PLAN GOAL PLAN | Goals, Personal Growth, Time Management, Women Empowerment, Working Moms

“You should be grateful you have this job.” Have you ever heard something like that and immediately felt your shoulders creep toward your ears? Same. In this episode, we're talking about the difference between gratitude and indebtedness, and why something that looks like gratitude from the outside can sometimes feel very different on the inside. Research suggests that gratitude and indebtedness aren't the same emotional experience. Gratitude is more likely to emerge when something feels freely given, while indebtedness becomes stronger when there's an expectation that something needs to be repaid. That distinction matters, especially if you're a woman working in a field or system that wasn't necessarily designed with your life in mind. Sometimes “you should be grateful” quietly becomes a payment plan. You're grateful for the opportunity, so you don't negotiate. You're grateful for the flexibility, so you answer the email at 9 PM. You're grateful to have a seat at the table, so you take on the extra committee. But I believe you can genuinely appreciate what you've been given and still decide that the price being attached to it isn't one you're willing to keep paying. That's where today's 15-minute practice comes in. I'm walking you through what I call the Gratitude Sort. You'll identify something you feel like you're supposed to be grateful for, separate the genuine gratitude from the obligation attached to it, and decide what you actually want to do with each side. Maybe you choose to keep paying the price because it's worth it to you. Maybe you renegotiate. Maybe you stop. Or maybe you decide you're not ready yet and choose a specific date to revisit it. This connects to the first part of my Grit Gently framework: own the why. Because obligation can muddy what you actually want. Sorting it out can help you reclaim your choice. If you're on my email list, you'll find the Gratitude Sort on page three of my free Grateful, Not Obligated printable. And if doing this exercise reveals a whole lot more obligation than you expected, check out the Grit Gently Audit in the show notes. The first 10 participants this month will receive a personalized map forward during a 15-minute call with me. You can be grateful still have boundaries. Connect with me: Grit Gently Audit: Take Here. Gratitude Workbook: https://plan-goal-plan.kit.com/gratitude Email: [email protected] Website: PlanGoalPlan.com LinkedIn (I post most here!): www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mcgeough-phd Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/plangoalplan

Have you ever started a gratitude journal with the best intentions, only to abandon it a few weeks later? I've been there. But what if the problem isn't that you're bad at gratitude? What if doing it more often isn't necessarily better? In this episode, I'm digging into the research behind gratitude practices, including why a daily gratitude habit can sometimes lose its meaning and start to feel like another task on the list. The research suggests that gratitude can be helpful, but the way we practice it matters. Specificity matters. Intention matters. And sometimes spacing it out can help keep it from becoming automatic. Which, y'all, sounds a whole lot like a ritual. I'm also exploring how gratitude fits into my Grit Gently framework, especially the third practice: mark the moment. As ambitious women, we're often really good at moving immediately to the next goal. We thank the team. We send the card. We celebrate everyone else's contribution. But we're not always great at stopping long enough to say, “I did that. And it was hard.” So I'm giving you a simple 10-minute weekly ritual to help you practice gratitude without turning it into another obligation. You'll name something that went right, recognize someone who supported you, give yourself credit for your own effort, and then create a small moment of ceremony around it. Because gratitude isn't just about appreciating what you have. It can also be a way of noticing how far you've already come. Want to practice with me? Join my email list to get my free Grateful, Not Obligated worksheet, including four weeks of space to practice throughout November. And if you're ready to take a closer look at your ambition, check out the Grit Gently Audit in the show notes. The first 10 participants this month will receive a personalized map forward during a 15-minute call with me. Connect with me: Grit Gently Audit: https://forms.gle/73YELWfgyPi7iJd89 Gratitude Workbook: https://plan-goal-plan.kit.com/gratitude Email: [email protected] Website: PlanGoalPlan.com LinkedIn (I post most here!): www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mcgeough-phd Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/plangoalplan

