Welcome to Visionaryā€™s Pursuit, a podcast where we explore what it takes to turn your bold and inspiring ideas into reality. I'm Carolina Zuleta. I'm a life and business coach and your host for this podcast.Ā I'm thrilled to have you here.Ā
Hi, and welcome back.
This is episode 87 of The Visionary's Pursuit podcast. Today's episode is inspired by multiple people that I've been talking in the past few weeks. I've had a similar conversation with some of my clients, with some of my prospective clients, and it has me thinking a lot about the... about the moment they're at.
So the moment they're at is these are people who had a vision, who had a goal, who worked for years towards that goal, and they have achieved it. And yes, they're excited and proud and happy, but they're also in this weird place where they're starting to feel stuck
So what I want us to talk about is what happens after we reach the summit of the mountain? Where do we go from there? And even for those of us who are still climbing a mountain, I think this episode can be incredibly insightful and inspirational.
So again, as I was saying, these people have all climbed these mountains. They had this vision, this goal that they maybe set it when they were in their 20s or early 30s, and they've been working really hard to achieve it, and they've achieved it.
And this could be anyone from one of my clients who loves marketing, who has a master's degree in marketing, who's been working in marketing all her life, and now she's the CMO of a very large CPG company,
so now she knows how to do her job. She can do it with her eyes closed, and there's this question of, "Okay, what is next for me?" And I'm stuck here because also, you know, maybe some of the relationships with coworkers are not how she wants them to be, et cetera.
So she's feeling comfortable because she has a title, she works for a very prestigious company, she has the income. There's so many things that are working for her that, she had dreamed of and she's now living, so it's very confusing, "Why am I feeling stuck?" Or for example, another of my clients who started a business 20 years ago and sold it for millions and millions of dollars, and she's in her 40s still, so she has all the rest of her life ahead of her.
She's used to working hard, to being productive, to having a purpose, and now she's at home trying to figure out what's gonna happen next. So the common theme all these people that I'm talking about share is that they had a goal, they had a vision, they achieved it.
They were proud, they celebrated, they were excited, and they're sitting there s- thinking, "Why am I not feeling as fulfilled? Why am I feeling stuck?" And the reason is because as human beings, one of our core human needs is to grow and evolve. And when we're not growing or evolving, it's not like we're staying in the same place.
We actually start feeling smaller and smaller. I've given you the example of one of my good friends, also a client, who when we were in high school, the first years of college, she started a dance academy in the garage of her parents' house, and in that moment, it was incredible. She was making money. She was able to buy her a super cool car for her.
She was, you know, she had students. Like, she had a business, and that was amazing. But if she had stayed giving classes at the garage of her parents' house, today it wouldn't seem as big as it seemed then. In fact, it would seem like she had a very small business, like if she was behind. So because she's so smart, she's continued to grow it, and now she has academies in multiple cities and all these amazing things she does with her students.
"Either we're growing or we're dying." And what has happened to these people is that they have stopped growing. Yes, they're in a very comfortable position with a lot of incredible things, but they're not growing. So why are they not growing? Well, the first thing is that there's a belief problem.
It is hard to imagine the next mountain. It is hard to imagine that there's a vision that is better than the one they're living right now, because the one they're living right now is so good. It's what they had dreamed of. So it's not that they lack ambition, it's that their brains cannot believe there is something better.
They cannot believe they can have a bigger impact or have more influence. They cannot see it at times
So this is when I hear comments like, "Well, I don't know if there's another job like this one that would pay me more. In fact, I looked in LinkedIn and all the jobs that are at my level are even paying less," or, "I don't wanna lose my flexibility," Or my identity is this, this business owner, the CMO, the CFO, and I'm gonna go do something different? That seems very risky. Also the other problem, since there are so many good things here in where they are, they are choosing certainty over fulfillment.
They're choosing what they know over the potential of something better. And the truth is that now they have something to lose. You know, if they're gonna go find another job, they might be stuck in this one, but they know it really well. It's paying them well. It's giving them flexibility. They know how to manage it.
What if they go to another job and either they get paid less or the environment is not the same or things don't work as well? Or What if they use the money they just made from the sale of their business to start another business or to do another thing? There's risk. There is something to lose. They can lose status, income.
A big one, I think it's one of the biggest ones is, to lose their identity they have built for years that can affect their reputation. They're scared of losing maybe the lifestyle, right? , When you don't have to work, why would you go to work?
Because, to build a dream, you are putting pressure on yourself, and when you're on the other side, why would you put your, that pressure again? So at the beginning, you know, when we started, it was like, "Well, what if I fail? There's not a lot to, to lose." But now it is, "Okay, what if I fail?" And I'm failing in a bigger way where I'm more visible, where I'm more seen, where, you know, people know me for this.
There's more on the line
Our first vision asks us to risk failure, to risk rejection. But when you have achieved that vision, the new vision, the next mountain, is asking us to risk not only failure and rejection, but the identity we have built. And that, for many of us, is the biggest risk
I've built my identity as an entrepreneur in this industry, and how am I gonna choose now to become a writer of novels?
