Getting After It

064: Plan, Pivot, Progress – Adapting Your Way to Success | Chapter 003

• Brett Rossell • Season 3 • Episode 64

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Welcome to Chapter Three of my book - a masterclass in mastering the unwavering principles of consistency, discipline, and self-control, tailored for the relentless seeker of excellence. Dive deep into the raw and relentless pursuit of greatness as I share my journey from living life at whim to becoming a disciplined warrior of goal achievement. 

This episode is packed with gritty tales of transformation, like how the disciplined doctrines of Jocko Willink's 'Extreme Ownership' rewired my mindset, and the small shift, targeted goals triggered in every corner of my existence. From nailing academic milestones to forging iron will in the gym, this isn’t just my narrative—it’s a hard-hitting guide on leveraging goal setting to radically alter your life’s direction.

You’ll discover how to confront and conquer the beasts of procrastination and fear of failure head-on.

Uncover how the power of visualization, relentless positivity, and an unbreakable will can forge you into an unstoppable force of success and resilience.

My rock, Ally, has been the unwavering force of encouragement amidst the storms and triumphs, and I stand to proclaim the strength found in having your own crew of believers.

Step up, and let's relentlessly chase the exceptional, one determined stride at a time.

Follow on Instagram: @gettingafterit_

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I hope you've enjoyed today's discussion and that it's ignited a fire within you to pursue your dreams and embrace your true potential. (If it was helpful, share it with someone you think could benefit.)

If you're hungry for motivation, personal development, and career insights, be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform. I try to have a diverse lineup of guests, each with their own unique stories and experiences to share.

Remember, this podcast is all about you—the dreamers and the doers. I'm here to provide a platform where your voice can be heard, where you can find inspiration, and where you can learn from the journeys of others who have dared to chase their dreams.

If you are interested in being a guest, reach out.

I appreciate your support, let's connect on social media. Follow us on Instagram (@gettingafterit_) to stay updated on new episodes and behind-the-scenes content.

Remember, your dreams are within reach. You just have to decide to Get After It.

Speaker 1:

Because you have to have at least an idea of what it'll look like when you achieve that goal and you have to believe that that actually can happen, because if those two things don't line up then you probably won't achieve that goal. But you need to visualize yourself doing it. You need to visualize yourself if it's a race that you're training for crossing that finish line Ooh, ooh, ooh, we, you good, you live, we are Okay, there we go. I was trying to figure out the microphone there, because last week I don't know if you noticed the episode was all jacked up and it's because my microphone that I use was not connected to my computer, which was a shame. So unfortunately, last episode sounded a little rough, but this one will be a little bit better. So figure that all out. Apologize for that, but thanks for being patient and I'm excited to talk about today.

Speaker 1:

We're talking about Chapter 3 of my book. So this is another working session of me just talking about the topic of chapter three, what I'm going to be going into in my book, and it's just an opportunity for me to kind of work through these ideas and to get feedback from the audience and from other people before I actually do take time to really spend time writing and writing my stories into this, because I think it's important to outline these principles and talk about the principles, but the thing is is like you can talk about the principles all day, but if you don't relate to them, that's the issue, and so my goal with this series that I'm doing is to get some feedback and to understand the principles fully myself and that way, when it comes time to me sitting down and continuing to write the book, then I can add the personal stories that are a little bit more relatable and understandable to most people. Because that's one thing I'm still learning is that I don't know everything about discipline, consistency and all the motivational things that I talk about. I don't know everything about them. I understand that, and that's why I'm trying to do things like this, because it opens me up, it allows me to study these topics, so then I can go back and really give my opinion on these things and be strong in my opinion, because what it comes down to is I'm learning that in order to really feel like you are reaching your full potential is you always have to be trying to reach goals, and that's where chapter three comes into play.

