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Women Taking the Lead

The Women Taking the Lead podcast is a resource for women leaders, allies, and organizations looking to promote more women into senior leadership. Episode formats include specific leadership challenges, "on-air" coaching with women leaders, and interviews with internal talent and organizational development leaders. Women Taking the Lead inspires women to overcome self-doubt and lead with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.
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Now displaying: January, 2018
Jan 29, 2018

We are just about to close out January. Can you believe we are already checking off one month in 2018?

I hope you are feeling momentum and a sense of “I got this” now that we are a few weeks in. If you don’t I want you to know you are not alone!

There is a virtual workshop I am doing next week on how to get hours back in your week and in retrospect I am seeing that I will be doing this workshop prior to starting the Tolerations Detox Challenge the next time I run it.

The reason for this is the biggest obstacle those who did the challenge faced was not having enough time to keep up the pace and complete the challenge.

What has been heartening is I am still getting messages from women letting me know they fell off but they are carving out time in the next couple of weeks to complete it.

They are reporting that they’ve seen the benefits of identifying and removing tolerations from their life, even though they may have only addressed two or three thus far. Those benefits include a sense of relief, feeling in control, having more mental and physical energy and feeling like they can tackle more.

Also, I’ve been getting feedback on The Accomplished Intensive. The common theme is, “it sounds great but an 8 week commitment feels too overwhelming right now.”

I get it so I’m going to break the intensive into two separate shorter programs and you’ll be hearing more on that soon!

As for the workshop next week, this idea came to me as I was getting all this feedback.

For those of you struggling with managing your time, whether you’re currently still working through the Tolerations Detox Challenge, thinking about doing The Accomplished Intensive, or you just are overwhelmed with what you’ve already got going on in your life, this workshop may be the thing that draws the line in sand for you regarding overwhelm.

I’m going to cover 7 different strategies that will help you get control of your time, your calendar and your peace of mind so you are accomplishing everything you want to be accomplishing with more ease and a sense that there is plenty of time.

To find out more about this workshop and to sign up go to womentakingthelead.com/time.

If this workshop interests you but you can’t make the call live, don’t worry about it, still register. I will be recording the call and sending the link to the video and worksheets to anyone who registers.

Since this episode represents month end I thought I would give you and update on the progress I’ve made with my goals at the very end of this episode. Since many of you expressed how helpful it was for me to use myself as an example for creating goals, I’m going to give monthly updates that will be in the 100% Jodi episode at the end of each month.

Let's define transparency, authenticity and vulnerability

In this episode I am going to cover transparency, authenticity and vulnerability. These have become buzzwords in the current vernacular.

We have a strong desire to connect with something real. Turns out reality TV is actually staged and the current requirement for political correctness has caused an avoidance of truth.

With all the media channels, social or otherwise, that we are now on to engage with our friends and find out what’s going on out in the world we have also exposed ourselves to an enormous amount of over-done marketing.

It can be exhausting.

On the flip side is the experience when someone without drama or manipulation tells the truth.

They open up their minds, their hearts and share their experiences in the hopes they can connect with others and be helpful to them.

Just thinking about the experiences I’ve had when another person was willing to be real with me, it makes me feel joy. I sigh with relief because we can let go of the pretenses and have a real conversation about things that mean something to us.

You can see why the pendulum is swinging and we are craving more of these experiences. Now many people are jumping on the movement to be more real but this is also causing the waters to muddy because people are using the terms transparency, authenticity and vulnerability incorrectly and it’s creating some confusion.

Given that I have taken on Vulnerability as my theme for 2018 I am especially interested in clarifying these terms because it will keep my intention top of mind.

To start let me give you some simple definitions.

Transparency is how much you share.

Transparency has more to do with the quantity of information you share rather than the relevance or quality of information you share.

People or organizations that have a core-value of transparency will likely let you see a good deal of their records but you may have no interest in that information.

Authenticity is the truth of your words and actions.

