#WeGotGoals by aSweatLife

"The one with the hair" is a moniker she's come to embrace. In 2015, Heidi Stevens considered her then-new photo for her Chicago Tribune column " Balancing Act " unremarkable - until her inbox flooded with commentary from her readers. She shared a few in a piece for the Chicago Tribune , with gems like. "For heaven sake, comb your hair." "My neighbors and I give you permission to shoot your hairdr...

When we bring guests onto the #WeGotGoals podcast, we know they aren't just inspiring individuals because of what they've accomplished, but because they have a unique perspective on goal setting that we can't wait to unpack. Lee Kemp, seven-time wrestling national champion with three gold medals in the World Championships, four in the Wrestling World Cup and two in the Pan-American Championships,...

(This episode has some explicit language)   Peter Rahal, co-founder and CEO of RXBAR , didn’t set out to build a multi-million-dollar company. But he had goals, both large and small. Practically speaking, he wanted a clean, healthy protein bar to fuel his workouts. On a bigger scale, he sought freedom and fulfillment. “Prior to working at RXBAR, I'd always had a normal job. I felt really handcuffe...

Back the Kickstarter . Celebrating a close family member's 50th birthday in the ICU is a worst-case scenario for most people — but for Danni Allen, watching her father battle (and then overcome) weight-related health issues proved to be the catalyst that inspired her to audition for "The Biggest Loser." After beating out 300,000 other applicants to be one of the final 15 featured on the show, Alle...

Note: This episode contains explicit language   Prior to having Michelle Davis and Matt Holloway, creators of New York Times Best Selling cook books, Thug Kitchen , on our podcast, I wanted to know, "Do they curse as much in real life as they do as a brand?" The answer was - not surprisingly (and yet still delightfully) - of course. This episode of #WeGotGoals is marked E for explicit, and in it w...

By now, runner, author, and activist Kathrine Switzer has logged countless miles. Most famously, she completed 26.2 as the first official female in the Boston Marathon, in 1967. The stunning photos of race director Jock Semple nearly pulling her off the course made history and cemented her life’s purpose of empowering women. But like any others, her journey started with a single mile—one she’d run...

This episode is presented by  Chicago Sport and Social Club , reminding you that summer is just around the corner. Get into a summer volleyball league now and use code “GOALS” to get 5 percent off until March 15. We've evolved into a team that's obsessed with goals - how people think of them, how they set them and then how they ferociously pursue them. When we set out to ask people about those thi...

  Thirteen years ago, when Augie Nieto learned he had the progressive neuromuscular disease ALS, he and his wife Lynne were told to put his affairs in order. Most people live only two to five years after diagnosis, as their brains lose touch with their bodies and their muscles atrophy. But Augie—who founded exercise equipment company Life Fitness in 1977—wasn’t one to simply accept his fate. First...

This episode is presented by Chicago Sport and Social Club , reminding you that summer is just around the corner. Get into a summer volleyball league now and use code "GOALS" to get 5 percent off until March 15. It's no secret that we're majorly in awe of the ladies of Stylisted — after all, this isn't the first time we've talked (okay, gushed) about co-founders  Julia and Lauren on aSweatLife. Bu...

Sick, tired, lonely and lost. That's the point where Jessica Zweig , founder and CEO of the SimplyBe Agency knew her path with Cheeky Chicago had ended and something needed to change. The story of changing paths - especially when it means shuttering something that's gained public recognition the way that Cheeky Chicago had - may be a topic that some guests on our podcast #WeGotGoals would avoid. B...

Kurt Seidensticker wasn't always obsessed with collagen. In fact, before he founded Vital Proteins , he worked at NASA, training astronauts and designing missions, developed cell phone networks, helped create the first internet in the mid- to late-90s and started a fresh-caught fish and steak eCommerce business. Everything he learned in these endeavors when coupled with chronic pain in his joints,...

Todd Uterstaedt interacts with high-powered leaders all day, guiding them as they build their teams, create their company culture, and practice the productivity hacks that help them transform from founders to CEOs. But ask the founder/CEO coach and "From Founder to CEO" podcast host just how he stays focused on his priorities as he juggles a family and demanding clients, and his answer may surpris...

