[00:00:00]
Speaker 1: Today, we're going to be talking about unlocking your potential. I feel that this is the reason I wanted to come on and do this topic today is because I want you to learn the steps, or you may already know the steps, but it's always good to hear a refresher about what it takes to reach your highest self. A lot of the things that I talk about, taking off your cape and letting go of the perfectionism and the people pleasing and the unrealistic expectations, all the things that are keeping you stuck in this cycle of overwhelm. Once you learn how to let that go, only then can you step into your highest self or your highest potential. I wanted to share with you a bird's eye view about how to unlock that potential. The very first thing that needs to happen is you have to believe that it's possible. You have to believe in yourself, which I know many of us struggle with. While it's super important to believe in yourself, it's essential to unlock your true potential is to believe in yourself. You have to learn how to trust yourself and your abilities even when no one else believes in you.
[00:01:25]
Speaker 1: For super moms who are running around taking care of everyone and everything else and really take little to no time to reflect on yourself and your strengths and who you are, aside or beyond your roles of mom, of partner, parent, and professional. It's essential for you to get back in touch with who you are beyond those roles so that you know what your strengths are. You can start shifting your belief to believe that it is possible that there's more to you than the roles you play. It's important to recognize that everyone has talents and skills that help them succeed and to really learn what it is that... What are your talents and what are your gifts and your skills and what are your strengths? Once you start believing in yourself, the rest is going to follow. But you've got to start believing in yourself in order for that to happen. I've talked before about that confidence. That confidence comes from action, from taking action, from moving towards that highest potential. It's going to follow. The beliefs are going to start shifting. You're going to start realizing, Hey, I can do hard things. I've mentioned this before, but I want to mention it again.
[00:02:49]
Speaker 1: Right next to my desk, I keep a whole list of I can do hard things, and I had listed out about 20 things that I've done in my life that have been hard. At the time, it was things that I may not necessarily have had 100 % belief in myself, but I pushed ahead anyway, and I did it. Every time I did that, it reinforced that I can do it, that I had a strength, or that I was strong enough to get through those hard things. I invite you, I encourage you to do the same. Start your own list. There's lots of things that you have done in life that's going to be evidence right there that you can do hard things, that you can continue moving forward and you can continue moving towards your fullest potential. You can use realistic affirmations. By that, I mean affirmations that are actually believable, not affirmations that are so far beyond the belief that you hold currently that your mind is going to dismiss them. Realistic affirmations is more of embracing who you are right now and allowing yourself to actually believe that affirmation. The more you say it, the more it becomes part of you.
[00:04:08]
Speaker 1: Challenging the current beliefs, the beliefs that you have now. Really, we have this confirmation bias where we tend to notice things that reaffirm our beliefs or confirm our beliefs. And so it doesn't say that other evidence doesn't exist that would actually confirm a new belief. It's just we're not noticing in them. And so when you start shifting towards a belief in yourself or a belief that there's more to life or more to you than is currently, you can start taking notice and focusing on that evidence that exists that's going to confirm a new belief, switching your focus. Once you start challenging those old beliefs and start collecting evidence that supports new beliefs, you're going to start changing. That's where the change happens, the power. That's where the magic happens. Then finally doing the work to shift those beliefs. Actually taking time to reflect, to learn from what's going on now, to learn from the situation, to taking control of what is it about the situation that I could change, and then what do you need to think or what do you need to believe in order to feel differently about that situation? I'm going to go through three different steps today of how you can unlock your potential.
[00:05:35]
Speaker 1: Oh, we have comments. Hold on. Hey, Shelly, good morning. Good morning, Rochelle. Okay, so you've got bowling soon. That's interesting. You bowl on a Thursday morning. I know you're in my time zone, but good for you. Hey, Yochie. Good morning. The first one is to set some realistic goals. Having goals is important, but it's also important to make sure that they're realistic. Kind of going with those affirmations. You want them to be believable. You want your goals to be achievable. You want them to be not so far fetched that they're unattainable. Because if they're unattainable, then you're going to be reinforcing that belief of not being enough or not being adequate or the belief of being inadequate. You want to make sure that your goals are in check, that they are realistic. Let's say smart goals, right? Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. Setting ambitious goals, it can be motivating, but if they're too ambitious, they can lead to burnout, disappointment, and frustration. That's not where we want to go. You want to make sure that you're setting achievable goals that will help you move toward your ultimate goal. Taking small steps is the second one.
