July 3, 2025 • 20 mins
Are you tired of shrinking to fit inside a corporate box that no longer lights you up? In this episode, I’m sharing 5️⃣ powerful tips to help you stop playing small and finally start playing big in your life and career.
If you’ve ever felt the pull to leave your six-figure corporate job and start your own business—but fear or perfectionism keeps holding you back—this is your wake-up call. I break down the exact mindset shifts and steps you need to take to embrace your calling and create the life you actually want (not the one you were told to want).
We’ll cover:
✔️ How to quiet the inner critic
✔️ What it really means to embrace your calling
✔️ Why messy action beats perfect inaction
✔️ The importance of focusing on your #1 priority
✔️ And why investing in yourself is the key to growth
You don’t need to have it all figured out to get started—you just need to be done playing small. Tune in and let’s make your next move your boldest one yet!
Looking for more dedicated support? Book a complimentary Empowered Exit™ Call today.
If you're looking for additional support through coaching, visit my website to learn more about working together and my signature program EDIT Your Life™: www.karinfreeland.com/life-coaching
Then book a call here!
Not ready for coaching? Get a copy of my self-help book: Grab Life by the Dreams!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karin Freeland (00:00):
Welcome to Rock Your Reinvention, where I help
high-achieving career women likeyou get unstuck, make your
corporate exit strategy, andsuccessfully transition to your
next chapter.
Hi, I'm your host, KarinFreeland, a certified life coach
and corporate exit strategist.
Whether you want to start abusiness, become a speaker, or
something else, I'm here to giveyou the tools and strategies to
(00:23):
shift your mindset, build yourconfidence, and take bold
actions so you can rock yourreinvention.
Ready?
Let's go.
Welcome back to Rock YourReinvention.
Today, we are talking aboutfive tips for how to play big
and stop playing small.
I remember the first time thatmy coach brought up this idea of
(00:47):
playing big.
It felt like she had justcracked open all of my
insecurities and empowered me inthe same breath.
Because on one hand, I wasgenuinely terrified, like
playing big, More eyeballs onme, more chances to screw up and
fail in front of a biggeraudience.
Yeah, no thanks.
(01:07):
And on the other hand, I waslike a giddy schoolgirl who was
given the keys to the school andcould do whatever she wanted.
No constraints, no confinesholding me back.
I could be, do, and saywhatever I thought made sense to
achieve my goals.
And that was so freeing.
(01:28):
And while I left the call witha concept that could fuel me,
and it definitely did, I didn'treally understand in that moment
how that translated intoaction.
And so that's what I'm going toattempt to provide to you
today.
What does it really mean toplay big?
(01:49):
What are the things we dodifferently to go from playing
small to playing big?
Now, of course I can't knowyour specific situation.
So I'm going to take this fromthe perspective of leaving your
corporate job and starting yourown business, since that's
probably why you're listening tomy show.
So here we go.
Five tips to start playing bigand stop playing small.
(02:12):
The first thing you're going towant to do is quiet the inner
critic.
Now, if you've been listeningto my show for a while, this is
not the first time I havebrought up the inner critic.
And I'm starting with this veryintentionally because quite
frankly, this is what's holdingyou back the most, whether you
(02:32):
care to admit it or not, yourown negative thoughts are your
Achilles heel.
But the good news about this isthat you have a hundred percent
control over turning thisaround.
So how does one go aboutquieting the inner critic?
I'm gonna share two tips withyou today.
And the first one are thesedaily positive affirmations.
(02:54):
And this is the practice ofcatching yourself saying
something negative to yourself.
So maybe for example, you say,oh, I could never start a
business.
I don't know how to run acompany.
I've only worked at bigorganizations.
And then turning it around tosomething positive.
Like I bet I could figure outhow to run a business with the
(03:17):
right support, Or, I am a greatbusiness owner.
Now let me explain thedifference between these two
statements.
The first one that I sharedwith you is what I like to call
a bridge statement.
It's something that's a littlemore attainable that you can
truly believe about yourself inthe short term.
