Welcome back to the Jasmine Star. Show a place that is warm and cozy. Think of yourself next to a fire with a stack of blankets, really thick socks, a pair of old sweatpants and a sweatshirt that has been worn so many times. It's actually thin, but it's your favorite. Throw your hair back up. Or if you are one of the 0.01% of the men listening, put a hat on, pull up a warm beverage because this conversation is gonna feel like home. Y'all, I'm so happy you are here. And I'm gonna start off with a question. Have you ever been in a place and started a conversation without knowing the person you're speaking to is actually a very big deal. Yeah. Well, it happened to myself, but it also happened to my mentor in a pretty big scale. So at the time, my mentor, his name is David, he was working for ibm and they had a leadership training at ibm, and he's walking around the campus and they're holding it in this facility. And as he's walking into facility, he sees a gentleman strikes the conversation, and they're just chatting all about, and they're talking about success and leadership. And David is there sharing his insights and his perspectives, and, oh, this is what I've done with my team. And then later on, 10 minutes passes. And then he sees this same guy he was speaking to walk on the stage. And this gentleman starts by saying, failure is not an option. David had heard those words before and he heard those exact words as he watched the movie Apollo 11. So the guy he spoke to walking in, crossed the I b M campus and how David was like, let me talk to you about some leadership skills. Uh, he was talking to Gene Krantz and Gene said those famous words, failure is not an option. And he was the director of NASA flight operations, and he was the person who directed the landing mission of Apollo 11. Hmm. Okay. So David's like, great. This is great <laugh>. But the thing that David remembers most of all, beyond him being slightly embarrassed, was that Gene Krantz, like many good leaders, gave himself one option. Boom. It was success. Whoa. Maybe I should avoid using the word boom and Apollo 11 and the same conversation. Okay. Okay. Uh, let me retrack that. The main thing is the main thing. Our brains are more inclined to avoid pain than to achieve progress. Like, I feel like I should say that again. We are hardwired to avoid pain more than what we really want is to achieve progress. So as you are thinking about all the things you wanna do this year and the big ways you want your business to grow, please know that that in fact can be true. You want to achieve that progress. But our brains are sending out blaring signs to be like, is that painful? Let's avoid it. Is that painful? Is that uncomfortable? Does that cause any discomfort? Let's avoid it. Oh, well, if you don't believe me, here's 10 ways to ensure your business day stuck in 2023. Number one, wait for the perfect time. Number two, always expect the best case scenario. What everything, the best case scenario, you're like, yes, of course that will happen. Number three, start something new today. Start something new tomorrow. And then repeat that process. Sure way. Sure way. Your business will stay stuck if you're always starting new things and never giving them the amount of time that they need to grow. Another way to stay stuck is number four. Read lots of books and don't take action. Number five, listen to lots of podcast and don't take action. Number six, watch lots of tutorials and then don't take action. Number seven, ask for advice. And guess what? Don't take action. Great ways to stay stuck. Number eight, way to stay stuck is blame the situation, not yourself. Oh yeah, everything's happening to you, Anna. What can you do to happen to it? Number nine, way to stay stuck in 2023 is to wait for somebody to help you. You want people to want to ask you, how can I help you? When we're all busy and super focused on what it is that we wanna do, we want the world to stop, focus on us and ask how they can help us instead of having the courage to carefully formulate a question and a request for help. Mm. And number 10, one of the best ways to stay stuck in 2023 is to make excuses and give yourself a way out. Mm. Now, after hearing this long list, does the idea of being stuck in stite pain, do you not want to stay stuck? Great. If you are determined to grow, if you are determined to understand that you want to achieve process, and you're okay with working through the uncomfortable moments, the sticky situations, the big question marks a k, a, everything the brain is saying, that is pain, that is discomfort. Blaring, warning signs, you say, hush. Now brain hush. I am going to achieve progress by running into, by embracing the things that I naturally want to do, but will refuse because I understand that staying safe keeps me stuck. So let's embrace the opposite. Let's apply the rule. If you don't wanna stay stuck, then we must do the opposite of everything we've just outlined of staying stuck. So number one, the perfect time doesn't exist. So start today. Great way to not stay stuck. Number two, hope for the best case scenario. Ooh. But plan for the worst, hope for the best, plan for the worst. Number three, start something new today and stick with it for longer than anyone else. Ooh, that one hurts, right? Because what we wanna do is we wanna stop when we don't see progress. We wanna slow. If we're not moving fast enough, we wanna tell ourselves, oh, I made the wrong choice, really. Or did you make the choice that you knew you needed to make, but you're not seeing the results fast enough? What would it look like for you? Have the hutzpah, the courage, the gunna to say, I will make this thing, and I cannot lose if I don't quit. And if I am the last person to pursue this idea and I'm willing to work on it longer than anyone else, I will win. Number four, way to not stay stuck is to read books and then take action is to listen to lots of podcasts and take action. Number six, watch lots of tutorials and take action. Number seven, ask for advice and then take action. Ooh, number eight, learn from the situation and make yourself better. Learn. It was not a failure, it was a lesson. Number nine, the only person who will help you is you. Mm-hmm. We can ask for help. And then if somebody so chooses to help us, amazing. And if somebody so chooses to not help us, amazing. Because the philosophy, the perspective we went into it is the only person who will help me is me. And anybody beyond that is a blessing. Number 10, don't make excuses. Make yourself a way through friends. We went from 10 ways to stay stuck to 10 ways to ensure you don't stay stuck. The option is yours and the option is here. And we cannot anymore pretend that we don't know the very things that are keeping us stuck, because now we know now we're wiser, we're stronger, we're better. But none of that matters if we don't have the courage to take an action, make a decision, be a bold declaration of what is possible. And if things don't work out the way that we want, although we hope they do, we will remain undaunted and remain committed to continue to do the very thing until we make ourselves a way through. Friends. I am so honored and I am so privileged to be having these conversations on the podcast. I actually recently heard Sam par of my first million podcast. He said to his listeners, which I thought was really good, he had said, what we're creating here is a gentleman's agreement. And a gentleman's agreement is if I ask you to do something and you ask me to do something, we have an that those two things will happen. Well, since I'm a gentle woman, I'm gonna be making a gentle person's agreement. You, man, woman, Asian, Haitian, Croatian, alien, purple, pink, yellow, all of y'all are welcome here. But we're gonna have an agreement. And the agreement has been for the past three years that this podcast has not run a single ad. I have not asked anybody for money. So if I continue pouring into this podcast, that is my gentle person's agreement. In my agreement and ask of you is, could you please do me a solid and leave a review wherever you listen to a podcast? And if you happen to be listening on a podcasting platform that doesn't allow reviews, if you could take a picture wherever you are Listen, I have seen people make mm, making their dinners listening to the podcast. I have seen people do water coloring art as they're listening to the podcast. I have seen people sit in traffic as they are listening to the podcast. And I have to tell you, it brings me joy. It brings me joy to know where you are in your life and where we are connecting in real time. People are like, I don't wanna show my face. Listen, throw a pair of sunglasses on. You can do this. Or you could just take a picture of you and your dog as you are walking along in your neighborhood. I have seen it always, and every days and twice on Sunday. And the way that this podcast grows so that you, me, gentle folk can meet other amazing gentle folk, and we gentle people can be making big, gentle waves in this industry. So the gentle person's agreement is, I will continue making this. If you will show that you are here alongside me. I don't do this for me. I do this for us. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for listening to the Jasmine Star Show.