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The Positive Voice
The Positive Voice, is a podcast dedicated to helping you live your best life. Our show is all about spreading positivity and inspiration, and we cover a variety of topics that are designed to help you cultivate a more positive mindset. From the neuroscience of positivity to the power of affirmations, we explore the many ways in which you can bring more positivity into your life. Our episodes are full of practical tips and strategies that you can apply to your own life, as well as inspiring stories from people who have overcome adversity to achieve their dreams. So if you're looking for a dose of positivity and inspiration, join us on The Positive Voice and start living life to the fullest!
The Positive Voice
E65: If you think you can- you will, If you think you can't, you won't
Imagine unlocking the true power of self-belief to catapult your entrepreneurial journey and personal growth. That's exactly what we're unpacking today, with insights from my own transformation into a wellness mindset coach, fueled by the wisdom of great thinkers like Henry Ford. Our conversation weaves through the lessons learned from coaching and being coached, the importance of pivoting with life's seasons, and the surprising ways rediscovering fiction has reignited my passion for writing. If you've ever felt stuck or doubted your path, this episode is a beacon, guiding you towards embracing your potential and the joys of chasing a life in balance.
This session is more than an exploration; it's a celebration of the profound impact that stories, whether in books or on the big screen, can have on our personal evolution. We'll journey through the powerful transformations experienced by my 90-day emergence program's first cohort, where movie magic and deep introspection sparked incredible growth. With the influence of Kennedy Ryan's compelling narratives, we're reminded of our capacity to inspire breakthroughs for ourselves and others. So, join us as we delve into the heart of personal responsibility and self-belief, and discover how our individual journeys can resonate and uplift those around us, shaping destinies far beyond our own.
Welcome to The Positive Voice, a feel-good podcast designed to inspire and uplift through heartfelt conversations and the power of positivity! Hosted by transformational life coach and hope dealer, Kimberly Houston, where we delve into personal growth, wellness, and the beauty of overcoming life's challenges.
Join our creative and supportive community as we laugh, learn, and grow together on this life-changing journey. Subscribe to The Positive Voice and let's spread the joy, one conversation at a time!
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Hello my friends. Cck here, I hope that you are having the most incredible day, because here is something that it's a quote that I came across this weekend by Henry Ford, and this thing has been sitting on my chest, sitting on my shoulder. It has completely arrested me and I just want to have a real quick conversation with you about it. So here's the quote If you believe you can, you are right. If you believe you cannot, you are right. That is a quote by Henry Ford.
Speaker 1:Now let me tell you something as an entrepreneurial wellness mindset coach. One of the things that I have come to realize during my 90 day emergence process is that those who believe they can do and those who believe they can't don't. Throughout this process, I have been under the guidance and leadership of a coach, like I have my own coach. The same way a therapist has a therapist right. So as a coach, I have a coach and we kind of work through things. We talk about difficulties that I may come across, we talk about my own limiting beliefs and I move through these things quickly, right, like I don't want you to think that anything you hear about on this podcast or on my blog or any of my lives on social media. What I don't want you to believe is that mindset coaches don't also have to have a mindset coach. We do, and when you come into this with a natural ability to rally the troops and to get people to do things back in the day, many years ago, I had a former district manager that talked about one of my employees and said that she could sell cat food to a dog, and I took that to heart and was like damn, I want to be able to sell cat food to a dog, and so it required me to improve my practices, to check my ego and to align myself with being able to be not only a superior supervisor but also a star seller. There was no reason that anyone who was on my team should have been outshining me as the head. That was my thought 20 years ago as a retail manager, as a coach and specifically as a coach for entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:The way I position myself is I walk alongside of you on your journey, but I can't pull you. I can vision for you, but I'm never going to cast my vision on you. That's not fair, right, and so one of the things that I like to help I won't say one, but a thing that I enjoy helping entrepreneurs figure out is what is their purpose? What is their why? What are they supposed to be doing? Like? What is your divine purpose in this season Now notice, I didn't say in your life, because I do think that it is seasonal I don't think that you have just one purpose. In general, I think that you can have many throughout the phases of your life, right?
