Unlock Your Genius Zone

This Is Why Your Big Idea Isn’t Working (Yet) | The Science Behind Entrepreneurial Breakthroughs | Ep. 57

• Ine-Wilme Coetzee • Episode 57

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Ever feel like you’re standing still while other people race ahead with ideas you once had? In this episode, Ine-Wilme Coetzee reveals why brilliant entrepreneurs get stuck—not from lack of talent, but because they’re unknowingly playing small. She unpacks the neuroscience behind inaction, the cost of waiting, and how to rewire your brain to take bold, aligned steps forward.

You’ll hear a live cello demonstration that shows what “playing big” really sounds like—and why conviction always beats perfection. Plus, you’ll learn the key to stepping into flow state so your boldest ideas finally have room to breathe.

What You’ll Learn:

  • How to know if you’re “testing slow” instead of “testing small”
  • What your amygdala has to do with your hesitation
  • Why flow state is the real secret to faster execution
  • The #1 mindset shift that changes everything for stuck entrepreneurs

Mentioned in This Episode: 🎧 Flow State Formula – A private podcast + music experience that shifts your brain into bold, creative action. Access it free here → https://www.innervoiceinstituteofmusic.com/private-podcast-opt-in-page

Podcast intro music: J.S. Bach Cello Suites, Suite No. 3 in C major, Prelude 
Musician: Mari Coetzee 

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Speaker 1:

How many times have you been standing on the same platform for months and maybe even years on end watching these opportunity trains just passing you by? Those crossing trains each represent an idea that we let slip through our fingertips, each one carrying potential destinations we never allowed ourselves to fully explore, and what I mean by that is actually follow through to completion, all the way to the destination. Okay, so on this clip that you're watching right now, this is actually something I've never shared on the channel before those red heels. You see they were killing my feet, but that's not the point of the story. The point was is I was traveling. I was literally walking towards a meeting with a potential six figure client, and the only reason why I was able to follow through, despite the pain metaphorically from those red heels and literally because they were quite painful is because I knew that I had been taking each opportunity train as they were passing me by the last seven years. I've been an entrepreneur now for seven years and each of these opportunity trains that passed me by, I used to let them go on to their destination without me. But in the last year, I changed my strategy. I changed, honestly, my identity, and that was the key to actually seeing an idea to completion. That day, I experienced the type of opportunity that only materializes when you stop waiting and you start walking towards the idea that is keeping you up at night.

Speaker 1:

Let me ask you something how many ideas have you had that you did not follow through? How many times have you started something just to abandon it when it got uncomfortable? And how many of those times were you scrolling on Instagram watching someone else follow through on your idea while you were still getting ready to start? My friend, I know the feeling Watching someone else succeed with a concept that you thought you were the first person to think of. There's this late night anxiety that keeps you up and makes you think are you ever going to break your current ceiling? And that fear makes you think am I really cut out for entrepreneurship? Am I really part of that three to 6% of people who are natural born entrepreneurs? Is that really me, or am I just kidding myself? You know what that is. It's actually you playing small, and today I'm actually going to show you exactly why playing small is costing you everything and, most importantly, how to break free from that pattern that is keeping you stuck. Are you ready. Welcome back to the channel. I am Ina, and we are talking today about one of the main things that keeps female entrepreneurs stuck. Welcome back to the channel.

Speaker 1:

My name is Ina Wilmay-Kutziah, and today we will be talking about something that's keeping too many brilliant entrepreneurs, especially women, from the success that they deserve Playing small. It sounds innocent enough. Right, be careful, test the waters, make sure that everything is perfect before you launch, but what if I told you that this approach, the one that feels safe, is actually the very thing holding you back? It's, honestly, the riskiest strategy of all. So by the end of this video, you will understand exactly what playing small looks like, so that you can spot it in yourself. Number two, the surprising science behind why your brain actually fights your biggest dreams. And number three, three, research back reasons why playing big is actually better for your life and your business, and this will help you take the very first step you need to today to start breaking this pattern.

Speaker 1:

Let's dive in, okay. So what does playing small really look like? Honestly, if I can sum it up in one sentence, it would be testing small and testing slow. Now Sarah Blakely, founder of Spanx. She says you need to test small, but you need to test fast. Now the thing is, when you test small and slow, that is the danger zone where opportunities pass you by. So let's break this down.

