Sometimes the Leap Takes a Push

As we travel through this journey called life. Each new challenge brings with it new knowledge, new confidence and new self worth. 

So why is it that we resist them each at first? I've been sharing lately about the amazing results I'm experiencing with my new business coach Chris Suva. As I have found in my experience with working with a coach, I am pushed to do or create something bigger than I have before. I am pushed to step into a version of myself that perhaps others see, but I don't completely believe yet. 

As I am working on bringing my first full day event to fruition, I find myself alternating between excitement and terror, anticipation and self-doubt. Luckily for me, based on my very first session with Chris, I can look back and see how that exact feeling in the past has led me to some of my very best moments and finest achievements. 

Sometimes, in order to take that leap of faith, we need a little push. 

  

Stretching

Having been a runner since high school, I am a bit ashamed to admit I'm terrible at stretching. 

When my muscles are really stiff and sore and tight, of course then I do it, but as part of my normal workout routine, I'm horrible and I skip it almost all of the time. 

I got to thinking about it today as I was thinking about how much I'm being stretched by the next project I'm working on. How stretching can be uncomfortable, but it's a very good thing that helps you to perform better in all areas. 

Whenever I work with a business coach, (something I strongly recommend) I find myself pushed and stretched in ways that often greatly frighten me. My husband would admonish me and tell me that it's because others can plainly see "how great I am" it's only me that can't.

Working on this new project, under the banner of my "new" brand, I am alternately excited and terrified. I think that's a good sign that I'm on the right track as weird as that sounds. 

Where are you stretching these days? Or where have you stretched that brought you great results? I'd love to hear your stories!   

If the shoe doesn't fit...

I think we're all familiar with the Cinderella story. Think over the part where the glass slipper has been found and the stepsisters are trying to get it to fit. Not because they find the shoe beautiful, not because it is a comfortable shoe, but because they believe ownership of the shoe will get them their desired end goal, to marry the prince. Of course, as you know, the significant obstacle here is that the shoe simply does NOT fit. No matter how they squeeze and struggle, nothing they do will change that. 

Do we ever unwittingly find ourselves in this same pattern in our business? 

Stay with me here... 

You see an idea, a business model, a strategy and you see how well it is working for someone. You perceive that it even takes them across a goal line that you are eager to achieve. That may be a title, a monetary earning amount, a significant achievement of any kind. 

But when you try to implement the same thing, it simply doesn't work for you, it doesn't have the same result, and you don't understand. 

Say, for example, you are a business coach, and you are trying to grow your practice to a $10K a month practice. And you run across another business coach, and learn that she has a $12K a month practice. (It's magic that you find this out, just stick with me here) And you see that she is active on twitter and even gaining new clients through here twitter conversations. 

So, you study twitter, you model her activity, and after 6 months, you don't have a single new client through twitter. 

For any number of reasons, this marketing model may simply not work for you. There may be more to it than you are aware of, for example, these conversations may have started with a live referral, or her audience may be significantly different than yours.

Now this is an overly simplistic example for illustration sake, but the principle is there. I think that sometimes, we see something and we believe that it is going to get us the end result we are looking for, and we get hung up on that "thing". Maybe it's a vehicle for delivering your product or service, maybe it's a business model, it could be any number of things.

So...

If the shoe doesn't fit, move on. 

I think we get tunnel vision sometimes and we think that the vehicle we are in is the only one that can get us to our destination. That simply isn't true. If you are at point A and you want to get to point B, there are any number of vehicles that will get you there, at differing speeds, and with differing levels of comfort, but they will all get you there. 

Be willing to move on. Try something else. 

How about you? Can you relate? Have you found yourself in this pattern? I'd love to hear your comments! 

Do you feel like a blushing bride?

For those of us who have experienced this period of life, being engaged is a pretty fun, pretty exciting period of time. 

You are treated pretty much like a queen. Not only by your family and friends who ooh and aah over you, but by complete strangers. 

Shop clerks, waitresses, all your parents' friends, you find relatives you never even knew you had, coworkers, you name it! 

During this period of your life, you feel pretty special, pretty important, very valued and hopefully extremely happy.

So I ask you, have you felt like that lately? Because that word

engaged

is a word that is used an awful lot these days, in sales, in marketing, in social media. 

Get your audience engaged, keep your customers engaged.

These days, customer engagement takes a lot more than a series of emails or a weekly newsletter, but what does it take really? 

And I ask you, if "someone" was trying to get or keep your business, and they made you feel even a bit like that other engaged, how likely are you to do business with them? 

I bet VERY likely, because I tell you, if someone was making ME feel like that, I'd practically be throwing my money at them! As a matter of fact, I can even think of an instance where I do that nearly every week! 

