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Don't Wait Until you Are Ready · Revolution of Purpose Podcast

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  What if the confidence that you're waiting for is waiting on
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  you to take the first step? Today we're talking about how to move
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  forward into your dream when the desire is there,
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  but you just don't feel ready yet. Welcome to the Revolution of Purpose Podcast.
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  I'm your host, John Streit, and each week we bring you conversations with
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  thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals who have aligned their
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  life with purpose and created extraordinary results. So I'm
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  gonna live through it and accept it radically. With grace and hope
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  and love. I mean, I would be proud to be in this council. It was
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  an honor. I had so much fun. Tune in every Monday for the Revolution of
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  Purpose solo show and every Thursday for Revolution of Purpose
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  Conversations. Welcome back to the Revolution of Purpose podcast.
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  I'm John Streit, and I am so glad you're here. Let me start with a
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  question. What is something that you want to do that you keep telling
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  yourself you're just not quite ready for? Maybe it's starting
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  a business or stepping into a new career. Maybe it's sharing your
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  message, writing a book, or finally pursuing a dream that you've carried with
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  you for years. You can see yourself doing it. You think
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  about what your life would look like. You might even talk about it with the
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  people that are closest to you. But when it comes to taking
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  that first step, something happens. You start overthinking it.
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  You think about all the things that could go wrong, all the things
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  that you don't know yet. You wonder what people will think about you and
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  What if you make a mistake and then you just tell yourself, you know what,
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  I'm going to do it one day, but I'm going to do it when I'm
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  more confident. You know, that sounds reasonable. And how will that confidence
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  develop if you never give yourself the opportunity to practice?
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  Today, I want to help you recognize where preparation is serving
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  you, where fear is keeping you stuck,
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  and how to take a meaningful step toward the person you want
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  to become. When I first started creating content with a positive,
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  encouraging message, I did not feel ready. I remember going down
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  to the dock behind our house, and I was going to film the Words
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  for the Lake message. I got myself psyched up.
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  I was wearing the shirt I wanted to wear. I had my camera and everything.
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  And I go and I, I set up my tripod. And then I
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  hit record. And then I just blanked. I couldn't think about what
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  I wanted to say. And I, I was like, what am I going to do?
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  What am I going to tell people? And I had it in my heart,
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  but it wasn't quite in my head yet. So then I came in,
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  I wrote a script, I went back down, I started rehearsing the script, started memorizing
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  it, and, and I started talking into the camera. And I
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  just started to feel really vulnerable. There is a vulnerability in
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  looking into a camera and deciding that other people are going to
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  hear your voice and see your face. I knew that I wanted
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  to encourage people, I knew that I had something I wanted to share. But having
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  a message and being comfortable putting yourself out there, are 2
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  very different experiences. And there was a moment
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  where I thought, you know what, maybe I'm just not ready yet.
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  Maybe I should just wait. Maybe I should take some lessons on speaking
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  to a camera. You know, how do these influencers do it?
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  You know, I was at the time 47, about to be 48 years old,
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  and I was just like, I'm too old to be doing this. What are people
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  gonna think? Do I have the right look for this? And then I just
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  decided, You know what? Go for it.
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  I mean, we only have one chance at this life that we know
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  of, so go for it. And so that decision,
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  it mattered to me at the time, and it represented something much
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  bigger than just filming a video on a dock behind my house.
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  I gave myself permission to actually begin. Think about
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  your own dream for a moment. What would giving yourself permission
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  to live your dream actually look like. It might be much smaller
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  than you've been imagining. The size of the dream can make the beginning feel
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  intimidating, but bring your attention back to the step that you
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  can actually take today. Sometimes, I'm not ready is
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  a useful observation. It can tell you that there's something
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  that you need to do to learn or prepare. But sometimes
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  it becomes a habit, a familiar answer that lets you
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  postpone the discomfort of actually trying. And here's a question
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  I want you to ask yourself. What would being ready actually
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  look like? Be specific. If your answer is, I need to learn
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  how to prepare a business budget, then that gives you something to work on.
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  If your answer is, I need to understand the requirements
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  for this career I'm interested in, then that is useful information and
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  you can find that out. But if your answer is, I need to know that
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  I won't fail, then you're asking preparation to give you a guarantee
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  that preparation cannot provide. If your answer is, I need everyone
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  to approve, then you've put your future in the hands of people whose opinions
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  you cannot control. You can prepare thoroughly. You can ask
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  questions. You can develop skills and get support. But at some point
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  you have to take the first step. You have to
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  participate. You cannot steer a parked car.
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  You have to let what you've been learning become something through
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  you, actually something that you do, an action that you take.
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  And that is where your dream starts moving out of your imagination and into
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  your life. A big part of all of this is how you see
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  yourself. It's, it's tied to your identity. You may want to build a business
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  while still seeing yourself as someone who could never run a business. You may want
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  to speak while seeing yourself as someone who has nothing valuable
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  to say. That creates this internal struggle.
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  Your desire is pointing towards something new while your self-image
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  keeps pulling you toward what is familiar. One way to begin changing
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  that is to practice the behavior of the person that you are becoming.
