It was December 26, 2016. The day I decided to start playing bigger in the game of life. The day that I decided to let my light shine and truly own my personal truth.
For years I did well by society’s standards – finished my education and a great career. But deep down inside, I had this yearning and desire to do more in order to be truly fulfilled.
I initially ignored that inner voice. As years wore on, I felt like I was shortchanging myself. Like I had settled, which contradicted what the world told me. After all, I had arrived, hadn’t I? I felt twinges of guilt that I felt like I had settled. It was a vicious cycle.
In December 2016, I didn’t have a personal brand outside of my immediate sphere of influence. No Instagram, Youtube, or Twitter accounts. A dismal LinkedIN and Facebook presence. No website. No blog. No thought leadership articles. Hardly any speaking engagements. I had a very rough draft of a book I had been writing, but no one knew about it. Nor cared.
Truth is, I was scared. And comfortable. And I stayed in this state of purgatory for many, many years. Some of you know exactly what I am talking about.
As an introvert, I reassured my excuses of inaction. “Of course I hid from the world. That’s what us introverts do. Stop introvert shaming me.”
Nothing particularly spectacular happened on December 26, 2016. I just woke up that morning and told myself, “I need to satisfy this inner voice. This calling to do more, to be more. I want to become a thought leader. But how was I going to do that?”
With that question in mind, I was surfing the web looking for an answer and and then I stumbled across this video (worth the 5 minutes!).
At first, nothing happened. And no one cared.
But I kept watching that video and it forced me to do start doing something everyday. I stepped up my efforts with my book. I started writing blog posts. I started putting myself out there and engage more online. I reached out to perfect strangers and asked for help. I networked to curate a like-minded tribe of go-getters, doers, movers, and shakers. I asked questions and I listened. I tried new things. Some things I succeeded, others I failed. But I refined my approach and kept moving.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Results of 2017 as my Year of Momentum
- I launched my blog, www.christielindor.com and created over 35 blog articles across several platforms, with over 1 million combined views.
- I finished my first book, The MECE Muse, which includes thought leadership from over 50 consulting partners and leaders across 27 consulting and professional services firms. A book I took close to 3 years to write, but thought about it for over 15 years. I will officially be a published author in January!
- I applied and completed Seth Godin’s altMBA, a leadership development program for high achievers, which came with a built-in tribe of amazing men and women doing big things all over the world.
- I attended the inaugural PodSummit in Calgary Canada on a whim and 7 weeks later, launched the MECE Muse Unplugged podcast show.
- Within 5 months, the podcast show was syndicated on over 10 media channels,had 30 recorded episodes, 20+ amazing podcast guests, 1000+ subscribers across 58 countries on 6 continents and over 20,000 downloads.
- Had media mentions on 10 podcast shows, 5 local/national/global magazines, and 2 television shows.
- Was appointed to my first non-profit board seat with the YMCA Training, Inc., an amazing workforce development program focused on helping individuals gain competitive entry into the workforce and learn English as a second language.
- Created a host of digital assets such as memes and video clips that are used across the various social media platforms.
- I had the opportunity to meet a number of my celebrity role models in the flesh and have built relationships with 100s of like minded individuals.
- Earned several awards, recognition, and cool projects at work.
- Was offered dozens of unique opportunities and invited to participate in 15 speaking engagements and 2 conferences.
- I created social media presence on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook with over 800 followers across the platforms. My LinkedIn network grew over 120%.
All of this was accomplished in one year – while working a fulltime job and having family responsibilties. Because of one decision. What is amazing is that I didn’t plan for 99% of it!! The only formal goal I had was to finish my book in 2017. In December 2016 I had not heard about the altMBA program nor even knew what podcasting really meant.
Most of my accomplishments unfolded organically over the year. What an amazing ride!
“If you ended up where you planned on being on 12/31, it was [by and large] a lost year. A rich life is about ending up in places you couldn’t have imagined existed on 1/1. Success is all about the surprise.” – Tom Peters (thanks Ryan Jennings)
I am so thankful and grateful for the 100s of people that I met, that I had the privilege of creating an impact for, and those I met that inspired me. I truly lived my truth and everything came into place.
You can have the same – if not better – results than I did. All you have to do is decide today and get started. Below are the guiding principles I used for my year of momentum:
- Decide that you are worth it to create the internal conviction.
- Create new habits to make change stick.
- Become comfortable being uncomfortable.
- Say Yes to things that scare you.
- Be willing to own and walk in your truth. Ignore the stories that you or others around you narrate designed to hold you back.
- Find a tribe of like minded individuals to create a support system. Leverage the power of LinkedIN or Facebook Groups.
- Not seek approval or permission from others. Instead, sought approval from my inner voice.
- Treat your wins with the same value as your lessons learned. When something works, replicate it. When something doesn’t work, refine your approach.
- Have fun knowing that you will not have all of the answers
Having momentum doesn’t always mean everything will be perfect. Nor does it mean that you will have all of the answers. Nor does it mean that everything you do will be a slam dunk.
Momentum means that you will keep moving and making progress by any means necessary.
I have numerous unfinished articles that I started but didn’t finish. I reached out to individuals that never replied back. I recorded dozens of hours for my podcast and trashed them. I have people in my life that questioned my activities and asked why am I doing so much. But I kept moving.
Is 2018 going to be your breakout year? Let me know and I am happy to be one of your momentum cheerleaders. 🙂
Have a wonderful, healthy, prosperous, wise, and fun new year!!