Speaker 1:The people who want to have a deep desire. Those who have been able to do the work and face their limiting beliefs and have let go of the fallacy that someone else is coming to save them. Those people who believe that they can do something. They are right they can't, because it starts with your beliefs. Those who hold on to their excuses, don't show up when they're supposed to show up for coaching for themselves, for their friends, for their family. Those who don't show up when opportunities are presented to them. Those who cannot wrap their mind around getting things done and executing. Those who feel the need to continuously stay in the comfort of their dis-ease Some people find comfort in dis-ease, some people find comfort in chaos the idea that you can simply change your mind and choose a new thought as the catalyst of bringing peace into your life. Some people would rather stay in the comfort of the chaos than move into the discomfort of peace. Now, this is something that has baffled me for a very long time, and I can't understand. Why exactly would you choose to stay where you are when, by simply choosing a new thought, you can leap into the life that you actually want? And let me tell you how this came together for me this weekend.
Speaker 1:So, for those of you who are part of the Positive Voice Book Club, you know that I love to read. You know that I read many books a month. This month might surpass the others, which I thought was going to be pretty hard, but here's what happened. There was travel happening in my life for the last two weeks, and about six months ago, when my daughter and I went to see my son in a play, my daughter made the suggestion that I should read a book, like a story book. I should read a book that had nothing to do with business, because we were on vacation, and so I picked up a book in the airport and it was actually really good. It's not something I would have normally chosen for myself, but I couldn't put the book down. It was really, really good and I consumed it, and it reminded me of a younger version of myself who literally used to sit in her dorm room and read books on Friday nights. Like it was a tradition for me to go to the mall, get a new book either on Thursday or early Friday and that was my weekend plans. I was sitting in my dorm room and I would read all weekend long and it brought me so much joy. Like it brought me so much joy and I distinctly remember at one point wanting to be a writer.
Speaker 1:I have been published before, aside from the books that I've written about, you know culinary. My poetry has been published, and you know 16, 17, 18,. If you would have asked me what I wanted to be, the response would have been an actress on Broadway or that I wanted to be a writer and writing seemed to make the most sense, and so that's what I did, and that's what I did a lot during my junior and senior year of high school, moving into college, even majoring in English, so that I could take creative writing classes right. This has always been a thing for me, and so I'm consuming these story books and they're wonderful and I get to go to different worlds and I can see them as I'm reading the pages.
Speaker 1:And so two weeks ago, when I went on the first trip, I grabbed a book that I've been watching book talk you know Books to Gram and on social media is looking for books and there's an author by the name of Kennedy Ryan that the girls were losing their minds over there like y'all got to get this book. And so I picked up our first book before I let go and I read it during the first trip. And when I tell you, I got to the point where I was like I'm going to Skyland and people were like what? And that's where they are in the book. And I was like, yeah, I got a date, I got to go to Skyland. And so like I could not wait. It's almost like if you're binge watching a Netflix show and you pause it to go to work and then when you get home, you can't wait to jump back in. Okay, that's what was happening with this book. So I finished the first book. It's incredible Like we touched down back in Atlanta and I finished the final paragraph of the first book and it was perfect, it was beautiful, it was wonderful.
Speaker 1:And then I went ahead and ordered the second book. Now let me tell you what. We'll have another podcast about Kennedy Ryan and all the things she's doing. But let me tell you why. This second book kind of flipped everything on its head for me. So, with the idea of if you believe you can, you are right, and if you believe you can't, you are right, that was kind of a theme of this book and I didn't put that together until this moment as I'm talking.
Speaker 1:In book two, I related to this character so much like I was consuming this book. The first book had me in a chokehold, but when I say the second book, this could be us Y'all. It brought up things I didn't know existed inside of me. It gave me a sneak peek into what my life could be. What could my life look like if I made a decision to change my mind. So, without giving the book away, because I want y'all to go read it, the main character in the book is dealing with a whole lot of stuff. You know horrible relationship opportunities in business. She's not apreneur and a new possible potential love interest is here. Now I'm not going to give y'all this story, but in this love interest and in her making a decision to choose herself.
Speaker 1:I'm watching this play out and it started to kind of tug at my heartstrings a little bit. The reason that it did was because this story allowed me to envision a new reality. The book feels real. I understand that it's not, but the way that it is written, you become a part of the story. These characters become a part of you, like you literally go to their world and I could see it, I could smell it, I could hear it and I was like, oh my God, this is visioning, this is the imagination playing into something I did not know was possible.
