129: Must Do: The Mid Year Reset | How to Reboot Your Dreams Anytime of Year

You blink and suddenly it’s mid-year. If your goals feel stale, your calendar feels crowded, or your motivation feels like it quietly slipped out the back door, we’re here to say: you can restart whenever you want, and you don’t need anyone’s permission.

We talk through how we actually do a mid-year reset in real life, not just on paper. On the business side, we break down why a professional review matters before fall, how frameworks like EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and the 12-week year create clarity, and why choosing one to three priorities beats chasing ten “important” projects. We also dig into the difference between real strategy and survival mode, and how a 60 to 90 day view changes the decisions you make every week.

On the personal side, we get into redirects that happen when life happens: health shifts, financial surprises, relationship changes, and training realities. Sam shares the decision to move a 100-mile race goal, not abandon it, plus what alignment and timing really look like when you’re protecting your body and your happiness. We also unpack “capacity” as the hidden variable in goal setting, how to build it, and why accountability communities keep long goals present.

If you’re ready for a clean reset and a stronger second half of the year, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reboot, and leave a review with the goal you’re choosing next.

Follow Coach Polly @getbusythriving and Coach Sam @thesamanthapruitt 

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Transcript

Welcome Back And The Reset Idea

Polly Mertens 0:27

Hey superstars, welcome back. Polly here.

Samantha Pruitts 0:30

And Sam Pruitt. It's been a minute. It's been a minute and guessing.

Polly Mertens 0:35

It was only a week, but it felt like a lot longer, didn't it?

Samantha Pruitts 0:38

Oh, I tell you, that's I think everybody's got that going on these days, man. You know, it's mid-year, and we're like, you're doing some resetting, I'm doing some resetting, re, you know, like looking at the future. So that's what we're going to dive into today. We're going to really go into like what do we do to, you know, some stories you have about like, okay, I was on track for this, like your 100 race, right? 100 miler, and you're like, not doing that, right? So like the pivots, the redirects, the restarts, or the review and reflect, and like what's next? So that's what we'll cover today, and just share with you how we do it, how often we do it, you know, because it's not just at June, right? Like, I see you do it when you're like the train is off freaking track. We gotta reboot here.

Polly Mertens 1:21

Yeah. And and that's my biggest message that's gonna be for this whole combo is like you can do it whenever the hell you damn well please. It doesn't have to be a mid-year. Mid year is a good professionally and even personally, it's usually a good time to do it before you go into summer and everything sort of changes energetically and seasonally. Yeah. But for me, it's like whenever I gut feeling intuitively know things are becoming super resistant or sticky or recirculating, or just I feel stagnant, even whatever that might be, resistance, stagnation, et cetera. I'll be like, hold up. Let's pause for a minute here. Am I still moving in the direction of my dreams, or is something shifting for me, whether it's external or internal? So I really want to just double down on people honoring that feeling.

Samantha Pruitts 2:11

And I want to, you know, add to that is that A, you're present to your dreams and your goals, right? Like some people like are just kind of like winging it, right? And I think you and I really are, and people listening to this, you know, it's like important to write that shit down. Like write down what you're up to and share it. And we'll be talking about accountability, right? So what I love is it's not like, oh, like I have done this and I'm totally guilty of like, oh yeah, I did say in January I was gonna do something, you know, and lose track of it, right? So I love that you have the awareness because sometimes too, I'm guilty of like having too many.

Polly Mertens 2:48

Like I'll have to I was gonna say, Paul, you're not the one for getting it. If anything, you have so many things. And I'm laughing out loud because AI can relate. And then secondarily, I just had a conversation with a loved one this week. I bought a new calendar. This is one of the things I do around summer. Really? Um, because you can get the year and a half calendars, they come out. Oh, okay. So it's not just the 12-month thing. And I this is a routine that I normally do. Of course, I already had a calendar, right? But I reset my calendar. I literally do that. And so this loved one was like, oh my goodness, how many calendars do you have? How can you have another calendar? How are you getting another calendar? And I'm like, dude, you don't even have a calendar. Yeah, okay. Yeah, but this is a normal thing for me. And let me show you why. And it feels so good for me. It's like a cleansing.

Samantha Pruitts 3:41

Well, and I've seen you do this. You're funny because you get all, you know, things stirred, you know, it's like this this like energy. Well, yeah, well, you get like big things that you want to, and then you're like slash, slash, slash, slash, slash, you know. And so I yeah, that's that's your power. So let's talk about like why do them? Like why, what, what is the key here? What are we why would somebody do a

Permission To Restart Any Time

Samantha Pruitts 4:04

mid-year reset? You know, what are some of the reasons?

Polly Mertens 4:07

I mean, if it's professionally and it's business, then you need to be doing that on a more regular basis, quarterly, or whatever your planning is. But if you do it mid-year professionally, right, then you're really taking a good damn analysis of what has happened for the first six months in your business or in your professional life, if you're chasing career goals or whatever all is going on with you, right? To do that and be honest about it and have a sit down with yourself or your peers in your company is super, super important. So you can see, are we going to achieve our goals for this year that we set? Or do we need to strategically make some changes in order to ensure those things happen? Because if you wait till fall, it is too damn late to course correct. Right. So professionally, you've got to really be doing this on a more regular basis. That's the reason I would say professionally. What would you say professionally is a good reason to do it?