It may sound trite, but my local grocery store, Mariano's. I know most of the managers, and more importantly, they know me. They know where I've been on vacation, various social activities I'm involved in, all kinds of things. When they see me, they smile, they rush over, they make an exerted effort to find something to do for me. Heck, the front end manager unloads my cart with me half the time. Despite the great prices, my grocery budget seems to have increased a bit, and I couldn't be happier!

What could you do to make your customers and future customers feel a bit more like a blushing bride? I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

 

Who do you Love?

If there were someone you really loved and you wanted them to know, what would you do? 

How would you touch them? 

What would you say? 

What things might you show them?

Would you remind them of things they have done that made you feel great? 

Would you share with them the traits and characteristics that really touch your heart? 






Would you leave them little notes? 














What if that person was you? 











Each day, you have the chance to show yourself love. How often do you take yourself for granted? How often do you neglect that face in the mirror? 
How would you treat that face differently if it were the face of your child, your spouse, your best friend, your mother, your father, your hero? 

You deserve it all. 

What if overwhelm is a GOOD sign?

Life is always throwing a lot at us. I consider myself to be above average in the way that I handle stress.

I have a lot going on, I always do, but I still manage to find plenty of time to relax, decompress, have fun and connect with and enjoy my friends and family.

I'm one of those people that is almost always in an outstanding mood. Not good, or even great, but extraordinary. When you ask me how I'm doing, a typical response for me is Fabulous! or Spectacular! or Fantastic! And it's genuine. People tell me I'm never in a bad mood. (Trust me, just ask my husband, it happens, even to me) 

Over the weekend, I found myself in a state of what I can best describe as overwhelm. Feeling as if maybe I've "bitten off more than I can chew" or that I've dropped the ball because I'm juggling just one more than I can manage.

As a result, I didn't get half of what I had intended accomplished over the weekend and of course, found myself on Monday morning feeling behind the eight ball so to speak. Feeling as if I haven't given my all to some of the tasks on my plate which are manageable tasks because I'm moving into a space of handling new, much more challenging tasks. 

I believe I need to once again, give thanks to my amazing coaching session from last week with Christine Suva. 

I started out by chastising myself silently. I don't accept giving average or even above average. I expect outstanding and extraordinary from myself for all those whom I serve. 

In the midst of trying to organize my "lists of to-dos" to make sure I get everything done this week, I took some time to reflect on where I am and how I'm really feeling about what I have going on. 

I'm getting ready to step into something bigger. I'm doing some exciting but scary things right NOW. I looked back at how I was feeling before I launched the Chicago Over 40 Females chapter and found it felt a LOT like I am feeling right now. 

Doing things I haven't done before, in a way I haven't done them. 
Opening myself up to a new level of vulnerability and service. 
Looking at myself in a role I'm not 100% certain I deserve or am ready for. 

And I come away from this reflection feeling no less overwhelmed, but with confidence and excitement because I know how it turned out before. I know that this level of discomfort, while not pleasurable, is telling me that I am standing on the edge of something magnificent. 

I now step bravely into my journey ahead with fear and courage, confident about what lies on the other side.   

Is your confidence holding you back?

Confidence. 

I wrote several months back about situational confidence. 

Where does confidence come from? I believe we feel confidant when we feel we excel at a thing, and when we feel significant while doing that thing. It's not enough to just be good at something, if we feel that it's a thing that "everyone can do".

I had an AMAZING coaching call today with one of my recent speakers, Christine Suva. We were talking through some blocks and resistance I've been experiencing lately with growing my network marketing business. 

Not only did she do a remarkable job at helping me gain clarity around my "juice" and my bigger vision and passion for my business, but she helped me see that in this case, both of these things were holding me back. At least, my perception of these things in myself. As she helped me look back as some things I've done previously, I realize I have more skill in this area than I give myself credit for. (Aren't we ALL guilty of that!) She also shared with me how she viewed me and the natural gifts I bring to the table which she sees as large contributors to why Chicago Over 40 Females has become the dynamic organization that it has.  

As we closed the call, not only did I feel more confidant, but totally juiced and jazzed to step into a bigger vision of myself and Whole Self Nourish than I had fully embraced so far. 

*Stay tuned for some fun, ultra nourishing really cool announcements coming your way

The lesson for today is when you're feeling less than confidant in an area of your life, avoid the easy road of following the area where you're already feeling confidant. Allow yourself the space to break this area down into smaller components. Think about the areas, and the things that really "give you juice". The areas that come really easily to you, if not right now, than in the recent past. Focus on the aspects where you really shine as your very unique self in that space. Then re-frame your perspective around the area where you are feeling weak. 

I think you'll be amazed at the juice you find!