Speaker 1:

Testing small means limiting your reach, your audience, maybe the amount of ad spend you put in, or maybe even your offer. Like, maybe you create something really simple, something that you feel very confident in launching, but you take action fast. Okay, so what's the difference between testing slow and testing small? There's a very big difference here. Testing small is not a bad thing. Testing small honestly gives you the chance to see if the market even wants your idea. It means maybe limiting your ad spend in the beginning. Maybe it is creating an offer that is so basic that you know you'll be able to fulfill it to every single person that comes your way, simply to test. So you're testing small, it is low risk. But here's the thing A lot of people confuse testing small with testing slow. Testing slow, on the other hand, means overthinking every detail, wanting everything to have the most perfect timing, perfect platform, perfect offer the word perfect is coming up here or endless research without action. That is what is testing slow, and you are actually taking the biggest risk of all when you test slow Because, honestly, if you see an opportunity in the market, you see something where you can serve, where your gifting can perfectly match your ideal client's problem, but you don't take action, somebody else will or the problem will change, and then you have missed your chance.

Speaker 1:

So I'm a professional cellist. I have been playing the cello. You can see my cello is right there. I've been performing on the cello for over 20 years now. In fact, it's going to be 21 years this summer since I started the cello, and one of the main things that I learned is you actually don't need perfection to have a convincing performance, a convincing, beautiful performance that really moves an audience, moves the masses. With music. It's not about the perfect sound. It's not about the perfect making sure that every note is perfect. Honestly, it is taking the story of the composer, bringing it to life with the notes that you're playing and then presenting it in a way where you have conviction, you have authenticity and you are telling this story to your audience. You are allowing them to feel the emotions of the composer. You're, honestly, a conduit for these emotions.

Speaker 1:

Now, in the entrepreneurship, business world, basically, how this applies is we are conduits for the inspired ideas that come our way. We have to relate them, using our gifting to the audiences that has been put our way. So, whether that audience is maybe your women's group at church, like maybe that's your audience right now and you just want to host a weekly Bible study, like that is a beautiful idea, maybe that's your audience. Maybe you have an audience of 50,000 people on Instagram and that is your audience you've been called to serve. Each one of us has an audience. The question is is are we actually conveying the inspiration we have been given through our ideas to the audience we have been given? That is the question I want you to ask yourself right now.

Speaker 1:

Now, the key thing here is it's going to be uncomfortable. Anytime that we start to present our message, anytime we launch something new, it is uncomfortable. But you know, the more you lean into that bit of uncomfortableness in the beginning, the greater your idea will have to succeed like, the greater the chance will be for the idea to succeed. So let me ask you this what idea keeps you up at night? What concept do you find yourself daydreaming about at work when you really should be focusing on something else? The persistent thought you keep having? It is not random. It's your intuition telling you where your greatest impact and your greatest income is waiting.

Speaker 1:

Unfortunately, here's what happens for most entrepreneurs, and this is where I want you to pause the video, if you need to, and write down the ones that pop out for you. Okay, number one, you don't trust that intuition that pop out for you. Okay, number one, you don't trust that intuition, that inspiration, and instead you collect strategies and never implement them. Maybe you have a note on your phone that says Instagram strategy ideas. I know I did at one point. Number two maybe you plan for launches. You write out all the dates and you keep postponing it, like you move the date from May 2nd to May 17th because we're now two weeks away or, in the case of when this video is published, four days away and you don't feel ready. So you keep moving it forward and forward and you feel like you're being productive because you're planning your launch, you're getting ready to launch, you are prepping your audience and whatever else you feel like you really need to do, which, I agree, is a crucial element of launching, but you can only stay in pre-launch mode so long.

Speaker 1:

Okay, number three you have projects. You start but you never finish. Think a lead magnet you created but you never actually had published. You never actually talked about it.

Speaker 1:

Number four maybe you wait for more clarity before taking action. Maybe you get stuck while writing your first blog post and you think, well, I guess I don't understand SEO and keyword optimization anyways, so let me just go research this a little bit more so you try to get more clarity so that you can take action when action actually breeds clarity. That is the key Action breeds clarity. Waiting breeds confusion. So take action when you feel unclear. Confusion is honestly just a way for your brain we're going to get into this actually in the next section here to protect yourself. So before I go a little bit too far in here, I'm going to finish my list here. So maybe, number five, you discount your prices because you don't feel confident. Number six maybe you water down your message so you don't get criticized, you don't get judged, even though you know that being controversial is actually going to attract the right people to you and maybe make the wrong people go away.

Speaker 1:

Does any of that sound familiar, my friend? That is what playing small looks like, and it is costing you everything in your business. It is costing you time. Time is everything. Time is the only resource that is not renewable. Now here is why you play small. This is part two now of our video. Your brain is protecting you from success. You're actually not procrastinating or lacking discipline when you play small. Your brain is working overtime, actually exactly how it was designed to protect you.

