This is a Run Lift Mom podcast interview about goal setting for Moms with Coach Carrie Jo Bradley.
Show Transcript
The following is a transcript from the podcast episode.
I’m including it for those of you who prefer to read and so you don’t need to take notes while listening- they’re all here!
Don’t forget to grab the goal setting guide referenced in this conversation, okay?!

Who is Carrie?
Suzy: Welcome, Carrie Jo Bradley, aka Coach Carrie to the Run Lift Mom podcast. How are you today?
Carrie: Thank you so much, Suzy, your podcast is amazing and I love your mission to support women and their running, lifting and momming.
Suzy: Well, we actually share that in common because you do the same with your business and you are an expert in the fitness realm for busy folks.
We are here today though, to talk a little bit about goal setting for Moms, big goals, and how to achieve them. First, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Carrie: I go by Coach Carrie because I am a certified health coach and a running coach, but not so much in the traditional sense of just providing training plans.
I work with moms really intimately one-on-one and also offer life and mindset coaching all in one.
I help moms reach their personal best so they can be proof of what’s possible.
Carrie Jo Bradley

I got into coaching because I’ve seen a lot of moms put their life and dreams on hold when they have kids. So, I want to help moms believe that they can do hard things in addition to raising small humans.
And there’s so much out there available in goal setting for moms- just open up your eyes to see it and believe it, and little eyes are watching, too!
Setting big goals
Suzy: The little eyes are important, right? The little hearts we love them, but oftentimes we will set all of our ambition aside during that season of motherhood, especially early on.
I Iove that you’re filling the gap and really serving in that area. Talk to me a little bit, Carrie, about why it’s important to set big goals.
I can say I’m going to go running next week. Or I can say, Hey, I’m going to do this like big, scary race or whatever strikes somebody’s fancy. Why is it important to reach a little bit on that goal setting?

Carrie: Our kids follow our example and I believe it’s important for us to leave a legacy that we want them to remember us by.
We have infinite potential. And yet, so often we don’t use it because we want to stay safe and we let fear take us captive.
Carrie Jo Bradley
It’s so important just to take time, to be still and know what the dreams and desires are in your heart.
And it doesn’t even have to be a physical goal is whatever lights you up and you should find space in your day for that.
None of us wants to waste our life, yet we don’t pursue the things that we’re called to often because we’re afraid to fail or be embarrassed.
That that failure can hold us back.
Suzy: At the time of this, airing, we’ve started a new year. What would you say to somebody that has a goal but is not fully committed to it.
Carrie: Here’s the truth:
Sometimes it’s going to be awkward before it’s elegant and that’s okay.
Carrie Jo Bradley
We all make mistakes and get knocked down, but you dust yourself off and get back up again.
And it’s in the process that you become, who you’re meant to be. It’s not even necessarily about the reaching of the goal itself.
Actually, it’s in the journey that you’re transformed and that’s inspiring!
Suzy: For example, with a marathon, it’s more in the training than the actual race that somebody changes their character changes.
Journey to a big goal
Carrie: And for me, one of the most powerful experiences I had as a Mom was going after the goal of qualifying for the Xterra Off-Road Triathlon World Championships.

And that was a huge goal for me since I didn’t learn how to swim as a kid! I just considered myself to be an average runner and mountain biker, too.
…but my two girls were four and six when I started that journey.
They knew every day at 5:00 AM to make it to the pool a couple days a week or in the basement, in my pain cave, riding my bike trainer.
I don’t know if they remember that part, but they definitely remember me going to races and seeing me for everything out and giving my all.
I think one of the reasons, another reason that moms don’t set big goals is they feel guilty taking time for themselves.
When you take time for yourself and pursue your dreams, you’re giving everyone else in your life permission to do the same.
Carrie Jo Bradley
Suzy: I’ve got to give you kudos for learning to swim and then qualifying for the race. To learn a new skill as an adult, and then achieve that performance standard is huge!
Carrie: It was not easy, but like I said, we can do hard things if we, if we direct our energies in that way.
Where your focus goes, your energy flows!

Suzy: Now you mentioned that your daughters were two and four, as you were training for this. , obviously that was a big season of life.
Can you talk to me a little bit about maybe somebody that’s listening that thinks, “man, I’m busy. If I’ve got a big goal to chase down how in the world do I do that?”
Carrie: I like to imagine it like a mountain or a triangle, and I always say you don’t reach the top of the mountain in one leap.
I have a diagram in my goal setting guide that kind of lays that out and explains it a little bit.

The triangle at the base of those are your daily goals. I call them process goals and at the top as your, your big outcome goal.
In order to get to the top of, to that big goal, you have to take the small steps every day and climb that ladder, that pyramid as you get there.
Suzy: So Carrie, are you saying, for example, the outcome goal could be marathon and then the things like proper fuel and sleep and those daily runs, those would be maybe more on the bottom of the pyramid.
Carrie: Exactly. Yes. It is important to set those big goals, but then also to recognize the inputs in that journey.
Suzy: Tell us where we can find you online if folks want to learn more.
Carrie: My website is carriejobradley.com and my social media is the same @carriejobradley.

Many thanks to Alter Ego Running for providing a 20% discount (code: RLM) in support of this podcast episode.
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