The Power of Planning: Soul Goals, Smart Habits & Business Success
The Power of Planning: How to Set Goals That Actually Work
When it comes to achieving success in business, planning is essential—but let’s be real, sticking to a plan isn’t always easy. Life happens, unexpected challenges pop up, and sometimes, our carefully crafted strategies don’t unfold the way we envisioned. That’s why flexibility, intention, and reflection are key components of any great plan.
In a recent episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, I had the opportunity to chat with operations expert Sonia Narvaez about the power of planning, the importance of soul goals, and how to pivot effectively when things don’t go as expected. Here’s what we uncovered about creating plans that actually work.
Planning Should Be a Living, Breathing Process
A mistake many entrepreneurs make is thinking of their plan as something rigid—something that must be followed exactly, no matter what. But Sonia made a great point: A plan should be a living, breathing document. It should evolve as you grow, as your business shifts, and as new opportunities or challenges arise.
Rather than feeling discouraged when a plan doesn’t go perfectly, consider where and why things shifted. Ask yourself:
Where was I before?
Where am I now?
Why did things change?
By evaluating these factors, you’ll gain valuable insights and be able to adjust your strategy accordingly. Instead of scrapping a plan entirely, you’re refining it to better serve your goals.
The Magic of Soul Goals vs. Traditional Goals
When setting goals, most people focus purely on metrics: revenue targets, client numbers, or project deadlines. While these are important, they often lack emotional connection, making them harder to stay motivated for.
Sonia introduced the concept of soul goals—goals that are deeply tied to your values, passions, and purpose. Unlike traditional goals that may feel like just another task on your to-do list, soul goals keep you energized and aligned with what truly matters to you.
For example:
A traditional goal might be: “Increase revenue by 30% this year.”
A soul goal could be: “Serve more clients in a way that feels aligned with my mission.”
Both goals aim for growth, but the second one ties back to purpose and fulfillment, making it more inspiring and sustainable.
Looking Back to Move Forward
If you’re struggling with planning, a great place to start is looking back. Reflection is one of the most powerful tools for improving your approach. Ask yourself:
What victories have I had?
What challenges did I face?
What lessons did I learn?
What resources do I have right now?
This exercise gives you clarity on what’s working and what needs improvement. It also helps eliminate frustration by acknowledging progress—even if it’s not exactly what you expected.
Creating an Actionable Plan That Works
Now that we know a plan should be flexible, soul-driven, and informed by past experiences, let’s talk about how to create a plan that’s actionable:
Set a Clear Theme for the Year
Instead of an overwhelming list of goals, pick a theme that aligns with your vision. Whether it’s growth, efficiency, impact, or balance, having a central focus helps guide decisions throughout the year.Break It Down Into Smaller Goals
Big, long-term goals can feel intimidating. Break them down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly steps to make them more manageable. This keeps you motivated and prevents overwhelm.Prioritize Habits Over Hustle
Success isn’t just about effort—it’s about consistency. Identify the daily and weekly habits that will move the needle the most. Whether it’s a set time for planning, regular client follow-ups, or personal development, habits create sustainable momentum.Embrace the Art of the Pivot
No plan survives reality without adjustments. The best planners expect the unexpected and are willing to pivot when needed. Instead of seeing changes as failures, reframe them as opportunities to improve your approach.Review & Adjust Weekly
One of the most overlooked steps in effective planning is regular review and recalibration. Set aside time each week to assess progress, celebrate wins, and make necessary adjustments. This ensures you stay on track while staying flexible.
Final Thoughts: The Balance Between Vision & Action
Having a long-term vision is important, but as Amanda wisely said in the episode, “Keep your head in the clouds, but your boots on the ground.” Vision alone isn’t enough—you need the right habits, strategy, and flexibility to bring it to life.
So as you set your goals and create your plans, remember:
Make your plan flexible and adaptable.
Align your goals with what truly fulfills you.
Reflect on past experiences to inform better decisions.
Focus on consistent habits rather than just hustle.
