The Power of Defining Your Success with Lacey Grijalva

In this episode you will gain insights, inspiration and a deeper understanding of how defining your success can empower your life in unimaginable ways, featuring special guest and BFF Lacey Grijalva.   While our paths have often moved in parallel, our successes have intricately intersected, leading us to create impactful moments of growth and achievement together and we are excited to share these with you. Join us as we reflect on the magic that happens when you define success and the incredible journey it can take you on.

Special Guest: Lacey's Instagram
Host: Theresa's Instagram

Power Talks with Lacey and Theresa

Transcript

Theresa Cesare: 0:06

hey guys. Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Theresa Cesare My intention for this podcast is to deliver to you wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Through solo episodes and conversations amongst insightful people. It is my greatest honor to bring to you talks that come from the. Welcome to another special episode. I always have a powerful affirmation to claim whatever topic we're diving into for this episode. The affirmation is I am the successful version of me. I always knew I could be, whether you're feeling that right now. Or want to feel that this episode is for you today. We'll be discussing the power of defining your success and how it shapes our journeys through life. Joining me is not only my best friend, but my partner in crime, my ride or die sister from another mister with whom I have shared the highs and lows of life with. Together we have pursued our versions of success and while our paths have often run parallel, many of our successes have beautifully intersected, bringing us together and enabling us to make an impact while creating unforgettable moments of growth and achievement. I am so thrilled and honored to have her on the show today as we explore the power of defining your success in the magic that happens once you do Lacey, my girl, welcome to the show.

Lacey Grijalva: 1:42

Thank you. Every time I've been on here, I get so excited for multiple reasons. But today just feels like it's almost like this inner glow that wants to come out because I truly believe in this topic and just in every part of the journeys that we've shared together and to be able to come and talk about it and share about it and hopefully impact somebody else is just something that you get excited about when it's something that you've experienced and that you're Just something you're passionate about.

Theresa Cesare: 2:13

I feel the same way and I'm so excited. You all listening. Do you feel our energy and glow? So when you think of defining your success, what immediately comes to mind? Now, success can be subjective in multifaceted, right? Encompassing various dimensions of life, such as personal fulfillment, personal achievement, and making a positive impact on the world. Those are just some blanket kind of. they know the top three that I could think of. That being said, Lacey, can you share a little bit about your journey and how you have personally defined successes along the way with our audience?

Lacey Grijalva: 2:51

Yeah. So. as A kid, I think you have this dream of success as money and fame and, all these things that you see, even then without social media, like you just have this perception of success is like becoming president of the United States and not really having the life experiences to really define to you what success is because You base success off of other people's success. And so that's what you want. So along the way, what I grew up thinking. Like my success was going to be wealth and fame and, and all these things that I just was looking at in other people. I, you know Became a mother at a young age and so success for me at 19 was getting through a pregnancy and Not even knowing like what that looked like and not really having any experience with people around me having a child at a such a young age. So success for me then was just having a healthy baby and really having a relationship with With her father, not knowing what the outcome would be after, so as my journey continued and just learning life, I realized that success was really just daily goals, monthly goals, weekly goals. It wasn't that big picture of fame and wealth that how I had dreamed of as a child. So okay, if, if fame wasn't being in a movie, then journalism was my, gonna be my goal. So I got to go in radio and for me just making that and being successful in that, but then I realized That's not what I wanted to do. I was away from my child. And while that was fun and exciting, it really wasn't my success story. getting my master's. Going into education, that became success. Making an impact on other people's lives became my success. And then I realized, relationships were hard. So being successful in staying, with Carlos for so long was a success, like making it work with him. And really valuing each other was our success. Then when we had more kids, becoming good parents and, and being there for the kids was a success. And then as I stayed in education, each job that I would get, whether it was teaching or, or teaching, Just working with students or even today being a director, all these things became my success. And it became things that I wanted to do things that I wasn't doing because I was worried about what other people thought or what other people had dreamed for me. It was really my success story. And so my journey has become each day what I want to do for me. And Learning successes that I can obtain and that I want. And one day if I want to be in a movie or if, I'm going to be this like millionaire, then that's still obtainable, but it's going to be because I want to, not because it wasn't somebody else's story that I was trying to achieve.