And I'll just say it again foryou.
(03:39):
I bet I could figure out how torun a business with the right
support.
That's much more attainable.
And then it will help you getto that second statement later
that says, I am a great businessowner.
A lot of my clients have a hardtime going from one extreme to
the other, and you probablywould as well.
(03:59):
So I found that these bridgestatements are really helpful.
Then you want to repeat thereframed thought daily.
Yes, for real, daily.
That's the only way you'llactually rewire your brain.
Okay, the second thing you cando to quiet that inner critic is
(04:21):
actually engage with your innercritic.
Yeah, I know it might seem alittle crazy, but we wanna
discover what is she reallytrying to tell you through her
message?
Because on the surface, shesounds really harsh, right?
She is not very nice, but maybebeneath that message, She has
(04:45):
something to share with you thatcould benefit you.
So let's say you're going toleave your job and start a
social media marketing agencyand your inner critic starts
berating you about how you'rerushing into this and you should
just wait.
This isn't the right time.
You're not capable of doingthis on your own.
And you say, okay, innercritic, I hear you.
(05:09):
Tell me more.
You start getting curious andasking your inner critic, what
are you so worried about?
Why are you so against thisidea that I have?
And maybe you discover thatshe's still harping on that time
in college when you tried to doan MLM for a weight loss
(05:29):
supplement and it wasn'tsuccessful.
And upon that further dialogue,you find that she's worried
you're jumping in without enoughplanning, like you did with the
MLM.
And now you're in a place whereyou can thank your inner critic
for pointing that out and thenshare all the ways that you're
planning to avoid that situationfrom playing out again, like
(05:51):
making a business plan or hiringa coach, et cetera.
So sometimes we read themessages from our inner critic
on that surface level, but whatwe really need to be doing is
digging deeper so that we canfind out why she's so worried
and then get our inner critic onboard with our goals and our
plans.
And the sooner you can usethese two techniques to quiet
(06:14):
your inner critic, the sooneryou'll stop playing small and
start playing big.
The second tip I have for youto play big is to embrace your
calling.
Now, you may be at the stage ofyour career where your day job
doesn't feel like a callinganymore, and that's okay.
(06:37):
You may have another idea ordesire that excites you.
That's a start, but are youreally embracing it or are you
resisting it?
And embracing it can be hard todo.
It may be inconvenient toembrace your calling.
Leaving my six figure salarywasn't easy, but staying put was
(07:02):
really me just playing smallbecause I didn't trust myself.
I didn't believe in myself.
And so it got to the pointwhere I could no longer ignore
my burning desire for somethingelse.
Now, what the heck is a burningdesire?
What is that that I keepmentioning?
Well, there's a book calledThink and Grow Rich for Women by
Sharon Lecter.
(07:22):
I really enjoyed reading it.
I thought it was very helpful.
And she calls a burning desirethe need to do something or
accomplish something.
She says it starts out as anidea, but then becomes a driving
force behind your everydayactions.
And when you combine a definitegoal with a burning desire to
(07:45):
achieve it, you have thenecessary fuel, the stamina, the
motivation, the drive to createand execute a plan to achieve
that goal successfully.
And so we have to remember thatwe were given this desire for a
reason.
This new thing that you wannago after and you wanna go get,
(08:05):
that was put there by yourcreator for a very special
reason, because that's yourpurpose.
That's what you're here tofulfill.
And so the sooner we canembrace our true calling, and
stop letting the cares of theworld and the earthly desire for
(08:25):
financial freedom and all, notthat you can't have some of
those things, right?
But when they are so at theforefront that you are
sacrificing your burning desire,you are not living in alignment
with why you are here.
You're not living in alignmentwith your purpose.
So what would need to changefor you to start fully embracing
(08:47):
your calling?
And maybe you wanna take amoment to just jot those ideas
down, capture them right nowwhile it's fresh in your brain.
What would need to change foryou to start fully embracing
your calling?
And maybe it's just taking thatfirst step in starting your
LLC, registering the name ofyour business.
