Articles
Starring Roles and Sunny Savasanas (or, Why I'm Leaving for the Beach at the Most Inopportune Time)
Step Into Your Starring Role just launched on Monday. For me, it’s a big, big deal.
And like any big, big deal project, it was not undertaken lightly. I did the research, planned and crafted. I know the kinds of women who I’m hoping will rise up and step into this work. And I’m ALSO running a business, so in truth, I have some ideas about how MANY I hope will show up.
And? I’ll celebrate the group when they have gathered. Nomaddahowmany.
For the moment, however, I am required to celebrate the work and effort that has gone into THE LAUNCH. Marketing and sales are my least favourite aspects of running my business. I’ve made the launch as aligned with my Brand of Joy as possible and it’s been no small feat. It’s taken many hands, hours, decisions and dollars.
So I’m celebrating it all by leaving the country for a week with my family and friends.
An unorthodox time to be leaving, for sure. Of course it would be wiser to stay during the registration period, non? Surely celebrating hitting my sales target (ugh) at the END of the registration period is smarter, non?
Non.
Because I’m also cooked. Stretched out and tired and weary, like at the end of a particularly long yoga practice. Ready for savasana.
I also want to be fresh and ready for this new group of women who have started to gather for the program. They deserve my best. They will GET my best.
Instead of fretting about outcomes and numbers and all the things we shoulda coulda woulda done, I’m calling it a day (or, rather, a week) and rejoicing on what WAS done. (So, so much.)
I’m a big, big fan of celebration.
Tracking wins. Acknowledging the hard work. Putting a ribbon on a job well done. Synthesizing the learnings. Conditioning us for more (when we’re good ‘n rested ‘n ready.)
It’s so important to me that I’ve devoted an entire module to the art of celebration in the Step into Your Starring Role program…because while celebration seems like it’s SUPPOSED to be fun, it’s also incredibly hard for us to find our way to it.
“If you ask me what’s the most terrifying, difficult emotion we feel as humans,” she says, “I would say joy.” – Brené Brown
Could be, Brené. Could be. And I think one of the most challenging, difficult things we do as humans, is to celebrate.
Have I done enough to warrant celebration? Won’t I jinx my efforts? Who has time to celebrate? It’s gauche to celebrate my efforts. It’s called “work”, not “play”.
But this much I’ve learned:
Scheduling celebration as integration time isn’t selfish. It’s strategic.
So, back to my Step into Your Starring Role program.
My brilliant team will be handling any inquiries and I will be in touch with them some. That is, when I’m not teaching my girl how to snorkel, or having her teach me archery (the only target I’ll have my eye on.)
I’m celebrating my yes’s, my no’s, the zigs and the zags.
And I’ll be opening my heart and arms up to the women who will decide if this is the work they are being called to do. I’ll just be doing it from the beach rather than my desk.
Over to you. Which of your yes’s, your no’s, your zigs and your zags want to be celebrated today?
+++
The leader in you wants to be seen. Click here to shine.
Check out my free training on the 5 Shifts Our Clients Use to Overcome the Imposter Complex and Grow their Income and their Impact
Where I pull back the curtain on five shifts to start raising voices, rates, and hands all while being the kind, congruent, and authentic leader I know you to be.
What if you trip and fall?
What if you trip and fall? You might. What if you get to the top and find out you’ve been climbing the wrong mountain? It happens. What if the expectations at the top are more than you envisioned? Could be. What if people are resistant to your ascent? Also possible.
Those are good questions. Sane questions. RESPONSIBLE questions.
They’ve kept you safe and that’s a good thing.
But I’ve got some other questions to ask you.
How much longer are you willing to wait? When does it get to be your time? When will you be ready enough to meet your desires?
Above all:
Given your drive to strive, your value of excellence and mastery, how can you NOT step up?
To be certain, the climb is high.
There will be twists and turns. (It’s part of the terrain.)
You will fall and you will rip your pants. (You will get new ones.) Along the way, you’ll meet naysayers. (And you’ll meet some yaysayers.) You will question, you will calibrate, you will course-correct. (That’s your job.) You will get tired. (Nap.)
You will amaze yourself and dazzle your soul and your heart will burst open and you will know, once and for all what emergent magnificence you are truly made of.
You will finally see what we’ve been seeing all along.
You will be changed for the experience. And you will never, ever look back.
