Before we start this episode, I want you to imagine this. You've just set a big goal. Maybe it's launching a business, or maybe it's something more impactful as transforming your life. It could also be career-oriented, such as stepping into a new leadership role or building something meaningful for your community. At the beginning, everybody claps for you. But what nobody tells you is that somewhere in the middle, it gets very ugly. The motivation fades and the support gets very quiet. The progress even begins to feel invisible. And suddenly the dream you were so sure about starts asking you a question. And that question is, what are you willing to lose to become who you said you wanted to be? Today we're talking about the part of success that nobody, and I do mean nobody, post on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and all the places. The part between the announcement and the achievement. The part where most people quit. And a lot of people quit at this part. If you're in the middle right now, this episode is for you. Welcome back to the Pivot to Profit Podcast, where personal growth meets business strategy. This is the podcast for people who know that building a business or launching your career or anything of this sort isn't just about marketing plans, revenue goals, strategies, and action. It's about evolving into the kind of person who can actually sustain success. I'm your host, Tavia Woolley, nonprofit leader, communication strategist, entrepreneur, and someone who has learned the hard way that the biggest pivots in life don't just change your career, they change who you are. And today we're going to talk about something that people rarely say out loud. But don't worry, I'm going to be the one to say it out loud for you. It's all about the ugly truth about achieving goals. Because everybody, and I do mean everybody, loves the highlight reel. I know I do, but almost nobody talks about the cost. It's all about the part of success that nobody posts about. Let's start with something real. If you spend five minutes on social media, you'll see a thousand in one success stories. You'll see someone just bought a house, someone just launched a business, and someone just ran their first marathon or marathon number 10. Or you'll even see that someone just hit a six-figure revenue milestone. But what you almost never see is what happened before that moment. You don't see the nights in which they doubted themselves for hours on end, sleepless nights, worried about how they're going to be able to do it. You don't see the friendships that fade, and you definitely don't see the mornings that they wake up exhausted but keep going anyway. The uncomfortable truth is that big goals demand big transformation. It's really unavoidable. And let's be honest, transformation is rarely pretty. I mean, if ever. I remember when I started stepping into leadership roles that required me to show up differently. Whether that was in the nonprofit work, the advocacy spaces that I served in, or building my own communications firm. From the outside, it probably looked exciting. In fact, I heard that quite often. How am I doing it? Oh my gosh, congratulations, Tavier. But internally, inside my head, there were many moments where I was asking myself, am I really ready for this? Do I have the skills and expertise to level up like this? Can I really do it? What if I fail publicly? What if people find out I'm a fraud? That's what I was thinking in my head. Those questions don't disappear when you pursue something meaningful. Lord, I wish they did, but they don't. In fact, I hate to be the one to tell you they're going to get louder. Because when the goals matter, the stakes feel higher. And that's something I wish someone had told me earlier. Confidence is not necessarily a prerequisite for pursuing big goals. Most of the time, confidence is something you build while you are already in motion. You don't need it to start because you'll build it in motion. We call that refined by the process. The sacrifices that come with growth, ooh, there's a lot of them, and we're going to get into a few of them here. Now we're about to get into the hard part. Growth comes with sacrifice. They actually go hand in hand. It's like they're a married couple, and most people only focus on one or the other. It's not always the dramatic kind, it can be very subtle. The slow changes that you see, such as when you're building something meaningful, whether it's a business, a movement, a nonprofit initiative, or a personal transformation, you start making decisions that not everyone around you will understand. In fact, you're probably gonna feel like you're going crazy because nobody gets you. In doing so, you might even stop going to certain social events. Actually, that's kind of normal. You might start, in fact, I hope you start to protect your time more. You might even stop entertaining conversations that drain your energy because you need all your energy for something else. And sometimes, quite honestly, relationships will shift. Not because anyone did anything wrong, but because you are evolving. For example, when I started to focus more intentionally on impact, such as addressing issues like maternal and infant health and system inequities, my schedule changed drastically. It was I had all the drama when it came to my schedule. There were early mornings. Sometimes I would get up at 3 a.m. to work on a project. And then there were late meetings. Sometimes I didn't get off work until 9 p.m. Weekend events, because it was necessary to be visible in the community regarding this matter. In tons of strategic planning, late nights, early mornings, just thinking about what is the strategy needed to see change. I hosted a lot of community convenings. And people would sometimes say, not even sometimes, y'all, like all the time, you're always busy. But what they didn't see was that this work mattered to me deeply. So it wasn't about being busy, it was about alignment. Growth often requires letting go versions of your life that were very comfortable. Old routines, old expectations, and sometimes even old identities. And that's not something many people warn you about. Because letting go of the familiar can feel like a loss, even when you're moving towards something better. One of the hardest parts about achieving your goals is that you absolutely under no circumstances can remain the same person and expect different results. At some point, you have to evolve. Word of the day is evolve. For example, if you want to become a business owner, you have to start thinking like a strategist. If you want to become a leader, you have to start making decisions that impact more than just yourself and your comfort level. If you want to transform your health, guess what? You have to build those habits and move past your own resistance. It's not about what you do, it's about who you become in this process. Now I'm gonna give you a personal example. Like many people, one of my goals is to actually participate in a marathon. Notice I didn't say run a marathon, but actually participate. I'm not a fan of running, okay? And 26.23, whatever miles