybody has

successes), why it worked, how you can build on your successes

and how to recharge your confidence fuel tank, so you have

enough energy to go far into the future.

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Tips on how to do all exercises:

Steps 1 to 5 are the goals setting process. Steps 6 and 7 are the …

you might call it “goal achieving process”.

We recommend that you download and print the goal setting

templates. Then, find a quiet place and do the exercises in solitude

or with a partner (a goal buddy – more on this later).

We like to fully immerse into the goal setting process and we take a

whole day to do it, but that’s not always possible.

If your time is limited, you can split the process into 7 short sessions.

For your convenience, we calculated the average duration of

each session.

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Instructions:

Duration: 10-15min

We constantly tend to forget two things – things that worked for us

in the past and we stopped doing them and things that were

successfully completed, but we can make further progress.

So, here is your chance to reflect the past.

Make sure you have 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted time in solitude;

Take out a blank sheet of paper and create three columns;

Start with the first column and list at least 30 achievements you did

in your life and you are proud of. (e.g. finished school, got a job,

completed project X, found a soul mate, etc.)

Fill in column 2 and answer the question “Why was this achievement

significant to you?”

If applicable, fill in column 3 and answer the question “What further

progress or next steps would I like to make for this achievement?”.

Just take a minute and notice how many things you completed.

You are great!

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Step 2: The True Goals Discovery Process

Once you have refueled your confidence tank, it’s time to go on a

“little” discovery trip. And yes, this actually may be the most fun part

of the whole process.

And since you can’t just “list your goals”, you will have to discover

them first, because sometimes they are not quite obvious.

In this step, you will dream, imagine and create your desired future.

This is like a brainstorming session.

Here we have multiple exercises that help us look at our dreams

from different angles. Later on, we will choose from these ideas and

will combine the pieces in actionable and specific goals, but during

these exercises, imagine that:

➢ You have all the resources you need (e.g. time, money,

people, etc.);

➢ You can reach any goal;

➢ You have no limitations.

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Instructions:

We will dream…

We will brainstorm….

We will imagine our life as we want it to be.

There are 3 exercises for this step. You probably need just one of

these. You just … don’t know which one.

Our idea is to “inspect” your life from different angles, different

perspectives.

The instructions here are:

➢ You have no limitation;

➢ Imagine you can have anything;

➢ Dream big;

➢ Have fun.

Don’t worry. Later we will organize these goals in small achievable

steps, but here we are looking for the seemingly impossible future

goals.

Also, remember, you need 10-15 minutes uninterrupted “alone

time”.

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Exercise 1: The 3 Questions

One of our favorite “dreaming” exercises is from Vishen Lakhani.

You can watch a video of this exercise with guidance from Vishen

here.

You can do it on a piece of paper. Just divide the sheet into three

rows. Into each of the three boxes write your answers of these 3

questions:

➢ Experience – what would you like to experience during your

life?

➢ Growth – how would you like to grow during your life?

➢ Contribution – how would you like to contribute to the planet

during your life?

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Exercise 2: Your roles in life

Steven Covey is another hero of us and he talks about roles in life.

Your roles may be son/daughter, partner, brother/sister, leader,

employee, etc.

Take a second sheet of paper and:

1. List your roles;

2. Write down why these roles are important to you;

3. Write down the progress you would like to have in your roles.

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Exercise 3: The areas of life

There is a very famous exercise call “the circle of life” – you list the

most important areas of life and rate yourself from 1 to 10 how yo

do in each area.

We like the areas of life part, but seeing low ratings can demotivate

you. What we do is just the opposite – we want to define what a 10

in each area means. (more on this later)

Most people would have some of the following areas.

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Don’t copy somebody else’s area. Yours’s are unique. Choose

which ones are important for you and create your circle of life.

Here are few examples:

➢ Health & fitness

➢ Family

➢ Friends

➢ Relationships

➢ Finance

➢ Skills

➢ Fun and entertainment

➢ Career/mission

➢ Personal and spiritual development

Write down the progress you would like to make in each area.

Maybe you want to lose few pounds or improve the relationships

with your family?

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Step 3: The What I Want Manifesto

Ask and it shall be given to you.

The Bible

Looking at your life from different angles and dreaming was quite

fun, wasn’t it? Now it’s time to find what’s really important to you

and answer one fundamental question:

What do you want?

As simple as this question sounds, it’s not an easy one for most of the

people.

But not for you. From the previous exercises, you have all the raw

materials that you can to put together and create your Manifesto.

This is the Manifesto to declare what you want for your life.

The idea behind this is that if you have clarity on what you want then

the “how” part gets much easier. The challenge is that most people

constantly switch directions and make no progress at all.

Your Manifesto will guide you like a lighthouse.

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Instructions:

Duration: 25min.

Downloadable template: The What I Want Manifesto

Let’s create the vision of our life.

Up to now, we brainstormed about different areas of our life. So now

we have the “raw materials” to create our vision.