Speaker 1:

Chapter three is all about goal setting. It's all about the importance of setting clear and achievable goals. I want to make a note on that these goals that you have to identify for yourself, you have to make sure that they are achievable, because the worst thing that you can do is have a goal and make it so far-fetched out there that it doesn't even seem possible to you. And if you've listened to my previous podcast over the past few weeks, you will have heard me talk about Michael Jordan, kobe Bryant, winston Churchill, steve Jobs, a bunch of other people. What is one trait that these individuals all have in common? They believed in themselves more than anybody else did. Their belief came from inside. They knew that they could do something and they did it.

Speaker 1:

It took a lot of work, it took a lot of consistency, it took a lot of discipline, and what I'm trying to illustrate to you is that if you want to reach greatness, if you want to become the best at whatever you're doing, goal setting is the first step. Why? Because when you set clear and achievable, realistic goals for yourself, you now have a direction, you now have a path that you can travel and you have to make a plan. And then, once you have that plan, just execute it. Execute it Because that plan can sit on the shelf and it could be the most thought out plan, the most thorough plan that you've ever come up with. But if you just put it on the shelf and you don't do anything about it, that's just a great little exercise that you did. It doesn't have anything to do with your results. So a plan is worth nothing unless there is action behind it. Goal setting is the same way. There is action behind it. Goal setting is the same way If you don't have clear goals, if you don't set milestones for yourself and you don't hold yourself to that high standard that you know you need to. It might be a little intimidating, but the goal of this episode is to empower you with tools and give you a mindset for setting and achieving your own goals.

Speaker 1:

So let's step back. Let's go to the history of Brett for a little bit, and if you're a follower of this podcast, you've heard me say many times that I never was this disciplined person. Growing up, I really could do whatever I wanted in terms of my time. My parents were strict on a few things like grades and making sure that we were in sports, things like that. But pretty much, if we were good kids and we didn't really get in trouble, we could do whatever we really wanted, and that's something I actually respect my parents a lot for. But I never set goals for myself and it's insane Because I never really set goals for myself until college and I would go through high school, middle school, whatever, and I would just go through the motions. I think every kid is in that boat. I mean, obviously there's some exceptional students out there who are like I'm going to be in Harvard and so I'm going to study as much as they can. Me I was just like I'm just here to hang out and see my friends every day. That's about it. So I didn't really have clear goals with school or anything like that. Volleyball was probably the only thing that I really wanted to excel at, and so my goals with volleyball were just like go hard in practice. But I didn't have a goal to be the best volleyball player or the best student, which is kind of a regret of mine.

Speaker 1:

To be honest, I wish I went back and that's why I always talk about one of the reasons I started this podcast. Honest, I wish I went back and that's why I always talk about. One of the reasons I started this podcast is because I wish I knew these lessons earlier in my life. So if I can pass them on to other people, by all means, I think this is a success. But going back to the story, I never really understood how to set goals until I moved out, until I went to college, and that was the time when I was like you know what? It's all me, there's no one else that's going to save me, and so everything that I do in my life is directly related to the work that I put into that thing, and that was a hard pill for me to swallow.

Speaker 1:

To be honest, I thought school was going to come easy and I thought it was going to be easy to go to school and also balance a full-time job. Right, that's a good task. That's tough, but I went down this path where I was almost depressed until I realized and, like I said, I read Extreme Ownership. And when I read Extreme Ownership, jocko makes it so clear that everything in life is achieved by you. If you take extreme ownership for everything in your life, then you will achieve freedom. It takes so much discipline to do that, but once I read those words that everything's on you, then something changed in my mind and I said you know what I need to start understanding? I need to take my life seriously.

Speaker 1:

I got to plan out what I want my future to look like. I don't want to be a chum, right? I don't want to be a chumbo, some goofy man who doesn't have any ambitions or goals. I don't want to be that guy you see on the side of the road with a cheeseburger walking like he's got no direction. That's not me. No, I wasn't going to be the cheeseburger man. He's got no direction. That's not me. No, I wasn't going to be the cheeseburger man.

