Are you choosing to live a happy, fulfilling life?
Studies show that 90% of what separates a happy life from an unhappy one is within your control. One of the most powerful ways to unlock your best life is by setting, pursuing, and achieving meaningful goals.
You have the power to choose happiness—but don’t just take my word for it! Here’s how real people, just like you, are creating happiness by chasing their biggest goals.
Ready for a dad joke?
Consider this a lighthearted amuse-bouche for your brain before we get serious. Sure, it might be groan-worthy—but hey, at least you’re getting your money’s worth, right? 😆
(Halloween preview joke!)
What is Vlad The Impaler's favorite joke?
So, a bar goes into this guy…
There Is An “After”
Happy September. This is going to be a big month for Operation Melt.
This month’s blog series is built around one life-changing truth:
There is an after… and it’s yours to create.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking,
“I’m not happy. I want more… but I don’t know if I can or should take the plunge”?
If so, this month is for you.
Each post is designed to show you that there’s always an “after.”
You’re allowed to imagine it. You’re allowed to want it.
And you’re allowed to take the first step, even if you’re not sure how it ends.
The future is yours to build.
So the real question is: will you take the first step or stay stuck where you are?
Miles Knew There Was an After. He Just Had to Build It.
🌟 Welcome to this month’s Interview with a Goal-Crusher! 🌟
Each month, I sit down with someone who’s achieved big things through goal-setting and determination to uncover their secrets to success. Then I share those insights with you… Think of it as free mentoring from someone who’s already making it happen. Who wouldn’t want that?!
This month’s interview marks a significant milestone: an interview with the husband of a prior goal-crusher. Very fitting that my first wife-husband goal-crusher feature is the powerhouse team of Monica (see Brewing Sweet Results: Monica’s Successful Story of Creating Joy) and Miles. They are an amazing and inspirational team in both business and life, and I am honored to have the opportunity to feature them.
Miles and Monica are the owners of two locations of Winans Coffee & Chocolate in Columbus, Ohio. Both work full-time in their businesses, but it wasn’t always the case. When I first met Miles, he had a full-time job elsewhere and helped Monica with the businesses when he could. Plus, he and Monica are super parents to their two amazing daughters.
Clearly, Miles is a hard worker. He had a full-time job, was supporting the family business, all while being a parent. It sounds like the recipe for burnout, right?
Amplifying the burnout risk, Miles was working in a job that he excelled at, but it had evolved into something he no longer enjoyed. Rather than becoming a frog in boiling water, Miles paid close attention to the water heating up around him. He knew he wanted to hop out.
Today, I get to share Miles’ story of committing to and making a job change that lights him up. And, as one of his most frequent customers, I can tell you he is great at his job at Winans!
At the end of today’s interview, I will provide you with the tools to help you figure out your “after” and turn it into reality.
Please introduce yourself and tell my readers about you and what you do.
My name is Miles Thomas.
I was raised in Merion Village in Columbus, Ohio, and still live in the same house I grew up in with my wife and two daughters.
My wife and I own and operate Winans Chocolates and Coffees.
What was the job you were working in and what motivated you to start a quest to leave? What was your vision? Can you share some/all of your story?
My wife and I purchased the German Village Winans store from the Winans family in 2014, and she successfully ran it for 10 years.
During that time, I had a separate career managing commercial construction projects around Columbus. It was an amazing experience to be a part of some significant projects, such as the new Ohio State University Hospital and the new Hilton Hotel tower.
But my role changed as time went on. I went from spending the majority of my time involved in on-site activities, to having most of my day spent in front of a computer in the office reviewing contracts, change orders and insurance requirements. Although still an important part of the process, I felt more and more removed from the actual construction. It started to feel like I was stuck on the sidelines.
What was the first step you took to get started with your goal?
I knew I wanted a change a couple of years before I was able to do anything about it. But the most important thing I did was to decide that I was going to make a change. Once I had accepted this, my mind was open to what other possibilities existed.
When I was younger, I would have just quit my job that day and then just figured everything else out. But with a family, a mortgage, and all the bills that come with being an adult, there had to be some forethought and planning. I needed to have another source of income in place ahead of time.
We discussed many different options, but ultimately, we decided that opening another Winans store was the safest option with the chance of success.
What were your biggest challenges in achieving your goals? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge to making a drastic change like this was the time, effort and financial expense involved with getting the next thing going while still doing the current job.
There is no shortcut to this. There was just a lot of time spent on lunch breaks, evenings and weekends trying to get things going.
Even harder might have been convincing my wife that investing this large amount of money was going to be worth it in the end.
What goal success tips and techniques have worked well for you that you would like to share with my readers?
I don’t believe I was born with any special or exceptional talents to rely on throughout life. Because of this, I just had to work really hard to achieve what I wanted.
That’s the biggest piece of advice I could give anyone.
Don’t spend your life counting all the reasons you can’t have what you want or why others are more deserving. Decide what you want and then put everything you have into making it happen. Don’t let fear keep you stuck in the status quo.
