Kick Monday’s Ass: permission slip (Oct 4, 2021)

It’s time to kick Monday’s ass…

Yesterday I booked my last Airbnb of 2021.

That’s such a trippy thing to say. It’s been a year (almost) since the split and 11 months of life on the road… already?! How do I keep blinking and missing my own fucking life?

Weird wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff aside, I’ve learned a ton about myself in the past year.

Namely that there was still a lot of stuff I felt I needed “permission” for before I decided to do it.

If I wanted to go to a theme park, I felt like I needed company.

If I wanted to go to a fancy restaurant, I felt like I needed to have a special occasion or something to celebrate.

And when I wanted to start a podcast, I felt like I needed someone to tell me, “yes, I want this.” That last bit is extra special funny (funny/weird, not funny/ha ha!) to me in retrospect, because people actually DID tell me they wanted it.

In fact, I can’t even take credit for the idea… several years ago I’d just gotten off stage after speaking about copy and marketing at a big 1000+ person event. Someone went out of their way to find me in the dark of the conference room, came up to me, and said, “I love your voice… do you have a podcast?”

Of course, I immediately dismissed this person as being off their fucking rocker. My voice is weird – who the hell wants to listen to ME speak?

Then the next time I spoke on stage, at a different event, it happened again. Another person went out of their way to hunt me down and ask if I had a podcast or was going to start one. I still dismissed it.

The third time it happened, it suddenly occurred to me…

That’s three separate people, who didn’t know one another, who had nothing to gain by telling me this thing… and they all said the same thing, independently of each other.

That’s when I thought, “Maybe this isn’t as crazy an idea as I thought. Maybe there’s something to this whole podcasting thing.” I started looking for a course to learn what I could about it.

I listened to the people who said they wanted to hear from me. I went out of my way to take training and get feedback so I could make a decent show.

And yet when it came time to launch the thing, I still had myself convinced that there was no one out there who wanted to hear me yammer on about business shit.

I’m glad I didn’t let anxiety and fear tell me lies. Every day I meet new people, in my travels or on my show… and they freely share life-changing stuff with me.

I never would have known if I’d listened to fear, because that’s what it does…

Fear. Fucking. Lies.

If you’re not in imminent danger of losing your life, odds are the fear is trying to convince you that what you want to do will place you in mortal peril.

Don’t believe it.

You are valuable. You are important to the people in your life. You have something to offer your community and the world.

Maybe you won’t be able to do EVERYTHING you set your mind to, but you can probably do MOST of the things you want to.

So what are you waiting for? You don’t need an unexpected breakup or a global pandemic to choose to do something different with your life.

And if you’re waiting for permission to take the trip, try the food, make the ask, or start the new thing… permission granted.

Kick Monday’s Ass: don’t fake it until you make it

 

Everyone starts from somewhere, so it only makes sense when you hear “fake it until you make it”. I don’t think you need to fake it – in fact, I think it could actually hurt you as you start or grow your business. Here’s what I mean…

Badass of the Week

This week’s badass is Navjot Sawnhey, creator of the Divya hand-cranked washing machine.

Why is that so fucking rad?

First, it’s especially helpful for people with limited or no access to water and electricity, who’d ordinarily have to make a trek to wash clothes by hand.

Second, he just got back from a two-week trip to northern Iraq, where he handed these machines out to refugees. “To give them the dignity of clean clothes is very fulfilling,” he said.

Humans helping other humans… in my book, that’s the most badass thing you can do.

 

New podcast episode!

 

What do you do when fear stops you in your tracks? Most of us either figure it out or run – and there’s nothing wrong with that since it’s just your brain kicking into “fight or flight”. But what if instead of running away from something scary, you embraced it?

I was shocked when Jon and I stumbled upon a common tactic we had for dealing with things that terrify us… by leaning in and learning everything we could. Listen to this episode for our favorite way to loosen fear’s hold on your future.

Can’t-Miss Moments From This Episode:

• The common trait most entrepreneurs share (and it’s got nothing to do with access to money or a big-ass network)… do you have it?
• Why so many would-be entrepreneurs fail when they first start out in biz (this one ensured my first foray into business was a failure… and dealing with it made my second attempt a success)
• Employee or entrepreneur… or some sort of weird in-between limbo? Why do you have to choose? Jon’s eye-opening perspective redefines what happens when you “fail” as an entrepreneur.
• “Is this like a power play?” what happened when a potential business partner asked Jon a simple question – and how it changed his entire approach to business
• Are you learning how to play softball by watching YouTube videos, or are you getting out there to play the game? Jon’s personal experiment that helped him make a massive leap forward

You don’t want to miss this one. Click here to listen (and subscribe) now!

 

On Repeat This Week…

 

Last week I got my book manuscript back from the amazing Cindy Childress… and as I was editing this weekend I came to a section where I talked about my Aunt Chris, who was an amazing person.

She passed away almost two years ago, and at her memorial service, this song started blasting out of nowhere. When you looked around the room, you could see these grief-stricken people with bewildered expressions… suddenly break out in big grins and laughter and singing and dancing.

May we all have an Aunt Chris in our lives, who reminds us to celebrate even in the midst of grief. Today I bring you her final song… Happy by Pharrell Williams.
_______________

Here come bad news talking this and that (Yeah)
Well give me all you got, don’t hold back (Yeah)
Well I should probably warn you I’ll be just fine (Yeah)
No offence to you don’t waste your time
Here’s why
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
(Because I’m happy)
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
(Because I’m happy)
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
(Because I’m happy)
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
Uh, bring me down
Can’t nothing, bring me down
My level’s too high to bring me down
Can’t nothing, bring me down, I said
Bring me down, can’t nothing
Bring me down
My level’s too high to bring me down
Can’t nothing, bring me down, I said