Speaker 1:

So I realized that I needed to start setting goals for myself, and it started out very basic. It was like me saying I'm going to sit down and study when I get home from work. That was my goal. It was just to sit down and study, not a time period, and I really just started setting really small goals. That's what it came down to. And once I started reaching those goals, then I was able to kick it up right, because I was forming these habits of setting a goal and then pursuing it and then finally achieving that goal and it was small lessons that I would learn.

Speaker 1:

But this is why I preach so much about the gym. I preach so much about taking care of yourself and being fit and healthy, because once I stepped into the gym, I had a whole new goal, and my goal was to get jacked and be a bodybuilder, like my brother and I when we were up in college. I've shared this many times on this podcast. But we were like full blown. We were going to be the next mr olympias and we'd go to like we'd work out on the same program. Saturday was our infamous subway saturday, where we would go and work out super hard and then go get Subway and watch a Mark Wahlberg, dwayne, the Rock Johnson movie. So Subway Saturday lives on in history. Drew, if you're listening to this, let's get one of those down soon. Enough, we got to get another Subway Saturday. Enough, we got to get another Subway Saturday.

Speaker 1:

But once I stepped into the gym, my whole mindset changed, because I realized that if I wanted to become that Mr Olympia, I was going to have to do some serious change to my diet, to my workout routine. And so I went full into it, and so did my brother, and we would study like bodybuilding books and we would read Arnold's encyclopedia. We would read everything about nutrition how can we get jacked at the cheapest price? We're college students. Give us some protein, that's what we would study all these things with the goal that we wanted to. Usually it was like I want to gain five pounds of muscle and then we'd have to cut. And then you know all that stuff because we're still learning all this stuff. We didn't know what we were doing.

Speaker 1:

But I started setting goals for myself in the gym and I find peace in waking up in the morning very early before everyone else and going and exercising. That's not the case for everybody and I understand that, but for me, if I'm able to wake up and go exercise and get that out of the day, then in my head I have the rest of the day to work on the other goals that I want to, because then I'm not worried about, oh man, when I'm at work. Man, I got to go home and work out. I don't have to worry about that, and so I set that goal for myself and I'm able to achieve the other things that I go for. But what I'm trying to say is that that experience in college, where I was forced to start setting goals for myself and it started small and then eventually became to what it is today. So now when I have a goal, there's very little that can get in my path to stop me, unless there's, like a family situation that I need to address or something like that Instead of the goal, then I will do that, but for the most part, like that instead of the goal, then I will do that, but for the most part, try and stop me from reaching my goals.

Speaker 1:

It's pretty tough, but I've outlined a few things that I think could be helpful if you're trying to start this journey for yourself, or if you're someone who's like man I wish I was a little bit more goal-oriented. Or if I had direction in my life, I would be able to achieve more. And honestly, that's the case for a lot of people is, if you have more direction, if you understand the things that you want to accomplish in your life and you know that at a personal level, don't take anyone else's opinions of what your life should be when you're thinking about this. What do you want to be, who do you want to be and what life do you want to be? These are all questions you should be asking yourself when you sit down and start making some goals. But here's the deal I want you first. This is step number one is you need to set clear and achievable goals. I'm going to talk about some things in this principle of setting clear and achievable goals that will help along the process. The first one is vision and goal setting.

Speaker 1:

Now, my wife has the most vivid imagination that I have ever experienced from any human being ever. She is able to think and imagine scenarios so realistic that sometimes I'm like, babe, that might not be healthy to think about, that, I don't know, but it's unreal. And she has this talent to be able to visualize things. And, for a good example, we actually recently just closed on a lot here in Utah and she'll send me things and be like hey, I can imagine our future house is going to look like this, here's where our kids rooms are going to be, and all these things. One time I come home from work and we were talking about just floor plan ideas and she just pulled out a napkin and started drawing an entire floor plan. It might not have been a napkin, it might've been a piece of paper, but she uh, she drew out a floor plan and was like here's your garage, here's where your studio is going to be, um, here's the bushes that we'll have in the front yard and like all these things. She has this power to visualize. And I told her I was like, if I could do that with my goals and with my brain, I think I'd I don't know, I don't know. I'm jealous of that talent that she has to visualize, because I'm not that strong.

