Angela Gargano (00:00)
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of What If It All Goes Right. I'm Angela Gargano, six time American Ninja Warrior, three time cover girl in Miss Minutes America 2016. And this podcast is all about sharing my journey, lessons and tools to help you live your life by design and not by default. In today's episode, we're gonna talk all about breakthroughs, what they mean, how to navigate them and how to step fully into that next version of yourself.
or diving deep into my recent experiences, lessons from my incredible coaching clients, and actionable steps that you can use to create your own breakthrough moments. Let's get started.
So every single year I choose a word that will take me into the new year and what I really want that year to look like for me because I think a lot of us forget that we're actually in control of how we feel throughout the day. We are in control of what we want our year to look like. So I love having a word because I really feel like it captures exactly what that next step is for me. And...
Sometimes the word doesn't come to me right away. Sometimes it takes some time. Like this year I was really struggling to figure out what word of the year that I wanted it to be. a lot of times it's this word, the word of the year always comes to me like when I'm in my car or when I'm in the shower or something along those lines. this time it was when I was away on my trip, that trip that I just went to, I went to a trip to Nashville to go to a speakers.
conference to learn and continue to be the best possible keynote speaker in the new year. And the word that came up for me and I saw it multiple times was the word breakthrough. Ooh. And I had chills for that. For you, the chills of a different word might feel better for you, right? And there's actually this thing that I did on Instagram. I'm going to post it, but
It's kind of a slew of all these different letters and it says, look at this and the four words that you see will be exactly what you want to manifest in the new year. So I'm looking through it. I'm not really seeing any words. And then I see breakthrough as literally the initial one. And I was like, that is it. I knew that was it. I also had connection and a few other words that came up in there, but breakthrough just really stood out for me because last year for me,
was literally a season of learning. It was a season of healing. I overcame a heartbreak. I went through a breakup. I grew my team, which is a whole other animal, and I welcomed hundreds of women to our Pull Up Revolution program. But this year, it's about stepping boldly into the version of me I've always envisioned on big stages, making an impact.
and living my life in full alignment with my vision. And here's the thing, breakthroughs, they don't come easy. And they're often born from the breakdowns, which is basically what I feel like I had last year. So for me, it's about leaning into that discomfort, doing the inner work and becoming the person who can handle what's on the other side of the breakthrough. And this is a really big, big aspect of all of this.
Well, I was going to go for a run with my dog the other day and she was taking a very, very long time to poop. There's a reason for this. She was taking a very long time to poop. If you have a dog, if you know, know. You're just like, girl, you got to go. We can't go running because I know you're just going to need to stop and poop. So waiting, waiting, waiting. And then I see my friend walking on the path from the other side. His name is Jeff. And we just started getting into this conversation. I'm like, hey, Jeff, I was like, I always see you running.
But today you're walking. I was like, that's very interesting, very different. And he's like, actually, yeah, I decided that I was going to hold off on running right now. And I'm really stepping into this new era and a huge, huge shift. And we just got into this conversation about how he noticed that he was running, running, running, running, because that was always what he knew and always what he was good at and always what, you know, he just felt like maybe he had to do it. But he realized that he wasn't working in alignment with where he was at.
right now in his life. And that running wasn't the big thing that he actually wanted or was in alignment with what he wanted to be doing. And what he realized is when he leaned in to what was actually in alignment for him, things just started happening. He started making more money. He was feeling better about himself. Things were just literally attracted to him, which is so powerful to hear. And it took going through a...
breakdown moment for him with the running. was a moment of his legs that are literally started like hurting in a bunch of pain in his legs. We literally couldn't run anymore for myself. I've had multiple breakdowns with tearing my ACL and TV. But this year again, heartbreak and just really going through and trying to figure out exactly where I want to take things. And he's so right. But that the fact that when you do live in true alignment to what feels really good for you, what you really want for yourself, things just start happening.
when you're not living in alignment is when things feel really hard and messy. And breakthroughs are gonna feel hard, right? But you have to a lot of times go through these breakdowns so that you can get to the breakthrough. So you've gotta lean forward into it. The breakdown you got, instead of backing away and being like, the breakdown, I don't wanna do it, you just go in, lean in. Lean in, go through it, okay?
