Rewrite your story with inspiration and action.
I expand in abundance, success, and love every day as I inspire those around me to do the same.
I read that affirmation, or ultimate success mantra (USM), last year in The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. The content of the book taught me so much, but it was this affirmation that I ran with upon finishing the book. I eagerly wrote it on Post-it notes and put one on the mirror in my bathroom, another on the dashboard in my car, and a third in my wallet. I wanted to see it and read it and soak it in multiple times per day.
Finding Your Inspiration
The eagerness I felt came for good reason. Something lit up within me when I read the mantra. I thought of what a bumpy ride my career path had been and how lost I felt at different times throughout the ride. So lost I didn’t know if I’d ever find the “right” career path to follow. In focusing on the Ultimate Success Mantra, though, I realized I’d done exactly what it said at every stop in my career.
As a teacher of third and fourth graders, inspiration was a huge part of my job. From conflicts on the playground to home life challenges to difficulties with math, reading, and social studies—those kids relied on me to be a consistent source of encouragement and motivation, and I was honored to do so.
I increased my knowledge of what it means to be an effective leader in my next career stop at a legal services business. I learned my responses to my team members’ challenges could either inspire them to learn something from the experience or diminish them from trying again.
And now as a leadership coach and team development professional, I live and fully embrace the mantra. The message is at the core of all I do with my clients, and it comes with such clarity. That clarity wasn’t always within me, though. For years I questioned what I was supposed to be doing. I wrestled with compare and despair syndrome as I watched others succeed professionally and be fully aligned with what they were doing to change the world for the better.
Rewriting My Story
I stayed stuck for far too long. Until one day I decided it was time to get un-stuck. As I think back to how I did that, three main practices come to mind:
1. I got clarity through action.
When I left the legal services business to start my own business, it didn’t look the way it does now. I started by providing corporate training sessions all over the country every week. I learned what I did and didn’t like about that and then made changes. I stuck with those changes for a while, evaluated what was and wasn’t working, and made a new round of changes. Bottom line: I didn’t just think about what was and wasn’t working and accept it. I took action. And then I took some more. The more action I took, the more clarity I gained.
2. I found my flow.
A flow state can be defined as an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best. Time passes without us even realizing it because we’re so immersed in what we’re doing. In looking back over the course of my career, I now see I was seldom in a flow state. I did what needed to be done, and I did much of that well, but I didn’t feel like I was doing what I was put on this earth to do. When I found my flow, I found my place in life.
3. I stopped punching myself in the face.
As a little girl I remember my dad playfully using my own hand to slap me in the face. I’d giggle, and he’d ask me why I kept hitting myself. As an adult it wasn’t my physical hand that slapped myself. Rather it was the story I played on auto-repeat in my mind. I beat myself up for not finding the perfect job for me. I’d tell myself I’d never figure it out, and spoiler alert: it was hard to do that when I told myself I couldn’t. It was a bit of a catch 22 I put myself in. I didn’t find the perfect job so I told myself I couldn’t. And when I told myself I couldn’t, I didn’t find the perfect job. Stopping that whole story helped me find my true passion.
I didn’t have a to-do list with these three practices listed. I figured them out along the way, and in figuring them out, I continue to live that Ultimate Success Mantra: I expand in abundance, success, and love every day as I inspire those around me to do the same.
Need some help finding what will help you expand in abundance, success, and love every day? Let’s talk about how I can help you do just that.