Athletes spend their lives fighting for a spot in a field of 2,000 triathletes in the most grueling competition on Earth. Their prize? Thrashing through a 2.4 mile open-water swim in the Pacific, fighting trade winds and a convection oven of heat on a 112-mile bike and finishing with a marathon - a 26.2-mile run. Becoming an IRONMAN at the World Championships at Kona wasn't a dream of Jen Ator's....

Before Yael Shy wrote  What Now: Meditation For Your Twenties and Beyond , she founded MindfulNYU, the largest campus-wide mindfulness initiative in the country. It's hard to imagine a time when Shy struggled with meditation, but to hear her tell the story of accomplishing this big goal, being mindful wasn't always easy. Shy had reservations about meditation when she was first introduced to the pr...

Oprah herself may be mulling a bid for the presidency—but if you’re looking for the next Oprah, look no further than this week’s episode of #WeGotGoals. Taylor Rooks is only 25, but she’s already a sports journalist and anchor in the number-one market in the country. She has her own podcast, Time Out with Taylor Rooks , where she’s interviewed the likes of Kevin Durant , John Wall , and Snoop Dogg...

"Meddling," my husband said after consulting dictionary.com to try to settle an argument, "is a bad thing." I put my headphones back on, not acknowledging what he considered a win. Sure, a meddler isn't invited to address an issue, but that doesn't mean she can't help make it better with her unique skills. After meeting Maaria Mozaffar - civil rights attorney, policy drafter and author of More Tha...

In 2004, then-18-year-old sprinter Allyson Felix went to the Athens Olympics aiming to win gold in the 200-meter dash—and took silver to Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell. In Beijing in 2008, the two lined up for a rematch, with the same result. But Felix never took her eyes off the ultimate target, an individual gold medal in the 200 meters. In 2012, she finally achieved it. Of all her accomplishments—...

File this one under "things you don't want to hear while recording a podcast entitled #WeGotGoals": We've actually stopped using the word "goal" at The Junto Institute. "Cool, cool," I thought to myself, as I mentally face-palmed during my interview with Raman Chadha of The Junto Institute . "This is fine. Everything is fine." Chuckling a little at my dismay, Chadha went on to explain that his tea...

What makes you happy? What makes you unhappy? What habits would you like to improve? What and who are you grateful for in your life? What is your definition of success? Not part of your average checklist or daily to-do's, but questions like these make up the Happiness Roadmap as outlined in Mo Seetubtim's Happiness Planner . Seetubtim asked the readers of her personal blog for input about what wou...

"I do believe that at the core, people feel something different about barry's - because it is different," Joey Gonzalez, CEO of Barry's Bootcamp said as we sat surrounded by the glass walls of his West Hollywood office, talking about the future of the company. Just down the street, you'll find where  Barry Jay created the first Barry's Bootcamp with two partners in 1998. When the lore of the tread...

When she trained for her first triathlon six years ago, Denise Lee was swimming, biking, or running six days a week. But she couldn’t find gear that made her “feel like a badass.” So she set about to craft activewear with a look that motivated her to train harder and reflected her edgy, urban, high-fashion style. ALALA , the athleisure company she launched four years ago—before athleisure was even...

Clare Crowley didn't start out pursuing a life built around yoga - she started as a fighter, in and out of the ring. The sport of boxing came into her life at a time when she needed discipline, structure and an outlet - and eventually yoga would serve ...

Facing challenges head-on started early in life f…

April Sutton's life turned upside down when her training job disappeared. Getting downsized out of her job left her down, out and sleeping in her car. From spending Chicago nights without heat in her freezing car - April's life looks completely different today. She turned it around from homelessness to becoming a SAG card-carrying actress with appearances in movies like Divergent and shows like Em...

What would it take to permanently shift your sense of the impossible? For runner, author, and coach Matt Fitzgerald, it was an all-in approach to training for this year’s Chicago Marathon. He moved to Flagstaff, Arizona; trained with pro runners and an elite-level coach; and as a result, ran his personal-best time of 2:39:30 at age 46, something he’d previously thought inconceivable. On todays’ ep...