Hey, sister! Welcome back to a Taylored Adventure to Happiness. If you are new, welcome! If you are a regular, I love ya, I love ya, I love ya!
Does anyone else feel like the goals they set on January 1st of this year are entirely irrelevant or impossible now? Maybe you scrapped them all three months ago or hung on to a few and let go of the rest. I get it — 2020 hasn’t looked anything like any of us expected it to. But maybe this isn’t an invitation to give up on our goals. Maybe it’s an invitation to reimagine them.
In today’s episode, I talked with my dear friend and magical human, Lindsey Schwartz, all about how your best life can still easily unfold for you in the rest of THIS year. If you feel like you’re not where you should be in your business, mindset, or physical goals at this point in 2020, Lindsey is going to help guide you from a place of frustration and confusion to a place of reimagining the possibilities that are waiting for you.
Who Is Lindsey Schwartz?
Lindsey is a real powerhouse. Professionally, she wears multiple hats, including podcast host, best-selling author, and Founder of the Powerhouse Women event and online community. But at heart, she’s a prosecco-and-guacamole-loving midwest girl.
Lindsey wrote her first book, Powerhouse Woman, after seeing numerous women in her life stop short of pursuing their own entrepreneurial dreams because of fear and self-doubt. She saw the need for more honest conversations about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship to show women that they don’t have to have it all together to get started. From there, the Powerhouse Women] community, annual event, and podcast were born, with the motto that we’re not meant to do business (or life) alone!
Lindsey is on a mission to inspire women worldwide to get out of their own way and take action toward turning their big ideas into reality.
The nuggets Lindsey shares in this message resonated with me on so many levels that I can’t wait for you to receive them! So without further ado, let’s dive into this beautiful conversation!
Stop Comparing Your Journey to Others and Become Your Best Self
Lindsey’s entrepreneurial journey started in network marketing, where she absolutely crushed it. If there was ever a network marketing superstar, it was Lindsey. About six or seven years in, she had this strong feeling that she was only living life at 70% of her potential. Whenever she expressed this feeling to someone, they would immediately gush over how successful she was and how they wanted to be like her. They couldn’t understand why Lindsey would want more.
In other words, Lindsey’s 70% looked like someone else’s 100%. This is so easy to do, especially with social media. We often see people “killing it” online and think, “Well, if they’re at this level and they’re killing it, I must be only going at 30%.” But really, you’re living at 70%. Who is to say they’re playing life at 100% and “killing it”? What if that’s a photo of them living life at 30%? We compare and depict lifestyles through public scrapbooks that represent a fraction of reality, and sometimes that fraction is a distorted version of reality.
Bottom line: You are the only person who knows what level you’re playing the game of life at. Lindsey knew in her soul she wasn’t stepping into her full purpose and potential. She said there were moments it felt good to hear people rave about her success, but that didn’t stop the little voice inside her from screaming, “Don’t you see? You have so much more to accomplish and offer the world.”
Inevitably, when people told her how much they looked up to her success and desired to do something similar, they would say something along the lines of, “But I’m not ready. I don’t know enough. I don’t think I’m really the one for this idea because there are so many other people doing it.” And every time Lindsey said she would think the same thing:
“Wait, hold on. Did no one tell you that’s actually what it feels like to build a business or create something of your own? [Those feelings and thoughts are] the sign you’re going in the right direction. Like, you’ve got to do this!” – Lindsey Schwartz
Eventually, Lindsey realized that she wasn’t following that little voice inside of her because she was afraid. When she finally took her own advice, everything changed — but more on that in the next section.
Decide what level you want to play this game of life at and honestly ask yourself, “Am I living at the potential I want to or at least taking steps to get there?” Don’t compare yourself or your journey to anyone else’s. Listen to that voice inside of you and regardless of what it looks like to others, take the steps to move past your 70% self.
What Happens When You Start to Pursue Your 71% Self
Lindsey and I both love to talk about how the Universe and our Higher Self conspire to present us with the opportunity to level-up ourselves. That day came for Lindsey when a woman contacted her about writing a book. Now, this wasn’t a normal book deal where they say, “You write a book, we will give you a several thousand dollar royalty check, and publish the book for you.” No, it was the kind of deal where they said, “You pay me to help you self-publish your book because I think you have a really good idea.”
