The B2B Podcast Index
Index
All categories
MarketingSalesSaaSFinanceHROpsLeadershipCustomer SuccessAI & DataProductStartups & FoundersRevOpsEngineering & DevTools
MethodologySubmit
Best of:MarketingSalesSaaSFinanceHROpsLeadershipCustomer SuccessAI & DataProductStartups & FoundersRevOpsEngineering & DevTools
An independent project byFame
SearchBest episodesGuestsInsightsMethodologySubmit a podcast
Index/Leadership/No More Mondays
No More Mondays artwork

Big Gorgeous Goals: Reclaiming Your Vision of Success

No More Mondays · 2026-06-15 · 34 min

0:00--:--

Key moments - from our scoring

Substance score

56 / 100

Five dimensions, 20 points each

Insight Density11 / 20
Originality9 / 20
Guest Caliber14 / 20
Specificity & Evidence10 / 20
Conversational Craft12 / 20

Julie Ellis brings a framework for distinguishing between tactical goal-setting (SMART goals, to-do lists) and transformational goal-setting through what she calls 'big gorgeous goals' - aspirations that require you to figure out missing pieces like funding, networks, or skills. Drawing from her experience building Mabel's Labels to eight figures and then navigating the identity crisis that followed exit, Ellis emphasizes that real progress requires delegation, accountability partners, and periods of deliberate rest rather than relentless grinding. The conversation covers why people sabotage their own success (fear of failure, judgment, and especially fear of success and change), how to distinguish between inherited expectations and authentic goals, and the role of disconnection - stepping away from devices to access the creative thinking that surfaces ideas. Ellis stresses that analog work (writing on paper, not typing) activates different neural pathways for goal clarity, and that mid-year re-evaluation is a reset opportunity, not a failure point. B2B operators will benefit from her insights on delegation as leverage, the necessity of having external accountability without opinion, and reframing success as a dance that includes rest, not just forward momentum.

Key takeaways

  • →Big gorgeous goals differ fundamentally from SMART goals because they contain unknown elements (funding, networks, skills) that require you to figure things out as you go, not just execute a known plan.
  • →Entrepreneurs become roadblocks by refusing to delegate; people who accomplish big things use systems, processes, and people to build leverage, not by doing everything themselves.
  • →Fear of success and fear of change are the hidden saboteurs most people overlook - often manifesting as procrastination or staying stuck to avoid who you might become.
  • →Authentic goal-setting requires creating space (disconnection from devices, nature, boredom) to distinguish between your actual aspirations and inherited expectations or external pressures.
  • →Mid-year goal recalibration isn't failure; it's information - and the next action doesn't need to be perfect or direct; it just needs to move you forward and reveal what you actually want.

Guests

Julie Ellis

Topics in this episode

SMART goalsfear of failureDelegation and leverageBig Gorgeous GoalsMabel's Labelsaccountability partnersanalog goal-settingfear of successbusiness exit and transitionidentity and entrepreneurship

Questions this episode answers

What is the difference between a big gorgeous goal and a SMART goal?

A big gorgeous goal contains mystery - you don't know how you'll get the money, network, or skills needed to achieve it, whereas a SMART goal is something you know you can accomplish and can measure directly. Both have a place, but big gorgeous goals require you to lift higher and step into discomfort about how far you're pushing yourself.

How do you avoid pursuing goals that are actually someone else's expectations?

Create deliberate space to disconnect from busyness and devices so your brain can think clearly about what you actually want. Without this space, you fall into inherited or expected goals without knowing what you truly aspire to, which is often buried in your subconscious.

What should you do if you're significantly off-track on your goals by mid-year?

Disconnect completely from devices, get outside, and reflect on where you started versus where you are now using analog writing (pen and paper, not typing). Then identify the next three to five concrete steps and re-evaluate progress frequently, recognizing that you may have made more progress than you realize.

Why is delegation critical to achieving big goals as an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurs often believe no one can do it as well as they can, but this becomes the roadblock that prevents scaling. People who accomplish big things use systems, processes, and people to create leverage beneath them; otherwise you become the constraint.

What role does an accountability partner play in big goal pursuit?

An accountability partner is someone who knows your goal but isn't a close friend or family member (they have opinions); instead, they ask probing questions without judgment and keep you on the hook through highs and lows without telling you what to do.

What our scoring noted

Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.

