Setting Intentions for the New Year: How to Build a Vision That Feels Right with Nicole Cruz

Episode Overview: In this first episode of Courage Class Season 2, Lindsay sits down with Nicole Cruz, leadership coach and founder of Nicole Cruz Coaching, to explore what it really means to create a vision for your life that’s rooted in who you are, not just what you do. Many of us - especially in the Asian and Pacific Islander community - were raised to equate success with hard work, achievement, and meeting expectations. But what if the path to fulfillment isn’t about doing more, but aligning more deeply with what truly matters? Together, Lindsay and Nicole will discuss how to create intentional, culturally grounded goals and vision boards that reflect your authentic values and life desires. Nicole will walk Lindsay through a review of her own vision board from last year to show, in real time, how to shift from achievement-based goals to meaningful, purpose-driven intentions.Episode Objectives: Reframe the meaning of success: Learn how to move from achievement-based goals toward intentions rooted in joy, purpose, and authenticity.Understand cultural influences on goal-setting: Explore how familial expectations, cultural scripts, and hustle culture shape how we define success.Learn how to build an intentional vision board: Get practical steps for designing a vision board or annual plan that reflects who you want to be, not just what you want to achieve.Experience a real-time coaching moment: Listen as Nicole reviews Lindsay’s previous vision board, offering live feedback and insights on how to make it more intentional and aligned.Walk away with a sustainable practice: Develop a framework for goal-setting that prioritizes joy, balance, and inner alignment—so your intentions actually feel good to live out.Episode Outline: 00:00 Introduction 02:04 Redefining Success 04:53 Personal Journey and Realizations09:44 Cultural Influences on Achievement15:38 Shifting from Achievement to Alignment27:05 Shifting Focus from Achievement to Experience29:49 The Importance of Being Present32:49 Vision Boards and Values35:25 Critiquing the Vision Board40:06 Exploring Feelings and Intentions48:34 Permission to Be Curious and Dream52:32 Final Thoughts and Definition of CourageAbout Nicole: is a leadership coach and TEDx speaker who supports first- and second-generation professionals navigating success, identity, and purpose. The first in her family to graduate from a U.S. university, she spent over a decade in corporate leadership before leaving a six-figure career to redefine success on her own terms. Today, Nicole helps others honor their heritage while building lives rooted in intention, alignment, and fulfillment.Connect with Nicole Cruz: IG, FB, and Tiktok: @nicolecruzcoachinghttps://nicolecruzcoaching.com/Connect with Courage Class on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube:@[email protected]/podcast⁠⁠Sign up for Courage Class Notes, a weekly newsletter:https://dr-lindsay-kwock-hu.kit.com/980fac101a⁠⁠Music Credit:DayNigthMorning from Pixabay invitation-no-copyright-music-388387