In this journal episode my four most recent guests discussed major goals that they achieved that in hindsight were stepping stones to something greater.

In Journal Episode 1, I shared ten practices from my first ten guests and you can read that transcript on my blog.

In Journal Episode 2, I discussed how every single guest has shaped their life by following their interests, and then taking that a step further by teaching what they’ve learned along the way. This continues to be true with my most recent guests Jason Wrobel, Anita Kulkarni, Sarah Mastriani-Levi, and Joleene Moody.

This episode highlights how my four most recent guests followed their interests and pursued very specific opportunities to explore and develop their skills. And each one of them discussed how those opportunities helped them get to where they are today. What caused them to pursue these stepping stone experiences? They each talked about an inner drive to explore these pursuits.

Jason Wrobel had a very, very specific goal of doing a vegan chef prime time cooking series. He created a vision board that he looked at every day. Because he was thinking about and working towards his larger goal, whenever a steppingstone opportunity came his way, he took it. And you guessed it, one day he got the opportunity to develop the show he had already created in his mind. This show introduced him to a wider audience, many of whom became his followers on YouTube. Today, he shares messages of nutrition, fitness, and other elements of healthy lifestyle with over 35,000 subscribers to his YouTube video blog. Ultimately, his large goal of having a prime time cooking show became a stepping stone to creating his book Eaternity, a cooking and lifestyle book. In this clip, Jason describes how he uses a vision board to move closer to his goals every single day.

Anita Kulkarni was in medical school and sought out a program where she learned to do microsurgery. This led to her desire to be a plastic surgeon and while doing a fellowship, she had an experience with a very grateful patient that put her on the path to where she is today. Helping breast cancer patients, including me.

Joleene Moody was working for a television station covering high-octane news stories. She enjoyed her work at first but was left with little time or energy to write. And she was felt driven to share the positive messages that were almost bursting out of her. After being hit in the head while covering a story at the courthouse, she decided to quit her job to make her way as a speaker and a writer. Today, she’s a full-time entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and playwright. Here’s Joleene describing her leap!  

Sarah Mastriani-Levi is not an M.D. but she wanted to understand Chinese medicine and acupuncture. So she applied to, and was accepted at a program where she immersed herself in these practices. And, then she took her training a step further. She ventured up to the Mongolian border to work closely and learn from people who were doing more traditional healing. This knowledge allowed her to step up her practice as a holistic healer in Israel where she practiced for 12 years before returning to the U.S. Today, she’s a holistic health coach, chef, co-author of four best-selling books, and host of the Simple Change Podcast.