Insight Density

11 / 20

The episode covers familiar goal-setting concepts (delegation, accountability, creating space for thinking, fear of failure) with modest specificity. While Julie's personal story about Mabel's Labels (8-figure revenue, 40 employees) provides concrete anchors, much of the advice is repackaged wisdom (e.g., 'tell someone about your goal,' 'write things down,' 'check in every 90 days'). The distinction between 'big gorgeous goals' and 'SMART goals' is framed as novel but lacks rigorous argumentation or surprising mechanisms.

Both smart goals and to-do lists have a place in the goal-setting ecosystem, but if we only focus on those, we aren't thinking big enough, and that's where the big gorgeous goal comes in.
People who do really big things talk about how they use people, systems, and processes to get to where they want to go.

Originality

9 / 20

The framework rehashes well-worn goal-setting tropes: accountability partners, creating mental space, the role of fear, and checking in regularly. The 'big gorgeous goals' branding is a softer alternative to 'BHAG,' but the underlying mechanics are standard. Julie's post-acquisition soul-searching is relatable but not unique - the pivot from burnout to consulting to rethinking is a common founder narrative without fresh principles.

We don't have to grind our way to them, right. We want to, we want to find a rhythm of like, like dancing.
Success doesn't always look like just driving for something all the time. Sometimes it looks like resting, sometimes it looks like, you know, contemplating, sometimes it looks like walking away from something you thought you wanted for a long time.

Guest Caliber

14 / 20

Julie Ellis is a credible practitioner with legitimate operational experience: she co-founded and grew Mabel's Labels to 8-figure revenue and 40 employees before exiting, then consulted and ran another business. She authored 'Big Gorgeous Goals' and works as a leadership coach. However, she is primarily a coach and speaker rather than an active operator at scale, and her expertise is more in reflection/philosophy than in scaling or execution at the highest level. Strong mid-tier guest but not a recognized industry authority or current high-growth operator.

We started a business in children's labels, Mabel's labels, we grew that, so we were doing direct to consumer ecommerce short run variable printing, and we built that business to eight figures over eight figures in revenue. We had 40 employees when we sold.
Having a big success where you like, we started a business in children's labels, Mabel's labels, we grew that, so we were doing direct to consumer ecommerce short run variable printing, and we built that business to eight figures over eight figures in revenue.

Specificity & Evidence

10 / 20

Few concrete details anchor the conversation. Mabel's Labels metrics (8-figure revenue, 40 employees) are the main data points. Otherwise, the advice is generic: 'go to the library,' 'check in every 90 days,' 'set 3-5 steps,' 'find an accountability partner.' No named examples of big gorgeous goals achieved, no timeline data for how long such goals typically take, no case studies, and no specific obstacles with measurable solutions. The vague mountain metaphor replaces quantitative progress tracking.

We had 40 employees when we sold, and I didn't have a plan for what I might do after.
And so what are the things that I'm going to do? What are the next three to five steps?

Conversational Craft

12 / 20

Angie asks reasonable follow-ups ('What separated those people?', 'What three questions would you ask?') and probes Julie's personal transition thoughtfully. However, few questions push back or test Julie's claims. When Julie says 'success is a dance,' Angie echoes rather than challenges. The host does well drawing out Julie's story but rarely interrogates assumptions or asks for counterexamples. The conversation is warm and collaborative but lacks the tension or rigor that would elevate it.

Wow, so you were like shooting all over yourself, basically.
Okay, so what separated those people?

Conversation analysis

Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.

Most-used words

goal41angie38unknown34goals19back17gorgeous14love14figure14julie13success12stuck12fear11sometimes10somebody10space8accountability8

Episode notes

Halfway through the year is a critical time to check in on those goals we set with so much hope in January. On this episode of No More Mondays, Angie Callen welcomes Julie Ellis - entrepreneur, leadership coach, and author of Big Gorgeous Goals - to share her philosophy on setting ambitious goals that inspire, challenge, and ultimately fulfill us. Julie helps us understand the difference between conventional goals like SMART goals or to-do lists and what she calls 'big gorgeous goals' - those audacious, inspiring goals that push us beyond our comfort zones and invite creativity and persistence over time. They explore why so many people get stuck, how fear of failure, judgment, and even success can sabotage our progress, and the essential role of delegation, systems, and accountability partners in reaching these goals.

Full transcript

34 min

Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.

Angie: Good Monday morning, everybody. I am Angie Callen, your host of No More Mondays, the show where we believe humans still matter. Mediocrity is expensive, and ownership changes everything. In today's conversation kind of aligns with all three of these, because this is something we usually only touch on at the beginning of the year.