The instructions are simple.

Focus not on what will change, but on what is unlikely to change in

20-year horizon.

In today’s technology world, things change very fast, but there are

also things that are unlikely to change.

e.g. If you have a health goal now, it is extremely unlikely that you

would like to be unhealthier and sick 20 years later.

So the short version of my health vision for the next 20 years is “being

healthy, energetic and in shape”

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The difference between action goals and visions

We use two types of goals – visions and action goals. Read the

whole article here.

In short, your vision would be a 20-year vision for your health.

Your action goal would be with a deadline within 90 days and

would be actionable and specific (similar to SMART if you are

familiar).

Please, bear in mind that here is not the place to be specific. These

are not SMART goals. We will do this later.

Download the exercise and create your own visions.

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Step 4: The Vision Game Plan

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action

without vision just passes the time. Vision with action

can change the world.

During this step, we take on goal by goal and create a short term

action plan i.e. a 90-day action goal.

Firstly, we examine the limiting beliefs that prevent us from achieving

this goal.

Then we will analyze the stumbling blocks that may prevent you

from achieving this goal and turn thein into stepping stones.

We will answer very important questions like:

What? – What do you want to achieve specifically?

Why? – Why do you want it? (Your motivation)

Who? – Is there anybody how has the resources to help you achieve

your goal faster?

How? – What is the action plan?

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Instructions

Duration: 15-20 min per goal

Downloadable template: The Vision GamePlan

This process will lead you from a vague, long-term vision to a specific

next action you can take today.

1. Write down one vision

Just copy one of the visions you wrote in the manifesto.

2. Discovery your why

This boosts your motivation and you get clear why you want this

goal. This will also keep you on track during hard times and when

you are in the dip.

Why you need a why? If you missed it, watch Simon Sinek’s TED talk

“Start with why”

Warning! Sometimes if I don’t have a powerful enough why, I may

even cancel this goal.

This is not a problem, this is actually good, because you can focus

on your other goals

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3. Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones

Ask the question: Why this can’t happen now? Or what’s preventing

me from completing this goal.

And you will start to list issues, difficulties and problems.

Most people hide them, but they are there.

The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones

is the way you use them. Next to each problem write down an

action or strategy how you could overcome them.

4. Transform your limiting beliefs into supporting beliefs

Fact: we all have limiting beliefs.

So, discovering the issues and resolving them will be the key.

Read our article on limiting beliefs and goal setting.

The exercise is to write down what you think might be a limiting belief

and substitute it with a supporting belief or an affirmation, if you like.

5. Brainstorm tactics

The next step is to brainstorm your best strategies to advance on this

goal.

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You can have different approaches. Try to answer these questions.

➢ Are there habits that can support me?

➢ Do I need to acquire some skills that will help me?

➢ Who has achieved this goal or has the resources to help me

achieve this goal faster?

Many times it much faster and easier to ask for help instead of trying

to do everything on your own.

And ask yourself finally:

➢ How can I achieve this goal?

List all options

6. Choose your action goal for the next 90 days.

Let me quickly remind you what an action goal is. If you need a

more detailed reminder, check our article on types of goals.

Action goals:

➢ Are specific actionable steps;

➢ Have a deadline within next 90 days;

➢ Once you commit to this action goal, you cannot change it

during next 90 days

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7. Write down one next action you can complete within

next week

So here is how we got from the vague vision to a simple actionable

next step.

So, now your action goal is fixed for the next 90 days. And each

week you will list one next action.

GoalBuddy.io 28

Step 5: The 90-Day Focus

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single

step

Duration: 10min.

Downloadable template: The 90-Day Activity Focus

Things begin to get clear.

You don’t need to constantly rethink your goals. Your action goal is

set and now you need to focus on it during the next 90 days.

Use these tips:

➢ You don’t need the whole plan for the next 90 days;

➢ You just need to discover the best next action you can take

this week;

➢ Then, next week you will have more experience and

information to choose the best next action for next week. And

so on and so on.

You reach your goal one step at a time.

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Step 6: Setup The GoalBuddy Support System

To achieve your goals, the most important step is

setting up a goals support system.

Congratulations!

With steps 1-5 you finished the goal setting part.

Now it’s time to do one of the most important things if you want to

be successful in achieving your goals and following your dreams a

system to support you.

Some studies suggest that 94% of people fail their goals just two

weeks after setting them. This is because they don’t have a support

system to get them back on track.

But you can have one!

Have in mind that you are not a machine and you will eventually

fall off from the process. But if you set up a good system, it will get

you quickly back on track.

The first thing you need is a goal buddy and here we will explain

what type of person this is and how to find one.

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We will also provide you some tips, depending on if you prefer

paper and pen or an app.

This step is short, but probably the most important one.

The best way to achieve your goals is to find a goal buddy. If you

don’t have a goal buddy, there is a high risk that you will become

one of the 94% of the people, who abandon their goal just two

weeks after setting them.

