I love 1:1. Totally vulnerable. Trust. Cultivating potential in real time.

Because anything can happen.

A couple weeks back, my client said something that made me reference the animal kingdom.

Let’s put you in the room, Reader.

Client:

• “I’ve been conditioned to believe ‘If you don’t have work you’re lazy.’”
• “So I filled up my calendar because I find it harder to sit on my own with pen and paper than when my calendar is slammed.”
• “Silence is harder to deal with than hustle.”
• “But I told myself, ‘You’re speaking out of a 7-year-old mindset.’”

Feeling all these things, he went against this default conditioning and took a run on Monday morning.

“I got a sale while running. But why do I feel fraudulent? Like I didn’t earn the sale because I was running?”

I appreciated the vulnerability, so I thought I’d lighten the mood.

“Does a lion feel fraudulent because it can’t fly?”

Relaxed shoulders. A wry smile. An acknowledgement that the brain’s playing tricks.

Here’s what he’s going through

Him and I talk a lot about design and default.

As you’re well aware — just scroll your socials — the default stance on success is “Do more!”

So, while he’s designing around his life…

• More time with his wife and daughter
• Running during work hours
• Writing without a call to action
• Diving into new curiosities to feel like a newbie again

He’s feeling the opposition in his mind.

This is the real work.

I tell clients all the time:

“You’ve got every answer inside your head, it’s just buried under two inches of dirt.”

We don’t need to add. We need to sweep away.

He’s a lion. Do we need a new template or framework or more hustle? IE: learning how to fly?

Or do we simply need to acknowledge that it’s fucking cool being a lion and there’s more depth on what that means?

Here’s my question

If you want a life by design, are you prepared to take all that comes with it?

Because transitioning from workhorse to self-assured requires some sweeping.

It requires some tough questions.

The answers are simple, but they’ll be uncomfortable.

One of his: “In a delusional world, how little could I work and how much could I make?”

“It’s not delusion at all,” I said.

You’ll tell yourself you’re lazy. You’ll agonize in the silence. You’ll have the audacity to go to a movie on Tuesday at 3PM and love every second but simultaneously feel like you wasted time because whogoestoamovieduringworkhours?!

It takes some resolve. No doubt about it.

But a lion doesn’t concern itself with learning to fly, because it simply doesn’t need it.

So, you’re telling yourself you need X or Y or Z to create design (confidence, calm, peace).

But do you?

There’s no value in trying to be something else when you’ve already got more than enough to be what you’re meant to be.

You’re no fraud. Stop believing you are.

Til next time,

C

P.S. Need help making space so you can think cleaner and trust yourself?

When you’re ready, give this a read.