In last week’s blog post (posted above), I started to tell you the story about a woman, a champion, in my life by the name of Jenn. We talked about our value in that post- yours and mine. The three questions Jenn asked me on our very first meeting were…
Do you know your value?
Do you offer value to those in your world?
Are you getting paid what you are worth?
(If you want to know what we said about that, check the link above to that blog post.)
But I also said that when I hemmed and hawed with my answers to those questions, the next thing she said to me was,
“When you are done making excuses, you can get down to your business.”
Yep! That was the bottom line! I was making excuses about why I wasn’t being successful or seeing the kind of difference I wanted to see.
Are you doing that- making excuses instead of doing the things you really want to do?
Isn’t that true of most of us though? We don’t know our value because we don’t realize who we are. I thought I did. I had spent a great deal of time and money going to workshops, reading and researching personalities and strengths seeking to understand, and to help others understand who they were made to be.
We don’t know our value because we don’t realize who we are. Click To Tweet
Yet here I was…
struggling to see me again, in a role that was actually not so different from previous positions I held in my life. I had often struggled with my value– or the value I offered. Much of that was because I kept comparing myself to others. Or I tried to live up to their expectations of me. (Probably more what I expected them to expect of me.)
But it was also because of some messages from my past from people I thought I could trust. Like the man who told me that I needed to step away from the thing I spent my whole life preparing to do and go make my living elsewhere. He suggested I just volunteer my time at my current job. I’m still not sure of the intent of this man’s words, but I felt like he was saying, “You are ok at what you do, just not good enough to get paid.”
Now in my role as coach & entrepreneur, his words resound loudly whenever I try to take a step forward in my own business. You are not good enough to pay. I had started to believe that.
But instead of being honest and dealing with the issue that I feared he might be right, I made up lot’s of excuses for why my business wasn’t working. It was other people who don’t see their value enough to pay a coach what she’s worth. Hmm?
Instead of dealing with the fear, I made up excuses for why my business wasn’t working. Are you? Click To Tweet
I spoke to Jenn most Wednesday’s at noon in 2016 because she joined the GHC POWER HOUR groups that we hosted over the phone. These groups were designed to support women and hold them accountable as they accomplished their goals for the month. I got to listen as Jenn took her big next steps in life and business.
But what I haven’t told you about Jennifer is that she also had ALS: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In the United States, ALS is often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, named after a Yankees baseball player who died of it in 1941.
When I came to know Jenn nearly 3 years ago, she was still walking quite well with a cane. By the time of our POWER HOUR calls, she was confined to a wheel chair and dependent on her gracious, doctor, husband Bob and others to care for her and the things important to her.
Each month, our POWER HOUR group would decide on the ONE THING that we wanted to accomplish during the next 30 days. Each week we would declare to the group the ONE ACTION that we would take to move us closer to our goal. Then we would hold each other accountable to those goals when we met the next week.
At one point, I challenged Jenn about the BIG-ness of her goal.
“That’s a lot to do in one week, can we break that down into more manageable pieces?”
Her answer took our breath away.
“Kathy, while I have a mind to think it, and hands to do it, I must take on the BIG things.”
Each one of us in the group looked over our goals- and the ‘excuses’ we made as to why we couldn’t do more. We each took a deep breath and made a decision to add some BIG to our vision and our commitment to it. If Jenn can do it, so can we!
My conversation with Jenn reminded me to get after it!
- Quit making excuses
- Quit making plans
- Do it!
- Now!
- before you can’t do it anymore.
How about you?
- What excuses are you making?
- What are those excuses keeping your from doing?
- What are you putting on hold until life is right?
- What are you hanging onto from your past that keeps you from moving forward?
- What keeps you from breaking that chain and ‘getting after it’–whatever IT is!
What if we rose above the excuses, and the messages, and the emotions- and did IT? What would that look like? How would that feel?
(Looking for a way to process some of these thoughts and take your next step? Check out the opportunities listed below.)
This isn’t the end of my Jenn story. Keep watching. I will post more in a few days.
In the mean time,
- take a look at the questions above and get honest with yourself.
- Consider how the opportunities below will help you take your next best step forward- big or small.
Let’s get after it!
Kathy
Here at GHC this fall, we are going to be talking more about You and IT: Your Authentic Difference.
The first opportunity is the 5 Day S.N.A.P. it Challenge. The challenge starts Monday, Sept 11 on Facebook. If you can’t join us LIVE, the videos will be available for a couple of weeks after we start. Sign in and take a listen. Find out more out it here.
INTRODUCING GHC’s first ONLINE GROUP-
BE INSPIRED 
to BE IT!
Use Your Voice,
Your Message,
Your Influence,
NOW!
Do you know what your voice sounds like when you are truly authentic to you? Are you aware of the message you share that is unique to you?? What are the platforms that you are given to use your voice to speak your message? And no, a platform doesn’t have to be a stage.
Online Group will be Monday nights at 8:00pm (Eastern)
starts Monday, September 25th.
Registration will open by Sept 14. Want to know more? Click here!
More details will be coming soon. Be sure to watch for more information.