Speaker 1:

But visualization and goal setting is crucial because you have to have at least an idea of what it'll look like when you achieve that goal and you have to believe that that actually can happen, because if those two things don't line up, then you probably won't achieve that goal. But you need to visualize yourself doing it. You need to visualize yourself if it's a race that you're training for, crossing that finish line and running up to whoever you want, to talk to your family, your friends and talk to them. Get that detailed when you're visualizing these goals, because the more detailed you can get, the more real it becomes to you and then there's nothing that can stop you. I know it sounds so basic, but that really is the truth. You have to start with the belief.

Speaker 1:

I've talked about Founders, the podcast that I recently discovered and it's one of my favorites. It's becoming quickly one of my favorite podcasts because he studies the greats, he studies autobiographies, he studies all these people who have amazing stories about grit and tenacity and resilience and enduring and how those people doing those things built companies. They achieved greatness. The simplest form is they reached their goals. That's really it. But he says this quote in there that I want you to sharpie on your forehead if you're trying to set goals for yourself. Put it on your mirror, put it on your fridge, and it's this belief comes before ability.

Speaker 1:

Belief comes before ability. Belief comes before ability. Think about that, and that's why I'm jealous of my wife because she can visualize these things all the time, and I struggle with imagination. I got to be honest. It's something I used to have a very strong imagination with, but I became an adult and lost it and I'm working towards getting it back. But you have to believe that you can reach that goal and the ability will follow, because you will be taking steps during that time to get you there, and I think it just is important to understand that whatever goal you're trying to reach will take time. You need to be patient during this process, and that's part of setting achievable goals is doing it in a time frame that makes sense for you and for the things that you currently have on your plate, because you don't want to feel like you're tapped out. You don't want to feel like you're overdoing things right or you'll get burnt out, and what will that lead? To? You not reaching your goals.

Speaker 1:

There's this quote I can't remember who says it, but think about this, too, when you're setting goals for yourself, and it goes something along the lines of um, um, I'll find it, nevermind, we're going to move on and I'll find it, I'll bring out, we're going to come back to this. I apologize, um, but there's something that I found about goal setting which is kind of interesting. Um, it's called the Z, z, z Garnick effect the Z Garnick effect, and this is where incomplete tasks tend to stay in our memory longer. This is where incomplete tasks tend to stay in our memory longer, and really what that means is that's going to produce anxiety for you. If you know you have things that you have to do, it's going to start producing anxiety for you because you're thinking about them. How do you combat that. You just get it done. If something's worrying about, like if you're worried about the future, and you start thinking about, oh man, I have to do all these things, I have all these tasks that I'm going to have to do, why don't you just start? Because then that will get that out of your brain. But go through that exercise, visualize your goal, figure out what that is and take small steps to get there. Now there's um, there's going to be bumps along the way. This is point.

Speaker 1:

Number two is that everyone who has a goal doesn't matter how big or small it is is going to. It's going to run into some kind of obstacle at some point. So this point number two is overcoming obstacles and staying on track, because this is where motivation disappears. Motivation's great for the first week or so of your goal. I'm not going to lie. You can ride that motivation away for a while, but motivation is fleeting and it will go away, no matter who you are. Motivation is going to go away if you are not deeply invested into your goals. What I mean by that is if you are not excited about them, if you are not driven by what it would mean to achieve that goal, then it's going to be hard, especially when you run into obstacles. Now, common obstacles that you need to look out for, of course, are procrastination. So, going back to what I was saying, if you have a goal and it's kind of stressing you out just start doing it, don't procrastinate.

