Unbreakable Mind & Body

60. Holding The Vision: Five Tools To See Things Through

• Tiana Gonzalez • Episode 60

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 26:59

Ever feel like your goal is miles away and the road just got foggy? We go straight at that feeling and break it down into choices you can make today. 

We start by calling out self-sabotage in the messy middle—the quiet ways you undo a strong day with “earned” extras, the guilt spirals, and the over-corrections that follow. Then we reframe the standard: your word is bond. That doesn’t mean forcing through pain; it means adapting the plan while keeping the promise.

From there, we build tools you can use immediately. We reject hustle culture and lean into strategic rest, reminding you to refine the plan, not the goal, when life gets heavy. 

If your 2026 goals already feel wobbly, this conversation gives you a reset and a route. Save it for the days when you want to quit, share it with someone who’s grinding alone, and tell us the one commitment you’re making right now. 

Send Tiana a text!

Connect with Me

Instagram: www.instagram.com/tianamoves

Website: unbreakablemb.com

Email: info@unbreakablemb.com

Get on the waitlist for my new Strength Training Program: HERE

Disclaimer: This show is for education and entertainment purposes only. This is not intended as a replacement for therapy. Please seek out the help of a professional to assist you with your specific situation.


SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Unbreakable Mind and Body Podcast. I am your host, Tiana Gonzalez, a multi-passionate creative, storyteller, and entrepreneur with a fierce love for movement. This is our space for powerful stories and actionable strategies to help you build mental resilience and elevate your self-care practice. Together, we will unlock the tools that you need to create an unbreakable mind and body. Welcome back to the show. I'm your host, Tiana. This episode is all about the importance of seeing things through to completion and holding the vision, even when the path directly in front of you is bleak or grim or foggy or it feels impossible. When you're in the messy middle of a situation or a goal or a task, it's easy to get lost. It's easy to doubt yourself. And this episode is going to give you five takeaways or strategies or just ways of looking at things, reframing your situation. And you can implement this immediately so that you can stick with the things that you set out to do. Is this timely? Of course it is. Why? Because when this episode drops, it's going to be the middle towards the end of January 2026. A lot of us are already going to have lost some steam with the goals that we set out for. And this is going to be a little kick in the pants. Now, if you're at the very beginning of something, you're excited, you're motivated, you're pumped, you've probably got your strategy laid out. If it's a health and fitness goal, you have your routine, you have your plan, you have your non-negotiables, you have your anchor actions, the things you're going to do every single day. Or if it's working out and it's five times a week, you know what your training split is. Whatever that goal is, I think for the purpose of this conversation, keeping it in the fitness uh realm is probably the best idea because that's what I do outside when I'm working with clients in person. So you're motivated, but it's gonna go away. It's fleeting. I sometimes will tell clients, motivation is kind of like a fart in the wind. You know, it comes and it goes. And so what are you going to do when you are not feeling motivated? You can't possibly be motivated all of the time, every single day, 24 hours a day. Absolutely not. So we're gonna talk about what happens when your vision, you know, gets blurred and how you need to tap into much more than just willpower. You have to become someone new in the process to get the thing you want. Now, you start out strong, you're excited, you're doing it, and then all of a sudden, resistance shows up. And that could show up in a multitude of ways. It could be an internal type of resistance where this is a habit that I used to have when I was actively competing in bodybuilding shows many years ago, and that is something I did on and off for close to 15 years. There would be days where my diet would be pristine, nailing my food for the first meal, the second meal, the third meal. I used to eat six times a day. And usually when I would get to dinner time, I'd allow myself to relax a little bit. So I would still eat very healthy and clean, but I'd have something like just right outside of you know the boundaries or the margins of what is acceptable to my idea of what I need to do in order to get on stage and or whatever plan my coach at the time laid out for me. Now, truth be told, I did not work with a coach for most of my bodybuilding career. I did a lot of it myself, or the person I was dating at the time was helping me out. So I didn't really feel like I had to answer to anybody, but I had to answer to myself and I had to go to sleep at night. And so an example of this would be let's say, this is gonna sound really silly to some people, but let's just say I would eat a bigger portion of complex carbohydrates on my plate, or I would have a little bit