Yet here we are halfway through the year, and it seems like a great time to talk about the G word goals. And I have brought you the expert today. I am joined by Julie Ellis. She's an entrepreneur, speaker, leadership coach, and author of Big Gorgeous Goals.

So, I have brought you the right person to talk about the right thing at the right time, as you look back on how far you are or are not on those New Year's resolutions and goals, to know you still have time. So, let's dig into goals, ambitions, and maybe even what happens when you meet one goal and need to set the next. Julie, welcome to No More Mondays. Unknown: Thanks, Angie, so much for having me.

I'm so happy to be here. Angie: I am excited, and for those of you that are regular listeners, Mom, Julie is part of the Unconference Family, which is always so much fun to have these conversations with people. I've actually gotten to kind of do this with in person too, and Julie is one of these I love triangulating things around here on No More Mondays, because Julie comes up to me at the unconference and looks at me and basically goes Chris Kelso, and I'm like, huh, because he was a total disconnect to the location that we were, but for those of you that are longtime No More Mondays listeners know he is one of our most popular episodes on imposter syndrome, and here Julie and I are two people who both know him personally.

So that was a really fun, like, extra way. I'm so glad you connected the dots, and glad you're here now too. Unknown: Well, it was so fun to go to a conference with 100 people and have a friend text me and say you need to look for Angie, because you just don't really expect that when you're going to a really small event, Angie: exactly. And also, Julie is one of our favorite canucks, and I'm in Colorado, and Chris is in Tennessee, and the event was in Florida.

And so, like, also it's like seemingly random, but the world is a lot smaller than we like to admit, it Unknown: is, it really is, isn't it? It really is. Angie: And I love this timing. It was this was actually a happy accident that we are like almost within a day in the middle of the year, and you have really built like a whole philosophy around what it means to set real goals, and real is a tricky word, but you know, big gorgeous goals, and love the name, because it really does feel, and it is bigger than the quarter quarterly objective, the KPI, the to-do list.

So, talk to us about what it actually means to have a big, gorgeous goal versus maybe just a to-do list, Unknown: yeah, or even a smart goal, yeah. And I think, like, both smart goals and to-do lists have a place in the goal-setting ecosystem, but if we only focus on those, we aren't thinking big enough, and that's where the big gorgeous goal comes in. It's the thing where you don't know how you're going to get the money, the network, the skills, the there's some big component that's missing that feels like a mystery, and part of what you have to figure out when you want to chase a goal like that.

You can come down after you look to the great big blue sky and figure out what that goal looks like. You can come down to needing to-do lists and smart goals, and maybe a spreadsheet, everybody loves a good spreadsheet to like figure out your progress, but in the very beginning you need to lift higher than that in order to really step into, I would say, step into your own discomfort about how far you're pushing yourself, Angie: and to me it's really like aligned with vision, because if you think about it, smart smart goals, is it really a misnomer?

Because a smart goal, at the end of the day, is something that I would say you know you can achieve, and you're measuring the active pursuance of that goal, versus this idea of like vision and going up to 30,000 feet and big gorgeous goals, I love, because it's kind of like set that aspiration that scares you, but I also love calling it a big gorgeous goal instead of a big hairy audacious goal, because that already puts you into like scarcity mindset of it's so hairy and audacious I can't do it, versus it's so gorgeous I'm gonna, Unknown: yeah, and the idea, like we don't have to grind our way to them, right.

We want to, we want to find a rhythm of like, like dancing. I use the dancing metaphor a lot, but like you're going forward, you might go back a little bit, because you know things are hard, right. It's not like of this straight arrow forward trajectory where you start and then you. Take eight steps, and then you get to something really big, you know.

These kind of goals can take like months or years, even sometimes, to accomplish. And we have to keep, like, we have to have a mechanism, I think, for calibrating them, because they are big and a little bit like amorphous in the beginning. We don't know everything about them. We need to have a process for look up at the goal, look down at the path that's right in front of us, take a few more steps, and then do a check in.

Angie: Yeah, I was talking to somebody earlier today who said something I love, and that was that, you know, at what, at some point, this person had done a vision, a vision board - I'm going to say it's a vision board - she called it a flip chart, and she said it took me eight years, and I finally got everything on my flip chart, and that's what we're talking about here. Is it like you're not - this isn't necessarily something you're going to get overnight, and also the success or the reaching of it may look differently than you originally think.