Be ready to pivot and refine as needed.
With the right approach, your goals won’t feel so far away. You’ll be able to move forward with clarity, confidence, and momentum. Now, let’s make those plans happen! 🚀
Chapter List:
00:00 Introduction to Operations and Its Importance
03:18 The Concept of Soul Goals
06:04 The Role of Intentionality in Business
09:04 Navigating Unknowns and Adjusting Plans
11:34 The Power of Habits in Operations
14:13 Balancing Personal and Professional Life
17:17 Conclusion and Resources
Full Transcript
Sonia Narvaez (00:00)
a plan is a living, breathing document. It's not something that is just set in stone because why do that? there's no reason for you to create a plan that you don't have a little wiggle room in.
Mm.
Amanda Kaufman (00:32)
Well, hey,
hey, welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And today I am joined by my friend Sonia Nevares, and we're so pumped to have you here. Thanks for tuning in. So Sonia, why don't you take 30 seconds and introduce who you are, what you do, and then we'll jump right into the conversation.
Sonia Narvaez (00:51)
Yeah, so hi everyone. Thanks, Amanda, for having me here. And I want to apologize for the dogs barking in the background. They are, you know, a lot of fun. But I am an operations nerd through and through. So I deal with, you know, operations, your AOPs, your strategies, you know, how do we do things in the business on the inside of the business, client delivery, anything and everything related to moving the business forward operations.
Amanda Kaufman (01:18)
I love it. And so Sonia and I met in a business incubator that we're both a part of and we both started geeking out on operations. So I had to invite her onto the show. So Sonia, what is it that actually got you into the whole subject of operations in the first place? How did you stumble into this arena?
Sonia Narvaez (01:35)
Ooh, that is a great question because it was entirely by accident. So the reason being that I did not even know the word operations growing up. Like I did. I'm a first generation. So Spanish is my first language. And then, you know, I have then I learned English in school. But, you know, I never realized like that what operations was, what it does in a company, you know.
how you do it in general or what it can even mean, right? Like, so.
Amanda Kaufman (02:07)
Well, what
is it? For somebody who's not familiar, how would you describe it?
Sonia Narvaez (02:11)
So the dictionary defines operations as everything and anything that moves the business forward. And so that's a wonderful, you know, like definition. I like to think of it as the how. How are we going to execute this or how are we going to do this or how are we going to look at this? You know, how do we need to think about, you know, that like it's really the how to making any anything happen.
Amanda Kaufman (02:36)
Got it, got it. So when you're working with a business on how to make things work, what is it that you're bringing to the table as an operations specialist? So what is it that they ask you to do?
Sonia Narvaez (02:50)
So, you know, it's so funny because this question, you know, we want to generalize it and I want to say to you like anything that they have, you know, that they might be stumped on right now. Right. Because it is the how it's that second part of, know, this visionary brain, this design a lot of times. And I'm sure you know, and we're full of them. Entrepreneurs have a ton of innovative ideas. They want to do different things. But the how of it is where they're like, I don't even want to.
Think about how it's gonna be done using my company's resources, my company's people, me, you, know, everybody. So really when they bring me in is when they need someone to help them execute an idea, come up with the plan using their current business assets. Because a lot of times as much as you have an idea to maybe build a wonderful wall if your budget is, you
thousand dollars and that's the resources you have at your disposal right now, I'm not gonna tell you to buy, you know, a whole bunch of different bricks and like, you know, all the like these crazy different things that you can do with construction. Sorry, we're building a fence in my house. So I'm thinking about this. But it, you know, so the different types of panels. Does that make sense, I guess? I was like, I know I can geek out, so I'm always like always asking.
Amanda Kaufman (04:06)
Yeah, yeah, it totally makes sense.
don't hold back because we got, we got, you know, just a quick little episode here. Before we went, before we went live, we were talking about the magic of planning. So why don't you share with us, you know, your top three wisdoms when it comes to doing a great job of planning, whether you're hiring somebody to help with operations or you're choosing to be more mindful of how you do things yourself. What are three things that you always keep in mind?