(09:08):
I don't know what it could be,but you wanna send that signal
to your brain, like, hey, we'redoing this.
Okay, the third way for you toplay big is to take messy
action.
And I know some of you arealready like, ah, messy action.
Why not perfect action?
We'll talk about that in asecond.
(09:28):
But one of the quotes that Ishare in my book, Grab Life by
the Dreams, is take your dream,start taking action, and before
you know it, your dream will bea reality.
That's from the Canadian poetCatherine Pulsifer.
And she clearly didn't playsmall, right?
She had a wonderful career.
The point is you can't justhave a dream to make it happen.
(09:53):
You have to actually take someaction.
And nowhere does it say thatthe action has to be right every
time or perfect or flawless.
So often you want to geteverything perfect and wait
until you have all your ducks ina row before you get started.
But that is a huge mistakebecause you are wasting precious
(10:16):
time.
This is one of the ways thatkeeps you playing small.
Taking action, especiallymessy, imperfect action is the
only way to move forward, whichmeans that perfectionists need
to take note.
Go listen to episode 74.
If you feel like perfectionismis derailing you and you want
(10:40):
help overcoming it, go listen toepisode 74 of the show and I
will help you through that.
And I was just talking to oneof my clients about this in one
of our coaching sessions.
She wanted to create and boostsome sales, creates a cash
injection for her business andboost sales this summer.
And she wanted to addressspecifically some of the recent
(11:00):
potential clients who said no toher high ticket offer because
they felt like they couldn'tafford her.
And so her natural tendency wasto go out and build this like
really complicated offer andmake a landing page and this big
old funnel that would go withit and do a bunch of social
posts.
And all that just felt heavyand like a lot of work and
(11:21):
energy that she was going tohave to expend.
And I was really trying to gether to see that all you need to
do is go back and literally justoffer a smaller package to
everyone that's declined.
Like personal outreach, that'sit.
No need for flashy marketinghere.
And it was a huge light bulbmoment because she realized that
(11:42):
she could be scrappy in thismoment.
And she could just share it onher podcast and do a little
personal outreach and it wouldbe a much lighter lift.
It's that imperfect action.
Because what do we see online?
We see all these people withthese perfect businesses and we
see them with these huge bigemail funnels and all these
(12:02):
crazy things that they're doing.
But in reality, that's not howmost people run their business.
So for you, what action haveyou been avoiding because you're
trying to get it perfect?
What is the messy first stepthat you could take?
Because by not taking thatfirst step and doing it messy,
(12:22):
that's keeping you small.
It's so funny because I seethis, especially with book
writing.
Like I have so many women thattalk to me and they're like,
Karin, I wanna know how to writea book.
I have all these ideas.
I'm like, there's no secretsauce to writing a book.
You just start putting words onpaper.
You write a really, reallycrappy first draft and it will
(12:43):
be crappy, okay?
And then you refine it and thenyou make it great, okay?
So just put the words on paper.
It's gonna be messy.
It's gonna suck.
That's okay.
It's part of the process.
So go take some messy actiontowards your goals Watch that
dream come true one step at atime.
(13:04):
Okay, the fourth thing you cando to start playing big is focus
on your number one priority.
Okay, AKA, I like to call thiseyes on the prize because you do
not want to dilute your actionsor your energy.
If you do, then your impact isgoing to be diluted as well.
(13:24):
And we obviously don't wantthat.
I know you want to change theworld 15 ways at a time.
I do too.
I have the same big crazyambitions as you.
But really, you just need toget laser focused on your top
priority and go all in on that.
For example, last year, Idecided that I was going to go
(13:45):
all in on my podcast for 2025.
Like that was going to be mymain focus.
And I've done a lot lessspeaking than usual, less social
posts on Instagram, less morefocus on the podcast, and it has
actually really been drivinglisteners.
So what do you think happened?
My show grew, right?
(14:07):
And that's exactly what Iwanted.
But the previous year, my showwas kind of an afterthought.
It wasn't the main thing, so itstayed small and it didn't
bring me in as many clients asit should have.
This is the power of focusing.