But I'm curious, in your opinion, observations, and even research in, like, writing this book, why do you think people struggle with this so much. Unknown: I think that there are like some fundamental skill sets that come into this kind of goal setting. One of them is definitely delegation. I think entrepreneurs, in particular, we think that no one can do it as well as we can, and we've all had that experience where, like, we're like, okay, can you do this, do x, y, and z for me, and then they come back and they didn't do it the way you wanted, and you have the I should have just done it myself, right, and even in ways where we know we need to delegate things every now and then, I sit down, I'm like, why am I holding on to this, because you know I'm becoming the roadblock, right.

We become the roadblock, and, and the people who do really big things talk about how they use people, systems, and processes to get to where they want to go. And so it really is about, like, building leverage underneath you as an entrepreneur. Once you set a really big goal, rallying, you got to rally the people around and get the team thinking boldly, and then you've got to give them the work and let them run with Angie: it. Oh, I love it.

Okay, and that's that's a good, that is a very good leadership example, and I love it. I want to take, I want to take a segue over to life for a second, Unknown: for sure, Angie: because I think, tell me if you agree or modify as you would like, that a lot of people think they're reaching or they're trying to work towards a big, gorgeous goal, but it actually might not be their own, it's something that was either inherited or it's an expectation more so than it is an actual goal, and so I think I see that in life quite a lot, but I think it can happen in either life, leadership, you know, business or professional.

We start climbing a ladder we maybe didn't consciously try to climb or reaching towards something we tried to climb. So, how do we avoid that, or how do we know if we're doing it? I think it's about Unknown: creating space. I think, in both cases, like the example I use, but also personally, it's about creating some space, like we live these lives that are full, they're busy, we fill every five minutes with something, and we are proud of our busyness in a lot of ways, it is a badge of honor, it really is right, you know.

Nobody has their kids in more things than me, or you know, all the things that go with that, right? Or does more than me. Or the things we value ourselves on are often related to being busy. And in order to really think about what we want, we have to create space.

Like, if I get, if I get lucky enough to go on an airplane. I want to sit in the window, because I want to look out at the clouds. That, to me, is the kind of space where I get ideas. People talk about getting ideas in the shower.

If you get out into nature, it's those places where, like, you're almost a little bored, or you're free of a screen, your brain starts to kind of turn over on things, and it, that's where ideas come from. Angie: Yep, yeah. The, we talk about that a lot around here, because it's one of my soap boxes, is the like get outside disconnect thing. There's a reason you come up with great ideas while driving a car, in a shower, yeah, Unknown: sitting on a middle of the night when you wake up, or riding the train, or the bus, or the..

and just idly looking out the window. Right? I mean, those are the times when you like something, you see something. Going to an art gallery, I even like, you know, if I'm traveling for work, go to a restaurant by myself, and sit and just kind of watch, like, give me, give me my back to the wall, and let me watch the whole place go, because I find it, you know, little things inspiring, and until you like start actually looking, you know, instead of spending six hours a day, I mean, touching your phone 1000 times in.

Day like some of the studies that say how much we we rely on our electronic lives, like we need to put all of that stuff down. It's good for our brains, it's good for us to have that space. Angie: Yeah, disconnect in order to like reconnect with yourself. Yeah, and it's the distraction thing, and changing stimuli is a huge component of it, but I find that one reason we either fall into the I have no goals trap, I have no vision trap, or I'm just going to work towards this goal that's really someone else's expectation is because we have failed to spend time with ourselves to know ourselves well enough to do it on our own.

We just don't like being in our, in our own heads nowadays, but ultimately you have something that you aspire to, even if you're even subconscious, it's in there somewhere. Unknown: Yes, Angie: and that space can help you start to understand it. Unknown: Yes, I think it also sometimes is that we are afraid to go for the thing we want the most, and that is sort of the where the big gorgeous goal comes in because you are like you're pushing the envelope on what you think you're capable of, whether you know you can do something, like you're out there, you are putting yourself out there, and you've got to figure out how to, you know, keep yourself moving and keep that, like what is it that will bring you accountability, I mean, we're talking today.

I was in a meeting today, and we were talking about, like, why you get stuck. Like, I know this job takes me 10 minutes. Why am I so stuck on.. and I've been stuck here for a week or two weeks, or you know, like, you can get stuck on silly things for a long time.

What seems silly from the outside, they're not silly at that moment, because you're really stuck on them, but I think we've got to find with our big gorgeous goals, we got to find that accountability that helps us keep moving. Angie: We're not meant to do this alone, is another great way to think about it, and really the thing that scares you, like you said earlier, is probably the thing that you're meant to do, but I completely agree that we don't do it. We know we want it, we know what it is, but we don't do it out of fear of typically three things: fear of failure, that's the most common one, and it is rampant now, because God forbid you fail.

