Creation Creates Transformation with Michelle McGlade

Hello, beautiful lady and gentleman, I have missed you.

By the way, I have headphones on so I can’t really hear my voice. I mean, noise cancelling headphones, not the type where I can hear myself singing. So goodness gracious, I can only imagine what that sounded like. But nonetheless, I did intend for you to hear my excitement in coming back behind the mic.

I knew when I started back on the podcast journey that it would be important to take a break. And so I did, I needed a break. You might not actually know this, I began this journey just about a year ago, it was around this time that all of this stuff was being born, birthed, and created.

I spent quite a bit of 2019 really connecting and going back to what I had been dreaming about and what it is that I want to put out next into the world. Although we put this out there for you at the beginning of 2020, for me, it’s been over a year already of creating. And so it was really nice to take a break.

I want to give a shout out to Dare to Leap and Kathy Goughenour. We released that show last month on Evolutionize Media and just really excited to see now the momentum picking up. And we have some amazing new shows coming your way moving into the end of this year and into next year. So a lot happening. But I could not be more thrilled to be back behind the mic. And I wanted to kick off this conversation with you using a quote from a book I’m reading.

Every morning, for the past couple months at least, I’ve been making time to read a nonfiction book. And this is a new habit that I love, love, love and plan to continue. And I’ve committed to myself to continue.

This morning of all mornings – the morning that I’m planning to come back and pick up the mic and have a chat with you – the last page of my reading time for this morning was not a coincidence. I’m telling you there are no coincidences. So I have the book here. It’s a quote from a book called Fear by Thich Nhat Hanh.

He’s written many books. I believe he’s a Vietnamese monk. And he talks a lot about mindfulness. But this book specifically called Fear, I wanted to read it because I think it’s very timely. I’m definitely a student of our emotions and how we let emotions feed our choices and decisions and how we show up every day. And I thought, you know, the topic of fear is very timely. This paragraph was truly, truly truly…I’m still looking at it and I’m just blown away. So here it is. In his own words, Thich Nhat Hahn from the book Fear:

“There’s no real difference between inside and outside. In fact, when we’re inside, we can be more in touch with the outside. If you’re not there inside, if you’re not yourself, there’s no real contact with the outside world. The way out, is in. If you get deeply in touch with the inside, you get in touch with the outside too. And if you’re able to get deeply in touch with the outside, you can get in touch with the inside at the same time.”

Is that powerful or what? How often do I talk about self leadership, the game of really coming from the inside out and leadership being the inside out game. I really believe this and I’ve said it in several interviews, if I haven’t said it on the show a billion times, just mark this as the very first time. I believe the trend in leadership is shifting. We’ve had the generous, authentic leader, I believe the next trend in leadership, and maybe I’m making that trend, is the modern leader will be an inside out leader focused on self leadership. Focused on modeling for others, and that true mentorship and apprenticeship will come back in fashion. So Thich Nhat Hahn goes on, I’m going to read the second paragraph of this excerpt. Let me just make sure I have it here. Okay, so here it is, from the book Fear:

“Going back to your island, generates mindfulness and concentration. Whenever you are caught by an emotion like fear, anger, or despair, you go back to the island within yourself, and practice to take refuge. I’m sure that you will feel much better after some minutes of this practice. When you find yourself in a dangerous or scary situation. When you’re very sick. Any time you don’t know exactly what to do. This is what you should practice. If everyone practiced this, there would be enough calm, peace and clarity for us to get ourselves out of every difficult situation. The practice of taking refuge can bring us joy and peace in our daily lives.”

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, if that doesn’t just kick you in the gut to wake you up in a good way. I don’t know what does because that is not a tap on the shoulder that is an all out hard kick at the door is really what I want to say. And is the inspiration for the foundation of what I believe and what I would like to dive in with you a little bit more today because there are so many of you who are on, you know, just on the train. I call it on the train to basically nowhere and not in the driver’s seat. Just letting your life go by not literally being in the driver’s seat.

And not realizing all the while that you have the power inside of you. Yes, you do. It’s not outside. You have the power inside of you to do, be, create anything that you want. So sit back, relax. I’ve got a few more thoughts for you. Let’s get this party started.

You know, I almost feel like literally, I could stop there. But I do have a vision in mind for chipping away a little bit more at the wise words and wisdom from Thich Nhat Hahn in that book.

Since you and I were together I have done a few speaking opportunities and was presenting at a career conference most recently and the host of the conference had, taken a peek and dug a little bit more on what I was putting out into this beautiful world and had said, you know, Michelle, on the Evolutionize Media site, the first thing I see is dream, create, transform, evolve. What is that?