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  Ask yourself, if I believed that I was capable of growing into
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  this, what would I do next? Notice the word.
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  I intentionally said growing. You're growing into this.
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  You don't have to pretend that you already know everything. You can
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  acknowledge where you are and still see yourself as someone who can learn,
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  as someone who is living from the wish fulfilled. A person
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  who sees themself as a business owner begins making decisions from
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  that identity, including having a conversation with potential
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  customers before they have everything figured out.
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  Confidence has more to work with when you give it experience.
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  Recently, I was working with a coaching client who's in the real estate
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  industry, and we were talking about a real estate listing presentation.
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  We practiced having a conversation about him listing a $3 million home.
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  And at first, those numbers seemed overwhelming and uncomfortable for
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  him. There can be a big difference between saying you want
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  to work at that level and then actually hearing yourself saying the words
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  $3 million and talking about it out loud.
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  So we roleplayed this listing presentation. I gave him
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  a chance to practice the conversation, to, to hear the numbers, to speak
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  about the opportunity, to speak about the amenities of a home at
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  that price point, to experience himself in that situation.
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  And as we continued, he became more comfortable. He began
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  realizing that he really could have that conversation.
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  That didn't mean that he suddenly knew the answer to every possible question I threw
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  at him. It just meant that something within him that felt
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  intimidated before began to shift. And all of a sudden, he began
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  awakening to the possibility that he could be this person that
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  would have a $3 million listing. You don't have to make your first attempt in
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  the high-pressure situation. You can rehearse the presentation.
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  You can practice the conversation with someone you trust.
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  You can record a video and watch it before sharing it.
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  That conversation you could practice this week.
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  Please pardon this interruption to your podcast episode. This will not take but a minute.
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  Before we continue, I want to ask you something. Do you know
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  that you're capable of more, but your life right now just isn't fully reflecting
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  the person you know you can become? Then I want to personally invite
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  you to schedule a Shift Mindset call with me. This Shift Mindset
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  experience is something that I created to help you identify one decision
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  that you can make that will shift your life. And when I say that this
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  is a call with me, I mean exactly that. This is a live
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  one-on-one personal call between you
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  and I. This is not prerecorded. This is not a member of my team.
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  It is you and I having a real coaching conversation about your life,
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  and it does not cost you any money. It is a 45-minute It's a
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  45-minute exchange of time. I'll give you 30 minutes of my best mindset coaching to
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  help you identify a decision that will create a real shift in your life.
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  And in exchange, I just ask that you give me about 15 minutes to show
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  you the coaching experiences that I offer. There's no obligation,
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  but there is an opportunity to create a meaningful shift in your
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  life just from this call. You can schedule yours today at
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  johnstreet.org. Just click on the button that says schedule your shift
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  call. And also, if this podcast is helping you, please subscribe.
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  Please like and please share it. Every time you do that, every time
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  you engage, you are helping to spread this message and inspire
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  someone else to create their best life through also
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  living their own revolution of purpose. Now let's get you back to
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  the Revolution of Purpose podcast. Think about it. What is something that you've been longing
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  to do? And I want you to literally start rehearsing that
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  conversation in your mind with someone you trust, this week.
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  Make it sound normal to yourself to talk about
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  these big dreams as though they are definitely coming to pass and
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  as though you are the person who is creating them. Now, I want to
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  make an important distinction here. There is a difference between healthy
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  caution and fear that keeps you stuck. Healthy caution helps
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  you consider what a decision requires. It asks you what you
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  need to understand, what responsibilities you'll need to take on, what education
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  you need, what resources you need. And those answers are important. They help you build
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  a plan. If you want to become a real estate agent, you have to get
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  your real estate license. If you want to become an attorney, you have to go
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  to school. Like, there are some things you don't just become without any planning.
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  You have to do some planning ahead of time. But it's
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  when you start to overthink those actions that they, they keep you from
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  even taking a step toward that direction. You have to see yourself
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  as someone who can become that realtor, who can become that agent, who can become
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  that attorney, that can become that architect, become that doctor, Whatever it
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  is that you're longing to be, stop thinking about it and take the
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  steps of preparation that will get you there. Fear keeps you stuck,
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  and it tends to give you a verdict about yourself.
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  It tells you who you think you are. Maybe you could never do
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  that, or you would embarrass yourself. But healthy caution gives
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  you something specific to address, a specific plan of action.
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  Those judgments can shut the whole thing down before you've even explored
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  it. When you feel resistance, listen closely to what you're telling yourself.
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  Is there a specific concern that you can address, or are you repeating
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  just an old limiting belief about what you've allowed yourself
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  to accomplish in the past or who you've thought you were? You can respect
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  your responsibilities while still talking about your dreams and taking
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  them seriously. And you can feel nervous about a step
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  that is thoughtful, appropriate, and aligned, with what matters
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  to you. Nervousness alone does not mean that you're doing the wrong thing.
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  That is not how you judge whether the step is right or wrong.
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  Give yourself time to examine it. Listen to that quiet
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  voice inside and make sure, is this aligned? Is this
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  getting me to my goal? This is something that I continue practicing myself.
