Back in February, I wrote an email about setting your life on fire.
“Mindset has been my focus of the last 2 weeks. Rough days, anxiety, and frustration giving way to new routines, sunsets on the beach, and feeling more alive than ever. All it took was a decision to have a different mindset.
Many of us wait to start things. We wait for our next job, our next client, our next step, someone to propose, a parent to pass away, our next vacation, our next kid, a kid to graduate, our retirement, a cancer scare, a near-death experience, or the death of a loved on. We wait for external forces to shift before we do something. But what if we just keep waiting… what happens then?
Making a decision – just one decision – can set us on a new path. And it all starts with mindset. When we come from a place of DECIDING, we take the power away from “when this happens” and light a fire in the present.
With this new mindset, I’ve been setting little fires & walking away from people & things that don’t make my life & work better. If you don’t add, I subtract. I want to live a life of beauty – and it’s my decision whether you fit or not.
When we set fire to our lives, it can hurt a little (or a lot) – but in the long run, we DECIDE that this one beautiful life is more important than hurt feelings or waiting to finally start living.
What fires do YOU need to set?”
That email was like wildfire. I got a lot of responses, but one stood out the most.
“This resonated today! I need to grow the balls to leave my dead-end agency job and make my little part-time private practice my full-time gig. I’m so scared I won’t be able to cut it and have the growth and income I need to support my family. How do I set fire (metaphorically, of course) to a job that drains and destroys me, but provides stability and a consistent income?”
My response was to share my own story:
“You make a decision. One step. Start bringing on side-hustle clients and phase out your main job. Find ways to replace the income. 12 years ago, my boss said “what would you do if I couldn’t pay you anymore?” I said: “I’d work for myself.” He said: “Great. You have 30 days.” Don’t keep it on the side or someone else will make the decision for you. I’m glad he said that or I’d still be working there HOPING I’d make enough in my side-hustle to quit. SET A GOAL AND GO!”
I didn’t hear from her for a month until one day I got this:
“Just wanted to say thank you for this last month. I honestly didn’t even expect a personal reply but what you wrote back resonated so much and it’s sat in my inbox ever since so I could go back and re-read it when needed. I put in my notice at my agency job yesterday and am making the leap!“
THAT is the kind of fire I’m talking about. Burn, baby – BURN!
I’ve been having a lot of these conversations lately – humans who have big dreams, yet can’t see the next step. They decided what they wanted, wrote it down – and then left it in a notebook. No next steps, no plans – just a hand-written dream they look at every year. And slowly – over time – they lose hope. Hope that it will ever happen. Hope that it will ever come true.
They keep slogging away at their corporate job or even the business they built themselves thinking that’s the only way. Their dream sits on a shelf while they find more and more ways to be busy. Watching their children grow up. Getting their next promotion. Wishing they were doing the thing they dreamed about. Worrying about how they’ll be able to support their family. Scared to take the leap.
But why?
That corporate job – the one you want to get out of so you can pursue your dream – could say at any moment “You’re not longer necessary.” Then what?
That business you built – the one you don’t love anymore – could stop bringing in revenue at any moment. Then what?
That dream you have – the one sitting on the shelf collecting dust – could be picked up & developed by someone else at any moment. (Have you read Big Magic yet?) Then what?
12 years ago on April 1, 2009 – in the middle of the market crashing – I started my branding agency. 8 years later, I would walk away to rebuild my brand into being full-time keynote speaker. 3 years later, a pandemic would take away everything I had built.
The pattern? Something lights the fire or I have to do it myself – either way, it’s burning down.
This year, I’ve been focusing on mindset – changing my routines, establishing better habits, and creating space for the life I really want to live. With every shift in my mindset, I’ve seen more growth and awareness.
I’m noticing how much of what I built this past year came from a place of lack when the pandemic swept all of my revenue away. I’m seeing how much speaking on Zoom isn’t my favorite thing, but traveling was never the fun part of speaking anyway. I’m thoroughly enjoying being home most of the time. I’m also seeing just how much being in-person with my clients is my happy place. I’m spending time noticing instead of wishing it away.
As I celebrate 12 years and step into this next year of my business with intentionality, I’ve made a decision to take some time off.
For the month of April, I’m taking a social media sabbatical. For some people, that’s no big deal. Except that I don’t use social media to share the normal everyday. My business has been driven by building your brand via social media – so the daily habit of posting, commenting, and sharing is ingrained in me.
A month off. No posting or checking feeds. No daily creation of content. I’ve even found a guest leader for the Kickass Humans Club! Which means – more creativity, more writing (yes, my book), more real connections with real humans, and more play-time (I do live at the beach). I’m making a decision and seeing what comes up while I enjoy the quiet. The quiet that exists when I don’t have an app to check every 15 minutes.
Like I said in that original post in February: “Making a decision – just one decision – can set us on a new path. And it all starts with mindset. When we come from a place of DECIDING, we take the power away from “when this happens” and light a fire in the present.”
“You are one decision away from an entirely different life.” – Mark Batterson
Take the power away from whatever could happen & light that fire.
So, my obvious next question is: what’s YOUR one decision?
