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3 Reasons to Build a Better Strategy for Workplace Wellbeing

It’s likely you spend the majority of your waking hours working. My business-owning clients, even when they’ve done the hard work of setting their focus where it’s needed and delegating what they can to their team, definitely do. 
 
Even if you haven’t taken a leap into entrepreneurship, I bet if you’re here, you’ve climbed the ranks at your office or workplace to a position of leadership and management – and work is commanding at least 40 hours of attention from you each week. 
 
So is it any surprise that when things at work aren’t good, nothing is?
 
It’s critical that we understand workplace wellbeing is the foundation for all other areas of our wellbeing. Gallup has even studied it: they found five distinct elements of wellbeing that “differentiate a thriving life from a suffering or struggling life. They are, in order: Career, Social, Financial, Physical, and Community.”

Our work life and personal life are not mutually exclusive

Companies are starting to recognize this. Wellbeing, in all facets, has increasingly become part of the corporate conversation. 
 
The trouble is, too many companies are still focusing on “wellness” programs – essentially diet and exercise. Or, maybe a ping-pong table.

 What if the next global crisis is a mental health pandemic? 
         It is here now.

-Gallup, Wellbeing at Work

The world is craving a different approach to success. 
 
What if you could be part of creating an environment where that approach thrives? Where it encourages wellbeing at work, for yourself, your colleagues, and your team? Where your team contributes more and better work to your company’s collective goals, simply because they are, well – at work and, by extension, at home?

3 areas of focus to help inspire change 

It’s possible. No matter where you are in your company’s ladder, there are steps you can take right now to help promote workplace wellbeing for your team. It starts with you, and how you communicate with them. 

1. Give the gift of clarity

Clarity is foundational to wellbeing. Understanding what is expected of you every day decreases stress, overwhelm, and burnout.
 
Another eye-opening statistic from Gallup: “Only 1 in 2 employees worldwide know what is expected of them. That means half of employees are unsure about their roles.” 
 
How can you possibly go to work every day with a cloud of uncertainty and walk away in the evening feeling accomplished, fulfilled, or even just useful?
 
When employees and managers know what is expected of them, it builds trust and increases engagement… which, maybe not coincidentally, are the next two areas I want you to focus on.

2. Build trust

With a more cohesive team that is clear on what’s expected of them, trust, collaboration, respect, and productivity increase (as does profitability).
 
What’s more, you build trust through accountability. I don’t mean a scary, aggressive accountability. I mean, “I trust you with this work,” and then demonstrating that trust by letting them own the work you’ve asked them to do. 
 
It’s also, “I trust you to come to me with suggestions and ideas.” 
 
 Ultimately, trust has to be there for people to come up with something new  and be willing to fail. You’re building psychological safety so that your team  can trust you, too. Your team has to know you have their backs.

3. Inspire engagement

To put it simply, career wellbeing is the number one driver of overall wellbeing. And the number one driver of career wellbeing is engagement. 
 
When employees are actively engaged in their work, they feel like they’re a part of something bigger. A sense of autonomy, of serving and adding to a higher purpose, of learning and evolving and growing, has a powerful impact on a team. 
 
More than anything, your team needs to know that what they’re doing matters.
 
And you establish that by engaging with them – for starters, by providing regular feedback, scheduled conversations, and open doors (literal or figurative!). 

Have I convinced you yet that you can do this and that it’s in the best interest of your team and company to do so? 
 
If not, maybe the Surgeon General will: late last year, Dr. Vivek Murthy and the Office of the Surgeon General released their Workplace Well-being report.  “A healthy workforce is the foundation for thriving organizations and healthier communities… As we recover from the worst of the pandemic, we have an opportunity and the power to make workplaces engines for mental health and well-being.”
 
I deeply believe that these issues are worth our attention, no matter how big or small we think our sphere of influence is at work. I’m going to be diving into each of these three focus areas in the months to come – I have so much more to share with you about why each one is important, how you can establish clarity, trust, and engagement with your team, and the payoff you’ll see from doing this work. 
 
I can’t wait to hear what you think and how it works for you – we have an exciting journey ahead of us!

3 Ways To Release Self-Doubt And Improve Your Confidence

I’ve got an accusation this month: You’re doing nothing. But as much as I advocate for a pause, this “nothing” is not it.
 
You’re agitated, upset, uncomfortable or aggravated by someone or something around you. We all are, at least occasionally. 
 