extra nuts in my salad or extra olive oil. And so this is extra calories that were not accounted for all day, or I would have a healthy dessert, something with extra fruit in it, or you know, carbs of some sort. So one of the things I used to make, uh, I would take low-fat cottage cheese and I would take sugar-free applesauce and I would mix it together with a spoon, and then sometimes I would sprinkle cinnamon and either a packet of Splenda or a packet of Equal on top. And no, that's not part of my plan because I did not do a lot of dairy. So having dairy, and even though the applesauce is unsweetened, there's still natural sugar in it. So now I just threw off my plan. But I did that almost as a reward. So it was a self-sabotage. And I did this often. So that would be one example of where somehow, somehow internally, I had some sort of resistance. It was almost as if, oh, you did so good all day. Here's a little sweet treat. And that could mess up the progress, especially if it's happening repeatedly for an extended amount of time. And so that's where I would get tested. And my discipline many times was not solid enough to overcome that. And then I would beat myself up and chug water, and I would be really bloated before bed. I would probably wake up five times to go pee in the middle of the night. I would punish myself in some sort of way, and then guess what? I would do the next morning. Maybe I'd do a little bit of extra cardio, or maybe I'd eat less than I was supposed to because I was trying to make up for something from the day before. And so I wound up putting myself in this vicious cycle. But that's that's only one example of so many different things. But self-sabotage could definitely be something that shows up, and you may not even recognize it right away. Now, we talk about how completion matters. And we've we've discussed this on previous episodes as well, where I'll say if uh done is better than perfect. That's episode three. Done is better than perfect. Seeing something through to completion, sticking to your commitments, being a person who does what they say and says what they do and sees it through. Word is bond. That is a very old school saying. And I might have shared this once or twice, but when my father got out of jail in 2003, he lived with me. Now, at the time I was 24, going on, 25 years old, I was ending a very toxic and abusive relationship. And, you know, to my dad's credit, him moving in with me helped that abusive situation really just come to a complete halt because the guy that I was dating was not gonna be messing with me. And he actually did show up to my apartment and my dad answered the door, and they went out to lunch, and my dad basically told him, in not so many words, fuck off. Because of that, you know, I'm definitely grateful that my dad moved in. But it was really, really difficult when he uh first moved in with me because he went away in 1990. So he was in prison for 13 years, and a lot of changes in the world occurred during that time. When he went to jail, people were still using phones that plugged into walls and into landlines. People were still writing letters using paper and sending cards. We were listening to cassette tapes, CDs were relatively new. Now he comes home, and we have phones in our pockets, and this is just one example of many. And the way that people did things was very different. So there were many instances where he would come home and be really disappointed. Like, I can't believe it. This person said they were gonna meet me for coffee, and they just they never showed up. Or, oh yeah, this person said they were gonna stop by here, or I was gonna meet this person there, and it was this constant whirlwind of disappointments. And I remember I had to sit them down and I said, Dad, this isn't prison, and this isn't like the old days. You're from a time that word is bond, you kept your word, you kept your commitments. If you said something, you were held to it, and you the people in your surroundings would hold you accountable. Life isn't like that anymore. People don't live by that anymore, unfortunately, unless you're old school. You can't expect yourself from everybody else. And it was such a tough lesson because I could see the visible disappointment in his eyes. I could see the sadness settling in, I could sense his confusion. He was just so thrown off because that's not the world that he left. But guess what? The people who do keep their word, you're remembered. The people who stick to their commitments, the people notice. The ones who are reliable, the ones who show up, the ones who not just talk the talk, but walk the walk, you make an impact. So if you're somebody who's a little flaky, or if you're somebody who says, Oh, I don't know, we'll see. Check yourself. Now I will caveat this by saying that in my world, there are a handful of people that think I'm flaky. They're not actually in my world, really. They're kind of like in one of the external orbits of my galaxy. That's a nice way to put it. And I just didn't feel the need to explain. I did say I was going to go somewhere and I didn't show up. Uh, I wasn't given the full address of the location I was expected to be at. So I thought that was kind of weird. And then with the same person, not too long after that day