Are you choosing to live a happy, fulfilled life?
That’s right, studies have proven that ninety percent of the factors that make the difference between a happy life and an unhappy life are factors within your control. One life hack proven to help unlock your best life is setting, pursuing, and achieving goals.
Yes, you can choose a happy life, but don’t take my word for it! Here’s an example of how other people – people just like you – are choosing to achieve happiness through their goals.
Are you ready for a dad joke?
I offer you this "dad joke" as a light "amuse-bouche" to entertain your mind before we get serious. My dad joke may be groan-worthy, but it's worth every penny you paid for it, right?
A man walks into a bar and notices a steak hanging from the ceiling. When he asks about it, the bartender says, “If you can jump up and touch it, drinks are on the house all night, but if you miss, everyone’s drinks are on your tab for the next two hours. Do you want to try?” The man decided to not take the risk. He thought the steaks were too high.
Check, Please! What Happened When Kourtney Was Ready For A New Career (Interview)
Welcome to this week’s Interview with a Goal-Crusher. In these interviews, I sit down with someone accomplishing big things by setting and achieving their goals to learn their secrets. Then I share those secrets with you. It’s like free mentoring from someone already on the road to success. Who doesn’t want that?!
Have you ever felt trapped where you are when trying to make a change? You want to move to something new (job, relationship, home, health, etc.), but it feels impossible to leave the security of where you are. Before you know it, weeks, months and even years have slipped by, and your dreams seem even further out of reach. Sound familiar?
The experience of feeling trapped in a job is an all-too-frequent reality for service industry staff. In this industry, you work hard for long hours, walk out with instant pay (tips) and spend your off-hours catching up on sleep to do it all over again the next day. You also have to tolerate being treated poorly by some customers without being able to stand up for yourself. This lifestyle makes it difficult to go to school, interview, or do any other things needed to get a “corporate” or “career” job. When they are able to get a new job, the initial cash flow adjustment is another significant hurdle to overcome.
Pro tip: Please treat your server a little better the next time you go out (but you already know this if you read Be a Better Leader: How Not To Be A Jerk).
This week’s Interview with a Goal-Crusher features Kourtney, someone who has overcome this challenge and is killing it in her new, post-serving career. Not only did she master this transition, but she went into a corporate job without letting go of her beloved non-corporate edge. She stayed true to herself, which is one of many things I love about her. She has also been my friend and unwavering supporter for a decade.
Kourtney’s story reminds me of a famous Thomas Jefferson quote, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” She humbly explains multiple ways that luck helped her succeed. However, as you will read below, there was way more to her success than luck. There was a ton of hard work, difficult choices, creative solutions, personal sacrifice and a few tears along the way. Most importantly, she masterfully applied several critical goal success tactics.
Without further ado, I present my interview with Kourtney, an expert-level goal-crusher and phenomenal human.
Please introduce yourself and tell my readers about you and what you do.
Hi, I’m Kourtney.
I have a Bachelor’s in Spanish Linguistics from OSU and an Associate’s in Accounting from CSCC.
I love cats, Halloween, mystery/crime shows and books.
My boyfriend, Ryan and I have been together for 9 years in October.
I have 3 cats: Mabel, Sabrina, and Lilith.
I’m 33. I’m an accountant at a local firm in Columbus. I’ve been there for 3 years in October. I work in the CAAS department (Client Accounting & Advisory Services). I started as an intern before I graduated.
I previously worked in the restaurant industry for fifteen years.
What motivated you to transition from your service industry jobs to your “career” job? What was your vision? Can you share some/all of your story?
I never assumed that the service industry would be my career and had always thought I’d be a lawyer, translator, or accountant while in school! After graduating from OSU in 2015, the service industry afforded me so much flexibility and met my financial needs while caring for my sick father.
As they say, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” So, without pursuing my Spanish-related career right away, it kind of fell to the back burner as far as career dreams go. I continued in the service industry, making so many friends, learning new things, loving my regulars and my job, and still enjoying the flexibility and money that came with it.
When the pandemic hit, I realized that as much as I loved what I was doing, I wasn’t really thinking long-term: savings, retirement, the stress and strain the long hours took on my body. Could I really do this forever? Could I really do this for even five more years? What if this pandemic never ends?
After eating pancakes and whatever ingredients were in the pantry for about 3 weeks, the government money finally started coming in. I could stress less, catch up on bills, and I had time to really think clearly. What job could I do, learn, and excel at to set myself up for future success? Could I possibly do it from home and ALWAYS be needed?
I love numbers, equations, puzzles, and mysteries, so I decided to peruse college websites. I had already thought about being an accountant in the past, so why not now? I looked through CSCC programs, and luckily, every class needed for an Associate’s in Accounting could be taken online! Plus, CSCC was pretty affordable.
What was the first step you took to get started with your goal?
My first steps included talking to Ryan about how realistic this would be. Could we handle me being in school if the pandemic did end? What roles would he have to take on to help me have enough time to get through it all? By this time, a lot of places were trying to get back to business or come up with solutions to get partially up and running. I knew I’d have to go back to work eventually.
Then, I applied, bought a used laptop from a friend, and signed up for my courses.
What were your biggest challenges in achieving your goals? How did you overcome them?
One of my biggest challenges was being riddled with pandemic anxiety and depression and trying to put that aside to focus.
After I got focused, I watched many of my friends partying and having fun while I was spending hours and hours reading and studying. The same challenge also existed at home. Ryan and I lived in a VERY SMALL one-bedroom apartment, so we needed to find a balance. I needed quiet time to do schoolwork while preserving his ability to connect with his friends online… and basically not be silent all the time.