Speaker 1:

Some people might have a fear of failure With this podcast. I had that. That was a big fear that I had when I started was what if I don't? You know, what if I don't succeed when making a podcast? What if no one listens to me? You know, that's not going to be easy for me to swallow. Like I'd say it's a tough pill. But what if I didn't do it? You'll never know. Like that's the thing is. If I started a podcast and it went well, great. But if I didn't, I would never know. And so that's what I'm trying to say is like I brought up the example earlier this year where I started playing the piano and found out pretty quickly that I, one, didn't have enough time for it to actually practice as much as I wanted to, and, two, I didn't really enjoy it.

Speaker 1:

So for me I was like, okay, well, at least I tried it, and right now is not the time I'd love to play the piano, but now's not the time. I got other things I'm doing, so that's another one. Is the fear of failure, I would say. Another one is the fear of failure, I would say. Another one is, um, lack of resources. Like you never feel like you have enough to get started. And going back to this podcast, that was another story. I told myself was like man, I want to make sure that I have all the right equipment before I actually start, when in reality I should have said I'm just going to start and worry about the equipment later and I know it'll get better over time and I just have to get started. And so those are just a common, like a few common goals. But when you are needing that resilience to kick in, here's where I go back to that visualization visualize your success. That's one way to be more resilient is believe that you're going to be successful in the end.

Speaker 1:

And as cheesy as this might sound, I think it's powerful. If you would have told me this a year ago, I would have laughed and said I would not say this on a podcast. But positive affirmations, honestly, that's important to do. Like you need to tell yourself hey, I got this, and a good example is this is I was actually having this conversation with Allie the other day and, uh, I was like man, you know, sometimes I will go on a treadmill and say I got eight miles, this is going to suck, like I'm not excited about this. But then I look back and say, but I've done it so many times that I know I could do it again. So that's one of the affirmations I do is like I have the evidence. So just double down, get after it, go and find little things. Positive affirmations go a long way. Just look up on google like what are some common person or positive affirmations? I can tell myself when I'm struggling because it does go a long way. The words that we speak have power and they have meaning. And so if you are telling yourself, man, this is, this is so hard, I don't know if I can reach this goal, you're going to start to believe that. So what you need to do is say, man, this is so hard, but that means I'm making progress because it's hard.

Speaker 1:

Alex Hormozy talks about the story of he had a frat party or a frat group and they woke up a day after the party and there's trash everywhere and it was kind of chaos in the house and all this stuff. And so they were tasked to clean it up. And all these guys, they're complaining, they're like this is hard work, this is all this stuff. So Alex stops them all, talks to them and said hey, did any of you think this was going to be easy? And they're all like, no, obviously not. And he goes good, because this is what hard feels like. And so when that same thing happens to you, when you're walking around, you're cleaning up and you're like, dang, this is really hard, say to yourself and that's what I signed up for, that's exactly what I knew I was getting myself into was something difficult for me. Because what does that mean? It means if I go after something that's difficult, I'm going to grow in the end.

Speaker 1:

Oak trees aren't strong because they're a tiny baby acorn and all of a sudden they just pop up. No, it's because over time the tree grows, it gets pushed over by the wind. It grows more, gets stronger, gets pushed over by the wind. Right, the wind is always fighting it. Until one day the wind does nothing to this oak tree and that's how it goes. There's going to be hard days, but be resilient and adapt. Learn how you can adapt, because that is what I would define.

