Ambitious Plans Carry Ambitious Strategies (June 27th, 2026)

After I transitioned out of my role with CTIPP and as I was getting ready to graduate, having finished my capstone paper and just needing the actual graduation date to arrive, I confronted a serious issue: what was I supposed to do with only one job? I was so excited to be full-time in my role with The Change Campaign that I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I haven’t had just one job and no school since April of 2017. Over the last decade of constantly spinning multiple plates, my habits have become centered around calming down the mania of such demands. That is part of the reason I was so excited about only having one job, but staring down the reality became a bit daunting. 

So as I reckoned with that, I tried to work first through why I kept doing that. And I am sure there are many reasons, but came to an understanding with myself that in feeling the urgency of the world’s issues and trying to solve them, or at least be a part of the solution, it drove me to a place where constantly doing more felt like the right thing to do, and became a coping mechanism perhaps in keeping me so busy that I didn’t have to confront some of the discomforts of what drives this work, as I have found over the past month and a half; but it was that response of doing too much, or at least this is the hypothesis that I am testing, that has kept me from making the full impact that I want to. 

The biggest question that I had was what is a day supposed to look like? I struggled with that question for a while and eventually turned to Claude to ask. Claude and I have a nice relationship and have some pretty epic conversations, and this dialogue that took place over the course of about a week leading up to graduation ended up generating an Integrated Plan that we titled “A Life Well Lived” where we essentially “play the golf course backward”, as my dad calls it, and we integrated life and work together into one plan, as I have found that the idea of work life balance does not work for me as well as work life integration, where I am always able to work when inspiration strikes, but make time for the people and things I love in life.

There is a north star based on my response to an early question, “My goal is to live a long, well-lived life in service of systems transformation toward the wellbeing of others. To do this, I want to build institutions, relationships, and personal capacity to sustain and scale this work for decades. A legacy future generations can build on for eons to come, grounded in a principled life fully lived.” After establishing that goal, we started to breakdown time increments. We set a lifetime timeline and then a decade timeline (2026-2036), which paint a picture of what I want out of work and life, but would consume too much time on this page without being as relevant to the point of my actual writing, so I will just mention for this piece that they exist and move on. 

From there, we got to what I wanted out of this year, 2026, which was a bit strange as I was almost halfway through it, but still felt that it was important to do so that way I had a template to develop the same idea for future years. And then we were able to spotlight very specifically what Q3 would look like to set me up for success in achieving my annual goals, which are aligned with my decade goals, and then from there, we were able to say what a week should look like, and then finally, what a day should look like. It provides a roadmap that I have found to ease that anxiety that comes up of, “am I doing enough, should I be doing something different?”, that often winds up making me less productive and can put me into a state of inaction.

Claude kept coming up with catchy titles, but I will share quickly some of the highlights that I am working toward. We called 2026 “A Transition Year”, not just because I was transitioning out of CTIPP and graduating from Fels, but also because I was transitioning into The Change Campaign full-time. So we titled Q1 “Transition” and Q2 “Graduate”, which again had the benefit of being backfilled so I know those goals would be hit in the plan, and then Q3 is “Build the Engine” where I focus on greater outreach to build capacity and implementation of certain core building blocks that need to continue to be strengthened, and then Q4 is “Close and Launch”, where it will be about following through on what has been put in place and building in years ahead, which again is captured more specifically in the decade plan.

There were five annual goals laid out to help guide 2026 that I will highlight, before diving more deeply into Q3. 

• Goal 1: The Change Campaign is an established organization. To make the change we are aiming to as an organization, people need to know that we exist, and for those who know we exist, they must see us as a credible organization. Movement and growth in both Building Bridges and The Full Press are key to achieving this. 

• Goal 2: HEAL PA scaled from relaunch to movement. As HEAL PA’s fiscal agent, it is a perfect opportunity to move think tank activity into real world impact. Supporting Pennsylvania’s statewide system of trauma-informed care in its revitalization and beyond to grow more powerful than it had been before is a key goal. 

• Goal 3: Broad and growing public profile established. This is a shared goal between myself as an individual and The Change Campaign as an organization. It certainly supports Goal 1 for The Change Campaign, but I also hope to be part of higher level strategy conversations moving forward. That is where efforts like writing these weekly blog posts fit in. 

