One. Single. Belief.

Do you ever have a week where there is a clear theme?  Every conversation, every interaction, every situation has one resonant message.  That was my week.  It came in bits and fragments and pieces.  It showed up as pain, frustration, celebration, and joy.  It raised its hand, nudged me softly at 4 AM, and kicked down the door.  

TRUST.

Trust in positive intent.  Trust in each other.  Trust in the potential of people for goodness.  

Trust in yourself.  

Before the COVID crisis (and this is true whatever your beliefs around healthcare, financial, or human impact) the leaders in business were struggling to effectively show up in an authentic way.  Companies in the US have spent 190 Billion in the last three years on leadership development yet 3 out of 4 leaders believe it has had any impact on their results.  What is worse? The trend on attrition is GREATER than ever before based on confidence in leaders.  Over 30% of people polled don’t believe their leader is capable of having any positive impact on their career or lives.  

The question is now what?  

Post-COVID people have more challenges in their homes and lives than ever before,  Everyone is navigating emotional baggage through a sense of loss, grief, pain.  There is certainly upside to the change...a huge shift toward integration of work and life being a big one.  However, this integration is exactly what leadership is ill-prepared to navigate.  It is the fine line that has always existed that mother nature wiped right off the page.

So, where do we start? 

What if I told you that one simple action could change the entire trajectory of what is next for YOURSELF?  And once you change the trajectory for yourself, you change every interaction, conversation, and relationship.  

Is it easy?  Nope.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely.

Imagine yourself in the following scene.  

You are at a networking mixer.  You are satisfied with your sharpie handiwork on your nametag as you decide on the perfect placement (girls, you know what I mean...what part of your chest do you stick a nametag?).  The bar line is long, the appetizer station line is longer.  You search the crowd for a friendly face and land in the middle of a surface level conversation with a small group.  After a few minutes the small group whittled down to a 1:1 conversation, with someone you have never met.

“Wow!  Your eyes are so brown” says this someone

“Thanks, but my eyes are blue?” says you

“No, I am pretty sure they are brown,” say’s this crazy person

….what next?

Do you get annoyed?  Frustrated?  Walk away?  Ignore?

I would wager to guess most of us would write that person as color blind, off their rocker, or _____fill in the blank.  

What we would not do is waiver in our knowledge that our eyes are the color they have been since birth.  We would not get frustrated and irritated.  We would not escalate in an effort to prove this someone wrong.  

Why?  

If you know something to your core, you don’t have to defend it.  If you trust your knowledge and belief, you hold onto that belief.  At that moment you TRUST yourself.  You have evidence and experience that provides you a core belief that is unwavering.  You just KNOW.

Now place yourself in that same scenario and someone questions your knowledge, ability, experience, or worth.  That same someone diminishes your work or experience.  Do you have the same core belief about your worth?  

If you knew, to your very core, that you are worthy of great things.  That you are smart, unique, creative, and bring something incredibly special to this world...what would change?  The real question is:  What would remain the same?

Trusting yourself requires:

• Honoring your own experience (up, down, sideways and backslides)
• Practice (with no expectation that perfection will ever be attained)
• Giving yourself as much grace as you do those you love
• A ritual (mediation, affirmation, journaling, self-talk) that reinforces the belief in your own awesomeness
• Surrounding yourself and having solid relationships with those that support your belief (which includes challenging you when you are behaving outside of your best self)
• Holding onto the evidence of your strength and letting go of the bullshit telling you that you are not enough.  Yep.  LET THAT SHIT GO.

Start simple

Besides the color of your eyes...what is one of the areas of your life that you are a ROCKSTAR.  You know it.  It is your superpower.  It is the stuff that feels fun, easy, energizing.  It is the work we do first or savor until the end.  It is a theme in your life.  Got it?  Own it.  State it.  Post it.  Yell it from the rooftops.  Take that belief and walk that walk for the next 7 days.  Craft an opening line for the “what do you do” question.  Example:  “I am the best-grilled cheese maker of all time”  or “I have a special gift where I can look at spreadsheets and see every data pattern” or “I hug my kids better than anyone on the planet.”  

Here is the thing, it doesn’t matter what IT is.  The task is to start where you know.  

Here is one thing I know for sure.  Every human on this planet has a special gift.  Every single person is worthy and capable of amazing things.  You are worthy of an amazing life of your own creating.  All you have to do is own it.  The start is trusting one piece of it.  One sliver of your incredible gifts.  

With light and love, know that you are amazing.

I dedicate this post to my coach, @briannamorsa.  Every day, in many ways, she tells each and every person to “know your worth”.  In my own journey this has been my biggest challenge.  One sliver at a time I have taken ownership of that worth.  Today, with her still by my side, I appreciate my gifts and sit in gratitude for the ability to share them with others.  I still work every single day to wrap myself up in the knowledge that I am worthy of this amazing life.  

I believe in you.  You are doing amazing.  Right where you are.  Wherever you are.