Samantha Pruitts 4:59

Well, so there's a couple of systems out there, and then maybe there's hundreds, you know. I'm just going to talk about a couple of two that I know of that I'm fond of. One is it's called EOS, Entrepreneurial Operating System. And they, you know, they, you know, you said a 10-year, five-year, three year. I'm like, 10 year, you know, like things change so damn much. But it is good to have those. Like I believe in like having, you know, shoot for the moon goals and stuff. But for me, it and then so EOS is one. And then the other one is what's called the 12-week year, which is basically like like a quarter. So you do, I mean, if you can get super focused, and I love because both of them break it, break it, break it, break it down into 90-day goals. Because I'm a huge fan of like, man, in business, you got to have like one, two, three at the most core things that you and your team are doing, and that's it. Because and I think you know, we're you're pointing to like earlier this year, or I tend to have so many things, you know, that I want to get up to, right? And I lose track because more than three. I think the teams, you know, the founder, whatever, we lose track of all of it, right? So mid-year is great because you've got six months of this year, and I find that like strategically you you have a horizon of what you can see out in front of you. 90 days is usually like you can move some things or you can adjust some things. Six months is like things can change, you know, like um, especially with with AI and social media and the shifts and the algorithms and things like that in marketing, and the economy and the political climate. And your team too, you know, like you like oh yeah, key players. Key players can come and go and what and markets can shift, you know, things like that. So I'm like a big fan, like right now, of working with I'm gonna dive into a story that's a little deeper than I thought, but so I have a client right now who last year she had she brought on a key player, right? Like that was like big business. He'd worked at, you know, big companies. You would know the names if I said them, and was like, okay, great, you know, have him help you build, you know, strategic plans and get things going. And like never got traction. Like a dude just was like there, some ideas, whatever. And so she, you know, hired me earlier this year and I was like, all right, what are we doing? Like, let's get some, you know, and so we had a sit-down, we had a strategic planning session, like let's focus on this for the, you know, what

Midyear Reviews For Work Goals

Samantha Pruitts 7:14

needs to be most important? What is driving revenue, what isn't? Where can we eke out or we need to focus on? Got that super clear. And like every meeting, that's all we talk about. Like, okay, it's sales training, it's this one particular campaign that she's doing, you know. Forgive me, I'm I've got a lot of clients in my mind right now, but forget what the third one is. But it's like those things we talk about constantly, right? And they know what what the focus is, right? So I think that's true.

Polly Mertens 7:40

Otherwise, you see the opposite, which I had a conversation, business conversation yesterday. I know we're a little bit off the wheels here, but like it was the opposite. I have a person in leadership and coming in and making some significant changes within the team. And they're so microfocused on these daily sort of survival metrics and things like that. And I'm like, okay, but where's like the next 60, 90 day calendar? Where's the like what where are the more bigger picture strategic elements to this plan? Not what are we doing tomorrow or are we hitting the numbers next week? You know, that's survival mode. So you can get stuck in that too if you're not careful.

Samantha Pruitts 8:20

Well, I like what I like to see is you know, you start with the 90, or you know, you start higher than that and you break it down in your in your 90. Like these are the core three things. And what, and when we look through that lens, right, then we can say, okay, what KPIs do we need to measure for sales training? Like, you know, is it number of calls they're making? Is it, you know, whatever, how are the close ratios, how are appointment settings, things like that, right? So, and then with our marketing, I was like, okay, we need a campaign for this quarter, right? Okay, what are what are what are we focusing on, you know? And so you can break it down into like, oh, this mailing and this and smaller pieces, but not having the bigger vision, like you said, it's like, what is all this good for?

Polly Mertens 8:57

You know, I think it's suicide, you can't make any intelligent decisions. I mean, I was like, I don't see how we can decide on these 10 things we're supposed to be talking about when we don't have like basic foundations.

Samantha Pruitts 9:07

And how this relates personally. So you're helping me. We're gonna talk after this episode about my training plan for my next, it's not a race, but it's my next big track, right? And so that I've got this goal, and it's like, okay, you and I both know to hit something like you know, 10 days of hiking, you got to prep for that, right? And then what it looks like on the every day is like, okay, this is what I'm doing Monday, Tuesday, when you know, so it is broken down by the daily. But if I just started with the daily, like would I ever get there?

Polly Mertens 9:37

Or, you know, so it's easy to lose motivation for many, many reasons. So, okay, now we're on to the personal reason to do this mid-year, yeah, you know, redo or or reanalysis or you know, redirect if you want to call it a redirect, really. Personally, there's tons of reasons to do it, like what you just said. You could have personal goals that are physical or health or athletic. That's really critical. You know, you're not going to set that as a 12-month goal. Those are periodized training plans that usually run 12, 16 to 24 weeks. You know, they definitely are not something you do for the whole year. Like you don't spend a whole year training for a marathon or a 5K or whatever. You'd make yourself crazy.

Samantha Pruitts 10:18

But some people have the big goal. I mean, you know, ultras and yeah, yeah, yeah.

Polly Mertens 10:22

I mean, obviously I have you know crazy ass shit that I but I stack these goals. Again, it's strategic, the stacking of them. But from another personal perspective or vantage point, it could be financial goals, right? So setting a goal for the year, great, I have a financial goal to save X or to budget appropriately, blah, blah. But like those check-ins are really important. And maybe something did change. So, really, a lot of times what we're talking about with these redirects is life happened, which by the way is happening every single second as we just stand here and breathe. And so, therefore, circumstances changed. It could be external circumstances, like maybe I can't save that money now because my car broke down. Maybe I have medical bills for a loved one I didn't have before, whatever, right? Like things just change, job changes, etc. Or maybe I got a massive bonus. Hey! And then, you know, all of a sudden I'm like, damn, that's go straight into savings or whatever. It could be relationship status changes. Like there's so many things that make our life different on the daily. And so why wouldn't we, knowing that change is inevitable and constant, be also sort of looking at our goals in relationship to that and our strategy towards those goals? So it just makes sense.