I like to think that failure, loosely translated, is just learning experience, fear of judgment. If I say this thing I want to do to anybody who knows, knows me, they're going to tell me why I'm dumb and why I think it's about why they think it's bad idea. But then there's also this fear of success. Unknown: Oh, totally.

Angie: I think it's the really hidden one that people don't quite understand is sabotaging them. How does the, how has that looked in your experience, Unknown: I think it is attached to a lot of those, like procrastination behaviors, right? The fear of actually killing it and knocking it out of the park is like a deep, hidden fear, and people feel a lot of shame about being afraid of that. Angie: Yeah, go for fear of change comes in there, right?

Like, if I succeed at this thing, then I won't have what I did before, or I'll have these other things, and then my friends might change, or my place might change, or something like that. And so it really comes down to that fundamental. It does. It's that, like, who am I going to be if I can actually do this?

But what I think is so cool at the same time, and this is really where you sit, is who do I get to be, not not like what if, but like what if, like what if this all worked out, and you're a great example, because one of the things I love about your story is how this perspective on big gorgeous goals came, and it was really at a big time of substantial change for you and exiting and exiting a business ownership situation, and then trying to figure out what came next. Unknown: Yep, yeah, having a big success where you like, we started a business in children's labels, Mabel's labels, we grew that, so we were doing direct to consumer ecommerce short run variable printing, and we built that business to eight figures over eight figures in revenue.

We had 40 employees when we sold, and I didn't have a plan for what I might do after. My identity was so tangled up in that business. My business partners joked that I'd be the one who went in every day, forever, for the rest of my life, took up a boardroom, drank coffee, and told stories about the old days, and kind of got the like, ooh, she's here, wrecking productivity again. But instead, you know, we sold the business, and I was gone in six months, which was my choice, but I didn't really realize how it would destabilize my whole life, and it took me some amount of time to realize that I, it set me on a path of thinking really in a smaller, smaller, smaller kind of way, and then suddenly one day, you know, you put your head up and you're like, oh wait a minute, I did that, but.

Now I'm like I'm here and I'm stuck, and I don't want to be stuck, and so it just caused me to start having a real reflection about why do some people get stuck, and then they can never get out of it, and other people are just, you know, achieving these big things, and you know they move from one big thing to an even bigger thing to a bigger thing, and you see it happening, and I became very interested in what separated those people. Okay, so Angie: what separated those people?

Unknown: Honestly, it was the systems people in process. They knew they couldn't do it alone, so they put scaffolding and systems around themselves to help ensure their success, and that's where I come to, you got to tell someone about it. You've got to set up an accountability partner. You've got to, like, there's a lot of different ways you have to figure out what works for you, but you, you know, you have to tell it to..

if you never tell it to anybody, does it actually exist? Right? Like, Angie: you have to go Unknown: out and tell the whole world, we don't need to necessarily post it on our social media channels, but, but you've got to have that like person, that partner who, who knows, and who's not going to be like often it's not your family or your closest friends, because they're the ones that are a little more like, oh, really, are you sure Angie: they're either going to have an opinion or they're really not going to keep you on the hook.

Unknown: Yeah, exactly. So, you need someone who doesn't have an opinion about what you should do, who might ask you some really probing questions, but isn't going to say do it or don't do it, and they're going to give you that like accountability and push, and you know, you can call them at the with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows over it. Angie: Yeah, so in that season, and maybe now reflecting on that season, What did you learn about success and fulfillment? Because I think this is integral to what really a big gorgeous goal should be, not to like shut all over everyone out there, but I'm curious, what what you've learned about those two important things that we elusively try to chase.

Unknown: Yeah, I think it's, it's success is really about, it's also like I think a dance, right? Like you can't drive like we drove in Mabel's labels, we drove really hard forward for a long time, and we were exacting of ourselves around, we missed that by 100k we missed that, oh, we're not, we need to be better, better, better, better, better, and more, more, more, right? Grow the business bigger, come out with new products, like it was just like we were pretty relentless in that, and I think that, like, my problem came when I needed to sit on a plateau and sort of rest, reconstitute myself, gather my thoughts, and figure out what was going to be really meaningful for me to chase in the next era, and so, like, success doesn't always look like just driving for something all the time.