Sonia Narvaez (04:16)
Mm-hmm.
I always keep in mind that there is no perfect way to make a goal. know, I used to be very like metrics, financials, you know, all of those kind of numbers used to be the only way I'd make a goal. But I also realized that I have a friend, her name is Gwen, and I hope you have her on the show. She's amazing. And she's an operations person as well. But she calls them soul goals and really
Amanda Kaufman (05:01)
Soul goal.
Okay, you gotta tell me more about that. What's that?
Sonia Narvaez (05:04)
Yeah, so basically, it's a goal that's going to feed your soul, your insight, know, like, keep you motivated. That's one thing that I never thought about, right? Like when you look at just a plain data point, a number, it's not as sexy and fun as a soul goal, right? And the soul goal may be something like, hey, say no more than I say yes. Right? It's bound. It could be boundaries. It could be
Amanda Kaufman (05:26)
Interesting.
Sonia Narvaez (05:31)
anything that can help you grow in the direction that you want to grow so you can be, you know, more of your Aligned Self.
Amanda Kaufman (05:39)
Do you find that people are not setting soul goals? Like, do you think that a lot of people are really data driven or are you seeing maybe, you know, maybe the opposite sometimes? Because that's honestly what I see is more of the opposite. They are not attaching a number to something. You know, they have some sort, they have a vision. So they have an idea, an emotion usually that's attached to like their goal, what they really, really want to do.
Sonia Narvaez (05:55)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Amanda Kaufman (06:05)
But getting that goal, you know, I have this little saying, it's like really good to keep your head in the clouds, but your boots on the ground. And the whole thing that I'm trying to say there is pretty much like, yeah, you got to know what's aligned. Like you need to, I like that term sole goal. I think that that's really compelling. But in my experience, maybe we're just hanging in different crowds. Very possible because I work with a lot of new entrepreneurs, but very often they haven't made it a number. So.
Sonia Narvaez (06:11)
Real look.
Amanda Kaufman (06:30)
when you see somebody who's like overly attached to a number, how does that look?
Sonia Narvaez (06:35)
So a lot of times what happens is people will set a number and either they make it or they don't. Right? They usually don't look at progress. Yes. They don't look at the progress we've made, the different things that have happened. You know, they really, it doesn't feel like you... Yes.
Amanda Kaufman (06:43)
like a revenue target.
That I see all the time. That I see
all the time is like, you know, I actually had a private coaching call earlier today and one of my clients was saying that she did a webinar and, it wasn't very good. I said, well, how do you know? Like, what are you measuring? And she's like, well, you know, I didn't get any clients. And I was like, okay. But there's so many things that happen before the client says yes, right? So I think that's...
Sonia Narvaez (06:58)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Amanda Kaufman (07:15)
probably a little bit of what you're talking about is just being really fixated on like make a number of sales, have a certain amount of retention, have a certain amount of growth. But then there's no, now I see what you're saying. Like there's no like sole connection to the process.
Sonia Narvaez (07:30)
Yeah. And, you know, most people are like, a year is nothing, right? A year is no time. But when you're in a day to day, a year feels like a lot. And so if you are establishing annual goals for your business, you're going to want something that's going to feed your soul, that's going to motivate you and that's going to keep you going in those hard times. So, you know, it's kind of like your vision, right? But I always think the issue with vision is it feels so far away. Like there is a reason that
Amanda Kaufman (07:39)
We can.
Sonia Narvaez (07:59)
you sometimes we create these grandiose, vivid visions of things and, you know, it's usually one, three, five, ten years and it just feels like it's far away. Well, actually, it's usually number one. But, you know.
Amanda Kaufman (08:12)
I
love this because what you're making me think of is you're making me think of the difference between a goal and a wish, right? And if you're doing a vision board and you're wishing for this outcome, unless you can, I'm always teaching people you've got to figure out what are the primary activities that are going to create the most opportunity for that to be successful. When you don't have the primary activities, then you don't know what is the cause and the effect that creates the result in your business.