Speaker 1:

Someone who is resourceful is someone who's able to pull rabbits out of the hat, really, and just make the most out of every situation. That's what resourcefulness means to me is, when you are confronted with an obstacle, you're able to come up with a solution. An obstacle you're able to come up with a solution. And so just keep that in mind, because there's going to be many, many times when you struggle along your goal, set your goal journey I'm going to call it your journey of reaching your goal. There's going to be times that are going to be very difficult for you. There's no getting around that. Life is hard, no matter who you are. But how you respond to the difficulty, how you maintain your integrity and how you keep going tells me a lot more about who you are as a person than if you just gave up, because if you start, you never know where that path will take you, but if you stop, you absolutely know where that will take you. You will not reach that goal if you stop. So don't quit. Do not quit. That's the easy way out, and if you're someone who listens to this podcast, you're not looking for the easy way out. At least, I would hope so.

Speaker 1:

The last thing I want to say on overcoming obstacles is find a way to create a support system around you. That could be an online community. That could be your family members, personal, professional or any kind of mentor. Find people who you admire and leverage them effectively and surround yourself by other people who have similar goals to yourself, because if you have this goal to lose weight, but all your friends just want to go and eat McDonald's every night or Taco Bell, or they want to take you to a nacho bar, that's going to be hard to lose weight, right? I'm not saying don't go out with those friends, right? Obviously you have a balance, but I'm just saying, if that does not align with your goals, you need to have the confidence to be able to say no to people. Like no, that doesn't align with what I'm focused on right now. I'm sorry. Next time, don't be afraid to do that.

Speaker 1:

Allie is the number one support in my entire life. I could not do the things that I do without her by my side, because there are days when I don't believe in myself and there are days when I feel like I am lacking in areas and I don't feel like I'm meeting the expectations of the people that care about me or what my work's required of me, what my coach expects of me to do. I don't sometimes feel like I'm owning up to the expectations of like a husband, right? The point I'm trying to say is like I have all these same thoughts that you do. I'm a human being, you do, I'm a human being, and there are times when my mental game is compromised by my own self. I will tell myself stories and start to believe them, like today.

Speaker 1:

I went on a run and I've been sick all week and it's been hard. I woke up this morning feeling a little congested and kind of weak, but in my head I was like man, this is going to be the hardest run. This is not going to be easy, and guess what that played into my run? It was not easy because I believed that it was going to be pretty tough, and guess what it was. But that's not what I'm trying to get here. I'm trying to just tell you that I'm a human being and sometimes I struggle and I run into obstacles and the fastest way for me to get back on track is for me to run to Allie, tell her my issues and then just have her there to talk to me, because she is the number one support, no matter what happens. She is one of the only things in my life that's constant and that I can always go back to and she's like no, you're just having a bad day, you're going to be okay, it's going to be all right, you'll be back, and you know what. Trying not to be conceited here, but I always do come back.

Speaker 1:

But it's because I have these people who believe in me, who support me, and on the days that I don't believe in myself, I have to rely on them, and that is okay, that is normal. If you don't have people to rely on, reach out to me. I'll support you in whatever goals that you've got. I will be a support for you. But the point I'm trying to make is that it is so important to surround yourself with people that believe in you, who want you to reach your goals, who want you to reach your goals, because those people who don't want you to reach your goals, it's because they can't find the willpower to go after the goals that they've set for themselves, and so if you're not reaching your goals, then that makes them feel a little bit better about their laziness, and if there's people like that in your life, I would highly advise you to get them out. Do not spend time with people like that. Do not spend time with leeches. They'll just suck your blood and then eventually you'll be so tired you can't move and you're dead. Don't spend your time with leeches.

Speaker 1:

Okay, number three practical steps for daily progress. What does that mean? Well, first and foremost, what I was talking about with my college experience is setting those small goals really got me into a habit and a routine and we've talked about habit formation in the past two chapters of the book and routines that will support you for your goals. Like I mentioned with my morning routine of going to the gym and exercising before I tackle the day, set habits and routines for yourself that make it easier to reach your goals, and be very cautious with your time. Time is the only resource that none of us get back, but we all have the same amount of, and everyone has 24 hours in the day, and how you utilize those 24 hours says a lot about who you are as a person, and so if you've ever heard of the Pomodoro technique.

