Aspire to Inspire

A couple of weeks ago I attended a conference put on by the Sacramento Area Human Resources Association (SAHRA). The title of this blog was the theme of the conference and boy was it inspirational! The keynote speaker was a Filipino woman named Sonia Aranza. It's funny that I feel this sort of connection to Filipino people now even though JB is only half Filipino. I obviously had to text him immediately after she mentioned her place of origin.

Sonia opened the conference with a presentation about self-leadership. Whether it was the hormone cycle, or the way in which her words reached me, I found myself fighting back tears several times during the hour she was speaking. I took some notes from the presentation and thought I would share them with everyone here so you can take something from them as well.

Confront your self-limiting beliefs

These can be physical, emotional, spiritual, or educational, but they all have one thing in common; you are letting them hold you back from your full potential.

After elaborating on this, she gave each of us a couple of minutes to pair up with someone near us that we did not know and share (within our comfort level) one self-limiting belief. I shared that in my organization, the majority of management are middle-aged white males, and I think being a woman in my (late) twenties keeps me from realizing my full potential here. I am overcome by self limiting beliefs that they don't think I am capable or they don't take me seroiusly, so I avoid interacting with them until absolutely necessary. They only find out how capable I am when they have to come to me with an issue. Whether or not this is really the case, in my head it is very true and I need to work past that.

She mentioned that fear can be an acronym for two things:

Face Everything And Run
or
Face Everything And Recover

The first one delays progress and compounds the work you need to do. Progress moves at the speed you choose, so choose to recover instead of run.

Then she quoted the Harvard Busines Review by saying that our habits of thinking are the greatest predictor of our success.

Create Your Own Luck!

I have been saying this since I left the conference. JB said something once that really stuck with me, "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." He has been very good about aligning himself with the right people to get his career headed down the path he wants it to go, preparing himself to take advantage of the opportunities that may arise. Some notes from Sonia:

• The harder you work, the luckier you get
• There is nothing you can change except YOU
• Those who are successful pursue their success
• We teach people how to treat us
• Success moves at the speed of relationships

Now, maybe you know some people who just sat around the house and didn't bother to put any work into bettering themselves that got this amazing opportunity one day and became crazy successful, but I don't. The people I know that are successful have pursued it. Making contacts, taking classes, pursuing interests, building relationships. Success isn't like a Jehovah's Witness. It doesn't just come around knocking on your door while you are sitting there in your underwear in front of the computer or the television eating cold pizza for breakfast and ask you to enjoy it's wonderfulness. Get your ass up and create your own luck!

Again, after elaborating, she gave us a couple of minutes with a different person to share (within our comfort level) one thing we would do to create our own luck, whether it be personal or professional. This came at an appropriate time as just the day before I had called and made an appointment to start seeing a counselor (therapist, whatever). No matter what anyone says, I know there is a better me in there and I know there are things that I can work on to make me better for my significant other, my friends and family, and myself. Even possibly a future child. Did it feel weird sharing this with a total stranger? Kind of. But comfort zones don't really get us very far.

Be Intentional!

You are more substantial than you know. Every action, word, decision - no matter how small - impacts someone else. Be intentional in those actions and decisions because they are more important than you think. Steer the canoe in the direction you want it to go, don't just let it toss about in the waves.

Those were the three points she touched on and then she closed with this:

Our Deepest Fear
By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

Word to your mother.