Episode 97: Mindful Goal-Setting for The Ambitious with Caroline Zook
In this episode we welcome Caroline Zook, who generously shares her personal journey as an entrepreneur and the lessons she has learned about balancing ambition, goal-setting, and self-care. She has been on a journey of running businesses with her husband Jason since 2018. They currently operate two successful ventures, a software platform called Teachery that helps creators sell digital products, and an onboarding coaching program for solo entrepreneurs called WAIM Unlimited. Caroline has experienced firsthand the challenges of running a successful venture while also prioritizing mental health and emotional well-being.
The Journey of Entrepreneurship
Caroline shares how her entrepreneurial path began over a decade ago when she left the advertising world to work for Jason's marketing agency. In 2019, Caroline faced a health crisis that led her to prioritize her mental health and reevaluate her approach to running a business. This experience has shaped her mission to help others build "calm, profitable, and peaceful" businesses that don't require burnout.
Balancing Ambition with Self-Care
A key part of Caroline's story is her relationship with goal-setting and personal growth. As someone with a "goal-oriented brain", she values the sense of purpose and challenge that comes with pursuing ambitious objectives. However, she has also learned to be highly attuned to the indicators that she may be pushing herself too hard, such as forgetting to complete basic daily tasks or working excessively late into the night. Caroline has developed a framework to discern whether her motivations are coming from a place of self-love versus fear, which helps her make decisions that align with her values and well-being. This includes being willing to adjust timelines and disappoint others in order to prioritize her own needs.
The Role of Personal History in Business
Underlying Caroline's approach to business and goal-setting are the personal stories and beliefs she has carried from her childhood. She unpacks how her experiences of chaos and a need for control as a child have manifested in her adult life as a drive for perfectionism and high achievement. Caroline emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs and artists examining these deep-seated motivations, as they can often be the root cause of being overly hard on oneself. Ultimately, she believes that prioritizing self-growth and self-acceptance in business ownership is the path to building a sustainable and fulfilling enterprise.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The importance of setting goals varies from person to person. While goals provide direction and motivation for some, they may not be essential for everyone.
Recognizing early indicators of overload and intense striving can prevent burnout. Simple things like missing brushing teeth or dreaming about your work, can serve as checkpoints. If you’re experiencing your own personal indicators it might be a sign that you are pushing yourself too hard.
It’s vital to monitor your ambition and ensure it does not compromise well-being or cause you to sacrifice too much for the sake of your goals.
Being rigid about goals can lead to unnecessary stress. It’s important to reevaluate and adjust goals as new information and circumstances arise, ensuring that your business strategies and personal health remain aligned.
Navigating the fine line between self-improvement and self-acceptance can be complex, yet understanding the motivation behind personal growth and goals is key. True self-improvement should stem from a place of self-love and belief in one's own capabilities, rather than from self-rejection or external pressures.
Caroline Zook is an artist and designer with over a decade of experience building online businesses. She and her husband, Jason, run two ventures: Wandering Aimfully, an un-boring coaching program for solopreneurs, and Teachery, a software platform helping creators build and sell beautifully custom digital products. Caroline's passion is teaching solopreneurs how to turn chaotic businesses into Calm Businesses—ones that prioritize mental health, embrace “enough” over more, and leave room for fun along the way. In 2022, Caroline and Jason moved from California to Portugal, where they currently reside in a quiet beach town with a curious penchant for dinosaurs.
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