Working really hard but still not reaching your goals, and can’t figure out why?

Ohhhh, friend, I soooo relate! In every way, that was my story, my experience, my journey. I had a vision of a life that I wanted to create, goals and dreams I wanted to bring to life. There was a level of freedom, a lifestyle that I craved, for me and my little (but growing) family. I saw it was possible for other people...so I knew it had to be possible for me, too…right? 

My strategy was to hustle my goals to life.

If I just work hard enough, long enough…that was my plan. I’d work to exhaustion, until I crashed, and then decide the crash meant I was in the wrong industry, wrong career role, or was using the wrong strategies. I’d frantically consume more career or biz strategy books (plus courses, podcasts, and anything else I could get my hands on), and more personal development. And then I’d charge back at it even harder than before.

Work to exhaustion. Collapse. Repeat.

Why did my results always plateau at about the same level? Why couldn’t I get closer to where I wanted to go; To the external results, or the internal feelings and experiences (of success, fulfilment, contentment, confidence, etc.)?!

I guess I’m just not working hard enough…repeat.

I did that until it wasn’t possible for me to do it anymore. I’d reached my max, the hardest I could possibly work. I’d created as much struggling and suffering in my life as I possibly endure on a day-to-day basis, all in the name of creating the impact, income, and lifestyle I craved. At my peak level of frustration, exhaustion, and misery, it sank in for me exactly what I was creating....

Stress.

Chronic stress. Not “pressure = diamonds” kind of stress. “Stress = eventual disease” kind of stress. And my picture of that future is so crystal clear. I walked next to my mom as we lost her to an aggressive disease at age 53. In my whole heart I believe a big part of the disease that eventually consumed her was linked to the chronic stress that permeated her life as fully as oxygen. I believe that our bodies and minds can’t survive (let alone thrive) in chronic stress, and that appeared to be all I was creating with my hustle, grind, force, work harder strategy.

I honestly wouldn’t have changed my strategy if I felt like continuing down the same path was an option, but it became pretty clear that it wasn’t. My options seemed to be:

a.) give up on the goals and dreams I wanted to create, or

b.) find a new way to get there.

Don’t get me wrong, I had LOTS of blessings - the list is long and ever-growing. I was (and still am) deeply and truly grateful. AND, none of the blessings erased the callings on my heart, the dreams and desires that lived within me, the impact + income I felt call to create. I wasn’t ready to endure the ache of shutting it all down, trying to ignore it and pretend it wasn't there, nor could I continue (perhaps literally) killing myself trying to create it. So, I decided on Option B. Find a new way to get where I wanted to go.

Option B

Someday I’ll share the synchronistic story of how the Institute for Coaching Mastery (by Alyssa Nobriga) came into my life. It found me, not the other way around. I didn’t know for sure what I was looking for, but it came into my life in a way that I knew it was a train I was supposed to get on. Yes, it was still scary! I’d never invested in something at that level (financially, or time) besides college. I still had doubts, fears, so many questions I couldn’t yet answer. But the still, small voice within me recognized it for what it was, and urged me to step out, get on, take a seat, and be willing to go for the ride.

The Institute for Coaching Mastery (ICM) is an intensive, life coach training program, founded on the philosophy that before you can facilitate transformation in others, you must first take that transformational journey yourself (if you've not done it, how could you truly guide others?). For the next 2 (and soon to be 3) years I studied through ICM. Saying YES to that guidance and experience is one of the pivotal decisions in my life. It was my path out of a painful, stress-fill, forever-frustrated way of life, into something so much more expansive, fulfilling, and rewarding than I could capture in a few sentences. “Life-changing” is the best was I can describe it, so I will leave it at that.

My strategy of hustling, controlling, and working to exhaustion couldn’t bring me what I needed or wanted. And for the love, I didn’t need another damn book on 10Xing, to get up earlier for a longer morning routine, or to find (yet another) new industry or tactical plan! I needed to address the core stuff inside me, forever capping my results at the same level, no matter how hard I kicked or pushed, no matter what industry I was in.

I needed was to address the fears, doubts, limiting stories and beliefs, the limiting unconscious programming that lived within me, keeping me forever feeling stuck, repeating the same patterns over and over again. I needed to address the feelings of never-enoughness that were anchored so deeply within me. I needed to address my crippling imposter syndrome and fear of failure, that kept me playing small.

That’s what ICM offered me, and what I now offer my clients. Another way. An Option B. 

The only way to change the level of results you’re able to consistently create is to transform from the inside out.

You can’t create life transformation from the outside in. You can’t grind, hustle, control, or plan it to life. (Don’t ask me how I know.) You have to create the change you crave from the inside out. Change who you BE, and that will change what (and how) you DO. 

Recognize a part of your journey in mine? (Maybe the whole damn thing?) Feeling beyond ready to start creating the results and lifestyle you crave, but feel like you don’t have the ability or confidence to do it? Feel like no matter what you try, you can’t seem to bring it to life, or like you keep hitting brick walls?

First and foremost, keep showing up.

Don’t abandon your dreams. The world needs more courageous, inspired, humans willing to answer the callings on their hearts and make the impacts they feel called to make. We need to see and experience your humanness, and feel the energy your dreams bring to our world. We need to see you showing up for the things that really matter to you, to infuse more life back into our lives!  Please, keep showing up.

Secondly, it might be time to change the way you’re showing up, who you BE when you show up.

It’s time to let go of what’s been holding you back, so you can stop playing small, start playing full out, and create the life you feel called to create. If that resonates with you:

• subscribe here, on the blog - I publish articles weekly, to help you make those changes (and binge the blog, while you’re at it – there are pages, and pages of FREE resources here!)
• connect with me on IG - @alispicercoaching - I share messages daily to help you make those changes
• if you feel called, send me a DM to talk about how coaching can help you transform your life and results the way it’s helped me transform mine

I'm living my purpose, building my goals and dreams, and making my unique impact by helping you build and make yours. Are you ready to join me?