Authenticity has more to do with the quality of the information you share rather than the quantity and it is backed up in everything you do.

People who have a core-value of authenticity will not quibble or try to couch their responses to your questions. They will give you their honest perspective and their gut-reactions. You may not like what you hear them say but that’s your issue, not theirs.

Vulnerability is the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.

The added layer that is required to being vulnerable is risk. You have to be willing to risk rejection or attack. This is why Brene Brown, who is a social researcher on shame and human connection, rarely talks about vulnerability without discussing bravery.

To truly connect with others we must be brave and take the risk of getting vulnerable.

How do these transparency, authenticity and vulnerability play together?

  • You can be transparent without being authentic or vulnerable.
  • You can be authentic without being transparent or vulnerable.
  • But you cannot be vulnerable without being transparent and authentic.

To be vulnerable you must share more than you are comfortable with and be completely honest in the sharing.

In The Accomplished Community, which is my membership community, we have two Zoom calls a month when anyone and everyone can jump on to ask questions, get feedback from the group or get coaching.

In one of our December calls someone asked about how to build confidence. There were a lot of great tips shared by the whole group. After it was done I invited everyone, rather than focusing on building confidence, to take on being more vulnerable.

Because when you are willing to be vulnerable you don’t need confidence and those you are speaking with are more likely to connect with you as a human, as a professional and as an expert.

I did a presentation for a local women’s network about a year ago and one of my clients came and sat in the front row.

After the presentation she came up to me all excited and said, “I couldn’t believe it. When you started talking you did great and then I saw your hands were shaking and I realized you were nervous!”

I responded, “Yes, I was nervous! There are a lot of powerful women in this room.”

She went on, “Before today I would have never imagined you getting nervous about anything. And while I watched you be nervous and still do a great presentation I realized I can do it to. Before today if something made me nervous I would avoid it. Now I know I can be nervous and do it anyway.”

Spoiler alert: before I speak and probably for a good minute or two at the beginning I get nervous. Some of it’s just excitement but nonetheless my mouth will get dry, my voice my tremble and my hands may shake. I don’t let that stop me.

Because I’m clear that I can help people by doing public speaking I take the risk of looking foolish and I speak, openly and honestly. That’s vulnerability.

Where you can find more opportunities to practice vulnerability

Just like The Accomplished Community I want to encourage you to find more opportunities to seek to be vulnerable rather than confident.

For those of you who need to tell your story as a part of your business or your career you’re going to need to get vulnerable if you want to create a human connection. I’m not just talking about facts and figures. That’s transparency.

You need to be transparent and authentic to the point that you expose yourself to being judged and rejected. That’s vulnerability.

If you are looking to transform a relationship in any area of your life, that’s going to take vulnerability.

If you want to have influence, start a movement or gain buy-in... You guessed it, vulnerability.

To quote Brene Brown in her book, Daring Greatly…

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”  ~ Brené Brown

If you never fell like you have enough time...

Vulnerability is on the agenda this year for me and so is my helping you to feel more freedom in your time.

For those of you struggling with managing your time my workshop may be the thing that does the trick for you in letting go of overwhelm.

In this online workshop I’m going to cover 7 different strategies that will help you get control of your time, your calendar and your peace of mind so you are accomplishing everything you want to be accomplishing with more ease and a sense that there is plenty of time.

If this workshop interests you but you can’t make the call live, don’t worry about it, still register. I will be recording the call and sending the link to the video and worksheets to anyone who registers.

I promised to give you an update on my goals

1. Build more strength and endurance.

Goal: Do 300 Spartan-regulation burpees in one session by June 30. Separately, do an unassisted pull-up.

Originally I guessed my baseline was 50 burpees in a session but turns out my baseline was 100 and the next week I did 120 burpees and then last week I did 140 burpees. At this rate I will hit 300 burpees well before June 30.

