The courage to expand

I recently launched my Courage to Impact podcast. The launch was something I'd put off for months because I was scared.  

I had already purchased the equipment I needed, a hosting service, and a landing page on my website. I knew my mission and had a good idea of the format I wanted to use.  

My challenge was asking people to be my guest.

I wasn't afraid of people saying no. I was scared of the opposite, a yes.  

You see, if people said yes, I would need to expand, and I could never go back to the safety of the status quo. Deep down, I knew that this podcast would open up doors for me. That was scary.  

In addition, I was afraid of nobody listening, not making an impact, bad reviews, not being perfect, and just messing up.  

I created a story that said, if I launch this podcast, I might fail, and failing not only feels terrible, but I may lose friends, family, potential clients, income, and go broke as a result.

While this could've happened, the probability was very low. As I looked back at the things I've done, I always figured it out.

I was allowing something that had a low probability of happening to consume my thoughts and stop me from moving forward.  

Maybe you've been there?

A peer of mine, Jen, lovingly called me out saying, "Haven't you been talking about launching for months now?"  

That was all I needed to hear.

I thought to myself: What's the worst that can happen? I won't die, my arm won't fall off, and I'm sure I'll learn along the way. These new thoughts gave me permission to take a step forward.

I launched the podcast a few weeks later with 7 episodes.  

A fascinating thing happened after I launched. I expanded.

What is expansion? Webster's dictionary defines expansion as: To become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number.

To become greater.

I finally decided that I was ready to be a greater person than I was yesterday.  

I knew that I was capable and took action on it.

If you only take away one thing, go away with this:  Expansion lives on the other side of fear.

The only way to expand is by feeling fear, opening the door, and stepping through it.

You don't expand by thinking about it or pondering - you expand by taking action. Don't do it alone. Get the support you want to help you expand.

Bring your impact to life.

Be courageous.

God bless you,

Shermain.