Stop Waiting, Start SOARing | 021

You. Hi and welcome to the profit connections Podcast. I'm so glad you're here today. I am so pleased to bring to you an amazing guest. Her name is Andrea C McClean, and I want to tell you about her. Andrea is a Board Certified Life career and executive coach. She brings not one year, not 10 years, 30 plus years of global leadership in food, finance and beauty. She led operations and tech transformations, coached women worldwide in a women's leadership program, opened doors and advanced mentorship and sponsorship as co chair of the woman's ERG, a champion for women's growth. She mentors at Rider University and women unlimited incorporated her award winning book, decide to be your future self. Won the 2024 story trade award. Everybody say hello to Andrea, see we are so glad that you were here.

Andrea C. McLean: Oh, Hi, Sharon, nice to see you. Thank you for having me on your show.

Of course, of course. So the first things first, I would love for you to tell everyone about this book and the award that you won, decide to be your future self. Oh, first of all, an amazing title. So I want to know how to decide to be my future self. That's awesome. Look at that. And it's Purple. It's purple. Y'all, that's horrible.

Andrea C. McLean: It tends to be a theme with a couple of my book covers. I, you know, I was in corporate life for 35 years. I'd been coaching throughout. It seemed the journey, but I got to a point where I didn't get a promotion that I was anticipating, and that's the point that I had to step back and say, What do I want to do next? Am I going to wait to see how things unfold, or am I going to take charge of my career ladder? And so that's what I did, and that became the impetus to writing this book and trying to guide others to make the decision that they can become their future selves.

I love that idea so so many of us, especially if we're in corporate I know that we're we're talking to business owners, and a lot of us have been there, and that's why we're business owners, because we said, You know what, I want to be my own boss. And how often have we stayed in the boat and just gone wherever the boat was taking us? Because, honestly, that's how I was raised. I wasn't raised to say, hey, go out and blaze your own trail. I mean, I was raised by amazing people. And they had jobs. They, they worked nine to five, they, they, they climbed whatever ladder they were on, and they just worked and came home and and so that was how I was raised. So it is a real pair. I love the I love the phrase paradigm shift, which I will explain what that means. It's, it's a complete turn from what is normal. So I love the paradigm shift of creating your own future, deciding, hey, this isn't this is I'm not going to stay in the boat. If I want to stay in the boat, that's fine. And if I don't want to stay in the boat, I have a choice to get out. That's

Andrea C. McLean: absolutely right, yeah. And you know, it starts with that decision, because I think we can all dream about doing something, but you have to really decide, decide that you're going to take that action to get out of the boat, as you're saying, Yeah,

talk to me about deciding, because this is really a tenant that I work with my clients, about my my turning point. Story is about a decision. So talk to me about that decision a little bit like, how? What does it feel like? What does it look like? What talk to me about the decision point?

Andrea C. McLean: Yeah, so I think the decision point is when you come to a place where you say, enough is enough, or you come to a place where you have an inner feeling that there's more than this. And again, I had that feeling that there was more than this. But, you know, again, I was raised by parents who grew up went up the ladder, and that was what I was supposed to do, although, in fairness, there were some, you know, folks who dabbled in other things in our family, but it was more of the standard way of, you know, having a job and going through life, and yeah, you have to get to the point where you figure out, what is it that you really want, and that's that decision. It's not what anybody else wants for you, it's what do you want for yourself. And then you've gotta decide to take that action, take that step, and really not look back, because a lot of times we might take a baby step and then go back, saying, oh, you know, I'm not sure if that was the right decision. Right? Think you have to really, you know, go forward with that decision and take the steps, put one foot in front of the other, as I like to say,

Yeah, that's great. And I think that if you can actually have a crystallized vision, it doesn't have to be crystal clear, but it does need to be a bit solid, but it will help you from going back, taking those baby steps back and running back into the safe zone, right? If you, if you can actually see what is there for you and what can your life can be in a really solid way, even if it's not totally clear, yes, yes, yeah. And

Andrea C. McLean: so in the book, I created the SOAR method.