And during one of my burpee sessions I got the inspiration to turn the achievement of 300 burpees into an event. Maybe find a place to accomplish this goal, invite others to burpee with me (they don't have to do 300 burpees) but it could be a fundraiser for a local charity and maybe do a Facebook live. I'm still playing with the idea.

So it was great that I was more fit than I had guessed but I was feeling like I was going to have to really raise the bar on the area of strength and endurance and then I remembered, Oh yeah I also have to do a pull-up. I don't think I'm going to accomplish this goal so easily so it will probably keep me busy for a while.

I already have a pull-up bar. My next step is to buy a set of pull up bands. I'll start with the largest band for support and graduate to a smaller band when I can do 3 sets of 5 pull-ups in one session. That sounds right but if you’re a personal trainer and you have a better idea for me let me know. I am totally open to feedback on this goal.

And if I can't do a pull-up by September I'm going to hire a personal trainer to help me with this goal.

2. Be in a relationship.

Goal: be in a committed, monogamous, romantic partnership with a man.

*I am taking on embodying being more open to partnership and having fun (look the part). I tend to be very focused when I'm out and about and I have gotten feedback from friends and family that I give off signals like I'm already in a relationship or I'm too busy or disinterested in chatting with strangers. Sigh. I'm going to have to change that.

*I have begun telling my family and friends about my goal and ask that they introduce me to single men that they admire and who they think I would get along with, preferably a man with some goals in life who is interested in self-improvement.

*I have also started to research online dating apps and been asking around as to which one would be the best for me. If you've successfully done online dating and you have any tips for me please reach out - jodi@womentakingthelead.com. My intention is to do the organic thing to start and then create an account in online dating app by end of February.

3. Increase profitability in my business.

Goal: have a net income (earnings minus expenses) of $80,000 minimum.

I have created a spreadsheet that outlines how many books, assessments, strategy sessions, group programs, private coaching packages, etc. that I need to sell in order to hit my goal.

Now I’m focusing on the marketing and the promotion of those things.

As for my Profit and Loss report I’m going to have to give you the January update in the episode I do at the end of February but I’m in the black at this point by about $1000 and I am pre-recording this obviously so the final numbers are not in. However, if I’m going to have a net profit of $80,000 I’m going to have to do a lot better than this.

The last two goals, 4. Do a Women Taking the Lead branded full-day event in the summer or fall and 5. Outsourcing are contingent upon my profitability goal so no real action taken in these areas as of yet but I’ve started documenting some actions steps I can take when I’m ready to take action.

Okay, that’s it for now. Please feel free to reach out to me regarding anything you heard in this podcast or if you are looking for some support with vulnerability or your goals for 2018 you can reach me at jodi@womentakingthelead.com.

As always I hope this was helpful to you and here’s to your success!

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Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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 CommunityChat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Jan 22, 2018

First, let's talk about money. Ugh!

I have for you another on-air coaching call all around how to still pursue a long-term goal even if you know you have to wait before everything will fall into place. There’s always something we can do and that makes us feel good, more empowered in our own destiny and our day-to-day.

Before we dive into that I wanted to tell you about a special call that is happening for this community. Let me give you some background on this call. Starting on January 1 and running until January 10 I lead a challenge to help everyone increase their energy, focus and wellbeing as they were beginning the New Year.  Well, something happened during The Tolerations Detox Challenge that was surprising and yet not surprising at all.

During the challenge we covered what we were tolerating in various areas of life in the following order: health and wellness, home and transportation, work and technology, finances and lastly relationships.

Some people reached out for help for the first few challenges but when we got to finances, the comments in the Facebook group went up as well as the number of SOS emails hitting my inbox. 

After getting so much feedback on how intimidating/annoying and scary it was to look at and take action around finances I knew this was not limited to the participants of the challenge, this is a universal fear.

So I've called in the big guns for help! Jen Hemphill of Her Money Matters was my roommate at Podcast Movement in 2016 and we hit it off! I love her energy, insight and genuine compassion for women who struggle with their personal finances.