Sonia Narvaez (08:18)
Yes, yes.
Yeah!
Amanda Kaufman (08:42)
and you're doomed to repeat yourself week after week, like one of the first things I teach is actually a weekly review, because a lot of people, it's really hard to kind of line out a whole year. Like if you could really quickly, how do you guide somebody through thinking through an annual plan if they don't really already have good habits around weekly reviews, daily reviews, planners, calendars, and stuff like that?
Sonia Narvaez (09:04)
Yeah, I mean, I always tell people to just look back. First, it's always a look back. You know, there's kind of really three things you need to do, which is, you know, looking back, victories, challenges, know, learnings, and then you're kind of like, where am I now? What are my resources now? What was I able to accomplish in this last quarter? You know, let's look at that. And then what do I want to build either upon this? Because, you know, I liked...
Amanda Kaufman (09:24)
Mm-hmm.
Sonia Narvaez (09:31)
outcomes and everything that happened this year? Or do I need to pivot? Right? And so it's, it's really as long as you can start with some main themes for your year, that's going to start to help you think about, okay, is this in service of my theme? And then all of a sudden you're going through a lens of that and you start to feel more comfortable being like, okay, cool. Now I feel that this is my theme. This does feel good. Let's actually create some structure around it.
Amanda Kaufman (09:58)
it. Love it. So good. Well, when it comes to planning, I noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs kind of get themselves into the habit of reaction. So if we've got like this plan, and we've nailed it out, we've got our themes, we know what we're supposed to do, what we're supposed to figure out. What about the unknowns? Or what about the unaccounted force? You know, because
It's so funny because I think a lot of especially newer entrepreneurs are like, oh my God, my kid got sick. And I'm like, they do that. You know, like that's not a surprise, but it feels like a big disruption to a plan that they might have laid out. And then they, I think one of the more entrapping mindsets that I see people get into is like, well, the plan didn't work. So then I guess we're done, you know? you know, I can, can.
They put more energy into explaining why the plan didn't work out than they do into reworking and recalibrating. So what would you recommend on that? Like if somebody sets like these best laid plans, they've done the math, they've got their soul in it, and then reality shows up.
Sonia Narvaez (11:06)
So I like to ask myself two questions in that case. Where and why? So like, where were we, you in the business or, you know, what like potentially, well, three, I guess, what, where and why? You know, why could this have happened? Like, what were those things that maybe contributed to my deviation or, you know, my calculations being incorrect? You know, was it something that was needed? In which case, sometimes, I'm sure you know, like,
we have to get rid of things, you know, and and sometimes that means that, you know, different type like we now have to recalibrate. Right. And a lot. love that you use that word, by the way, because it really is that while a plan is a living, breathing document. Right. It's not something that is just set in stone because why do that? Right. Like there's no reason for you to create a plan that you don't have a little wiggle room in.
right? That you yourself don't know how to be resourceful to make your goals happen or to, you know, follow your plan. So, you know, that's one thing that I definitely think about,
Amanda Kaufman (12:03)
Yeah.
I totally agree
with that. I think a lot of people have desires but not intentions. So what I mean by that is they desire to make more money or they desire to grow their business to a certain level or they wanna have this level of profitability or they wanna have this way that things operate or they wanna be organized in a certain manner. They have these desires and it's like this...
I think what I've noticed is like everyone pretty much has the same desires. You know, they wanna be rich, they wanna be loved, right? And they wanna feel safe and they wanna be healthy, right? And if the thing that doesn't really set you apart is that desire, like of course you wanna make more money. Like obviously, like everybody wants that, right? The thing I noticed is just that it's a special...
change when you add intentionality. And you have intentionality around your schedule, you have intentionality around your behavior, you have intentionality around your character decisions. There's all this intentionality that you can inject into what you do, how you do it, when you do it. And I'm so curious about that because before we went live you were talking a little bit about
the power of habits. So can you talk to me a little bit about that? how, so let's say I've got my big old plan for my year and it's themed out. It's got soul goals, right? I'm tapped into my desires. I got it all broken down. Okay, amazing, awesome. Actually habits feel like one of the top fail points that I notice among entrepreneurs. What say you about that and what would you do about it?
