Show notes
This is the month-end episode; that means an update on goals. This month I'm going to review my goals from the perspective of being vs. doing. Many of us believe that if we are not getting the results we are looking for it means we have to work harder. Although there are some cases where this might be true I believe, especially in this community of go-getting women, more often than not it means we have to shift who we are being as we take action toward our goals. It's more than just "work smarter not harder" but that can be a part of it too. It's about the attitude you bring, your self-awareness and your presence as you do what needs to be done. Or – hold onto your hats – it's who you are being as you step back and allow others to take action on your behalf. I'll go through each of my goals and explain it more as I talk about the progress or lack of progress I've made in the past month. May was a busy month with The Accomplished Intensive wrapping up the first week, The Maine Women's Conference happening the second week, a slew of corporate training in the third week and all the meetings that could not happen in the 2nd and 3rd weeks landing in the fourth week of May. Even with all the craziness I feel like I've made progress and it definitely has helped to keep my goals top of mind even as I'm working on other things. Goal #1 Build more strength and endurance The original goal for strength and endurance was to do 300 Spartan-regulation burpees in good form in one session by June 30 but I completed that in February. My burpee goal is now at 1000 burpees. Separately, I have a goal to do an unassisted pull-up before the end of this year. I have not done a great job of incorporating the pull-ups into my workout so I'm adding a task to my calendar each day to prompt me to at least do a few assisted pull-ups with the band. As of the day I'm recording this episode I have completed doing 600 Spartan-regulation burpees (chest to ground) in good form in one workout session. Doing so many burpees in one workout each week has been a little hard on my body. I recently remembered that when I was training for the marathon the program I used had the long run scheduled every other week and on the weeks in between the distance would be half what the previous long run was. For instance, if my long run of 14 miles happened today, next week I would run 7, and the week after I would run 16 miles and the week after that it would be 8. After I remembered that I decided that is how I am going to do my burpee workouts. Rather than add 25 burpees to my workout session each week I'll add 50 burpees every other week and half the burpees on the weeks in between. This will give my body more time to recover after pushing my wall. I did 600 burpees in one session 2 weeks ago, 300 last week and this week I'll do 650. This is an example of working smarter. The added benefit of doing these halved workouts on the weeks in between is I can compare my current time with my original time. For instance, when I did 300 burpees in February it took me 56:36. Last week it took me 52:22, shaving 4:14 off my time. That felt good to see and showed the progress I've made with my fitness. Another thing that has made a difference in my workouts was my mentality. Who I "Be" during my workouts is "this is happening and I'm lucky I have the ability to do this many burpees." This impacts my presence creating one of calm confidence as I'm doing the burpees. Full transparency: this is not the presence I wake up that morning. I'm usually feeling a little anxious about what I'm going to put myself through. But if you've ever trained for an endurance event you know how critical it is to have a positive frame of mind. Did you know your body responds to your frame of mind? When I work out, if I start thinking about the things that are stressing me out or my mind starts floating toward negative thoughts I immediately have a harder time catching my breath and my muscles start to cramp up. It's amazing biofeedback and it is fascinating! So, as I'm preparing to do my workout I shift my attitude and I get it done without any mental suffering. Attitude and presence impact your ability to take action toward your goals. Keep that in mind! Goal #4 Do a Women Taking the Lead branded full-day event in the summer or fall In October, which is breast cancer awareness month, I will be collaborating with Emily leRoux, the Spartan Women Global Leader of Spartan Races, Inc. to do a "Burpees for Boobs" event. I am going to coordinate the event here in Maine but the intention is to have these events happening globally in October. Now that the work for The Maine Women's Conference and the corporate workshops has slowed a bit I'm shifting my focus to this event. I am currently in the process of scheduling a call with Emily leRoux to begin coordinating this event. I've also aligned with Marie Sola of Daughters of Change to make this event happen. We are both excited. Marie says she's never done a burpee in her life but she is looking forward to learning. I hope she's still in after she's done a few burpees. I'll admit, in the time I've had to put this goal on the backburner, I have had random defeating thoughts like, "can I really make this happen?" and "what if this completely flops?" I've come to realize I need to take the same attitude I've taken on for my burpee workouts, "this is happening and I'm lucky I have the ability and the network to make this happen." That feels better! Goal #3 Increase profitability in my business Goal: have a net income (earnings minus expenses) of $80,000 