Before I dive into this week’s article, no, I’m not slacking on the blog. I spent the past couple of weeks visiting family and going on a road trip, and I decided to just have fun and give myself a short break from everything except the podcast while I was gone. But, as they say, the party is over, and it’s back to the grind. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because as much as I enjoyed that reprieve, I fucking love the grind.  

At the beginning of the year, I wrote an article called “Mindset, Baby, Mindset,” where I talked about how I was going to kick things up a notch in 2023. I set the intention to focus on winning this year and not allow myself to make or accept excuses for giving up on my goals. I also talked about how my priorities were going to be centered around continuous growth, learning, and self-development, as well as following my passions and consistently aligning my habits and behaviors with an attitude of success.

Since starting my self-development journey about 2 years ago, I’ve realized that the more things I attempt that are out of my comfort zone, the more I’m driven to want to take myself and my life to the next level. I’ve mentioned in past articles that writing this blog and co-hosting the podcast have been completely life-changing for me. Publicly sharing my life and speaking out about my values and beliefs was something I thought I would never do, but I have since grown to become completely passionate about these projects. And, after completing my first round of “75 Hard” last September, I realized I also have the discipline to commit to habits I didn’t think I could be consistent with.

So, this year I decided I was going to continue to do shit that makes me uncomfortable and challenges me to become better. Instead of just listening to inspiring podcasts and reading self-development books, I set the intention to take a more active approach to upleveling my life and consistently striving for new levels of personal excellence and contribution. Fuck mediocrity. I’m playing full out in my life. So, the question is, am I following through with these commitments and bold statements? Let’s consider this a first quarter check-in…

 I started the year off with a bang, simultaneously committing to a second round of “75 Hard” and Rob Dial Jr.’s 31-day “Limitless” Challenge in January. In retrospect, I suppose it was slightly overambitious (and probably a bit stupid), taking on two fairly demanding programs at the same time. But, hey, go big or go home right? I was going big. Fortunately, a lot of the tasks overlapped. Both programs involved daily tasks that included 45-minute workouts, reading, no alcohol, sticking to a diet, and drinking a gallon of water. “Limitless” also involved journaling, meditation, and participating in daily Facebook video challenge chats.

I decided I wanted to do something to give back and volunteer within my community, so I joined a local Soroptimist chapter in January, committing myself to bi-monthly lunch meetings and various other community-involved projects. I also found myself volunteering to take over managing the group’s social media accounts, which, if you know anything about me and my lack of creative social media skills, is completely laughable, but I’m doing it anyway.

Towards the end of January, I got an email announcing that the Arete Syndicate was going to be considering new members. Arete is an incredible community of highly successful elite entrepreneurs and people who are dedicated to being a force for good in this world and dominating at life. It’s like a network of personal excellence and empire-builders, led by Andy Frisella and Ed Mylett. I had attended a virtual livestream event last year, and ever since then I had been wanting to apply for membership. But, I held myself back from even entertaining the possibility because I’m not a highly successful entrepreneur (or even an entrepreneur at all), so I told myself I wasn’t good enough to apply.

However, this is the year of playing full out, stepping out of my comfort zone, and focusing on personal excellence with no excuses, so fuck it, I applied. And after a nail-biting week of hoping my essay was good enough for consideration, holy shit, I got accepted. When I received the email, I was literally so excited I was bouncing off the walls like a kid in a candy store. It’s been a couple months, and I’m still trying to navigate through some of my limiting beliefs about feeling like I don’t belong in the group since I’m not a successful entrepreneur, but I’m soaking up every bit of knowledge I can, and I feel confident that the Universe put this opportunity in my path for a reason, and something really fucking incredible is going to come out of it.

Shortly after getting accepted into Arete, I decided to take on a 5-day Tony Robbins challenge in February called “Become Unshakeable.” Despite my interest in personal development, in truth, participating in a Tony Robbins seminar is something I NEVER thought I would do. I grew up watching Tony’s infomercials on late night TV as a kid over 30 years ago, and I’ve always thought the whole thing was a little cultish. Then again, personal development in general is a little cultish for people who don’t believe, isn’t it? Well, since starting my own self-development journey a couple years ago, I can readily admit I’ve become a believer.

