This month while we’re talking about building a stronger self-image, we’re going to attack, look straight on, and go towards the thing that seems straight impossible. You know Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” We’re going to talk about doing that one thing that seems impossible. Let’s get it going.

Welcome to the Unlock Your Life podcast, a podcast for highly successful visionary women who want more out of life. If you feel that ache of unfulfillment in your soul, you’re in the right place sis. Join life mastery consultant Lori A. Harris as she teaches you how to stop living for others and finally put yourself first. Let’s dive into today’s show.

So in my 20s, I went through a Billie Holiday phase. There are some guys that believe when your woman’s going through a Billie Holiday phase, go the other direction. Go out the back door. But one of my favorite songs and lyrics is from Crazy He Calls Me. Billie Holiday sings this song, and she says, “The difficult I’ll do right now. The impossible might take a little while.” I just love that. The difficult I’ll do right now. The impossible might take a little while.

It’s so cool because it speaks to what is it that you really, really want. That thing that you really want might seem impossible, but that’s exactly what we need to go toward and go for in order to have a rich, fulfilling life. It’s those things that we think seem impossible at this state of our learning, at this state of our growing, at this state of our being. It seems impossible. So why should we even try?

There’s that Lewis Carroll quote from Alice in Wonderland. It’s really fun. The Queen says to Alice, “When I was your age, I did it for a half hour each day. While sometimes before breakfast, I believed as much as six impossible things before breakfast.” Isn’t that great? Six impossible things before breakfast. When I think about believing six impossible things, I believe that it’s a challenge for us to make sure we’re going toward the things that’s going to lead us to our own personal growth.

You might notice that when people tell their stories of triumph or transformation that they really kind of start at the beginning and say, “This is where I was. I went through some things. I had a hard time. This is where I am now.” Most people spend very little time on that middle part of how they did it. The reason for that is that’s not where the lesson is. Because the how is really nobody’s business. The how is personal to each situation for each individual.

So when we are going toward our own individual, impossible dream, impossible venture, how we get there is going to be unique to us. I know that it can be frightening to go towards the thing that seems impossible, but that feeling of fright or insecurity is a signal to you that that’s absolutely where you must go in order to experience your next level of growth, your next level of life.

So we’re gonna talk this week about building a stronger believing. Building within ourselves our own self-image of ourselves, the thing we need in order to get to the other side, to get over the gap between where we are now in a place of desire and on the other side to the place of acquisition, to the place of achievement, to the place of I did that. How we get there is for us to discover.

When I’m working with my coaching clients, we often talk about having a burning desire. That thing within us that makes us want that thing so badly that there’s little else we can think of. It’s on our mind constantly. Now, just because it’s on your mind constantly doesn’t mean you’re actively doing the things that’s going to bridge that gap. But one of the steps is to have the burning desire.

Then the next part of it is the how. The how requires you to do a couple of things, to take a couple of steps, to step into the unknown, to step on to the icy lake that’s frozen and seems like it might not be stable. But that’s only your internal system within your own body telling you to be cautious.

But you don’t have to be afraid because you don’t have to have all of the answers in order to take your very first step. You don’t have to know every single step to know what to do in order to get to the other side. The most important thing is that you take a step. So when we’re talking about living a life that gives us life, building a life that gives us life, it means we’re going to have to allow ourselves to experience that burning desire and to answer the call.

So sometimes when I’m working with my clients, I’ll say you know, it’s not your job to worry about all the steps in how you’re going to bring this thing about. It’s like when you go to your local coffee shop and you have your signature drink, the drink that you really love to have. When you go and you order your drink at the local establishment for fine coffee, you put in your order. Then they ask you your name. Then they write your name on the cup, and then you go to the end of the counter, fully expecting to receive the drink that you ordered with your name on it.

You don’t go behind the counter and try to help the barista with putting it together. You fully expect that you’ve put in your order. You’ve made it clear what you want. Then you go to the end of the counter expecting to receive that which you ordered with your name on it exactly the way you would like it. The only thing that can happen is it could be even better than you could have imagined, even tastier. But you fully expect to receive the drink that you ordered.

Or what would it be like for you if you went about your life doing the things that lights you up, fully expectant that it’s going to be successful, fully expectant that you’re going to get a positive result rather than living from fear, rather than stopping yourself saying what if I fail? What if I look stupid? What if I don’t know what I’m doing? What if I do it wrong?

Rather than go through all of those internal shenanigans, you allowed yourself to venture into the feeling tone of it’s going to work out for me. I might not know all of the steps, but I’m going to take the steps right now that I know to take and I know that it will lead me to the other side. So let me do that which I know right now and trust that that step will inform the next step and the next step and the next step.

While it can be tempting to say to yourself, “Oh, what if I fail?” I’m going to implore you to ask a better question. What if I succeed? What if it all works out? What if this is just what it looks like while it’s all coming together? How would that feel rather than contemplating failure, contemplating limitation contemplating lack?