She and I have been on each other's podcasts and her episode on Women Taking the Lead is the most downloaded episode to date! 

She is about to be a published author on the subject so she's got the subject of money down. And when I asked Jen for her help she was an immediate, "Yes!" I love that about her. :)

To get an overview of the areas she is going to cover and to reserve your seat (only 50 people will be able to be on the call live): MONEY FREEDOM

Even if you cannot make it register, even if you are hearing this after the call happened and you want to hear it, register. I will be recording our call and sending the replay to everyone who has registered.

How are you managing the pursuit of your big dream?

Christina Mathis is a classically trained pianist with a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Judson College in Marion, Alabama. Christina has extensive experience as a church musician, collaborative pianist, and music educator.  She has been teaching private piano lessons for more than 25 years and in private schools throughout Alabama for 13 years as a classroom music teacher and choral director.

Christina currently teaches private lessons at her home studio and is pursuing a Masters in Music Education from Liberty University Online and national certification from the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).

Christina lives in Decatur, Alabama, where she is pianist at First Baptist Church Decatur, choral pianist and piano teacher at Austin High School, and staff accompanist at University of North Alabama in Florence.

Christina has been in the process of "cleaning up" her career. She has does some work over the past year to focus on the work she loves to do, teaching piano. However, there is still more work to do but given everything she has going on, and her big dream cannot be accomplished right now, she's feeling unsettled with life.

Christina and I discussed:

  • Having a very full schedule
  • The conflict that arises when you are an employee and a business owner
  • Not waiting to pursue the big dream
  • Having an ideal client that does not have a lot of expendable money yet not compromising your value
  • Networking and building your list before you are ready to launch

Links

Email: christina.genae@gmail.com
Facebook: @christinamathismusic
Instagram: @christinamathismusic

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Podcast Movement is the world's largest gathering of new and veteran podcasters, or anyone looking to start their own podcast the right way. For $50 off any level of registration, visit podcastmovement.com and enter promotional code lead.

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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 in the community!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Jan 15, 2018

Hello and thank you for joining me! The Tolerations Detox Challenge wrapped up this past week and it was so much fun! To say I’m delighted with how everything went was an understatement. I got emails and messages from women who wanted to share their wins and what they were getting done and I heard from women who were struggling and I loved both types of messages.

If you were doing the challenge and were struggling and never reached out to me, reach out to me now. I can only support you if I know you need support.

High-fives to everyone who participated, however you participated.

Goals, Goals, Goals, Goals

I’m going to continue this week to talk about goals because this last piece of goal-setting is actually crucial if you want to hit your goal but if you have been having a hard time choosing your goal and writing out the plan, don’t feel bad.

Goal-setting is one of those things that can trigger us because 1) it takes some work to craft the goal in a way that will stretch you but not be impossible to achieve, 2) you are opening yourself up to a potential failure and 3) by choosing a goal, writing it down and declaring it you have made a commitment to see it through and for some of you that may feel constraining.

Having done several episodes on goal-setting and each one completed the day before it was going live, which is unlike me and something I do not like to do, I started to wonder as I was writing this if there isn’t a part of me that resists the goal-setting process as well.

However, what I know is that when I do this entire process I always hit my goal. Always. Without fail. I’m not kidding. It’s crazy, but you’re going to have to take my word for it.

Knowing this was a sticky area for some of you I put something together that will provide you some structure and guidance for working on your goals. If you have found yourself struggling or avoiding this process this is especially for you.

You’re either going to love me or hate me for this but I created a worksheet that will take you through each of the steps covered in all four 100% Jodi episodes on goal setting. Access it here: Creating Goals Worthy of You

Even if you’ve been following along and doing your goals you may want to grab this for a mid-year reset or for later this year when you start creating your goals for 2019.

Who You Need to BE to Achieve Your Goals

This last area of goal-setting is actually the most important part of goal setting: who do you need to BE in order to achieve your goals.