This also means you have to sayno to anything and everything
(14:30):
that doesn't align or serve yourtop priority.
Let me say that again, just incase you zoned out for a second.
This means you have to say no,okay?
If it does not help you achieveyour top priority, you need to
say no to that thing.
Someone recently asked me tovolunteer for a program at my
(14:52):
church, and while I can tell youit is a beautiful program and I
would be honored to be part ofthat, I had to say no so I could
continue to say yes to mypriorities.
When we say yes to everything,we make less progress on our
dreams and we play small.
Playing big requiresboundaries, saying no, and
(15:13):
relentlessly focusing on whatmatters most.
And remember that this mightonly be for a season, okay?
So this isn't forever thatthat's the only thing you're
gonna focus on.
So for example, when I waswriting my book, Grab Life by
the Dreams, that was my mainfocus, right?
But then after the book waswritten, I could start to focus
on other things like my podcast.
(15:34):
Maybe your priority is gettingyour master's or healing from
burnout or building a sidehustle.
Whatever it is, go all in on itso that you can play big. And
the fifth tip that I want toshare with you today is to
invest in yourself.
(15:54):
People who play small, theydon't invest in themselves.
And I wish that this wentwithout saying, but you have to
value yourself and get thesupport that you need if you
want to play big.
And this is not a matter ofdeserving it.
Whether you deserve it or not.
(16:15):
And I coach a lot of moms andthey always tell me they don't
want to spend money onthemselves.
Okay, so here's what I willsay.
Tough love alert.
If you don't value you, no oneelse is going to.
So have fun playing small.
Sorry, too blunt, maybe.
But you'll thank me laterbecause it's what you needed to
(16:37):
hear.
I really want you to pay forthe support you need.
I want you to take the classesthat you need to take, to get
the coaching that you need,whatever it is to get you to the
next level.
And in chapter 14 of Grab Lifeby the Dreams, I share my tips
for investing yourself becauseit's not actually always
financially, although that'sdefinitely a piece of it.
(16:58):
I share the acronym TEMPL.
I call it the temple of yourdreams.
And it stands for, and it'sjust T-E-M-P-L.
There's no E at the end.
But that temple stands fortime, energy, money, people, and
learning.
And we don't have time to gothrough all of those today, but
(17:19):
I'll just give you the peopleexample in this instance.
Sometimes in order to playbigger, you need to invest your
time and energy in buildingrelationships or in networking.
You need the right connectionswho can lift you up and bring
you along for the ride.
And I could give you a millionexamples from my life, but I'm
(17:40):
just going to give you anexample of one that I had the
privilege of witnessing in realtime.
So I was attending this onlineevent hosted by Jamie Kern Lima,
who is the founder of ITCosmetics, and she was doing a
launch for her book.
And she brought up one of herfriends on stage to share her
story of believing in herself.
(18:01):
And while she's speaking, I'mon Instagram because I'm like, I
want to follow this lady.
She's very inspirational.
This is such an interestingstory.
And I'm just literally watchingher following go up by the
thousands, the hundreds.
Every time I refresh, she's gota batch load new of followers.
And I'm like, wow, this is soamazing.
(18:21):
And it was really the firsttime that I witnessed the power
of bringing others along withyou and the value of investing
in the right relationships.
So who do you need in your lifeto help you achieve your
dreams?
And how can you be this forsomeone else, right?
(18:41):
Maybe you're the person who canhelp pull someone along too.
Don't be afraid to invest yourtime, your energy, your money,
invest in the relationships andin learning to achieve your
dreams.
Because when you do, it willpay off big time.
And before you know it, You'regoing to be playing bigger than
you even imagined was possible.
(19:03):
And that gets me super excitedfor you.
So there you have it.
My five tips for playing big,which in turn will help you stop
playing small.
Number one, quiet that innercritic.
No more negative thoughts.
And if you do have negativethoughts, let's dig a little
deeper to find out why.
(19:24):
What is your inner critictrying to save you from?
Number two, we've got toembrace that calling.