Theresa Cesare: 5:59

I love that. And I love how you explained how your perception of success has evolved over time due to factors, situations, circumstances, and how it's influenced the evolution of your success. And that's just so powerful because just like you said, we're learning along the way, what it is. That we truly desire. And I liked how you talk about, like, a lot of times we attach it to what the world is advertising is success, right? So then we jump on that, but then later we find out if we're lucky enough in this lifetime, and that's why we're doing this show, defining your success is where the power is because when it's your, why that's where magic happens, right? So that being said, we're going to pivot into the next question. Why is it so powerful to define? What your success is

Lacey Grijalva: 6:55

I think it gives you clarity when you Are chasing after something that is somebody else's dream Then you're you're always going to be chasing that because it's really not clear to you what you want It's what somebody else wants So when you define your own success, it brings clarity and then you can have almost like a game plan Of what you want to achieve success for you You It's fine to look at somebody else and use it as an example, but I think that's when we get lost. You know, we get lost in somebody else's dream and then we lose ourselves and we lose what makes us happy. So like, for example, I can look at Oprah Winfrey and say, that's a dream. But if I'm chasing what Oprah Winfrey did. That I'm always trying to go after her dream and what she did. But if I say I would love to build an empire and reach an audience and, be able to be, a journalist that reaches in multi platforms, then that's my dream and that's what I can chase after in my own way. But I don't have to do it her way or define it as Oprah's dream. I want to define My dream and my success as Lacey and be able to explain the ways that I got to it. So if I'm clear with my goals and what I want, then I can do those steps to achieve it. And I can work on it in my own time and where I'm at now. It's not like I'm always taking the next step to try to get there and I'm not there. And I'm comparing it to somebody else it's unhealthy first off, because you're constantly comparing yourself to something. Whereas you should only go against yourself. So be better than who you were yesterday or be better than who you were in the past. Be better now. And then that's when you can start seeing a difference in yourself and feeling the difference within yourself. Cause it's, you just cannot be or chase somebody else's dream. You really have to know what you want in life to achieve it. And I think that's where you start sitting and really looking at yourself and really being clear. What do I want and how do I get there?

Theresa Cesare: 9:09

You have like two simple action steps that people can take right after listening to this episode to get them going.

Lacey Grijalva: 9:17

The first thing that I would do is sit alone and have a pen and paper and just write down everything you want. And it can be one word things, whether it's happiness, marriage, relation, just make a list. Write it all down the way the reason I stay alone because I feel like when you're alone and you can sit in peace you have to have a clear mind when you're doing this because we all have an idea of what we want, but there's really something powerful about sitting and writing it down and looking. And once you have your list of what you want, Prioritize. What are the top three things that are most important in that list? And then have a game plan. How am I going to get there? So somebody might say, well, how do you find happiness? Well, what makes you happy? Is it your family? Is it your kids? Is it a job? Like really define. And this is why I say you have to sit there and it's going to take work and it's going to take time. But I feel like when a person's really ready to do this, You're going to give yourself that time, but you have to be really ready to sit there and do this work because it's a lot of inner work to really define what you want to do and how you're going to get there. So make your list. Define the top three and then have a game plan. What are you going to do? So like I said, if it's happiness, what's going to make you happy? Some people might say losing weight, eating, right? Your relationship, whatever it is. So how do you get there? How do you lose weight? Is it, I'm going to make a grocery list and just go to the grocery store and buy those things. Start with that. Am I going to wake up at, In the morning, early and go for a walk. Start with small things. I wouldn't say like I'm going to lose 20 by April 30th more. You have to be really realistic about your goals and not that you can't do that, but start small. And once you start achieving those small goals. The bigger ones are going to come and you're going to start feeling better. And, and then you're going to find that happiness. You're going to find those things that you define as success, just start coming. And they're just going to come out of nowhere and you're going to notice them. And that's, that's when the real work starts happening because you see. See outcome in the work that you're doing, but you have to start small. A lot of times I think we want to start big. it's taking forever. And then you just give up. Give yourself time and grace. And I think the biggest thing is believing in yourself, too. I think that we are our biggest cheerleaders. And if you don't believe you can get there, how are people around you supposed to support you in getting there? Because if you're constantly saying, I want to do this, but nothing's happening. Nothing's working. The people around you can only support you so much, but it's really going to take the work within you and the belief system within you that you can get there. You just have to not give up and give yourself that time and grace and those goals that you can, that you can get there and that you will get there.

