Articles
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler, featuring Jen Brown
Jen is a Trail Running and Triathlon Coach as well as the founder of Sparta Chicks, a community and coaching business that supports women who participate in endurance sports and outdoor adventures to chase their dreams (in sport and life) with less anxiety, fear and self-doubt and instead with more confidence. A former Corporate Lawyer, Jen now specialises in coaching women and is an author, speaker and the host of the Sparta Chicks Radio podcast. In her spare time, Jen can be found drinking coffee or exploring her beloved trails throughout the world heritage listed Blue Mountains, outside Sydney, Australia.
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler is a weekly live show that shines a light on some of the biggest mindset challenges facing leaders and entrepreneurs today in their lives and in their work.
This week's guest is Jen Brown. Jen is a Trail Running and Triathlon Coach as well as the founder of Sparta Chicks, a community and coaching business that supports women who participate in endurance sports and outdoor adventures to chase their dreams (in sport and life) with less anxiety, fear and self-doubt and instead with more confidence. A former Corporate Lawyer, Jen now specialises in coaching women and is an author, speaker and the host of the Sparta Chicks Radio podcast. In her spare time, Jen can be found drinking coffee or exploring her beloved trails throughout the world heritage listed Blue Mountains, outside Sydney, Australia.
WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT:
All about Sparta Chicks and how it got started
Swapping out the word “jogger” for “runner,” or “blogger” for “writer” - what story does that perspective tell?
The power in naming ourselves “athletes” to feel like an athlete
Trying to start a new habit again, after failing before
How the impostor complex shows up in Jen’s work
Jen’s new podcast, Sparta Chicks Radio
The impact we have on our people
JEN SAID//
The thing that holds us back is not the physical stuff…. What holds us back is all that stuff upstairs, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and who we’re not.
What do you think of when you say the word runner? I used to say, “I’m not a runner. I’m just a jogger.” I [had to think] about the story I was telling myself about running…
There’s a fear that someone will call you out: “You’re not a runner because you’re so slow” or “You’re not a runner because you don’t look like what a runner looks like.” You’ll never feel like an athlete until you [call yourself] an athlete.
I know a lot of women who would not call themselves athletes even if they do very athletic things.
(If you’re starting a new habit) Start small - it’s really easy to get trapped in comparing yourself to your old self or what you used to be able to do. For anyone starting out, or trying to get back into running again - start small. I have clients who start out with 30 seconds of running, 4.5 minutes of walking and then repeat that four or five times. Start with small, bite sized chunks. Try not to run [in such big chunks right away]… You’re setting yourself up for failure.
Question those stories you are telling about yourself in your head, about your fears or your inadequacies. What’s that narrative? What’s at the core of it? Is it the fear of failing again, is it a fear of failing again in front of your family? There is always a much deeper underlying theme going on under the surface.
You need to do both - do the smart training, start small on the physical side. But you also need to examine the stories you tell yourself.
For me the biggest lie of the impostor complex tends to be that I’m not ready or good enough, which I’ve realized feeds into procrastination or perfectionism.
It’s funny how something (my podcast) that was such a cause of angst and fear and self doubt is actually one of my favorite things I’ve done in my career. Full stop. End of sentence.
Often the things you are most proud of in life are the things on the other side of the greatest struggle or fear.
I had the skills I needed to do the job.
You put your work out into the world - it doesn’t matter what it is - and you’ve got no way of knowing how it’s being received. And the fact that you’re not hearing how it’s being received doesn’t mean it’s not being received. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re changing lives in ways you’ll never understand.
Go out and chase your dreams. Accept that you’ll have failure, accept that you’ll feel completely scared at times. But life’s too short. You can change lives. Whatever you do - just go do it.
TANYA SAID//
Swap out the words jogger for runner, blogger for writer.
We’re afraid of failing or being called out or our inability to commit… but usually in business, often fear of failure is actually fear of success. Usually that’s hidden around the inability to handle success.
Will people be proud of me? Will people be happy for me?
You have no idea the impact you’re having on people.