• Goal 4: Funder base and revenue strategy diversified and durable. Right now, The Change Campaign has two core funders, alongside some very generous individual donors, which supports our budget that will come out this year to somewhere around $200,000. I am so grateful for the support I receive, and also, to achieve our ambitious goal our capacity must scale, and I know that my current funders and donors agree with this. Specifically, I don’t want for any funder to represent more than 40% of my budget, which gives space for large gifts to come in as we work to diversify. 

• Goal 5: Personal foundations established for sustainable scale. This is more around what I do on a routine basis, my own habits, that enable me to be healthy and well myself, as well as enable my work to grow. An example of this is a quarterly workout program that fits with the quarters in the plan to have exercise be a regular part of my day and week. 

From the year, we get to the quarter, which each quarter will follow a similar pattern of a “launch” phase to really plant any specific work from the quarter, then a long “flight” phase with sustained motions, as well as a mid-quarter check in at week 7, and then a “land” phase where I close out and document the quarter to ensure that I am learning, and during which time I will develop and set the concrete goals and strategies for the quarter ahead. 

For Q3, the milestones are broken down into three broad categories, and there are eight total that would indicate that I am successfully moving toward my annual goals, and each milestone has subgoals. The first category is titled Work and Impact, and half the milestones lay here. 

• Milestone 1: The Change Campaign governance maturation. My board is currently three people, which satisfies our bylaws and has been helpful during the transition phase to not have too big of a board, but also limits capacity now that we are moving forward. We do not want a huge board, but having a good group in the range of 5-8 people feels right. Additionally, establishing organizational processes that enable the organization to scale beyond just the routines of me and two of my mentors/friends is important as we grow.

• Milestone 2: HEAL PA growth; coalition deepening and scaling. Routine Executive Steering Committee engagement paired with expanded network calls that bring in folks from across the Commonwealth to engage is critical. In addition to these meetings with HEAL PA’s network, there are also goals around substantive meetings with the Shapiro Administration and at least three state-level funders to scale our capacity.

• Milestone 3: The Change Campaign funder diversification strategy concretized. This does not just mean prospecting, but also having the materials and engagement strategy for funder cultivation. There are already some fundraising efforts moving, of course, but this milestone is really around systematizing and automating these efforts moreso, and that fits well into part of the weekly and daily strategies I will get to in a bit.

• Milestone 4: Full Capital and True Profit progress. The financing elements of the work I am building are some of the more exciting because they are so novel, but as a result of that it is where many questions lie. Building the infrastructure here is crucial.

The other four milestones are broken down into two categories - Wellbeing and Financial Capital - that ensure I am able to do this work, and grow with it, long term. Each has two.

• Milestone 5: Body program transition completed and daily tracking sustained. Diet and exercise are critical for wellbeing. Following this program and making sure that I track progress on a daily and weekly basis is very important as I continue forward.

• Milestone 6: Weekly content piece published every Saturday. Anyone who has followed my blogs knows this has been a stretch for me, but I have found an excitement around sharing my thoughts weekly. Beyond just enhancing my reach and increasing my work, I have enjoyed the time to process what is going on in the world around me and what I am learning, and I am working to become more structured with this process moving forward.

• Milestone 7: Consulting and speaking offer formalized as The Change Campaign organizational revenue. Developing revenue streams that don’t rely solely on philanthropy is critical. There is long-term planning with Full Capital that could be huge, but in the meantime there needs to be sustainable revenue streams as well. Speaking feels like a massive opportunity to both get the message out and bring in revenue. I have spoken a lot and it is something that I enjoy, but it is also a way that I have brought in money, as honoraria and speaker fees have always gone to the organization I work for. I already do this a fair amount, so formalizing outreach to get more opportunities is key.

• Milestone 8: Personal budget framework built and ready for 2027. I need to make sure that I am managing my finances well so that I can continue to do this work long term. Nobody gets into this work to be rich, but I also need to be in a sustainable position.

Breaking down the annual goals into what needs to move forward in Q3, given what has already moved forward in Q1 and Q2, was helpful in being able to outline what an ideal day and week looks like. Obviously not everyday can look the same because there are diverse goals, but the week breakdown enables multiple things to move forward routinely, which then enables the common elements of the daily flow to emerge. 

I will actually need to combine the description of my day and week together, as much remains the same in terms of structure day to day, but certain focus areas change throughout the week.