So soar s, O, A, O, A, R, love it, and S is

Andrea C. McLean: for shift your mindset. O is for overcome challenges. A is for activate your plan, and then R is for reflect and refine. Okay, so what you were just talking about in terms of visualizing what that future could look for you that falls under the s okay? Because you have to shift your mindset that you could change your circumstances. You could become somebody different tomorrow than you are today. If that's really what you're envisioning. And I do talk about visualizing what that future looks like, Who are you with? What does it feel like? You know, what are you doing so it and that will help you to shift the mindset and maybe remove some of those limiting beliefs you might have about yourself.

I love that. So it's more than just, hey, I want to be an award winning author, right? What? What does that? What else goes along with that target? Like you said, like, what does it feel like? What is it, you know, and I don't know if you cover this, but in terms of of looking at the future, is it being, what will it feel like to be that award winning author, you know, like that, that, that that feeling. Because if we know what it if we imagine what it would feel like, maybe we don't know because we haven't been there, but if we put the senses around it, I love that. You kind of it's not just pick a goal. No, feel it too, and

Andrea C. McLean: yeah, and imagine it and see yourself doing

it. Oh, love that. I love that. Yeah. What is Yeah. What is your day look like if you are an award winning author or,

Andrea C. McLean: you know, if you're a coach or you're speaking, whatever it is, what does that day look like for you? Yeah.

Oh, and I love that, because what is your day look like now, and what pieces of the day are not fulfilling or or even stuff you look forward to. So to change those parts of the day and create a life where you like most of it, yes,

most of it. I love that. Okay, so I think

Andrea C. McLean: that's where the O comes in. Overcome challenges, because life is not without its challenges, no.

And let me ask you this Andrea, see, when somebody decides to do something, it's easy sailing, right? What we made the decision, it's all good now, no obstacles at all. Right? How and why they come up and they should come up like because we, because we, you know, we hit that challenge. We're going to run backwards, right? So talk about why the obstacles actually, they're they're there, and why it's not a bad thing that they're there. Yeah,

Andrea C. McLean: I always say obstacles are a stepping stone and that challenge that you're going through. Instead of saying, Why is this happening to me? Say this is happening for me. And what is the lesson I need to learn out of, you know, the situation or the circumstance or the challenge, and so if you're

driving, don't write this down. If you're not driving, write this down. Say that again. What is the lesson

Andrea C. McLean: that I need to learn from this

now, why is this happening to me? No, what is the lesson I need to learn from? Oh, how much power in that. Oh, love it. And,

Andrea C. McLean: you know, many times I I've heard people say it before, but then when I look back, I realize that I've seen it in my life. Sometimes things happen in multiple you know, multiple times it happens and it's because you didn't learn the lesson. It's like, okay, you gotta learn this lesson, and then you can move forward. Okay,

I'm just gonna interrupt you with a really funny story. I heard this. I heard this preacher one time, and he was on TV, and he was talking about the Israelites in the desert, and they were going around the mountain. You know, they were in the desert for 40 years, 40 years. Thing that cracked me up is this little portly preacher would be like he said, and they didn't learn their lesson. One more time around the mountain. I. Sorry that just popped into my head as you were saying that one more time, round about didn't learn the lesson. Let's go around again. Exactly,

Andrea C. McLean: yeah. So again, you know, there are lessons, and we grow from challenges, so we have to find ways to overcome the challenges. So, yeah, think of it differently. You know? I mean again, in my own case, I can tell you, I went back to school to do my Masters when I decided I was going to go to my next I went back to do my masters in my early 50s, and I, you know, I had a global corporate job full time, and I was doing homework on the train on a tour commute home, because that's when I had to get in the online portal, you know. So it was a challenge, but I had to find a way to overcome it, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to graduate at the end of the journey. So, yeah, it's finding ways to navigate, you know, if you can't go over the mountain, go around it

right right there, look at it from a different perspective. And how can you make it work? How can you take this challenge and turn it into something that is the stepping stone? Exactly what you said? I love that. Okay, so now we've, now we've overcome, we've we've gathered those obstacles. We've made them into stepping stones. What do we do next? So

