What Confident Women Know: 5 Tips To Get Out of Your Own Way

I’ve been running Distinguished Learning Group, my educational company, as a side hustle for the past few years and I became quite the happy camper (ahem, I mean happy teacher) making an extra $15-$20k a year, plus my salary – bringing me very close to six figures. (Not bad.) I was totally convinced that I would teach for ten years, transition into administration, and then become a superintendent and lead a district of schools. But last October, something happened. My life plans came to a screeching halt when two of my biggest passions converged and I learned something that all confident women know.

It’s almost like I fell off of one plane of desire and landed in a new world where my mind was instantly expanded and I saw the possibilities that lay beyond even my wildest imagination.

In short, I felt an urgent need to really step up my game and jump into business full time. I was pressed by the purpose of calling women who are smart, powerful, and splendid to RISE to new heights of being and dominion and boldly become all that God had purposed them to be. And yet, there was an issue. For years, I had been known as Mrs. Queenie: Extraordinary Teacher, Extraordinary Results. I questioned myself and I even questioned God, trying to figure out how working with women measured up or made sense, because I was a teacher of children.

Finally, the heavens opened up (not really) and it dawned on me that for years I’d been working with children, but I’d also been coaching and mentoring their mothers, not just in parenting but also in pursuing their personal dreams and pushing them to the edge to unleash their personal power and potential. And then I remembered that for six years, I had presided over my church’s Young Adult Women’s ministry as well.

A sudden “Aha!” moment gave way to immense clarity.

It finally made sense. God was weaving together a bigger vision for my life, but I was limited by the title of being a “teacher”. I had let this title define yet limit me and who I had the opportunity to become. Many of us do that. We become highly successful and known for being and doing one thing and we forget that we have the chance to wear the “coat of many colors” and the opportunity to tap into the tapestry of our gifts and talents. (Think Oprah, Kimora  & Beyonce)

At that moment, I was full of excitement, eagerness and complete “overwhelm”. I was blown away by this massive call and my ability to trust such a great vision and realized that confident women know that you can’t limit yourself to yesterday’s success. Confident women readily wear many hats, and dance to different songs. Confident women aren’t afraid of stepping into their full power. They know that:

“When [they] stand before God at the end of [their] life, [They] would hope that [they] would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.” – Erma Bombeck.

It’s time for you to get out of your own way. It’s time for you to grow into the next and more refined version of yourself. Since my expansion last year, I now fully understood how my work in the classroom with children was tightly connected to me working with women. If women lead powerful, passion-filled lives that touch the core of their soul purpose, it will have resounding implications for their children who will witness their evolution; helping them to dream and lead in the world with the same type of vigor.

Are there two areas of your life that can converge to make you more explosive and more dynamic than ever?

Are you afraid, or find yourself questioning God for how your personal elevation will happen?

Tips for Getting Out of Your Own Way:

1. Integration-Fully integrate parts of your life that seem separate or disconnected. I merged teaching with my love for working with women.

2. Think Like a Miracle Worker- Miracle workers know that no-thing is impossible. (This is my secret power.)

3. Envision- Take 5 minutes each day to imagine yourself beyond your current level of success. See yourself helping others and supporting them in their dreams. As you paint a picture in your mind, continue to expand it and make it more dynamic. Continue this until you feel a release.

3. Follow the Yellow Brick Road- Your life path is the clue to what you’re called to do. Think back over your life and assess yourself for the tools, skills and qualifications that you’ve gained.  This allows you to see all that you have to offer. (When I work with my clients, I use the Talent Tracker to help map and track their gifts and talents.) 

4. Ask for a bigger vision: You have not because you ask not. Don’t play small. Step up. Think big and play big.

5. Get Uncomfortable- Don’t limit yourself to your current success: There is more inside of you. Release it and let it go.

Now I’ve got a little challenge for you…

Leave a comment and share which strategy you’re going to try or which tip spoke to you.