Small bites. 30 seconds at a time. Next step, next step, next step. First it’s ten minutes… then it’s 100 kilometers.
FIND JEN
Each week Tanya and a guest star (an expert in their zone of genius) take on a topic that is UP in their work, or in the work of their clients. (Can’t step into your starring role when perfectionism, procrastination, boundaries, comparison, people pleasing, diminishment, and overwhelm are in the way, right?)
Listen to In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler on iTunes or where you listen to your favorite podcasts!
It's Only Love That Matters
Right there at the fish counter of my grocery store, I had this overwhelming pang that I was feeling a quart low of love. No, that’s not right. Not a quart low of feeling LOVE. More like a quart low of WITNESSING love. I was witnessing a lot of pain and a lot of alone and a lot of neglect around me.
As I waited for the fishmonger to wrap up my shrimp, my thoughts turned to three very different conversations with three brilliant women the day before that all culminated into one strange and mysterious point:
You are surrounded by guides, guardians and angels.
We all are.
But if you wish for support, you must ask for it.
Because of free will, they will not just show up.
They are waiting to be asked. Petition them clearly.
Ask.
And then watch what happens next.
Alrighty then.
Hey Guides. TG here. I would love to witness an act of love please. It would mean something like everything to me right now.
And with that, I turned away from the fish counter and almost ran over an elderly man with my cart.
The same old man with a walker that I had impatiently tried to pass earlier as I was entering the store, my shopping list burning a hole in my hand and a day’s worth of to-dos to wrap up in four scant hours.
He gestured to the shrimp in my cart excitedly.
“So good. SO GOOD!” he exclaimed with a heavy Italian accent.
Yes, yes they are, I replied politely, totally captivated by the light that still danced in his milky eyes.
He told me that he liked them because they were soft on his sore teeth. He proceeded to tell me how he liked to prepare his shrimp. (This seems to be a recurring theme for me...being explained in great and elaborate detail how to prepare fish by elderly Italian folks.)
He then told me about his wife, his son. He showed me the missing basket on his walker. A cab driver didn’t return it. He was cross at first, but hey, we all make mistakes, he shrugged.
He told me he had had a good life. And that he was ready to go. But first, shrimp, he laughed.
I told him I was preparing shrimp just like he said, for my own father with sore teeth.
You are good woman of love. An angel, I think, he said. And took my hand. I didn’t want to let go.
But when I did, I reached over to give him a hug.
As I hugged him, I remembered Rosa’s truth...the same truth I shared on my Instagram feed not two days ago, but clearly my Guides felt I needed to be reminded once again myself:
It’s only love that matters.
Yes. That.
Got it?
And please don’t forget. Ever.
Ask for what you need.
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.
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler, featuring Jamie Ridler
Jamie Ridler, MA, CPCC, is the founder of Jamie Ridler Studios. Jamie inspires a passionate creative community, helping them find the courage and confidence to follow their dreams. Jamie’s creativity is fueled by an unwavering enthusiasm for life and a deep affinity to the arts. Her body of work encompasses writing, photography, visual art, theatre and dance. You can access her list of free resources here.
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler is a weekly live show that shines a light on some of the biggest mindset challenges facing leaders and entrepreneurs today in their lives and in their work.
This week's guest is Jamie Ridler.
Jamie Ridler, MA, CPCC, is the founder of Jamie Ridler Studios. Jamie inspires a passionate creative community, helping them find the courage and confidence to follow their dreams. Jamie’s creativity is fueled by an unwavering enthusiasm for life and a deep affinity to the arts. Her body of work encompasses writing, photography, visual art, theatre and dance. You can access her list of free resources here.
WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT:
How Tanya started In The Spotlight and battled the Impostor Complex to pursue a podcast
How to start something that is meaningful to you
When you start something new, what voice should you listen to?
Making big, brave asks with integrity, sincerity, and respect
Unhooking from the fear or pain of rejection
Sometimes the impostor complex shows up more when we are working alone than working in partnership
Starting out and forging your own path instead of following predetermined paths step-by-step
What kind of person is enjoying success
Being scared to do something new is normal… do it anyway.