Lindsey said that at the time, it felt like the most foreign idea ever. But she handed over the money and jumped into the program that started in just two days. Because she realized two things: 1) She was thinking the same things all the other women had told her about going for their big ideas and 2) this was the moment she could choose to go beyond her 70% and honor that little voice inside of her screaming for more. Here’s how she explained it:
“I just remember saying, ‘Well, here’s my money.’ …because this was what I noticed: My reply to her was going to be about how I knew plenty of people who would be way more qualified to write this book. I wasn’t a writer. I didn’t have the time. All [the same] things I was saying I wanted to help other women overcome. And it was like, ‘Look, you get to choose at this moment to continue going the way you’ve been going and staying at 70%, or what if you try something that you actually don’t know if you’ll be good at [ends up being] the worst book ever, but you go for it.’ That process and saying, ‘Yes,’ completely changed my life.” – Lindsey Schwartz
Lindsey had that experience of, “Oh fuck. If I don’t write the book, I’m not walking my talk,” so of course, she wrote the book because her future self was calling her. What a beautiful example of what I say all the time: If you’re not willing to take your own medicine, don’t give it to other people. Lindsey’s ability to embrace her 71% self and the possibility of squeaky wheels and things going awry ended up opening up a whole new world. A world that challenges her and brings her joy daily and a world where she makes an incredible impact on other women’s lives!
That’s the power of pursuing our 71% self. It often leads to opportunities we would never have dreamed of for ourselves. The funny thing is that our future selves had them waiting for us all along. All we had to do was take the first step toward the next version of ourselves.
Why You Should Stop Setting Realistic Goals
If there’s anything this year is reminding us of, it’s that we are never really in control. Many of us try to set goals that we feel are achievable or realistic, like, “I want to lose X much weight in the next three months. I want to accomplish X by age 33.” Lindsey said we do this because our brains want certainty.
Let’s debunk a few myths for a second: First of all, in years like 2020, there is no certainty regardless of how achievable and realistic our goals are. Secondly, according to Lindsey, certainty, achievability, and realistic goals are BORING. Instead of fighting these two things, Lindsey has been challenging herself and the women she mentors to set goals that force themselves to become better versions of themselves every day. Here’s how she put it:
“I want to live a life that forces me every day to become a new version of myself. And that’s what’s waiting for us on the other side of throwing a goal out there. You lean into a vision that totally scares the shit out of you. You know that [going for it is] literally going to change you in the process even if it doesn’t turn out exactly the way you thought. [Just like] the whole lesson of writing this book — I never imagined I was not going to do anything else with it. But I was like, ‘Okay,’ and I did it. [Afterward, I thought I was] just going to go back to living my same life. But I had become a different person. Like there was literally no going back because that [before] version of me was dead. Literally, like, that version of me does not exist anymore.” – Lindsey Schwartz
In writing Powerhouse Woman, Lindsey evolved past her 70% self. What was once her 72-73% self is her new 70% self. Now she has to set new goals that push her to become a better version of her new self. So meta, right? She explained that 100% should never be our target because every time we reach a new version ourselves, the target moves forward.
In other words, there’s no specific end goal. It’s like there’s this beautiful gold line that we’re constantly doing a dance with and leaning up against in the present moment. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable and stretches us. Sometimes it’s seamless and glittery. But every day, we show up with this loving energy of becoming the higher version of ourselves. Sister, that’s the kind of goal setting I can get behind!
Why You Need Start Pursuing Your 71% Self Today
What Lindsey is doing for women is quite literally changing the world, and I’m so grateful to be her corner of the world and cheer her on. We could literally jam on forever, so I’m going to leave you with one last piece of magic from Lindsey. I hope it inspires you to move past your 70% self and confidently step into your next big idea just like it did for me:
“One of the least diagnosed blocks is … this fear of being a beginner. … But being willing to be a beginner — being willing to consciously put ourselves in situations where we don’t know what we’re doing [is where growth happens]. It’s one of the reasons before COVID I started taking hip hop classes. I just love hip hop. … I knew it would be putting myself in a situation where I felt super awkward and like a total beginner. And that’s always, always where I experience the most growth.” – Lindsey Schwartz
No matter what level in life you’re at, you’re going to be a beginner at something. Don’t let that stop you from taking action toward your next big idea — writing a book, creating a course, launching a product line, or taking a dance class. Not only will pressing into the next version of yourself transform you, but it will usher in new opportunities to expand and positively impact others.
If you want more of Lindsey’s “go for your big idea” pep talks and advice, follow her on Instagram. That’s where she likes to hang out and have a good time, so join her! Be sure to grab a copy of her book, Powerhouse Woman, listen to her podcast Powerhouse Women, and find out when her next live or virtual event is!
Sister, Lindsey and I covered so many amazing things that I could only get a few of the points we discussed in this blog post. So if you liked what you read here, make sure you listen to the whole podcast episode! And while you’re at it, share the link with a friend or take a screenshot and share it on Instagram. Don’t forget to tag Lindsey, @llindseyschwartz, and myself, @iamtaylorsimpson, so we can see who’s listening and loving the content!
Now, go lean into your 71% percent self and, as always, choose happiness, because well, why the fuck not?
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
- Getting over yourself and facing your fears.
- Giving up the ego and perfectionism.
- Embrace the lessons from your mistakes.
- Removing common blocks that come up for female entrepreneurs.
- Surrendering expectations and reimagining your vision in 2020.
- Getting back on track.
- Creating goals that will evolve you.
- Staying focused on your mission.