where I let him down, about a week or two later, uh, I got aggressive messages and he was like, Well, I'm gonna go do what we said we're gonna do, and it didn't work for me the day and time. And I didn't respond, I didn't react, and I didn't explain myself because I'm a 47-year-old adult. I ain't explaining myself to nobody. So this person is a very distant acquaintance, and I don't really give a shit what they think. They think I'm flaky, and I'm okay with that because I know that I'm not. But going back to what's important for you, now what are you gonna do when things feel fuzzy or far away, or it feels like there's no point because your goal is just so far off. You have to come back to the why. You have to think about what the purpose is, you have to remember what got you started in the first place. And if you were inspired by someone else, go back to maybe that piece of content or that story or that video or that podcast that got you excited in the first place and revisit it. You don't need new motivation, you need to go back to the reminders of what got you started, the reminders of what matters to you, the reminders of why you're there in the first place. And you got to anchor into that. So, one of the things that I learned from my mentor, Jamie, and she's fucking amazing, is to journal to the future version of you. The version of you that already has the thing you're working on, the version of you that's already living the life you're dreaming of, the version of you that's making the kind of money you want to be making, doing the things you want to be doing, living that lifestyle. What would you say to that person? Because they're already there. If you can imagine it, it can become the thing. You're already putting it into existence. And yes, that's a little woo-woo, but it wouldn't be me if it wasn't. So, what can you commit to today to redirect yourself and get on the path to the destination? Maybe it's one thing. Now, if you're not really sure how to journal to a future version of you, you first have to think about what that future looks like. And it has to feel good. So some people are a little bit embarrassed by this, or they don't want to write in a journal because they're afraid of someone finding it. I I get that, I understand. Maybe you can send yourself voice notes, maybe you can write it down in a journal and then you know, rip the pages out and throw it away. I don't know. But there is something about the exercise of writing with a pen or pencil in your hand, getting it out of your body and onto paper that is like nothing else. Sometimes I I talk into my phone or I will type on my computer, but there's nothing like pen and paper for me. It brings out a different version of me. And so you want to think about all of those variables, and and this is important, it's not a tangent. This is really valid for this topic because you need to have something to visualize and to work towards. When I was prepping for bodybuilding shows, I would visualize myself hitting the mandatory poses on stage and what that would feel like. And I would try to envision what the heat from the lights on my body would look feel like, how you know I could look from my imagined peripheral vision and see my arms out to the side, my hands down by the sides of my body, see the tan, the posing oil, maybe looking down at my feet in my posing shoes, hearing the judge call the mandatory poses out over the microphone, which is something they do. And feeling that feeling of being pulled into the middle of the lineup on stage in front of hundreds of people, and having them clap for you, and then having them announce the name as the winner. And I would do this every single day while I was doing my cardio because cardio used to be super boring for me. But I did that day after day after day after day, and I trust that that exercise helped keep me grounded, helped me stay focused, and helped me embody that champion mindset, that winning mentality. Because the day of that show, I remember so vividly, this was the show that was sort of my comeback from competing because I took a long break. I was convinced I was never gonna get on stage again. And six years later, I recommitted and I showed up so calm and so grounded and so at peace. And I always refer to it as like a very clean experience because I had nothing planned post-show other than to resume life again. So I didn't know anyone. I had no, you know, politics, no bodybuilding politics to assist me in placing higher. I had no social media at the time. I didn't have any ins with any of the judges on the judging panel. I didn't go train at the special gym where all of the important people train at. Uh, I did not have the opportunity to get someone to give me uh professional critique on my physique beforehand because I just lived too far and it wasn't feasible for me. But I showed up that day so chill, so sure that this was going to be a great day. And mind you, I also had just broken up with my boyfriend a week prior. He still came to the show. I begged him, I told him he had to, because even though we weren't together, I wanted him to see the outcome because the show actually was the wedge that drove us apart. We were really growing apart anyway. So he got to see like everything come together. And so, anyway, he