At the end of this episode I’m going to go over a transformational process that is like jet fuel in becoming who you need to be in order to achieve your goals but I want to go over the methodical step-by-step process first because the other process is not for everyone at this time.

It’s great to have goals, to have a plan and to be taking some action - these are the fundamentals. But if you are not embodying the qualities that are required to achieve your goal it won’t matter how clear your goal is, how great your plan is or how much action you are taking.

This is where I see a lot of us Type A action-takers start to spin in place, essentially go into overdrive without making much progress.

If you’re not getting results you may start to think you need to work harder and take more action. However, it is your state of mind, your attitude, and your presence that will see you to your goal.

Just like the last episode I’ll use myself as an example to clarify what I’m talking about.

I’ll go over my focus areas and the goal that was worthy of me that I chose to indicate what success would look like for me in this area, and then I’ll list the qualities that I will need to develop and exude to achieve the goal.

1. Build more strength and endurance.

Goal: do 300 Spartan-regulation burpees (chest to the ground) in one session. Separately, do an unassisted pull-up.

My strength and endurance slipped because I wasn't focused on it. So one of the qualities I need to develop is focus. There are a variety of workouts I need to do for this goal so I’ll also need discipline to do the workouts and stay the course even when I don’t want to.

Another quality that will be important for me with this an all my goals is playfulness. I need to be having fun or I will quickly loose interest and then motivation. So my workouts will either need to be social or I need to make them some sort of a game. This is a quality I have developed over the years so this will not be a problem.

Another quality that is required for all goals is the quality of being committed. This goes for you too. If you are not committed to achieving a goal that is worthy of you then it’s not really a goal. It’s a “nice to have” and you will likely not achieve it. So when you create your own list of qualities you will need to exude to achieve your goal make sure “committed” is on your list.

2. Be in a relationship.

Goal: be in a committed, monogamous, romantic partnership with a man.

I didn't achieve my goal to date last year because I wasn't focused on it. This is not a goal that is hard to achieve so I literally was not paying attention to it or taking it seriously. Obviously, that means commitment and focus are required. The other qualities that will help me to achieve my goal is that playfulness piece again; being light about it and not taking it too seriously, and intending it to be fun.

Another quality is aware; I need to be more aware of my surroundings, who is around and also be making eye contact with people. Bringing lightness and smiling more wouldn’t hurt anything either.

Lastly, open. Open-minded, open to possibilities, open to it not looking exactly how I may be picturing how dating and being in a relationship is going to happen.

3. Increase profitability in my business.

Goal: have a net income (earnings minus expenses) of $80,000 minimum.

I had marginal profits in my business last year due somewhat to a lack of focus. Though I was very active sometimes it was just being busy doing things that were not moving my business forward.

What really hurt my profitability was I didn't get vulnerable. I didn't ask for help in terms of getting feedback on my business.

I asked for a few testimonials but not many, and I didn’t let certain people know how much I wanted to work with them. I didn't get vulnerable and that hurt my business.

4. Do a Women Taking the Lead branded full-day event.

Goal: Do a WTL branded full-day event in the summer or fall.

I've wanted to do a full-day live event for a few years but have not done it because it has felt too overwhelming and the initial investment is a little scary. What I've lacked is clarity on the cost and the scope of the work it will involve.

The quality that will help me to be clear is inquisitiveness. And to pull the trigger or not on this event I’m going to have to be decisive. If I am well on my way to achieving my profitability goal in the next few months this will be a go and there will be a lot of decisions to make.

I’m also going to need a lot of help so I’m also going to need the quality of being to open to asking for help.

5. Outsourcing

Goal: (contingent upon profitability goal) outsource social media content creation and email inbox management.

For this I will need to be organized. I need to be clear on what I’m going to outsource and have any checklists, procedures and training materials ready to go before I hire anyone.

Since this goal is also contingent upon profitability it will require me to embody all the qualities I listed for that goal.

