177 Crafting Your Unique Life Journey with Carol Clegg

 What would happen if you prioritized goals that align with your authentic self, rather than succumbing to external pressures? Discover how embracing the Kaizen principle of incremental improvement can spark motivation and joy.

As I prepare for my new adventures for 2025, I thank all my listeners for being part of my podcasting journey. I'll return with stories and insights from my travels and coaching from the road, hoping to inspire you to create your own unique path.

Connect with me on LinkedIn or my website for ongoing coaching sessions, and learn about the Positive Intelligence model that can uncover the saboteurs in your life. Let's step into the new year with goals rooted in passion and authenticity, paving the way for a fulfilling journey ahead.

Hello from your host, Carol Clegg. A coach for coaches! I work with women coaches to find balance with ease and flow, manage stress, cultivate self-empathy, and set meaningful goals that resonate with their individual coaching practices.

My clients often have too many ideas and struggle to decide which one to focus on first, leading to a HUGE BLOCK in just getting started. I love to help simplify the process, explore what is getting in the way and guide you to choose the next project, enjoy the journey, and celebrate progress while taking small, meaningful steps.

If you would like to take the complimentary Saboteur assessment to discover what gets in your way and then follow up with a complimentary coaching session to explore your results. Take your assessment here or visit carolclegg.com

BOOK your ✅ 30 minute complimentary exploration call HERE

Connect on LinkedIn and Instagram or join my LinkedIn Group Creative Ideas for Women Business Owners

Chapters

• 0:00 Thriving Through Mindset and Growth
• 6:44 Building a Journey of Progress

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, hello and welcome to Connect Inspire Create. I'm your host, carol Clegg, a progress and mindset business coach, here to help you thrive and flourish and turn those challenges into opportunities for growth. This podcast is all about giving you your weekly dose of practical strategies, motivation and insightful conversations designed to boost your business skills, personal growth and happiness. So, whether you're looking to find balance, say goodbye to procrastination or just in need of a friendly nudge towards your goals, remember we're all on this journey together. Well, hello and welcome. Here we are at the start of 2025 and I am coming to you with a really short, quick episode and a little update to share with you and all my listeners. First of all, I just want to thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:10

2024 was a wonderful year and here I am taking a small break for a few months, so I just wanted to come in and tell you a little bit about what's going to be happening with Connect Inspire Create. I am going to be heading out on an exciting adventure when this episode launches. I'll be packing those final bags, trying to travel light, but we will be traveling through the Caribbean and Europe for the next couple of months. I will be coaching from the road, which, of course, is always going to be interesting, as one relies on finding reliable, steady internet, but I'm going to believe that that is going to be possible and this is a journey that is all part of living a life that just reflects some of my values of joy, flow and freedom, and I want you, as you start off this year, to just encourage you to pause and reflect on some of your goals and what truly excites you. A lot of pressure as we start off the year, always to set goals and New Year resolutions and everything like that, but how about just moving a little into ease and flow for yourself? And as you look ahead to the next season, be that your business or your life, I encourage you to just stop for a moment and think about goals that align with who you are and what lights you up, not ones that are rooted in external pressure or comparison, because those might motivate us for a short time when we're trying to live up to somebody else's expectations, but rather to look at goals that feel in flow, that come from within. And I'll say that again as you contemplate the goals, if you want, sit perhaps for a moment in meditation or mindfulness, in quiet, in feeling grounded, and allow those goals to come from deep within, stopping to just say is this inspired by what I'm passionate about, where my strengths are and what I want to design for this year that's coming ahead? Because keeping you motivated, the journey of goal setting and accomplishing those goals certainly is far more energizing when they come from within and inspired by your passion.

Speaker 1: 3:49

And a new concept that I am exploring for myself that I recently discovered is, when it comes to goal setting, looking at the Kaizen principle. So the Japanese word Kaizen and I might not be pronouncing it correctly, kaizen maybe, but the Kai stands for good and the Zen stands for change. And here we want to look at the three principles of Kaizen, which is process, enjoying the process and results, the big picture, looking at that. And then the non-judgmental for yourself of your steps. So, thinking about that principle, it is, it's all about continuous incremental improvement, taking small steps. We hear that all the time. It's those small steps that give us momentum. But these steps, you want to be non-judgmental over, the steps that we take for ourselves, and they need to be steps that we can sustain, but at the same time, yes, they do need to be part of a larger process. And so Kaizen reminds us to focus not just on the results, but on the growth and the learning that happens along the way. Yes, you want to think about your big picture vision, but then ask yourself, what's one small step that I can take today that feels achievable? And, of course, these steps compound over time and, before you know it, you have built momentum without the overwhelm.

Speaker 1: 5:26

This is something that I recently heard that was inspiring to me. You're starting your week. I have always loved Mondays. Mondays I find so motivating.

Speaker 1: 5:35

And here's a thought to reflect on on your next Monday, or whichever day of the week it might be, is what are you going to do differently today? So challenge yourself to move out of routines and habits that you're not even thinking about and ask yourself, as you work towards overall happiness in your business, what is something that you could do differently today that will play into that happiness level, that gratitude, that joy? So, as I step into my next adventure, I just invite you to reflect on your goals through this lens. Are they inspiring and joyful? Are you celebrating the small steps in the rewiring of the neural pathways of your brain? Remember to celebrate just these small steps, and that could be something as simple as just smiling, but it could be a body movement, it could be dancing on the spot, shaking your hands in the air. But just remember that these are yours.

Speaker 1: 6:44

Be true to the life and business that you want to create, and I'll be back in a few months to share some stories and insights from coaching, from the road, and I hope you'll be building your own beautiful journey at the start of this year. But thank you, thank you so much for listening, Thank you for supporting my show, and I cannot wait to connect with you again when I return. So, wishing you all ease, flow and joyful progress on your own path, and remember I would love to connect and support you. So if we are not connected on LinkedIn, I invite you to come on over there, carol Clegg, really easy or stop by my website, and I will still be taking coaching calls while I'm traveling. I will still be working with my positive intelligence model and, if you are curious to find out which saboteurs might be getting in your way to start the new year, I do offer a complimentary unpacking of your results. So look forward to being back and having some exciting new guests on the show and until then, enjoy with ease and flow.