Business
OK, no need to bury the lead — the title of this post says it all: “It’s time to hit the pause button on Get Your Message Heard.” It’s not a hasty (or easy) decision, and it is one that I’ve literally spent the last 3 months debating. The driving force behind all that deliberation is my core and foundational belief that what matters most for all of us is playing to our strengths as much as we possibly can. It’s simply never made sense to me for people to work so hard on becoming good at stuff they don’t do well when they can create far more impact when they get better at doing the things they already do well. That’s why I found the book Now Discover Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Marcus Buckingham so compelling when it first came out. Completing the included assessment and learning my top 5 strengths (from the list of 34 total strengths) was liberating and affirming. It also put a lot of things into perspective for me. Like why I always think about the bigger picture and believe so strongly in the power of mapping a vision and then speaking it into existence. You see the Strengths Finder Assessment (now known as the CliftonStrengths Assessment) revealed that four of my five strengths were in the area of strategic thinking and the fifth was in the area of influence. In other words, I am wired to think about what it possible and the to work through others to make the vision a reality. That explains just about everything I have ever done in my life. And it confirms why so much of my time is spent thinking about the future and seeking ways to make it better than the past. A side effect of this gifting is the constant evaluation of everything I do with an eye on how it can be made better and whether it should still be done. That latter not being the easiest thing for most of us to think about. As I’ve traveled the recent journey that’s been shared in the last few episodes of the podcast, one nagging question has haunted my mind daily: Am I spending most of my time doing the work that I do best? The work that I was designed to do. Why did thinking about that question lead me to the decision to hit pause on the podcast? Because I realized that the path it was on was not aligned with the path I am evolving in my business. And, more important, that the resources, effort, and energy I was devoting to creating the weekly episodes were being misallocated and keeping me away from doing work that needs to be done to serve the people I am here to serve. Not an easy, or comfortable, admission, but a necessary one that I believe is 100% correct at this moment in time. Here’s why: The journey I have been on since I sold my niche business and made the decision to pivot my work has led me to reconnect with my core passions of working with individuals and teams to map strategic visions and communicate them into existence. But that is not what we’ve been talking about on Get Your Message Heard. That’s because Get Your Message Heard was a key part of my journey to discover (actually rediscover) what really lights me up — the work I want to devote the rest of my life to doing. And, frankly, I am proud of the body of work that came out of that process because I know it will help others as they navigate their path to creating their impact. But it’s time to take a step away from the weekly work of putting out an episode so I can redirect my effort and energy to creating the foundational messages that will attract the clients I can serve best as I move forward. Whether that will lead me back to a podcast in the future is unclear to me at this moment. But I know what I most need in my business at this moment in time is a clear path for the people I am here to serve — a path that helps them see what is possible for them and enables them to decide if I am the right person to help them pursue it. So this episode formally announces my decision to HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON and stop sharing a weekly show UNTIL I gain clarity on how to make the show (or whatever replaces it) serve the audience more than it serves me. Thank you to all who have listened to the show since it started just over two years ago. I am grateful and it is my sincere hope that you found the insight you needed in the conversations. I hope you’ll stay tuned as things evolve and wish you much success in Getting Your Message Heard and creating your impact on the world.