JAMIE SAID//
Starting is my favorite.
When I decided I was going to do a podcast … I didn’t know anything.
I looked around the blogosphere at all these women we all adored, that inspired us every day - and I thought, I don’t know what their voice sounds like.
When I’m starting something new that is a service, an offer, a business kind of thing… something that’s going to have an impact on somebody else… [I think] of the person it’s going to impact. ... I sit there and think, well, I could be scared, I could listen to that inner critic that thinks “Who am I to…?” or I could do something. I’m going to get over being afraid and I’m going to show up.
My strongest strategy towards the Impostor Complex is [having] a pure heart.
When I am making an ask, I sincerely try to think of it as an offer, not an ask. I try to ensure that I am very clear in integrity about what I am offering. If, at the beginning, if I don’t even know if anyone’s listening [to my podcast] I’m not going to write to Julia Cameron and say “I’m going to offer you exposure.” That’s just not very sincere.
Time your offers around something that the person you’re asking from wants to share. Do they have a new book, a new documentary, a new single they’re releasing? That’s the time to ask. Be sensitive to what they need and be honest about what you can offer. And then the secret is… just do it.
If you don’t hear back, don’t take that a “no” forever. Don’t take it as a reflection of you. We’re all busy. Do you answer all of your emails? Probably not. … Try again in six months. Wait for the next thing that they’re about to launch. Ask again.
Our inner critics hit us hardest when we are not on stable ground. Having a pure heart and having integrity makes you feel like you’re on stable ground.
We are all human beings and we are interested in having a meaningful conversation that manners. The reciprocity absolutely comes from, “I am offering you respect, knowledge of your work, a willingness to be an open conversation, and a willingness to be in this place of generating some wisdom and sharing it with the world, and on that you and I are on the same mission.
[A “no”] is not a reflection of me. It’s so wildly egotistical to think everything I encounter is a reflection of me.
Don’t get too hung up on rockstars - there are so many people with great wisdom. Don’t feel like one person’s “no” is your disaster. There is plenty of genius to show up for you
Sometimes working alone brings more of the impostor complex.
It is hard, it is scary, it is brave. Newness is always scary. It sucks that it’s always scary, but it’s also normal. It doesn’t mean you’re not ready. It doesn’t mean it’s not for you. It doesn’t mean you don’t have what it takes. You’re being charged like that because it matters to you, you’re being charged like that because you’re being called, you’re being charged like that because this IS for you.
Take good care of yourself, get good sleep, don’t underestimate the power of self care in these moments. Then find your bravery, find your friends, the people that make you feel strong… and just do it.
TANYA SAID//
I have three specific strategies that I always come back to when I know I am nose-to-nose with the Impostor Complex, and that is: I need to challenge my inner beliefs and meet the critics, I know I need to bolster my authority thesis and remind myself of my capacity, and I know that I need to gather my people.
I love what you do. You say “Hey everybody, here’s my crazy idea!” And that “Hey everybody!” is deeply brave.
You looked around and the need hadn’t been met.
I think that the idea of reciprocity [when it comes to making big asks], as a potential, is important.
Our work compels us to make asks, no matter what it is that we’re doing. People want us to succeed, they want to lift us up, but we do have to ask.
Where people are enjoying success is where they’re taking best practices of their forebearers of the movement and applying it... but bringing their own spirit and pure heart with them.
Remind yourself of every time you’ve stood on the precipice of that move. You’ve been here before, you’ve done it before… it just hasn’t looked exactly like this.
FIND JAMIE
Each week Tanya and a guest star (an expert in their zone of genius) take on a topic that is UP in their work, or in the work of their clients. (Can’t step into your starring role when perfectionism, procrastination, boundaries, comparison, people pleasing, diminishment, and overwhelm are in the way, right?)
Listen to In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler on iTunes or where you listen to your favorite podcasts!
