Last year I was hearing a theme everywhere I turned among some of the most successful people I admire and follow: They fill their brains nonstop with food for growth. For me, it’s podcasts. I am officially dependent. Podcasts are quick and easy; in roughly 25 minutes For the past year I have been listening to podcasts whenever I am “unplugged,” not tied to a phone call or a computer screen – when walking with the dog in the early a.m., driving to/from getting kids, getting out of the shower in the morning, and in the evening before going to bed.

One of my favorite podcasts is Brendon Burchard’s “The Charged Life.” Last week, while driving 45 minutes to an appointment downtown, I listened to the episode “Stop quitting your goals. Here’s how.” In it he asserts that the viability and reality of your success is directly tied to using your voice.

My favorite line in the podcast was, “You want people bugging the crap out of you just as much as you want people cheering you on.”

A goal unspoken is a hope – and hope robs you of your dreams. In my experience it plays tricks on you. “With hope, anything is possible,” the saying goes, but I think that means faith and detachment, and those can be roadblocks.

Burchard’s podcast also had these nuggets:

  1. Visualization Practice: You think about something, you can see it in your dreams, it feels real, it shows up when you talk to people and you can taste it. But then you must tactically fill up your world to make it happen (calendar, to-dos, etc.). Visualize yourself:
    1. Doing it
    2. Struggling through and overcoming it
    3. Attaining it
  2. Rate yourself/assess yourself every Sunday: Where did I fall out? Where was I willing to fail forward? The mere fact of rating yourself will subconsciously support you in upping your game a notch or two the following week.
  3. Share and get support: If you don’t share your goal, then you are not committed to it; you’re hoping it will “come true,” like a wish. Without accountability and people bugging the crap out of you, you’ll never push yourself to get there.

Think about it: You want to run a marathon, but you’ve never run a day in your life. You share it with a work colleague, a friend and a family member. Now every time you see them, they are asking you, “How’s the training going?” You’re initially mad at yourself for sharing this with them. But that night, while driving home and longing to sit on the couch, you decide instead to lace up your sneakers and start your 5k coaching app. And the next day you walk into work, and you’re greeted at the coffee maker with, “How’s the training going?” You casually share that you shaved 30 seconds off your mile. “Seriously? That is fantastic. Next thing you know, you’ll be crossing the finish line of that marathon in July! I’m going to be there cheering you on, Keep up the great work!”

You can’t fail when you force yourself, but we have unfortunately witnessed failure from people who fear never getting started and are busy in their heads with hoping and wishing. The remedy for overcoming fear is action.

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Molly Hall

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