If your plan doesn’t match your life, it’s not going to work. Period.
Welcome to Ask Coach Tony!
These are unfiltered field notes from the goal-crushing life: coaching wins, personal breakthroughs, and the failures that taught both me and my clients the most.
All real, all useful, all here to help you move forward.
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 Humor Season 🎃
We don't talk enough about the whole Einstein family.
Sure, Albert was a genius... but his brother, Frank, was a monster!
Your Journey, Your Way
Happy October… my favorite month of the year!
This month, every Operation Melt blog is built around one truth:
Your journey doesn’t have to look like anybody else’s.
After more than a decade of coaching and mentoring people, I’ve learned something important. No two goal journeys are the same. Even when two people are chasing the “same” goal, their why is different. Their circumstances are different. Their journey will always be unique.
And yet, when the path feels hard or uncertain, that’s when most of us start talking shit about our own goals:
- “This is dumb.”
- “It doesn’t matter.”
- “It’ll never work.”
That’s not honesty. That’s fear, trying to sabotage you.
So when that voice shows up, remind yourself of the truth: your goal matters because it matters to you. Nobody else has to get it. Nobody else has to approve.
Your job is simple: own your path, do the work, and prove yourself right.
All month long, you’ll hear stories, lessons, and tools to remind you that the only path worth following is the one that belongs to you.
Your Dreams Are a Jigsaw Puzzle. Stop Forcing the Wrong Pieces.
“Your weight loss was really impressive… but I am shocked you were able to do it without giving up things you enjoy, like alcohol. I would have thought it would be impossible to lose weight with calorie bomb habits.”
That was the feedback I received from a friend who had followed my weight loss journey.
I can understand an outside observer being surprised by me conquering my weight while still enjoying living my life. But it was no surprise to me.
It didn’t happen accidentally.
This was how I designed my goal… I did it my way.
And you can too.
Today’s blog will help you get started.
My Goal… My Journey… My Way
As I explained in my book Operation Melt: How I Used Life-Changing Project Management to Lose Over 100 Pounds in Under a Year, my lifelong obesity had reached a breaking point. I was unhealthy. I was embarrassed by my body. And I was done feeling stuck.
So I made a commitment:
I was going to lose over 100 pounds in less than a year.
But the goal was only part of the story.
I also committed to achieving it my way.
I wasn’t going to follow somebody else’s diet plan, consider surgery or give up any of the things that I enjoyed.
Did I make the journey harder than it needed to be?
Maybe. Mathematically, it would’ve been easier without those high-calorie habits.
But that’s just the math.
Goal success isn’t a math equation. It’s practical. It’s emotional. It’s personal.
Your odds of failure skyrocket when you rely on some grand plan that only works on paper.
If your plan doesn’t match your life, it’s not going to work. Period.
If I had tried to give up dining out, drinking, tacos, pizza, dessert… I would’ve failed.
Instead, I created a balance that worked with how my brain is wired.
I exercised more.
I tracked everything.
I worked my ass off.
And it worked.
I lost 100 pounds in 9 months.
Sixteen months after weighing in at 325 pounds, I crossed the finish line of my first half marathon. I was down 130.
My way worked for me. That doesn’t mean it’s the right way for you.
They’re Your Goals… Crush ‘Em Your Way!
I’ve learned that nearly any goal is within reach if you’re willing to work hard for it.
But hard work is only part of the story.
Smart work matters just as much.
So many people fail because they chase perfection.
They follow a plan that should work, but only works on paper.
It doesn’t match their life. It’s not practical. And then they wonder why they can’t stay consistent.
It’s not a discipline problem…. it’s a design problem.
Success stories aren’t built by copying someone else’s plan. They come from building one that fits.
Instead of copying someone else’s version of success, true goal-crushers get clear on what they want and build a plan that fits their life.
A plan that reflects their values.
Their non-negotiables.
Their vision of success.
Only you know what that looks like.
Want help creating your own goal-crushing plan? I’ll show you how at the end of this post.
And it all starts by getting honest…
Let’s get real about what you will and won’t do.
Your Future is a Jigsaw Puzzle… Time to Build It
Have you ever assembled a jigsaw puzzle? I’m sure you have, right?
How did you start your puzzle assembly?
Did you grab random center pieces and start mushing them together? Please tell me you didn’t do that… that would be a very painful exercise. If you did that, I’m so sorry and hope you’ve fully recovered from that trauma.
If you aren’t the center piece sociopath I just described, you probably made things a lot easier on yourself.
You started with the corners.
Then you assembled the flat edges, giving yourself a full border as the boundaries for the rest of your work.
This is the exact strategy that the most successful goal-crushers apply. They start by setting a SMART goal… that’s like the picture on the front of the box.
Once you have the picture of the final result, it is up to you to assemble the pieces to bring your goal to life.
Start with the corners.
When building your goal-crushing plan, the corner pieces are the system. The guideposts around which you will base a plan that actually works for you. In our case, Project Manage Your Life provides the strategies, tools, techniques, and worksheets that feed all aspects of crushing your goal.
Draw Your Boundaries
As I said, the edges of your goal-crushing plan are the boundaries. They give shape to your plan before you start filling in the details.
In Project Manage Your Life, the edges of your goal-crushing puzzle are your Wills and Won’ts.
- Wills are the actions you are ready to take. The behaviors that support your goal.
- Won’ts are the actions you are NOT willing to consider. In my example above, my WON’TS included following somebody else’s diet plan, considering surgery, and giving up bourbon and pizza.
Noting the things you won’t consider is just as powerful as the ones you will. They keep your plan realistic. They protect your values, your time, and your energy.
These are the things that make it YOUR plan, not something you quickly abandon when it doesn’t fit your life.
You are not chasing a perfect plan. You are building a doable one. Starting by creating boundaries with your Wills and Won’ts is the secret to making that the case.
Now It’s Your Turn to Build
Are you ready to build the jigsaw puzzle of your best life?
That is why I created Project Manage Your Life (PMYL). It is a system that helps you commit to meaningful goals, build a realistic plan that fits your life, and keep momentum until the work is done.
PMYL brings together everything I use with my coaching clients and packages it into three connected tools:
📘 Project Manage Your Life teaches the complete six-step PMYL framework for turning goals into accomplishments
📝 PMYL Workbook helps you apply the framework with exercises, templates, and coaching prompts.
🎯 PMYL Coaching provides accountability, clarity, and one-on-one guidance to keep you moving.
The best way to begin is with the PMYL Starter Kit. It bundles the book, the workbook, and a guided mini course so you can start writing your next chapter today.
Not quite ready for the full kit? You can still grab the free PMYL eBook and start learning the framework today.
💥 If you want a goal that sticks, build a plan that fits.
Start with the Starter Kit. The rest will follow.
✨ 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/
Meet Coach Tony