A tale of truth for you today about White Walls.
I just didn’t have it in me….
Like many people in Australia, with half of the country locked down, I have found it tough this year. I thought 2020 was tough… HA! Hello 2021…
Let me preface this with I know that there are other people out there who have it tough. Who are experiencing hardships different and worse than I am… but that doesn’t take away from each of our experiences. Kay?
As you all know if you’re following me for any length of time, I am a huge advocate for being yourself. For doing you. For showing up and sharing vulnerably and honestly with your audience. You also know that I recommend you do this when you are not using your audience for therapy!!! You know what I mean, right? We see people putting posts up when they’re knee-deep in their ‘stuff’, in the muck, and they hope and expect that their audiences are going to step in and help them.
For me, I don’t believe that you, as a leader and expert in what you do, should be using your audience for this.
For this exact reason, I have been laying low a little over the past couple of months.
I just didn’t have it in me to write. I didn’t have it in me to daily livestream. I didn’t have it in me to show up on the daily posting my ‘in the moment’ happy faces, smiling and encouraging you to do what you love to do!!!
Why? Because I’ve been grappling somewhat with how to do what I LOVE to do … in the way I really want to do it.
I’ve been feeling really torn and it’s like the last 20-odd months of uncertainty, loss and grief came to a peak and I just couldn’t.
I felt like I lost my mojo.
I felt like I lost my spark.
I felt like I lost my joy…
I felt like my purpose… well… I felt like I couldn’t live, breathe and ‘be’ and ‘do’ my purpose.
And you know what that feels like, right?
Like you can’t breathe.
Rewind a bit though. I started this business in 2010 and have been creating content (written blogs, video blogs, webinars, free resources) since then. I ramped up the activity around 2012 when things started working for me. The momentum curve finally caught up with the effort curve!!!
I haven’t really stepped off the ‘in the moment’ content train since then. Until this year.
And I’m not sure I actually want to get back on it in the way that I was doing before.
You see, time out and space gives you time to think.
These past few months, we’ve been working on our home. I have painted every wall inside our house white. White. White. White on white. .
We’ve replaced the carpets (a silvery grey #lush). We’ve updated a lot of the décor. Yes. To white and black/dark colours! Hello monochrome.
What I LOVE about the white walls specifically is that it feels like a blank slate. A clean slate.
And like I shared with one of my besties (in Sydney. Whom I haven’t seen in person for months and months and months and months and months) I realised that I needed to ‘white wall my mind’.
I needed to white wall my mind.
I didn’t know that this was what I needed – or in fact, that this is what I was doing – until I had mentioned it to her.
The white wall mind is one that comes through design by yourself or by design when you really need it. By forces bigger than you, if you will.
For me, the white wall mind meant that while I was painting and rejigging and decluttering my home, I was also doing the same thing to my head.
I worked out what I wanted.
But unlike in the past, this wasn’t a quick ‘SNAP’ in my head like a lightning bolt to the brain, this was more a slow, steady seeping through my head.
I realised that I have spent more than a decade creating and building momentum and I do not want to spend my days doing things in the same way as I have in the past.
I want to create content when I FEEL inspired.
I want to create content when I WANT to create content!
I want to send emails when I WANT to send emails.
I want to sell things when I WANT to sell things.
And I think after this long of ‘doing this’ I’ve well and truly earned that right. .
Which led me to start to think about my teaching and coaching philosophy.
My very very very first and top value is integrity. I believe in walking your talk. I believe in doing the very things that I ask of you. I believe that in order for me to be in integrity with my messaging, with my training, with my teaching…. I should be able to demonstrate through my actions and results that it works! And of course, I have…. But I also don’t believe we need to martyr ourselves either.
Visibility works. Being visible and adding value and sharing your message online works. It builds trust with your audience. It builds familiarity with your audience. It can inspire, motivate, and educate them.
If you’re doing it in a way that is YOU. If you’re doing it in a way that is aligned and authentic, then you’ll cut through the noise online… and your content will serve you for months and years to come.
What the last few months have shown me, is that this stuff works! Hhahhaa. I mean I knew it did, but it’s also nice to have the validation 😉 I’ve had new clients come through. I’m running VISIBLE | LIVE tomorrow again, which I LOVE (albeit not in person like I would prefer). I have been asked to be interviewed. I’ve been sought out. I’ve been referred to.
Everything that would normally happen while I was creating daily ‘in the moment’ content still happened when I stepped out for a minute on the ‘daily in the moment’ content.
I haven’t really tested this out before. And I guess the main reason is because I was a little scared! I was scared to take the foot off the momentum pedal, because historically even if I took it off for a moment the finances tanked! Once bitten twice shy, I guess.
I am pleased to let you know, though, that this time… for whatever reason… it worked.
The white walling of my brain has led me to simplify. To declutter. To streamline.
But it took honesty.
It took courage.
Because even though I’ve been around the traps, some of the old fears kicked in with “What if I do this and nobody wants what I have to sell! What if doing it this way doesn’t work? What if it crashes to the ground” This time, I thought fuck it! I have to do this. In the past, there’s no way I could do it like that.
The simplified version for me is to work with people like this:
- At VISIBLE | LIVE. My 2 day signature event. That I love. Be it in person or online. It’s massively transformational for attendees and myself!
- 1:1 coaching
- My Implement Like A Boss 4 week challenge (6am ‘kick in the pants’ calls with clients) and
- In my content-inspo challenge #Contentology
And maybe something else if I feel like simply MUST be unleashed into the world then I’ll do that.
But that’s it.
This has created a sense of ease for me. This feels good. It feels decluttered. It feels simple.
And I know that each of these things is highly impactful. Clients make more money. Every time. Clients are inspired. They have clarity. They are productive. They are putting themselves out there.
So for you: when was the last time you really allowed yourself to white wall your mind?
Let me know. Cause it’s really helped me to reset. Less anxious. More calm. More clear.
And that’s GOT to be a good thing, right?
At the end of the day remember this: The World Is Ready For Your Brand of Awesome… what are you going to do to share more of THAT in the world?
Nic x
