Flourishing After Adversity
If you've experienced grief, illness, loss, or life-altering setbacks—and you're ready to reclaim your joy—this podcast is for you.
Hosted by Laura Mangum Broome, Resilience Coach and author of Flourishing After Adversity, this weekly show is your go-to resource for overcoming life’s toughest challenges with hope, courage, and clarity.
Each episode dives into real-life strategies for emotional healing, building resilience, managing mindset, navigating unexpected change, and rediscovering your strength after adversity.
Whether you're facing the aftermath of divorce, struggling to move forward after loss, or starting over later in life, you’ll find practical tools and encouragement to help you grow—not just go—through what you’ve been through.
If you're searching for inspiration, resilience coaching tips, or mental health support for difficult seasons, hit play and start flourishing after adversity. You've got this!
Flourishing After Adversity
S2:E1 The Power of Intentional Goals: Grow Forward, Not Just Bounce Back
Embracing Intentional Goals: Progress Over Perfection
In this episode of the Flourishing After Adversity podcast, Laura Mangum Broome discusses the benefits of setting intentional goals versus traditional goals. She shares her personal journey of shifting focus from specific outcomes to embracing identity-based habits, which led to unexpected progress and increased resilience.
Laura introduces three practical practices to help listeners anchor their goals to their desired identity, reduce resistance, and maintain progress without self-judgment. Listeners are encouraged to download her free guides to help reframe negative thoughts and begin their journey toward personal growth.
00:00 Introduction and Purpose
00:48 Overcoming Overwhelm: Free Guide
01:07 Personal Fitness Journey
01:45 Shifting Focus: Identity Over Outcome
03:24 Understanding Intentional Goals
04:07 Three Practices for Intentional Goals
05:07 Recap and Reflection
05:57 Final Thoughts and Resources
Free Becoming Journal One-Pager: https://www.icope2hope.com/becoming-journal-one-pager
Free Resource: Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day https://www.icope2hope.com/reframe
iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework: https://bit.ly/FrameworkRoadmap
Website: iCope2Hope: From Hardship to Hope https://www.icope2hope.com
Move Beyond Adversity Blog: https://www.icope2hope.com/blog
Free Newsletter: Wednesday’s Resilient Recharge https://www.icope2hope.com/newsletter
Schedule a free 15-minute Clarity Call with Laura: https://bit.ly/15mincallLMB
S2:E1 The Power of Intentional Goals: Grow Forward, Not Just Back
Welcome to the Flourishing After Adversity podcast. I'm Laura Mangum Broome, and if you're craving a fresh start, but don't have the energy for big goals or bold declarations, this episode is for you. You don't need a perfect plan or to reinvent yourself and you're not behind. Today we're going to slow things down and talk about a simple way to begin again with clarity, compassion and one small step at a time. We're talking about the power of intentional goals over traditional goals.
But before we jump in, let me ask you something. Are you feeling overwhelmed by your thoughts right now? Caught in self-doubt. Feeling behind, stuck or uncertain?
Overcoming Overwhelm: Free Guide
If so, I want you to grab my free guide, Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day.
These are the same tools I use when my own thoughts start spiraling. You can find the link in the show notes. Okay, let's begin.
My Personal Fitness Journey Struggle
Last fall, I started my fitness journey with an online coach and set a traditional goal to lose 20 pounds in four months. With my plant-based nutrition plan, a necessity after breast cancer and a heart transplant, and consistent workouts, I expected the weight to drop quickly. But progress didn't look the way I imagined. My strength improved. I dropped a pant size, but the scale barely moved. I felt frustrated by the gap between my expectations and reality. Maybe you felt that too. Like you should be further along by now.
Everything changed.
Shifting Focus: Identity Over Outcome
When I stopped obsessing over my desired outcome and started focusing on who I was becoming. I began to say, I am a person who chooses to wake up early to strength train. I am a person who chooses to walk 9,000 steps a day. I am a person who chooses healthy food at home and at restaurants.
This shift helped me see progress beyond the scale. I noticed more energy, greater consistency, and deeper trust in my routines. Now I measure success by whom I'm becoming, not just what I achieve. When life happens, I don't start over or give up. I pick up where I left off. Progress over Perfection is how I grow forward. With these intentional goals, I will achieve my desired outcome of losing weight.
If you've lived through loss, illness, divorce, burnout, or a season that took more out of you than you expected, traditional goals can feel like pressure. We're taught to focus on where we want to be, but after adversity, what we need most is to allow ourselves to become who we want to be.
Resistance after change often looks like craving stability, but feeling pressure to move on. Winning progress, but fearing failure or being tired of starting over. When a goal feels too big, your nervous system pushes back. Procrastination, overthinking, self-doubt, avoidance. Reducing resistance is the real work.
Understanding Intentional Goals
That's where intentional goals come in.
Intentional goals aren't about achieving a result as fast as possible. They're about practicing a way of being simply and consistently. For example, a traditional goal is, I want to write a book. An intentional goal is I want to become a person who writes regularly.
Intentional goals are process based, not outcome obsessed. They support identity change, not perfection. They build resilience through repetition, not just willpower. They meet you where you are and grow with you. Intentional goals lead to your desired outcome.
Three Practices for Intentional Goals
Here are three small doable practices to help you stay steady and grounded. Number one, anchor your goal to who you're becoming. Ask who do I want to be on the other side of this season? Complete the following sentence. This year I wanna become someone who fill in the blank and repeat two to three more times. Number two, shrink the goal until resistance softens. If a goal feels heavy, make it smaller until it feels doable. Ask, what's the smallest step I could take that still honors who I'm becoming? Number three, maintain without self-judgment. Track your return to the practice, not perfection. If you miss a step, you don't start over, you continue. That's resilience. Each week ask, what supported me, what drained me? What's one small adjustment for next week?
Recap and Reflection
Let's recap what we covered today. Growth is about who you're becoming, not just what you achieve. Small, intentional actions build resilience over time. Awareness, not perfection is where change begins. Reflection helps you notice progress you'd otherwise overlook. And most importantly, you are not behind. You are becoming. You don't need a brand new life this year. You need a steadier relationship with change, and that starts with one small, intentional step.
Here's my question for you. What's your intentional goal for this week? Write it down and post it where you'll see it throughout the day. Progress over perfection. always.
Final Thoughts and Resources
May this year meet you with grace and may you trust that you already have what you need to grow forward one step at a time.
If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to download the one-page Becoming Journal as a daily or weekly practice. And if negative thoughts have been weighing you down, don't forget to download my free guide: Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day. The link for both resources are in the show notes.
That's it for today's episode. If this conversation encouraged you, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, or review the podcast. It helps more people find support when they need it most. Better yet, please share this episode with three friends in need of hope. Until next time, remember, adversity can make you bitter or better. Choose better! You've got this!