Theresa Cesare: 12:25

I love that you mentioned belief and I like that you said it's you versus you, you are the one, those two are like the glue and then like the stepping stones. And would you say that success, when we feel successful, it's because we've achieved that goal. Like little goals to big goals, micro goals, micro steps to big steps. That's basically an accumulation of goals, right? How would we define like goals versus success, they go hand in hand, right?

Lacey Grijalva: 12:55

I think you, you set a goal. And you meet that goal and it's success. They're almost like BFFs. Like, Oh, I love that. Like you and me. I mean, I think, but you have to be very careful. Like you have to be very careful. I think people want success in a minute because now in our world today, you can get things so fast. Think about it. You want groceries? You Instacart it. You want it. Love my Instacart. So like things. Can happen so fast in today's world, but I really think to have your definition of success, it's something that you want to work at. And so setting those goals to get there is really going to achieve that ultimate success that you want. And those little goals can be a success in that moment, but you just keep building and building and building. And then you start feeling it. You feel more excited. You want to do the next step, the next goal to get to that next level. And once you feel small successes, you are pumped. It's like your gas to get you to keep going and not stopping.

Theresa Cesare: 14:07

Oh, that's so well said. And I totally feel that. Lacey, so let's pivot into how Success has, intersected us can you recall a specific instance where our successes have intersected and how did that collaboration or alignment impact us?

Lacey Grijalva: 14:30

Oh my gosh, there's so many, I'm trying to think. so I could even go all the way back. And this is something, for even young people listening, and I don't know if you remember, but I remember it was like prom season and we were working at Dillard's and, I had a girl come in and. I did not do her makeup that good. But I remember just like not letting her know. It also didn't show, thank God. But I I remember walking her over to you and you touched her up or you fixed her up and I remember feeling so successful. Even though I didn't do her makeup. But I remember in that moment, just feeling like so successful because that girl was not going to look bad in her prom pictures. Cause I just remember thinking like, this is going to last forever and she's going to look so bad. And that was like a small example, but even like successes from everyday life, to our current positions, helping people who, who need help and coming together and presenting in ways that we present to our community in which we work And just seeing people's reactions and faces when we're talking to them about topics, and it's not even topics particularly related to education, but just how they can better themselves in the field that we're working in. To help others and just seeing the success in that, in that small amount of time, we have that group together, is just amazing for me to be able to use what we've learned in our own journeys and coming together and then helping others has been just magical.

