One of the questions I often pose in my Spotlight Speakers Salon Facebook group is, “What’s your dream opportunity?” For I know that whenever I declare a media outlet or stage where I aspire to speak (and then release my attachment to it), said media outlet or stage (or one even better) shows up.
2016 is the Year of the Fire Monkey according to the Chinese Zodiac, and as a monkey I have never felt so on fire (or on purpose). Over the last couple of years I’ve set a lot of scary stretch goals and thought leadership intentions, and a bunch of them have ignited over the last few weeks.
First, I’m thrilled to share with you my biggest podcast interview to date. John Lee Dumas interviewed me on his top-rated, award-winning show, Entrepreneur on Fire, this last Monday.
In this interview (which I’ve been told by members of John’s Fire Nation community is one of the most vulnerable and heart-opening interviews he’s done) I speak about my journey as a public speaker, my call to serve other speakers and what postpartum depression taught me about cultivating shame resilience.
You can listen to the interview and grab some special goodies for listeners here.
If you like what you hear, I would be super duper grateful if you would share the interview with your audience—for I want to communicate my gratitude to John for granting me this opportunity by getting the interview to as many people as possible.
Last weekend I also had another dream opportunity come true. I was asked by Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, where I graduated from middle and high school, to speak to parents of current students about the value of a single-sex, Sacred Heart education during an evening dedicated to raising funds for a school digital media center.
While I strive not to need outward validation, there is definitely a piece of me (one larger than I have probably owned) that has sought through my women’s empowerment work to make my school proud.
To make my parents proud.
To make my classmates proud.
To, of course, ultimately make myself feel “significant.”
I hate telling you this, but it’s the truth.
Less than 3 months ago, my daughter asked me to read to her my latest edition of Mes Amis, our alumni magazine, and she pointed to a distinguished alumna featured in a cover story and said, “Where mama?” with a quizzical look on her face. It stung, I was envious, and I thought to myself, “When will my chance come?” It turns out I got the request to speak less than two weeks later.
I’d like to think my daughter helped me manifest this opportunity.
To be invited back to address parents of current students (Did I mention that Bill and Melinda Gates sent their daughter to my middle school?) and to have the awesome responsibility to ask a room full of 200 of them, all prestigious business and community leaders, to donate $100,000 (which we surpassed!) to create a multi-media training program to train future generations of students to develop the mindset and corresponding skillset that I’ve cultivated to run my online business…pretty frickin’ awesome! And deeply humbling. Standing on stage and seeing a room full of people (some with tears in their eyes) raise their hands and in a matter of minutes raise more money than any group of parents have ever raised at our school auction… truly, I thought my heart would explode in a billion pieces from the sensation that was flooding through my body.
These, and a few other external achievements (which I’ll be sharing with you in the weeks to come), have of course produced moments of imposter syndrome thinking.
Who am I to think I can contribute original wisdom to a podcast that has already had 1225 guests – who are some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs?
Who am I to think I can speak to some of Seattle’s most accomplished leaders – and that my words will elicit more money than any previous distinguished alumna’s words?
After all of this good fortune, surely some catastrophe is on the horizon?
That last bit of self-debilitating self-talk is really my least favorite. The ole, “For every good thing there must be an equally negative thing that happens,” such a waste of head and heart space.
What I want for you (and me) to remember, whether we are in the visioning space or in the actualizing space, is that “Our legacy is not what we do with our power and impact. It’s what we leave behind.”
Everyday, whether it’s a glamorous one, or a day where you feel like the universe is saying “no” to all of your ideas and desires (and I still have many, many of these days – pinky swear), strive to ignite something powerful for others. For in service comes the deepest, most sustainable feeling of satisfaction and achievement.
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