Two weeks ago we had the privilege of speaking with Vivian Lee about how she sets goals, sticks to them, and modifies them as necessary. Her inspirational insights support the importance of having an accountability partner, maintaining focus and discipline, and keeping your eye on the prize of self-improvement.  If you enjoyed our conversation with Vivian and are looking for more expert tips geared toward career and life-coaching, check out Isabelle’s Q&A with executive coach Claire Steichen, founder and CEO of Clear Strategy Coaching, on goal-setting for success in 2018.

Today’s Episode:

Today, we dissect our own version of the topic “goals” and identify what makes some of your very own hosts’ goals successes, and in some cases failures. While we know that it takes many small steps to reach a finish line, there is much to learn and accomplish along the way. The process itself, we might suggest, is actually where races are won and lost.

For Isabelle, starting to run in 2014 first meant getting challenged by Mother Nature, as heat and humidity had her pack it in after two minutes! She stuck with it however and rather than throw in the towel completely, she did something that took courage and self-trust. She waited until the temperatures cooled down enough to train through her first winter season, outdoors! The mental and physical gains she made proved to herself that she had to shoot past her comfort zone in order to gain any traction in the beginning. Fast forward 4 years and multiple half marathons later, Isabelle has taken her athletic accomplishments into realms she never dreamed of. She is a living testament that discipline and planning ahead are rewarded with personal growth.

For Noah, finding his next goal meant diving into a whole new sport – triathlon. Having never put running and biking together presented its own hurdles, but swimming? Now those were uncharted waters! Picking the goal of an Olympic distance triathlon was a critical factor in his commitment to rigorous training. More akin to hitting the snooze button than Isabelle, Noah’s commitment not only enabled himself to justify waking up at 5am to train with the Brooklyn Tri Club, but also made him even look forward to hopping out of bed for those early morning sessions.

2018 Goals:

And how about for 2018? Your wild and crazy kids over here set their targets on none other than their first ever Ötillö race – which is Swedish for “island to Island”. In April we’ll put our swimming and running to the test and participate in a swimrun event in Red Top Mountain State Park, Georgia. We’ll be tethered to each other by a 10 meter rope, running and swimming in our specially designed swimrun wetsuits, and bracing for lots of unknowns. For what we do have control over however, we will do our best to prepare, which currently includes taking a weekly swim class, asking experienced swimrunners for advice, and planning out our adventure well ahead of time.

Additionally, we’ve decided to take our adventure goal and turn it into an opportunity to help some friends in need.  We are dedicating our adventure to the Woodstock Animal Sanctuary and have set a goal to raise $3,000 to help Trident the horse and Fawn the cow, who both have prosthetics that are very expensive but permit our friends to continue living a happy and honorable life.  As of this writing, we are 30% of the way, so still have a ways to go!  If you want to support us, please consider making a donation here – we tremendously appreci...