But if you’re like a lot of my clients, rather than addressing the source of what’s bothering you you’re questioning whether it’s really THAT bad. Maybe you’re overreacting. It’ll probably blow over. 
 
Maybe it will. Maybe you’ll get used to it. 
 
Or maybe you’ll push the feeling down enough to carry on. Maybe it’ll sit there in the back of our minds and in a corner of our hearts, breeding resentment and eroding our confidence in ourselves, our judgment, and our self-worth.
 
Yikes!
You deserve better – but do you believe me?
Sounds like a situation you shouldn’t be brushing aside when I put it that way, no? So how do you move from doing nothing to doing something?
 
What if I told you it was your mindset – your beliefs about yourself, not the other person, that’s holding you back? He or she may be way out of line, you may hold the high ground in this conflict. But how you resolve it is about YOU, not them. 
 
Our beliefs drive our behavior, which creates our habits, which creates our future. We are what we repeatedly do.
 
In this case, I’m going to guess that somewhere, deep down, you have some self-limiting beliefs.
 
Maybe you believe you don’t deserve to speak up. 
 
Maybe you believe it’s easier to put up with some nonsense.
 
Maybe you believe it’s better for you to bear this than to make someone else uncomfortable by addressing it.
 
None of those beliefs sound like what we want for ourselves. But when you limit your actions and reactions based on how your needs will land for someone else? You’re perpetuating the limits you’ve been conditioned to work and live within.
 
We won’t do anything inconsistent with who we believe ourselves to be. Not long term, anyway.
 
Reset your mindset & build fulfilling beliefs
It’s time to develop a mindset that serves you, not one that keeps you stuck. And as much as you might be tempted to catapult straight into action, I’m going to suggest you start with the slight shift from “doing nothing” to, our favorite, a “pause.”
 
Here’s some suggestions on what to consider while you take that pause.
 

  1. Understand your mindset
     
    Our mindset, our identity, our self-image is a lens through which we see and experience life. 
     
    It’s built on the story we’ve been told, shown, experienced since birth. 
     
    “I am a person who…” If I asked you to finish this sentence, where would it end?
     
    For an Olympian, they would likely identify as an athlete. They’d go about their day and life behaving like an elite athlete – training, managing a performance diet, portraying confidence in their physical ability. 
     
    What about for someone who finishes that sentence this way? “I am a person who is horrible with time management.” 
     
    That person believes no matter what effort they put in they are going to be late for everything, working until the last minute of a deadline, and never feeling like they have enough time to do what they need and want. 
     
    Here’s the thing – that belief is not a fact. 
     
    IT IS A LENS. 
     
    We can choose to take that lens off and take a different view. Invite in a new perspective. Head down a different path. 
     
    The problem is, our lens is like oxygen, we don’t even know it’s there, it just is.
     
    Our ‘lens’ is our identity. It’s how and who we identify as, which is our mindset. This lens becomes an invisible force, driving our beliefs, assumptions, judgements, and opinions – of ourselves and others.
     
    So take a minute to think about what you believe about yourself. What is your mindset? And does it serve you?
     
  2. Build Better Habits
     
    For starters, you know I love a habit of pause.
     
    When you spot aspects of your mindset that are feeding your self-doubt, hit pause. The pause will disrupt those well-worn neural pathways that have you consistently choosing a view/lens/opinion without even understanding what you are doing.
     
    “It’s not that big a deal…” PAUSE. Is it?
     
    “He probably didn’t mean it that way…” PAUSE. Even if he didn’t, should you have to silently stomach his comments?
     
    Pause to identify the old habit, then bring your compassionate curiosity and graceful accountability. Don’t beat yourself up for your default thought pattern, but don’t let yourself off the hook.
     
    Start small… really small, and build the muscle for seeing yourself with a new lens.
     
    Maybe tonight you’re a person who puts some dishes in the dishwasher before going to bed. Maybe some night down the line you’re no longer a person whose “house is always a mess.”
     
  3. Take imperfect action
     
    On the flip side of starting small, you might also prepare yourself for messing this up. 
     
    Understand that you’re not going to have it perfect right off the bat. You’ve had this mindset for years. 
     
    If you want something different you have to be something different. You’re building new muscle here, and you’re not always going to flex it with perfect form. 
     
    (We JUST talked about perfectionism – remember?)
     
    So maybe the next time a loved one says something that you’d normally grit your teeth at then grin and bear it, maybe this time you speak up. 
     
