In today’s new video, I share a story about what I told a friend when I was first pregnant (almost 20 years ago) with my first child.
We were out for coffee, and of course I told her that we were expecting a baby. And she said, “Do you know what you’re going to name your baby yet?”
And I said, “Yeah, we have a list of three top girls’ names and three top boys’ names.”
And when I told her my top girl’s name, the reaction was not what I expected.
Watch now to hear what happened next, and how I used what I learned then to achieve my biggest dreams and projects in my business and my life today.
She said, “Really? I don’t like that name.”
And I remember sinking…my heart sinking to my stomach, and I thought (but couldn’t say it to her), “This isn’t your baby!”
Of all the names that I could have chosen as my favorite, she said it wasn’t a good name. Now, I just want to say for the record that she’s a lovely person (and she didn’t mean any harm), but I really started thinking about this, and I vowed for our next children that I would never share what we were thinking as a name with anybody else other than my spouse.
And it got me thinking about business, especially if you’re somebody who has big ideas, and you’re surrounded with people who are naysayers, or maybe just insensitive.
I made the commitment a long time ago that I would not share my big dreams with people who weren’t also playing big.
What I know about successful people is they never put down anybody (at least the successful people that I know).
Instead, they encourage them.
When I have taken a big idea to somebody who is not encouraging, I have felt like there was some pushback, and it really affected my confidence in the past.
But now, and for quite some time, I have committed to pretending that my idea of where I want to go is like a premature baby, because:
It needs to be incubated.
It needs to be kept away from forces that are not good for it.
It certainly needs to be kept away from anything that’s dangerous to its growth.
You protect a premature baby from the elements that may be harmful to that baby. And your business ideas are no different!
I ask you today, if you have dreams of something that’s in your professional life, in your career, or personal life, or maybe you want to move someplace and other people would feel threatened or would feel that they would lose you if you did…
I recommend that you do not share it with them until it’s a fait accompli, until it’s a done deal.
Same thing with big business goals. It’s really important to keep that idea in an incubator and not let anybody talk you out of it.
That is my advice for you today based on my past experience, and I hope it helps pave the way to your success.
Sending you lots of love. xo
