Episode 113: Giving Opportunity: Unlocking Potential and Growth

Have you ever wondered how delegating responsibilities can transform not just your leadership but also the lives of those around you? On Episode 113 of Giving Your Best Life, I share a heartfelt personal story about missing a cherished annual event and the surprising growth that came from letting a volunteer step up in my absence. Learn how this decision not only provided the volunteer with invaluable experience but also underscored the critical need for preparation and support when entrusting others with new roles. We’ll also explore the fine line between beneficial opportunities and mere distractions, and how being open to new possibilities can elevate your leadership game.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with Giving your
Best Life podcast, with episodenumber 113.
And today I want to talk aboutgiving others opportunity.
I don't know about you, but ifI'm being very honest, sometimes
I can be a control freak andespecially when it relates to my
business, my books, speaking,etc.

(00:21):
That I just want to doeverything myself.
Sometimes I'm like it's justeasier.
And if you listen to episodenumber 111, when I talked about
distractions and people, it'slike sometimes too, I am the one
that has the vision and it's sohard to communicate that vision

(00:44):
to other people.
Um, and so there's an event thatI do every year for a school
district.
I've been doing it probably twoor three years.
It's been so rewarding.
It's one of my favorite thingsto do, um, except this year
because of the, uh, solareclipse.
Is that what it was?

(01:04):
The solar eclipse?
Solar, anyways, the eclipse.
There was some scheduling issuesthat came up with the school
and they had to move the day ofthe event and when the day of
the event, it just didn't workin my schedule.
Um, and so I was very bummed.

(01:26):
I still wanted to do it, butthere, um, there's an intern or
not necessarily an intern, butlike a volunteer that had been
doing some work with us.
Um, that's related to theproject that I always go and
talk about to the kiddos and Ithought, why not give her the

(01:48):
opportunity?
So I talked to the school and Isaid, hey, I can't do it, but
are you okay if someone elsecomes and does it?
And for me it was like I hatemissing opportunities to speak
and to get in front of kids andto share, because it's not only
like talking about anotherorganization and kind of a

(02:11):
mission that I've been involvedin, but it's also I talk about
the giving challenge and I getto read my children's book,
giving Gal, and you know, itjust is like this whole great
day and I'm all day, so I'mdoing like I think it's third
graders, fourth graders, fifthgraders, all of them, and so I
just love it.
But it was like give somebodyelse the opportunity.

(02:34):
And so first of all, I askedthe school if they'd be okay.
They say yes, because they'rereally just you know, not
necessarily about me, it's aboutthe message that the kiddos get
.
And then I reached out to thisperson, positioned it as hey,
this is an opportunity.
They were so excited they saidyes.
So I think sometimes, but itwas very outside of their

(02:58):
comfort zone, what they're usedto doing, what they've done in
the past.
And so I want to say this alsofrom the standpoint of if
someone is giving you theopportunity, be prayerful in it,
but really think about is thisan opportunity?
Is this a door open, god, isthis something that you're

(03:20):
wanting me to do?
And don't immediately close thedoor to an opportunity.
Uh, be prayerful about it, andI always pray like God, you know
.
Close open that door, um andand so I think too, as
opportunities come up to us,don't just immediately like say
no to them.

(03:41):
But also I had the distractionseries is sometimes it can be a
distraction too.
Opportunities can be adistraction, which it kind of
sounds like counterintuitive,because the word opportunity is
always taken as like a goodthing.
It's like, oh, that's a greatopportunity, but sometimes
opportunities can be adistraction.
So just make sure that that'skind of a side note.

(04:03):
But anyways is, think aboutpeople that you can give
opportunities to, that you don'thave to be doing everything
yourself, especially if you'rein a leadership role.
A lot of times this isdelegation.
We don't like to delegatethings.
It can just be easier to do itourselves.
I always say is start todelegate stuff that is

(04:24):
repeatable, so that you're goingto have to be doing it more
than once, so that upfront timeof training somebody or passing
somebody off or giving somebodythat opportunity is like going
to be worth it in the long run,but also is making sure you're
preparing that person.
So when this person said yes isI just didn't say okay, there

(04:44):
you go, have fun.
You know like go figure it outyourself.
Is I updated the slides so theywere current that I've used in
the past and I always updatethem every year.
I sent them to her.
We had a phone call to reviewit.
Like, really make sure is ifyou're giving people
opportunities especially maybeif it's something you're used to

(05:05):
doing and you're passing thetorch is that you're preparing
them, you're setting them up forsuccess, you're giving some of
your time to invest in whatthey're doing so they have just
as much success as you've had,especially if you've been
successful in this area, andthen give them the opportunity

(05:30):
to change it and make it theirown.
You know is don't be so rigid,as like this is how it has to be
as.
No, give them the opportunityto make it their own and do it.
How is best that they're goingto be comfortable in what they
are doing?
Also, make sure you know partof giving your best life is
gratitude showing gratitude tothe person that you're giving

(05:54):
the opportunity to, because alot of times when we give
opportunities is they arehelping us out, and I know for
me this was greatly helping meout, helping the school out, and
so make sure you're showinggratitude.
Take a moment today, no matterwhat situation that you're in.
You know I have an intern thathelps me with TikTok.

(06:16):
It's an opportunity.
She was a senior in high schooland, and I gave her that
opportunity, everybody said, hey, you need to be on TikTok, I
don't want to be on TikTok, buthigh schoolers and college kids,
they know what they're doing onTikTok.
It doesn't take them a lot oftime, and so I was able to give
her an opportunity to come workand see behind the scenes and be

(06:40):
a part of my business here atGiving Gal.
And so think about take sometime today, as you're listening
to.
This is, you know, evaluate.
Maybe it's in your home life.
I have a friend that has givenan opportunity to another mom to
come into her home and to helpher out in some areas, and so

(07:01):
this other mom gets to make somemoney, but it also gets to help
my friends.
So it can be in variousdifferent areas of your life is
think about are there thingsthat maybe you need to offload
or to expand, or maybe it's justnot suited for you anymore, but

(07:22):
you want to keep somethingcontinuing and then think about
and pray is there somebody thatthis would be an opportunity for
, that you could present and youcould go and you could give it
to them?
So, friends, I just wanted toput that out, you know, because
life is always changing andsometimes we tend to hold on to

(07:44):
things so tightly, you know,like we're the only ones that
can do this, but we have to beokay with change.
And also this is how God opensmore time for us.
A lot of times, if we're justholding on to the things that
we've always done we're the onlyperson that can do it then it
doesn't one open the opportunityfor someone else to use their

(08:07):
gifts and talents that God hasgiven them, but it also doesn't
open up the time for you to beable to step into something new
that God might be calling you todo.
So I hope this episode justhelped you out a little bit as
you think about, maybe, waysthat you can give opportunities

(08:28):
to others, or how you consideropportunities that are giving to
you Friends, as always, I wouldlove if you could leave a
review, share this podcast.
Just another way to get togiving your best life.