Speaker 1:

Now there's this groundbreaking research that explains why this happens. So in the book that I'm currently binge reading I actually started at beginning of April it's called the 12 week year I read that researchers have actually found a portion of the brain called the amygdala that reacts negatively when we face uncertainty and risk. Now, what is entrepreneurship usually equated to? It is a medium where you face a lot of uncertainty and risk, and if you're not okay with uncertainty and risk, maybe you shouldn't be an entrepreneur. That is just the hard truth. But the thing is, there's actually a way where you can wire your brain to see it as a good thing.

Speaker 1:

But the reality is this the amygdala kicks in. This part of the brain avoids risk. It tries its absolute best to keep you out of uncertain situations, and even though those situations might be the very thing that leads to your greatest breakthroughs. So what I want you to do right now is envision a future that is bigger than you've ever dreamed. Think about the thing you want most. Maybe, if you're already an entrepreneur, the reason you became a business owner. Maybe if you're still working a job and you really want to become a business owner. What do you actually desire in life? Think about that for a moment, think deeply, think detailed, and if you start to feel just a tiny bit uncomfortable thinking about that grand vision the thing you want most your amygdala just kicked in. It's trying to shut down the process Before you do anything it considers risky.

Speaker 1:

So that's the bad news, and at one level, we're all wired to resist change and postpone greatness. But the good news is is there's also a part of your brain called the prefrontal cortex, or PFC, that acts as a counterbalance to the amygdala. So the PFC actually lights up when you think about your grand vision. This is crucial because when you imagine greatness for yourself in the future, you want to wire your brain to know that this is our desired reality. This is actually the thing that's going to make us safe, not the vision itself. The vision itself is not the threat. The threat is your amygdala thinking, so scientists can actually track increased electrical impulses in the prefrontal cortex when test subjects thought about a compelling future.

Speaker 1:

And, more interestingly, research has actually shown that our brains have a powerful capacity for change. It's called neuroplasticity, and neuroplasticity it can actually change how your brain uses different parts. So this is both good news and bad news. The bad news is, unless you intentionally engage the prefrontal cortex, you are by default strengthening the portion of your brain that resists change and keeps you stuck. The good news is is you can actually change your brain simply by what you think about. There is a verse in the book of James from the Bible that I love so much. It says keep every thought captive. And this is because our brains are neural plastic. It changes based on what we think about. So when you keep every thought captive, in the same way that you have to keep every idea captive not judging it, kind of deciding where does it fit here you can actually regularly and repeatedly change your actual brain chemistry.

Speaker 1:

But what we need to do is to get into a space with the right brainwaves where our brain does this automatically, where we are set up for success, so to speak, where our amygdala is calmed down enough, where our prefrontal cortex can take the wheel and drive us to the destination we are looking for, and this is why playing small is so dangerous. When you play small and you shrink your vision, you are training your brain to head that direction. You move towards your most prominent thought, and if your most prominent thought is a shrunk down vision, because you think that that's all you can attain, that is where you will go. I heard a quote this morning, but it goes like this If you plan to go nowhere, you will end up someplace else. I'm probably not even saying that right, but you get the gist of it. We want to think in a very certain way, with our brainwaves set up for success, and I'm actually going to show you exactly what this looks like.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so, as you can see, I have my cello here with me and what I'm going to do, and hopefully, if you're watching this on YouTube, you're really watching my arm gestures, kind of my body language right now. But if you're listening to the podcast version, what I'm going to do is I'm going to demonstrate what playing big looks like on the cello and what playing small looks like, and I'm going to ask you which version you prefer. Now the good news is is that when I feel like I'm playing big, it comes through in my sound. So even if you're just listening to the podcast, you're actually going to hear a difference in my sound. I'm going to start with playing small and then I'm going to play big.

Speaker 2:

Okay that was playing small Now let's see what does playing big sound and look like feel in comparison. There we go.

Speaker 1:

So you see and you hear that there is a big difference. That big difference makes the message more compelling. So the cool thing is is when you play big and you have a grand vision that you are thinking about. It comes through in how you communicate. Before we end today's video, I wanna tell you a couple of scientifically backed reasons why playing big is actually gonna be less of a risk than playing small. Number one it rewires your brain for grit. Research shows that stepping outside of your comfort zone allows you to step into your genius zone, and what it really does is it strengthens your brain's ability to be resilient. This is one of the key indicators of a successful entrepreneur is someone who is able to be resilient, and this makes you stronger, more confidence for future challenges, which are inevitable in business. I've been in business now for almost eight years for seven and a half years and every single time that I encounter something where I need to be resilient and I need to think big, keep playing big. I feel my brain changing. Each time it feels a little bit easier, although the challenges keep getting bigger and bigger. But that is the good news Every time you practice it, the muscle of resilience gets bigger.