    You can lean on the same framework we established for setting boundaries (because, in fact, while you’re changing your mindset you’re also setting boundaries here!)
     
    The conversation might not go how you planned, you might not get all your words out right or express yourself with perfect clarity the first time you try it. 
     
    But you’ll have done it. You’ll have made this muscle a little stronger. And you’ll have given yourself the opportunity to see yourself as someone who does exactly what you think their best self would do. 
     
     
    And most importantly, no matter where you start, you’ll begin to believe you’re someone who deserves to live true to their best self. 
     
    I believe you can do it. And I believe we all deserve it. 

Perfectly Imperfect: How to Unhook Your Perfectionism From Your Business – and Health

This blog isn’t perfect. And I actually wouldn’t want it to be. It’s not that I don’t want to send out my absolute best to you every month – I do. But my best is more than a nicely worded, grammatically correct, insightful and thought-provoking blog. My best is also balance. It’s detaching from the critic (inner or otherwise), letting go of what people might think, and just GOING FOR IT. My best self is an imperfect one, and my best work comes from acknowledging that. So this month, I’m here to convince you that we’ve got to let go of perfectionism before we can even think of achieving balance in our life.
“Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.”
~Brene Brown

What are you shielding yourself from?

So many of my clients are talking with me about perfectionism – whether they’ve realized it or not. The need to get everything just right before moving forward or making a decision is having a huge impact on their lives and businesses. They need to be putting themselves and their work out there. That’s when we get the feedback that helps us improve, iterate, or make a course correction. It may feel like a perfect product or plan is the key to success and security. Who could criticize your best work? If you put all your effort into perfecting your business plan, how could it fail? And yet, perfectionism keeps us playing small. We’re polishing endlessly instead of being vulnerable and putting what we’re working on out there. There’s a lot that can drive that, but at the heart of it is usually some fear. Fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of embarrassment. Even my most capable, most successful leaders get trapped here. It’s not based on their past performance or experiences. No one around them would share these expectations or fears. These are very much internalized and accepted self-doubts.
“Perfectionism is a commitment to habitual self-doubt.”
~Prentis Hemphill

It may be “perfect,” but it’s not healthy

All that doubt and fear takes a toll. It certainly holds back business and progress but there’s a mental weight as well. There’s increasing research showing that your mental health is intertwined with your relationship to perfectionism. The BBC dug into it all just a couple years ago, and summed it up with this: “Many of us believe perfectionism is a positive. But researchers are finding that it is nothing short of dangerous, leading to a long list of health problems – and that it’s on the rise.” I have one client who is a living example of this trend. When he needs to end a business relationship – parting ways with a client or not renewing a contract – he experiences so much anxiety about the break up call he’s in physical pain. Stomachaches, and migraines – it’s all-consuming. And ultimately, when he does have a professional conversation that includes referrals to another business to take them on, these clients THANK HIM. No yelling. No shame. No accusations. Just a professional and productive parting of ways. But you can bet that if the mental anguish leading up to the call is enough to make him sick then it’s also leaving a mark somewhere. Lucky for him, he’s done the work to unhook from perfectionism. He has clarity on his business, his goals, and how he’ll operate. It’s a positive for everyone involved.  

Perfectionism’s enemy: Boundaries

Boundaries and perfectionism find it hard to co-exist. And you know how I feel about the necessity of boundaries for, among other things, work-life balance. (Hint: you need clear and compassionate boundaries!) Perfectionism has us dropping boundaries. When our drive is to be perfect, everything else falls away. Perfect takes sacrifice, commitment, and anything less than 100% means failure. When perfectionism has us showing up you can assume there is always a trade off. We’re showing up as someone other than we are – because no one is perfect. The Joneses may look like they’ve got it all figured out: perfect family, perfect jobs, perfect home. But remember you’re watching their show – there is ALWAYS something on the inside that’s propping up that perfect facade. In one house it may be debt. In another there may be weekly or nightly fights. In another there may be true and deep mental anguish pushed down below the surface – or a million other issues could be brewing. And that’s ok – that’s their story to write. But when you get caught comparing and striving for perfect – remember what you’re seeing is just one piece of the puzzle. So if you’re sacrificing your boundaries for the sake of keeping someone else happy, or awed by your job performance, or otherwise bending your priorities to accommodate their needs? Perfection has gone to war with your boundaries. And you have to decide how perfect – or imperfect – that feels for you.  

