We all have our own view and our own measurement of SUCCESS. For some, it is about business, money, and financial freedom; for others, it’s about personal growth, educational achievements and awards.
For many, it’s about family and their children.
For a long time for me, it was about my job – being good at my job. Then I developed my speaking skills, and it was my first speech to an audience. Then when I started my business, it was all about the clients, their success and growing the business. Then I realised I could write, and with each book that followed, I acknowledged I was an author. Looking back, there is so much growth and success I can share.
However, the one thing that I feel was the culmination of all those success stories was when I won a specific award, and that is the story I will share with you.
I had won a couple of awards a few years before this award, and I was so excited because for me, they were third-party credibility for my growth as a mentor and as a business. This award was something different – the nomination came out of the left field. I have to admit when I received notification of the nomination, my first reaction was to dismiss it. This was not an award I could ever aspire to. Those were the negative, imposter syndrome thoughts going around in my head. We all have them at some time, and I can tell you they were really front and centre when I read the nomination and the details of the award.
One of my mantras in my business is I Believe in You Until YOU Believe in Yourself. This was the outcome of a lot of mindset work I did. Before all those success stories, I had no belief in myself, did not believe I had a message and had very little confidence. Oh yes, I did well in my jobs, but I stayed in the background and managed to dodge the spotlight.
My speaking skills gave me the confidence to step up, and as I grew, I started to believe in myself and what I was doing. I know the power of self-belief and how empowering that is to succeed in your life, your career and your business.
My other mantra is 60 seconds of insane courage – take 20 seconds to acknowledge the negative thoughts, 20 seconds to replace them with positive and 20 seconds to say yes, step up and grab opportunities.
So here I was, confident, absolutely believing in myself, ready to grab opportunities, suddenly faced with this award that had thrown me into a loop of negativity and self-doubt. It was an Inspirational Woman Award. I did not believe I was inspirational. I was good at what I did in my business but not inspirational.
I stopped, took a deep breath, remembered my 60 seconds of insane courage, and acknowledged that it was arrogant of me to not accept that someone thought I was inspirational. Who was I to say no to that nomination? I completed the nomination.
I was completely shocked to win that award. What it taught me was to acknowledge that others see you differently to how you see yourself.
YES, I am inspirational! To me, that award is my biggest success.
