Thank you for reading this week’s Operation Melt update.

Operation Melt started as a blog to share my personal transformation and weight loss story. After achieving success with that goal, Operation Melt has evolved into a platform to help inspire, motivate and equip people to achieve their own personal and professional goals so they can live their best lives.

I am trying to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.

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Goal Success by Choice

We can choose to be successful with our goals if we make the right daily choices, build the right habits and behaviors and adopt the right mindsets. Goal Success by Choice shares lessons about the choices we can make that can either move us closer to our goals or hold us back. I hope this post helps you get a little closer to crushing your goals.

Am I Allowed To?

A friend of mine, let’s call him Dave, had a fire burning inside him.

Dave had a passion project developing and had a great idea. He couldn’t wait to pursue his passion and he was ready to get started. Since he was just getting started, this project was just going to be a side hustle and he was going to keep his day job. He was very excited and making all the right moves to set himself up for success.

When it came time for Dave to incorporate his business around this side hustle he paused for a second. He almost didn’t move forward. Dave was concerned and said, “am I allowed to have a business if I am still working in my day job.”

Dave almost lost his nerve to pursue this passion because he didn’t think he was allowed to do it.

Asking Permission

Have you ever found yourself stopping to ask permission to do something? Of course you have.

Would I get in trouble if I started a blog?

Is it ok if I write this book?

Can I call myself a writer? A leader? A coach? An athlete?

Could I sign up to run my first half marathon?

Would it be wrong if I started this business?

Would it be ok if I applied for that job even if I am not one hundred percent qualified?

We often stop to look for external validation that it is ok to take that next step. This is how we are taught to behave from a young age, especially in school. From speaking to going to the bathroom, we have to ask somebody for permission to take that next step. As we mature, we extend this permission seeking to other aspects of life. We think that we need to check whether or not the masters of the universe will approve of our idea.

Unfortunately, this pause to ask for permission can interrupt our momentum and make us second-guess ourselves. This might cause us to pull the plug on a goal that would have turned into a big success. Asking permission can prevent us from even getting started.

Asking permission and seeking external validation before pursuing your goal is a major contributor to goals dying of loneliness.

There Are No Rules

There is a secret that I have learned about pursuing goals: there are no rules.

Yes, there are laws out there and you can’t break the laws. But laws just cover the big things. Outside of that, you make your own rules.

Here is a personal example of how much of a slippery slope asking for permission can be. I once paused to ask if I am allowed to call myself a writer. I had written a weekly blog for almost two years and had self-published a book. But was I really allowed to call myself a writer or an author?

Then I started discounting my achievements in my quest to seek permission. My book was just self-published. I haven’t sold thousands of copies of the book yet. My blog wasn’t being read by that many people each week. Writing isn’t my day job. I don’t have any formal training or experience as a writer.

The list of ways I told myself that I wasn’t good enough goes on and on.

In retrospect, my internal conversation about being a writer should have gone more like this. Should I call myself a writer? Well, do I write? Do I do the work? Yep. Then, hell yes I am a writer! And I am getting better at the craft every day.

I don’t need somebody else’s permission or approval to be what and who I want to be!

You Don’t Need Permission

If you have an idea, a passion, a calling, give it a try. If it is important to you and you are willing to put in the work to do it, who has the right to tell you no?

The only permission that matters is your permission. The only rules that matter are your rules.

You don’t need permission to pursue and crush your goals.

You don’t need permission to be who you want to be.

You don’t need permission to live your best life.

Give yourself permission and get out there and do the work. Your goals and dreams are just a couple of choices away. 

I Need Your Help

Before you go I would like to ask you for a favor. I can’t build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness on my own. Please consider helping your friends find today’s post by following me on Facebook, on LinkedIn or via Instagram and sharing today’s post to your feed.

While you are at it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s post, your goals or anything else on your mind. Send me a note via my Contact Me form,

Thanks again for reading today’s post and here’s to achieving your most important goals!

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