Speaker 1:

I use this all the time, but really what it is is, if you have something that you know you need to do but you're kind of hesitant to do it, set a timer for yourself and only work on it while the timer is going, and as soon as it goes off, you're done, you can stop. But that's super helpful for me. When I'm doing things at work like cold calling, or when I am prepping for a podcast, I'm just going to say, hey, 30 minutes, this is what I got. I'm just going to get all my thoughts down and then I'm going to stop. Another thing I would say that's been helpful for me is time blocking. Block out certain points of your day to focus on certain tasks. Um, if I want to bring myself under the spotlight again, my morning would look something like this like from 5 to 7, 30 I'm exercising, and from um like I I don't get too or too too uh, focused on time blocking. But a couple of things that I do that I know I need to do every day at my job is cold call and prospect for new clients, and so I always make that a priority to time block that into my day. Another thing that's important to me is, at the end of my day, I have a time block for journaling, for reflecting on my day, for planning out my next one. But just find more ways to be efficient with your time and the daily progress will start to accelerate as you start to become more disciplined with your time, more focused on managing your time and everything in between.

Speaker 1:

One thing that I would say also is very important with daily progress is some form of mindfulness, whether that's meditating on your progress where you came from to where you're at now, or if that's something like what I do with journaling, because when I journal, I talk about my goals. I talk about things that I'm doing to make certain strides to my goals, or I talk about goals that I want to pursue. Like I just wrote in my journal two days ago that I'm looking into creating a nicer looking studio for the podcast so I can maybe post some more videos and more content and create better things for you all to listen to. But mindfulness is really powerful because it just shows you it's almost like timestamping your progress, and so make that exciting for yourself and just try, try hard to reflect and to realize that you've made it this far, because this is where I think, when motivation is down and when you don't have motivation, this is where you can rely on mindfulness and meditate and think man, I'm not motivated right now.

Speaker 1:

But let me think back to when I first started this journey. How much better have I gotten? And if you can think about that progress, if you can see it, if you can outline it or write about it in a journal, it's going to allow you to stay motivated on those days when you do run into an obstacle or when you're feeling discouraged about your goals. Don't let that happen. Realize that you're making progress every single day and if you're consistent about making that progress every single day, the goal is going to happen. It's just a matter of time. At that point, the goal will happen. Consistency is the way to achieve everything that you've ever wanted. I firmly believe that, because I'm an example of it. Everything that I've wanted in my life has been achieved through consistent work, consistent work, that's it. I will harp on that until I die. I'm sorry, I'm just very passionate about consistency.

Speaker 1:

So number four is celebrating, and you got to be pumped up on a couple of ways. One, I think you celebrate the little milestones right. You know the little progress that you're making towards your goals. Allie and I made this. We make this a priority in our marriage. It's like anytime that we get one step closer to any big goal, small goal that we have, we go out and we celebrate Like, hey, let's go get some delicious groceries and we're going to come home and make a giant meal and celebrate. Or we're going to go out to dinner or we're going to go see a movie, whatever it is. Just acknowledge that you're making progress and be proud about it, because that's going to keep your fire going too, it's going to fuel it, and you're going to be more confident that hey, guess what? That big goal that I have is on the horizon, because this is the third time I'm celebrating and I only need to celebrate twice or two more times and I'm good to go. I'll reach that goal. So it is very important to celebrate.

Speaker 1:

And I came across this thing the other day that I thought was super interesting. But it's this concept of goal graduation and I was like, what does goal graduation mean? But what it is is it's moving on to bigger goals after achieving your current ones, and I love that idea. It's like goal graduation. You know what. I just achieved that little goal.