Samantha Pruitts 11:41

Yeah, and I think two things are there I'm present to as you were saying that is one is the goal that you are aiming for, something has changed, right? Like it's it's either seems unachievable, and I'm not always saying like give it up or whatever, but like how can you redirect for that? How can you pivot to still keep the goal, but maybe change your approach, right? And then there's ones like for me, I'll share. So I love these quarterly. So for the past 90 days, I've been in my what's called miracle quarter through my landmark program. So I did that 12-month program February. We ejected from that, went into what's called Miracle Quarter. And so the cohorts from that group that we all sort of graduated, we created a little uh accountability group and set new, you know, 90-day window goals for, you know, and so I had five or six of those, and that's coming to an end. So you can have a 90-day window completing inside, let's say, a bigger 12-month goal or whatever it is. And then you go, okay, and sometimes it's looking back and going, I hit three out of four, or I hit 80% of this one, and I want to finish it. You know, like I didn't, I didn't get it. So it's taking that opportunity, stepping back and putting it into the future. Like right now, I set a new, so I was working, one of my goals this past 90 days was AI mastery, you know, really studying and like using that muscle of AI.

Ninety Day Focus Beats Survival Mode

Samantha Pruitts 12:59

So I feel great about that. I don't want to like, oh, done, you know, won't continue. It was like, okay, yeah, I want to, I want to continue that. And I've got a new goal that's we've talked about is my 100-day challenge for you know being more and more present on YouTube. So like that's creates a whole new set of like, what am I doing on the daily and what do I need to learn, you know, and things like that. So I really love those stretch goals for that. So it can be either that goal that you had, you're something's in the way, right? Like something's impeding you achieving it. So you have to change the strategy, ideally, not change the goal because it was something that you wanted if you can still achieve it, like use your brain in, you know, or other people's brains to what else can I do? How can I, how can I still get this goal, right?

Polly Mertens 13:43

Yeah. But then there's things abandon it.

Samantha Pruitts 13:45

But then there's things like you with your hundred miler, right? So talk a little bit about that. Like that was yeah.

Polly Mertens 13:51

It's similar to kind of what you're saying, though. I didn't abandon the goal. I had a fall goal. So I've got July, John Muir Trail, solo, start to finish, right? And then I had this fall goal of this hundred mile race. I have done that race before. I felt pretty comfortable signing up for it. But then as I got into my training program and I was just really recalibrating all of my health and fitness, you know, a bit from front to back because of everything that transpired with my back surgery and all this yada yada stuff, I thought, huh, this is really not reasonable for me for many, many reasons. Time constraints, but also just physically, I'm not giving my body enough time to get where it needs to get to have a good experience. Could I muscle through it because I'm a stubborn SOB? Yeah, but what is the point? Right. So then I was kind of playing with it, giving myself the grace to sort of play with it. And then I ended up, of course, I got tempted with a different race, which does happen on a regular basis. And it's actually one I'm way more interested in on the Arizona Trail. I've never done it. It's on my bucket list. This this is a brand new 100-mile race. And I was like, okay, easy decision for me. Wow. Fall is done. I'm not interested in that anymore. I'm moving it to the spring. I feel super confident I can be ready by then. And also I'm much more excited about going to that race than repeating this other one. Right. So there's so many reasons for me to like take that goal, reposition it, freshen it up, buff it up, and then look at, okay, now what's it going to take for me with the change in timeline to achieve that goal? Sometimes you need to take shit just off. Like you know, you didn't get it done, and it needs to just go away. Like sometimes that's a reality too. Do you have any experiences with that?

Samantha Pruitts 15:39

Well, there's one thing I just wanted to say, in addition to what you're saying, is so you we could look at the goal, like you could one, you could say, oh, it was to complete that race, right? And I would say that wasn't why you signed up for it necessarily. You know, a hundred miler is inspiring to you. So what you did is you just looked at how can I shift the timing of it? You said timing-wise, that that, you know, and so there's there's a component to keeping the goal in place, and sometimes it's just the timing of it. So, like, can I do it two weeks later? Can I do it two, you know, six months later, whatever it needs to be, but keep that core of the goal, right? Same thing with like financial, like you were talking about earlier. It's like, oh, save X amount by whatever. So still have that goal, but maybe it needs to be moved out 30 days or three months or something like that. So I like that. Yeah, and then you said the like pivot, like canceling. Oh, yeah, definitely evaluating, because you know, I've definitely had times where something seems exciting and inspiring and like totally what I should be doing this year, and then get into it, and I'm like, and you know what? Like this is our life, right? It's not anybody else's life. Even if you've committed it to somebody else on the external, it's like, uh, this it's not for you. You know, if it's not for me, then like, okay, but consciously choose it. Don't just like wimp out, right? And I think there's a place in your your intuition and your heart where you know, okay, yeah, I'm here's why. And it's not a justifying, it's a understanding. It's like a conversation you have with yourself. Like, yeah, that that that's doesn't make sense for me right now.

Polly Mertens 17:14

So yeah, and generally our mode of operation is when we eliminate something from the let's call it New Year's, you know, goal list or whatever. We don't just like bail on the goal and then go on about like having a vacation for the next six months. We're like, no, but this other thing is taking precedence now. My gaze has shifted in a new direction based on opportunity or availability or resources or invitations or whatever. And I want to put that energy, those resources in that direction rather than this other, right? And not feel any sense of obligation or guilt or whatever, especially like what you said, making that a commitment to someone else. Okay, so we're gonna do this trip in the fall and we're gonna go here and it's gonna cost a lot of money and blah, blah. And then you get like into the middle of the year and it's not working for you for whatever reason, but you force yourself to do it because you committed to these two friends or whatever the thing is to go on that vacay to Hawaii or go do whatever the hell the thing is. But really, you have no desire to do it. It's totally insane to do it. Yeah, insane to do it. It should be completely against your gut and intuition and your value system to continue on that path.