Sometimes it looks like resting, sometimes it looks like, you know, contemplating, sometimes it looks like walking away from something you thought you wanted for a long time. I mean, there's so many things that contribute to it, but I think you know it's the more and bigger that we get caught in. Oh, which ties us all the way back to what you said at the beginning, which is we are so caught up trying to win the busyness badge of honor, yeah, that it is actually the hindrance that keeps us from all of those things that are actually important to success, and actually look like success.

Everybody out there is rolling their eyes, because, like, they're like Angie paid Julie to say rest is a requirement. We know she did, and it is, because you like, ultimately to me, grinding away until 62.5 I don't care how many dollars in your bank account isn't successful, because Angie: you missed out on all of life in the meantime. Unknown: Yeah, okay.

If you make it to 62 point, if you Angie: make it right now, you got bad knees, probably a bad back, and no idea of who you are and how you want to spend the time that you now have on your hands. So, don't, don't, don't wait to figure those things out. Don't wait to set, set like big goals, or at least know what direction, or what like, ish you're kind of going to, and so I'm curious, when you were in that transition, what, and what clarity really came was the turning point. Unknown: The turning point was really that I wanted things, I wanted more out of my sort of goals, and you know, I didn't want that to be the peak, and I think one of the things that froze me was like the idea that, you know, in my early 40s that the best thing I ever did was in the rear view mirror, and ultimately I think that's.

What got me really tangled up, right, is like the well, what if the next thing I do isn't successful, isn't, doesn't make me a lot of money, doesn't like what if you know, like all of the weight of my own expectations was actually crushing me. Angie: Wow, so you were like shooting all over yourself, Unknown: basically. Yeah, Angie: and what got you out of that mindset? Unknown: Um, I started doing some consulting for somebody, and in the end I went and ran his business for him, and so, like, I kind of had to just, you know, buck up and go back, like, I went back to work, and it was a great experience, great business, great team, love the people there, but after you know, as the one year mark kind of came and went, I was like, why am I building a business for somebody else?

Like, what was it that you know, and I think that it got me off the couch because someone needed me, and so that was a good, like, it was a really good step forward for me at that time, but then you know, you start to really figure out, like, okay, so now I'm maybe understanding a little bit more about why I left after the acquisition, and now I'm understanding a little bit more about what I might want in the next stage, Angie: and there are there's a few little things hidden in there I want to bring out.

One, it took some sort of action that action wasn't perfect, and was not a direct line to the current big goal, the current sense of success and fulfillment, but it was in that that you found, yeah, some of the clarity, sometimes knowing what you don't want to do or trying something and finding out it isn't what you want to do is the best thing you can do to then flipping the coin, yeah, Unknown: and it could have been a should, like I should go run a business and and use my skill set and and and right like you, I think we could also look at it that way, but it was, it was a great opportunity that I don't regret in any way, so that's the whole piece of, like, it is really part of the journey, it Angie: is, and that's the big thing, and that actually dovetails back to the whole, like, fear of failure, right, because if you had feared failure, you'd still be doing that job, we never met each other in Florida, and how now you'd be should know for yourself and not doing anything about it, right?

It wasn't failure, it was information that helped make a more informed next step. And aren't we all grateful because now you get to help all of us do the same thing? So let's help some people out there that might feel stuck. What would you say to somebody out there who is looking at the fact that it's mid year and they are way off the goal they set for even just this year.

Unknown: I think it's time to shut down all the devices, put your phone down, and get out into the world and think about where you are, where you started, and then I think it's like a process of just sitting down, and I like to do it in, like, I like, go to the library, or go to a coffee shop, or sit on a bench in front of the lake, something along those lines, but always with a piece of paper, not with a gadget, even if I make a spreadsheet later, or do something, the process to me of thinking about a goal and what the steps are, is got to be an analog process, because analog.

I was hoping you were going to say that word, because I totally agree. There is actually scientific proof of what your Angie: brain does when you write. It is a different type of wiring, yes, than when you speak or you type. Unknown: Yep, and then go put it in a sauna, put it in an Excel sheet, put it in like whatever you use to, to actually do your day-to-day work, awesome, put it there.

But I think you've got to do the disconnect to really think about it, and it is this place where, if you think about a goal like a mountain, if you're climbing a mountain, the top looks really far away for a really long time, and so you have to have this mechanism where you look at the top, you look at where you've been, and then you, you're like, after a while, you can see you made progress, right, as you look back, but the top still looks far away, and so there's this illusion of being really far away and forgetting we've made progress, so we need to have that anchoring piece where we say, okay, here's the goal, here's what I said I was going to do.