Speaker 1:

What's next? Because I've talked about how that is something I've seen come into fruition in my own life. I run a sub-three marathon. What's next? An ultra? It's a bigger goal. I think A bigger goal running 6,000 feet elevation gain for 32 miles. I'm a little nervous about that. But once I reach that, what's next? 50 miles, probably yeah. After that, 100? I'm going to do a 100-mile race in my life, but I have to get to each milestone before I can move on to the next goal and graduate to the next one. Right, I now have to understand that I can do a 32-mile race before I can think about doing a 50-mile race, before I can think about doing a 100-mile race, before I can think about doing a 250-mile race. Allie, I'm going to run a 250-mile race. I just decided in my head I want to do that. That's going to be tough, but I want to do it. So damn it. Oh man, I really wish I didn't think about that. But yeah, okay, well, eventually I'm gonna make it to 250 miles and then eventually I'm gonna be like the hardest geezer. But if you don't know who the hardest geezer is, go look them up.

Speaker 1:

But that is going back to goal graduation, I think a very important concept, because, in my head, goal graduating means that you are realizing that you're capable of doing more. You just achieved a goal and you said I didn't know I could do that in the beginning, but I just did it, so what else can I do? That's what this should be doing for you. It's setting your target on the next thing, the next big thing you want to accomplish in your life, or the next small thing you want to accomplish in your life, but always have goals, because goals again give you direction. It gives you a path to follow. Now I came up with just like five quick things of advice to think about when you are going through goals or if you're struggling. And so the first one is like, if it's too daunting for you, what I would say is break it down into smaller, manageable steps. Now, big goals can often feel overwhelming and that can lead to procrastination and the feeling of being stuck. But if you can break down your goal into smaller and achievable tasks, it doesn't make the process only more manageable, but it also helps provide you with a clearer roadmap to follow. It's like that direction I was just talking about.

Speaker 1:

And the next thing I would say is embrace the power of consistency. Consistency is key to making gradual progress towards your goals. It's the daily actions, no matter how small you might think that they might be, that lead to significant achievements over time. That's how it happens, but you develop a routine or a habit that aligns with whatever goal you have and stick to it. Remember, it's not about making a massive leap in one day or a massive step right. It's about making that steady progress, progress. I heard this thing it was like if you wanted to save a plant that was dying because it was dried out, you wouldn't shoot a fire hose at it, you would water it just a little every day until it gets healthy. That's what consistency is.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, another thing I would say is just be flexible during this process and adapt. While having a plan is essential, like that, having your goals, your ideas outlined for you, that is essential, but it's equally as important to remain flexible, because when obstacles, when unexpected challenges are in your path, they're inevitable the ability to adapt your plan and find alternative solutions is crucial. It's a crucial skill because it shows if you're resourceful. It shows if you can still see these challenges and, instead of looking at them as setbacks, see them as an opportunity to learn and grow and use your resourceful skills and try to become better.

Speaker 1:

The last thing that I think is very important is maintaining a positive mindset and being resilient. And it's easier said than done, but the journey towards achieving big goals in your life, think of it as a marathon, not a sprint. You've heard that before, but in a marathon, you're going hard the whole time, so don't think it's going to be easy all the time, because if you want to reach that goal, you've got to be going hard all the time. It's just going to take a while, but you need to maintain a positive mindset and build resilience when setbacks come your way. But try things like practicing self-compassion. Celebrate your progress when you can Learn from your failures without letting them define who you are, and instead take those lessons that you learned and become a better person for it. And instead take those lessons that you learned and become a better person for it. Your mindset can be your greatest ally, but it can also be your biggest obstacle, so nurture it very carefully. That's all I got for chapter three.

Speaker 1:

Everybody, I think this has been fun doing. It's been interesting for me just to continue learning about these principles because, like I said, I am no expert, but the more that I learn about it, I am becoming an expert and I'm able to share the information that I learned with you and I hope it helps. I always appreciate you listening to the podcast, for you coming on and spending some time with me and continuing to grow and learn together. So stay consistent, stay positive, visualize your success and you will make strides that you'd be surprised you didn't think you could do before and I appreciate again everyone listening to this episode Until next one. Keep getting after it everybody.