And I chuckle there, because not anyone to my recollection has asked me that. And I don’t believe I’ve talked about it in any sort of detail, really. And so today, I wanted to dig in a little bit more with you around the concept of dream, create, transform, evolve.

So this was part of my process last year, when I was really going back inside, and looking to see what I wanted to create; this is part of what came to me. I believe with 100% of my being that you and I, and every other single human being on this planet has the power inside of you.

And it’s unbelievable because we’re living in a very external world. That’s why the quote was so powerful this morning, but you have everything you need, you are a creator. And whatever you put your intention to, you have the power inside of you to create. And that creation creates transformation. And that transformation creates evolution.

So a big shout out and thank you to Anita Belitz for extending the invitation to have me present at her conference. And for creating the space for me to begin to talk about or think about the importance of talking about this dream, create transform, evolve. Now, let me chat about each of these in a little bit more detail.

You know, we tend to naturally dream. When we’re children, we play make believe, we have aspirations for ourself. We allow ourselves to say ‘what if __________’.

Somewhere along the way, we jump on that train to stop dreaming for fear of just taking a risk or fear of failure, for fear of losing what we’ve already created. There’s many reasons yet dreaming is at the core of creating what it is that you want. Dreaming is where the foundation of the power that you have inside of you lives. It is the foundation of what I call the heart and mind hookup.

And so many of us struggle to tap into that. And I talk a lot about this. I’ve already talked about this on the show. So if you haven’t listened to some of the other M sessions, I’ve talked about the mechanisms we are so very astute at creating, mechanisms both good and bad. And I’ll put links to those episodes.

But we come up with these extremely smart mechanisms. So they show up in these different outfits, you think you’ve identified them and then lo and behold, there it is, again, to shake your confidence to move you back into a state of fear and to squash any tiny bit of courage that you may have been mustering up when you started allowing yourself to dream just a tinge. Once again, those pesky little mechanisms, but they keep us safe.

So here’s the thing. What I’ve been able to observe both in myself and in the clients that I serve, is there’s really only fear that keeps us from the dreaming, right? Most people are walking around waiting for the confidence to do what they would like and what they’re dreaming of. Or they’re waiting for the confidence before they would actually speak their words of intention around what it is they would love to see in this world.

But yet, confidence doesn’t really ever arrive – by the time we have confidence, I can tell you, you’ve already gone through the transformation and are now in an evolution of yourself.

It is the courage. Courage being , the root of that being coeur, which is heart. It is courage, which allows us to listen to our heart. And to begin the process of putting an intention out there that might sound batshit crazy to everybody else. And then to take action of the creation of that dream, despite the fear.

I mean, I feel like right here is a great spot to recall that quote, I’m not sure who said it or where it comes from. But everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear. It really is. You have the power inside of you to create anything you want.

Now, if you’re looking for some more ideas around, how to begin to put into play the heart and mind hookup go back to some of the other M sessions because I talked about some of the positive ways that you can begin to implement that heart and mind hookup to stay in that place of courage so that you can identify what it is, so you can get that clarity you so desperately want. And get yourself out of feeling stuck, so that you can begin to take action and begin to create what it is that you desire.

Because you know we are actually creating all the time. So here’s the thing, I’m not outlining something that really you’re not doing I am actually outlining what is already happening. You’re going through this process. You’re thinking of things, you’re creating things. It’s causing some sort of shift and transformation for you good, bad or ugly. And it’s either hindering or benefiting your evolution.

The challenge for most people, and I talked about this with Anita, most people insert themselves right into the creation process. They just start doing and doing and doing and taking action.

That’s great. A lot of high achievers fall there. I’ve seen it time and time again with myself with clients. The challenge can be as we start creating things that are not what we deeply desire.

So we’re on the train of creating what we think we want, what others want for us, what we think we should be doing. Have you heard that before? Those are all based on our conscious brain but what about what is deep inside our heart. And that’s why I talk and work so closely on identifying and implementing the heart and mind hookup for my clients.

Okay, so let’s pause there. When we’re looking at the process of dream, create transform, evolve. Most people let go of dreaming altogether as we move forward in the years of our lives, and they, especially for high achievers, start taking action, and creating, but creating out of a place of fear, which is based on past experiences or future worries.

When you want to get off that train, and you’re realizing that you continue to create a bunch of stuff in your life that you don’t want, or that your heart is screaming at you knocking at the door, kicking out the door, saying I want something different, it’s time to take a step back. It’s time to acknowledge that you’ve totally bypassed the dreaming phase, you’ve totally bypassed the heart and mind hookup. And when you can get back to that place you can begin to set intentions based on clarity, you can begin to move yourself out of feeling unstuck. And you can begin to go back into taking action but informed action based on what it is you truly desire.

