I was in Chicago enjoying some much needed time off.
This particular day, found me out to brunch with a friend and mentor, enjoying the view from the 96th floor lounge of the Hancock Building watching the sun over the harbor, and catching up.
As we dove deeper into what we’ve both been up to, I began to hear a phrase repeated to me over and over:
Use your words, not someone else’s.
By the end of the brunch, what I intended to be a simple time of catch-up and conversation, had turned into a “grilling” session with me being the one over the flames.
Her prodding was deliberately revealing the self-imposed layers that stood in the way of who I truly am and what I truly desire for my life. The layers that were hindering my ability to communicate with her from the most honest of spaces.
She kept reminding me that the most direct path to this place, the place of honest awareness, is to own your words.
Owning your words or, expressing yourself in the most honest of ways, is one of the fastest paths to uncovering your true intentions for all you do.
If you express your particular desires via buzzwords, phrases, and labels that have been given to you vicariously through influence, than you’re actually placing barriers between you and your deepest desires. In other words, you end up feeding the untrue self. The one that holds you back.
This plays out most significantly in how you communicate to your audience and true fans. Unless you’re fully aware of the core message you so desperately are meant to give, then you’re simply “communicating” from a place that’s manufactured by other’s words, feelings, perspective, and purpose.
That means you’re basically short-changing your audience’s side of the conversation.
People who are working and living out of ownership, are doing so with a very clear self-defined purpose. When you adopt the phraseology of others, then you’re inadvertently communicating a purpose and intention that isn’t necessarily yours to share.
That’s why it’s crucial to remove the layers that are obstructing your vision of who you truly are and what life you’re seeking to live.
Unless you’re willing to be honest with yourself, own your life, and own your words, then I guess that begs the question, who’s life and who’s words are you using instead?