Even if it's inconvenient, wegot to go all in on what that
burning desire is that we weregiven.
Number three, take that messyaction because there's no such
thing as perfection.
So you're just wasting forsomething that you can never
wasting time waiting forsomething you can never possibly
(19:45):
achieve.
Number four, focus, focus,focus, keep your eyes on the
prize.
Go all in on that number onepriority and start saying no to
the things that don't align.
And number five, invest inyourself.
And if you are ready to investin your dreams and get some
one-on-one coaching support fromme, be sure to keep listening
(20:07):
for how to book an empoweredexit call or check the show
notes.
Now go rock your reinvention!
Welcome to Rock Your Reinvention, where I help
high-achieving career women likeyou get unstuck, make your
corporate exit strategy, andsuccessfully transition to your
next chapter.
Hi, I'm your host, KarinFreeland, a certified life coach
and corporate exit strategist.
Whether you want to start abusiness, become a speaker, or
something else, I'm here to giveyou the tools and strategies to
(00:23):
shift your mindset, build yourconfidence, and take bold
actions so you can rock yourreinvention.
Ready?
Let's go.
Welcome back to Rock YourReinvention.
Today, we are talking aboutfive tips for how to play big
and stop playing small.
I remember the first time thatmy coach brought up this idea of
(00:47):
playing big.
It felt like she had justcracked open all of my
insecurities and empowered me inthe same breath.
Because on one hand, I wasgenuinely terrified, like
playing big, More eyeballs onme, more chances to screw up and
fail in front of a biggeraudience.
Yeah, no thanks.
(01:07):
And on the other hand, I waslike a giddy schoolgirl who was
given the keys to the school andcould do whatever she wanted.
No constraints, no confinesholding me back.
I could be, do, and saywhatever I thought made sense to
achieve my goals.
And that was so freeing.
(01:28):
And while I left the call witha concept that could fuel me,
and it definitely did, I didn'treally understand in that moment
how that translated intoaction.
And so that's what I'm going toattempt to provide to you
today.
What does it really mean toplay big?
(01:49):
What are the things we dodifferently to go from playing
small to playing big?
Now, of course I can't knowyour specific situation.
So I'm going to take this fromthe perspective of leaving your
corporate job and starting yourown business, since that's
probably why you're listening tomy show.
So here we go.
Five tips to start playing bigand stop playing small.
(02:12):
The first thing you're going towant to do is quiet the inner
critic.
Now, if you've been listeningto my show for a while, this is
not the first time I havebrought up the inner critic.
And I'm starting with this veryintentionally because quite
frankly, this is what's holdingyou back the most, whether you
(02:32):
care to admit it or not, yourown negative thoughts are your
Achilles heel.
But the good news about this isthat you have a hundred percent
control over turning thisaround.
So how does one go aboutquieting the inner critic?
I'm gonna share two tips withyou today.
And the first one are thesedaily positive affirmations.
(02:54):
And this is the practice ofcatching yourself saying
something negative to yourself.
So maybe for example, you say,oh, I could never start a
business.
I don't know how to run acompany.
I've only worked at bigorganizations.
And then turning it around tosomething positive.
Like I bet I could figure outhow to run a business with the
(03:17):
right support, Or, I am a greatbusiness owner.
Now let me explain thedifference between these two
statements.
The first one that I sharedwith you is what I like to call
a bridge statement.
It's something that's a littlemore attainable that you can
truly believe about yourself inthe short term.
And I'll just say it again foryou.
(03:39):
I bet I could figure out how torun a business with the right
support.
That's much more attainable.
And then it will help you getto that second statement later
that says, I am a great businessowner.
A lot of my clients have a hardtime going from one extreme to
the other, and you probablywould as well.
(03:59):
So I found that these bridgestatements are really helpful.
Then you want to repeat thereframed thought daily.
Yes, for real, daily.
That's the only way you'llactually rewire your brain.
Okay, the second thing you cando to quiet that inner critic is
(04:21):
actually engage with your innercritic.
Yeah, I know it might seem alittle crazy, but we wanna
discover what is she reallytrying to tell you through her
message?