Samantha Pruitts 18:30

Yeah, I would say is are you congruent? You know, do you have inner con inner congruence that the decision that you're making is right for you, right? Don't make it for other people, don't make it about other people, make it is it congruent for you? Do you feel in alignment about it? Totally, totally.

Polly Mertens 18:45

Yeah, yeah. So you have to keep checking in on all these things, right?

Samantha Pruitts 18:49

Definitely, definitely. So yeah, good, good, good, good. Well, so so what are some of the ways that we set and evaluate? How do we evaluate whether something should be tossed or something should be kept and moved? You know, like what are some of the thoughts, processes that you go through to what are the questions you ask yourself, maybe?

Polly Mertens 19:08

I mean, at this point, I've been doing it so long, it pretty much bubbles up for me pretty quickly, whether I'm

Personal Redirects When Life Happens

Polly Mertens 19:14

even wanting to think about it or conscious of it. So that's kind of a just like a spider instinct or whatever that I've developed. But initially that was not the case at all. I would just get in the middle of the abyss of the year and be literally drowning. And maybe I would be sick or I would be tired or I would be pissed off every day, or I would whatever, like physical symptoms would start brewing. And so then I would be forced to do it. So at that junction, usually something would be like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Samantha Pruitts 19:48

Well, like this morning you said, Wake up, Sam. Well, if you had so like this morning you said you you had your workout and something was just off, like, you know, the energy output just wasn't there, right? And if you had that or the runs you weren't able to finish them. Like if you started to notice as you're tracking with your training, you know, whether you've had to cancel a couple of them because something's come up or you got sick or whatever, right? Um, if you just start seeing like the output or whatever, you've got to evaluate, wow, I can't even complete the trainings that I'm doing right now. You know, like I'm not even at the level I need to be at. And so it's it's about evaluating that right then and there, right?

Polly Mertens 20:22

Yeah, and figuring out the whys, right? If you're not reaching that halfway savings goal or that fitness goal or that whatever fill-in-the-blank thing, then you have to be honest, really honest, about why that's not happening. Like you said, is it just because I've sort of lost motivation or I'm just kind of procrastinating and being lazy, or is there literally some things that are happening that need to be addressed? So they that can fall into two different, really different buckets, right? So evaluating, looking at really honestly, sometimes you need to do that with another person. So, like in business and professionally, this is really important. Totally. Somebody else's eyeballs need to get on that, okay? Because we work with visionaries, with entrepreneurs, business owners, usually small, middle-sized business, and they're like they you know, literally, there's so much. I got it, I got it, literally, they're falling backwards. I got it. And we're like, but do you? But do you know? And it's okay to say, I don't got it. Right. And for someone who is supportive of you, you know, without judgment, we are very like non-judgmental, we're here to support and all that. Go, okay, let's just pause for two seconds, take this, dismantle this for a minute, and then look at the pieces. Yeah, what should you really pick up? Should you pick up the 20-pound weights or should you put the 150 barbell on your back right now? Okay. You know, so doing that with another person professionally or even personally is super helpful if you can. Um, if you can't, it's gonna be calendars and journals. Like, you know, it's literally writing stuff down and being like, Okay, dump it all out first. Here's all the things. Oh my god, I got some things, oh my god, you know. And then with a calendar and going, okay, let me see what is reasonable here and also what still looks like something I actually Give a shit about. Because many, many times when I do that dump list or when I've done it historically, 50% of it, I was like, don't even care anymore. Don't want to do it. Like it's if I am being honest.

Samantha Pruitts 22:33

Yeah. And there's something that I just want to say, and I can't remember, I think it was in James Clear's book, Atomic Habits, or somewhere like that. And this is just has to go with like recalibrating, whether it's a lifestyle shift or a training thing or whatnot. I I can't, I you know, I wasn't prepped to answer this right here and now, but it just came occurred to me, so I'll describe it as best I can. But it's like distance to goal, time to goal, the further out it is, if it's not present right now, the that what you're talking about, like do I lose momentum, do I lose motivation, right? It's your job if it's like a long-term thing, you know. I mean, I think an easy example of this is uh if you sign up for, let's say, a two-year master's program or something that's gonna take a while. We're not just talking like in 90 days you're gonna run a race or something, but like in a few years, you've got the structure in place that like will keep you on track. It's like, yeah, every quarter you're going to class, you know, like you and you've got that goal. But in our own life, right, we can have things that are gonna take a while to get to, whether, you know, longer than three weeks, three months, let's say. So when we lose sight of that, the brain is like, you know, so you've got to keep it in the present. So you've got to keep bringing yourself back, like you said, to the why. Like, why am I doing this? And that can help when you have people surrounding you. So the best thing is to like have someone else in the game with you. Like I've got a cohort partner, and he and I are doing this 100 days together. And we were literally sometimes because we're six days in or something, we're like calling each other on the daily because it feels so good to know, okay, this is 100 days, this is gonna take something, and somebody's there in the trenches with me. I mean, like we're like at the end of the day, just like sweating it and be like, oh my god, I can't believe what happened today, you know, like all this stuff. So sharing in that can really keep those longer distance things, and not that 100 days is so long, but like things that especially if you're pulling new muscles, right? And the other thing I wanted to talk about is um capacity, because you've coached me on this too. I mean, I think sometimes when the decision is made, the capacity in your life looks different. I'd love for you to talk about capacity. Oh, that looks different. So you have to talk, talk about just tell rant on capacity because I love your thoughts on capacity, the way to approach that. Like people are like, what is that? Is you know, is it like filling a cup, the capacity of a cup? Like, what is capacity and how does that relate to what we're talking about here?

