Latest / Impact Ready / 162. Low Visibility

Transcript

162. Low Visibility · Impact Ready

• 0:02
  Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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  your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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  Let's explore the power of showing up with intention and
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  energy each day. This is for those who seek to
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  make life truly meaningful. Get ready for impact.
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  Hey there. Hope you're having an awesome
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  week. This episode is really inspired
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  by a conversation that I've been having a lot recently with
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  people. And it's about not being able to
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  see the path ahead. So people not being able to
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  visualize or see exactly where they're going in their life.
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  We call it the path ahead because it's, it's that, you
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  know, metaphor of the path that we are walking in our lives.
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  And for a lot of people, it can feel foggy.
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  It can feel like visibility is very low, and it's discouraging
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  to so many people when they feel like they don't have clarity
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  about what is ahead of them, where they're going, what
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  they're working for, the path that they're walking.
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  It can be really, really frustrating.
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  I don't know if you've ever been there.
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  I certainly have. There have been periods in my
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  life where I feel like I can't see more than a foot in front of
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  me because the proverbial fog is so dense that I don't have a
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  good sense of what direction I'm going.
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  All I know is that I'm moving in some direction and it's a really
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  uncomfortable feeling. And so for clients, when they're
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  sitting here talking to me, I can see the frustration in their
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  face. I can see the despair in their
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  eyes when they're they're describing.
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  I don't have clarity, I don't have visibility.
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  And part of the coaching process is helping people get there.
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  But I think it's worth a conversation because people feel
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  very alone when they're in this position.
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  And I want you to know that if you are in a place in your life
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  where you are walking your path and it doesn't feel clear, you
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  are not alone. You are not alone.
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  It is a very common thing for people to go through When you go
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  through those times in your life when you can only see a few feet
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  in front of you. And I'm saying the word see in
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  terms of that mental visualization of the path.
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  We talked about the seasonality of so many different things,
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  relationships, work, our physical health, our exercise
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  and nutrition routines, whatever it looks like or whatever realm
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  you're talking about, there are always seasons to it and there
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  will be seasons that are foggy or stormy or low visibility when
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  it comes to your goals or your vision for what you want for
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  yourself. There just will be.
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  And despite it being very uncomfortable and the fact that
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  it can be a little scary, I wanted to pose a question to
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  you. What if it was OK that you
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  couldn't visualize a clear path ahead?
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  What if that was OK? What if it was OK that you just
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  continue to kind of walk forward in the fog?
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  What if that was normal? Because I can tell you one
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  thing. It is common.
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  It is common, and most coaches would argue that it is normal to
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  have those seasons. I mean, how can you be expected
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  to have a clearview of the future all the time?
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  I mean, we, we might have moments of clarity, seasons of
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  clarity, periods of time where everything feels crystal clear
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  and we're just, we're like cracking on our goals and we're
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  feeling really fired up. We definitely have those
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  moments, those periods of times, those seasons where that's true.
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  And that's a good thing. That's when we're in our flow,
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  when we're feeling really confident, where we can really
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  picture ourselves charging forward in our life and moving
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  towards the future that we're hoping for.
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  Those times are great, and if we're lucky, we have a lot of
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  those. But it's very normal and very
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  common to have the periods of time where things feel a little
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  bit foggy. And I think we need to normalize
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  that a little bit more because our expectations of what life is
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  and what it should look like have become a little bit
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  distorted by our current times, by technology, by social media,
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  by all these tools and resources that we have at our fingertips.
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  It creates this false sense that we should have everything
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  figured out all the time. And again, it's really nice when
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  that falls into place, but it's not realistic that it can happen
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  all the time. And here's the problem.
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  What breaks a person? Like, what is the guaranteed
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  loss in this situation? The guaranteed loss, the thing
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  that really has people shortchanging themselves most of
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  the time, is when they let go of their action, they let go of
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  their momentum. They quit on their path because
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  they cannot see the clear vision ahead of them, because they
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  don't have clear visibility, because they feel like they
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  can't see miles ahead. They assume that they're on the
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  wrong path. They assume that they're going
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  in the wrong direction, and that's a problem because so many
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  people end up short, changing themselves, quitting too early,
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  giving up on their dreams, their goals, their vision.
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  In this day and age, we don't want to be operating on false
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  presumptions, on erroneous expectations that everything
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  should be clear and perfect, that we should have the ultimate
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  clarity and a perfect visibility on our path all the time.
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  That's a tragedy to have people quitting on themselves because
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  of these false or distorted expectations.
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  We can acknowledge stopping and quitting is different than
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  resting or pausing. If you need to take some time,
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  weeks, days, months, whatever you need to get clarity on what
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  it is that you actually care about or what direction you want
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  to be going, or maybe you just need to recalibrate a little
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  bit. That's different than throwing
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  in the towel and letting go and quitting.
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  And I know you know the distinction.
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  I certainly know the difference in my own self, my own body, the
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  difference between wanting to quit and throw in the towel
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  because I'm frustrated, because I can't see, because I'm lacking
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  visibility. I understand that feeling versus
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  the feeling of, OK, let's rest, let's pause, let's take a deep
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  breath, and then let's solve the problem and start moving again.
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  Those are two different feelings.
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  And I want you to ask yourself, if I'm feeling this lack of
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  clarity in my life, where am I? Am I in a place where I feel
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  like I'm going to stop or quit? Or am I genuinely needing to
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  rest and pause and recalibrate? Or am I continuing to take the
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  action I need to take? What many people do is throw in
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  the towel. And you know, most ideas or
