Dream Power Radio
Dream Power Radio
JJ DiGeronimo: The Journey to Self-Discovery and Transformation
Have you ever felt trapped in a life that seems successful to outsiders, but leaves you feeling drained and stressed within? That's a sentiment JJ DeGeronimo, our esteemed guest and a trailblazer in the tech industry, and I grapple with in this heart-to-heart conversation. We peel back the facade of outward success, exploring the fear and self-doubt that hamper our inner growth. We dissect the stories we tell ourselves and how our past often restricts our future.
Ever wondered about the art of saying 'no' and the transformative impact it can have on your life? That's one of the many enlightening topics we navigate through in this episode. We discuss the need to constantly assess our energy levels, to say 'no' when necessary, and to understand how it empowers us to take logical decisions, prioritize tasks, and reclaim our precious time. And for women who fear being seen as uncommitted, we share insights on how to break free from this self-imposed restraint.
Stepping into our power as women, we delve into the realms of confidence and feminine energy. We highlight how accessing our intuition and harnessing our unique feminine energy can create empowering environments, both at work and in life. And guess what? JJ DeGeronimo shares practical steps on how to tap into this energy source. The episode culminates with us discussing the vital importance of investing in ourselves, with tangible tips to kickstart that journey of self-discovery and transformation. So, are you ready to unlock your potential? Tune in!
JJ DeGeronimo, a woman in tech turned award-winning author, shares energy practices and empowering strategies that listeners can use to create more impact! With new levels of awareness, JJ reveals a more spiritual side of her life that undeniably strengthens her mission to empower women at work and in life.
Conditioned to look outward, JJ juggles a variety of external validations, such as titles, salaries, and relationships intermingled with self-doubt, negative self-talk, and demanding schedules. These same pressures lead many women to ask, “am I enough?”, “What am I doing?” or “Is this it?”
With over 20 years in the tech industry, she is no stranger to navigating the twists and turns of moving from entry-level positions to leadership, and now she is focusing on unleashing leadership and insights from within!
Website: https://jjdigeronimo.com/
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This is Dream Power Radio, the place where your dreams turn into reality. Here is your host, Debbie Spector Weissman.
Debbie:Hello, hello, hello and welcome to Dream Power Radio. I'm your host, certified dream-life coach, Debbie Spector Weisman. This is the place where we talk about dreams both daytime and nighttime dreams, and how you can use them to make the internal shift to a life you love and rediscover the truth of who you really are. How many of you can relate to this? Sometime during your youth, maybe in your teens, you asked yourself what you wanted to be. When you grew up, you decided on a career and either went off to college or dove into the workforce right after high school. You were determined to make it worked as hard as you could, and along the way you got promotions, got raises and maybe even a fancy title or an award or two. Or maybe you started your own business and built it up to the point where it could be called successful.
Debbie:But then, in the quiet of the night, doubts set in To the outside world, you look like you made it, but that inner voice is telling you otherwise. Success doesn't feel like the wonderful place you imagined as a youngster. Instead of being uplifted and full of energy, you find yourself tired and full of stress. You can't wait until the day is done, you can kick off your heels and get as far away as you can from your office. Like I said, it's a fleeting moment and goes away as soon as you're pulled back into the life you set for yourself. The next day, you're back on the work-treadmil l, because doing less than that would make you feel like a failure.
Debbie:The sad truth is that too many of us go through life ignoring what our inner voices are trying to tell us. Many of us are content to live like that, believing that questioning ourselves or rocking the boat will only make things worse. But if you're one of those who's asking the question is that all there is to life, you're going to want to listen to my guest today, best-selling author and award-winning speaker, JJ DiGeronimo. As a president of Tech Savvy Women, JJ's mission is to empower women to embrace themselves and align themselves to seek the most meaningful purpose in their lives. In her most recent book, "seeking 74 Key Findings to Raise your Energy Side, step Yourself Doubts and Align With your Life's Work, she shares the strategy she used to listen to her own inner wisdom to gain guidance and leadership skills she couldn't get from external sources and she's here to share some of them with us now. Welcome to Dream Power Radio JJ Hi.
JJ:Hi, Debbie. I'm thrilled to be here with you today.
Debbie:Oh, I am thrilled to be talking about this because I think this is something that a lot of women face at some point in their lives. And you, JJ. You rose through the ranks to become a success in the tech world. You're an accomplished speaker, an author, and yet you say you've had your own moments of self-doubt. Why would you have anything to worry about?
