Participants in the the award-winning Hot Mommas Project Sisterhood of Success (SisU) Academy got a homework assignment today.
It is is inspired by a familiar fairy tale-slash-nightmare I will also talk about on Dr. Phil Dembo‘s radio show tonight. (Access @LATalkRadio. Access the recording).
Out of it came a great exercise that changed the way I looked at self-limiting behavior.
You know the story….we all have one…
Once upon a time…
I was sitting around with a group of venture capitalists and other high ranking executives (insert your intimidating group here_______).
PAUSE....So first, let’s test ourselves here:
Q: Who did you imagine these “venture capitalists and high-ranking executive” people to be?
A: They were all women. Just making sure we’ve got the same mental picture here, JIC.
PLAY…
Let’s continue…..So, we had to write down a goal for our business, or ourselves, on a card.
Easy, right?
Then came the doozy.
“Flip it over,” the dinner host said, “And write down the number one challenge getting in your way from accomplishing that goal.”
I never really thought about it that way. I always just kept chugging along, like the Little Engine that Could.
But, now that she had said it like that…
“MONEY,” I wrote down.
I had always been extremely financially conservative. I can’t LOOK at a car without thinking “depreciating asset.” I know.
We went around the table. I said it out loud.
“But, we’d invest in you! What’s the problem?”
And then, I really thought about it. What WAS the problem? Had I literally created this problem? It was sort of a fascinating moment.
It was beyond Ah-ha…to “H*LL YEAH!”
I thought, “Awesome…here are all these things I could do!”
So now, you try….
#1a. Think of a goal that you’d like to accomplish over the next 6 months to 1 year. It could be personal or professional. It should be something you’d be proud of yourself for accomplishing.
#1b. What is the #1 thing getting in the way of your accomplishing this goal?
#2. Now – remove that challenge from your field of vision. That’s right, literally pretend it’s not there. Enter the world of make believe. From “you’ve hired a wife” (this is literally a joke, and no, is not a ploy to attract weird mail order bride dudes to this blog)…to “you’ve become independently wealthy” – whatever it takes….
IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT THAT CHALLENGE.
IMAGINE YOUR GOAL IN THAT WORLD.
PERCOLATE ON THAT.
See if your goal CHANGES at all.
Does it become BIGGER?
Does it stay the SAME?
What happens in a WORLD WITHOUT OBSTACLES?
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Hot Mommas Project = The Sisterhood of Success