Polly Mertens 24:59

Yeah, and ultimately when I said I sort of just have this spidey sense now, it is the capacity element of that that is the spidey sense. So just to kind of dig into that is like I am so in touch with my daily and even like

Capacity And Why It Always Changes

Polly Mertens 25:14

hourly to hourly capacity, never mind week or month or whatever. So it's how I feel and how I am emotionally, mentally, psychologically, and physically able to handle the things that are happening, the things that are coming my way, the things that I'm putting out, the things that are coming in, right? It's the the ability I have as a unique individual person, you know, separate from everybody else in the world, to handle life, right? And that's not a bad thing, it's a beautiful thing, like because I have built enormous capacity, as have you, to handle a big load. But then there are times where that big load and my capacity shrink sometimes strategically, sometimes against my will, right, because of life or whatever.

Samantha Pruitts 26:04

Well, think about when you had your back problem. Like how much capacity did you have?

Polly Mertens 26:08

I mean, you were in level nine ten pain, like right, right, because my capacity, because of those circumstances, shrunk in an instant, literally in a second, right? It went from me having 150% capacity for life to, oh my goodness, if I have 10% tomorrow, that will be amazing, right? And then there are just times and seasons of your life where that capacity is gonna ebb and flow. People should not think or get attached to, you know, I'm a type A person, and therefore I should always be at 150% capacity. Again, we coach entrepreneurs, business people, you know, high-level people, and they're always like, This is just who I am in the world. It's like, no, dude, no, your capacity will change, and it does change, and you should be respectful of that. Because if you override that and you don't get in tune with your mental, physical, emotional capacity because of all these things, then you will get sick, you will get injured, you won't achieve your goals. There will be absolutely downfall, triage will have to happen at some point because you ignored that. Yeah, right. We're all humans.

Samantha Pruitts 27:18

We pay the price, the carnage is us, right? Yeah, yeah.

Polly Mertens 27:21

And some people honestly need to build their capacity.

Samantha Pruitts 27:24

I was just gonna say, I was like, you know, I want to talk on the other side of that. Like, how do you build it? Because I feel like a lot of people I talk to just little things overwhelm. And I'm like, that's not that overwhelming, you know, to me anyway, right? Because we we've like you were referring to, like our capacity's been built. So where does where does capacity building show up? What what what would we do to build capacity? Something that you've done, maybe.

Polly Mertens 27:51

Yeah, it's totally a muscle, right? You develop it over life experiences that you either willingly or unwillingly take on, right? And through the the building of those muscles, of that capacity capacity muscle, if you will, if you want to think of it as a muscle, you know, you're doing the reps because you're handling whether it's growing a business, growing a family, doing some kind of crazy physical challenges, crazy, you know, to the individual, whatever that might look like for some people, is just starting to exercise. It's just starting to take care of their health. It feels totally overwhelming. They don't have capacity to cook a meal or to get an exercise routine in for 20 or 30 minutes a day, right? Their capacity is so small in this area. And I'm we're not judging, we're just saying that you need to build that up. Okay, there is no resiliency there. Emotional fitness, emotional resiliency, physical capability, focus, just being absolutely dedicated and consistent, right? Like all of that is building your capacity so you can over time accomplish great things. So if you stay at that really low capacity throughout your days, it's gonna be problematic. I do know that people are under a lot of stress, and we're gonna talk about the stress hormones pretty soon here on the podcast. People should listen to that. But that's their body and their nervous system telling them that they don't have capacity that is triggered by every little thing. Okay. So that's a physiological thing. That's not a reality, right? Like their mind in many cases is making up a story around that. And so that's a whole other conversation for us. But like building capacity is consistently putting yourself into places, experiences, things, environments where you're building the muscle of resiliency and capability. I'm gonna do the John Muir Trail solo. People think it's totally nuts, right? I'm gonna be gone for 22 days or whatever in the wilderness by myself. And people think I've completely lost my mind. And I'm like, this is the best thing I could ever be doing. I can't freaking wait, right? But I've spent 30 years building the capacity as a human being to be able to physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, skills, fitness, health to be able to do that. I didn't all of a sudden get this crazy idea, and now off I run into the woods with no like capacity to be successful. Yeah, right. So that's that's me building capacity for that thing, right? But you this is what happens in business all the time. Yeah, if you start a business, do you have capacity? No, it's through the building of a business. Yeah, you don't even know what the hell is about to happen when you start the business. It's all rainbows and unicorns and sparkly dust.

Samantha Pruitts 30:42

Mm-hmm. I would say two things I want to say is control, like the minds need to control. And then the second is the story you tell yourself, right? So first I want to touch upon like control. So I think people who don't see their capacity or their comfort zone as a malleable, a flexible thing is because they're trying to control themselves and the outcomes and the results and stuff like that overly. So, so like see your comfort zone as like a flexible thing that you you test every so often, right? Or regularly if you really want growth. And then the story you tell yourself, like you have an empowering story. Yeah, you have built, or whatever, like you were born with it, Miss Leo, like you have an empowering story. Like I was coaching someone last week, and like her go-to triggered from childhood was overwhelm and then abort, like just like you know, like from childhood trying to learn complex science or something, and then she like couldn't understand it or couldn't keep up at that particular class, not like all the classes, but like that particular class, and then told herself she was stupid, and and then she just like aborts and checks out, and it's like shows up in her life, you know, like and she's learned massive things. And I'm like re-reminding, like, hey, remember, like you studied this whole whole industry that was super hard to get into. You're one of the few females in it, and you did it, right? Like you can do that. And she's like, Oh yeah, you know, so but that inner story, that inner dialogue that was like historical from being a little girl was quickly overwhelming abort, like, oh, don't do it, you know, and then she just keeps setting herself back, not getting into action, delay, you know, kind of like woe is me. And I was like, uh, new story, new story. That's just outdated, you know. Look at all this evidence.

