Decide When to Start and When to Finish

Your Secret to Setting Powerful Goals

October 21, 2025 | Episode 5206

Host: Scott Smith

Episode Description

Forget goal-setting frameworks and Reddit productivity lists.

Scott's got a better approach, and it starts with his daughter's flooded house, $15,000 in ruined flooring, and a couple stuck in purgatory for two and a half years.

This isn't your typical goal-setting episode. It's about making decisions when you're sitting on the fence getting splinters in your ass. And yes, Scott sneaks in a bagel sandwich story while his wife babysits grandchild number five.

Three simple steps. One powerful mindset shift. Zero excuses.

Featured Story

Scott's daughter and son-in-law have been living in a construction zone for two and a half years after hurricane damage wrecked their home.

Water leaking. Mold growing. Fifteen grand down the drain on flooring that failed.

But here's the kicker: they each thought the other wanted to stay. She thought he'd never move. He thought she wanted to fix it up and keep it forever.

Both miserable. Neither talking about it.

Scott walks into this mess, has separate conversations with each of them, and realizes they're both stuck in the same hell for completely different reasons. The solution? A conversation that night and three decision-making steps that work for any goal you're avoiding.

Important Points

Big goals should scare you a little, but if you think you can do them, that's exactly what you need to go after.

Being stuck on the fence trying to figure stuff out is more disabling than making the wrong decision and adjusting later.

The "how" will always take care of itself once you commit to the "what"—you'll figure it out, you always do.

Memorable Quotes

"Have you been in a position before where you're on the fence, getting splinters in your ass? Cause you can't figure stuff out."

"First comes the what. The what's always there. I don't go with why first. I always go with what first."

"About 90% of your goals are not really goals anyway. They're just kind of fixing up life."

Scott's Three-Step Approach

Decide exactly what you want and when you want to get it—if you can't do that, you won't even get off the starting line.

Decide when you're going to start and when you're actually going to finish, and finish means finished, not "a few more things to tie up."

Decide how you'll begin and maintain momentum, then trust that the how will take care of itself once you commit to the what.

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