Blazing a path for recovery from perfectionism

How does one transform into a recovering perfectionist? Well let me say from the start – there is no ONE PERFECT way to go about this. Instead, consider a few of these options and how they might help you identify where you can let go of perfect in exchange for embracing authenticity and progress.

1. Pause (there’s always so much power in the pause!) and release judgment Your perfectionism is enmeshed in judgment – maybe of yourself, maybe of others. Observe your opinion, and let it go. Don’t let your opinion of things be the lens through which you decide “what is” or “what is not.”

2. Unhook from what others think Just like you’ve let go of your self-judgment, can you let go of your fear of others judging you? For one – they’re not. They just aren’t thinking what you think they are. And two – you’ve got to follow your goals for you – perfection won’t protect you from the (rare) naysayers.

3. Get clear on what exactly “perfect” is in your mind ● Is the work you need to do to achieve perfection adding to your life, or taking away from what or WHO is most important? ● IS perfectionism actually attainable? ● What is the tradeoff for your perfectionism? (Because there is ALWAYS a trade-off! Even if it’s not immediate and public – it’s there.)

4. Question WHY you have the drive for perfectionism – are you trying to avoid something? Prove something? And to whom? Is it serving you and your goals? Or is it a distraction?

5. Self-boundaries – you need them Leadership starts internally. These are your habits, the promises you’re making to yourself based on your goals, not just a projection of perfection. This is self-leadership, and you’ll need to stick to your boundaries on what you’re saying you want. Think about your habits, good or bad, your triggers, and what you want your response to be. Then stick to it – without falling back on your old crutch perfectionism.

6. Accountability – it works Ask friends to help hold you accountable – because all of us can see when our friends are stuck in perfectionism. Maybe they’re not getting things done they say they want to. A friend can say, “What’s going on for you?” Let them hold up the mirror and tell you, “You said you were going to do this by a certain date and you’re not there. What needs to change? What’s getting in the way? What are you overthinking?” All clients come to me for accountability. Accountability to NOT be “perfect” might sound odd – but it will work!

The upsides of “imperfection”

What’s on the other side of perfectionism? Don’t listen to your self-doubt. It’s better than you might expect.

In my experience, when my clients let go of perfect and strive for success and progress they find: ● Relief ● Better energy and time management ● Improved relationships with self and others ● Increased confidence ● Improved boundaries ● The ability to say NO ● Increase effectiveness (productivity, communication, collaboration)

Which, honestly, sounds kind of perfect, doesn’t it?

Are You Creating the Space You Need for a Summer of Freedom & Fun?

Ice cream trucks. Water slides. Fireflies and fireworks and bonfires.

Stop for a second and dream up your quintessential summer. Where in that picture did you fit in humid commutes and to-do lists longer than the longest days of the year?

I know – you don’t actually dream of those things. So instead of fitting a quick trip to the beach into a summer consumed by work, let’s talk about how to fit your work in around your fun this season.

But Lisa, You’re My BUSINESS Coach

Yup. And part of being a successful business leader is learning how to balance what is important to us in work and in life. My goal is to help you build a business that will sustain the life you want, not consume it.

So for this Fourth of July, I’m declaring our independence from the rat race.

There is ALWAYS another level, another contract, another client. I’ve been there with my foot on the gas, fully in pedal-to-the-metal mode with summer in the rearview mirror before I registered it had started.

So rather than staying blindly on the path to “more,” (which we know is not sustainable,) I’m going to challenge you to get clear on how you want to prioritize fun in the next 8 weeks.

I’ll go first.

In The Summertime, When The Weather Is Hot…

I make sure to dig into summer as soon as the weather turns from frost to sunshine here in Vermont – after all, it could be snowing again in a couple weeks! (Ok… maybe a couple months. But summer is fleeting, particularly here!)

To me, a summer well spent means getting outdoors, taking in concerts, and spending time with loved ones and friends.

I had a blast at the Lumineers concert with my sister just last month (and faced some of my residual COVID fears about being in a crowded space) and I’m looking forward to more music-filled evenings on the lawns together.
I’m also hoping to take some long weekends away with family and girlfriends.

And I’m lucky that even if extremely pricey flights keep me a little more local than I might otherwise be, Vermont is a beautiful state to summer in. In my garden, by a lake, on a boat – it’s all breathtaking when you stop to take it in. And I intend to do just that.

It’s a Cruel Summer (Leavin’ Me Here On My Own)

Not to get all Cat’s in the Cradle on you, but I missed a lot of summers, and I regret it.

Vermont will give me another chance at appreciating the beauty of our New England summer.

