From Good Intentions to Actual Progress: Lessons from the Gym, for Leaders

Jul 31, 2025

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Okay. No one is looking. In the safety of your own mind, raise your hand if you:

👋 Have more than one leadership, professional development, or “Hey, this looks interesting” article open in a tab on your browser.
👋 Have attended a conference, leadership retreat, or any other “development” intensive that you really enjoyed, came home, and never looked at your notes/materials again.
👋 Heard something smart on a podcast, thought “I should remember that,” and forgot it two stoplights later.
👋 Saved a bunch of recipes/glute exercises/communication tips on Instagram or TikTok — and have no idea where they actually are.

(Do we even know how to access flagged TikToks? Asking for a friend. 👋)

If you’re nodding: same.

All of these examples point to the same question: “How do we get from the good intentions of information gathering to the progress of actually DOING the thing(s)?”

Follow Your Plan, Not Your Feelings

Truth bomb. 💣 Getting from vision to execution IS. THE. WORK. 💥

And here is the really real — it requires a plan.

Making a plan is about both the big idea and the mundane daily practice of gettin’ it done. What we tend to see in our experience with clients (and ourselves) is a lack of patience for, and commitment to, the daily “doing.”

We all love the visioning, but the daily tedium of the doing — decidedly less fun.

🏋️ Lessons from the Gym (and the Office)

It is incredibly common for people to come out of the gates hot! Inspired and hopeful, they throw themselves into the deep end of the pool, only to become exhausted and frustrated by the discomfort of sudden change and the lack of immediate success.

🏃‍♀️ Gym-World: The idea of having a new, improved, healthier, more energetic you is exciting. New Year’s resolutions, anyone?!?! Doing the work of getting to the gym even when you don’t feel like it and giving your body what it needs to perform well is BORING and UNCOMFORTABLE.

💼 Work- World: The idea of being a more confident, articulate, skillful communicator and leader is exciting. Doing the awkward work of actually planning, practicing, failing, and assessing is BORING and UNCOMFORTABLE.

In the world of fitness, there is a mantra, “Follow Your Plan, Not Your Feelings.” Let’s break this mantra into three stages of execution.

🏃‍♀️ Gym-World

1. Consume Information. You have to learn a little before you jump into your plan. You have watched the fitness reels on social media. You have listened to the podcasts. Perhaps you have read some articles or books, or your doctor or friend has given you some information. SWEET! We want to move our bodies! It is good for us – physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. Hooray, holistic wellness!!!! This is the necessary pre-work to getting shit done.

2. Show up. You have made it through the initial information-gathering-hype-yourself-up phase. Now you have to make a schedule and show up. This translates to, “Everyone hates the 5:00 am alarm. But make a schedule and go to the gym, even when you don’t feel like getting out of bed.” Showing up is half the battle. Spoiler alert, you might never be excited to get up early or lace up your tennis shoes after work, but we commit, and we show up anyway.

3. Do the reps. Just showing up is huge, but it isn’t enough to maximize progress. You have to know what you are going to do when you get there. There are lots of plans that work! What is the best movement? The movement that you will do. But here is the bottom line: your plan has to be reasonable, achievable, and clear. And you have to DO IT.

Who has wandered aimlessly around the gym and left after walking for 30 minutes on the treadmill at 3 miles per hour? Me — I have done that. 👋 Did I get points for showing up? Yes. Did I maximize my time? Probably not. Is this okay sometimes? Yes. Is it great all the time? Probably not.

💼 Work-World

Let’s apply this analogy to building your communication and leadership muscles, too.

1. Consume Information. You are reading this article. (And hopefully saving to actually look at later 😜) You have read leadership and communication books. You have gone to the professional development training. You love learning about the Enneagram. You watch TikTok clips of “Diary of a CEO” and “Simon Sinek.” AWESOME! (Us too) Continuous improvement for the win. You are consuming the information and are curious about the world.

2. Show up. It is not enough to consume information. You must move to action. That means that you need to schedule time to prepare and practice. We are pro-time-blocking. Make an appointment with yourself. Block your calendar for the “doing” of improving your communication and leadership. What does this look like in real life? Here is a simple example. Schedule time to prep for that meeting or 1:1.

There probably isn’t time to do it for every single meeting on your calendar. But let’s take our cues from the fitness analogy, and make a commitment to do it at least 3 times a week.

We are not talking about hours and hours of time. We are talking about 10-15 minutes of consideration. This could look like blocking 15 minutes before a few meetings a week to prepare and focus yourself. It could look like creating a daily habit of using your drive to work to think through the most important meeting of the day.

3. Do the reps. What do “reps” look like in the land of communication and leadership? It looks like a little research, scenario planning, and actual practice.

Let’s Break It Down:

🔍 Research = Who are the people in this meeting/interaction? What do I know about them? What are their communication and personality tendencies like? What are their highest priorities as it pertains to this interaction? This is typically not hours of Googling. This is a thoughtful mental rundown of what you know about the players, or perhaps taking a quick look at your notes from your last meeting.

⚖️ Scenario Planning = What would it look like if this interaction went really well? What would it look like if it went poorly? Where are the places it might go a little sideways? How important is this meeting? How does it fit into a bigger picture?

🗣️ Practice = Literally practice what you want to communicate. Out loud. Speak the words out of your face. ACTUALLY practice.

People hate this. When we work directly with individuals and teams, we encounter significant resistance a lot of the time. But it WORKS. Truth time. If you are not used to doing this, it feels awkward as hell. But again, it works.

You don’t have to practice every. single. thing. We recommend that you start by practicing transitions and “the point.”

Try These Two Reps:

🔀 Transitions: Transitions tend to trip people up. Starting a conversation. Transitioning from the small talk of greetings to the meat of the interaction. Moving from one topic to another. Wrapping up the conversation with authority and clarity.

🎯 The Point: If you had to pick the single most important thing that you want to communicate, what would it be? Practice communicating that point. Say it in different ways. How are you going to introduce the idea? How could you nail the point down as concisely and clearly as possible? What versions do you need in your communication toolbelt?

Congratulations, you made it to the end of this article. You are a curious person who is learning! You are a consumer of information!! Step one. CHECK. ✔️

Now here is the hard part! Challenge yourself to execute steps 2 & 3. Show up. Do the reps. Let us know how it is going for you! We would love to hear from you.

XO,
Anna

P.S. Hold tight for From Learning to Application Part II: Treat Yourself Like a Science Experiment