So I have been working on this challenge 5 days now; thought I’d share what happened to me while in San Diego. The book concept is actually coming along!
Wednesday night I sat in the bar at the Hilton San Diego with the intent of having a drink and READING, yes reading, my book! I love to read; it relaxes me and usually takes my mind off all the responsibilities I have. I started to read but this challenge popped into my mind AGAIN! This time it wasn’t limiting beliefs though, it was ideas about the book! (happy dance!) So I took pen to pad and wrote a few ideas down as I did not want to lose them. Back to book, back to pad…
A man sat next to me (pretty much what is in hotel bars these days, that stereotype isn’t gone). He ordered food and a drink and left me alone. When his food arrived it smelled SO GOOD I had to say “that smells SO GOOD”. (Let the conversation begin!) As we spoke about work and travel and how good kids have it in this country, somehow this 30 day challenge came up. As we spoke I realized even further the power of what I started writing about yesterday –our voice and how our story creates it if we own it. Wow, maybe I am onto something.
I realize that leading people, growing a business, having the success you want in life comes from finding knowing and OWNING your voice. Many might know it but do they own it? Own it to a point where they realize that it’s not about what others think. See the right people will love and honor who you really are. It’s the cornerstone to consistent success,to creating a clan, to inspiring others to follow you.
If you’d like to read the earlier entries 30 day challenge part one and 30 day challenge part 2
Ann M. Evanston is a “Chief Breakthrough Officer” teaching other Business Warriors how to slow down, and find the most unique part of their business that makes them stand out among the crowd. She has been named one of the top marketing consultants by About.com, is a guest blogger for Showcasing Women and takes pride in moving you from “blah, blah, blah” to “BOOM, BOOM. BOOM!”
This topic must be in the air right now. Or maybe it’s that you and I are on the same wavelength. Finding and recognizing my own voice was a challenge. All those years of carefully crafting messages in business-ese, writing letters for corporate consumption and cloaking the message in objective, personality-neutral language were difficult to overcome. The style carried over into my entrepreneurial life and while I could really turn a phrase, I wasn’t connecting with the people I wanted to work with.
In the past few weeks I decided to throw caution to the wind and just write it the way I feel it, and pretty much the way I would say it face-to-face. The results have been instantaneous and amazing. Plus it saves a lot of time. Both in the actual writing and in figuring out if I’m writing for the right audience. Now all I have to do (LOL) is make sure I don’t backslide into old habits.
Keep teaching this. We can never hear it too often.
thanks Kerry! Yes, I think it’s in the air right now!
Finding, knowing and owning your voice. Finding out about who I am, learning to love me as I am and expressing it to the world. I’ve been working on the first two for a very long time but the third one – expressing it to the world and maybe that’s the owning it part you speak of is still new to me. This thirty day challenge is moving me in that direction. I’ve always loved what you say about honesty and being who you are. In a way I think that just scratches the surface. I can be honest about having a gay son and my stand on gay marriage but it goes deeper than that. I still have more to learn and I’m learning.
Susan Berland
A Picture’s Worth
http://www.susan-berland.com
This gives me hope. This morning I started writing and I’m writing I don’t know what I really want. But as the day progressed, I found I do know what I want but maybe some things have to change. I’ll learn more through the writing as it progresses. I’m looking forward to finding the exciting nuggets.
Julieanne CaseAlways from the heart! Blog: http://www.julieannecasefromtheheart.comReconnecting you to your essence, joy, vitality, youth.| Healing you from the Inside Out |Reconnective Healing | AgeLoc Skin Carewww.thereconnectivehighway.com
Good luck in your new calling, Ann.
I don’t think it’s a new calling Mandy-I think it just clarifying what I already do!
Agreed about “finding and owning our voice”. Starting years ago, I’ve been finding out that the same way my friends want to relate to ME, my business contacts (clients and colleagues) want to do business with ME, not the company manual. So in order to relate with people as ME, I always seek to know who I am and how I can best express this person, honestly and sincerely.
Beginning shy made things difficult, but every small success dropping the facade made the next challenge easier. People say starting anything is always a challenge, and doing anything perfectly the first time is rare, so baby steps and giant steps gradually add up, thank goodness.