Now that Thanksgiving has passed and the calendar reads December, there’s no denying the holiday season is upon us. In the spirit of gratitude and giving, we at the #WeGotGoals podcast have chosen to focus our fourth, and final, segment of season 3 on the theme of Contributing Generously.

It’s not really a stretch for us—all along, we’ve noticed most of the goal-getters we have on the show aren’t motivated by merely money, fame, or prestige. Nearly all have a bigger picture in mind, a vision of some way they can leave the world a better place than they found it. 

This quarter, we’ll bring this element to the fore, focusing on guests who have philanthropy, service, or selflessness at the core of their efforts.

We kick things off, as we always do, with a hostful episode. This week, the four of us—me (Cindy Kuzma), Jeana Anderson Cohen, Kristen Geil, and Maggie Umberger—first recap some of the lessons from our past segment on Better, Faster, Stronger (including how we netted out on our goals for those few months). Then, we delve into what Contributing Generously means to us, and how we’ll make it a priority as we explore the topic with our guests in these upcoming months.

Check out this episode to hear:

• 1:33: What we learned about the importance of recovery
• 4:19: Why getting better, faster, and stronger is often as much psychological as physical
• 5:55 Why progress comes under stress, and how high achievers overcome obstacles along the way to achievement
• 7:39: Our top takeaways from our guests, including having flexibility in your process; using all the resources at your disposal; and working in sprints 
• 10:53: How we fared on our own better, faster, and stronger goals—including some unanticipated obstacles and pleasant surprises
• 16:13: Why we decided to focus our final segment of season 3 on contributing generously, and how we define that
• 16:49: The goals we’ve accomplished along these lines in the past, including fundraising on relay teams and supporting aSweatLife ambassadors in their charitable efforts
• 20:07: Our hacks for making service a priority, even when life gets busy
• 22:26: Where we find inspiration for giving back, including a touching story about Maggie’s father
• 24:21: The big, generous goals we’re setting for ourselves this quarter

Links/resources we mention:

• Episode 123, on which Kristen interviews me and Carrie Jackson Cheadle
• Episode 118, with Tevia Celli
• Episode 128, with Autumn Calabrese
• Episode 124, with Jay DeCoons
• Episode 121, with Jillian Bell and Paul Downs Colaizzo
• The Greater Chicago Food Depository
• An article about how the Chicago Public Library eliminated most fines
• Mission Propelle

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