This post is more like a personal journal entry than anything else but I’m hoping that by sharing the things that have been really impactful in my life over the past couple months, it will help you cultivate similar experiences/relationships/opportunities in your life too!
I share the story in this video about a REALLY significant week I had back in November. The big things that happened were a workshop I decided to teach, a small group mastermind session I decided to attend, and a Toastmasters organization I decided to join. There were really interesting synchronicities that led to each one that I explain in the video but my biggest take-away messages I’ll post here with each event.
What I also want you to know is that I didn’t know *exactly* what was so significant about this week but I KNEW with every cell of my being that it was going to be an important turning point in my life. The opportunities, people, and experiences that were lining up in front of me FELT more right than anything I have felt in a long time (bonus video at the bottom about these kind of “lightning bolt moments”). And boy did they sure turn out to be significant! Since that week in November, my world has been opened up more than I could have imagined with the connections I made at these groups. Because I am only now sitting down to write about these events 4 months later, I can give a little insight to where each opportunity led and how you can create similar experiences in your life!
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| Having fun leading the workshop |
Workshop I taught:
You don’t need to go out and teach a workshop (unless you feel called to get a message out or teach some things that you know you’re really good at, in which case, GO for it)! But this one applies to ANYTHING you’ve felt called to try but put off because you just weren’t sure how it would turn out, how to go about it, who would care, or maybe just never settled on it being “the right time”. Trust me, I get it- I explain in the video about how I finally took the plunge and set a workshop date because I wanted an excuse to have a paper-lantern releasing ceremony haha.
The workshop experience ended up teaching me so much more than I ever could have imagined! I learned a ton by compiling the messages I normally teach in my health/fitness/personal growth groups on Facebook. It forced me to sit down and refine my message as well as to clarify what I am really good at teaching or what I can bring to the table that is special. We ALL have a message and story that is our specialty with our own personal style but how often do we actually sit down to ask ourselves what that is? This was a perfect opportunity to do that. And I’m glad I did!! It really helped me find my voice and my unique message. Having the clarity I gained from preparing for this workshop is now really helping me shape meaningful projects for the future! We all have something to teach… SO TEACH! Serena Dyer wrote a book with her dad, Dr. Wayne Dyer: “Don’t Die with Your Music Still in You”- I absolutely agree. And I believe the best way to gain self-awareness and awareness of what we want out of life, where we want to go, what our purpose is, and more is just to dive in and try things that feel meaningful! When anything is on your heart in that way, DO IT! The world needs you! If you’re not sure, just start trying things that feel good to your soul! You’ll find your path and purpose that way for sure 😉
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| Awesome group of workshop attendees |
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| Soul sisters after the lantern release at the workshop |
Bonus: I had a few last-minute cancellations for this workshop (do not let that kind of thing discourage you- as my friend Paul Matthews says, “Some will, some won’t, so what!”). Instead of getting discouraged, I said a prayer that the people who needed to be there would be there. Turns out, I ended up having a few last-minute add-ons and sure enough, they were people who REPEATEDLY said how much it meant to them to come together with other women and hear the messages of that night. We even created a monthly “super soul sunday” meeting of our group!! I’ve met even MORE amazing women and fellow soul sisters because of it!
Lessons that I took away from this experience:
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Find your voice, find your message- YOU have a unique story that the world needs to hear
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Don’t wait for perfect timing, dive in and do it!
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We learn from TRYING (that means actually taking action rather than thinking about the things that would be cool to do)! That’s how we gain awareness of ourselves and what we want out of life!
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You never know who you’re going to meet or what is going to come out of it!
If you want to read about or watch the recording of my workshop, you can find it here:
Small-group mastermind session I attended (and subsequently joined):
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| L3 Leadership breakfast I attended in November- this is what made me decide to try out the mastermind group Photo credit: L3 Leadership |
WOW. This one has made a HUGE impact!! The people in this group are INCREDIBLE!! I didn’t think I had the time to commit to these twice-monthly meetings but from the second I walked into the room and felt the energy of all the warm and welcoming people in this group, I KNEW it was something I needed to make time for. I realized that with the nature of my coaching career, I do a lot of guiding, but it’s been a long time since I’ve felt truly GUIDED. With this group, I have an incredible group of supportive and encouraging people (now also incredible FRIENDS) who love me and support me in all of my endeavors. We bring our specialties and expertise (and of course our support and encouragement!) to help each person in the group reach the goals they set for themselves, their businesses, and their lives. We talk leadership, relationships, personal development, you name it. It’s been such a huge blessing in my life and I’ve seen incredible rapid growth in my life since joining 4 months ago! I feel so uplifted and accelerated by this group!!
Lessons that I took away from this experience:
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| L3 Leadership mastermind group at our December meeting Photo credit: L3 Leadership |
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Find a mentor and/or group of people who will take you to the next level in any (preferably all!) areas of your life. I already know the value of this from my health and fitness coaching (our facebook accountability groups help me as much as they do my clients!) but I hadn’t realized how much I was missing that in other areas of my life. Take inventory of each area of your life and see where you need to find extra support. My new goal is to make sure I have a solid mentor and group of supportive people to help me with EVERY area of my life!!
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More opportunities than you can imagine can come out of connecting with driven, intelligent, kind, compassionate, supportive, high-performance people. Seek them out. It will be the most valuable thing you ever do for yourself.
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| L3 Leadership breakfast meeting at the end of January. We are growing fast! Photo credit: L3 Leadership |
Toastmasters group I joined:
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| The night I decided to join Toastmasters. I’m holding instructions for my first speech! |
If you don’t know what Toastmasters is, it’s an international public speaking organization that helps each member improve their public speaking and communication skills. We meet twice a month and you can choose to give speeches as often or as infrequently as you would like (more often helps you hit achievements faster and of course improve your skills more quickly). Even on weeks when I’m not speaking, I learn SO MUCH from the other speakers. I can tell that my communication skills are already improving a LOT! Perhaps even more importantly, this was another group full of super supportive, intelligent, and interesting people. Not only do we have a safe environment for us all to practice, learn, and grow, but we also have a really diverse group of people that has been SO INTERESTING to learn from each time I hear each of them give a speech and learn a little bit more about their lives. Will I end up doing public speaking as a career? Who knows! But even in these few short months, I am grateful for the skills I’ve learned already, the new connections I’ve made, and I LOVE the expansiveness that comes with being challenged to grow in a difficult skill!!
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| Riding an adrenaline high after my 2nd Toastmasters speech in February |
Lessons that I took away from this experience:
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Learn a new skill. I had forgotten how GOOD it feels to be challenged and expanded in a safe and supportive environment
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Same as the mastermind group and the workshop: you never know who you’re going to meet, what kind of relationships/connections you will form, or what other opportunities will come out of it!
Here’s the bonus I promised you which is more about me, my background, some special dots that have connected along the way to lead me to where I am, and how you can start noticing “lightning bolt moments” in your life. This also happened to be my 2nd Toastmasters speech 🙂
Lighting Bolt Moments: https://youtu.be/dlQ1FAToqyE
As you can probably tell, these have ALL been big “lightning bolt moments” in my life! I hope that hearing about mine has helped you start to notice the opportunities, people, and experiences in YOUR life that feel extremely meaningful- follow them! 🙂
Love to you all,
Katelyn
Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!
I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey 🙂 Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908
Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.