Sonia Narvaez (13:40)
Yeah.
So I like to think about a lot of things and operations as habits because we write, we create these processes, right? And what's a process? It's a set of steps to complete something, you know, or to have an action occur, like have the desired outcome basically, right? So when I, you know, think about kind of,
Amanda Kaufman (14:04)
.
Sonia Narvaez (14:13)
where I'm trying to go, I really think about how and what is going to get me there. Like, how am going to get there and what is going to get me there? And so that isn't just like in my business, right? That is also in my personal life, because, you know, for me, I very much I act the same in my business or my regular life. You know, I'm very fluid and resourceful and flexible. And one of the things that a lot of people
you know, forget to be is kind of like thinking about yourself as not just the business, but also, you know, a person. And these people regular in your day to day, you have these habits and these habits are going to influence these outcomes as well. So I think that's, you know, where operations really, you know, we call it operations in business. We call it habits kind of in our personal life.
Amanda Kaufman (15:06)
Well,
that's so interesting. I love that. You're making me think about like, so I'm a mom, I have four kids and two of them are a little younger and, you know, I've got my husband and everything and my husband, you know, he's amazing. Like, oh my God, he's so good. Like not to gush or anything, but gonna gush for a sec. Cause he made homemade soup today. Like I ate homemade food for lunch and I'm like, holy cow, I'm so lucky.
Sonia Narvaez (15:27)
No.
that's delicious.
Amanda Kaufman (15:35)
And, and as the mother of the house, sometimes there's things that I notice I'm like, gosh, I would love to have that at a higher standard. And so I'm the kind of gal that figures out, OK, for a family of six, what's the optimal number of laundry baskets that I need to own so that I can cycle my laundry appropriately? The answer is three, right? To get everything done in that that period of time to that standard. And think people are used to
potentially like having habits around how you wash your dishes or how you clean your home or how you do your grocery shopping. Right? How you brush your teeth, exactly. And I think sometimes though when we wanna invite something new into our life, we somewhat expect to just keep the old habits.
Sonia Narvaez (16:06)
How you brush your teeth. Yeah, like how you brush your teeth on a regular basis, honestly.
Amanda Kaufman (16:23)
and keep everything the way it was. And actually one of the things I really had to let go of as I was becoming more successful in business and I needed to be more focused is I was like, I gotta drop a little of the neuroticism around housework, right? Because I do have help to do it. I need to realize that it's like the dishes will be dishes again and the laundry will be laundry again. But when it comes to growing the business, I've got to put a new thing in place, right?
So, Sonia, what is the best way for people to follow you?
Sonia Narvaez (16:54)
So the best way to get to talk to me is through LinkedIn. And so you can message me there. And if you want to send over, you know, I have a nice freebie that everybody can look at. It's kind of an operations checklist. It's pretty thorough. So even if you do a quarter of it, you'll get somewhere in your business. And if everybody just wants to message me checklist, I can send it over directly to them.
Amanda Kaufman (17:10)
Thank
Amazing. Well, thank you so much and we'll make sure to include your LinkedIn link and website links and all the good links in the show notes below, dear listener. Thank you so much for being here.
Sonia Narvaez (17:19)
me.
Thank you so much for having me. It has been a pleasure. And also, like, I cannot help but love talking about operations. So thank you for giving me a platform to do so.
Amanda Kaufman (17:37)
Hey, my pleasure. And listener, if you enjoyed this, make sure you stop by and subscribe. So smash subscribe wherever you're listening. And also share this episode with three of your friends that might be interested in having more traction and more action in their business. And you know what really helps is if you take 30 seconds to leave a review or comment wherever you happen to be watching or listening to this.
so that others can evaluate whether they wanna check out this episode. We really appreciate your 30 seconds. It helps us to help a lot more people. All right, y'all, we'll see you in our next episode.