Polly Mertens 32:23

In parenting all the time. Yeah, yeah. And I can say that because I'm a parent and a grandparent. Okay, y'all. This whole thing that like it's getting hard and you need to swoop on in and save the kid because God forbid they fail at it. Okay, what is that shenanigans? Please stop that immediately. We are not building capacity in our young people, and so they are getting, you know, further on down the line or the pipeline, educationally, sports, life, whatever. Hopefully, they're having these experiences, and there is very little capacity built. And then, next thing you know, surprise they're an adult. Oops, out in the real world, and now they've got to get a job and have a car and have all these things and be responsible for themselves. And truthfully, the skills aren't there. And I don't blame the young people, okay? They were raised by somebody in environments that that wasn't something that we valued, that building of capacity, right? And that's not something we want to do. Flip side of the coin. I was coaching somebody this week, professional, very high-level female, and she's freaking amazing, and she's got these really significant goals, and so we're like lining it professional goals, kind of cueing things up to make sure she accomplishes these things and they're big things. Then she's also wifing and mothering and you know, family and whatever. And then all of a sudden she's like, Okay, and right now I also

Pivoting Without Quitting On Yourself

Polly Mertens 33:49

want to lose weight and start lifting weights. And I was like, No, we don't. I love your enthusiasm for that. I don't know what you saw on Instagram last night, but this is not happening. Okay, because we have to regulate and balance that capacity growth, those that muscle building. I'm not every day going and doing bicep curls so I can have biceps, right? Rest, recovery. Rest recovery, periodized training. It's the same thing with other goals in your life. Periodization, periodization, rest and recovery. You know, it's like that's how you adapt and keep moving up. And then later, when her professional life is stabilized or whatever all, then we can be like, okay, now let's shift focus again, maybe mid-year, maybe in the fall, maybe at the end of the year. Maybe we won't get to it this year. I don't know, right? But we're gonna be reasonable with the demands that we put on those type of individuals.

Samantha Pruitts 34:47

Yeah, you know, my my little story about how when I started coaching, I would I likened remodeling your life to like remodeling a house. And one of my lines is like, you know, remodeling, you know, so if you remodel the kitchen, bathroom, you want to like re redo the house, right? And the house is your life. So if you remodel the whole house, it's not very comfortable for the occupants. It's just not. So take on the bathroom. Like, okay, remodel the bathroom. Okay, and then we're gonna hit the kitchen because like you need your, you know, or like you're gonna you're gonna do the laundry room. You're not gonna have a laundry for three weeks, whatever. Like, do it in phases. Definitely.

Polly Mertens 35:21

That's a great analogy. I got a total visual there from a like health fitness perspective. When I'm working with somebody on their health and fitness goals, we are literally ripping out all the floors. Okay, the foundation, we're taking it down to the freaking studs because health and fitness is foundational, mental and physical. Foundational. So we're literally tearing it all out. So you don't, the house does not feel the same. It's very uncomfortable for a while, and it takes a long time before we have put the bricks and the flooring in place to start putting up walls and putting in windows and all that kind of stuff. You know, same thing. Yeah, that's a great analogy.

Samantha Pruitts 36:00

Well, let's talk about. I think one of the key things in a mere reset or in a you know, shifting between one goal to the next set of goals is having accountability. I want to talk about that.

Polly Mertens 36:12

You're the queen of that. I suck at that. I just do shit. And then I go, oh yeah, hey, what's up? I mean, I'm better in my old

Accountability That Actually Works

Polly Mertens 36:19

age, and we have a small little cluster there. We have a trio right now, you, me and Jen. So yeah, you, but you're the queen of this, so you speak to it.

Samantha Pruitts 36:26

Well, so there's a lot of dimensions to this, you know. So you could have just because I think, you know, in habit change and forming, you know, if you want to start learning the guitar or you want to lose weight or something like that, right? Or you want to take on a new goal, whatever it is. Accountability. So there's different theories of thought, like should you publicly announce it, should you not publicly announce it, should you tell them exactly what it is, should you keep it a secret, you know, should you get moment? Oh man, you know, like I think that's personal choice, I think, you know, or it is a personal choice, and you should honor that choice, whatever it is for you. But I do know for me, speaking my intention, speaking this, this is happening, you know, like for example, this just came to my mind. I remember I was in a Tony Robbins group and we met for years, and I declared, like a turning point in my life, I declared that I was going and I was, I had a job and a house and a husband and all this stuff, and I declared that I was going to be on the road in my RV for 90 days, right? And I was like, how the hell is that gonna, you know, I just declared it. And sometimes your your, you know, massive, big, hairy, audacious goals come from those moments of like, yes, like I want this. It could come from either suffering or either like inspiration, like you see someone else doing greatness, right? And you're like, I can totally do that, you know. So wherever it comes from, like jump on that. And then publicly declaring it for me in that moment was like frightening. First of all, it's like terrifying. Why? Because those people had listening for me. Like they had, you know, they were like, oh, what are you doing? You know, and so if I wasn't getting up to that goal over the next couple weeks, months, it was about I think it was like April, and I was gonna do it in August or something. So it's like I'd have to see them between April and August. This wasn't like, you know, so and it wasn't like they were, you know, hounding me, but like I kept my word, like I believe in my word, and so I gave my word to these people, right? And I gave it to myself too. And so that was huge for me. It doesn't have to be public, like, and I'm not a huge fan of like share it on social, just like, you know, whatever, but like people who will keep you accountable, who care for you, achieving your goals, like will cheerlead and like celebrate when you succeed, those are the people you should be sharing it with. And people that could help you and in support of it, right? Whether that's people that are already in your life or go find those people, right? If you want to take on something that you've never done before and nobody in your life, you're looking left, looking right, there's nobody that's up to this, go find those people, you know. So go put yourself in those environments, in those scenarios, fine, whatever. If it happens to be someone you know, and make sure that they're also people worthy of being accountable as well. It's great when you like have an accountability buddy, right? It could be a it can be a mastermind group like us, it's a trio, and it's so what is it, you know, or a coach, you know, like you and I, like I was digging one of my clients, I was like, Hey, you said you get me that thing. I haven't seen it, uh right.