The most important aspect about creation is to make sure that you have a clear intention that you’re putting out there that is aligned with your heart. I’ve done it the other way, you can create amazing things that are only aligned with your brain. All the shoulds come into play, and then, you know, eventually you’re going to figure it out.

I’m sure a few of you can relate to my story, where I’ve created the wrong things, I’ve had to start over several times. This is why I’m truly an expert in this. They say 10,000 hours and you’re an expert, I’ve got like 45 years of this.

Really creating the intention and putting it out there. Most of us start, the worry kicks in the fear kicks back up, and it pulls us out of our clear intention. And it’s not going how I thought it should, I got all aligned, I got all the heart and mind hook up stuff that Michelle talked about. And I’m out there I’m creating, I’m going forward, I’m taking action. And guess what all of those mechanisms start creeping back in, especially when we’re taking what feels like a risk, especially when we’re not feeling confident, and those around us might not be feeling confident. So we’re getting these messages and we start constricting.

So the key to staying in that space of creation that doesn’t have all the shoulds attached to it, is to keep yourself out of the past, to keep yourself out of the future. And to remain in the present moment, which go back to this opening conversation from the book I was reading this morning. It’s all about inside out and remaining in the here and now. And that’s what allows us to begin to not only set an intention for what is in our heart that we want to create, but to stay in the space of creation, to allow ourselves to see it through and by no means is this just smooth sailing.

If you talk to anyone who has achieved anything and is very successful in your mind, and you’re thinking, how did you do that, the path was not easier. It’s just that they were able to create despite, they were committed to their intention despite fill in the blank.

The great news, it’s a muscle you can develop. So you’re moving yourself through create, transform, evolve, create, transform, evolve, whether you’re dreaming, whether you’re putting intentions out there, whether you’re really tapping into that heart mind hook up.

What I can tell you is, it’s a muscle that you develop over time. You continue to put your intention out there, you exercise the muscle of not letting the past or the future inform what you are intending to create. And that moves you into this very unique space of transformation.

What happens is, things start showing up and looking different than they had before. It’s literally as if your world is changing, it is transforming before your very eyes. If you look for it, you will begin to see opportunities that inform the intention that you’re putting out into the world. And thus, we evolve.

Because we begin to create what we intend, what we want, what we truly deeply desire, that next level of success, that next dollar in the bank account, that life partner you’ve been dreaming about. That family that you always wanted. Whatever it is, because success is on your terms. What is in your heart is different than is the what’s in my heart.

But I can tell you that as you’re going through this process, what will happen is there’s no end. That’s the part about evolution. And when I was talking to Anita, I said, this is a lifelong commitment. Because once you start understanding how powerful of a creator that you are, you’ll say, I wonder what else I can do. I wonder what else I can create.

And when you begin to uplevel your success. Your heart starts speaking louder about new and exciting things that you might be able to do in this world. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The point of evolution in this process is that there’s no end. This is a life long commitment to unleashing the power inside of you because you have everything you need inside of you. You are in the driver’s seat. You are the creator.

What intentions would you like to be putting out there is my question for you?

Okay, before we wrap this up, I feel like I’ve planted quite a few seeds, especially if you’re tuning in for the first time. If you’ve been following along, I know this is a building block to some of the things we’ve already been chatting about. But let me just put out there a couple self examples. Because what has happened for me is I realize I’ve been doing this for probably for my whole life. Yeah, I’m gonna own that I’ve been doing this my entire life.

I’ve been a little bit more in tune with it and not really understanding what I was doing, unconsciously competent.

When I was young I knew I was going to go to school, get a good job. So that was in my mind. But the piece that I dreamed about, that no one around me was doing or talking about, but I had the intention inside of me that my heart really wanted, was to live and work from anywhere, go global, experience other cultures.

And so, I always had my eye on finding the corporate job within a global company, that is how I started to put my intention out there. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. Remember, I didn’t know anything about dream, create, transform, evolve. I knew nothing about this, but I’m connecting it for you. So yeah, so I had this intention. It’s what my heart wanted. So it was the dream. And then how that creation started to unfold was first to be looking confident.

So this is important, there was still fear. And then my first job was not in a global company. But then I got an opportunity to take another job really early on within the first one or two years after college. That was a global company. You bet I was excited, right?

Well, then I created this opportunity. So I went into finance, that was the beginning of my career, while I had the opportunity to move into Global Field Sales. And this is where courage kicked in. Most people, I believe, would not have taken that leap. A lot of people you know, we’re wired for safety. It’s very scary to walk away from something that you’re already on a good trajectory. This is what you’re supposed to be doing and what you should do in the world. I was confident I could do it. But I was not confident at all about going into Global Field Sales.

