GOAL SETTING TIPS AND TRICKS FROM HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

Inspiring Goals; Recycle 65,000 Plastic Bottles

Interview with Steph Stubbe, Founder of Anipal

Inspiring Goals is a series of interviews with people who have set themselves extraordinary goals on the Elephants platform. By highlighting their stories we hope to inspire others to start taking an intentional approach to living a more accountable, connected and fulfilling life.

Steph Stubbe is the Founder Of Anipal, a sustainable vet initiative.

Today we interview Steph Stubbe, a Vet turned Entrepreneur who is working to reduce plastic waste in the ocean by giving it a second life as sustainable pet products, through her work as the Founder of Anipal. Welcome Steph. Can you tell us a bit about yourself, and how you came to start Anipal?

Thank you for the lovely invitation to chat! By way of background, I’m a vet who also runs Anipal, a social enterprise helping transition the veterinary & pet industries to more sustainable practices.

I started Anipal after I graduated from vet school, as I was shocked to see the number of wildlife patients affected by human pollution. This caused me to evaluate the environmental impact we, as vets and pet owners, have in our daily lives. When I found out that the vast majority of dog collars and leashes were made from virgin plastic spun into yarn, I was triggered to help shift our industry to more sustainable alternatives. Hence Anipal was born!

Is Anipal your first foray in entrepreneurship, or have you done stuff like this before?

Interesting question, as it’s making me reflect on some of the bizarre things I’ve attempted.

Anipal is the first time I’ve launched a business based around experiments and trials. However, I’ve always been an experimenter with ideas. From making healthy dog treats from veggies that would have otherwise ended up in landfill, to online vet care, I’ve tinkered around with a number of things in the past. But business ideas date back a long way for me, to when I was 6 or 7 years old selling chocolate cake I’d made out the front of my grandma’s place!

But it’s nice to see the dog treat concept live on as it will soon be launched as part of Anipal’s range.

Congratulations! That’s amazing that you’re expanding the range of products. But as with so many things, the first step for getting started on something new is often the hardest. Do you remember what goals you set for Anipal initially? How did you get the ball rolling?

You’re right, the first steps are the hardest and most wobbly. My first goal with Anipal was to see if you could make a viable collar & leash from recycled plastics.

To achieve this I needed to do a lot of research and speak to a variety of people to understand each of the steps involved.

I really enjoyed this process, as it involved learning about entirely new industries and chatting to a diverse range of amazing people about what they do. If you’re polite and genuinely interested, most people tend to be very willing to share their knowledge and explain their industry to you. Many I still call today for bits of advice and to get their thoughts about different supply chain situations.

Fast forward to today, how have your goals for Anipal changed over time? Have there been any challenges that have forced a re-think of your goals at any point?

My goals for Anipal have certainly changed over time. I’ve fortunately met a number of amazing people on my professional journey to date who have helped me realign my aims to ensure I’m focusing on the right goals for Anipal.

It’s very easy to get lost in the everyday activities and not see the bigger picture and the best path to get there.

Yeah, it’s tough! Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Exactly.

But in answering your question, there have definitely been challenges that have forced me to re-think my goals. Quite often, these challenges and the resulting re-evaluation ends up being for the better in the long-term. Even though they tend to be tough to navigate at the time…

The thing about hard decisions is that they’re hard! But pivoting away from professional goals for a minute, what kind of personal goals do you set?

I can honestly say that for the last few years my goals have been very work centric and personal goals have been quite neglected. I’m working to improve this and get a more balanced list of goals. For me the type of personal goals I’m looking to focus on are relationship and relocation goals.

Could you share some examples?

Well, a relationship goals is to finish organising my wedding which was disrupted by COVID, and reset a date. I’d also like to cook meals and generally just help my sister 2 times a week with her newborn in the lead up to Christmas. In terms of house and location goals, my partner and I are currently looking to move, so we’d like to rent temporary homes in a couple of different places over the next 12 months, as a trial for a more permanent move.

How do you manage the balance of personal and professional goals?

After being quite unbalanced over the last few years, prioritising personal goals is something I’m beginning to really understand the importance of. It’s essential for your friends, family, and yourself.

I’ve become aware that if you’re unbalanced with your goals and your focus, not only do your family and friends suffer but your motivation, productivity, creativity, energy and health all suffer as well. The more balanced you are, the better person you can be with pretty much everything!

As you know, a big part of Elephants is sharing your goals with friends. How has sharing goals, and progress against these goals, helped? Any stand out examples?

Sharing goals with friends and family, without doubt, helps my productivity through increased accountability. I think we’re more motivated and driven to reach goals we’ve shared and verbalised with others. Plus, the enjoyment in reaching a milestone is also a lot sweeter when you’ve shared the journey.

“Sharing goals with friends and family, without doubt, helps my productivity through increased accountability” — Steph Stubbe

Some stand out examples can be seen in my professional, relationship, financial and health journeys. All of these goals I share with my better half, who holds me to account.

Professionally my productivity with Anipal has improved enormously since my mentor became my business partner. We set each other goals and ensure we deliver. Teamwork and support with like minded individuals is such a powerful force.

Finally, before we wrap up. Any tips for people thinking about setting ambitious goals for the first time?

What seems to work for me to date, is setting a big (which might seem crazy at the time) goal and then developing milestones to get there. If you remind yourself each week what your big, long term goal is, it helps with keeping you on track.

Be sure to celebrate those milestones, in whatever format works for you. This might be with friends, family or just a simple pat on the back/smile to yourself. Reflection is a powerful tool and setting goals and reaching milestone helps in this process.

Those milestones tend to change a lot on the journey as well, so be prepared to be flexible with them. The path you believe you will take when you set out to reach your big goal tends to take lots of different turns and ends up looking a lot different than you’d expected. But that’s part of the fun!

Steph’s goals on Elephants for Q4 2020

Professional

1. Recycle 65,000 plastic bottles
2. Commence recycling 2 alternate plastic waste streams
3. Finalise go to market strategy for sustainable dog treats

Health

1. Sleep at least 7 hours a night, 7 nights a week
2. Cook 24 meals at home over the next 4 weeks
3. Run two times a week
4. Go swimming two times a week

Relationships

1. Cook and help my sister with her newborn 2 times a week
2. Eat meals with my partner 4 nights a week

Financials

1. Reach my savings target, for a deposit on a home

Leisure

1. Go for a horse ride 4 times before year end and get Dad back on the horse!
2. Go kayaking twice.
3. Start reading a book!

All goals on Elephants are strictly confidential, and shared only with the people in your Elephants group. These goals have been published with Steph’s explicit consent.

Anipal is a veterinary initiative that creates sustainable pet products by taking environmental waste and giving it a second life.

Find out more about Steph and her incredible goal of recycling 65,000 plastic bottles at the Anipal website here.

The easiest explanation for why some people do more than others, is that some people set goals for themselves, and others don’t.