So what I've learned is that growth happens outside that comfort zone and you have to act like the higher version of yourself right now, okay? The higher version of yourself. So a lot of times when you're not in alignment, it's kind of hard to.
see yourself as that highest version, because you're maybe stuck in this like little version of yourself, but if you were to really visualize that higher version of yourself, how they showed up each day, the confidence they bring when they step into that room, what does that feel like, what are they doing, how can you start to bring that into your day right now, how can you start acting like that highest version of yourself today? Okay, it's inevitable that it's in there and you're going to get there, but how can we start to act like our
highest version of ourself right now, and our highest version of ourself acts with an alignment to what we really do want in our life. Sometimes it takes a little zooming out, it takes the breakdown to really understand what that even looks like, but I personally have been really picturing what that highest version of myself, and I've realized that I haven't been showing up on the regular and daily as that highest version of myself would with their mindset, with things that have been happening, with things that I wanna work on.
I'm making that conscious effort each day. It's not always going to be perfect, but to really show up as that highest version of myself, because as I keep doing that more and more things just keep coming into my life. So taking care of your health, your space and your mindset is not optional. I'm going to say that like three more times. Taking care of your health, your space and your mindset isn't optional.
Your highest version of yourself is going to be taking care of all those things. This is the foundation for everything else. This is a requirement, okay? Taking care of your health, your space and your mindset is not optional. It is a requirement. It is the foundation of everything else that you want in your life. So take a moment right now and reflect.
as we're going through, maybe you're in the breakdown moment right now, maybe you're in that breakthrough moment right now. But I want you to make sure that you are taking care of those things because you, in fact matter, you are worth it and you need those things in order to step into this next version, in order for you to up level, in order for you, if you're in a corporate job and you're a leader, in order for you to lead and bring the team with you, you need to take care of your health, your space and your mindset. It is not optional.
This lesson isn't just mine. It's something I see reflected in the incredible women that I work with. They are stepping into breakthroughs of their own. They're landing promotions. They're showing up more confidently for their family and they're finding strength they didn't even know they had. And it's all through going inward, focusing on themselves, making sure they are doing something for themselves. I know the first thing that we let go of when life gets stressful and when we're trying to get into that next phase is typically our health.
again mindset and the space around you, maybe things get like messy, but we can't be doing that.
It's not optional.
So as we step into this next version of ourselves, we need to learn that our work, our life, the things we wanna do are integrated into that piece of us. Again, again, that work, everything that we wanna achieve, it's integrated into making sure that we're taking care of our health, our space, and our mindset. It's not this or that. It's an integration. It's not a balance all the time. It sure isn't.
sure, isn't a balance all the time, but it is an integration of those things together. So really finding that happy balance and even releasing the pressure to, it doesn't need to be perfect. We need to figure out how we can integrate this together and make this very much day to day. So every week I get on a call with my Strong Feels Good coaching clients. We also have my Pull Up Revolution program where we're doing calls on, and I love hopping on these calls because I can really hear
from the listeners, from you all, what it's happening for you in your life, right? The calls are really when the magic happens, because you're able to really hear the struggles and the breakthroughs from these amazing women. And they remind me that breakthroughs aren't just about big dramatic moments. They're about small, consistent shifts that we make every day. And I just want to share a few of these stories that really stood out.
for me that will probably stand out for you and be a game changer. So Patricia, who I'm obsessed with on the call, and let me tell you, this woman, hard worker, caregiver taking care of her family and her parents, not an easy thing to do. And she definitely can have, like she could have a moment where she...
It's just like, wow, this all sucks. Like this all sucks and like pour me and really gets into like she could get into the victim mindset, but she chooses not to. And when she gets on that phone every day, I always just look at like any problem I have. And I'm like, I'm like, damn, was like, my problems are minimal compared to the things she has to take care of. the way she's showing up, which is so strong, and as our highest version herself each day, like she can do it, I can do it too. So my clients inspiring me. So she said something super powerful on the call because
There was a client who had just joined in on the program and this probably was the first time she has invested in herself and invested in her health, which means like purchasing a program, being a part of, getting coached by somebody, right? And Patricia shared something really insightful and she said, I used to think that this program was too expensive, but she said, then I realized what's more valuable than me. I am worth the investment. I'm gonna say that again. She realized.
What's more valuable than me? I am worth the investment. Oof. So money aside for any programs or anything's on those lines, you are absolutely worth the investment in your time to show up for yourself so that you can have these major breakthrough moments and really step into that highest version of yourself that is already within there. So what is more valuable than me? Well, she is worth the investment.
You are worth the investment.
