Valeria Gray, a Full Focus Planner Certified Pro specializing in empowering early and mid-career professionals in healthcare, discusses the often-overwhelming 'messy middle' of goal achievement. She emphasizes the importance of staying motivated during tough times and reconnecting with your reasons for starting. Valeria shares practical tips on utilizing the Full Focus System to navigate challenges and maintain productivity. The conversation highlights the value of effective planning in combating burnout and achieving long-term success.
The 'messy middle' is a common phase in goal achievement where creativity and motivation become crucial for overcoming challenges.
Revisiting your vision of your future self and understanding the costs of inaction are vital strategies for maintaining motivation.
Deep dives
Introducing the Full Focus Wellness Planner
A new tool designed for self-care and overall well-being has been launched, replacing the conventional Full Focus Planner. The Full Focus Wellness Planner allows users to continue tracking their regular goals while incorporating additional metrics for health, such as sleep, hydration, nutrition, and stress levels. This planner includes specialized tools like self-care planners and vision sketches to enhance users' wellness journeys. The positive feedback from the Full Focus Planner community highlights its effectiveness and the excitement surrounding its use.
Navigating the Messy Middle in Goal Pursuit
The 'messy middle' of goal achievement is characterized by challenges and setbacks that can lead to questioning one's motivation and commitment. Often, during this phase, individuals experience physical and mental blocks that can hinder progress, making them feel trapped and unmotivated. To overcome this, recognizing the importance of perseverance and having strategies to encourage oneself, such as investing in new gear, can reignite enthusiasm. Emphasizing that every goal can have its messy moments is crucial for maintaining perspective and motivation.
Strategies to Overcome Challenges
Two main strategies to help navigate the messy middle involve revisiting the vision of one's future self and reflecting on the stakes of not completing a goal. Revisiting the vision allows individuals to reconnect with their motivations and envision the person they wish to become. Similarly, understanding the potential costs of inaction helps clarify the importance of progress and the rewards that come from overcoming difficulties. These approaches encourage a balanced view of goal setting, recognizing both the benefits of achievement and the consequences of stagnation.
The “messy middle” is a place where we’ve come too far to go back but we can’t yet see what’s up ahead - and it’s normal. In fact, if you haven’t hit the messy middle yet, you probably will soon.
The messy middle is typically where we feel we’ve hit the end of our own resources. It's at this moment that you have to start getting creative and asking for help. But the most important resource in the messy middle is motivation. And that’s at the heart of what we’re talking about today.
Blake, Courtney, and Verbs talk about two reasons that it is important to remember why you started. After that, Courtney speaks with Full Focus Planner Certified Pro, Valeria Gray. They talk about how she uses the Full Focus System with her clients and offers some tips that you can use right away.