seems very overwhelming to me. There are many things I'm gonna have to sacrifice in order to commit to that training schedule, the overcoming the self-doubt and self-talk that I do often when it comes to thinking about participating in a marathon. But when I say I want to train for a marathon or participate in one, it sounds so exciting, right? But there is an identity shift that is required. I can no longer think of myself as Xavier who doesn't like the run, who's worried about if she can control her breathing while doing all those miles. I have to start becoming the person, that identity that is necessary to achieve that goal. It means I'm gonna have to wake up even earlier to get in my miles in order to build up the endurance for that race. It means I'm gonna have to work on affirmations that affirm me that I am a marathoner. I can run, that I can endure 26.3 miles or two, whatever it is. It also means that results and progress won't be fast, but in this case, slow and steady will win the race, or aka cross the finish line. Understand that this goal isn't requiring casuality. I'm not gonna casually become a marathon runner. I'm going to be intentional about my time and how I prepare mentally and physically for this race. In order for me to become a marathon runner, I'm going to have to live differently. But guess what? The same is true for business, for leadership, and for personal growth. Goals don't just change your calendar, they will change your identity. Now let's talk about the most dangerous place in any goal journey. Y'all, is the middle. The beginning is very exciting. You announce the idea, you've set the goal, you feel very motivated, you buy the cute planner, y'all know I love a planner, and you start the program. You make the vision board, and the energy level is high through the roof, actually. But the middle, hmm, oh, it's the sneaky middle. That's where reality shows up. The middle is where we start to struggle. The progress is slow, the results are unclear and sometimes feel super far off. The support begins to fade, and the finish line still feels very, very far away. This is the phase where most people quit, but not you. But let me tell you why. It's not because they're incapable, but because the middle doesn't feel rewarding yet. For example, when someone starts a business, the early excitement is powerful. It's that momentum that pushes you forward. But months later, when revenue is inconsistent, and sometimes it is, when marketing feels confusing, you're wondering what's working, what's not working, and will this thing kick off on social media, when you're questioning your strategy, did you think of all the things? Did you consider this? Did you consider that? That's the middle. When someone begins a fitness journey, whoo, like I did last year, the beginning feels empowering. Well, to some people, it didn't feel that way for me. But three months later, when progress slows down, that's the middle. The middle will test your gangster, okay, your commitment. Because in the middle, you're no longer fueled by the excitement, you're fueled by discipline. And sometimes, let's be honest, discipline is hard, it's boring, but it's essential. Another ugly truth about achieving goals is this. Sometimes progress is, in fact, invisible. You're doing the work, you're showing up, you're learning, but externally, it doesn't look like much has changed yet. This happens in entrepreneurship all the time. Honestly, it happens in everything: career goals, personal life, fitness, just know it's a part of life. You spend months building infrastructure, systems, and processes and relationships, brand clarity, and someone asks, so how's the business going? Sometimes they say, How's that little business? We we know those people. And you're thinking, I'm laying the foundation. The foundations aren't flashy, they're not sexy. No one wants to hear about them. But guess what? They're necessary. Think about building a house. No one celebrates the concrete slab unless you're my friend Kendra, which she does celebrate the foundation for. But without it, the entire structure will collapse. Notice I didn't say if or may, it will collapse. Progress isn't always allowed. Sometimes it's happening quietly beneath the surface. And those seasons are often the ones that matter the most. One of the most dangerous things you can do when pursuing goals is measure your journey against someone else's. Please don't do that. Your chapter two, compared to someone's chapter six, it's not a good look. So don't do it. But it's normal because social media rarely shows the full picture. You see the wins, but you don't see the cost. But success is not a one size fits all. For some people, success looks like scaling a business. For others, it looks like building a life with more time and freedom. For someone else, it might mean using their platform to create impact in their community. For me, success has never just been about money. It's about meaning. It's about building things that create opportunity, amplifying voices, and creating systems that support people who have historically been left out. That definition of success guides my decisions. And everyone listening needs to answer the same question for themselves. What does success actually mean to you? Because if you don't define it for yourself, someone else will define it for you. Now, if I could go back and tell my younger self a few things before pursuing big goals, it would be the following. First, the path will take longer than expected, so plan accordingly. Not because you're doing anything wrong, but because meaningful work requires patience. Second, not everyone will understand your vision. Remember, the vision is yours, not everyone else's. And that's okay. Some people only understand results after they've seen them. Third, the person you become along the journey matters more than the milestone itself. Because goals come in they go. But discipline, resiliency, and clarity you develop along the journey is unmatched. And finally, don't quit in the middle. The middle is where transformations happen. If you're listening to this podcast and you're in the messy middle of pursuing something big and meaningful, I want you to hear this clearly. You're not behind, so throw that out the window. You're not failing. You're in the part of the journey that most people never talk about. And quite honestly, most people don't even make it to. The part where persistence matters more than motivation. Keep showing up for yourself, your family, in your community. Keep building brick by brick and continue to evolve. You will love yourself more later. Because the version of you that reaches the goal is being built right now. If this episode resonated with you, share with someone who might be in their own messy middle. And if you're building something meaningful, whether it's a business, a movement, or a personal goal, keep going. Because the world needs more people willing to do the work, even after the excitement fades. This is the Pivot to Profit Podcast where personal growth meets business strategy. I'll see you in the next episode. Y'all come back now, you hear?