Andrea C. McLean: now you have to activate a plan, because if you shift your mindset and you know where you want to go, and you figured out how to overcome challenges, if you don't do something about it, it won't come to fruition. So that's putting a plan in place, establishing your goals. And I talk about doing SMART goals, making sure that you know they're not so big that it demoralizes you, yes, but they're still going to stretch you a little bit to achieve them or scare you a little bit, because if your goals aren't scaring you a little bit, then maybe they're not big

enough. Oh, this is brilliant. I just got chills again. This is so good, because putting those goals that are a little bit out of reach there, if, like, if I used to write down numbers for my sales goals, I would write down crazy numbers. I would write down normal numbers too. Like, okay, this was the sales we had this this month last year. I'm going to move it up to this, you know, percentage, which is reasonable. That's a that's a realistic goal. And then I would have a number that was, I called it a stretch goal, and I I literally would be almost nauseous when I would write that number down. It was so inconceivable to me as I was writing it down. However, almost always we reached that stretch goal because we had that, that that energy behind it, and and it, it turned into the most amazing thing to actually write down the bigger thing that you might want. And so I love, I love that. And and talk about goals, we can have we or we have the plan, but we have to have the goal first. So talk a little bit about the goal that we how we need to, you know, create that goal for ourselves. Yes, so,

Andrea C. McLean: so we need to create the goal. So it has to be specific. So like you were saying, you put down a certain number you wanted to hit, but you have to have a way to measure it. Because, you know, how will you know if you got there, if you don't have a way to measure it, and then, you know, again, you want it to be achievable to some degree, but with some stretch, and there has to be some time limitation to get there. So it shouldn't be that Well, one day, it should be next year, next week, next month, whatever the timing is, based on what you're trying to accomplish. And I listened to someone else who said, not to set more than seven goals for a year, you know, in terms of what you want to get done, because if you have too many goals as well, that could become demoralizing, right? So, you know, set those goals and then work towards them. Check in periodically. Am I making progress to get to the goal?

I love that. I love that. So that's the A Right? And how do what do we do for r? What is the R? Yes,

Andrea C. McLean: so it leads right into the R, which is reflect and refine. So part of the reflection is look at how far you've come. So again, if you had some goals where you're able to make some progress, then you should stop and celebrate, cuz a lot of times we don't celebrate the mini successes. You know, we're waiting till we cross the whole bridge, and we're not celebrating the fact that we made some steps across and we're halfway across the bridge already, but we're waiting till we get to the end of the bridge. You're

talking my language. Celebrate the small wins. Celebrate everything I love that. I love that. Yeah, so that's part of

Andrea C. McLean: the Reflect, but then the Refine goes back to the measuring. And are you making progress? And is it the right goal? Because nothing in life is static. Life is dynamic. So you might find that after you've been on the journey a while, that you might need to tweak the plan or the goal, or maybe you might even shift where it is you want for a destination. Maybe you dreamed too small, and you want to ramp it up, for example. So that's where the refining comes in. That's where you're going to tweak those goals and those plans to see what enhancements you might need to make this the reality for your future.

I love that I and I love that it's that I love the word you use dynamic, because sometimes we get like, in a rut and we're like, okay, just have to go this way, and it has to look like this. And when we get really rigid and stuck in that, then we lose our joy, we lose our motivation. We lose even maybe the why we're doing it. So being open to you know that kind of thing is actually makes us more powerful. And what I love about your method is that it works in 100% of situations. This will work for if you want to train a dog. This will work if you own a business owner. This will work if you want to have an exercise plan. This works everywhere, because I've not heard anything that you said that's not universal in terms of how how to think about it. And so what a powerful tool for your business and your life. I love this. Thank you.