You will inevitably fall off, but the purpose of the goal buddy is to

keep you on track.

The most crucial step in achieving your goals is setting up a support

system.

If you don’t have a support system, don’t even try to set goals. It will

be a disappointing experience.

The goal buddy is sort of an accountability partner. This is a person

with whom you share your goals and each week you speak to each

other about your obstacles and successes. You act like coaches to

each other.

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Who can be your goal buddy?

If you are married, start with your spouse. If you can be buddies in

life and also in goals, this can be amazing.

However, if your spouse or partner in life is not “sold on goals” and

does not like goal setting, don’t push it. Find a friend who sets goals.

The best goal buddy is:

➢ A person you can trust;

➢ Has already written goals or some sort of system or has a

burning desire to have one;

➢ Has the time and is committed to a 20-minute phone call each

week.

Step-by-step instructions

Put out a sheet of paper and list the names of people you consider

for your goal buddy;

Take the person out for a coffee or something and them about this

system

If it’s not possible to go out, call the person or share this guide

Ask the person if he/she wants to be your goal buddy

Don’t try to push it too hard. Make a test. If it doesn’t work out the

first time, look for another person;

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No matter how clear you are on your goals – call your goal buddy

each week at the same time (explained in detail in step 7)

Clarity and confidence will increase after each call, just don’t miss

the call.

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Step 7: The Goal Buddy Meetings (aka Goal Reviews)

You’ve done a lot of work to get here and knowing where you’re

going to and having your goals plan is great!

But during the road, you will discover that this plan needs to be

adjusted. Sometimes even totally changed.

There are two rules for that:

➢ We adjust the plan each 90 days.

➢ We don’t change the plan during the next 90 days.

During the 90 days we have to stick with what we have committed

to and don’t change the plan or the action goals. That is to say, we

focus on the actions that need to be taken and avoid as much as

possible “analysis-paralysis” situations.

In this step we explain how to perform:

➢ The Yearly goal setting meeting

➢ The Quarterly goal meeting

➢ The Weekly review

➢ The daily goals visualizations (optional but highly

recommended)

If you start now, the most important meeting is the weekly meeting.

GoalBuddy.io 34

If you do one thing from this system, do this – call your goal buddy

each week to discuss your goals.

The weekly Goal Buddy calls

Duration: 20 minutes

Frequency: each week

This is simple but super effective. We call each other, but you can

meet if you prefer.

Call your buddy each week at the same time (e.g. Sunday evening

or Monday morning);

Limit the duration to 20min. You will be tempted to make it longer.

Just stick to the process and after you have finished, you can discuss

in detail;

Start with a review of last week’s tasks.;

1. List what has been completed successfully to gain

confidence;

2. List what you planned but did not complete (if you have such

tasks). Your buddy will ask you 3 questions: why? what? how?

3. Why didn’t you complete this task?

4. What did you learn from this?

5. How can you do it better next time?

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6. You list only one next action for each Action goal and commit

to complete these tasks;

Switch roles with your goal buddy and repeat the process.

The quarterly Goal Buddy meeting

Duration: 1/2 day

Frequency: each 90 days

1. Set the date of the next quarterly meeting with your goal

buddy.

2. Put this date in your calendar (or whatever you use) and block

it.

3. Start by gaining confidence. Repeat step 1 – “The Confidence

Fuel Tank“

4. Skip step 2 – you do this only during the yearly review.

5. Do a quick review of step 3 – “The What I Want Manifesto”.

Update if necessary.

6. Repeat step 4 – “The Vision Gameplan” for each vision and

choose a maximum of 3-5 action goals with a deadline within

90 days. The fewer, the better!

7. Finish with a clear list of action goals with one next action for

each goal;

8. Review the goal buddy process with your buddy. What is

working for you? What needs to be improved?

GoalBuddy.io 36

The yearly Goal Buddy meeting

Duration: 1 day

Frequency: once per year

Best time is between Christmas and New Year’s eve.

Set the date of the next quarterly meeting with your goal buddy.

Put this date in your calendar (or whatever you use) and block it.

1. Start by gaining confidence. Repeat step 1 – “The Confidence

Fuel Tank“

2. Repeat the exercises from step 2 – “The True Goals Discovery”.

It’s good to do them once per year.

3. Update “The What I Want Manifesto”.

4. Repeat step 4 – “The Vision Gameplan” for each vision and

choose a maximum of 3-5 action goals with a deadline within

90 days. The fewer, the better!

5. Finish with a clear list of action goals with one next action for

each goal;

6. Review the goal buddy process with your buddy. What is

working for you? What needs to be improved?

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Congratulations

You’ve successfully completed this guide!

Save this guide for reference and come back when you need it. This

is not a book to read once, it’s a guide you could use at each goal

setting session.

Help us spread the word!

If you like our system, please share this e-book or our web-based

guide with your friends.

Our foundation works, because we have a lot of volunteers who

help us. If you would like to join our team and help us, please

contact us at team@goalbuddy.io