You Probably Don’t Need Another Strategy
I was lying in bed the other night thinking about the people I work with.
More specifically, I was thinking…
What is the actual problem I solve?
Which feels like one of those questions that should have a very easy answer when you’ve been doing this work for years.
It didn’t. 😂
Because the truth is, the work I do with people can go in a million different directions.
Life.
Business.
Money.
Relationships.
Identity.
Confidence.
Whatever is showing up.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there actually IS a common thread underneath all of it.
And ironically, it’s not that people don’t know what to do.
Most of the time?
You already freaking know.
You know that if you want to lose weight, you probably need to move your body and stop eating crap all the time.
You know that if you want to save money, you need to spend less than you make.
You know that if you want to grow your business, you need clients.
Which means you probably need to market.
Talk to people.
Make offers.
We know these things.
And yet…
We don’t always do them.
Or, even more frustratingly, sometimes we ARE doing the things and still not getting where we want to go.
Which got me thinking about this completely differently.
Because if knowledge were enough, we could all read one self-help book and be done.
Life changed.
Business booming.
Body amazing.
Bank account full.
Marriage fabulous.
Done. 😂
Clearly, that’s not how it works.
Knowledge Is Only Potential Power
I’ve heard this said in different ways over the years, but it really hit me as I was thinking through all of this:
Knowledge is only potential power.
Knowing something doesn’t change your life.
Applying it does.
But I actually think there’s another layer to this.
Because I don’t think doing the thing is enough either.
You can have the strategy.
You can follow the plan.
You can check every freaking box.
But if underneath all of that doing is a belief that says…
This probably isn’t going to work for me.
People like me don’t get to have that.
I’m too late.
I’ve already screwed this up.
Maybe I’m just not capable of it.
Then we have a problem.
Because your actions are being backed by a belief that is moving you in the exact opposite direction.
And THAT is where I think most people get stuck.
So, naturally, I made an equation. 😂
The Equation
Here’s how I see it:
Knowledge = 25%
Action/Strategy = 25%
Belief = 50%
Yep.
Fifty freaking percent.
Because you can know the thing.
You can even do the thing.
But if you don’t believe the outcome is actually possible for YOU?
That changes everything.
And this made me think about my own coaches.
The biggest value I receive from them usually isn’t more information.
I’m a PhD.
I’ve been in education for basically my entire adult life.
I love learning.
Trust me—I can find more information. 😂
And yes, sometimes my coaches give me a better strategy or help me see something differently.
But more often than not?
They believe in me long enough until I believe in myself.
That’s it.
Sometimes I just need somebody outside of my own head to look at the thing I’m making incredibly complicated and say:
Steph. You can fucking do this.
Oh.
Right.
I can.
And suddenly I’m moving again.
You Don’t Even Need 100% Belief
This might be my favorite part.
Because I’m not telling you that you need to eliminate every doubt you have.
You don’t need to wake up tomorrow morning 100% certain that every single thing you desire is going to happen exactly the way you envision it.
I don’t think that’s realistic.
You just need a little more belief than doubt.
A mustard seed.
Think about one of those old-fashioned scales.
On one side is doubt.
On the other side is belief.
Maybe right now they’re perfectly balanced.
You don’t need to dump a freaking bucket of belief onto the scale.
You just need to take one tiny mustard seed off the doubt side and put it onto the belief side.
Now belief outweighs doubt.
Maybe only 51/49.
But it outweighs it.
And that changes the whole game.
So How Do You Build Belief?
This is where I think we screw ourselves over.
We look forward at this giant thing we haven’t accomplished yet and use the fact that we haven’t accomplished it as evidence that maybe we can’t.
Instead, look backward.
Look at what you’ve already done.
Not what everyone else has done.
Not what you haven’t done yet.
What have YOU already done?
Because your life is full of evidence.
I started thinking about this in terms of my own life because I’ve had this weird idea of being a “one-hit wonder” floating around in my head lately.
Like, how do people create success and then do it again?
And again?
And again?
How do you know the last success wasn’t just luck?
And I realized that repeated success has a pattern.
You have a vision.
You have some kind of plan.
And you believe it’s possible.
That’s it.
The plan doesn't even need to be particularly spectacular.
Sometimes it’s actually pretty freaking basic.
I’ve Done This My Entire Life Without Realizing It
Take my PhD.
I wanted my PhD.
That was the vision.
Except I was initially told I couldn’t get into the PhD program.