Because on the surface, shesounds really harsh, right?
She is not very nice, but maybebeneath that message, She has
(04:45):
something to share with you thatcould benefit you.
So let's say you're going toleave your job and start a
social media marketing agencyand your inner critic starts
berating you about how you'rerushing into this and you should
just wait.
This isn't the right time.
You're not capable of doingthis on your own.
And you say, okay, innercritic, I hear you.
(05:09):
Tell me more.
You start getting curious andasking your inner critic, what
are you so worried about?
Why are you so against thisidea that I have?
And maybe you discover thatshe's still harping on that time
in college when you tried to doan MLM for a weight loss
(05:29):
supplement and it wasn'tsuccessful.
And upon that further dialogue,you find that she's worried
you're jumping in without enoughplanning, like you did with the
MLM.
And now you're in a place whereyou can thank your inner critic
for pointing that out and thenshare all the ways that you're
planning to avoid that situationfrom playing out again, like
(05:51):
making a business plan or hiringa coach, et cetera.
So sometimes we read themessages from our inner critic
on that surface level, but whatwe really need to be doing is
digging deeper so that we canfind out why she's so worried
and then get our inner critic onboard with our goals and our
plans.
And the sooner you can usethese two techniques to quiet
(06:14):
your inner critic, the sooneryou'll stop playing small and
start playing big.
The second tip I have for youto play big is to embrace your
calling.
Now, you may be at the stage ofyour career where your day job
doesn't feel like a callinganymore, and that's okay.
(06:37):
You may have another idea ordesire that excites you.
That's a start, but are youreally embracing it or are you
resisting it?
And embracing it can be hard todo.
It may be inconvenient toembrace your calling.
Leaving my six figure salarywasn't easy, but staying put was
(07:02):
really me just playing smallbecause I didn't trust myself.
I didn't believe in myself.
And so it got to the pointwhere I could no longer ignore
my burning desire for somethingelse.
Now, what the heck is a burningdesire?
What is that that I keepmentioning?
Well, there's a book calledThink and Grow Rich for Women by
Sharon Lecter.
(07:22):
I really enjoyed reading it.
I thought it was very helpful.
And she calls a burning desirethe need to do something or
accomplish something.
She says it starts out as anidea, but then becomes a driving
force behind your everydayactions.
And when you combine a definitegoal with a burning desire to
(07:45):
achieve it, you have thenecessary fuel, the stamina, the
motivation, the drive to createand execute a plan to achieve
that goal successfully.
And so we have to remember thatwe were given this desire for a
reason.
This new thing that you wannago after and you wanna go get,
(08:05):
that was put there by yourcreator for a very special
reason, because that's yourpurpose.
That's what you're here tofulfill.
And so the sooner we canembrace our true calling, and
stop letting the cares of theworld and the earthly desire for
(08:25):
financial freedom and all, notthat you can't have some of
those things, right?
But when they are so at theforefront that you are
sacrificing your burning desire,you are not living in alignment
with why you are here.
You're not living in alignmentwith your purpose.
So what would need to changefor you to start fully embracing
(08:47):
your calling?
And maybe you wanna take amoment to just jot those ideas
down, capture them right nowwhile it's fresh in your brain.
What would need to change foryou to start fully embracing
your calling?
And maybe it's just taking thatfirst step in starting your
LLC, registering the name ofyour business.
(09:08):
I don't know what it could be,but you wanna send that signal
to your brain, like, hey, we'redoing this.
Okay, the third way for you toplay big is to take messy
action.
And I know some of you arealready like, ah, messy action.
Why not perfect action?
We'll talk about that in asecond.
(09:28):
But one of the quotes that Ishare in my book, Grab Life by
the Dreams, is take your dream,start taking action, and before
you know it, your dream will bea reality.
That's from the Canadian poetCatherine Pulsifer.
And she clearly didn't playsmall, right?
She had a wonderful career.
The point is you can't justhave a dream to make it happen.
(09:53):
You have to actually take someaction.