JJ:Oh, I think self-doubt is within all of us, regardless of our accomplishments. Some of us can easily override it, but it seems like for women, we often pay a lot of attention to the voices in our head that often reassure us that now is not the time. It's not the time. We may need additional certifications or training or do more reading or whatever it is for you. It's often deterring you from making an action or a step forward right now.
Debbie:Well, speaking about that, you talk about the obstacles that we face that keep us from listening to what our souls are trying to tell us. So what are some of those obstacles?
JJ:Well, they come in all forms and fashion. I mean, a lot of it has to do with self-talk, and in our head it'll often say, like you know, I just don't think you're ready or is now the right time, or don't you think you need to be more prepared. So there's often this conversation we're having with ourselves and, if we're not aware of it, sometimes it really has impact on our future decisions and actions. So I think for many of us, being able to slow down and just really gain some insight on what's happening on the inside is so important, because the outside is hard enough, right? There's so many people telling us no, not now, this is not right.
JJ:Even when I was publishing my third book, I got so many no's from publishers and my intuition and my soul was like yes, you are writing this book and you know I had a lot of self-doubt with that too. But I really have worked so much on my inner talk, my inner connection with self, that I knew that I had to get this book out here, regardless of all the no's that I received.
Debbie:I tell you, along with the self-doubt that you're right I mean, everybody has that at some point comes out of their four-letter word fear, the feeling that you know we don't want to make that move because we're not going to like what we see and also because we're safe where we are in that space and doing nothing at least keeps us in that safe space. So how do we move beyond that fear?
JJ:Well, it's interesting because the fear is often what keeps us in a holding pattern, and the fear can come in all forms and fashion, and when I ask people what they're fearful of, they often say things like snakes or spiders or heights but the reality is we're actually much more afraid of being embarrassed, looking like we don't belong, having people say things about us, feeling like we're not, you know, don't have what it takes to be in that moment, and I think for many of us, the fear of not knowing, the fear of not being aware of what might happen on the next step often, too, has us in a holding pattern, and those stories that we tell ourselves are often based on fear, things that had happened to us early, early on in our life and, for some of us, sometimes a past life.
Debbie:And also, when we talk about fear, we don't ever ask ourselves well, what is going to happen if we don't make a move?
JJ:and to move beyond that, oh, so true, and I tell you, I have this, have a lot of inner turmoil when I'm not aligned to the right thing. I have a lot of self doubt, but I also have this inner turmoil that's like pushing me to move forward. You know, anytime I've done a big shift, whether it's writing my first book or starting a women's retreat, or even writing this next book I was I had this internal turmoil that would not let me move forward without doing something towards it. And I think for some women, if you're asking yourself what now is this? It, there's generally a new chapter ahead for you and it's about really peeling off sort of what are you doing now, what's working, what's not, and what is calling you forward, what is?
Debbie:calling you forward, and it's a matter of actually listening to that inner voice and taking the time not just listening, but taking the time to actually listen to what it's telling you and then do something about it.
JJ:That's exactly right. Debbie is like we often hear things all the time, or see things or get signs or symbols, but sometimes we're so busy in our head reflecting on what's happened or planning for what is next that we don't see all the signs that are coming our way. And if we've, even if we do see a sign or two, sometimes that self doubt says nope, not now, not now, which is then stemmed in fear. So if you're getting some messages or whispers or ideas or even nuggets, creating the space to just check it out, see who's already going down that path, see who's ahead of you. What have they done? What can you do? Just a small stop. It could be researching. Make a phone call, maybe just get a book or a podcast, just start to kind of see what you might be able to work towards.
Debbie:It is so important. But another thing and I think I mentioned it briefly in my introduction is that when you're so busy and you're so on the move and so go, go, go, get this speed of success, you're depleting yourself and your energy levels are low. And I know you speak a lot about energy in your book and I know I've worked a lot with energy myself and when I raise my own energy level, so many positive things happen. You feel more positive, you feel like you can do more and also it opens up your mind to have that space to listen to what the voice is saying and to take the time to take action. So how are some other ways that we can recharge ourselves to keep our energy levels high?
JJ:Well, just like the voice is, you kind of have to know where you're at. So just assessing, when you start an activity, when you start something whether it's a phone call, a presentation, maybe you're doing some work for your community or your church or girlfriend or your neighbor do I get good energy from this, yes or no? So as you start things throughout your day, do I get a good energy? Just kind of, either do it on your phone, a piece of paper, every time you start to kind of touch another thing in your life, do I get good energy from this? And you quickly can see how many positives and how many negatives. It's a quick and easy thing to do to really give you an idea of are you lining to things that you're excited about, things that raise your energy.