The professor who ultimately became my dissertation chair put me into the EdD program instead.
I was pissed.
For about 24 hours. 😂
Then I found out the coursework was basically identical for the first two years, so I asked him:
What do I have to do for you to let me into the PhD program?
Get an A in statistics.
Okay. Cool.
There was my plan.
Vision: PhD.
Plan: Get an A in statistics.
Belief: I’m good at statistics. I can absolutely do that.
So I did.
The second the grade posted, I emailed him.
He signed the paperwork.
I moved into the PhD program.
Done.
Not easy.
But simple.
The same equation showed up again after I shattered my kneecap in an ATV accident.
I was in my early thirties and I remember thinking:
I am too freaking young to never run again.
That was my belief.
I was going to run again.
Period.
The plan?
Physical therapy.
They told me to do an hour of PT?
I did an hour.
At the office.
At home.
Religiously.
Because the vision was clear and the belief behind it was strong.
And eventually?
I ran again.
Then years later I decided I wanted to do a Half Ironman.
Vision?
Half Ironman.
Plan?
I literally found a book with a 12-week training plan. 😂
Perfect.
Belief?
Well, I could swim.
I could bike.
I could run.
Why the hell couldn't I put them together?
And in 2022, I completed a Half Ironman.
Different goals.
Different seasons of my life.
Same freaking equation.
Vision. Strategy. Belief.
Maybe You Aren’t Missing the Plan
This is the piece I really want you to sit with.
Because I think a lot of high achievers assume the answer is always another strategy.
Another program.
Another book.
Another podcast.
Another morning routine.
Another freaking color-coded planner.
But what if you already know enough?
What if you already have enough of a plan to take the next step?
What if the missing piece isn't information at all?
What if you simply don’t believe yourself yet?
And I don’t mean that in some fluffy just believe and the universe will drop a Ferrari in your driveway kind of way.
I mean look at the evidence.
Look at your life.
Look at the hard shit you have already figured out.
Look at the things you once had no idea how you were going to accomplish that are completely normal parts of your life now.
You've already done things that previous versions of you didn't know how to do.
That matters.
Your past is evidence.
Not evidence that everything will be easy.
Not evidence that you'll get exactly what you want on exactly the timeline you want.
But evidence that you are resourceful enough to figure shit out.
The Timeline Doesn't Get to Decide Whether It's Possible
We wanted a pool in our backyard for years.
I knew there would eventually be a pool there.
But for a long time, there wasn't really a plan.
My husband was still in the military.
We could have received orders.
And spending $60,000 on a pool when you might move didn't make a whole lot of sense.
So the vision stayed.
The plan came later.
And even once the plan came together, the timeline went completely sideways.
There were hoops.
Delays.
Government policies.
All the fun things. 😂
But I never really questioned whether we'd eventually have the pool.
I just didn't know exactly when.
And now I'm sitting here with the pool in my backyard.
One of the best investments we've ever made.
Which is another reminder:
The timeline changing doesn't mean the vision is wrong.
Sometimes you need to surrender the timeline without surrendering the thing you know you're moving toward.
This Is Actually My Superpower
This whole thought process helped me put language around something I've been doing with clients for years.
I can see the bridge.
You tell me:
Here's where I am.
Here's where I want to go.
And while you may see all the reasons the gap feels impossible, my brain immediately starts seeing the evidence for why it isn't.
You've already done X.
You've figured out Y.
You've survived Z.
This isn't exactly the same thing—but look at the pattern.
Look at who you already are.
Look at what you already know.
Look at what you've already proven you're capable of.
Why couldn't you do this too?
That's the work.
Sometimes you don't need someone to give you another freaking plan.
Sometimes you need someone to help you see what you can't see because you're standing too close to your own life.
Sometimes you need someone to hold the belief for a minute.
To remind you who the fuck you are.
To help you reconnect with the version of you who already knows:
Yeah. I can figure this out.
And maybe you borrow my belief for a little while.
Until yours catches up.
So if you're sitting there thinking about the next version of your life or business and wondering what you're missing, ask yourself:
Do I know what I want?
Do I have enough of a strategy to take the next step?
Do I believe it's actually possible for me?
Because you may not need more information.
You may not need another plan.
You may just need that mustard seed.
That tiny little shift from:
I don't know if I can…
to
Why the hell couldn't I?
And sometimes?
That's enough to change the whole freaking equation.
Be you.
Because the world needs more of you.
—Dr. Stephanie Snyder