Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.”
Well I find myself in hot water a lot! Like this afternoon .... It was the long-awaited, much-anticipated debut of my first internet radio show, called “A Life By Design” with Anna Gibbs on the new network calledwww.truevoicesradio.com.
A friend of mine, in collaboration with another friend of hers, began this internet radio network a few months ago. When that friend of mine asked me if I would like to host my own internet radio show, I immediately jumped at the chance and said YES! Of course I would! My own show? An hour for me to talk to the world and say whatever I wanted? Well, for anyone who knows me … that’s a dream come true!
Words like shy and reserved have never been used to describe me. Words like bubbly, outgoing and confident, yes. I love to talk! I have made a career out of talking! For the last 20 years I have been a sales and marketing professional and I have always loved an audience. Remember, I am in Direct Sales too! I am “on stage” every time I do a home party! And now through my Coaching business I am helping others to do the same. I work with clients to develop business strategies and overcome fear and objection. I talk about belief and confidence all the time.
So over the last few weeks I spent a lot of time thinking about the radio show. I came up with a name that was meaningful. I decided that the theme for my new show every week would be centered on helping people. I thought the show could offer ”on the air” business coaching. I could share ideas on how to ”work smarter and not harder” as well as develop ways to become more productive and grow their business. I also wanted to pepper words of inspiration and meaning into the hour.
In my mind I developed such a great outline for the show. I was going to be funny and real. Informative and strong. An inspiration to everyone who can listen to be the very best person they could be. I was going to be the next Oprah!
I started out the day feeling really good and confident and very much at ease. At some point I thought to myself, “Gee what will I talk about at 1pm when I am live on the air during my first show?” very quickly I told myself it didn’t matter. I am always better at “winging it”, I would sound more natural anyway!
At around noon, with an hour to prepare, I was checking emails! ”No problem”, I told myself this is going to be so much fun! There are so many unique and innovative ways to promote your business today.
At 12:50pm the call came, it was time! 10 minutes to prepare myself to go live. “Ok, I’m good and I’m ready” I said.
And then… the moment I had been waiting for! YES! I heard - ”You’re live!”
and I … for a second … went completely blank!
“OMG, What is my name?” I thought to myself as I heard my voice say, “Hello! Welcome! My name is Anna Gibbs, thank you for joining me today ….”
“WHAT? WHO SAID THAT? … Oh! I did, OK good!” I thought quickly to myself. Wow, was I panicking. I had no idea what I wanted to talk about! And all the while that I am having these crazy thoughts, I hear my voice again! Talking and talking! Saying lots of words! Wow!
I think, that whatever I was saying made sense?? I was able to speak because my “outer-self” was in the driver’s seat. Unfortunately, my “inner-self” tried to carry on its own monologue and the theme was all about fear, self-doubt and sabotage! For the first time in a long time I was not confident in my abilities!
“OMG!”, I thought “I AM human”!
About 7 minutes into the show I felt like I could calm down and “Outer” Anna was going to push “Inner” Anna aside and make this work! and then …. the line goes dead! and just like that, I am off the air!
“OMG, the people at the radio network thought I was so bad, they pulled the plug!” I thought. Yet, I was kind of relieved because I was full of doubt again. By that time, ”Inner” Anna had time to take over once more.
Ring! Ring! Radio station calling! ”Oh no. I am not going to answer it! This is my out! I got myself into some hot water now and I am in over my head. I am not doing this and no one cares what I have to say anyway. I sound ridiculous!”
Yup, that’s what I was thinking as I answered the phone and got right back on the air! And yes, was I rambling a little bit? Was I a little nervous? Was I unsure of what to say at times? Yes, yes and yes.
So my first show wasn’t smooth or perfect, but I did it! I did not allow fear to take control! As a matter of fact, as Jack Canfield would say, “I felt the Fear and I did it anyway!”
Huge lesson to learn! Life is meant to be lived and experienced! We come this way only once. I put myself out there. I tried something new. I didn’t let fear stop me.
Some people will do anything to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of fear. The water gets too hot and they’re out! But then you run the risk of never achieving what you want from life. I often say, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” So as my friend Anna Eleanor Roosevelt said, “A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.”
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