was there, and even though he was there, I was still really calm, cool, collected, just so fucking chill. And I won the overall at that show. So, so, so cool, so fun, so spectacular. Probably my favorite show experience of all. And it's could a lot of it is attributed to all of the visualization practices that I did. Because I had it very clearly envisioned in my mind. So journaling is definitely going to help you. Think about where you live. What does your house look like? What are you doing? What does your average day look like? Once you have the thing that you're working towards, how's it going to change your life? So you start visualizing yourself from that point of already having it. And then you can start embodying it. And that's what will draw it closer to you. Now, I want to make sure we understand that when I say to see something through, I am not telling you that you need to hustle and grind and work 24 hours a day. I am not about that life. I am not about hustle culture. I actually think it's really damaging and dangerous. And there's no need to speed to the finish line. The journey is really where you become a new person. It's through the lived experiences, day in, day out, on your way to the destination. So sometimes you're going to need rest. That's okay. Sometimes you're going to need to pause and get clarity. That's also okay. Hustle, hustle, hustle, hustle is not a recommendation for me. And sometimes you need to do less and sort of visualize pulling the marble back in the slingshot before you let it go and it takes off. So you're not giving up, but you can slow down a little bit if you need to. You also can reassess. Now I need you to focus on something that you really, really want. Do the visualization practices. Think about what your life could look like. Try to embody that feeling. Think about how you will feel. And also know that that comes from not quitting on yourself. It comes from sticking with it when things get hard. It comes from being gentle to yourself when you make a mistake, having grace when you mess up, because you will. And that's okay too. You don't need to see every step of the way before you get started. When you are traveling somewhere and you don't know how to get there, if you're using GPS, you type in the address and you trust the GPS to get you to the destination. And that's the same thing here. So if you want to get stronger, trust the process. You want to lose a little bit of body fat, trust the process. But you have to stick with it. You can't keep making all these turns left and right and this way and that way because you're just going to take yourself off course. So I want to revisit these five powerful takeaways for you that will come out of this episode. Maybe if you want to hit pause real quick, grab a pen and paper, it's all good. And now that you're back, let's get into it. So, number one, remember that completion builds self-trust. Even if you feel like things are imperfect, ask yourself, what small task can I complete today? Number two, you do not need more motivation. You need to reconnect to your right, to your why, reconnect to your purpose, and maybe grab a post-it and write this down. Why does this goal still matter to me? Stick it somewhere where you're gonna see it every day. Now, number three, the middle is the hardest part. And that's because that's where your new identity is gonna be shaped. It's supposed to be uncomfortable. It's supposed to have you questioning all your life choices. It's not a red flag, it's not the time to stop. When there's resistance around something, it's a good thing. So don't quit in the middle. Number four, there's a difference between finishing and forcing. And see if your plan can include things like grace or rest or any pivoting, but you're not gonna completely disappear. And if you need to refine the plan, refine the plan, but do not refine the goal. You gotta keep your promises to yourself. Now, the last thing. Choose one thing and recommit. Maybe just for today. Ask yourself, what does completion look like in this season and how can I meet myself there? That's a deep question. This was taken from a conversation that I had with my mentor, and it's so powerful. I reworded it a little bit because, you know, I don't necessarily want to regurgitate the things I'm learning from myself, but these are important points, important takeaways, and things that are truly going to help you. And I know they will. Why? Because they helped me. So revisit that why, revisit that purpose, look at the post-it, be nice to yourself, rest when you need to, do the visualization, do it often. Make it feel good, get juicy with it. And remember that when you're challenged, when it's hard, when you want to give up, that's when you really need to double down and stick with it. I hope this episode helps you. I hope if you are working on an important goal for 2026, this will help re-inspire you to stick with it and maybe save this episode and come back to it so you can re listen when you feel stuck or you want to quit. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your time and attention as always. And if you feel inspired to get in touch with me on social media or send me a text, check the show notes to figure out how to do that. And I will catch you on the next one.