Polly Mertens 39:23

So totally like that, those sometimes you do need to hire those people. Yeah, okay, because you might not be surrounded. Your friends and family group might be part of the problem. Okay, you set these great goals, and next thing then you know, they're bringing the Ben and Jerry's and putting on the Netflix or whatever all is going. And you're like, Well, I was gonna get up early tomorrow and go on that run, but this feels pretty good right now, except I'll have diary in the morning and I'm not going to bed on time. Okay, that's not gonna work, people. Yeah, right. So sometimes you do need to either be in a group, yeah, an accountability group, and you can find those. How do you find those?

Samantha Pruitts 40:00

A lot of different ways. So I I did want to say one oh, there was something I wanted to say about anyway. Okay, so how do you find those? So I was amazed. Like I found some Facebook groups, you know. So if you have a specific, you'd be amazed. There's all crazy amount of things on and I you don't even have to be on social media to be on a Facebook group. You can just go on Facebook and go right to groups, and you don't have to do all the rest of it. So those are fantastic. It depends on what it is. Sometimes meetups, you know, those can be like a hiking group or something like that. And then professional, you know, so there are paid mastermind groups that you can be in, like if it's on a specific topic, right? And I would just say like start like hoarding around something is what I want to say. Like, like, like I was interested in YouTube, like learning more about YouTube and getting stronger at making videos. So it was like, I just start hanging out in the places that they hang out online. You know, I'm looking at videos, I'm checking out things, and then you know, different people, you know, you know this, they throw up a course and whatever. So if you get into that course, they usually have a cohort or a group or something like that. So if it's in alignment, like I'm looking to create masterminds for my contractors, right? So creating a cohort of contractors so that they can share information. They can, you know, share with each other problems, benefits, oh, this worked, that didn't work, right? It's so good if you're in business to be having people on a sl on a similar plane giving you feedback, right? And giving you ideas as well.

Polly Mertens 41:26

Totally, totally. Yeah. I mean, people exist all around you and you'll find them in the strangest places. But if your goal is to learn how to run, then you join running communities. If it's to whatever, go backpacking, you go find those people. If it's to do the gym, you find that. If it's to build a business, you go into these entrepreneurial groups specific to the industry that you want to be in and you start associating with those pockets of people. Or if it's schooling and education, obviously the people that are drawn to that type of education, whether it's uh trade, skill, or you know, stuff study, then go find them. They do exist. I know that I mean, honestly, the pandemic really unfortunately we haven't come out of so many of these repercussions. And one of them is that people forgot that there's a whole life outside of their computer and online life.

Samantha Pruitts 42:18

Yeah.

Polly Mertens 42:19

Yeah. And I think that's just one of my biggest things with people right now working with people is like just turn it off for a hot second and just go find some real humans to talk to, please.

Samantha Pruitts 42:29

Definitely. You know, and there's local associations, there's chambers, there's networking mix. Like I went to the Rotary Club. Yeah, I went to the interior designers meeting recently, look, you know, talking to other contractors, like be social, be out and be with people. And you know, and if you have people in your life like me, like that are up to accountability, like they probably have ideas. Like if they're if they're in groups, like how did you get in those groups? So ask them, right? So, but there's infinite. If you have an intention, like I want and some accountability, start maybe with your friends if you you know have a good resource there. If you've got people that can hold the walls with you and will hold you accountable, and then just like I'm gonna find one. Like, just start looking. I'm gonna find mine.

Polly Mertens 43:11

So I mean, we really want people, and that's before we wrap this up, to be understanding that it's about the middle of the year-ish. A, you can go out and buy a new calendar like me, put the old one away, whether the first half was good for you or not. I do keep mine because there's a lot of valuable things that transpired, right? But you don't have to, maybe it wasn't great. And that's okay. You can also close the door on it and be like, okay, but the second half, I'm gonna get down to business here, right? I'm refocused on what it is that's important to me to achieve this year, my values, my goals, my purpose. And I'm gonna reinvest the second half in that. Either I'm doubling down on what I've accomplished or I'm just gonna change directions. And I'm giving myself the freedom to do that and the power to do that.

Samantha Pruitts 44:02

Yeah. And, you know, like when I was talking about like I finished this last quarter, like we did a my cohort and I, the Miracle Quarter, we, you know, we shared what did we get out of it. You know, A from working, like I'll tell you in that cohort. So we made Sunday mornings, and I said, I Have you guys felt value in this? You know, should we continue on? Yeah, everybody re-upped. We're like, yes, 100%. You know, and they could, you know, quantify it, things like that. And then it was like, all right, and what did you accomplish? Like, so celebrate, you know, so sometimes you'll just be in a group for so long. And it's like, am I am I achieving what I said I was gonna achieve? Like, like take a pause and reflect, you know. So last, so this coming week, we're gonna share, you know, what have we completed since our last session? Like, how did you grow in ways that you didn't even expect, right? So some things I set out to do this and I did those, and that's awesome. And then some things I also learned and I didn't know I was gonna learn along the way, right? And celebrate that. Like that's you going, you know, it's these seasons of our lives when we lose track of all the awesomeness. Like I love, I haven't done this in a while, but it's reminding me that I was making once a month like collages of pictures from my phone and putting it into Canva and just doing these collages. See what I was up to in my life. I was like, I have a radiant life, you know, but you can just, you know, get so bogged down in like day, you know, dog, you know, groundhog day, day at one day looks like the next. But when I look back at the pictures of the friends and the faces and the places that I've been to, it inspires me. It's like, wow, that's so yummy, right?