There's been so many coaching programs that I've joined that have completely got, they've really minimized the time it took me to get to certain places, whether it be a business coach or whether it be a fitness coach, they minimized the time I needed and they helped me show up for myself when it was hard to do that, especially during the tough times. And I realized so much that that investment, at first I was always like, I don't know, I'm to put all this money down to get a coach to help me with this. I always realized at the end how worth it I am.
because I know that I wanna get to that next level. And I'm sure on here you're listening, you're like hell freaking yes, I wanna get to that next level too. So just a reminder, if you view, if you're constantly viewing.
purchasing something for yourself. This doesn't have to be a coaching program or just something in general, right? If you're constantly viewing that as a negative thing and you're constantly viewing it as, it's just so expensive. Ooh, God, that's gonna be an awful mindset. But when you shift it inside to I'm investing in myself because I am worth it and I'm gonna show up to become an even better version of myself, always worth it. I'm more of a believer investing in yourself with like.
coaching and things along those lines and it is like buying a purse and stuff like that. feel like, although like objects can make you feel really good, I love doing things that are gonna help better myself in my personal development. Cause again, it's gonna help myself. It's going to help my teams and so more. So main takeaway that is investing yourself isn't a cost. It's a declaration of your worth and you are worth it. And when Patricia embraced that mindset, it didn't just change her workouts. It's changed how she's stood up for herself in every area of her life.
and you can have that as well. My other client on the call, I'm Ruth, I'm absolutely in love with her. She talked about small winds and she had a really tough week and some of you might be in this place right now. We are in the winter months as I'm filming this right now and I live in Austin so it's not technically winter but it is colder than normal but it is dark so freaking early. I'm so much extra tired, like annoyingly extra tired. Like I typically can wake up so early and I've just been having such a tough time just like getting out of bed and
We could beat herself up about that or we can shift some mindsets around it. So between the holiday stress she had, some low energy, she felt like she was in a rut. But what I love so much is she's like, you know what, instead of giving up, she's like, I didn't feel like doing anything, but I told myself to just stretch or do 15 minutes. It wasn't perfect, but it helped me keep going. For Amruta with working through, coming through these breakthroughs, right?
I'm not necessarily saying she went through a breakdown to get this breakthrough, but it's showing that during this holiday time it can be tough, whatever. But if you can just show up for yourself in a little way, it doesn't have to be perfect. You're gonna accelerate so much after when the holiday season's over or whatever it is that's happening is over, right? So main takeaway is progress isn't about perfection. It's about consistency and even the small steps build momentum.
and we're the stories proof that showing up even imperfectly can make all of the difference. Showing up imperfectly can make all of the difference. Now this final insight from, she's not only a client of mine, she's done my pull-up program. She went from zero to multiple pull-ups. She then is now on my Strong Feels Good program. She's been in there for, man, I think like two years now. She's also a coach, but she dropped amazing insight to during our call. She said, pressure.
is the biggest energy stealer. The moment you switch to playfulness and curiosity, things start to happen. So I'm gonna say that again, because it's so good. Pressure is the biggest energy stealer. The moment you switch to playfulness and curiosity, things start to happen. So she brought this up on the call because one of the clients on the call was talking about the pressure she had to really get her pull up by specific date. And a lot of that pressure sometimes can actually like pressure to anything.
that you're trying to manifest or have happen if you're just clinging so closely to it, a lot of times it's hard to actually grab it. So just letting go, releasing the pressure on yourself and just showing up consistently every single week, you're actually gonna see faster progress. And I loved the energy stealer moment, right? Because it can suck your energy out all the time if you're just sitting here being like, I don't have that yet. my God, I'm not seeing the progress I want yet. no, no, every day. Like you're just beating yourself up every single day and you have a choice.
to keep doing that or choice to say, know what, I'm gonna shift this into playfulness and curiosity and things will start to happen. So takeaway from that is just release the pressure. So releasing pressure can free you to achieve more with ease and joy. And when you stop taking yourself so seriously and we start having fun with the process, shifts. Everything shifts. And again, I wanted to go through all this stuff because...
Like I as I'm going through my breakthrough moment, I love for you to hear stories from these other amazing women who are within our community who are very similar to you right now. So I talk a lot about living your life by design and not default. And I talk about this a lot on other podcasts as well. Sorry, if you might hear my dog, I don't know what she's doing right now. She's just getting into trouble.