Interested in Working with Me?

Are you impelled to take your life to the next level? Are you ready to RISE OVER THE TOP and push play on your creative dreams? If you say yes, you’ll love The Clarity Call Formula. It’s my most affordable success coaching & high-impact program designed for the creative woman seeking clarity, mentorship and proven success strategies to launch them forward and live their dreams out loud. I focus on igniting your passion, expanding your greatness and mastering your mindset. Among other fantastic benefits, each All-Start Client is entitled to three high-powered coaching calls per month from yours truly. Testimonials from clients illustrate their immediate RESULTS, new found confidence and readiness for accomplishing their goals.For more information about signing up for your Clarity Call, you may give me a call at 1-213-537-4738. You may also reply to this message for your inquiries. www.sheRises.org #KeepRISING

Self-Quiz: Are You Too Busy?

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” –Henry David Thoreau

Time is the great equalizer. Everybody gets the same amount: 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour and although it would be pretty cool to say,”I’ll take 24 hours on Monday, 36 hours on Tuesday and 15 hours for Wednesday.” Unfortunately, we can’t save time, accumulate or rearrange it. No. It doesn’t work like that. You can’t turn it off or on.

And, it can’t be replaced.

But these days, it seems as if the lament of not having enough time has become a national anthem. Everywhere people find themselves constantly in a rush, over-booked and over-scheduled with no time off. And, I must admit I’ve been in the same situation. But, I realized that doing too much and being too busy can be unproductive and cut you off from experiencing vibrant relationships and living a healthy lifestyle. Though it may not always seem so, how we fill our time and how we spend it is our choice.

Answer the following questions to discover if you’re caught up in the “too-busy” cycle.

1. I constantly find myself doing “urgent” things and trying to catch up.
2. I allow myself to drift into obligations when I don’t know how much time or energy they’ll require.
3. I find myself running from when I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night. I’m always tired and never feel like I accomplished enough.
4. I seldom schedule a day off for myself and when I do, I tend to fill it with activities.
5. I don’t make time for “self-care” activities: physical exercise, nurturing or “pampering” myself, cultural stimulation, spiritual well-being, learning something new, playing, or simply doing nothing.
6. I seldom have time to do the things I really love.
7. My work and project areas are cluttered with “I’ll look at this later” stacks and “to-do” piles.
8. I often miscalculate how long certain activities will take.
9. I often miss deadlines or work long hours to meet a deadline.
10. I respond to interruptions such as phone calls, faxes, email, beepers and pagers, and allow them to take me off track.
11. I try to keep things in my head rather than making lists. If I do make a daily “to-do” list, it’s impossible to complete in a day.
12. I tend to move from one urgent thing to the next, rather than working toward specific goals and objectives.
13. I find myself constantly wishing I had more time or projecting an imaginary future when I have more time, making comments such as “as soon as…” or “next year…”
14. I spend time running errands and rushing because I didn’t plan well enough.
15. I spend time doing things I could pay someone else to do.
16. I often do things because I “should,” or continue to do things that no longer fit who I am.
17. Other people complain that my schedule doesn’t allow enough time for them.

Post your thoughts below, are you too busy?

Interested in Working with Me?

Are you impelled to take your life to the next level? Are you ready to RISE OVER THE TOP and push play on your creative dreams? If you say yes, you’ll love The Clarity Call Formula. It’s my most affordable success coaching & high-impact program designed for the creative woman seeking clarity, mentorship and proven success strategies to launch them forward and live their dreams out loud. I focus on igniting your passion, expanding your greatness and mastering your mindset. Among other fantastic benefits, each All-Start Client is entitled to three high-powered coaching calls per month from yours truly. Testimonials from clients illustrate their immediate RESULTS, new found confidence and readiness for accomplishing their goals.For more information about signing up for your Clarity Call, you may give me a call at 1-213-537-4738. You may also reply to this message for your inquiries. www.sheRises.org #KeepRISING