Andrea C. McLean: Thank you. Yes, I really, when I, when I came up, you know, with the acronym, I didn't really think how universal it was, but now I'm realizing that it really is universal. And so, you know, I'm using it to work with leaders. I'm using it to work with executive coaches. I'm going to present you know you can use this as your coach leaders. I'm using it with individual clients. It applies in all scenarios of life. And there's a quote from Walt Disney that says, don't just fly soar high. And I love that quote because that's really what I want from people using this soar method is for them to soar in life and fly high. Ah,

I love that. That okay. So so many times we find ourselves in life and in our businesses with our feet stuck on the ground, and we maybe are in that spot where we've we're just stuck. Maybe we lost our joy, maybe we are overwhelmed, maybe we are disheartened, maybe we just don't know that next thing to do. And I think what a powerful gift this is this book and this methodology to actually give yourself a reset. And sometimes it takes pain for people to change. Like, I'm not going to go to the doctor till I can't stand it anymore, till I'm not able to walk, that's when I'll go to the doctor. Yes, so I encourage you to, even if you're not at that point yet, if you're just thinking, gosh, like, like Andrea did, is there's something more? Is there something more? For me, I think this is a brilliant way to actually activate that. Get your brain working, get your inspiration going, read this book and figure out how can you get to that next thing? What is it? Dream about it and figure out how you can go from muddy feet to soaring in your own life. Thank

Andrea C. McLean: you. You said that so beautifully.

Well. This has been amazing. And Andrea C, McLean, I just love saying her, Okay, we had a conversation before we started about her middle initial. There's another person with a similar name, so she uses her middle initial, which is why I keep calling her Andrea C, so I thought I'd let you in on that. I should, probably should have said that at the beginning, she has you have an amazing gift for our listeners, and I'd love for you to talk about that. Yes,

Andrea C. McLean: I do. It's a sore five minute reflection journal, guide, and so it walks you through the s, the O, the A, the R. So what mindset shift did you make that day? For example, what challenge did you overcome, you know, and where do you need to take some action potentially, and what do you need to reflect on today in terms of how your day went? So I'm paraphrasing, because I don't have it in front of me, but it, you know, it walks you through the letters. It actually gives you a space to write in your answers, and it takes no more than five minutes, probably best, to do it in the evening, after you've gone through your day, so that you can do that reflection.

So do you do this repeatedly over time? Yes,

Andrea C. McLean: you can do it every day. I love that. I love that.

So, so you can have this thing, it takes five minutes to just reflect on what happens. Been in your day and and, and you're and get you dreaming and get everything moving towards what is that next thing that you want to have in your life? I believe in next level goals. I think that they keep us healthy, they keep us moving forward. They keep us from getting stuck. So I love this, this tool that you can use every single day, that you can and and don't forget what Andrea said earlier. It doesn't have to be the same. This actually could be a powerful tool in creating what it is you really do want, because you might not know right now, right it is it that you really want? That you can take this tool and use it, and actually, every day, dig into what it is that that you want. When you're opening yourself up to these kinds of exercises, then it opens that creativity and that inspiration to come through, and you might get a really clear vision of what that next level goal will be for you. I love it. What we're going to do, sorry, I got all excited about the gift. We are going to have Andrea C McLean's gift in our show notes, and we will also have it in the portal, the profit connectors dot club. That is our club for you, our profit connectors. That's profit connectors dot, C, l, u, B, we'll have Andrea's contact information, her bio, a link for her book and a link for her free gift. We'll have all of that in the profit connectors club. Do you have any last words for us? Andrea? C, my

Andrea C. McLean: last words would be, decide to be your future self. Design that future that you want.

It's perfect. It's perfect. Thank you so much for being here. Andrea, thank you for listening everyone, and we will see you on the next profit connections podcast. Thank

Andrea C. McLean: you. It's been a pleasure. You.