Okay, I fell off my bike, and it didn't happen, you know? Like, here, let's get back on the bike. And so, what are the things that I'm going to do? What are the next three to five steps?

And, and when I'm done those three to five steps, first of all, who am I telling for accountability to help me try and stay on track, and second of all, like, is it a coach, is it a mentor, do you have a, like, an accountability partner, a mastermind, like, so many ways to be accountable. You don't have to pay for someone, but maybe that's what you need, you have to think about that too. And then you make your steps forward, and you put your next date on the calendar, so. 90 days from now, it's going to be time to sit down again and say I said I was doing four things.

How many of them did I do? Angie: Yeah, so if you're going to do this in the middle of the year, because we are encouraging you to do it, don't wait till December 30-first to see if it worked or not. There's Unknown: still, yeah, we've still got like six more months of the year to go and make progress, even if we haven't yet, and also, yeah, check in with yourself, because, and maybe sometimes you're like, oh, I said I would do five things this 90 days, and I'm like 45 days in, and wow, I've done great, or yeah, I've done them all, or I haven't done any of them, like there has to be a rhythm to it, where you are checking in on things, and that's where I think, like, taking them off the paper and putting them into the systems that work for you, in terms of day-to-day thinking and task management has to happen, and it might mean you know that you need to say no to things, we don't like saying no, we like it's back to the busy comment, but you know we all can find time somehow to like binge watch a show, or you know, some of the things that we do, and it's like, well, maybe I could watch one last episode and have that 40 minutes to work on this, right?

So it's like it's making choices, it's saying the choice, yeah, Angie: it's all a choice, yep, and if, if, if you have been doing the same thing for six months, and you're, and you're not to the goal, and you're not seeing traction or anything changing, change things, right? That's where change the stimuli go analog and do something different to break the pattern. Now, I want to go to the flip side. What happens with somebody that is totally tracking on their goal right now, mid through the year.

Unknown: Well, I think it's a great time to sit down and look at all the tracking that's happening and look up to the big goal and say, okay, is this still.. do I know anything more, like if there were blank spots in there in the beginning because I didn't know things? Have I filled any of those in. Am I getting closer?

Do I need to calibrate, you know, in my walking? Did I did I veer to the right, and now I need to figure out how to get back on track, or do I need to adjust the goal? Like, there's the bigger calibration piece, I think that comes in, because there's like zero point in your life in achieving a big goal, because you wrote it down three years ago, and you no longer want it. Angie: Oh, that's now we get the follow-up episode on right versus wrong goal, or right versus wrong motivation to a goal.

Yeah, Unknown: right. Like, well, it's like, you know, people people go to college because they think their parents think they should. That's like a really common one, right? You know, like somebody, it's the shoulds again.

Here we are, and you've got to figure out there's a, there's a fine line, I think, of like leaving a goal behind or adjusting it so significantly it looks very different, and dropping something because you're afraid of it. So there's a little bit of care I would say in that process of figuring it out, because we don't want to, you know, fill, fail, because we don't want success. So you've got to be a little careful in how you go about that, in like, what are the tests of, okay, if I shifted over here, what am I losing?

Who's the trusted person I can bounce this with, and make sure that it's not me running away from this goal. Yeah, Angie: so we've talked a lot about, let's say, changing your environment and things that you can do to understand your relationship with your goals. It's probably a good way to put it. Yeah, let's say somebody does go do this, they go out, they listen to us, they take their little pen and paper, they leave their phone at home, and they find a lovely mountain lake, and they sit by it.

What three questions would you tell them to ask themselves to get unstuck? Unknown: What's holding you back? Like, what is it that's keeping me from actually wanting to do this, and that sends you down into, you know, is the goal wrong? Am I failing in some way because I don't want to, you know, what's the what's the underlying, and I think that the questions have to drive you down deeper.

I think, you know, yeah, the is this the right goal for me question, is this still what I really want, and how you know if the answer is yes, it's still what you really want. How are you going to get moving again? What's it going to take to get moving again? You know, I was silent Angie: for a split second because I needed to write all that down, y'all.

Yeah, sometimes these episodes are just as helpful for me as I hope they are for you. Yeah, love it. It Unknown: can be hard to get moving again, you know. People, you can get stuck for a good amount of time, and that's where it's like, even I think about, so I have a mastermind partner, and we've been meeting once or twice a month for a good amount of time, but.