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  paths will start from a place of clarity.
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  That's usually what happens for people.
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  They get a hit of inspiration. They have a very clear vision
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  for where they want to go and they get really excited about
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  it. But on any path, there's
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  ultimately going to be rain or fog or storms, something that's
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  going to distort your ability to see that that clear path ahead.
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  And during those times, people so often quit.
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  They'll quit during the first couple of storms because it gets
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  hard. And they have that illusion that
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  there should be perfect visibility if they're on the
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  quote UN quote right path, chasing the right goal.
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  People feel like everything should work out exactly as I
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  want it to. I should be able to see clearly
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  if I'm on the right path chasing the right goal.
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  And again, that illusion is fed by social media in comparison
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  and algorithms that touch almost every person's life these days.
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  But if you talk to any high performer, if you talk to any
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  person who's been in the arena for any length of time, if
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  you've talked to anybody who has built something in their life,
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  or I mean, for God's sakes, any person who's just lived life for
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  a good length of time, they will all tell you about a season of
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  their life when their path felt unclear.
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  So what's the message here? The message is that you will not
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  always have perfect vision. You will not always be able to
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  see the path clearly, but you can have focus, you can take
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  inspired action, you can move forward despite the fogginess.
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  You know, we, we really avoid getting focused, I think because
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  people are afraid that they're going to get focused on the
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  wrong thing or they're afraid that they're going to be walking
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  the wrong path or climbing the wrong mountain, so to speak.
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  But if you're doing something with intention, if you're
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  showing up from a place of wanting to make a difference or
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  serve or have impact, or maybe you're wanting to create
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  something in your life, my experience is that the path
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  takes you to where you need to go.
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  And just because you can't see it all laid out for you doesn't
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  mean that you're on the wrong path.
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  We just have to acknowledge that we have a bit of a limited
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  worldview because we can only see from our own perspective.
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  We have to acknowledge that we have an inability to see the
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  grander picture. We don't have the privilege of
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  seeing that as humans, we'll never see it all.
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  And we have to release some of our unrealistic expectations and
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  timelines that we have, especially ones that are driven
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  by the saboteur voices in our heads that say to us, oh, I
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  should be further along by now, or I should have figured this
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  stuff out by now, or I really should be able to see the
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  vision. And I'm really frustrated that I
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  can't see it. Those are all saboteur voices
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  that are stealing our power. They distract us from the main
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  goal, which is to keep going, to stay in motion, to keep taking
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  those next steps. And so I want to pose these
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  questions. What if every path that you've
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  walked on so far was meant for you?
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  What if you haven't taken any wrong paths?
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  What if you are in the middle of stepping stones that take you to
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  a place that you've been wanting to go?
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  What if the next actions that you take help you progress even
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  further on that right path to the big goal?
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  All of these questions make me think about things differently.
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  They shift my perspective a little bit in terms of the
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  struggles that I'm experiencing in my day-to-day with my own
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  path. We assume that if we can't see
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  the future clearly, if we can't see all the outcomes or all the
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  timelines, we assume we're on the wrong path at the wrong
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  time, chasing the wrong goal. But it's just as likely to be
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  true that we're on the exact right path at the exact right
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  time, and that the next steps will get us closer to where we
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  want to be. The shame would be stopping mid
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  stepping stone. The shame would be quitting or
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  throwing in the towel. And again, the reality is that
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  we don't get to see the grand plan with all the paths marked
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  out. That's just not a thing that we
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  get to do as humans. But we can lean into trusting
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  ourselves more. We can take inspired action.
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  We can keep doing the next right thing for us, for our life.
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  If you happen to feel like you can't see the path ahead, First
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  off, no, you are not alone. So many of us have been there.
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  I have been there. I'm sure your spouse has been
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  there. Maybe your best friend, your
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  parents, your sibling. I guarantee if you start asking
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  around, your closest people have been feeling the way that you
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  might be feeling now. And secondly, if you were in
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  that place where the future feels unclear or the path has
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  low visibility, don't stop moving forward.
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  You might feel like you have to take some turns or even
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  backtrack a little bit, but don't stop taking action in your
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  life. Don't throw in the towel, don't
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  check out, don't detach and dissociate and numb with Netflix
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  and social media and other things.
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  Don't let go of the creation part of your life.
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  Keep taking action. Keep pursuing the feelings that
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  you want to feel in your life because quitting that would be
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  the real tragedy. To find yourself halfway across
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  your stepping stones to your dreams or your goals, whatever
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  they might be, and not even realize that you'd given up on
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  something just before that life changing step happened, that
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  would be the tragedy. So remember, in this next week,
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  it's not just a vision that gets you what you want.
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  It's not just seeing a clear path ahead that gets you what
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  you want. It's the action that you take
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  along the way, and that's something that you always have
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  control over. That's something that is always
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  within your power and your own agency, even if the path is
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  unclear. So this week, I'm encouraging
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  you. I'm cheering you on.
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  And I hope that you feel like you could get into action today
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  on something that feels important to you because I
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  guarantee you're closer than you think to some of the things that
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  you really want in your life. I appreciate you being here.
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  Hope you have an amazing week. Thank you for listening and
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  thank you for being ready to Impact.
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  Thanks for listening to Impact Ready.
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  I hope today's episode inspired you to own your impact and
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  recognize that you are powerful. By elevating our energy and
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  awareness, we can create exponential change in this life.
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  If you enjoyed today's insights, share them with a friend and
• 13:21
  subscribe to the show for more. I truly appreciate you.
• 13:24
  Thanks again for being here.