[00:07:00]
Speaker 1: Once you've got those goals that are realistic, that are the smart goals, you want to make sure that you are reverse engineering them and taking steps that are achievable. It's like two steps forward. There may be some setbacks along the way, but if your steps are small enough, then you're not back sliding to feeling defeated. You want to make sure that they are small steps that are achievable within a certain amount of time and that they are bite sized manageable steps. Track them, write them down, celebrate your wins, celebrate your successes. Sometimes failures need to be celebrated, especially if you learn from them and you're like, okay, let me do it better. Let me do it differently. Celebrate them because without them, you wouldn't have been able to make that decision to move forward again. We often do not give ourselves credit when credit is due. Be your biggest cheerleader. You want to, like I mentioned, track them, take count of them. Get an accountability partner, hold each other accountable, which I'll talk about in a second. But even if you get a notebook or notebook fever and just write down, tracking your progress towards your goals is important, and it allows you to be more mindful of where you're going.
[00:08:26]
Speaker 1: Keep that in mind of where you're going. Like I said, two steps forward, one step back, it prevents you from having to completely start over. And if you want to stay motivated and focused so that you set those small goals, those small achievable steps and celebrate your wins. Then the third thing is to find a mentor or get support. Having a mentor to give you support and to guide you, it's invaluable. Find someone or a group of people who have achieved what you're striving for and learn from them. Every Thursday, so today after this call, I am going to get on a Zoom call with my business besties. These are women who were all working on our business, we're all at different stages and we're all trying different things, but we hold one another accountable. And that group has proved to be invaluable when it comes to building my business. There's that saying that you are like the five people you surround yourself with or surround yourself with people who are your biggest cheerleaders or want to... I'm a true believer, all ships rise with high tide and building one another up, collaboration over competition.
[00:09:46]
Speaker 1: All of these things are ways to unlock your potential. Surrounding yourself with that support and that guidance, who are going to believe in you until you're able to believe in yourself. They're going to hold that space for you. The key to unlocking your full potential is to have that courage, that dedication, and a willingness to take action. When you start implementing these steps, you're going to be well on your way of living a life that you were meant to live, meant to lead, sorry, or meant to live. Last night I went to a I'll just I guess it's a discussion with other women. There was one guy there, but it was a group that my friend had just started. The conversation was about living in the... It was about time orientation and living in if you're more geared towards or you tend to live more in the past, the present or the future. And we had to, we read some things about it. One of the women who facilitated, she writes blogs and she had led the discussion. And then we had to mark on a continuum, on just a piece of paper, it was like an exercise she led us through about where we are and where do we tend to orient ourselves?
[00:11:18]
Speaker 1: So do we tend to more focus on the past or the present or the future? And while we always hear like, oh, it's best to focus on the present and all this stuff, she was alluding to this fact that at times it's okay to be on that continuum and the pressure of always having to be in the present may be overwhelming. And so it was basically giving us permission and just to reflect on where we are, getting curious about where we are and where we focus our attention. And I brought up the point of depression tends to come from when we're so focused on that past and living in that period of not being able to forgive ourselves or forgive others or holding grudges or living in that area, that piece of regret. And anxiety comes from worrying about the future and the unknown and really catastrophizing and thinking of all of these things that aren't even happening yet. And when we are in the present, we feel most calm and we feel just there, we feel present. And she challenged that. And it was really interesting to hear the different perspectives about that because that was...
[00:12:48]
Speaker 1: Even though I'm a counselor and I treat depression and I've got strategies and tools and all of that ways to help you build your coping skills to deal with depression and anxiety, I find that a lot of times that is where that depression comes from. And I know it isn't caused by chemical imbalance. There's a lot more to it. But lately I have been really focused in the past and really struggling with that, like different decisions I make. And it has brought me to tears many days. I've been putting some posts out about that and everything, but it's been a real struggle lately. So last night, it really got me thinking, one of the women there had talked about how we are where we are supposed to be. And they brought up the multiverse and seeing other paths of life fold out before us and recognizing that we are on our best path. And it just got me thinking of today's live all about unlocking your potential and how you are where you're supposed to be and moving forward, taking that action, living in the moment, I feel is one of the best places to be because then you're not stricken with that regret and you're not worried about the unknown, but really just enjoying the moment and finding joy in your current moment.
[00:14:27]
Speaker 1: And a lot of times as super moms, we tend to I know my mind will go, I'll be playing with my kids on the floor, playing legos, and my mind is thinking of all the things that they need to be. So continually bringing it back to the moment, or I'm thinking of what I did yesterday, and overthinking and playing that in my mind. And that can lead to a lot of feelings. It can lead to anxiety, it can lead to feelings of regret or like, did I do the right thing? Some questioning. I challenge you. I bring that to you and challenge you. I want to know, what are you doing to bring yourself back into that present moment and keeping an eye on the future. Like setting those goals and I always go like the five year plan, where do I want to be next year? I even asked my clients in six months, where do you want to be? How is your life going to be different? Keeping an eye on that, but then bringing it back to the carrot moment and being like, what can I do right now that's going to make me a better person, aka unlock your potential?
[00:15:35]
Speaker 1: What is within your control right now, today, that's going to bring you closer to your fullest potential? I challenge you, let me know in the comments, what are some steps that you're going to take today to unlock your potential?