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  If I catch myself with a limiting belief, I work on immediately cutting
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  it off. On reframing it and deciding how to move through that
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  fear. There is a terror barrier. Every time we make a decision,
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  we make it twice. The first time when we make the decision, but the second
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  time when we bust through that fear, that terror barrier,
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  and we actually put our action behind it. The key is catching
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  when it is a limiting belief, catching when it's fear, catching when it's our
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  old paradigm of thinking, telling us again why we cannot accomplish
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  something. Sometimes we are just so familiar with a thought and
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  an identity that we treat it as fact.
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  You know, I'm not good at that, or I could never do what they do,
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  or I'm not as good as they are. I've waited too long. I'm too old.
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  Pause and ask yourself, what am I assuming here with that line of
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  thinking? And then find a more useful, honest way
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  to look at it. Reframe it. Instead of I'm not good at that, that could
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  become I haven't developed that skill yet, but that doesn't mean I'm not that person.
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  How can I practice? How can I develop it? Instead of saying, I can never
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  do that, you can say, what would I need to learn to give myself this
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  opportunity? That gives you somewhere to go. And then give that
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  new perspective an action. Ask for help with the skills you need
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  to develop. Set aside time to work on the things that you've been avoiding.
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  This reframe, it opens the door. The action
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  lets you walk through it. This is an ongoing practice. New goals can
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  bring up new fears. I keep returning to the same question, though.
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  What can I do with this belief that helps me move
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  forward toward my goal-achieved life? One reason we put
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  so much pressure on the beginning is that we expect it to prove what the
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  ending will look like. Like, we want our entire future to just unveil
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  before us when we stop, and we want to be amazing at everything
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  right when we start doing it. We want that first video to prove that
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  we have a message that people need, and it'll go viral, and millions of people
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  will cheerish on and validate our goals.
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  We want the first business conversation to prove to us that the business will
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  actually succeed. But my friends, that is a lot of demand to put on
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  a first attempt at anything. Let the next step have a
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  reasonable job. A conversation can help you learn what
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  someone needs. A practice session can show you where to improve. A first
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  draft can give you something to start to develop. When you allow yourself
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  to learn, an imperfect result becomes useful information.
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  You can take responsibility, make adjustments, and try again
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  without turning every outcome into a judgment about your worth.
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  Your dream deserves your effort, and you deserve
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  the room to develop that dream. So here's my challenge for you
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  today. Think of one business goal or major life
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  decision or dream that you have been waiting for, but you just
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  kind of keep putting it off. Just one. Now write down the sentence that you've
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  been using to postpone it. You know, like, I'll start when,
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  or if only I weren't too old, or if only
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  I had this amount saved. What comes after those words?
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  Look at your answer and is it a practical requirement that
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  you can work toward, or is it a feeling or guarantee that you've just been
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  waiting for to prove out your idea? Then choose one
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  concrete step that you can take within the next 24 hours.
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  Make it specific enough that you'll know whether you did it. Send the message,
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  schedule the conversation, record the practice video, write the
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  first page, research the requirement that you need to understand,
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  and choose when you will do it. Give your dream a place in
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  your day, in your calendar. When you finish,
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  take a moment to recognize what you did and what you've learned.
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  Let yourself register the experience and then follow
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  through. If you know that there's something that you want to pursue, but it's limiting
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  beliefs that keep getting in the way, I would love to connect
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  with you. That is literally what I do for a living is help people identify
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  and dismantle limiting beliefs. You can visit my website at johnstreet.org.
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  And you'll find there an opportunity to, to book a
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  shift coaching call with me. On that call, I will help you identify
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  one decision that you can make that will cause a gigantic shift
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  in your life. We can explore what you want, what's holding
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  you back, your purpose, a next step that makes sense for you,
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  any dreams you've been dreaming about. And as we close,
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  I want to remember my first Words from the Lake message. I just wanted to
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  encourage people, and I didn't feel ready, but I decided to begin.
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  That was 2 years ago. It ended up leading me to a worldwide coaching
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  career, to worldwide stages to speak, to a book
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  that I've written, to the podcast that you're watching or listening to today.
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  Wherever you are today, you can give yourself that same permission
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  to begin. Your dream deserves a place in your life,
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  even while you're still learning. Thank you so much for watching
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  this episode of the Revolution of Purpose podcast. So glad you tuned in. And until
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  next time, remember, keep living your personal
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  revolution of purpose. Thank you so much for spending this time with
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  me today. If this episode encouraged you, if it challenged you,
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  or if it helped you see your life a little bit differently, would you do
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  me a favor? Subscribe to the podcast, leave a rating or review,
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  and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
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  Every share helps us reach more people who are searching for hope,
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  purpose, and a life of greater meaning. And if you're ready
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  to stop wondering what's next and start living with greater clarity and purpose in
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  your own life, I would love to meet with you personally.
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  Visit johnstreet.org right now to schedule your complimentary
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  live Purpose and Clarity call with me.
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  Until next time, remember, your purpose is not something you find.
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  It is something you awaken to, and then you choose to live
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  it. Go make today another step in your own revolution of purpose.