Step up.
Check out my free training on the 5 Shifts Our Clients Use to Overcome the Imposter Complex and Grow their Income and their Impact
Where I pull back the curtain on five shifts to start raising voices, rates, and hands all while being the kind, congruent, and authentic leader I know you to be.
Even the cards love Step into Your Starring Role
I am a big fan of getting outside perspectives. Generally, we can only see as far as the next obstacle. Also generally, we can only see into the dark as far as the flashlight of our mind will allow. From where you stand, you will see new possibilities for me. If I invite you to do so, your flashlight will illuminate my dark corners.
(I sense it’s what we’re here to do for one another.)
What do you think about this? How am I showing up? Here’s my plan…do you see any holes?
If the feedback is resonant and feels right and true for me, (even if it feels tough…sometimes especially if it feels tough), I’ll integrate it and move forward.
If it’s dissonant and doesn’t feel right and true for me, I’ll dig a little deeper, see where the disconnect lives, and try to discern where I’m willing (and not willing) to compromise and move forward.
This is progress. It wasn’t always that clean (more on that another time).
I’ve poured my heart and soul into my Step into Your Starring Role program. I know it like the back of my hand. I know its value, its power, its worth.
And, like every former marketer who has fled the corporate world and has inexplicably lost the ability to write their own copy (ahem), I have struggled to find the words to adequately convey said value, power and worth.
It’s not just about coming up with clever marketing copy. I’ve also been sensing the value, power and worth have been what I’ve ASSIGNED it. And that’s felt out of integrity.
Because what I also sense is that the program is its own entity. Beyond the heart and soul that I’ve poured into it, I’ve wanted to understand:
What does it know? What does it want?
I’ve asked the program myself…but I keep getting my own words back.
Time for some outside perspective. And not from someone who had done the work. (I have plenty of exquisite testimonials for that.)
I mean really outside perspective.
Oracle-like perspective.
Enter Theresa Reed and her deck of tarot cards.
On my behalf, she asked her cards what I needed to know about the program.
The response:
Eight of Cups - as people go through the program, they gather what they need to finally make the changes they have been seeking. This program encourages the participants to move ahead, to leave baggage behind, and to LEAD. This is about stepping away from the noise (both inner and outer) and walking a courageous path. Step Into Your Starring Role is the sacred circle where courage is encouraged and leadership is born.
GOB.SMACKED.
Step Into Your Starring Role is the sacred circle where courage is encouraged and leadership is born.
There it was. There it IS. Not a testimonial, not a sales page, but a PROPHECY.
Truth that I knew but couldn’t see or name. My flashlight beam wasn’t reaching that far.
But hers did.
For the millionth time, I’ll say this:
Ask for help.
Get outside perspectives.
Work with the best.
You, your body of work, and the people who need you deserve nothing less.
+++++
Speaking of the best, I think you need to know Theresa. An incredibly generous and gifted woman, I trust her implicitly and respect her profoundly. Her new Tarotcast offering has informed the scheduling and shape of my entire year. Like I said, Oracle-like.
Check out my free training on the 5 Shifts Our Clients Use to Overcome the Imposter Complex and Grow their Income and their Impact
Where I pull back the curtain on five shifts to start raising voices, rates, and hands all while being the kind, congruent, and authentic leader I know you to be.
24 easy answers. And the hardest answer of all.
It’s frustrating, I know. You ask the hard questions and get easy answers. Like E-Z answers. Ludicrously trite answers…the kind we’re all guilty of doling out. (Yeah…me too.) These answers endure because, well, their simplicity is magnetic. And stitched right into them is TRUTH.
But it’s partial truth…the kind that is ignorant and unconcerned about context.
So without further ado, 24 easy answers.
And one really really hard one to swallow.
On wealth
Buy low, sell high.
Spend less, make more.
Income up, debt down.
On health
HDL up, LDL down.
Move more, eat less.
More water, less booze.
Sweat every day.
On beauty
Laugh more, worry less.
More sleep, less TV.
Loving your outside is an inside job.
Coconut oil.
On relationships
Hug more, text less.
Keep your word.
On everything
Quality over quantity.
Write like a lover, edit like an ex.
Work hard, play harder.
Ease up, effort down.
Pray more, complain less.
In good time.
The grass is always greener…
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Make every moment count.
It is what it is.