I want us all to work on building a stronger believing and just allow ourselves to experience that little bit of belief, that little bit of faith, and allow it to grow, to nurture that seed of belief, that seed of faith, nurture it with action, nurture it with positive thoughts, nurture it with doing things that are in congruence with being the person that you aspire to be, doing the things that you aspire to do. Having the things that you aspire to have.

We’re living in times that seem very difficult, but we are excited by the people who go forward and do the thing that seems impossible. So whether you would love to see your local community enact safer gun laws, or you would love to see your community provide really good education for your community, or you would love to be part of an initiative that made a difference for our unhoused neighbors. It starts first with a belief.

So how about we ask a different question. What if I could? Wouldn’t it be cool if? Another great question is if I didn’t think it was impossible, what’s one thing I could do right now that would move this dream forward? If I didn’t think I might fail, if I wasn’t afraid to fall down, what’s one thing I could do?

So I’m asking you to build a stronger believing. Now, how do we do that? Well, one thing I want you to do is to keep strong with having an arsenal of knowing the things that you’ve already done well. Done the thing that you thought some time ago was too hard. Some time ago you weren’t sure you were going to be able to do it, but you took the step, you made the effort, and look at you on the other side.

Look at you living that life with success. Look at you getting comfortable. Look at you settling in and stopping to continue to grow. Remember those past successes. Remember those things that you did that at the time seemed impossible. Keep them close.

Now, back in the day, I had an old business card. It was one of my first professional business cards. I wrote on the back of that card three things that I knew I had already done and succeeded at that. That at the time I started that adventure it seemed impossible. It seemed hard, and it seemed unlikely.

Now, the funny thing about impossible things is they’re so personal. Because we can tell ourselves I don’t know if I can do that. But our friends looking from the outside might say, “Oh, that’s not impossible at all. Of course you could do that. Dream bigger.” I’m sure you’ve had that experience where one of your friends is talking about I wish. I don’t know how. If I could, I would, but I don’t know how.

You’re sitting there thinking, Well, of course you can do that. Look at all these great things you’ve already done. You try to encourage them, and they poo-poo it. They say, “No, I can’t. No, you don’t understand. No, actually I’m not that smart. I’ve been faking it all this time. You don’t know the kind of trouble I go through in order to get X, Y, and Z done. You just don’t know.” They will continue to fight and argue for their limitation.

Don’t be like that. Don’t fight for failure. Build your own sense of believing by watering the seeds of belief. Just give it a little bit of attention and a little bit of nurturing and allow yourself to take that baby inchworm step that you know is your next step.

So in order to start doing the impossible things, I encourage you to ask a better question. Ask yourself what if I could? If I didn’t think this was impossible, what might be my very first step to take? Then take it. Keep close by your evidence of past successes, your evidence of things that you’ve done before that you thought was impossible at the time and now you’ve already conquered that and gotten comfortable. Then allow yourself to experience a little bit of discomfort and go toward the thing that lights you up. Train yourself not to argue for your own limitation. Keep a record in evidence of your past successes.

Finally, in order to achieve your personal impossible dream, break it down into little, tiny pieces. Take those little pieces, baby inchworm steps that you already know to take. Don’t worry about how long it’s going to take or how many steps there will be. Do the thing that lights you up, that makes you excited.

One more tip, I want to remind you that every time you feel a little bit of mental or physical anguish or distress when you’re contemplating doing something new, remember what we talked about in past episodes about doing a body scan. Check in with yourself and say hmm, is this truly fear? Is this truly trying to signal to me that I’m feeling in danger? Or am I being reminded of what it feels like to be excited about a new adventure?

Because those feelings live in the same place in our bodies. They seem very similar, and it can be tempting to get carried away and think this is a fight or flight situation. When actually it’s a rest, release, and create situation. Lean into situation. Go for it situation.

So we’re going to dream big. We’re going to do impossible things. We’re going to know that what we are calling impossible today and putting on our vision board is going to be old hat next year. We’re going to have a whole new set of goals and ideas and things that light us up.

We’re gonna go to that big barista of life, put in our order, and take the steps we know to take expecting our big dreams and excitement to be fulfilled. Whether it’s something you want for yourself personally or a goal that you’re set for our community at large for healing. Know that you are part of that healing, and your work and life make a difference.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s episode of the Unlock Your Life podcast. We’re on episode 49 y’all. If our weekly episodes have helped you on your journey to build a life that gives you life, head on over to your favorite platform and leave a review. Subscribe, follow the show. If you love it, leave a five star rating and your reviews and feedback will not only help us to continue to deliver great, helpful content, but it will help us to reach even more mission driven wonderful entrepreneurs and visionary women just like yourself. Remember, it’s your life. Make it a great one.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Unlock Your Life podcast. If you want more information on how you can transform your life and do it quickly, visit loriaharris.com. See it on the next episode of the Unlock Your Life podcast.