The worksheets I mentioned at the beginning of this episode will help you not only identify these qualities but also start formulating a plan for how you are going to develop these qualities. You can find the worksheets here.

Qualities Needed to Achieve Your Goals

Pulling this all together and looking over my list of qualities that I need to develop and BE to achieve my goals, I’m going to condense playful, light, and fun-loving to just fun-loving. That word in my world involves being playful and light and I don’t want to overthink or overdo this list.

The qualities I’ll be developing and exuding this year are committed, focused, fun-loving, aware, open, vulnerable, inquisitive and organized.

My next step with be identifying ways to amplify these qualities. For, example, in terms of being committed, having all of this information in a podcast episode for anyone in the world to hear and be able to call me on, that certainly helps with commitment.

I’ve also created a recurring task on my calendar on Fridays to review the progress of my goals and I have identified accountability partners for each of my goals. For each quality I’m going to go through a similar process to identify how to embody that quality.

A Transformational Process to Remember Who You Are

I told you at the beginning of this episode I was going to also cover a transformational process that is like jet fuel in becoming who you need to be to achieve your goals.

Anything you truly desire you can achieve. Because that desire came from you, was fashioned by you, you can achieve because you are created to be able to achieve anything you desire in truth.

What I mean by “desire in truth“ is that the desire for something comes from who you really are. Not because others want it for you, not because society says you should want it, not because it’s part of the plan other people have for you. What you desire in truth comes from who you really are and therefore you are capable of achieving it.

What I am saying is that if you have not been able to achieve a goal that you truly desire it’s because you have forgotten who you really are and what you are capable of.

If you’ve spent any time following me or Women Taking the Lead you know my core mission is to help you overcome self-doubt so you can lead with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.

Any self-doubt or hesitation you experience is caused by you not knowing who you really are and what you are capable of. When that changes internally, you automatically and with very little effort, start to make changes externally.

You start leading yourself in your own life with confidence, integrity and humor.

The Accomplished Intensive

To help you with this I have taken my coaching system, that is in my book and that I take my private clients through, and created a group program called The Accomplished Intensive.

In this program you will find the belief in yourself to go after what you really want. For some of you, this will be when you finally give yourself permission to go after what you want.

The Accomplished Intensive is an 8-week transformational program that will take you from a place of feeling self-doubt, confused, lost or lacking clarity to being clear, decisive and in action toward your big worthy goals.

This program will completely change how you see yourself and what you think they are capable of.

Because this is a pilot program, because it’s the first time I’m taking a group through my system, I have greatly reduced the price. And, if you sign up with another person (a friend, colleague or team member) it’s even less per person. This is a smoking hot deal and we won’t see this price again.

If any of this interests you or is resonating with you, find out more about The Accomplished Intensive

I am CONFIDENT that if you do this program and fully commit to the process you’ll remember 2018 as being the year when everything changed and success and fulfillment got a whole lot easier.

Check out the page at womentakingthelead.com/intensive and if you have any questions you can reach me at jodi@womentakingthelead.com or fill out the contact form on the page.

As always, I hope this was of value to you and here’s to your success!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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 CommunityChat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

Jan 8, 2018

Happy New Year!! I hope it is going great for you thus far. There has been so much energy and excitement around 2018 and what’s possible I can’t help but feel this is going to be a great year. And it’s all within our power, right?

I’ve also been feeling the momentum as I am running the Tolerations Detox Challenge. Ultimately, 112 people have registered and as of the day this episode is released we are on Day 8 of 10. And as I expected people are reporting feeling more empowered, more energy, momentum and enthusiasm for their goals, the coming year and life in general.

Most of the activity has been playing out in the private Facebook group so if you a woman (sorry guys) and you have not joined us yet go to https://womentakingthelead.com/group to join the conversation and get support from other go-getting women just like you.

Okay, in the last 100% Jodi episode that came out a couple weeks ago I shared a process to create goals that are worthy of you. Near the end of that episode I touched upon creating the milestones and metrics of each goal but having listened back on that episode I realized I didn’t give those topics their due.

