Ready to stop playing small and start thinking bigger? Listen to episode #55 of The 30-Day Year Podcast and you’ll discover why giving yourself permission may be the first real step toward creating extraordinary results!

In this episode, Dave and Jacq Conway explore why so many people struggle to give themselves permission to want more. They unpack the three major blockers that keep people from pursuing ambitious goals: fear, money, and guilt. For many people, wanting more is somehow wrong. But Dave and Jacq show us that this is simply not true. In fact, recognize that nobody benefits when you play small. On the contrary, just think of how many people's lives will improve when you courageously pursue your potential!

In this episode, Jacq also shares how skepticism around the 30-Day Year concept was tied to deeper beliefs about greed, worthiness, and whether a bigger life was really “for her.”

What makes this episode so powerful is that it actually reframes goal-setting entirely. Dave explains that permission is not just a mindset shift. It is a mission of self-discovery. Once you consent to a bigger idea, that idea begins to discipline you and reveal everything in you that must change to achieve the goal.

Dave and Jacq also discuss:

Why fear of criticism is one of the biggest forces holding people back…
How guilt quietly destroys your dreams…
Why money is often used as an excuse to avoid growth…
How big goals expose blind spots in self-worth, attitude, and identity…
Why your environment resists the new version of you…
The balance between imagination and willpower…
Why nobody benefits when you play small…

And lots more!

Remember, wanting more is not selfish. It may be the very thing that leads you into the growth, courage, and service your life has been calling for.

It’s OK to want more. So what are you waiting for? Tune in to episode 55 now!

Key Takeaways

Wanting More Is Not Greedy. It’s Human. (0:01:38)
Jacq opens up the episode by talking about something that many people feel but rarely admit: they want more, but they do not feel fully allowed to want it. She reflects on her own skepticism when she first encountered the 30-Day Year idea and admits that beneath the doubt was something deeper. Wanting that much felt greedy to her. It felt excessive. It felt like a life that was meant for somebody else.
That is what makes this conversation so relatable. But Dave quickly cuts through the shame with this simple truth: we all want more. Expansion is natural. People want more ways to express themselves, more ways to contribute, more ways to take care of the people they love, and more room to become who they really are.
Permission Is More Than Mindset. It’s a Mission. (0:04:12)
One of the most interesting ideas in the episode comes when Dave breaks down the word permission and points to its root: mission. If you do not give yourself permission to pursue an idea, you will never go on the mission that idea requires.
Permission is consent. It is the internal decision that says, “I am willing to go down this path, even though it will cost me something.” In Dave’s view, this is where courage really begins. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is giving yourself permission in spite of fear.
That means the question is not only “What do I want?” The deeper question is, “Am I willing to let this idea put me on a mission that changes me?”
The Three Biggest Permission Blockers (0:05:01)
Dave identifies three major forces that stop people from pursuing ambitious goals.
The first is fear, especially the fear of criticism. He argues that the fear underneath so much hesitation is not failure itself, but the possibility of being judged, misunderstood, rejected, or talked about.
The second blocker is money. But Dave emphasizes that you do not need money to accept an idea. You do not need money to dream. You do not need money to start acting in the reality you are currently in. So don’t let that stop you!
The third blocker is guilt, and this may be the most overlooked of all. Dave describes guilt as the quiet force in the background telling people that if they grow, someone else will suffer. Maybe their family will feel neglected. Maybe their spouse will not understand. Maybe their ambition will disturb the ecosystem they belong to. Guilt whispers that pursuing more is selfish. The sad thing is that people often don’t even realize that guilt is what is stopping them.
Big Goals Expose the Blind Spots You Didn’t Know You Had (0:15:48)
Dave explains that when he first set the goal of earning $100,000 a month, he had no idea how much internal change that goal would demand. Over the next 31 months, the goal became a mirror. It showed him things he never would have discovered otherwise.
It revealed many blind spots. He realized he had conflict between money and spirituality. He realized he had self-worth issues. He realized he had guilt. He realized he had a negative attitude. He realized parts of him were selfish. None of that was visible to him at the beginning.
That is the deeper value of having a massive goal. It displaces the old beliefs hiding beneath the surface. Dave uses the metaphor of a bowl of water. When you drop a bigger ice cube into the bowl, the existing water gets displaced. In the same way, when you choose a bigger goal, it begins displacing limiting beliefs that have been sitting unchallenged in the subconscious mind for years.
The goal is not just something to achieve. It also reveals what must go!
Your Environment Will Resist the New Version of You (0:25:40)
Dave says we get most of our information from the environment we were raised in. So if your environment has only modeled one way to work, one way to earn, or one way to live, then anything outside of that can feel bizarre, unsafe, or impossible.
Jacq helps translate this into practical terms. Many people simply follow the path they have observed because it appears to create a decent life. That can be fine, but for the person who feels called to something more, it becomes a prison.
Dave is pretty blunt here. He states that when you deviate from your environment, there will be conflict.
People may misunderstand you. Relationships may shift. Gossip may start. Tension may rise at home. To become uncommon, you have to be willing to unsettle what feels normal to the people around you.
That is why permission matters so much. You are not just giving yourself permission to dream. You are giving yourself permission to withstand the disruption that dream will create.
Imagination, Will, And The Kite Metaphor (0:38:05)
Near the end of the episode, Dave offers one of the best metaphors in the whole conversation. He says imagination is like a kite. It contains the beauty, the dream, the lift. But the will is the string. Without the string, the kite does nothing.
This is important. Because many people are highly imaginative, but without discipline and willpower, nothing meaningful gets built. Others may have a strong will but a weak imagination. Dave says it is actually easier to work with someone who has strong will and weaker imagination than someone who can dream endlessly but never act.
In other words, vision is not enough. Permission is not enough. Even desire is not enough. At some point, the dream must be anchored by sustained will.

Listen to the Full Episode

Remember, “Nobody benefits when you play small.”

Wanting more is not the problem. The real problem is the inner argument that says you are not allowed to have it. We must reframe ambition in a positive way.

Pursuing more is not just about getting more. It is about expanding into a version of yourself that can serve more, create more, and elevate more lives. But if you are called to something bigger, yet you keep shrinking to avoid discomfort, nobody wins. So give yourself permission! What are you waiting for? Dive into this episode now!

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