JJ:Then you can do the same with people you talk to. Do I get good energy from this person or do I not? Yes or no, plus or minus, and over time you'll kind of get to see where you are on the energy scale because you attract where you're at. So it's not about blaming or looking outward and saying I can't believe these people asked me or I can't believe these people talk to me like this. It's more assessing where you at, because you are a frequency too and you often attract similar frequencies. So if you want to raise your frequency, you need to figure out where you're at currently. Are you in low, medium or high, and what do you need to do to kind of amp up your energy to the next level?
Debbie:Well, part of doing that is actually taking the time to do that kind of introspection and do that in our work, in your work with working with other women. Do you find it's hard to get them to make that first move, to do that?
JJ:Sure, because everyone's over committed. We're over committed because we're saying yes to so many things that may or may not align to where we are or where we want to go. And I have this power of no chart that I teach individuals of, like how do you assess what you say yes to and what you say no, and how do you really make a logical decision, because most people make a decision in less than three seconds, regardless of the actual if it's three hours or 30 hours. We often give our time away like that, so the power of no was something I created way back with my first book over a decade ago, after interviewing many powerful women and men that said they protect their time, pay attention to their schedule, make sure they're aligning to the right yeses, and I put together this quick six column chart that helps me and many others really say like is this the right commitment right now?
Debbie:So what was the type of questions that you have to ask yourself to make that decision? If it's right or if I should say no.
JJ:So the first thing I always ask myself is does it align to where I am or where I wanna go, Like? Does it where I wanna throw my energy right? Is it the right amount of time that they're asking me, based on the other things, I'm committed. Is there budget? Have they already asked somebody to do it? Are there interdependencies that I need to know about to make this successful? What's the timeline? What does success look like? Is this something I want to do right, and is this the right time for me to focus on that type of work?
Debbie:And then, looking at all of that, you can, when you see it right in front of you, you can make that decision because it's there, it's something you can actually look at and determine.
JJ:Yeah, and you have to give yourself the time. So it also you have to train yourself to not say yes so quickly. So let me think about it. Can I get back to you tomorrow? I have some other things in the fire right now. I need to assess how much those time those are gonna take to make sure I have enough time to handle the thing you're asking me. Or if it's for your job and you have a boss that is a continuous asker have. What I've done is put all my projects on the board and then I say, okay, that's great, I can do that, but what on the board? Can I move down in priority Because I don't have enough time to do this and everything else we've talked about? So let's prioritize the things that are already asked of me to make sure we have room for that new ask.
Debbie:Yeah, and do you think that women say yes too often because they're afraid that people are gonna see them as being reluctant or not committed enough or some other negative that they internalize as being not good?
JJ:Yeah, the research does show that many women say yes because they wanna be light, they wanna be a team player, they wanna look like they can get it done, which is great in your 20s and early 30s when you're trying to really prove yourself and get your skill set up and get sponsors and do all those things. But after you get 35, 40, 45, you really need to be more specific on where you spend your time. Because if you wanna have momentum or a larger impact than you have today, you have to create that momentum. And you can only create that momentum if you focus on the right activities. If you dilute yourself into all these other things you're doing, you just cannot really get that catapult to get to that next level of impact.
Debbie:It's such an important note to take, but we are gonna take a short break now. We are speaking with JJ DiGeronimo, all about how to recharge ourself and listen to our self-doubts and act on them, and we'll be right back. If you're not pleased with the trajectory of your life, the time to begin your own personal transformation is now, and your dreams can help pave the way. How? By tapping into your unvoiced confidence. What is unvoiced confidence?
Debbie:You say it's acceptance of your abilities and qualities. It's a state of mind coming from liking and even loving yourself and feeling free to say or do anything you want without concern for the judgment of others. You were born confident. That may have had it chipped away little by little by the negative self-beliefs you've picked up over the years. If you're looking for the heightened energy, clarity of thought and the feeling of being more alive that comes from self-confidence, you can rediscover it by paying attention to your dreams. Need some help doing this? Go to my website, thedreamcoachnet, and sign up for my complimentary dream discovery session. I can help show you how your dreams can help you return to the confident person you were always meant to be Again. Go to thedreamcoachnet. Thedreamcoachnet.
Announcer:Welcome back to Dream Power Radio with your host, Debbie Spector Weisman.
Debbie:Yes, welcome back to Dream Power Radio. I'm your host, Debbie Spector Weisman, and we're talking about how to get beyond ourselves doubts with JJ DiGeronimo. Well, jj, why don't I go back to something I talked briefly about before, which is about energy and including the energy in the business world. Back in the day when our modern day businesses started, even maybe before that, all the structures were built and evolved around the masculine energy. So how can women use their unique feminine energy to create a harmonious workspace that is empowering to them and not making them give away their feminine power?