Since I am in the process of creating the milestones and metrics for the focus areas I’ve chosen it made perfect sense to continue this series on goal setting and in the next 100% Jodi episode I have the final piece that will bring all this together.

Choose a Goal that Represents Success for You

So for this to all make sense I’ll share with you what I’ve been doing with my focus areas. Since focus areas are not always specific you need to choose a goal that represents success in the focus areas you have chosen. I’ll cover the focus areas I chose in the original episode on creating goals that are worthy of you and then I’ll share what I chose as a specific goal and we can use these to get into metrics and milestones.

Here are my focus areas and the goal I chose to indicate what success would look like for me in this area.

1. Build more strength and endurance.

Goal: do 300 Spartan-regulation burpees (belly and chest to the ground) in one session. Separately, do an unassisted pull-up.

2. Be in a relationship.

Goal: be in a committed (monogamous) romantic partnership with a man.

3. Increase profitability in my business.

Goal: have a net income (earnings minus expenses) of $80,000 minimum.

4. Do WTL branded local paid workshops

Goal: this morphed into doing a full-day event.

5. Outsource

Goal: (contingent upon profitability goal) outsource social media content creation and email inbox management.

Metrics to Gauge Progress

Metrics are measurements like dials on the dashboard. They are indicators of how you’re doing, tracking your progress toward goals. An example of a metric would be how many burbees I can do in one workout session. They would let me gauge where I am on a given day or week and allow me to track my progress. My clothing size is technically a metric, however, since my focus area is to increase strength and endurance going down a clothing size is nice yet irrelevant.

When determining the metrics for your goal you want to make sure they are relevant to the focus area and the goal you chose. Something that lets you know you’re making progress.

Now, for my goal to do an unassisted pull-up as a sign of success in building strength, dropping a few pounds may be a part of my strategy to achieve that goal. Essentially, my thinking is if I am a little lighter it will be easier to do an unassisted pull-up.

Some of you might be thinking that’s counter-intuitive because if I’m dropping weight I would be pulling less weight, thus undermining the amount of strength I can build. However, during the progression of a pull-up, from hanging from the bar to pulling your chin over the top of the bar, you transition through different muscles in your back, arms and shoulders. Being able to do the full progression of the pull-up is what I’m looking for and being a little lighter will make that easier.

Now, making a progress is awesome but as you know we can stretch progress on endlessly and take forever to finally hit our goals. This is why milestones are so helpful.

Milestones to Motivate Progress

Milestones make a plan to achieve a goal specific and concrete. They are the mini-goals you are looking to hit on your way to achieving the bigger goal. Milestones can be dates, deadlines, tasks, and budgets. Metrics will allow you to track progress all you want but if you don't have something specific you are looking to achieve and a date by which you want to achieve it, you can find yourself feeling like you’re not getting much traction toward your goal.

For my goal of doing 300 burbees in one workout session I’m going to start by seeing where I am now. I want to know how many burbees I can do before I just can’t do another burpee with good form. I haven’t done this yet but say I can do 50 burpees maintaining good form before I start to feel my back bowing as I come up from the ground while doing the push up. That means I have a gap of 250 burpees to hit my goal.

I also need to know by when I want to achieve this goal. If my goal is to do this by December 31 my milestones are going to be different than if my intention is to achieve this goal by June 30.

There’s no time like the present so I’m going to shoot for June 30. Based on the date I am releasing this episode and my guess that I can do 50 Spartan-regulation burpees in good form as of today that gives me a little less than 6 months to increase that number by 250.

  • January 31 – 100
  • February 28 – 150
  • March 31 – 200
  • April 30 – 250
  • May 31 – 300

Yes, you see that correctly. I am shooting to achieve my goal ahead of schedule to give myself some wiggle room in the last month for the unexpected. Always put some cushion in your plans for the unexpected.

