What do you do? People ask me this all the time and the truth is, I don’t have a freakin’ clue how to give people the answer they actually, truly want, but aren’t asking for.
Well, that’s not true, I can do it, but it would likely piss you off.
People want me to answer What do you do? with something like this:
- I’m a writer.
- I’m a salesperson.
- I’m a seminar leader.
- I’m a speaker.
- I’m a professional network marketer.
- I’m a consultant.
- I’m a social media maven.
- I’m a mom, a wife, a baker, a tri-athlete (in training), a cancer survivor, a friend, a mentor…
People (maybe even you) don’t really want to know what I do, you want to know who and what I am right? But that’s far too complex of a question to ask, and it’s certainly too much to answer over a quick chat in a bank line-up isn’t it? (Wait a minute, does anyone even go to the bank anymore?).
If I told you what I do by prattling off a long list of my activities you’d be like: “lady, I’m just making small talk, I don’t need your whole story”.
And that’s the issue for me. I am a story. You are a story. Every second of our day is another word, phrase, and paragraph of our living story.
So, when you ask me what I do, if I’m feeling empowered enough to hold your quizzical, yet kinda blank stare as you try to piece together the words that are falling out of my mouth into something that makes sense to you, this is what I would say:
You: So… What do you do?
Me: Thank you for asking, well… I Live My Best Story, and I inspire others to do the same.
You: Blank stare.
Four years ago I was not living my best story. At that time, I thought ‘story’ was something that happened ‘to me’ not through me. I thought that all of my broken promises, unrealized dreams, and misfortunes had happened to me, (me being the central character, yet object not subject of my story). I had been watching my life happen and since it had a bunch of successes in it like:
- I’d completed writing multiple plays,
- produced and directed a few quirky short films,
- ran a successful small PR firm,
- had been self-employed for most of my life… and paid the rent!
- got married,
- gave birth to three healthy boys,
- had ample friends and was part of an active community,
- ***plus I had made it to the top of a network marketing business and even earned the company car.
Yup. I had ditched my childhood years of ‘never enough’ for a brand new white Mercedes Benz, and I had moved in to abundance town.
But it wasn’t my story, even though it was a good one.
I know. I know. We live in North America and it’s a LUXURY to build a life we love.
I know. I know. Millions of people all over the world are simply surviving each day. They don’t have a choice.
I know. I know. I should feel damn lucky and grateful for what I do have.
I know… I had been lamenting my first world problems. Poor little rich girl…
Still, it wasn’t my story, and if it wasn’t my story, it certainly couldn’t be my BEST STORY either.
I’ve always been blessed by having brilliant people around me, and my decades in the arts had taught me how to tell the truth, shake and quake while I did it, still, trust it somehow. So I asked my near and dear… What do I do now? Their answer came back loud and clear:
Launch your F**’k’n workshop Tina.
Gong… the bell in my own tower rung. Quiver quiver shake shake.
And that was the beginning for me. My best story chose me and not the other way around. You’ve heard me say this before: To whom much is given, much is expected, and if I’m going to live my best story, then bloody hell, you are too (if I have anything to do with it).
SO HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU:
- Is your past in the way of your present?
- Have you hit the wall of your own beliefs?
- Are you saddled by uncertainty?
- Are you always in the ‘almost’ position instead of ‘arrived’?
- Are you living someone else’s story instead of your own?
- Is your story brighter than you’re willing to step in to?
If so, you might be where I was four years ago and you might want to come and Live Your Best Story with me for a weekend.
Our upcoming retreat (12 spots only) is May 27th – 29th. Click here to register (at the friends of rate!), or send me an email and we can chat about what’s really going on with you and see if a weekend away might just be the answer to your restlessness.
What do I do? I live my best story and I inspire and support others to do the same.
xxT
Send me an email at tina@liveyourbeststory.com
TinaO is a writer, speaker and the founder of TinaOLife – a hub for all things worth living for, the workshop Live Your Best Story, and her coaching practice: Tall Poppy Living. She’s also a professional network marketer with a decade in the industry and with her Tall Poppy Living for Network Marketers Coaching Program, she teaches: selling isn’t slimey and marketing isn’t make-believe. You can be yourself and be successful in Direct Sales.