minimum this year. April's Profit and Loss report showed a net profit of $2730.41, slightly lower than March's profit and still far off from the average $6700/month required to see a net profit of $80,000. In June I'll be participating in two strategy sessions with my mastermind group to take a look at this goal and what it's going to take to achieve it. I realize I still have stories around selling and conveying value. One of my struggles is my ideal client is a busy, overworked woman. It is not uncommon for someone to reach out to me to explore coaching, they want to work with me but then all the things I can help them with come up and cause them to put coaching on the back burner. It's tragic when I hear back from some of these women a little further down the road and nothing has changed. Or more gut-wrenching, things have gotten worse. There are definitely some actions I can take to tweak my packages, offerings and my website but I know the big piece of this is going to be shifting who I am being when I am chatting with a potential client. I know there are instances when I am so conscious of not coming off salesy or pushy that I undermine my own calm and confidence. I know when my coaching process is the solution to someone's biggest problems and I have to be very clear about that and also clear about the cost of putting off the solution. It's a dance but I know that by shifting who I am being in those conversations I can do it gracefully and be a support to the women whom I most love to help. Goal # 5 Outsourcing Goal: (contingent upon profitability goal) to outsource social media content creation and email inbox management. I'm going to hold space for this goal. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself because I know without a doubt that once my profitability goal gains some traction this is a done deal! Who I am being in regard to my outsourcing goal is "This is happening. Oh yes it is!" Goal #2 Be in a committed monogamous relationship with a man I'm still doing the do. Most traction is happening on the dating app – no surprise there. I'm making connections and planning dates. I've also got a couple of friends who know someone they want to fix me up with and I have granted my permission for them to coordinate introductions. You have to be careful with this because sometimes who your friends see you with is not the person that you see yourself with. I've been on some odd blind dates in the past and I am typically not a fan of blind dates. However, given the conversations I've had with my friends I've felt comfortable giving the "go ahead." With this goal I am staying in the arena, as Brené Brown has described it, and seeing it through even though it is difficult for me. I had an experience this past month that played into all my old stories about men: that they are not straightforward, they don't tell the whole truth and the truth they leave out is the truth that would have been REALLY important for you to know. This one shook me to my core, partially because I was worn out from a couple other things pulling at my energy, and partially because the man was a person I thought would be completely honest with me. For about a week up was down and down was up. I questioned how much I could trust my own judgment in people because I'd had complete faith in this man to be a friend and be completely honest with me. I've mostly made peace with it and energetically forgave but talking about it even vaguely with you is causing some emotion to come up again. Historically this is when I would check out and decide finding a partner was not important to me. I would decide it was not worth the negative impact is was having on my energy and mindset which would have a ripple effect on my career, my business and my overall wellness. So, I'm in the arena. I've been knocked around a bit but I'm still in the game and I'm proud of myself for that. Who I am calling myself forth to be is soft, open, loving, calm, confident and playful. It is a practice but it is worth it. One thing that has helped me with my stress level, my self-awareness, my attitude and my presence is the work I've done with the Energy Leadership Assessment. This is a vital tool I use for myself and in my business to get to the heart of what keeps me from naturally expressing who I am: calm, confident, powerful, playful and loving. The Energy Leadership Assessment is at the heart of the work I do with my clients and is the reason they start having crazy ah-ha moments right away and can see impactful progress within weeks or even days of beginning to work together. If you've been spinning your wheels and working harder and harder to make progress toward your goals I'm going to suggest that it's not what you're doing or not doing that's holding you back it's who you are being, and you are not being your best self. If you are interested in finding out more go to womentakingthelead.com/coaching. There you can also purchase the assessment for yourself which will give you the information you need to achieve your biggest goals with a lot more ease. As always I hope this was of value to you and here's to your success! Thank You to Our Sponsors! Zebralove Web Solutions: Your website tells a story about your business! At Zebralove Web Solutions, Milly and her team are going to make sure your website tells the story you want your customers to hear. Connect with Milly at zebralovewebsolutions.com to create the impression you want to make! Resources Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast! Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.