Q : What happens when you have yet another average day at work and have just missed the bus so have a wait before heading home?
A : You while away some time listening to your favourite podcast. Little did I realise the impact that 45 minutes of listening that day would have on my next chapter.
This was a few years back now and as a result, I took the bold move to step away from the nursing career I’d been in for almost two decades. It wasn’t literally an overnight decision, as that would have been spontaneous and a tad left field. I’d actually been working away steadily on the idea of a pivot in the background for some time, studying several qualifications alongside working and weekly reading of research articles, industry blogs, posts, podcasts and books….
In spite of all of this I was still experiencing a block and a desire to stay in the comfort zone (a bit like a warm bed when the alarm goes off so early on a dark Winter’s morning). However convenient I felt it was, it was no longer serving me. I didn’t feel I was giving value or in turn felt valued and I knew something had to change. How and when? I was stuck.
Mel Robbins (and Amy Porterfield) made me do it!
In this one particular podcast episode featuring a guest Amy Porterfield, Mel explained the common mistaking of confidence for courage and people can often find themselves endlessly waiting…for confidence to come along and knock on their door. Hearing both women talking about this the penny dropped loudly for me. Or as a good business friend recently said, a whole bag of pennies dropped – love this!
So accurate!
There I was naively waiting for a wave of confidence to wash over me, which presumably would subsequently empower me to boldly feel ready to take action? No idea! In spite of the waiting, it just wasn’t coming. Instead with each month of inaction I felt more deflated and further and further away from my goals…getting colder and colder feet.
That was without this key insight. Quickly after I set to work on putting the wheels in motion instead of just thinking about it.
I was so moved by the shift in my mindset, I even reached out to Mel herself and heard back from one of her lovely team. The impact that I now feel working with women to support them to feel good about money and finance is what fuels my purpose and drives me to do keep showing up and do better every day. Now more than four years on, I couldn’t be more pleased. I gingerly and to be honest pretty cluelessly stepped into courage to see what was waiting there for me on the other side.
The confidence continues to build, I’m always learning, there will always be firsts.
The work I do on a daily basis to understand and develop myself, my clients and their challenges keeps me moving forwards. The learning never stops and it never will.
When it comes to money and working on their finances the women I work with are no different. Often for many money and finance is not hugely uplifting nor motivational. Common thoughts of tackling it all ‘someday’, Janet Daily puts it well :
‘Someday is not a day of the week’.
The desire to grab the bull by the horns and get on top of our money and mindset won’t just come knocking on the door one day along with its pal confidence. Just like me, dreaming of some sort of ‘someday’ moment where I hoped that things would finally just somehow click into place and spur me to take action on the change I was craving.
With finances you might even realise when you knuckle down to it, much like an overdue trip to the dentist (see my previous blog on that here) it’s not actually that bad. You may even find there are bits you come to enjoy. I see from clients time and time again, when it comes to knowing your numbers and improving your mindset, action beats inaction every day of the week. The sense of accomplishment you feel is the reward for taking a step forwards and facing whatever aspect you have been avoiding and it is HUGE.
Something to think about :
What can you do to this week to step forwards with courage even if you don’t feel confident (yet)?
As always I love hearing from you and how these blogs resonate. If you’d like to share your experiences I’d love to hear about them.
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