How to Own Your Success By BEing Authentically You: Own Your Presence!

In the introduction for How to Own Your Success By BEing Authentically You, I shared there are three parts to it: Own Your Story/Own Your Power/Own Your Presence. The first installment was Own Your Story, and last week’s installment was Own Your Power. Today, we are continuing this path with Own Your Presence.

Presence has been defined as the air of a person or the space immediately around a person. Owning Your Presence is all about IF you show and how you show up in the world…everyday. 

Woody Allen once said, 80% of success is just showing up! And we may say its way more than that…of course it is. But let me ask you this:

•  After you pay that gym membership, what’s the hardest thing after that? Showing up…consistently…don’t look the other way…LOL!
• You have to work on a challenging project, what’s the toughest thing to do? Show up and get started, right?

How do we SHOW UP so our 99-year-old selves warmly smiles, and our 8-year-old selves would gaze up in awe? It begins with knowing who you are. Did you know the most powerful statement that will impact your mindset are the words you choose to complete the sentence: I AM…  

I AM is a statement…I AM is a declaration…I AM carries power! It tells the world how you see yourself and how the world should see/treat/recognize you. 

Whatever follows “I am” starts the creation of it!

I remember for years, saying I AM shy. Mostly because my Mom and brother talk a lot...a lot…did I mention they talk a lot….LOL! So, I wouldn’t talk that much. People would say, “she’s so quiet.”. My Mom would tell people it was because I was shy…so I thought..I was. Later I discovered (20 years ago) I was more of an introvert…I’m not shy! When I’m around a lot of people for an extended period of time, I go inward to get my energy…that’s all.

How you complete the sentence I AM…either creates sink holes of mediocrity or channels of greatness! I invite you to review your I AM statements and rewrite them (examples: I am flexible, I am creative, I am smart, I am curious, I am grateful, I am enough) to support your new way of thinking.

It can be very challenging to Own Your Presence without a tribe/circle/network. People who are in your corner…believe in your vision…and won’t let you in-authentically show up!

There’s a story about an anthropologist proposed a game to children in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the children that whoever got there first won the sweet fruits.

When he told them to run, they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats.

When he asked them why they had run like that when one could have had all the fruits for himself, they said, 'UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?' 'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: 'I am because we are.’

“The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work.” ~ Robert Kiyosaki

So, it is about building your support network…who do you choose to be around and who do you choose to be around you? Got 15 minutes? Let’s take a look at your network. Here are some folks/roles that would benefit your network:

Feedback: they are able to give you feedback…honesty w/o malice (coaches) and non-judgmental and accountability

Insight: they can give you a different perspective…perhaps something you haven’t thought of (mentors)

Resources: Energizers who will help you achieve your goals. (mastermind groups)

Political support and influence: they know how to navigate a system or have some pull

Information: they can offer you ‘insider’ info…” this is coming down the pipe”

Personal support and energy: These are your cheerleaders…they may help you “fly” until you can do it yourself

Now, based on this list of benefits, determine where the gaps are in your current network:

• Where the holes are in your network?
• Where are the redundancies in your network?
• Who are the people you depend on too much?
• Who are the people you should depend on more?

Interesting, right? If you want some other tools to analyze your network, just let me know.

We all heard the saying: You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with?  David Burkus (Friend of a Friend) shares: It’s much bigger than that. You’re the average of ALL the people who surround you…mind-blowing, right?!

So, what will be your 1st step to Own Your Presence?

Our next installment will be Own Your Success wrap-up. The Own Your Success series is included in my next book. I invite you to PRE-ORDER (currently only shared here), Waves of Leadership: Inspiration for the Those Leading from the Middle and be automatically entered to be one of three winners of a premium midnight blue Own Your Success Tumbler!

And, if you think this message will resonate and move a colleague or a loved one, share it! Remember, “inspired action motivates.”

Where were the gaps in your network from the exercise? Share it below in the comments OR if you have a question you’d like thought around…share that too!