Hello everyone and thank you for joining me today!

If you're getting my newsletter you know I am in the midst of some summertime craziness with family coming and going and getting ready for Podcast Movement in a couple of weeks.

My parents were just visiting this past weekend and I was sharing with them how I'm listening to Marianne Williamson's book, "A Return to Love Workshop: Basics on a Course in Miracles." It's a live recording of her delivering this workshop over the course of a weekend.

I shared with my parents how I missed going to a personal development seminar. It's been a while since I've gone away to focus just on me and who I am as a human being.

However the more we chatted over the weekend and I shared with them different conversations I've had with people in my life and books that I'm reading I realized I am immersed in a personal development program.

I've said many times on this podcast that entrepreneurship is the most robust personal development program you can put yourself through, but I'm also realizing you don't have to be an entrepreneur to get the rigorous benefits of personal development. You just have to surround yourself with the right people and resources and have a huge willingness to look at your stuff honestly and compassionately.

With Podcast Movement on the horizon something that has definitely been on my mind lately is the creative direction of Women Taking the Lead. I'm not the type of person who can keep doing the same thing over and over and over again without getting bored and so I need change. Last year that change look like switching up the format to releasing one interview episode a week and putting more time and effort into releasing the 100% Jodi episodes.

That had a huge impact on the success of this podcast. My download numbers per episode have doubled since I started doing the 100% Jodi episodes. It's those type of changes that I know keep me growing, keep the podcast growing, and serves this community best.

Last year at podcast movement I had a conversation with Natalie Eckdahl of the Biz Chix Podcast. I told her how much I admired her for doing the "on air coaching" calls as a part of her podcast and conveyed how courageous I thought that was.

Natalie very directly told me, "Jodi, this is something you should do with your podcast. You're a business coach. This is a way to display what you can do for your clients and the types of conversations you have in your coaching sessions."

When she said that to me a year ago I was so intimidated by the idea of it that I just put it to bed and only thought about it every now and again. Until recently. 

I was chatting with a new friend recently who asked what was next for my podcast. The first thing that came to mind was the "on air coaching" episodes so I mentioned that and then instantly came up with a bunch of reasons why I couldn't do it. All of those reasons were pretty much excuses not to take the risk and that became apparent in the conversation.

I thought about it over the weekend and what kept coming back to me was the oral exam I had to pass to earn my coaching certification. This entailed coaching a master coach on a recorded line and then the recording is passes onto 3-5 other master coaches who review and either pass or fail you with feedback.

As soon as the call was done I started to cry because I was sure I failed. I was wrong, I passed but I didn't feel good about the experience at all. Years later I entered a fun contest in my coaching community that was set up like March Madness in college basketball.

In the contest each coach submitted a recorded call to be rated by a select group of coaches deciding who moved on to the next round. I didn't make it past the first round. I was bummed but I figured it would be a good learning opportunity so I asked if I could get the feedback on where I went wrong. I was told someone would reach out to me but nobody did and I didn't follow up, which I've come to regret. Because what has lived with me is this conflicting image I have of myself as a coach. 

On the one hand I have this image of me as a great coach - I am able to provide my clients with a safe space in which they can just be themselves; they don’t have be super professional or put up any fronts with me. They can come as they are, tell the truth without fearing judgment and they can be supported and stretched at the same time. They reach or exceed their goals and they rave about me. That sounds all good, right?

On the other hand there is this lingering feeling that I’m not as good as I think I am. There’s something I’m doing wrong and I don’t know what it is because that information has not been shared with me.

So you can imagine what I’m going through as I start seriously considering these “on air coaching” calls. I’m going to be releasing yet another recording of me coaching and this time it’s for the whole world to hear. Anyone can access this podcast and listen to my coaching process and style. And my inner critic is having a field day with me.

This is a perfect example of the Imposter Syndrome. I’m afraid if I record myself coaching and publish it I’ll be called out as a fraud. Everyone will know I’m not as good as I appear and the jig is up.

As I’m saying this I know it sounds insane but that’s why the Imposter Syndrome is so insidious. Until we get our thoughts out of our head and say them aloud to another person those thoughts live like they are the truth. When I shared all my excuses with my friend, who in turn questioned them, the excuses all sounded ridiculous.

It was then I realized how much fear had been deciding the content of Women Taking the Lead. And I can’t let that go on.

I can’t expect you to do anything I’m not willing to do and I want to model boldness, taking a risk, and stretching limits.

Starting in the Fall I’m going to start releasing “On Air Coaching” episodes. I’m going to take advantage of my time at Podcast Movement this month to develop my process around these episodes and you’ll be hearing more starting in September.

The bottom line, and coming back to where I started from, doing programs and weekends to focus on your personal development is awesome – I certainly want to do more – and if you surround yourself by the right people and resources be it books, TED Talks, podcasts or videos, and take action on what you learn, you are going to experience continuous growth in your life and in your work.

If you are interested in joining forces with a group of women who are going for it in their life and in their businesses I’m going to highly recommend you check out The Accomplished Community. There is coaching, Q&A, masterminding, expert calls, weekly prompts, a lot of compassion and more to help you continue to grow and stretch yourself in a way that feels good. Go to https://womentakingthelead.com/community to find out more.

I hope this was valuable to you and if it was please share this with a friend. That’s how we gain resources to help us on our own personal development journey.

Here’s to your success!

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