So I wanna go back to talking some more about living your life by design instead of default because this is something that keeps coming up for me as well. So for me, it's about creating intentionality in every aspect of life from the way I approach my health to the people we surround ourselves with. And this year I'm doubling down on that principle. So as I came up with my word for the year, as I'm creating my vision board, as I'm really trying to tactically see what I want in this new year, I realized that last year I had a messy vision board.
because I felt messy, honestly. I was in my healing era. And a lot of the stuff that I really wanted or thought I wanted either didn't come true or I realized it actually wasn't in alignment with what I actually wanted to achieve. So this year, I'm feeling so much more clear. I know what I don't want. I know what I do want. All those things are very, very important when it comes to living your life by design and not by default.
So I sat down, I looked at everything that I wanted to achieve. I'm like, cool, how can we break this up into little steps and really move the needle towards? How can we, I really go all in on it. Not all or nothing, but all in on those things that I really, really want to achieve.
And I had to ask myself some questions and maybe you need to ask some of your questions too. some questions to reflect on this week is where are you holding back because you just don't feel ready? What small actions can you take today to step into that next level? And how can you reframe pressure, the pressure you might put on yourself to get there into playfulness? The breakthroughs that we're going to have, a lot of times they don't happen on accident. They happen when we stop rushing and we start building intentionally.
And think of it like laying that foundation. We talk about this all the time with the house, right? If you're building that foundation too quickly, is it going to be built to last? It probably won't be. Same goes for your life. So it's super, super important that we think about all those different things in order to help us. So this is a really fun episode. really enjoyed talking about breakthroughs with you all. I'd love for you to let me know more about your breakthroughs and maybe some things that you are looking forward to in
I'm filming this in 2025, but if it's after that, like I still want to know what you are looking forward to. And I'm hoping that there's a couple of takeaways in here for you that you can now take with you into the next piece of your life. Also, I want to talk about some fun things that I'm really enjoying this week. So I'm really enjoying the song called I Am by Fia, F-I-A. There's something about it. It's I've literally kept it on repeat, but it's basically just it's a pump up music. It's just talking about how powerful and how
Abundant you are and I don't know sometimes when you just get a song like that and you just play it on repeat It just changes the whole mood and your vibe. I'm also reading a book right now. asks and it's given obsessed with this book so good for manifestation and just like realizations on so many different things must read So I'm loving right now Outer Banks. I watched the rest of it. Although I felt like wasn't as good as the first two to be honest
But I just wanted to talk about some more personal things that I just enjoyed in the past couple weeks. And I'm really happy that you are all in here listening to this podcast. A few things that you might want to look into. I have that vision boarding workshop, such course is a couple different high pepper. She's like, mom, we need to go out. She's like, I'm ready to poop now. I'm ready to poop now. The most inconvenient time I got to poop. She's the best. So a couple of links coming up if you want to join into them. The vision boarding.
Workshop you can download that it's a course and then I have a full live recording of us walking through How to live your life by design not by default and just whole structured plan you could sit down you can do this anytime of the year Some people are obviously like I want to do it January 1st, but you can literally reset your life at any point So if you're ready to go do it go on it We're gonna talk about the vision boarding the process of really creating that that breakthrough this breakthrough moments for you Whatever word is that you have this year? We also have a pull-up revolution program if you want to join in and get your first pull-up
That is definitely where tons of women have breakthroughs during that program because like I said, not only just getting their pull up but so many other things they're getting. And we also have our coaching with Strong Feels Good for fitness. Now, that's all the fitness stuff. That's all the stuff for your mindset and fitness. I also do coaching for business professionals or leaders. So that's something that you're looking to get into, it's high level coaching.
But if you're looking to get started with your business, I've been on the online space since 2017. So if you already have something built out, but you're trying to figure out exactly how to maneuver it to get it to that next level in the new year, you can reach out to me for that as well. And yeah, I'm gonna be doing, I already have two gigs locked down for the new year for Keynote Speaking, which I'm really excited about. And I know there's gonna be more, Pather? And I'm preparing and just doing so much.
even more work to my keynote to just make it even better. Like I already felt pretty good about it and now I'm like, all right, I'm upleveling this talk. It's gonna just change people's lives, right? Pepper, should I bring Pepper on stage? Pepper, you wanna come to the, you wanna come to my keynote talk? You wanna come to my keynote talk? I'll be like, and this is Pepper. What we doing? MC? ⁓ she bit it.
All right, well thanks again so much for watching. That was a little bit funny. I'm gonna go take her out to finally poop hopefully and let me know your thoughts and I'm excited to see you next time on What If It All Goes Right.