Speaker 1:And as soon as I had that thought, I immediately thought about the people who cannot execute. People can't execute because they can't see it. If you can't see it, if you can't vision it, if you can't hear it, smell it, breathe it before it is reality, how can you have the thought that you want it If you do not know that it exists? How can you desire it? If the only thing that you know is heartache, struggle, living paycheck to paycheck, never having enough, broken friendships, lack of love, lack, lack, lack. If that is the only thing you know, how do you vision for more? And so that's the question I began to think about as I found myself completely wrapped up in this fictional character base and this fictional story, with these people are living out real life scenarios on the pages, and I had to sit with it for a moment and then I went okay. This is why it is important for us to experience new things.
Speaker 1:If what you've been doing in your life let's say, for the past 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years has not been working, beloved, it's not going to work for you now. In order for you to have something new, you must first know what you want. The only way you're going to know what you actually want and desire is number one, if you are open to it. Number two you actually go do some research and development. What is research and development looks like? It looks like picking up a storybook instead of a self-help book and getting lost inside of the literary world of another author. It looks like taking solo trips to conferences so that you can learn how other people in your same industry making more money than you are making it. It looks like you going on a retreat with a girlfriend so that you can write books, because you've both vision to have these full lines of literary work that will outlast both of you. It looks like you taking the time to give yourself permission to watch your favorite show, to watch Hallmark, to spend some time listening to audio books while you're driving, to spend some time listening to a new radio station, maybe, just maybe, you'll begin to envision a different type of version of yourself.
Speaker 1:And so, while I found myself just a little frustrated with people who tell me they can't vision, they cannot imagine a different life, prior to this week, I'll be very honest, I felt like that was an excuse. I felt like that was another reason that people were giving themselves in order to stay in the dis-ease of their discomfort. That's what it felt like to me. It felt like it was a reason for you to stay broken, for you to stay in the victim mindset, because that's exactly what, that is right. And so, for me, I was like okay, kimberly, let's be real.
Speaker 1:There was a point in your life where you were the same way. And how did you get yourself out? It took me many, many years, a whole lot of help, multiple therapists, not just the therapists I had from the divorce. There was a therapist while I was married. It took me many, many years. I went through a lot of hurt. I went through church hurt. I had a pastor who told me things that should have never come out of his mouth. I had people in my life who did not support my hopes and goals and dreams. I believed that the only way for me to be successful was to work hard and sacrifice myself and to fall into the fallacy of how sleeping, I'm dead. Baby, when you did, you ain't sleeping, you just dead.
Speaker 1:When we take on the Patriarch, patriarchial thoughts, opinions and views, when we allow those things to become our truth, we then become our own biggest enemy. We then subject ourselves to not being able to imagine a different life. We then imagine ourselves not being able to understand that you don't have to be a writer. You can just love unapologetically. You can be with someone who wants to love you. You can make a choice to simply say right now, this is hashtag, dating myself. But if you don't know that those things are a possibility, then maybe we do something different.
Speaker 1:Inside of my 90 day emergence program, every 30 days I have the people in the program watching a new movie. We have watched three movies as we're in our last two weeks of cohort one, and the people in cohort one have grown by leaps and bounds, so much so that there will now be a level two of the emergence experience, so that those who are in cohort one can continue to do the deep work right. And for those who want to come in and join cohort I'm sorry for those who want to come in and join level one there will be a cohort two. They're going to launch at the same time, they'll run simultaneously, but we will meet differently. All of that information will be released within the next week or two as I narrow down the specifics of what this will look like.
Speaker 1:But I have intentionally given them new thoughts, new things to think about, new ways to vision for themselves. And it includes your imagination. It includes tapping into childlike curiosity for things in your life. We've even gone through a complete change of branding since this program started. Originally, my thought was this would be like people emerging like a butterfly, and then I realized no, this is more of a transformation. This is more of life-long work. This is more about chasing the joy, learning what joy is, understanding that you too can have it, and your life does not have to be unbalanced in order for you to be successful, you can have everything you want and rest. And so we've changed the branding of it. We've changed the colors of my entire brand and if you go look at my Instagram, you can just see it in the feed. You can see there is a distinct palette change between when I had the idea that, oh my goodness, people need more joy.