Don’t worry about what everyone thinks.
But the hardest one of speaks to a truly deeeeeeep desire.
How do I become free?
The answer:
Forgive.
Forgive.
Him.
Her.
Yourself.
Set yourself free.
Hard. Trite. And as true as anything you’ve ever read.
Check out my free training on the 5 Shifts Our Clients Use to Overcome the Imposter Complex and Grow their Income and their Impact
Where I pull back the curtain on five shifts to start raising voices, rates, and hands all while being the kind, congruent, and authentic leader I know you to be.
TGtv Episode 8 – What if someone in your life doesn't WANT you to step into your starring role?
You've made the decision to leap. You're gonna DO it. You're going to step into your starring role, overcome your Imposter Complex, seize the brass ring and own your authority.
The angels are singing glory hallelujah on high (we are too.)
But you're worried what others might think. You're sure there is someone...or maybe SOMEONES who don't want that for you.
Oh. This is a tough tough place to be.
I've seen it from every side.
And I've got some thoughts for you.
Watch on.
Bottom line: real love, unconditional love…that’s wanting for someone else what they deeply want for themselves.
Check out my free training on the 5 Shifts Our Clients Use to Overcome the Imposter Complex and Grow their Income and their Impact
Where I pull back the curtain on five shifts to start raising voices, rates, and hands all while being the kind, congruent, and authentic leader I know you to be.
When good enough is good enough. And when it’s not.
There are some roles in my life that I’d LIKE to master. And I likely won’t.
Y’know: Hallowe’en costume sewer, flat tire fixer, origami folder, rock climber, devoted skin care regimen follower (or, at a minimum expert makeup applier), igloo-builder, runner, speller (writing “regimen” right first time around would be cool), painter (of walls), reverse parallel-parker, Wordpress wrangler, gardener, paella-maker, photographer, designer (of like, everything), and so on.
It’s possible that my life would be fitter, simpler, more playful and less expensive if I mastered all the above.
Possible.
But frankly, I’m “good enough” in all of those roles. And that’s good enough.
And there are some roles in my life that I’d really like to master. And as such, I invest time and energy in deepening into practice.
Yogini. Painter (of art). Teacher.
But when I roll out my mat, survey the blank canvas, approach the flipchart, I recognize how long the road to mastery is, AND I imagine how delightful the pursuit will be.
I know these are important to me…and I also know they’re not the calling of my soul. Besides, I’m good enough and working towards great.
The roles that are REALLY important to me? The ones I really REALLY want to master?
Mother. Coach. Writer. Partner. Speaker. Leader.
Yeah…THOSE are the roles that matter to me.
Profoundly.
And in the shadows of those roles, the Impostor Complex lies in wait. When someone projects “fabulous mother” or “great partner” onto me, it takes effort to find Thank You. My mind scans to all the places where that’s simply not felt true.
(In honesty, Speaker, Leader, and Coach aren’t quite as springloaded these days, as I’ve been doing some pretty deep work in all of these roles. I hear the lies of the Impostor Complex and I can move along.)
But Writer? Oh how Writer haunts me. Not with shoulds and musts and oughttas. But with deep yearning. Heart-pounding, soul-shuddering desire. And the no-holds-barred assault of the Impostor Complex.
Nothing quite like telling, like, EVERYONE you’re writing a book to bring on the Impostor Complex in all of its ferocious glory. Seemingly impassible.
But most insightful. Reminds you just how close something lives to your heart. JUST how much it matters.
Every time I run my Step into Your Starring Role Coaching program, I pick the next role I ALSO want to step into. When I heard the words of a former participant, I knew in an instant which role it needed to be:
“There are plenty of places in our lives where we feel like Impostors. But it’s the role that we want the MOST that has us feeling the MOST like an Impostor. And that’s why we need Step into your Starring Role.”
This time, the role I’m stepping into is capital-W ‘Writer’.
Because it’s the scariest place for me to look. And it’s where “good enough” simply isn’t good enough.
Your soul knows when “good enough” is true AND when it’s an excuse. Ask for discernment. (Tweet this)
Check out my free training on the 5 Shifts Our Clients Use to Overcome the Imposter Complex and Grow their Income and their Impact
Where I pull back the curtain on five shifts to start raising voices, rates, and hands all while being the kind, congruent, and authentic leader I know you to be.