I don’t know what I was expecting heading into this virtual seminar. I had signed up at the last minute, and it was only a few hours a day, so I multitasked a lot of the program while I was at work. To be honest, I wasn’t fully committed during the process, and I ended up watching most of the content on replays after it was over. I didn’t participate in the physical components of the program at all, but I was fascinated and in awe watching the people on screen who did. Jumping around and dancing and yelling in front of my computer screen for thousands of people to see was just not something I was okay with doing. And, I had the great excuse that I was at work, so I couldn’t do that anyway. But then, if I wasn’t going to participate, then why the fuck was I doing it at all?

As with almost all self-development programs and seminars, the upsell for Tony Robbins’ infamous “Unleash the Power Within” program (otherwise known as “UPW”) was introduced during the second or third day of “Become Unshakeable.” And yeah, I got sucked in and decided to commit to that too. I told myself I was going to play full out, so I took 2 days off work to make sure I wouldn’t have any excuses or distractions.

I’m not gonna lie. To say UPW was intense would be a severe understatement. I don’t really even know how to describe it. It was simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting on all levels – mentally, physically, and psychologically. Four days, 12-15 hours each, with very minimal breaks the first two days. I barely had time to run out to the stables to feed the horses and goats. Tony Robbins is insane. In a good way. I don’t know how one person can have that much energy. I guess that’s why he’s the number one motivational coach in the world and has created an empire that’s not only lasted, but also grown exponentially over the past 40 years. Watching him was truly impressive.

Throughout the program, I maintained my commitment to play full out. I repeatedly danced, jumped around, and screamed more in those four days than I probably have my entire life. I quite literally unleashed the power within me, oftentimes with such an intensity that I think my dogs were confused and scared. If I had neighbors, they probably would have called the cops out of concern. I stayed up way past my bedtime each night, and I burned more calories in those four days than I would in a month of CrossFit. I’m not even joking. Thankfully, my last day of my most recent round of “75 Hard” ended on the first day of UPW because I really didn’t have the bandwidth to do much else but focus on the seminar throughout the four days. I don’t know how anyone could possibly go through this process and not experience some kind of transformation. I think it’s literally designed to wear you down physically in order to impact your mindset.

My headlong rush into challenging myself to strive for excellence also resulting in what I still think was a very questionable decision to commit myself to posting weekly short “inspirational” selfie videos on Facebook and Instagram for an entire year as a way to challenge myself to step further out of my comfort zone. I have no idea if anyone is actually inspired by these little segments, and frankly, the whole process of doing selfie videos makes me cringe. I guess that’s the whole point, though. Doing shit that makes you push through the discomfort.

And finally, right before I went on vacation, I made a fairly last-minute decision to renew my CrossFit Level 1 Trainer credential because, hey, why not add coaching to my ever-growing list of activities? Honestly, this wasn’t on my radar at all, but when one of the coaches at my gym told me there was going to be a local training seminar, and I could get it done in one weekend and only have to drive 30 minutes away, I took that as a sign that this was something I should be doing. Never mind that I’ve been nursing a shoulder and neck injury for a few weeks, and I was wholly unprepared and had to cram study a 300-page manual for a written exam in 2 days. Fuck it, right? I jumped in and played full out. The Universe must have been on my side because I passed the written exam.

So, here we are, at the start of April, and I feel like I’ve been doing a pretty decent job of pushing myself out of my comfort zone in my ongoing quest for personal excellence. There have been a few bumps in the road, but instead of making excuses, I just fix my shit and get back on track. Throughout it all, I’ve continued working full-time, spending several hours each week doing podcast research, writing blog articles, recording podcast episodes, taking care of my ever-growing menagerie of animals and responsibilities, and mapping out other projects I’m committed to accomplishing.

Am I a little overambitious? Maybe. But my journey so far has been incredible, and despite the stress of taking on a ton of shit all at once, I’ve loved the challenge. Yeah, I still have a few limiting beliefs about myself and my ability to become the successful entrepreneur I know I’m destined to be, but I’m working on my mindset every day, and as long as I keep playing full out in my life and taking steps towards fulfilling my dreams, I know I’m going to make shit happen.

So, that’s my update. I’ve already taken on my next big self-development project, and I’m excited to see where that goes. I’ll keep y’all posted.

Unapologetically Outspoken,

Tara