Y'all, we've been talking about courage all of October. The focus was on courage to start, and today we're closing it with the courage to release. You have always heard that growth means saying yes. What no one tells you is that growth just as often means saying no, letting go, and pruning. If you're the only woman in the room, or one of very few, you've probably been told your whole career to say yes. Sometimes those yeses bury you. Today's episode is tough for me. I'm trying to talk myself into some clarity about what I need to release, and I'm bringing you along. In this episode: Why growth isn't only about saying yes What I've had to release to make space for this podcast What the courage to release is not. It isn't quitting because you're weak. I share Steven Levitt's coin flip research on why people who make the change they were weighing are happier later. Why the hardest no's are often the good things that just aren't yours anymore Why saying no is so hard, especially in historically male-dominated fields: hypervisibility, having to prove it again, office housework, the tightrope, the glass cliff and sunk cost How to prune: deadwood, crossing branches, and healthy growth in the wrong place Ritual theory: separation, liminality and incorporation, and why we try to skip the first one Releasing the armor, the version of us we built to prove we belong Marking your endings, and making a release a goal Try this: Build your own No Club. Find two or three women and run your yeses by them before you commit. Ready to begin? Join Simply Bold: https://www.plangoalplan.com/simplybold Schedule a chat about Simply Bold at plangoalplan.com In early January, I'm hosting a quarterly retreat that kicks off the year with planning. I also have a few one-on-one coaching spots open. Sometimes you just need someone to hold some of that courage for you. Connect with me: Email: [email protected] Website: PlanGoalPlan.com LinkedIn (I post most here!): www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mcgeough-phd Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/plangoalplan I'm wishing you the ability to tell what to step into and what to release. On the other side of that no, there are beautiful things. Untill next time, be bold, be balanced, and be well, friends.

Do you have to feel confident before you take action or does confidence come because you took action first? Today I'm joined by Jody Phifer, certified midlife coach for women and founder of Thrive With Intention, for a conversation about courage, confidence, identity, and why trying something new can feel especially vulnerable in midlife. Because here's the strange thing about this season: in some ways, we care so much less about what other people think. We've lived. We've learned. We've already survived a whole lot. At the same time, the bigger decisions can somehow feel even scarier. By midlife, we've built careers, relationships, identities, routines, and lives that feel established. Stepping into something new can disrupt that stability. We may have more evidence that we're capable, but we can also feel like we have more to lose. Jody and I talk about what happens when you're used to being good at what you do and suddenly find yourself inexperienced again. We talk about imposter syndrome, self-promotion, starting something new later in life, and why courage often looks less like feeling fearless and more like getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Jody also shares a powerful exercise for building confidence: create an evidence list. Look back over your life and write down the things you've done, survived, learned, figured out, and accomplished. Then when the next scary thing comes along, you have evidence that you've moved through uncertainty before. We also explore the tension that becomes especially real in midlife: wanting to savor the small, ordinary moments while also realizing that we don't have unlimited time to keep putting off the big things we want. So maybe confidence doesn't have to come first. Maybe you take one step. Then another. And somewhere along the way, the evidence begins to accumulate. It's not too late. You're not too old. And it's okay if the next thing you want requires you to be uncomfortable for a while. Connect with Jody: Website Shift Happens Join Simply Bold: https://www.plangoalplan.com/simplybold Connect with me: Email: [email protected] Facebook Group: Join Here Website: PlanGoalPlan.com LinkedIn: (I post most here!) www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mcgeough-phd-🗓️-b673334 Ready to begin? Schedule a chat about Simply Bold at plangoalplan.com

What happens when you're already really good at a lot of things... and suddenly you're a beginner again? Y'all, I've been feeling this one personally. Lately, I've been stepping into several new things, including working with a nutritionist and a stylist, and both have asked me to learn, trust, experiment, and let go of being the person who already knows exactly what she's doing. And that can feel surprisingly vulnerable. Especially when you've spent years building mastery. This month, we're talking about courage, and today we're digging into the courage required to step into something new. Because if you're pursuing a goal that is truly thrilling, important, and daunting, there's a pretty good chance you're eventually going to reach a point where you don't know exactly what you're doing. That doesn't necessarily mean you've chosen the wrong goal. It might mean you've chosen a worthy one. In this episode, we're talking about why being a beginner can feel especially uncomfortable in midlife, how self-efficacy influences the goals we're willing to pursue, and why capable people can sometimes become trapped inside the things they already know they're good at. We'll also talk about vulnerability, mastery, recognition, and the temporary discomfort that comes with giving up the identity of being the expert in the room. And I'm sharing a few questions that can help when you're stepping into something new: What will make me want to quit being new at this? What obstacles can I prepare for before they happen? What is the cost of staying exactly where I am? And how can I practice self-compassion while I learn? Because courage isn't about waiting until you feel confident. It's about being willing to move toward something that matters while you're still learning how. So if you've been avoiding a goal because you don't want to be bad at something again, maybe your next step isn't becoming more confident. Maybe it's simply giving yourself permission to be a beginner. Join Simply Bold: https://www.plangoalplan.com/simplybold Connect with me: Email: [email protected] Facebook Group: Join Here Website: PlanGoalPlan.com LinkedIn: (I post most here!) www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-mcgeough-phd-🗓️-b673334 Ready to begin? Schedule a chat about Simply Bold at plangoalplan.com