We were both starting to feel stuck on some things, so we've been just doing Zoom meetups, like for like two, three hours in the morning that we schedule, and we just knock off the stuff, right? Like, you knock off the stuff you're putting off when you do those, or the things where you feel resistance. So it's like, okay, first hour we get on Zoom, what are you doing? What are you doing?

Great, go come back at the end, okay. How did you do? How now? What's up?

You know, like, it can be as guided as you need it to be in order to start to get moving, Angie: and that goes back to don't do this alone. And what's cool about that is that's actually like what some people, they call it body doubling. There's all kinds of terminology terms for this. I, I host get done sessions where a bunch of coaches just come in, and we all are on mute, and we're staring into space, it looks like, but we're all just doing work.

It's like forced accountability in some regard, and sometimes that's what we need in order to give ourselves the kick in the pants that need to get stuck. And so, what I'll add is, I love the, I love the starting point of reflection questions. One thing, because fear was part of this conversation, is you can't fear what you find, because there might be stuff there that is a hard thing to admit to yourself. You might have the wrong goal, you might be working towards somebody else's goal, right?

You might be in the wrong place to ever even achieve the goal that you want. You can't fear what you might uncover, you just have to figure out then what to do with it. Unknown: Yes, and to figure out, I think, like when to like understand a little bit about yourself in terms of is your accountability partner going to be enough for this? Are you going to need to actually get a coach at some point, are you going to need a mentor, like somebody who's really going to..

what are the different options? Because I think you need different people for different parts of your journey, and the same thing you've been doing, you may need to reevaluate and look at what is a different way forward. Yes, Angie: change the stimuli, Kelly. This has been a pretty amazing and refreshing conversation.

Like I said, sometimes these episodes are just as much for me as they are for everybody out there. Before we wrap up, I want to know how everyone can find Big Gorgeous Goals and find and follow you. Unknown: You can find the book on my website at Julie ellis.ca and you can find me there as well, or on LinkedIn.

Angie: And, of course, Julie and I are connected. So, if you're watching here on LinkedIn, follow both of us. If you need support in understanding what your goals even are, what success looks like for you and to you, so that you can figure out a goal, reach out to Julie and I, because this is kind of why we do the work that we do, and I'm so grateful for you joining me today. Unknown: Thanks so much for having me, Angie: and all of you out there.

I want to ask you and challenge you, are you living up to your potential? Because if there's a thing in this world I love, it is engineering human potential, and I can't let this episode go without asking you all to be honest with yourself on that. You can only do so if you give yourself the space, the honesty, and find out your motivations and take action towards it. What's holding you back?

Are you working towards the right goal? How can you get moving? You'll be surprised what big, gorgeous goal usually you can reach if you do, and if this conversation resonated, please share it with somebody, leave it a five star review, because it helps people like Julie and I. And, as always, I appreciate all of you, and you, Julie, for being part of the No More Mondays community.

So, thank you one more time. Thanks, and to all of you out there, thanks again for joining. Here's to fewer Sunday scaries, and no more Mondays. I'll see you again next week.

Unknown: Bye.

Related episodes across the Index

Other episodes covering the same guests and topics, from across The B2B Podcast Index.

  • E195 - How Leadership Transformed a Side Hustle into a Full Business with Eric DinglerSurviving the Side Hustle · on Delegation and leverage81 / 100
  • Episode 179: Account progression framework with Steve ArmentiFull-Funnel B2B Marketing Show · on SMART goals80 / 100
  • The secret business weaponFounder's Journal · on SMART goals66 / 100
  • How Clarity Empowers EmployeesRelationships at Work · on SMART goals62 / 100
  • 125: Stop Avoiding the Question That Will Change Your Life w/ Jason BrownNo Limit Leadership · on fear of failure54 / 100
  • Dream BIG: What Every Sellers Must Do To Shatter Their Dreams | Jason VanDevere - 2012The Sales Evangelist · on SMART goals47 / 100

More from No More Mondays

All episodes →
  • Breaking the Rules: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Perfectionism with Heather Whelpley48 / 100
  • The Human Advantage: Presence, Authenticity, and Authority with Michael Fineman75 / 100
  • Why Systems Can't Solve Human Problems with Wayne Herring65 / 100
  • Living on Purpose: Designing Your Life and Leadership with Kent Julian80 / 100
  • How Fitness Shapes Our Confidence, Consistency, and Well-Being with Marcus Gates72 / 100
Explore the best B2B Leadership podcasts →
All No More Mondays episodes →