But I can’t get back the summers with my sons when they were younger.

There was one year I stood on the porch of our new house, looking at our gorgeous and expansive lawn. I realized I had missed the whole thing. My catering business was really taking off, and I was proud of it.

But I truly had barely stood in that spot all season.

Then the year I decided to transition from catering to coaching was also my son’s last summer at home. I nearly missed them all. And Vermont, in all its beauty and wonder, can’t give me another shot at that.

There were years where my sons spent time with me mostly when they worked with me. It’s not an uncommon story to grow up helping with the family business, and they learned valuable skills and saw my work ethic in action. I’m glad they did. And, they became damn fine cooks!

We did vacation, don’t get me wrong. I made sure to squeeze in our family trip to my parents’ camp most Julys, and we even brought along their friends (until spending the summer with parents and grandparents became too unbearably uncool.)

But it was a squeeze. I squeezed out every minute of productivity before, during, and after – toting my laptop along so I could keep checking off boxes and moving the business forward. I never completely disconnected, so I never completely surrendered to the magic of a summer break.

Now I look at friends and clients and I see how they’re able to shape their lives around the memories that matter – trips to the zoo, the water park, the camping trips with their kids. I didn’t create nearly enough of those experiences for myself and my kids, and I don’t have those memories now.

THAT is why I emphasize maintaining balance and getting clear on your priorities.

We’re Cool For The Summer

So here’s your shot. What can you not afford to miss this year?

1. Define your summer break
Summer was handed to us as kids. School let out, we went to camp, we biked to the town pools and lakes.

I have to push you to put a little work into your summer now, because in order to balance your business and your break, we’ve got to figure out what that break looks like.

What is really important for you to experience this summer? Is it the location, time with family, or who you spend it with? Do you want a week off completely or some well-spaced long weekends?

Whether you’re reconnecting with your kids, partner, friends… or your self, take the moment now to pause and get clear on what you want.

2. Good boundaries make great vacations
You don’t have to travel to have a vacation… staycations are super cool too and a big part of my own summer plans.

You do, however, need to unplug and set boundaries around work or other obligations.

So, commit to setting that out-of-office notice and let yourself rest. Give your loved ones, your friends, and yourself the gift of separating your vacation from your vocation.

(One of my favorite tricks, by the way, is to let AAA do the planning by using their Triptiks on a road trip. The key is to get you doing less work on vacation, not more.)

3. Connect to the importance of taking a break
It can seem like a luxury to slow down and relax, but it will, in the long run, fuel you for more energy and endurance for creating more of what you want, WHATEVER that is.

Give yourself permission to fully enjoy what’s important to you this summer!

Here’s to a summer of memories made and wishes granted.

Stay cool and let me know where the season takes you!

How to Get Clarity on Your Goals by Pausing For an Honest Mid-Year Review

It’s time: summer is around the corner, and just like students leaving school with finals completed and report cards in hand, it’s time for our own progress report. I like to treat the halfway mark of the year as our own professional midterm, of sorts. Before giving way to the social and nostalgic distraction of a summer break – take some space to pause.

I’m here, gently, lovingly, with empathetic accountability, to invite you to check in with yourself on your goals and priorities for the year.

Before you shrink in your seat or start hustling on your goals like a college student’s last all-nighter of the semester, it’s not what you think. I’m not worried about how much progress you’ve made or whether you’re on track to achieve everything you’ve laid out for yourself.

I’m here to help you ask yourself, “are my goals serving me, or am I stuck in the service of them?”

Having Goals Doesn’t Mean You’re Done with Goal-Setting

You set your goals in January – or at any other point – and you’ve been working steadily towards them all year. Progress feels good, so if you feel productive – great!

But you’re not done with the goal-setting process.

A lot can change in a few months. The last couple of years has proven that, as if it were the goal of the 2020s, to make that point for me.

So rather than barrel blindly toward a goal that feels like it was set in a different world as a different person, we’ll examine those goals periodically, adjusting the ones that need it—tossing the ones that truly no longer serve us.

I often work with clients who are caught up in a goal that no longer aligns with their priorities.

I’ll have clients who are understandably laser-focused on their bottom line, all energy committed to driving revenue. Running a small business is a high wire act at times, and that focus often means survival!

But sometimes, like one of my clients, it means overshooting your goal so far you surprise even yourself. When this particular client saw how far ahead they were on revenue, their first instinct was to keep going – the mighty dollar is a seductive pursuit.

