What if the biggest goals in your life aren’t achieved by giant leaps—but by small, consistent steps taken over time?

In this Friday episode of Whole Again, Michael shares a deeply personal story about achieving a lifelong dream: riding his bike across the country—21 years after doctors told him he never would. This episode reframes goal setting, moving away from pressure-packed, all-or-nothing thinking and toward a more compassionate, sustainable approach that actually works.

By listening, you’ll discover:

1. Why big goals often feel overwhelming—and how to make them doable
2. How breaking goals into small, consistent steps builds real momentum
3. A simple bronze, silver, and gold framework that gives you more chances to win each day
4. Why holding goals loosely helps you stay present, resilient, and aligned with your values

This approach isn’t about hustle—it’s about progress, patience, and becoming who you’re meant to be.

Press play to learn how to dream big, start small, and take the next meaningful step toward the life you’re creating—one day at a time.

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Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

Join me on Substack https://substack.com/@milkshakeswithmichael for more ways to stay resilient and navigate today’s uncertainty with more grace.

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

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With Whole Again: A Fresh Approach to Mindfulness and Resilience through Kintsugi Wisdom, listeners explore mindfulness and resilience through personal stories of trauma, scars, and injury while learning to overcome PTSD, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and perfectionism with self-compassion, self-love, and self-worth. Through insightful discussions on building resilience, fitness, and stress management, as well as mindfulness practices and digital wellness, the show offers practical tools such as breathwork, micro-dose meditation, grounding techniques, visualization, and daily affirmations for anxiety relief and stress reduction. Inspired by the art of kintsugi, the podcast embodies healing as a transformative process, encouraging a shift in perspective from worry and overwhelm to gratitude and personal growth. By exploring the mind-body connection, micro-dosing strategies for emotional well-being, and

 Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole again, the show that can help you navigate today's uncertainty with a bit more grace, mindfulness, and resilience, so you can step into the person you're becoming. And today, since it's Friday, I have a shorter episode for you and a tip, it's something I plan to do more of this year.

'cause this year I celebrate the 25th anniversary. Of my near death cycling accident, which I call my last bad day. That day sparked whole again and a new approach to life. So each week, this year, I plan to share a small shift you can make to help you create a meaningful, fulfilling life and your type of ripple effect.

I'll share them here on whole again. Also over on Substack and LinkedIn. These tips have helped me along the way, and I know that not every one of them is going to hit the mark for you. Some will miss the target by a mile, so take what works and then leave the rest behind. My hope and my commitment to you is that.

The 50 I share with you, or over 50 that I'll share with you, most of them will be meaningful and you know that you don't have to do or incorporate those all by yourself. Here. I've got you. So if you ever need more support and weaving in these tips into your life, so they become a natural way of living, reach out.

I'll be glad to help. So the first tip I shared over on Substack and LinkedIn was all about knowing your values, a cornerstone building block so we can build a solid foundation. Last week I spoke about making sure you know who is in your Peloton, basically the people you're riding with in life. And today I wanna share more about goal setting.

It's something that we do all the time personally and professionally. We can think of big, huge, hairy, audacious goals, moonshot goals, you name it. But we often get stuck in getting them completed Today. I wanna share more about how you can think about the initial stages of goal completion, and what we'll talk about is the power.

That I wasn't gonna ride my bike again. I had to give up on that dream. And the people around me said, they make a lot of sense, Michael. It's time to give up on that dream and just be grateful that you're alive. And believe me, I was super grateful to be alive, but I didn't wanna let go of that dream. I thought it was still possible, but riding your bike across the country under normal circumstances.

Is a pretty big goal. Given the state I was in, it seemed almost impossible. It took me 21 years to get it done. I rode 96 miles a day over 41 days, so that equates to about 3,800 miles in change from Astoria, Oregon to Washington dc But that ride wasn't built across those 41 days. Nope. It was actually built through over 7,000 smaller goals.

You see when you come up with a big goal, the kind that make you go gulp, it can feel overwhelming. You might have a little self-doubt creep in, and other people might chirp in your ear that you can't get it done, but they're really only projecting their stories, their limiting beliefs. All that being said though, when we come up with really big goals.

The type of goal is to make a sweat. It can feel overwhelming like riding my bike across the country. It felt a bit overwhelming once I decided I was gonna do it. And if you ever feel the same way, congratulations my friend. You are officially human. Here's what to do. Break things down into bite-sized pieces, smaller building blocks, if you will.

So I took my big goal. 20 years was an actual goal because I thought my daughters would be out of the house and that would give my wife and I more freedom to drive and ride over six weeks across the country. So I had a little bit more freedom, and plus I was starting from ground zero. I had to rebuild all of my foundation.

So I thought, well, 20 years seems reasonable. Of course we had the pandemic that delayed things, and then I had a total knee replacement, which delayed it another year. So in the end it took me 21 years, but I divided my 20 years into four five year plans, and I took those five year plans and divided them into one year plans and then six month plans, and then ultimately into monthly plans and then daily plans so I could show up.

Each day with intention and alignment to my values, and I knew if I could stay in the moment or tend to this moment to do the work I had set forth and the way I look at goal setting each day. I use a bronze, silver, and gold, a little Olympic theme approach to my goal setting each day. This gives me three shots at meddling.

Instead of making our goals binary, either you hit the mark, thumbs up, or you don't. Thumbs down. We go through too much of a rollercoaster of emotions when we approach goal setting and goal execution that way. I like this gold, silver, bronze approach. It gives us more shots for some type of success that can help us create a better tomorrow.

It builds momentum, if you will. So over 7,000 days times three, 21,000 different opportunities to score a win and not every day was a gem. Some days were not so good. I had multiple surgeries during those 20 years. I had rehab, I had setbacks, as well as joyous moments, happy moments, moments of great progress, hockey stick moments where I've made incredible progress.

All of it led to my ability to ride my bike across the country and with any goal that you want to set, whether it's professional or personal, think big. Although make sure it aligns to your values. It's gonna be easier to get it done if you're in alignment, and then chunk it down into bite-sized pieces, small little steps that you can take.

The next step is to ease your grip on the big goal, which sounds a little funny, counterintuitive. You would think that you would wanna keep the big goal right in view, but when we latch onto it too tightly, then we can't tend to the present moment. So come up with a big goal, break it down, and then hold it loosely so you can stay.

In the moment because in this moment is the only moment you have to take action. And if you have a day, because you will have a day or maybe days, know that as long as you have your breath, you can simply begin again and begin again, and begin again, and you get back and you gain momentum by taking another small step.

That's how you start with. Achieving your big goals. So what's a big goal that you have? Dream big. Then carve it into bite-sized pieces. Hold it loosely and know that you can always begin again. So let me know what your big goal is for this year. I'd love to know. Love to offer any support. If you are looking for more clarity on how to weave this tip into your life, and as always, thanks for being here.

Thank you for being part of our community. One other thing that I'm doing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of my last bad day is providing free copies of my bestselling book, my Last Bad Day Shift. You'll see the link in the show notes if you'd like a copy. Just complete the form and I'll get a copy out to you, and I hope you'll join me over on Substack.

There you can see my blog post as well as some live meditations and some additional teaching, all in an effort to help you navigate today's crazy world with a bit more grace and mindfulness and resilience. Again, thanks for being here. I appreciate you. I hope you put a beautiful ripple into the world.