I read so many articles and interviews that pull out elements of the subjects childhood to point to, essentially saying “see? they’ve been like this since they were a kid!” Therefore, it’s destiny/fate/obvious they would grow up to be this talented/inspirational person.
Which, I get. Especially when that success has been achieved, it’s opportune to cherry pick the parts of your story that make for the most compelling narrative, and start blacking out all the intense hard that might have accompanied it. Don’t we all WANT to know she was singing before she could talk, and went on to win The Voice?
What I want to know is, how have things changed since you were a kid. What are things you HATED that now you LOVE. Or what were things you were totally obsessed with that are now dust on your memory cupboards.
Here’s what I mean – when I was a kid, my handwriting was atrocious. It was constantly stressful for me to write things by hand. I would get teased, my teachers would ask for re-writes, my parents would get mad I wasn’t ‘putting enough effort into my work.’ When we were finally allowed to type out reports and essays, I never thought I’d use a notebook again.
Now, I can’t function without at least four. That’s a real picture of all my notebooks in my bag or on my desk at any one time. And they all have very specific purposes. Swear. I also have a set of pens I use just for writing out all my ideas – and have a serious notebook addiction. I write out everything by hand. Notes with clients, digital brainstorms, blog post ideas. If I can’t write it out longhand I feel disconnected from my creativity and flow. And it looks fine. No one will ever confuse me for a kindergarten teacher – with their just-so cursive and printing, but it’s functional and I LOVE it. Which I never, ever did before.
I also am a bookkeeper. I have worked in the financial side of many offices. I’m good with numbers. I can organize them, make sense out of them, and keep them very, very neat. And I hated math like woah when I was in high school. I frequently thought I should write my high school math teacher a note letting him know that I’d actually became quite successful working with numbers, which I am sure would, and wouldn’t shock him. (He knew I was smart, and that when I applied myself I could get A’s. But I also didn’t like math all that much, so the fact that I’d built a career on it…..surprise-city.)
Whenever I’m geeking out on spreadsheet functions and data entry, I think, “this is SO not what I expected.”
Other things? Sure. I’ve always been nuts for helping creative people run their businesses. I’ve always been good figuring out how to make money and create opportunities for myself. But the fact that I’m doing these things working long-hand in 4 notebooks, and deeply understand how quickbooks works, is just, nothing I’d ever considered as possible in my life.
And that’s what’s cool about possibility, it’s not always ‘fancy drinks on the Caribbean beach’ or ‘being on The Ellen Show’ – possibility also means making a living being good at math, and loving to write in my notebooks, a lot. It’s all possible, and there’s generally a a much wider scope than we think about.
So what about you? What’s changed for you in a surprising way since you were a kid? What’s possible for you?
I’m Ellen, Money Making Expert. I help creative business owners actually make money. I believe that making money can be easy and fun. It’s my mission to help all you creative business owners, coaches, soloprenurs, helpers and world changers get paid, well. Curious what’s possible when we work together? Book your power sesh here. 20 minutes, you and me, totally free.
“Go for it! In fact, if you have ANY doubt that you might not be going in the right direction in your business, all you need is one session with Ellen. She’s not only extremely business-savvy and able to come up with innovative, creative and totally ON FIRE ideas quick-as-all-hell, her razor-sharp wit and relaxed demeanor made the whole session feel like I was talking to a (super–smart) BFF.” – Erica
