Wow! Friends, you have wrapped me in so much love! Thank you for your congratulations and support. Who knew that a story about God and a girdle could be inspiring- ha! (By the way, if you missed that blog post and you’re dying to know who a girdle changed my life, I’d love to share it with you! Just click here!)
So, the next part of my wild-n-wacky vacation trip is about meeting social media juggernaut, Michael Hyatt. Clearly, I was looking forward to hearing his keynote address…
I’m one of the 250,000 people who listen to Michael Hyatt’s leadership podcasts each month. His podcasts get me through my morning runs. I hate running. But when I listen to Michael’s podcast, I hate my run a little less. Additionally, I learn important wisdom from Michael in hopes that those that I lead might hate me less as well.
So, you can only imagine how high I clicked my 3.75″ blue, chevron-patterned wedge heels when I met Michael Hyatt and his lovely wife, Gail last Friday.
After listening to Michael’s soup-to-nuts talk about how to get our God-inspired messages noticed in busy world, I joined the stampede of women who were invited to his Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, book signing. Normally, I am a digital girl – I’ve got hundreds of books on my iPad Kindle app, but sometimes this girl’s gotta buy a hardcopy!
As I scanned through the table of contents, I looked for the chapter that I was most likely to NOT want to read. Then, I found it: Chapter 9: Think big…No, BIGGER!
I like dreaming big. It’s dreaming “bigger” that freaks me out. “Bigger” dreams like: having my own television show, writing two or three bestsellers that bless women and draw them closer to God, taking a cruise around the world… and losing 25 pounds. For me, these “bigger” dreams make my heart flutter and bring a smile to my face. But, they also scare me. It’s a good time for me to turn the tables. How about you?
What do you dream about? If you could do anything and not fail, what would it be? It’s probably the thing that you’d never say out loud because you don’t want people to think you’re crazy, out-of-your-league, conceited, delusional or any other word that basically means the following: #notachance. But, if you are brave enough to share your dream, you can tell me – I won’t tell 🙂 Leave a comment or inbox me on FB or Tweet me. Let’s dream together!
And that’s why I knew I without Michael’s help, I would probably skim right past chapter 9. I can get overwhelmed at the thought of dreaming bigger and actually attaching goals to my dreams. Because once I take that dangerous step, then the Failure Monster comes a knockin’ and starts singing his “You can’t win” song (which I think he ripped off from Michael Jackson, who sang it in the classic movie, “The Wiz.”)
Here are just a few fears I’ve been beating back in the past week: What if the publisher changes her mind about my proposal? What is I start writing the book and turns out, I HATE it? What if I finish the book and then they HATE it? What if I write this book and no one cares?
So, after shaking Michael’s hand, I asked him for a little help:
“Michael, instead of signing the book cover, would you sign Chapter 9 for me? It’s the chapter that I will struggle with the most.”
In his graciousness, Michael went to work signing Chapter 9. His notations included some underlining and script on that page. Michael finished his quick note with the words: “Barb, I’m counting on you to do this.” Whew. I just wanted some encouraging words and Michael scripted out a challenge. And I would see that challenge every time I picked up the book. Sometimes, you get what you ask for, right?
In that brief interaction, Michael made me believe that whatever God–inspired dream was hidden in my heart was important enough to overcome my fear of failure.
Then, I asked Michael and Gail if they would take a photo with me. Juggernaut Michael, lovely Gail and GIANT Barbie. Seriously, could I be any taller! Sigh. (My friend, Bobbie, took the photo from me and told me to stop calling myself ‘Giant Barbie.’ But, if the size 11 shoe fits…) Then, disaster struck!
The next morning, I realized my autographed copy of Platform was missing. What the what! After an unsuccessful inquiry to the wonderful She Speaks conference team, I was truly bummed. My book was gone – right along with Michael’s unique encouraging message to me. Gone. And I didn’t get a picture of it.
I decided to Tweet the Proverbs 31 team and mentioned Michael in my tweet, knowing that there was minimal chance of finding the book. Still, I didn’t have anything to lose. The next morning, I checked my phone. Imagine me falling out of my comfy hotel bed when I saw Michael’s response to my Tweet. Here’s a photo. His response was short and gracious. But, his timely response meant the world to me.
The replacement copy will be sent to my office and I’m non-chalantly checking the mailroom each day for it’s delivery. I’m excited about seeing the autograph, but at this point, I really need to read Platform! The competitive part of me knows that all of the other ladies at the conference have a jump on me because they didn’t lose their copies.
Thanks for reading my story. I want to end this post by sharing something Michael said during his talk about waiting for perfect conditions to take action. I hope this thought motivates you:
“Perfectionism is the mother of procrastination. The world doesn’t need it (your idea/dream/plan) to be perfect, it just needs to be out there.”