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler, featuring Ricardo McRae
Ricardo is committed to creativity and commerce working together. Today, he’s bringing creativity to life as the Host of The Framing Podcast on iTunes, and helping families across Canada as a licensed Financial Advisor. Prior to his most recent endeavours, Ricardo was the Creative Director of a boutique consultancy, Wedge15 and the Creator of BlackInCanada.com - Canada’s leading source on Black Excellence reaching over 1M people in 100 countries with 30K+ fans and followers. He studied Fine Arts and Business at the University of Windsor and the Ontario College of Art and Design before acquiring his Project Management designation and becoming an award winning entrepreneur and TEDx speaker.
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler is a weekly live show that shines a light on some of the biggest mindset challenges facing leaders and entrepreneurs today in their lives and in their work.
This week's guest is Ricardo McRae.
Ricardo is committed to creativity and commerce working together. Today, he’s bringing creativity to life as the Host of The Framing Podcast on iTunes, and helping families across Canada as a licensed Financial Advisor. Prior to his most recent endeavours, Ricardo was the Creative Director of a boutique consultancy, Wedge15 and the Creator of BlackInCanada.com - Canada’s leading source on Black Excellence reaching over 1M people in 100 countries with 30K+ fans and followers. He studied Fine Arts and Business at the University of Windsor and the Ontario College of Art and Design before acquiring his Project Management designation and becoming an award winning entrepreneur and TEDx speaker.
WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT:
Ricardo’s background and amazing life stories
Change is hard but is required if we want to accomplish anything
Value is created by framing
Answering a client question about profitable passions
RICARDO SAID//
If you are not dead, you can change. You can change your circumstances, you can change your life, you can DO something. And if you’re dead, all of your problems just got solved. So there are no really bad situations. The problem is action. Are you going to take an action to make a difference in the things you want? … Do something. Do anything.
Value is created. If you dance on the side of the street, you will get pennies. If you dance at Carnegie Hall, you will get millions. The only difference is the location and the frame.
The frame is the most valuable thing in artwork. It’s not the art, it’s the frame. If you take a piece of art and put it under your bed and disrespect it, it has zero value. But if you frame it and put it in a gallery and set the lights and tell the people to be quiet when they come in the room, it’s now worth millions. … Being able to frame things creates value.
Everything is valuable if it’s framed properly. Everything. And everybody is valuable if you just give them the opportunity to talk. Everybody has a story.
Everything is google-able. Information is not the problem. Access to information is not the problem. It’s self-discovery. What do YOU want to do when every possibility is now open to you? That is what we have to teach our children moving forward.
Don’t make your passion or your drive responsible for feeding you. Those are two different things and they don’t have to live together. Do what you have to do to make sure you can eat and live and do the work. It’s a marathon. If you are not here it probably won’t get done, so make sure you are taken care of. Then spend the rest of your time working on that passion and that thing that’s going to drive you. It [may not] generate money right now [but] it is good work doing great things - you’re going to find a way along that journey to [monetize or fund it].
TANYA SAID//
Change is hard, babe. Change is just hard.
You just helped me to understand what I actually do in the world! As a leadership coach, I’m constantly helping people to reframe what they’re thinking or the narratives they’re living in and believing!
It’s less about confidence and more about alignment. You know who you were when you were one. The sense of the true is strong in you, and my suspicion is that that’s always been true.
FIND RICARDO
Patreon.com (self funding website for your reference)
Each week Tanya and a guest star (an expert in their zone of genius) take on a topic that is UP in their work, or in the work of their clients. (Can’t step into your starring role when perfectionism, procrastination, boundaries, comparison, people pleasing, diminishment, and overwhelm are in the way, right?)
Listen to In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler on iTunes or where you listen to your favorite podcasts!
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler, featuring Theresa Reed
Theresa Reed (aka “The Tarot Lady”) has been a full-time Tarot card reader for close to 30 years. She is the author of The Tarot Coloring Book, an illustrated tour through the world of Tarot with coloring sheets for every card in the deck. In addition to doing private Tarot readings, teaching Tarot classes, and speaking at Tarot conferences, Theresa also runs a popular website—TheTarotLady.com—where she dishes out advice, inspiration and tips for Tarot lovers of all experience levels.