Theresa Cesare: 16:05

Yes. And the reason why I wanted to talk about the power of the intersection, like motherhood, even working at Dillard's and doing a really good job. But you've nailed something like there was no ego. You're like, girl, help me out where we were never, ever in competition, but we were always in competition. And support and having each other's back. And that is a superpower and a flex as a friend. And you've always been that. And fast forward, right? We've had many micro mini little successes now in our current roles and positions and what we do for work, but then now taking it to just this other level where, you know, We're powerful individually, but man, together, we talked about this, we've become unstoppable where we have collided, not even collided because collide sounds like a big old mess. Harmonize. I would say we're in harmony. Like, Oh, Harmonized just our talents, our gifts, but we, we refined ourselves where we had those dreams that we built individually and then work together and we're patient trusting that, universe, God whispers will give us the download at the right time to bring messages to the world, to bring powerful thoughts, to bring our truths, our stories, to share like something we've learned, man, we want to share with you and that's why Lacey, I don't know if y'all know, has been on many previous episodes, right? Sharing her powerful story and inspiring others through her, we can call it successes of overcoming so many things, into now. And that leads me. To discuss something really powerful. When I talk about collaboration and alignment, like we're truly aligned. Right. And if you loved hearing these words and you're like connected to Lacey's powerful, personal journey of success, and if this has resignated with you, our episodes message, our authentic experiences and enthusiasm. Then we have great news for you. The powerful results. That we've gotten through our life and of being connected to truths and passions and owning success and defining your success on your terms are within reach. This isn't like, Oh, that's awesome. They did it. A lot of times we look at like, Oh, I wish I could do that. And I used to, but now I'm like, Oh, we can do that from like basic successes to big, whatever that's going to look like for you. So listeners, we are here for you every step of the way. Like we have each other's back, but we got your back. So not only will we be hosting, stay tuned, some impactful, powerful in person events here in Tucson, where we live, and who knows, maybe we'll travel that you don't want to miss, but we also offer speaking. Engagements for organizations and businesses. We can help you and your group achieve the success you desire, whether you're looking to boost motivation, inspire change or redefine successes within your organization. We're here to tailor our talks to meet your specific needs. You can visit my website at theresacesare.com or you can DM me@iamtheresacesare or Lacey, what is your handle? It's@grijalvalacey okay. So, or you can DM Lacey. So Lacey, that being said, do you want to add to this really cool, offering that we have that we've been doing, now we are right claiming this offer to everyone in a bigger way. Like our stage was a certain size. for where it needed to be. And our stage is getting bigger and we want to invite more people to not only listen and just be an observer, but participate, sit at the table with us, right? And so do you want to add anything? I

Lacey Grijalva: 20:06

really been thinking about, you know, what sets us apart from all of the other speakers out there, because there's amazing speakers out there that people could go to or listen to. But really it is not just our personal connection with each other, but our life experiences. Like a lot of what we've talked about, we've researched, we've, we've listened to research based theologists, psychologists, whomever is out there. But really what we bring to the table is life experiences that have really, truly impacted us to get to where we are today. And we both can really say that we have lived it and worked on it and used these skills to, to get us to our successes. And we just want to see other people get to that level and to be there because we know what life brings. We know the trials and, tribulations of life and it's not easy. And sometimes to listen to somebody else that you can't really relate to. I think that we're really relatable and, I think that's what really sets us apart from everybody else is that not only do we have this personal connection with each other that we build off of and that, we exude all this magic that we put out there, but also our, our own journeys that have gotten us to our successes. While they're very similar, they're also very different. And I think that they're very relatable to everyday life for everyday people. And I think that if we can show people that we are where we're at today, because of the work that we've done and the successes that we have achieved, I think it will give more people hope. And they can relate to our stories and know that they can get there too.

Theresa Cesare: 21:50

I love that. So well said. I'm so excited for this. I hope that you have truly enjoyed our discussion and that it has sparked something within you. Perhaps a renewed sense of purpose or just a fresh perspective on success or maybe rethink success, whenever too old or too young to really own our successes, right. Or perhaps the motivation to define your success and inspire others to do whatever. I do believe you were called to listen to this episode for a reason, like we're all meant to be here for a reason. Remember that the power to define your success lies within you. And it's truly waiting to be unleashed. So again, connect with us on our socials, visit my website but I do want to circle back to this episode's affirmation. I am the successful version of me. I always knew I could be we want you to claim that, but Lacey, are you the successful version of you that you always knew you could be I am and I'm going to continue to grow and change for, the future that I want, but I know that right now in this moment, I am the success that I want to be. girl any last words, anything you want to say to this beautiful audience as we close up this powerful episode,

Lacey Grijalva: 23:09

I would say don't ever give up on your success. Always believe. in yourself that you can achieve what you want. I think sometimes life brings us down and we are faced with difficulties that it's very easy to give up and be comfortable at where you're at, but there is a power. Once you find your inner voice And so, my wish for anybody listening today as that, if you take away anything from this episode is that. You take away the belief within yourself to do what you need to do to achieve your personal freedom and find that success that you deserve.

Theresa Cesare: 23:58

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please download, rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Also, be sure to visit my theresacesare.com to check out my inspirational merch, connect to my social accounts, and much more may you continue to be filled with wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Otherwise, friends, I will be back in two weeks for another episode of Heart 2 Talk