Learning something new wasn’t always easy either, a lot of tears and frustration. I’d worked so long in the restaurant industry that most of the new stuff I learned was recipes, flavor profiles, and faces, not entirely new concepts. It didn’t help that I hadn’t used a computer in over five years?? LOL
Once I returned to work, I encountered a new set of challenges. First of all, was time management to balance work and school deadlines. This meant I was still not partying with friends, but I was making time for them online or for coffee dates.
The drinking culture in the service industry was another struggle. I had to monitor myself when drinking alcohol because I couldn’t be the slightest bit hungover to do my schoolwork, or it wouldn’t stick, or I’d miss deadlines. This put a little pressure on my friendships. For example, I remember one night after closing the bar, we were all on the patio, and a friend said, “We’re all going here for so-and-so’s birthday.” Then he looked me dead in the face and said, “I know you aren’t coming.” To their surprise, I was on a break and said I would join… everyone cheered! I had put off so much social time, and everyone noticed.
Once I got my internship, I had to start the whole process over.
What goal success tips and techniques have worked well for you that you would like to share with my readers?
For me, it came down to the willpower to stick to my schedule. I needed to create a routine each week. Every Sunday, I would go through my week’s deadlines and assignments and write them out. Then I would plan when to do them. Finally, I planned everything else around that.
Getting an internship really helped with my learning along the way. I know it’s not always possible to fit that into every schedule, but I got lucky. I was lucky to have had such support at home, through friends, and from my coworkers and regulars at Milestone 229.
I was also lucky that CSCC works closely with my firm for internship opportunities. The luck continued when one of the interviewers was also a local bartender (we really clicked). I also got lucky that the internship paid well and was part-time to start with flexible schedules.
Celebrating my wins was important to me. I really hyped up myself for getting good grades, accomplishing another week, and finishing a tough assignment or chapter! Really acknowledging your accomplishments, no matter how small, can keep you motivated, in my opinion. It can be helpful to come up with small rewards for yourself (like an extra hour of TV, sleeping in late, a glass of wine).
What is one big goal you are pursuing now?
Well, I have a few running right now.
At work, I’m coming up on my third anniversary, which means there’s a certification I can pursue. I’m trying to take on more challenges at work/volunteering more for projects, so the knowledge, experience, bonuses, and raises keep coming.
For my health, I have started lifting weights so I can get back into pre-pandemic shape. Why should I save for retirement if I can’t get there, right?
I am also trying to save to buy a house.
What else would you like my Operation Melt readers to know about you, your journey, or about goal success in general?
You’d be surprised what you can do if you want something for yourself.
It’s going to be hard.
It’s going to be uncomfortable.
It probably won’t always be fun.
And it’s okay to cry over taxes.
But your hard work and discipline can pay off!
How can people learn more about you?
I’m incredibly mysterious!
I hardly use social media, but my LinkedIn is pretty up-to-date. @kourtneyay is my Instagram, and some people still tag me in photos.
If you want to reach me, you can go to Milestone 229, get dinner and drinks, and find an employee who knows me. Or, you can ask Tony, he knows how to find me.
What did I say? She’s marvelous, right?
Kourtney was a server extraordinaire, and now she’s an accountant extraordinaire. It wasn’t an easy journey, but she did it, and we can learn a lot from her. Here are a few highlights of how her story embodied my Project Manage Your Life approach to goal-crushing.
- Set SMART Goals: Kourtney had a goal; she knew why it was important to her (her “R”), and she had a vision for the future. Starting your journey with clarity and a strong why helps carry you through when times get tough.
- Build a plan that works for you: Kourtney’s approach to her goal had to fit with her life and her personality. She was willing to sacrifice when needed, but she had to work with how she was naturally wired (even when choosing a field of study) and her life situation. Moreover, she had to re-engineer this plan multiple times as her circumstances changed.
- Measure progress every day: Kourtney used grades and other milestones to measure her progress in school. Now that she is working in her field, she has evolved those measurements to include certifications, job progression and other achievements to track her progress.
- Expect and plan ahead for problems: Kourtney knew her journey wouldn’t be smooth sailing, so she took steps to reduce the obstacles. Arranging quiet study spaces and avoiding alcohol were both proactive steps she took to minimize the bumps in the road.
- Don’t go it alone: Kourtney had many people in her “tribe” of supporters. Her boyfriend, friends, family, coworkers and even her restaurant regulars were there to help lift her up to her goal.
- Enjoy the journey: While Kourtney’s journey required her to make some sacrifices in the fun department, she still gave herself permission to enjoy. She created a reward system for her achievements, made time for coffee with friends and said “yes” to going out when it fit with her goals.
I appreciate Kourtney and feel privileged to share her story with you. I am thrilled for her successes and excited to see where she goes next. Wherever it is, I can assure you she will still be the fun, edgy Kourtney I have known for years.
Do you feel trapped where you are and can’t figure out how to reach your goal. As a coach, I can help you narrow down and commit to your goal, build a plan to get there and be your partner along the way. I would be honored to help you break free and accelerate toward your goal.
I believe in you; let me help YOU believe in you!
Meet Coach Tony
My name is Coach Tony, and I am a coach, author and project manager on a mission. I am working to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.
I almost allowed one of my biggest life goals to die without ever being attempted for forty years. My goal almost died, not of failure but of loneliness. But, I took a risk and leveraged a simple, logical process that helped me wildly exceed my goal.
I transformed my life, and you can do the same with the help of Operation Melt.
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip project managers and other left-brained high-achievers to pursue and accomplish their biggest goals.
Breathe new life into your goals
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