In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler is a weekly live show that shines a light on some of the biggest mindset challenges facing leaders and entrepreneurs today in their lives and in their work.
This week's guest Theresa Reed (aka “The Tarot Lady”) has been a full-time Tarot card reader for close to 30 years. She is the author of The Tarot Coloring Book, an illustrated tour through the world of Tarot with coloring sheets for every card in the deck. In addition to doing private Tarot readings, teaching Tarot classes, and speaking at Tarot conferences, Theresa also runs a popular website—TheTarotLady.com—where she dishes out advice, inspiration and tips for Tarot lovers of all experience levels.
WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT:
The intersection of writing a book and the Imposter Complex
Tanya’s secret business weapon (hint! It’s Theresa!)
Theresa walks us through her writing process and the publishing process
How Theresa is a champion for her industry and peers
What Theresa has learned by stepping into her Starring Role
What Theresa would say to someone ready to rise above the pack
Pricing yourself as a creative or in the mystical profession
A live card reading
THERESA SAID//
Technically I’m a writer but I never considered myself a writer. I thought a writer was like Steven King.
Ultimately I was speaking in my own voice but then feeling worried about my own voice.
When you copy someone else, what is missing in yourself?
People want to take shortcuts instead of doing the internal work.
There is no fast and easy. Sometimes there’s fast. Sometimes there’s easy, but they are rarely together.
The meanest hate mail has never come from my clients, it’s come from my peers
Every time you take an evolutionary leap, there's always going to be someone threatened by it, jealous or they want to take some of it, but you can't get distracted by that.
Haters come from a very very small place.
Haters are sign that you've gotten to a new level, that you've struck a nerve and you're moving up.
You aren’t paying for your reading, you’re paying for my time, and my time is valuable.
We’ve got to bust through those glass ceilings and say NO! I will not be paid less than a man. Get paid ladies!
Sometimes we have to blow our own top, we have to get out of the stinkin thinking, and the only way to do that is to face the fear and dive in even if we can't see what's below us.
TANYA SAID//
Don’t mistake the depth of the power because it’s actually fun to do.
This is not going to shrink me. This is actually going to make me stronger
LINKS + THINGS MENTIONED//
“New levels bring new devils.” -Steve Maraboli
FIND THERESA
Theresa’s new book: The Tarot Coloring Book
Each week Tanya and a guest star (an expert in their zone of genius) take on a topic that is UP in their work, or in the work of their clients. (Can’t step into your starring role when perfectionism, procrastination, boundaries, comparison, people pleasing, diminishment, and overwhelm are in the way, right?)
Listen to In the Spotlight with Tanya Geisler on iTunes or where you listen to your favorite podcasts!
Celebrate Someone's Light
“To find out a girl's faults, praise her to her girlfriends.” - Ben Franklin
Ohhhh, Ben. Your misogyny is showing.
But the truth is this: as a woman of public profile, most assuredly, someone’s going to come after you. And nine times out of ten, it’s another woman.
It just is.
And, honestly, there are no words that need to be wasted on that nonsense. We know why it happens. (Hey, hey, patriarchy that tells us there’s only enough room at the top and it's saved for dudes that look like Ben Franklin),
We can - and must - do better.
We can’t let comparison, envy and hero-worship get in the way any longer.
It’s a distraction that is keeping us from changing the mess we’re in.
I’ve written about putting away the scissors before. And I’ve conceded that not EVERYONE wants you to succeed.
And so today, I have some requests of you.
Be someone’s cheerleader.
Be someone’s hoist up.
Be someone’s presence.
Be someone’s open hand.
Be someone’s wish come true.
Be someone’s radiant mirror.
Be someone’s point of connection.
Be someone’s ear without feeling the need to fix or heal. (Anne Lamott said “help is the sunny side of control.” Huh.)
Be someone’s spotlight on their genius and talents.
And celebrate someone’s light like it’s your own.
Because you know what? It is.
Don’t believe me? Well, it’s true – even if you can’t see it.
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.