What is one goal you are excited about right now?
Now that our new Winans store is up and running, I have had some time to think about what’s next.
I miss the construction part of construction and have been looking at ways to get back to it.
I can never just walk completely away from our family business, but I am beginning to incorporate some smaller construction projects into my schedule. I have really enjoyed getting back to the basics.
What else would you like my Operation Melt readers to know about you, your career, your journey or about goal success in general?
To me, success is about finding the joy in whatever you are doing.
Too many times, I think people have a preconceived notion of what happiness is, and anything short of that is a failure. Sure, you should have some idea of where you want to go in life, but remain open to the possibility that there are more avenues to happiness than you realize at the moment.
I truly believe that being able to adapt to what life throws my way is the basis for my happiness.
How can people learn more about you?
Give me a call to see how I’m doing, or talk to me when you see me. I don’t have personal social media accounts because I still value the personal connection of a personal relationship.
Miles’ story is an inspirational tale of building an “after.”
Miles wasn’t happy with his present situation, but wasn’t entirely sure what his “after” would look like. That didn’t hold him back. He committed to an “after” when he could exit the job that wasn’t lighting him up. Once he committed, he did the work to figure out how to make his “after” a reality. And he did it through imagination, hard work and commitment to himself and his family.
Here are a handful of my favorite ah-has in Miles’ story:
- His job changed around him and was no longer working for him. Instead of just sucking it up and thinking “that’s just how it is,” Miles committed to making a change. He committed to an “after.”
- Miles didn’t just walk away from the job like he might have earlier in life. Instead, he partnered with Monica to build a plan to make his “after” happen without negatively impacting the family.
- Once the plan was in place, Miles put in lots of hard work to make it happen. As he said, there were no shortcuts to be had.
- Miles shared a definition of “success” that we could all embrace: success is about finding the joy in whatever you are doing.
- As a bonus, Miles hasn’t turned his back on the construction industry. He is peppering in some projects to help scratch that itch while co-running the family business.
Most importantly, Miles reminded us that you can have anything you want. “Don’t spend your life counting all the reasons you can’t have what you want or why others are more deserving. Decide what you want and then put everything you have into making it happen. Don’t let fear keep you stuck in the status quo.”
Miles: Master Project Manager
As you may have noticed, Miles’ story is the textbook illustration of multiple Project Manage Your Life (PMYL) principles:
✅ Commit to SMART Goals
Miles had a goal and was committed to making his “after” happen. He knew his why and was ready to work hard to make it happen.
✅ Build a Plan That Works for You
Miles knew he couldn’t just flip a switch and make his goal come to life. He needed a plan.
Miles’ plan involved investing a significant amount of money and energy in building a second Winans location, which would enable him to make his change. After a lot of hard work (which he had to make fit with his day job and parenting), he made it happen.
✅ Expect and Plan Ahead for Problems
Miles had a background in construction and knew building a new location for the family business wouldn’t be smooth sailing. He planned ahead for those problems and took on some of the work himself. Most importantly, he maintained his day job until the second location was up and running, thereby protecting his family.
✅ Don’t Go It Alone
Miles and Monica worked together as a team to make his “after” come true. Miles’ after was also Monica’s after.
✅ Enjoy the Journey
As Miles reminded us, success is about finding the joy in life. His happiness isn’t dependent on perfectly executing a pre-defined plan to achieve preconceived goals. For Miles, happiness is found in resilience and adaptability as he pursues his goals.
🔥 Ready to Build Your “After”?
I was honored that Miles agreed to allow me to share his story. It is the perfect kick-off to my September theme: There is an after… and it’s yours to create.
Miles knew he wanted an “after,” and he worked hard to create it.
Are you ready to follow in his footsteps?
My proven system, Project Manage Your Life, will give you the tools to create a crystal-clear “after,” a roadmap to make it real, and the accountability tools to stay the course until “after” is “now.”
I’ve taken everything I use with my coaching clients and packaged it into a 3-part system:
📘 Project Manage Your Life – the book that teaches you my 6-step goal-crushing framework… I’ll even give it to you for free (click below).
📝 PMYL Workbook – the companion guide packed with templates, trackers, and coaching-style prompts to help you put the process into action.
🎯 PMYL Coaching – personalized 1-on-1 support to help you build momentum, overcome challenges, and keep going … even when it gets hard.
These tools are your structure, your support, and your reminder that you can do this, even if your inner critic disagrees.
💥 So… what’s your “after”? I want to help you make it your reality.
✨ I believe in you, let me help YOU believe in you! ✨
Meet Coach Tony
Tony Weaver is a master life coach, technologist, consultant, writer, and founder of Operation Melt.
He helps project managers and other left-brained high-achievers pursue their biggest goals.
Through free resources, personalized coaching, and his proven Project Manage Your Life system, Tony empowers clients to move their dreams from “someday” to success… one step at a time.
Learn more about Project Manage Your Life, the system my clients and I use to crush our goals, at OperationMelt.com/PMYL/
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