JJ:That's a good topic. It's tough. Corporate America and business is very masculinely driven, a lot of masculine energy, and every person has masculine and feminine energy. So it's not like we're not invited. We definitely are invited. But many of us women have to check our knowing, intuition at the door because it doesn't really have a space in corporate America or business.
JJ:And it's funny because I just interviewed a woman a few weeks ago that is a medium, and I said, well, do you do the soft side of your desk, or when do you do this? She goes oh, I do it all day long. I do it all day long. I use my knowing in meetings and I'm like, well, how do you do that? She's like I had to give myself permission because years earlier I had said well, I just know, I just know, and I had to change the way I talked in business meanings because I just know doesn't really get the type of respect or attention. So she would often say, through my research, or I've been investigating different people, or this is kind of what's worked for other companies. And so I had to think about how I was gonna position my knowing so that it would be taken more seriously.
Debbie:Well, you just mentioned something that I was going to bring up again, which is the whole idea of giving yourself permission, and many, many years ago that was one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was to give myself permission, because I was one of those people who was always subjugating myself to what everybody else wanted and kind of putting my feelings or what I wanted to do sort of on a back burner. It's like let's get everybody else taken care of and then I will give to myself. So talk to me about why giving yourself permission is so important and what you get out of it.
JJ:Well, I love to hear how you got over that hump for sure, because it's not easy for women. We've been trained from an early age to take care of people, to get it done, to be the point person, to dot all the I's and cross all the T's and make sure you do that while you're doing this. And I feel like women are overworked in so many capacities that we have to really make a conscious effort to unwind the stories, unwind the S's, so that we have the space and time to really get in touch with who we are and why we're here. And I think so many of us have that hidden way below the surface.
JJ:And for me, I had to really carve out time in ways that I wasn't comfortable with either. I talk about my first real solo trip after having children, about going to Sedona for my 40th birthday and how much guilt I had asking to take a trip by myself, even though I made my own money and I had the vacation time and I had coverage. But it was still incredibly challenging for me and I think for most women. It's hard to pick yourself when there's so much to do.
Debbie:That is so true, and you asked me about myself. I look at it as the journey. I still have to keep telling myself, telling myself that I deserve it, and even as early as this morning, I had to stick up and say, well, this is something that I need, and I was giving myself permission to say, yes, it's important, I need to do this. So it's a journey, and I think you say it is hard and it's not like, oh, one day you decide to do it and bump it's done.
JJ:Yeah, I still challenge myself do I like? Should I do it now? Do I deserve it? Do I want to spend that money? But the reality is, if you don't invest in yourself, nobody else will either, and oftentimes, many of us get to that empty on the fuel tank and even further down where we're so exhausted and so depleted that we end up turning into people we don't even like. So if I could do and, Debbie, you could offer your advice too if you could do stuff for yourself before you get to that empty, because that's not a great place to be in. We make sometimes some really bad decisions when we get there, and so, whether it's an hour class, a cup of tea in the park, just basically sitting in your car in a parking lot and listening to a podcast, like whatever you can do to invest in yourself on a weekly basis, I guarantee you it'll be worth it in the long run.
Debbie:Well, absolutely, and to that end, one of the first things I did after I completed my program to become a certified dream- life coach, I wrote a book called 101 Dream Dates, and a dream date is basically something you do for yourself, by yourself, that you've never done before, and it could be something as simple as taking a walk in a park, if you've never done it, if it's like an alien concept to you. But something that you give of yourself, the purpose being that when you do that often enough and on a continuing basis, you remind yourself that you love yourself and that you're worthy of love. And when you are feeling that power of self-love, then you have it to give for others. It raises your energy level and it gives you that capacity to say I am worth it, I can do it.
JJ:I love that. I love that, I love your book, because a lot of people just don't even know where to start and giving them those ideas is so important. And I think a lot of people think they need to go sit on a hill somewhere or be part of a yoga retreat in Costa Rica, but in reality, if you don't start doing the small things locally for yourself, you're never going to get to that big thing, because the big thing is so overwhelming in regards to cost, time and the amount of self love you have to have to hit that register button. I think it's great to start off right in your backyard, right in your hometown, because you have to build up that memory muscle that you deserve it.
Debbie:Oh, absolutely. And in your book you give 74 pieces of advice. Is there any meaning to the 74?