Polly Mertens 45:33

That's a really cool way to take inventory, you know, because all right, we're this episode's gonna be what early June when it goes out. That's only five months into the year. Okay. You were just discussing, describing that, you know, the collagen of the thing, and I just had this like you know, 50,000 frames kind of collage go through my brain. Holy shit. What I personally, I'm giving myself kudos, have accomplished in the last five months, right? Is blowing my own mind. Okay. I already was moving on because I got the new calendar into this. I didn't appropriately take inventory and give credit where credit is due to the incredible amount of work that had to transpire for me to be here right now, yeah, so that I can move forward with the next six, seven months. Right. So I think that is what a huge take-home message for people. Right. Sometimes we do get caught in, well, I had 10 goals and I only achieved three, and you know, you kind of whatever. But this looking back and taking inventory, actually, I think that needs to be the first step.

Samantha Pruitts 46:49

Oh, well, well, you know, in my program last year, remember my return to the light. So that's what I do on an annual basis, right? And so every and I do this each week of my week, part of my planner has reflection time for the past week. And not just from a goals perspective, but like what worked, what didn't work, what are you gonna do differently in the next week and stuff. So I wouldn't say it's like just looking at yummy pictures and stuff, like I talked about the collage, but yeah, like life goes pretty quick, man. You know, can get going.

Polly Mertens 47:19

Yeah, it freaking does. The pictures are just an easy way to do it, but you're right. They're just gonna trigger ideas and memories and things of you know, like that.

Samantha Pruitts 47:27

But because oftentimes those pictures, like those moments, the getting together with a friend or or whatnot, it doesn't show up on a goals list either. You know, it's like like your trips to OHI and these things that you've done outside of it, it wasn't a personal goal, I would say. It wasn't like you said, Oh, I'm gonna visit these three people, like chuck, check, check. It's like those opportunities

Take Inventory Then Choose What’s Next

Samantha Pruitts 47:49

came up for good or bad, you know, and you're like, there you were, you know, and you did those. And those are the memories of our life that are the fabric of what what happened in that period. So it may not show up on the goals list, but it happened in your life, and it's a beautiful way to honor and be like, yeah.

Polly Mertens 48:05

So that's why you keep your camera, your calendar too. Because when you get to the end of the year and you do this end of year cycle, you're like, wait, what happened in April? I don't know. What if? I don't remember a thing. Really? To look at your calendar.

Samantha Pruitts 48:20

Totally. That's usually how I'm like, oh yeah, I did that. Oh my god, yeah. Like I just was reminded that something showed up. Oh, Iron, I got a reminder about Iron Man. Oh, I was looking at my medal and it said May 19th, 2024. And I was like, wow, two years ago, I did Iron Man. That was so cool. So yeah. I love it. I love it. All right. Well, what's what's the one thing? What's your one takeaway from today? What do you want to have people leave with? What do you think?

Polly Mertens 48:48

I think I've changed it a few times since we sort of got to the conclusion here. But really, what it is is I mean, people, I want to give people the permission they might not be giving themselves, but really I want them to give it to themselves. That it's perfectly okay to get to the middle of the year and start again in whatever way, shape, or form they need to. Again, changing directions or doubling down on or whatever. It's depending on what it is, right? But just giving them that freedom, permission, if you will. But then also what an incredible opportunity that is, right? So it's not just about taking inventory and resetting goals, but what an opportunity to put an incredible sense of value on your life. My time and my actions are all that I have. Okay. All this other stuff around me means nothing. So if I'm not utilizing my time and my actions in the way that is true for me, best for me, makes me happy, thriving lifestyle, all that kind of stuff, then I'm kind of missing the mark, right? So this is really an opportunity to do that.

Samantha Pruitts 50:03

I love that. I would say mine is you know, people get going so busy in life. I'm a big fan. I do a weekly review, you know, of my week and stuff, and then a bigger one at the end of the month. And I don't think people see know enough of why you would do that. So I would just say try it sometime, whether you do it on a weekly basis or like a mid-year and an annual, try it one time and you might be surprised if you sit down and you can look online for templates and stuff. I think we've given you a lot of ideas here, but like, you know, you do a review, it's it's so valuable for your spirit, for your soul, for you know, you to re-up on something. You know, I think if we're here for growth, a looking at the growth that we've had is very empowering and looking up to what do we want to get up to, that I think is it it puts the power back in your hands for setting a life with intention, like living deliberately, if you will. So, but you gotta set that time aside. So make it, make it, don't just bl, you know, buzzing through life. You know, a deliberate life is one that is, you know, evaluated and a lot of self-awareness too, with intention.

Polly Mertens 51:10

So that's a deliberate life is a life well lived.

Samantha Pruitts 51:13

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. One life, live it. All right. What's our what's our motto though for taking taking away?

Polly Mertens 51:20

Well, how your life looks is not that important compared to how it feels.

Samantha Pruitts 51:27

And every day is your opportunity to find your awesome.

Polly Mertens 51:30

See you next week.