Unless I have to be up very early for something, I do not set an alarm. I wake up in the morning between 5-7 naturally, and the flow of the day can work no matter what time I wake up in that window. The first thing I do when I wake up - after feeding my guinea pigs - is to read a section (usually not a full chapter unless I become engrossed) as a way of activating my mind, and then I pray. This keeps me grounded and allows me to set my intention for the day. And then I exercise, going back to that quarterly exercise routine I discussed earlier. Monday, Wednesday, Friday is a lift - squat, bench, deadlift respectively, with complementary exercises to further strengthen lower body, upper body, and full body lifts respectively - and Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday is cardio. Each day has stretching and core work in the exercise plan as well. Following that, I will eat breakfast and then start work when all of that is done, which is generally before 9 o’clock, but if I sleep in until 7 it can push closer to 9:30. I do a half hour of email triage to keep my inbox moving, and then enter into a period of focus work for about 3 hours. Tuesday and Thursday focus time is spent around fundraising strategy, while Monday focuses on The Change Campaign governance and HEAL PA’s infrastructure, Wednesday, which has an additional hour for focus time compared to other days, focuses on Full Capital and other core frameworks that I am developing. Friday is around communications and content strategy. And then that time on Saturday is when I write my blog post, and Sunday has a much lighter lift of just a half hour to plan out the week ahead. On weekends, while I will often work, I also take a less structured approach and try to do something fun and spend time with loved ones, so I will focus on the weekdays from here because there is more structure to those days. Following my calls, I will reflect on what has been accomplished, what needs continued work, and what I learned during the workday. Then, I will take some time to do something involving movement, generally a walk, and get dinner somewhere around 6 as best I can, before getting into evening work, which is generative work that I get to kind of just free play with. All of the work during the day is centered around the very specific work that needs to move forward for The Change Campaign, but there is other work where creativity may strike and creates new growth and opportunities, and that is the work I do in the evening. There will be more content creation and long-term strategy and alignment work that happens during this time. This is also when we do floortime for our guinea pigs and they have their veggies. And then, when I start getting tired, generally around 10, I will do my evening routine, which includes flossing, a gentle stretch, and practice meditation before reading in bed and falling asleep.

Now, as we all know, days don’t always fit in with an “ideal schedule”, so within the plan are the non-negotiables of what carries each day and what does not need to, whether travel doesn’t allow for it, or I am just not feeling up to it for some reason. My morning and evening routines remain firm outside of work, my connection to my family that is woven into meals and call times throughout the week, the daily and weekly close, the content creation and planning, those stay in the schedule no matter what. Even if I can’t do as much work on my daily priority as I would like to, whether for external or internal reasons, I will think about it deeply, to either develop new strategies or find where I can commit and execute on elements of implementation. 

This week, for example, Monday I was on the Hill advocating with a close friend on a piece of legislation related to supporting adults with disabilities, and then I had to drive to Pittsburgh that evening so that I could make my Tuesday calls throughout the day, while getting to Crawford County on Wednesday in time to present to NIH and then present at a conference in Crawford on Thursday, and then get to Bedford midday to meet with folks from a local coalition that I work with, which positions me to be in Harrisburg for work on Monday and Tuesday morning before driving back to DC. The movement and driving time takes away from my ability to have days the way I outlined in the plan. So I stick to the fundamental elements of each day, and advance my work in ways that simply could not have happened if I was just at my desk. 

The plan is not meant to be so rigid that I cannot accommodate the needs of the world around me, but rather to create a runway so that when I have capacity within my schedule I don’t have to wonder what to do, and also a floor so that even during stressful times I am moving things forward within whatever restrictions exist that are aligned with the long-term strategies and goals set by both myself and the organization. There is still time for me to flex in activities I love like baseball and golf, as well as time with those I love. This enables work life integration.

So why am I sharing this? Well, it is about to be the beginning of Q3 and so I am reflecting on what I’ve done well and what needs improvement. Having this plan for a whole quarter, not developed part of the way through it, is a huge improvement for the quarter ahead. I have already seen through the latter part of Q2 since I had this plan its promise. I am excited to now have quarterly goals that line up with the daily and weekly flow. As I briefly mentioned before, I have enjoyed this weekly writing, but acknowledge a couple months into it that writing about whatever randomly comes to my mind is probably not the most impactful thing. So I created a plan for what I will be writing about, which of course can change if something pressing supersedes the strategy I’ve developed, and I figured that this one can serve as a combined articulation of the planning process that I’ve gone through, as well as setting myself up for a solid quarter ahead. I am looking forward to executing on this strategy over the next 90 or so days, learning more about how the structure can better mature over time, and hopefully seeing it not just advance my annual goals beyond the quarter, but my long-term goals as well.