Hey Confident Lady!
This week we are talking "Confidently Showing Up as a Leader". Today I want to leave you with a few questions:
// Do I feel clear AND confident with what I do and who I serve?
// Do I feel confident in the message I put out there?
// What am I REALLY good at aka my Zone of Genius. Do I lead ONLY with this?
// Am I visible, despite the uncomfortable feelings that may arise with putting myself out there?
// If not, would I feel more confident putting myself out there if it felt more aligned to who I am and what I really WANT to do?
Think about where you are at in your messaging and visibly presenting your message to your audience. Make sure that you feel aligned with it, because when ARE, you will feel more confident presenting it and showing up as a leader in this area. Challenge yourself and ask yourself today, how much effort have you put into getting visible, leading, and sharing your message.
To dive deeper, I'd like to share a few tips that I teach the ladies I work with. Here is what I would ask:
1. Envision what a leader looks like to you.
2. Begin to think about what you would look like as a leader. How would you lead? How would you handle situations? How would you present yourself? How would you speak to people? What business activities would you engage in?
3. Now this is the hard one….get ready to get super uncomfortable.
4. You are now going to show up as that leader TODAY. In this moment. Exactly where you are. Even though you don’t yet feel qualified, it will be EASIER to start today than to wait.
5. Start by taking baby steps. This ties in with our monthly focus topic on getting Visible. And in order to get visible, you HAVE to do the inner work. Challenging limiting beliefs, false stories, fears, insecurities and building up that confidence.
It doesn’t and CAN’T happen overnight. You’ve got to do the INNER WORK. Dig deep, see what’s holding you back from showing up 100% authentically as YOU. Below I will share a personal story of how I have been positioning myself as a leader the last 10 years.
Before I do, think about what step will you take to get yourself on a path to feeling super confident AND VISIBLE with showing up as a Leader?
Okay.. Now here it goes.
If you know my whole story, I have shared in the past I have been in recovery from a lifelong eating disorder since 2009. Was completely healed. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean I feel super confident all the time. It just means I no longer live my life as a prisoner to food, weight, and body image. I eat what I want, wear yoga pants pretty much all the time, rarely wear makeup and am now in love with my BIG pregnant tummy! COMPLETE opposite of past self. When confidence is WITHIN, those things no longer matter.
Even when I was in the midst of my struggle (around 20 y/o) I figured something out…….”fake it til you believe it”. Or as Amy Cuddy now says, “fake it til you BECOME it”. I did this to get into a prestigious internship at Yale University at the age of 21, to get into Columbia University for grad school at 22, as well as other special programs, internships, and later jobs. When I wanted to be promoted to supervisor, I would at that moment begin acting and making decisions just like I would if I were in that position. Now, this isn’t me being a fraud or pretending--what this is, is me showing up as the BEST VERSION of myself that I could see in the future, paving my way there, pushing aside the crap and feelings that would come up along the way.
How we perceive our future self is something that is attainable and I like to believe what is truly hiding under all of those layers. I was scared out of my mind when I even created this group. I can still remember “not feeling qualified enough to lead”. But deep down I knew I WANTED to lead. I knew I WAS qualified in many ways, but fear held me back. Well, I decided to kick that fear with full force and ended up creating it. And thank goodness I did because we now have 1700+ beautiful women in this community there to support one another! Today when things scare me in my current business, I literally dive right into them, attack the fear, and pave the way for the next.
Always show up a few steps ahead of where you are now. Many people are shocked when I tell them I launched this business just a year ago, assuming it’s been much longer. But that is what potential looks like WITHOUT boundaries. Diving in, exposing your vulnerabilities, peeling away all those layers of fear, limiting beliefs, insecurities, false stories, and showing up 100% unapologetically as YOU.
Are you in a mindset of showing up confidently as your future self leader today or are you hiding behind the screen fearful of stepping out??
What are your thoughts on these tips? Do any really hit home with you or confirm something you've been feeling for some time? I’d love to hear your feedback and even experience with this. Please share below in the comments. If you'd like even more support in your business, let's hop on a Discovery Call to talk about how I can help you meet your goals through some mindset coaching. Simply fill out this app and we will get your call in the books!
XO Kate