JJ:There, actually is a ton of meaning to the 74. And it's funny I'm going to pull the book off the shelf because I think for many people like numerology is kind of four and to them. But when I was writing my book I called my friend Michelle, who's a numerologist, and 74, the number seven and four combined represent letting go of conditioning or patterns we have collected along the way that have been holding us back. This creates space for our lighting gifts to shine through. Seven plus four is 11. 11 reminds us of our knowing and intuition, with a powerful connection with the energies of the universe, ourself and others. And 11 is one plus one, so to the spiritual. Number two highlights a partnership with the universe, our inner self and one another to work together to co create, as you have a higher role on earth. My hope is the book gives people not only the wisdom but the glimpse of the journey ahead.
Debbie:Oh, that is so wonderful and so powerful. I know people tend to poo poo things like numerology because they say, oh, it's too woo, woo, woo and out there, but it's since. It's been around since ancient times, you have to give it the respect that there's meaning there.
JJ:Yeah, and just like people like, this book has a frequency and it's really. It's a book for people that are ready to lean into their whispers and I think for many people you've got to get to a point of pure frustration that you're ready for that next level of knowing.
Debbie:Absolutely Okay. So let's say that you've had that aha moment. You know there's something missing here in my life and you take some time to do some introspection because you're feeling tired, you're feeling overloaded, you're just feeling like you know you're not in the place that you want to be and you need a reboot. How do you balance that need with the hard reality of needing to keep your job because you're getting a really good salary and you've got to put food on the table and pay for all your expenses and pay for your mortgage and everything? How do you start to make that step, to move from that negative feeling into the more positive and powered feeling?
JJ:Well, I think you have to find things that fill you up. So I'm always a big believer in your fuel tank. So what is your fuel stations? What are filling you up? So, whether that is something exercise, something you listen to, maybe something you do with your hands, something you do with people, it doesn't matter. No one's going to tell you the right thing to do. Only you can tell yourself what fills you up, and you know this because when you're done with different activities, you feel inspired, invigorated, and so you only have to start with a couple 30 minutes loss in your calendar. So maybe you do a Monday night or a Tuesday before work, or a Saturday morning or a Sunday afternoon, like you need to lock these things into your calendar. They're non negotiable and their times for you, and so I think for many of us it's just getting in the habit of scheduling time in your week for your fuel stations and give yourself permission that you can do that completely.
Debbie:One of the things that you said is that you're also a light worker and that you've used ancient practices to help others reach their goals. Tell me a little bit about what kind of practices you're talking about.
JJ:Well, in this book I really went on my own personal journey of figuring out who I was, what you know? Where did the darkness reside? What are the stories I had to let go of? Where did I really doubt myself?
JJ:And I visited all types of energy practitioners, from tapping to TRE to astrology, to astrophotography, to pass life regression to Dona Bohn's work. And different, just different. I had a astrology call last week. I did like a body talk two weeks ago and constantly learning about different practices. Most of them are very much feminine energy and using them in conjunction with some of the things I've already had, like strength fighters, Myers Briggs, human design, Jean Keys. So I really bring together all of the practitioners that I work with as much as I can. I interview them, I share their story with my audience and the women in my network to show that these women are just like us. But they too found a calling off the side of their desk that now can maybe help you find your calling, and so I bring them all together inside my community. Together we see as a way for people to kind of explore without committing, but also knowing that many of the people that are in there are already connected to me and I worked with many of them one on one.
Debbie:That is so powerful, and so glad that you've done this, because there's so many practices out there that everybody has to find the one that works for them. It's not everything works for everybody, but there's so much that you can learn when, when you make yourself open to seeing that it's out there. Well, JJ, do you have any final thoughts for our audience?
JJ:I have to say, if you're listening to this, there is no accident. It is very likely that you're ready for the next step and that really exploring what is calling you, what are you seeing along your path, what is grabbing your attention, because the universe is talking to you all the time and this is just a reminder to pay attention and be present and pick yourself.
Debbie:Oh wonderful JJ. How can people find out more about you and your work?
JJ:Oh, they can find me on any social platform under JJ Di Geronimo, or they can check out my book Seeking 74 Key Findings on Amazon.
Debbie:JJ, thank you so much for being on Dream Power Radio today.
JJ:Thank you.
Debbie:And we've been speaking with inspirational speaker and bestselling author, JJ Di Geronimo, about aligning with your life's work. We hope you've enjoyed today's program. If so, please hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any future episodes. Until next time, this is Debbie Spector Weisman saying sweet dreams everybody.
Announcer:You've been listening to Dream Power Radio with your host, Debbie Spector Weisman. For more information on Debbie or to sign up for her newsletter, go to dreampowerradiocom. This has been Dream Power Radio.