And nowhere does it say thatthe action has to be right every
time or perfect or flawless.
So often you want to geteverything perfect and wait
until you have all your ducks ina row before you get started.
But that is a huge mistakebecause you are wasting precious
(10:16):
time.
This is one of the ways thatkeeps you playing small.
Taking action, especiallymessy, imperfect action is the
only way to move forward, whichmeans that perfectionists need
to take note.
Go listen to episode 74.
If you feel like perfectionismis derailing you and you want
(10:40):
help overcoming it, go listen toepisode 74 of the show and I
will help you through that.
And I was just talking to oneof my clients about this in one
of our coaching sessions.
She wanted to create and boostsome sales, creates a cash
injection for her business andboost sales this summer.
And she wanted to addressspecifically some of the recent
(11:00):
potential clients who said no toher high ticket offer because
they felt like they couldn'tafford her.
And so her natural tendency wasto go out and build this like
really complicated offer andmake a landing page and this big
old funnel that would go withit and do a bunch of social
posts.
And all that just felt heavyand like a lot of work and
(11:21):
energy that she was going tohave to expend.
And I was really trying to gether to see that all you need to
do is go back and literally justoffer a smaller package to
everyone that's declined.
Like personal outreach, that'sit.
No need for flashy marketinghere.
And it was a huge light bulbmoment because she realized that
(11:42):
she could be scrappy in thismoment.
And she could just share it onher podcast and do a little
personal outreach and it wouldbe a much lighter lift.
It's that imperfect action.
Because what do we see online?
We see all these people withthese perfect businesses and we
see them with these huge bigemail funnels and all these
(12:02):
crazy things that they're doing.
But in reality, that's not howmost people run their business.
So for you, what action haveyou been avoiding because you're
trying to get it perfect?
What is the messy first stepthat you could take?
Because by not taking thatfirst step and doing it messy,
(12:22):
that's keeping you small.
It's so funny because I seethis, especially with book
writing.
Like I have so many women thattalk to me and they're like,
Karin, I wanna know how to writea book.
I have all these ideas.
I'm like, there's no secretsauce to writing a book.
You just start putting words onpaper.
You write a really, reallycrappy first draft and it will
(12:43):
be crappy, okay?
And then you refine it and thenyou make it great, okay?
So just put the words on paper.
It's gonna be messy.
It's gonna suck.
That's okay.
It's part of the process.
So go take some messy actiontowards your goals Watch that
dream come true one step at atime.
(13:04):
Okay, the fourth thing you cando to start playing big is focus
on your number one priority.
Okay, AKA, I like to call thiseyes on the prize because you do
not want to dilute your actionsor your energy.
If you do, then your impact isgoing to be diluted as well.
(13:24):
And we obviously don't wantthat.
I know you want to change theworld 15 ways at a time.
I do too.
I have the same big crazyambitions as you.
But really, you just need toget laser focused on your top
priority and go all in on that.
For example, last year, Idecided that I was going to go
(13:45):
all in on my podcast for 2025.
Like that was going to be mymain focus.
And I've done a lot lessspeaking than usual, less social
posts on Instagram, less morefocus on the podcast, and it has
actually really been drivinglisteners.
So what do you think happened?
My show grew, right?
(14:07):
And that's exactly what Iwanted.
But the previous year, my showwas kind of an afterthought.
It wasn't the main thing, so itstayed small and it didn't
bring me in as many clients asit should have.
This is the power of focusing.
This also means you have to sayno to anything and everything
(14:30):
that doesn't align or serve yourtop priority.
Let me say that again, just incase you zoned out for a second.
This means you have to say no,okay?
If it does not help you achieveyour top priority, you need to
say no to that thing.
Someone recently asked me tovolunteer for a program at my
(14:52):
church, and while I can tell youit is a beautiful program and I
would be honored to be part ofthat, I had to say no so I could
continue to say yes to mypriorities.
When we say yes to everything,we make less progress on our
dreams and we play small.
Playing big requiresboundaries, saying no, and
(15:13):
relentlessly focusing on whatmatters most.