Even if that's what I want, that's risking my identity
What if I walk away from this job and then I regret it? Many times, our old dream, our old vision can become evidence against why to pursue the new one. Because we start thinking of our old dream as something we can lose. Listen, I get it, right? There is a big risk to take. But we know that the cost of not risking that is to feel stuck, is to feel smaller and smaller in our lives. And honestly, to miss out on the opportunity of figuring out what else we can do, who else we can become. , As, we talked in many episodes of this podcast, is the main reason why we have a vision, why we pursue goals, is to figure out and to find out what we're made of, because that's incredibly valuable and energizing and motivating
Okay, here's the other reason why I have noticed people getting stuck. Sometimes my clients will come to me and say, "Well, yeah, maybe I've achieved this and I want a bigger business," or, "I wanna 10X my revenue," or, "I want to go for a higher position or start something new." But a part of them doesn't wanna do that because the way they achieved this first goal was by using self-beat up, self-criticism, pushing hard as their motivation.
And when they think about this new vision, they're like, "I don't wanna feel like that again. I don't wanna feel that I'm constantly criticizing myself because I haven't got there." Or as one of my clients told me, she's like, "Caro, I am scared of finding my next passion because when I become very passionate about something, I stop eating, I stop working out, I start sacrificing time with my family because I'm so obsessed for this thing I wanna achieve."
And what I tell my clients is that your next vision has to be complete. It cannot be either/or. It has to be yes, and. So what I mean by that, it cannot be like either I grow my business 10X or I have the lifestyle I wanna have. I have balance in my life. It can't be, "Oh, I can go and get another job and they will pay me less," or, "I stay in this job that I don't love anymore and get paid more." When our vision has an either/or, it's an incomplete vision. A complete vision is that it has it all. "Oh, I'm gonna go get another job and get paid more," or, "I'm gonna grow my business 10X, And that means I'm gonna 10X the way I take care of myself." If in my previous journey to the top of this mountain, I abandoned myself, I sacrificed everything to get here, the new challenge is how do I get there, not only not by doing the minimum required, but by creating an abundance of time and energy to take care of myself So if you are in a place where you are hesitating creating a new vision, check in with yourself and notice if your mind is presenting you an either/or between two choices that neither one feels great, and instead bring them together and complete your vision with all the things that you want.
That's one of the things I did with one of my clients. You know, she wants to pursue this ambition she has professionally, but she's scared of, abandoning herself, sacrificing time with her family. So we made a vision that of course feels impossible right now, which is, " i'm going to become even more influential, a bigger leader in my industry, while at the same time I'm gonna have even more time for my family and more time for myself." And when we said it, she got very excited about it, but then she was like, "But I don't think that's possible." And that's why in coaching we do the work to believe in our impossible visions, because if we decide it's not possible, we're not even going to pursue it
The other thing which is related to this, but I have seen it, is that many of us learn to get ahead by being hard on ourselves, by having that inner critic so loud that that's why we moved along, why we did things, why we pursued things. Because a part of us was trying to prove our worth or was trying to prove something about ourselves to others
And when we have developed that voice and that voice has felt so harsh, ambition sometimes doesn't feel safe. But not because I'm risking rejection, but because I am opening myself to that inner critic hurting me so much. So I think that the other exciting thing about pursuing your vision, your next vision, but even your first vision or wherever you are right now, is to learn to do it by staying on your own side, by developing a voice that is loving and kind and supportive, even when you make mistakes, even when you fail, even when you get rejected, that you learn in this journey to become your best, truly your best friend.
So one of the things I want you to consider is that maybe your next mountain, your next vision is not necessarily higher in terms of more revenue, more income, more achievement, but it is actually deeper.
It's maybe everything you have while taking care of yourself, while being loving with yourself, while being kind and feeling really good inside
Maybe your next goal is about aliveness and fulfillment and enjoying the life you have so my dear listeners, if you're here with me and you're pursuing a goal, I want you to create a full vision with all the things that you want. Notice what old rules you are carrying forward, and those old rules are, for example, the inner critic pushing hard, abandoning yourself to get to that goal, and decide that this new vision, this new goal you're pursuing will not operate under those same rules.
Some other questions you can ask yourself is, where are you comfortable but not fulfilled? What are you scared of losing? What is a part of the identity, the old identity, the identity you've been building that you are protecting?
What would make ambition safe again for you?
What does better mean to you today? Not to your old self, but to you. And explore every area of your life. with the latest group that started in the Visionary Mindset program, that's where we're starting. We're exploring all different areas of our life, and we're bringing them together to make sure that we're not just pursuing achievement and career and money, but that we are taking care of our life, meaning our spiritual life, our friends, our family, our fun, our health, all the things that make this life a fulfilling life
So I encourage you all to create a vision that is fulfilling and includes every aspect of yourself, and pursue that vision with rules that are better than your old rules, so you can take care of yourself, achieve, and continue to grow. Because as I started this podcast, growth is a fundamental human need.
All right, I'll see you next time. Bye.
If you're currently pursuing a big, bold idea and would love some support, let's talk. In my coaching program, I'll teach you how to manage yourself, your own thoughts and emotions. as well as your team and your money so you can turn your beautiful idea into a reality. Go now toĀ carozuleta.com slash consult that is c a r o z u l e t a dot com slash consult and complete the form to book a complimentary call with me.
See you there!Ā
