Most little kids want to be fire fighters, veterinarians, teachers, etc. when they grow up. Not me. I wanted to help people live their best lives. I was young, unafraid and saw the world as my oyster. Ok – and maybe I was a little weird!
As some of you already know, I fell into the trap of being “practical” as I got older. I put my dream on the backburner. I also stopped talking about that dream while I pursued my “real career.”
So, what changed? What got me to actually consider that life-changing leap of faith, out of corporate leadership and a 20-year career to start my own executive and leadership coaching practice helping people live their best lives (aka: the thing I dreamed about as a kid)?
I started to TELL people about my dream.
My clients are like me. Maybe they’re not jumping out of one career into another, but they’re doing new and scary things that they never thought possible. One of the aspects of change we often discuss is who to tell. Who do they want “in” on their dreams? Some clients are very private. Some want to shout it to the world.
One thing that’s certain is this: to speak a goal aloud or to write a goal down means to take it from a cerebral and ethereal place to one that’s tangible. When it becomes tangible is when it becomes real and gets legs and momentum builds.
In my case, I shared my dream with a select few people that I knew would be my champions and cheerleaders. I told them that I was in the process of an intense coach certification program, while building a business, while still leading a business in my 9-5 (which was more like 7-11), while mom-ing and wife-ing, while fighting my inner demons telling me I was insane for leaving the golden handcuffs to pursue a childhood dream.
Some people welcome naysayers. For me, I already had plenty of inner critic chatter in my own head. A few people raised some good questions for me to consider, but otherwise, they were my inner circle of personal supporters. They provided a playground for me to frolic in the excitement of my dreams becoming reality.
But everyone is different.
So, to tell or not to tell? I knew what I needed during my big transformation. I knew that to share my journey outside of my select few, I had to be 100% certain that NOTHING was going to deter me from going after what I wanted. I needed complete conviction, and to be the biggest believer in the purpose behind my choice.
Then… I was ready to shout it from the rooftops. Nothing was going to stop me.
Do you have something major you’re considering but don’t know who to share it with? Here are a few things to consider:
- How ready am I to share?
- How committed am I to this choice, regardless of what others think?
- If I don’t hear what I want, how might that impact me?
- Why am I sharing with this specific person? Does their opinion matter to me?