Ultimately, when they paused to consider the options, this success and overachievement meant that this business owner finally had the freedom, cushion, and room to delegate more. That meant freeing up time for priorities that had simmered on the back burner for quite a while. It meant they could finally carve out space to begin writing the book they’d dreamed about for years.

Goal-setting is an ongoing, even circular process. It’s not a straight line from setting to achieving – authentic achievement is the result of consistent reevaluation of your priorities and the strategies you’re using to hit your benchmarks.

Consider this your invitation to take stock of where your work is taking you. It’s good to put your head down and work, to get shit done, to make things happen. But every so often, it’ll serve you to pause, look at where all that work is taking you, and make the changes to course-correct if you no longer want to go where that train is headed (or if it’s veered off course).

Keys to a Productive Review

You’re not being graded, and this isn’t being filed with HR. But you do want to be effective and gain clarity in the process of this self-reflection. No matter if you’ve met your goals or avoided them, the key here is, to be honest with yourself about what – if anything – needs to change.

Here’s some structure to help you get there:

1. Schedule It
Put time on the calendar to take stock of your progress so far. And then honor it like you would a meeting with a client. Prioritize your check-in with yourself – you deserve the attention!

2. Have an outline of what you want to cover.
You’re planning to have a conversation with yourself. You get to set the agenda, and the most valuable answers might lie behind the toughest questions.

Some of the topics and questions to consider are:

○ Start with the end in mind – what do you want to achieve (in this meeting, your business, and your personal life?)
○ What are you doing consistently that is working?
○ What are you doing inconsistently that is working?
○ What are you doing consistently that you don’t want to be doing? Can you delegate it – or plan to delegate it in the future?
○ What does success look like to you? Reconnect to this.
○ What’s weighing you down?
○ Is there anything you can simplify, delegate, or automate?

3. Reflect & Reassess
Now you have at least some of the answers from step 2. Reflecting on what they mean in total is what’s going to give you clarity.

So, overall, is the business (or career) you’re working towards going to sustain the life you want, or is it consuming it? What, if anything, do you want to change?

4. What one thing would make reaching your goals easier?
This sounds a lot like the step 2 question about delegating the things that you don’t want to be doing or could delegate. But I want you to think bigger picture here and get thinking out of the box.

For me, the one thing I need to do is make sure I include fun in my day. When I’m in full-blown hustle mode, it negatively impacts my business – and life. I am a better business owner, leader, friend, parent, and – in general – human being when I’m having some fun.

Knowing that, I make space for it, and set the hustle-bug aside without guilt or apology. Having fun is helping me achieve my goals. So it’s non-negotiable.

5. Time block your priorities
Before you adjourn your meeting with yourself, look at your calendar and schedule time to implement your insights, intentions, and goals. Know your ideal benchmarks – are they one month, three months, a year out?

If you decided you need to do more, do it with a timeline in mind, and mark it down now. Don’t hustle endlessly.

If you decided you need to do less, give yourself the permission to honor that! Have an idea of when you’re coming back to full capacity (or if you’re redefining full capacity) and schedule your next check-in with that in mind – it’s your next dedicated chance to ask yourself if you’ve made the right adjustments.

Finding Success and Ease in the Right Priorities

What if you’re worried that you’ll be called out for changing your goals, priorities, or timeline?

Don’t be.

I know, easier said than done. The F word (failure!) is always lurking in the self-doubting corner of our minds.

In the course of evaluating their goals, one of my clients realized they no longer wanted to hit their one-year commitment of going independent and quitting their full-time job. A longer timeline felt right and balanced their personal and professional priorities better. But they were really worried about what everyone would think – particularly because they had proudly shared their original goal and timeline. Friends, family, colleagues knew the track my client was on and, in some cases, were part of the plan.

When they finally mentioned that their new goal for making this huge, career-altering change was a few years out instead of months? It didn’t phase a single person. In fact, they were happy for my client and applauded the change.

And more importantly, that change brought with it joy and relief. My client told me how much lighter they felt. I saw it, their friends and colleagues saw it, and we were all happy to see how much positive impact one honest adjustment had.

You can unhook from what you think other people may think – these are your goals for YOU, not for anyone else. Your goals affect you the most… which is probably why even your closest circle of people is VERY likely to accept, respect, even celebrate your recalibration.

You know what you want and need to do. And now that your goals align with your priorities, you’ve got your roadmap to get there.

Just remember to have fun on the journey!