It’s not you. Your goals weren’t built for real life.

You did what you were told would work. You set the goals. You made the plan, followed the formula. And yet, that big achievement, the life-changing goal, still eludes you. It’s probably not you, it’s the wildly unrealistic, impractical way you’ve been taught to pursue goals that doesn’t survive contact with the real world.

In this episode, Jonathan explores a radically different, practical approach to achieving big, meaningful goals that honors the life you’re actually living, and comes from a mindset of wholeness and abundance, rather than lack, shame, or pain.

This conversation offers a humane, sustainable reframe for ambition called Success Scaffolding that allows you to keep growing without tying your worth, happiness, or nervous system to the next win.

In this episode, discover:

• The Happiness Delay Trap: Why achievement so often fails to deliver lasting fulfillment, and how the “I’ll be happy when…” mindset keeps moving the finish line.

• Why Goals Collapse After Motivation Fades: How real life, not lack of discipline, is usually what derails even the most meaningful intentions.

• Success Scaffolding: A practical, science-informed framework for building goals that can actually survive a human life.

• The Seven Elements That Make Growth Sustainable: How to design goals with structure, support, flexibility, and compassion, without pressure or self-criticism.

• Enough as the Fuel for Growth: Why grounding your goals in worthiness, not scarcity, leads to more resilience, creativity, and follow-through.

• A Kinder Way Forward: Simple practices to help you stay in relationship with what matters, especially when you wobble.

This episode is an invitation to stop blaming yourself for not feeling satisfied by success, and to start building goals that support who you already are, rather than asking you to become someone else first.

You don’t need to earn your okay-ness.

You need a structure that can hold your life.

Episode Transcript

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Your Goals Are Broken.

Good Life Project