And remember that this mightonly be for a season, okay?
So this isn't forever thatthat's the only thing you're
gonna focus on.
So for example, when I waswriting my book, Grab Life by
the Dreams, that was my mainfocus, right?
But then after the book waswritten, I could start to focus
on other things like my podcast.
(15:34):
Maybe your priority is gettingyour master's or healing from
burnout or building a sidehustle.
Whatever it is, go all in on itso that you can play big. And
the fifth tip that I want toshare with you today is to
invest in yourself.
(15:54):
People who play small, theydon't invest in themselves.
And I wish that this wentwithout saying, but you have to
value yourself and get thesupport that you need if you
want to play big.
And this is not a matter ofdeserving it.
Whether you deserve it or not.
(16:15):
And I coach a lot of moms andthey always tell me they don't
want to spend money onthemselves.
Okay, so here's what I willsay.
Tough love alert.
If you don't value you, no oneelse is going to.
So have fun playing small.
Sorry, too blunt, maybe.
But you'll thank me laterbecause it's what you needed to
(16:37):
hear.
I really want you to pay forthe support you need.
I want you to take the classesthat you need to take, to get
the coaching that you need,whatever it is to get you to the
next level.
And in chapter 14 of Grab Lifeby the Dreams, I share my tips
for investing yourself becauseit's not actually always
financially, although that'sdefinitely a piece of it.
(16:58):
I share the acronym TEMPL.
I call it the temple of yourdreams.
And it stands for, and it'sjust T-E-M-P-L.
There's no E at the end.
But that temple stands fortime, energy, money, people, and
learning.
And we don't have time to gothrough all of those today, but
(17:19):
I'll just give you the peopleexample in this instance.
Sometimes in order to playbigger, you need to invest your
time and energy in buildingrelationships or in networking.
You need the right connectionswho can lift you up and bring
you along for the ride.
And I could give you a millionexamples from my life, but I'm
(17:40):
just going to give you anexample of one that I had the
privilege of witnessing in realtime.
So I was attending this onlineevent hosted by Jamie Kern Lima,
who is the founder of ITCosmetics, and she was doing a
launch for her book.
And she brought up one of herfriends on stage to share her
story of believing in herself.
(18:01):
And while she's speaking, I'mon Instagram because I'm like, I
want to follow this lady.
She's very inspirational.
This is such an interestingstory.
And I'm just literally watchingher following go up by the
thousands, the hundreds.
Every time I refresh, she's gota batch load new of followers.
And I'm like, wow, this is soamazing.
(18:21):
And it was really the firsttime that I witnessed the power
of bringing others along withyou and the value of investing
in the right relationships.
So who do you need in your lifeto help you achieve your
dreams?
And how can you be this forsomeone else, right?
(18:41):
Maybe you're the person who canhelp pull someone along too.
Don't be afraid to invest yourtime, your energy, your money,
invest in the relationships andin learning to achieve your
dreams.
Because when you do, it willpay off big time.
And before you know it, You'regoing to be playing bigger than
you even imagined was possible.
(19:03):
And that gets me super excitedfor you.
So there you have it.
My five tips for playing big,which in turn will help you stop
playing small.
Number one, quiet that innercritic.
No more negative thoughts.
And if you do have negativethoughts, let's dig a little
deeper to find out why.
(19:24):
What is your inner critictrying to save you from?
Number two, we've got toembrace that calling.
Even if it's inconvenient, wegot to go all in on what that
burning desire is that we weregiven.
Number three, take that messyaction because there's no such
thing as perfection.
So you're just wasting forsomething that you can never
wasting time waiting forsomething you can never possibly
(19:45):
achieve.
Number four, focus, focus,focus, keep your eyes on the
prize.
Go all in on that number onepriority and start saying no to
the things that don't align.
And number five, invest inyourself.
And if you are ready to investin your dreams and get some
one-on-one coaching support fromme, be sure to keep listening
(20:07):
for how to book an empoweredexit call or check the show
notes.
Now go rock your reinvention!
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