Yet somehow, I don’t know really exactly how at that time, I really tapped into the courage because my heart wanted, what my heart wanted. It was my dream. And I saw it as the next step. So I took the risk, I did it despite the fear.

And because of that one choice to do it, despite the fear, to take a risk. My transformation began, there was a huge, huge, huge shift in what I believed I could do and be what I wanted in the world.

Then all of the pieces started falling into place. And this is what I’ve talked about in several interviews. This is really a pivotal decision in my life that contributed to my evolution. To take a risk, to have the courage to take the step towards what I had been dreaming and the intention I put out there and not let fear stand in the way.

Now the important aspects about this that I want to share with you are that this was not necessarily simple. It wasn’t easy. If you know the full part of this story. I ended up relocating, picking up my life relocating for this brand new job and in six months I got laid off. I’m a very young woman, I’m 25 now in a new state with my boyfriend, and it wasn’t picture perfect. It took me quite awhile to regain the confidence. I lost courage. That was a moment where I I took action with great courage and then I struggled to really see that as a huge moment of transformation, a huge piece into my evolution, but at the time, it didn’t feel that way. And it took me quite a while to replace that job. I didn’t want to go back to finance. So I had to take a lower level positions and work my way back up, which was quite ego busting, which is a good thing. But it shook my confidence.

Another pivotal story when I took a big leap to leave my corporate career. So I was about 15 years in corporate when I decided to start my own business, it was a huge, huge, huge process of overcoming fear, and leaning into courage leaning into what my heart desired. And to put an intention out there, that did not seem possible.

So the bits and pieces of the story were, again, I was raised to go out, make good money, you know, have this job. And by the time I’m 35 ish, or so, I was like, okay, I’m out here doing it. No, I’m not the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but I’m kind of thinking, is this it? Like, is this what we’re doing? Like, am I just working my way up this ladder? Is that what my heart really wants? Hmm.

So I started and I won’t get into the details of the dreaming, but I really did go inside, and I thought, you know, what it? What is it? If this is my life, and I’m in the driver’s seat, what is it that I want to create next? What is the intention that I want to put out there, not what I should do, not what I think is possible. But what is the intention?

I am so passionate about your medical choice. And your decision to use alternative means to heal yourself. But it goes back to my belief that you have the power inside of you. And I have lots of stories for myself around this. But I had a huge passion for wellness, alternative medical options. And so my heart wanted me to make the leap and create a business and be in a space that I resonated, that really resonated with me beyond just, you know what I could be thinking about.

And this was against all logic. This is not what I should be doing. I’m positive, my family thought I was crazy, because nobody had really ever done that. And here, they’re seeing their child successful and for all intensive purposes on the right track and gonna be well taken care of and solid in their life, to walk away and create something different, but what the heart wants, the heart wants, and I’ve said this before, it’ll be a tap on the shoulder and knock at the door and then by all means, we’ll be kicking it down. And it might even feel like a gut punch in the stomach. Most people wait till the gut punch in the stomach, because they wait till a health crisis. They wait till their spouse leaves them they wait till there’s a major life event loss of a parent, something like that for it to wake them up and to say, what does the heart really want?

Have the courage put the intention out there. Create what it is that you deeply desire, because you have the power inside of you. And so I took the leap. I had no confidence. I didn’t know what I was doing at all. But despite the fear, I had the courage. I had the courage to put myself out there with the intention of creating a business from nothing in an area that my heart deeply desired.

And that is a pivotal moment of transformation in my life. Because to create something now from completely nothing is a powerful, powerful tool of transformation, and really, ultimately evolution for self. And that is the journey, ladies and gentlemen, I have signed up for the lifelong commitment to evolution and why I feel so strongly and have the intention of helping you to dream, create, transform, and evolve because you truly, you truly have the power inside of you. And you are in the driver’s seat. The only thing that is standing in your way is fear. Everything you’ve ever wanted, is on the other side.

All right, ladies and gents, my intention for you today is that there was a gold nugget because it only takes one piece, it doesn’t take all these grandiose pieces of information again, go to the core of this, you have it all inside of you. It’s about unlocking it. So my intention is that there was an aha moment, there was a piece that offered you the inspiration and motivation needed for you to allow that door to just creak open a little bit more for your heart to begin speaking more loudly for you to listen and take action on that. And for you to begin that one step every day towards the transformation, the success, the evolution that you desire. I wanted to offer up that I have put together a resource on this. I’ve talked around it today. If you need a little bit more of an outline, if you’re a really process thinker if you’d like you know that one or two page tool that just lays it out with some questions for you to follow. I put together a nice little tool for you. But you can find that resource over on MichelleMcGlade.com/give.

All right until next week, we will talk to you soon.