-
Six years ago (also known as my Summer of Reinvention), I landed on the front page of my home town's newspaper.
Let me back up a minute for context.
1 year before, I had quit my cushy corporate job and launched my first website BreakupChronicles.com featuring user-submitted stories of how breaking up with the wrong person was the right thing to do. (It was hailed as Sex & The City meets Chicken Soup for the Soul.
3 months before, I had run out of money, moved out of/rented out my condo, moved in with friends, and decided to burn whatever remained of my former life and start fresh. (Not literally. I found a storage unit!)
1 month before, I got in the car and drove with my mother from Los Angeles to Yellowstone, Montana to spend the summer with her at our family cabin. Mom was retired and spending her summers working at our 100 year old family business near the west entrance to YellowstonePark.
(1 month later, I met my husband while back in LA between Montana trips. That's a whole OTHER story.)
My plan was to spend the summer of 2005 working on my book (the book deal didn't come for another 7 months), manage and promote my website, live for free, pursue freelance writing gigs, hike, do Pilates and yoga, and basically figure out what to do with my life.
Needless to say, I didn't have a whole lot figured out.
But I was starting to make money as a freelance writer, I was rediscovering myself and my newfound freedom, I LOVED living in nature compared to the hustle and bustle of city life, and it turned out I was actually pretty brilliant when it came to promoting my website (In the first 6 months my website was live, I booked myself on The Tyra Banks Show, got a shout out in Venus Magazine, appeared on the KTLA Morning News, and...the front page of my home town paper.)
Here's what happened: A few weeks after arriving in Yellowstone, I called up the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, one of the biggest and best newspapers in the state. I pitched them the idea of a 3rd generation Eagle (my mother's maiden name and a pretty influential name in that neck of the woods) and Bozeman born and partially raised resident who was leading the charge to heal broken hearts AND working on her first book while summering in Yellowstone (I may have fudged a few details. Remember, I didn't have a book deal yet!).
They bought it.
Not only did the paper send a reporter up to Yellowstone to interview me, but we did the interview at the 100 year old soda fountain in my family's store, a soda fountain I'd spent many summer days as a child sitting on an old fashioned swivel stool, licking a chocolate ice cream cone.
After the interview, we took a few photos of me at the soda fountain, laptop open to my website, VERY Carrie Bradhsaw/Sex & The City-esque (except I was in a turtle neck because it was FREEZING that morning!).
Cut to several weeks later when my front page feature hit news stands. I'd been told the publish date. I knew it was coming.
And yet the day my front page news feature and photo hit every news stand in town, I HID in my bedroom, refusing to come out. I actually made my MOTHER bring me the paper!
Why all the drama?
This was clearly before I'd learned to embody my inner Sacha Fierce alter ego and give myself permission to be seen, heard, celebrated, and even criticized.
This was also long before I realized that my mission wasn't about ME. (It was about the millions of women healing their broken hearts and I was simply the best messenger the universe couuld find at the time.)
Here's WHY I hid in my bedroom that day:
1. I worried that the friends I'd made in my small town that summer (not to mention all the relatives who'd helped found West Yellowstone, Montana 100 years ago) would look down on me, think I was bragging, and say to my face (or behind my back), "How dare you!"
2. I also worried about the hundreds of thousands of people I didn't know who would read the story and think, "Who the hell does she think SHE is?"
3. I also felt like a fraud. In the article, I talked about my upcoming book, soon to be launched message board, and coaching workshops, none of which were actually happening -- YET.
Can you relate?
Ultimately, I was creating my future in that newspaper feature before it had ARRIVED in my present.
I was projecting a self belief that I wasn't quite confident I could manifest (but ultimately did).
And I was AFRAID that being so big, bold, and audacious might anger God/the universe and ultimately jinx my chances of success.
Again, can you relate?
After spending most of the day in bed, cowering, at 5pm I got both hungry AND fed up with myself. Deciding to grab some groceries at the local market, I ran into a few familiar and unfamiliar faces who congratulated me on my newspaper feature. My own relatives told me they were proud of me! And as I walked back to the cabin to fix dinner, I caught my big, glossy photo and headline in the newspaper bin on the sidewalk. Part of me cringed, but a bigger part of me congratulated myself on my audacity.
After all, if I really wanted to write my first book, launch a coaching practice, and NOT go back to my old corporate life, I needed to be THIS brave and bold.
I needed to summon an inner strength I hadn't yet fully discovered.
And I needed to fake it a little before I made it.
If you find yourself in a similar space this summer, how are you feeling right now?
Do you feel a little bit like a fraud because you're building your future out of thin air before it appears?
Do you sometimes throw unnecessary road blocks an obstacles in your path because deep down, you're afraid of being judged for your audacity?
Are you second guessing your inner voice who's been divinely directing you towards your dream life?
Today, I invite you to STOP the self sabotage, playing small, and perfection paralysis.
And I invite you to step up, out, and onto the BIGGER stage you know is waiting for you -- if you just gave yourself permission to go for it.
This week, I gave the participants in my upcoming 8 Week MORE Clamor, Clients, Cash Teleclass 2 assignments that are helping them STOP hiding and START celebrating their innate greatness. I'd like to offer you the same assignments:
1. Create the name of your inner Sacha Fierce alter ego who's boldy and brilliantly creating your future before it's fully arrived in the present (We'll be devoting 1 whole week of the teleclass to rocking your inner Sacha Fierce!)
Here's what some of my students are saying about this exercise...
"In a coaching group with Lisa Steadman, we've been asked to create an alter ego to call upon when we need to drum up courage to step outside our comfort zone, just as Beyonce did when she created Sasha Fierce. What do you think of 'Isis Letisha SIZZLEPANTS'?"
- Michelle
"Woohoo! I'm Susie Dangerous Brandtastic!"
- Susan
2. Set an audacious goal for yourself and identify 3 action steps you can take to reach your goal
My class participants have created an entire thread in our private Facebook group devoted to claiming their audacious goal and holding each other accountable with their action steps. It's inspiring!
And this is before class has even started!
My 8 Week MORE Clamor, Clients, & Cash Teleclass starts next Monday night.
Are you ready to step out of the shadows, STOP hiding, and make this your summer of success?
Class enrollment closes on Sunday at midnight. That means there are just 3 more days to grab your spot in this hands on summer program.
Don't miss out on YOUR chance to create MORE clamor, clients, and cash this summer.
Sign up NOW: http://www.moreclamorclientscash.com/
Now's the time to summon that inner courage, unleash your inner Sacha Fierce, release your fears of judgement and criticism (it will happen but it's not your job to care), and START creating MORE clamor, clients, and cash this summer.