Speaker 1:

I worked with a client recently who kept watching all of these trains of ideas passing her by. Honestly, for years she would have this massive list of ideas that she wanted to launch, that she wanted to put out in the world, that she knew was gonna help working moms to thrive and really feel flow in their lives. But she never started until she started identifying the idea that pulled at her heartstrings and committed fully to that one direction. And that is when everything changed. She got into flow and the ideas started flowing, the action started flowing and what came was results. And she is building the foundation for a beautiful business that is taking her out of her comfort zone and into her genius zone, and that is where joy lies. That is where wealth is a byproduct and that is where feeling like your business is thriving really can appear. Okay, number two playing big increases your creativity. How do I know this? From my background as a cellist. When I play small, my ideas feel restricted, I'm not able to be as free in the moment, and you probably noticed when I did the two examples, not only did my body language change, but also the sound that came out of my cello. The sound was freer and I was more creative with my phrasing, with the way that I was playing and I was actually able to utilize the skills that I've learned over the years.

Speaker 1:

Creative environment is one that you're taking big action. Creativity doesn't lie in sitting staring at a blank Google doc. Creativity really lies in those walks when you just can't stop adding ideas to your notes on your phone. It lies in when you're playing with your kid outside in the leaves in the autumn and the ideas just keep on rolling the same way. The leaves keep falling off of the trees.

Speaker 1:

Action breeds clarity and if you have a way to capture these ideas and get into this flow on a consistent basis, that is what's going to give you consistent success in your business. Flow state is when you get two days worth of work done in just two hours. What this means for you is having more time to play in your business, to play with your kids, to play in life. So when you play big, you create opportunities for these creative collisions. And number three playing big speeds up the timeline in which you actualize your goals, because studies have shown that people who regularly pursues difficult but valuable experiences actually achieve their goals in less time than those who prioritize ease.

Speaker 1:

Hard things are not punishment. They're a portal, a portal to your genius zone, the place where your unique talents and passions create maximum value for others and maximum fulfillment for you. Think about a skill that you have mastered in life. Did master come from doing the easy version over and over? Or did it come from pushing yourself just a little bit beyond your current capabilities, feeling that productive discomfort? That actually is a signal of growth? Which one? Playing big means choosing the hard path? Which one Playing big means choosing the hard path not because? So how do you actually start playing big? How do you overcome that biological resistance to change and risk and really rewire your brain for your big vision?

Speaker 1:

The difference between entrepreneurs who are still standing on the platform and those confidently walking their path isn't talent or luck. It is courage, and it is the courage to step into their zone of genius, really ride the one train that's going to take them to their grand vision and go all the way, even when doubt and discomfort appears at every step. I want to share a practical first step that has helped, honestly, every single entrepreneur I have worked with to make this shift from playing small to playing big, and it is about training your brain to enter what scientists call flow state, that optimal state of consciousness where you feel your best, you perform your best and we're taking creative risks, very much like a musician on stage, starts to feel easy. In flow state, time slows down, your inner critic goes quiet, ideas flow effortlessly and, most importantly, courage becomes available. So because of that state and how music really can rewire our brains that way naturally your brain is really made for this my sister and I, professional cellist Marie Kutsia we created something called the flow state formula. It is specifically for entrepreneurs who want to access flow state more consistently so that they can play big.

Speaker 1:

There are two versions currently in this private music experience. Number one, an anxiety into excitement activation. This is with guided audio and it'll actually tell you exactly your first step to take action on your big idea. And then number two, a music only version so you can really remember what the feeling was. So we always say start with the audio activation so you know what the music is about, and then listen to the audio version. It's under 10 minutes where you'll actually be guided through four different pieces of music to get you from a state of paralysis by analysis and into the excitement you had when you first started your business.

Speaker 1:

So head to the description or to the show notes and download the free private podcast. Get access to it now because more and more episodes are going to be added. There's actually an episode in the works that's going to be launched in the next couple of weeks with calming your nervous system with a professional nervous system coach. It's going to be so good, so so good, and as more are added, the value increases. So right now the private podcast is completely free, to save your spot, but eventually it'll probably become paid. So take action now. Remember, action breeds clarity. So take this action today. I will see you in your private concert experience. And I want to leave you with this one last quote from poet Mary Oliver. And I want to leave you with this one last quote from poet Mary Oliver. She says tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Until next time, remember, the world doesn't need you to play small. It needs your boldest ideas and most courageous actions. You've got this. See you in the next one.