Speaker 1:Yes, the healing journey deals with so many things and sometimes it feels scary, but the piece about the healing journey and the reason that people go on it is because there is so much love on the other side, it's because there is so much joy on the other side, it's because you're literally going through the BS so you can take out the garbage, so that you can let the sunlight into your home, so that you can let the sunshine into your soul, so that you can let love into your life, so that you can let happiness into your life, you can let joy into your life. And while I knew that on an academic level, while I knew that this was a thing, until I started reading these books by Kennedy Ryan, it didn't come together for me and play out like a movie. And now that it has, I'm so forever grateful and did I dim the author and tell her? Yes, I did. We had a whole conversation because I tell people all the time your yes to something is the breakthrough for somebody else. This woman had absolutely no idea that when she wrote these stories that I would happen upon them, that I would happen upon a story about a woman who I relate to on such deep levels that our lives are parallel. In this story she didn't know me, I didn't know her, I didn't know I would need these stories at this point of my life. But because I read these stories and because I was able to enter into a piece of her world, it will now change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, because it gave me a fresh perspective on how co-chef Kim is supposed to move forward, how I am supposed to influence the nations. And it's quite simply because there's a woman said yes to following her heart, following her mind, her thoughts, her ideas, and brought these characters to life on the pages.
Speaker 1:You never know what you are doing and how it is going to impact other people. It is irresponsible of you to be sitting on an idea, on a thought, on your purpose. It's irresponsible of you to sit with an idea that's been nagging at your soul for years and years and years. And simply because you refuse to come out of the discomfort of this moment in your life, because you refuse to believe that you can have everything you want, you continue to suffer, and so do the people who are assigned to you. It is irresponsible of you to hold on to that thing that has been burning you, that thing that has been keeping you up at night, that thing that has been driving you absolutely insane. Because you need to get it out. The reason you need to get it out is because there are, quite literally, people attached to your destiny, and the longer you sit and have imposter syndrome, the longer you sit in self pity, the longer you sit in victim mindset, the longer it's going to take for them to complete their life's mission, because they need to encounter you at whatever specific time in their lives they need to.
Speaker 1:It would be a shame for you to make it to the end of your life and for you to be on your deathbed thinking about all the things you should have done. You wished you did the leaps you wished you would have made the choices you wish you would have chosen over the ones that you did. Why? Because you were scared, because you didn't feel like you were enough, because nobody told you you were enough, because nobody believed in you when you needed them to, because you had people tell you you would never make it. Because you were a 21 year old single mom, pregnant with a baby by a minister, and everybody told you that you would never be anything, and neither would your baby.
Speaker 1:And if you sat down and actually listened and believed it then, then guess what? If the 21 year old version of me had actually believed all the people who quote unquote meant well and they felt like they needed to air quotations once again give me the hard truths about my life. If I had listened to their limiting beliefs about me, you would not be listening to me on this podcast and my son would not be the lead role in James I's Pulitzer Prize winning Fat Ham that will be at the Alliance Theater in two weeks. If I had listened to the damnation that other people placed on me because of their own biases, because of their own lack of emotional maturity and their lack of responsibility and personal accountability on their own parts, by quite simply keeping their fucking mouth shut because they felt like it made them more of an authority figure in my life by trying to tear me down to teach me lessons so that I could understand that since I made this mistake air quotations that I would have to lay in the bed that I created Baby y'all wouldn't be listening to me right now.
Speaker 1:See, there are some moments in your life where you have to say your limiting beliefs are not a part of my story. Your lack of self-control and self-compassion are not a part of my story. You thinking that your opinion is law and that I should adjust to who I am in order to fit into the box you want to put me in. That is not how I plan on living out my life. Those of you who are people pleasers and you feel like people are going to be in your corner if you do what they tell you. Can I tell you something? As soon as you tell them no the first time, those people will stop making you please and you want to know why, because then they'll realize that they've been using and abusing you and now you know it and then they're going to stop.
Speaker 1:The fallacy that we have as people pleasers is that if I do this thing, they will reward me. No, baby, if you do this thing, they will continue to run over you. Whatever history has proven, baby, it's true, believe it when people show you who they are, believe them, just because you think you can change them, just because you think, if you do this one more time, they won't cheat again. If you think, if you do this one thing, if you change this thing about yourself, if you lose the weight, if you create this business plan, if you abandon your own hopes, values, goals, dreams and identity in order to serve another person, baby, it doesn't make you their best friend. It makes you their slave.
Speaker 1:And I don't know about you, but I don't work on a plantation. I am the author of my life and I am the only person who gets to decide what my story will be. And so, as I started this podcast with this quote, I'm going to end it with it. If you believe you can, you are right. Until next time. Stay sweet, my friends, and I'll talk to you soon.