This is where we high-achievers can get ourselves into trouble. We don’t account for the unexpected and they feel like complete failures if we didn’t achieve our goal according to the original plan. Remember to be a little bit flexible so you can pivot and tweak your plan if you need to. This is your goal and you get to decide how and when achieve it.

Other things to consider when making your plan:

  1. What other activities do you need to consider that will support your goal (i.e. core strength)?
  2. What other resources or support do you need to achieve your goal (education, coaching, personal trainer, etc.)?
  3. When will you review your metrics and milestones (I will do a burpee workout 1x per week)?
  4. When are you going to execute your plan (time-block your calendar!)?

If you don’t have metrics and milestones for your goals yet, no worries! Put some time on your calendar in the next week or two to get it done. This can be an eye-opening experience in that you may realize your goal was a bit unrealistic or you may realize it’s more easily achieved than you first thought.

I’ll be continuing to build out the plan to achieve my goals and would love to hear where you are in creating your goals and forming the plan. Let me know if there is anything I can do to support you. You can reach me at jodi@womentakingthelead.com or join the Facebook group and get some support there. Go to https://womentakingthelead.com/group to join us there and be a part of fun and supportive group of women just like you.

As always, I hope this was of value to you and here’s to your success!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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 CommunityChat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.

Jan 1, 2018

Brian Ligotti is a health coach and the owner of Dirigo Fitness in Falmouth, Maine. Having overcome years of struggling with his weight, being uncomfortable in his own skin, he obtained his degree in Exercise Physiology because he wanted to make sure no one ever felt the same despair he had felt. Brian spent most of his life addicted to one thing or another; food, then drugs, then food again. Fitness allowed him to find the piece of himself that could face anything and push through discomfort. It showed him that there is nothing more important than your health and that the people around you benefit when you are taking care of yourself.

A voracious learner, Brian applies the knowledge he has gained with the philosophy that helped him turn his health around: "The only way to create lasting change is to stay focused, have a clear reason for what you are doing, and be consistent with small changes."

Click to tweet: Brian Ligotti is sharing his story to inspire you on Women Taking the Lead https://womentakingthelead.com/245 #inspiration

A Woman Who Impacted You

Brian’s mom has always been a huge influence in his life. She raised three kids on her own, which was not an easy task. Considering her children often spent their free time fighting, they all turned out to be decent adults.

Another inspiration to Brian was Silvia Anthony. She grew up near his grandfather. In the 60’s after her divorce, she started homeless shelters for women with no formal training,  because she wanted to help. Mother Theresa has also impacted Brian for the same reason. Through helping one person at a time, Mother Theresa became one of the most powerful women of the 21st century.

What Hold’s Women Back from Stepping Up as Leaders?

The most common thing that Brian encounters is that women typically place everyone else before themselves, especially when it comes to fitness and self care. Women tend to think that they have to be able to do it all, all the time. If you are running yourself ragged, because you feel like you have to, that hurts everyone around you.

Another thing Brian tends to see is not choosing to be happy in the moment. He believes you have to make the decision to have a good time, despite the bad things happening.

The Benefit of Mentoring Women

Brian has learned the power of being present with someone through working with women. He finds that a lot of people, when they are speaking, are just waiting for their turn to talk, but women respond better to presence. The power of just “being” in the moment and listening with your full attention is very important.

Brian grew up around women, and one of his early survival skills was tuning things out. His mom and sisters would call him out when he wasn’t listening, so this is a practice he has been learning from early on.

The Necessary Changes

Brian feels that women need to embrace who they are at the core of their being. He has seen that women can sometimes need reassurance when they get in their own head.

Current Projects

Brian is excited to be offering health and fitness coaching online and over Skype. Skype allows him to see a person’s face and their body language, which is important as he feels communication can get lost in text, email or phone.

Final Inspiration

“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think” ~Rumi

Links

www.dirigofitness.com
brian@dirigofitness.com

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Zebralove Web SolutionsYour 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 in the community!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to DoingA simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.

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