Sincerely, Future You - The Masterful CEO Way
Bearing full responsibility for a company’s success or failure can cause many CEOs to take control and micromanage every single aspect of their business. Therefore, they don’t leave any room for improvement and growth. However, continuous improvement and asking high-quality questions is vital to becoming a masterful CEO.
Sincerely, Future You on YouTube
Full Transcript
Jessica McKinley 00:00
Problems aren't problems. They're just data. Right? So whatever problem you think you're running into, when you're improving in a masterful CEO way, you just take your drama hat off. All the ways that you're saying like everything's burning down, nothing's working. People aren't interested, I don't have enough. All of that is just drama. It's not true.
Jessica McKinley 00:28
Welcome to Sincerely, Future You, a podcast that helps ambitious women like you make decisions today with the future you in mind. Hi, hamsters, it is almost time, almost time for me to become a mom again. almost time for summer, almost time for you to meet the future self you've been dreaming about.
Jessica McKinley 01:04
Happening Sessions enrollment was last week. And I am so excited to get started with those of you who are going to be in the September round. But now, it is almost time for me to sit back and just let my business be the thing that my past self created. It is so crazy you guys I've been talking about this for for such a long time I've been preaching about how we make. The secret is to make as many of your decisions for your business and your life in advanced as possible. And now I've done that work. And I am entering into maternity leave. And I just have to watch my brain freak out about not taking action about it not being enough. And I wanted to do an episode about what it feels like to improve.
Jessica McKinley 02:13
So the masterful CEO way so that you can see what drama thoughts are just not a problem, and are totally supposed to be there if you're doing it right. And what thoughts are very indulgent, and slowing you down from taking the action that you need to take and making the big leaps you need to make and allowing room for the 50% of negative emotion that is going to come up and for the beginner energy that's going to be there as you're learning and for the failure collection. So this episode is inspired by all of the mistakes that my past self used to make when I was trying to improve. And the mistakes that I see my clients making, when they're trying to improve. That's actually just using the process of growth against themselves. We don't do that over here.
Jessica McKinley 03:14
But before we dive into the topic today, I do need to shout out a hop star of the week. And the half stir this week is Britney, Britney is the perfect person to shout out this week. Why? Because she has finally clicked into making space for the growth and the learning and the failure collection. And one of the ways that she's doing this that she's making space is to use the what's happening portal journal feature. So we have a journal feature. And I've mentioned this before in the podcast. But basically, it is just like, you could journal in a notebook only I can see it. So she's been journaling her thoughts throughout the week as they come up. She just leaves it open on her computer. And as she's having thoughts for the day, she'll pop them in and then she submits it once a week. So what's beautiful about this is that in between sessions, I get to see if there's anything that any coaching that she needs that really needs some fine tuning. And what I've noticed is that she is actually right on track before I would watch her come into coaching and have a question, but it would be this very black or white. I'm there and it's clicked and this is working or it's not working. And that can be how it feels as a solopreneur. But why I'm shouting out Britney right now is she's making space for the place where we're getting something from not working to working. And we're not making the fact that it's not working yet. A problem Are you following me she's doing is writing down all of the drama thoughts that her brain is bringing her when she tries something out. And the result is not matching the, the desired result is not matching the actual result. And that is just not a problem. It's why we give you more we zoom out, we give you more space, like six months within this container, to practice the failure collection to practice specific types of goals for you to reintroduce them, evaluate them, and see the actual tangible results get better and better. But in the process of that what what trips us up a lot, is that we're trying to use the results as proof that we can believe that this is going to work out. And that's not how it works. And what Brittany is deciding to do right now is to see the thoughts and be like, Oh, I see, I'm learning how to have more positive thoughts about my launches, right now learning how to have more positive thoughts about these numbers. Because I know that these numbers are just temporary, these numbers are just the data that is that comes after this particular round of collecting failure. And this is the exact mindset that you need to make sure that you are in your success is inevitable, because this type of spaciousness allows you to continue. And how do you be a person that will never quit? The answer is that you just can't. So I am able to feel so relaxed as her coach watching her dialogue and with herself watching her make space for both the negative and the positive emotions because I know that if she's not making those negative emotions a problem. And if she's just an if she's not avoiding them, either, she's just looking at them, documenting them and still taking action and moving on. There's nothing that she's not going to be able to achieve. So I needed to shout her out perfectly perfect timing for this episode. as I share with you the thoughts and actions that I find are the masterful CEO way to improve. Okay, let's dive in.
Jessica McKinley 07:37
So improvement is kind of an oxymoron to begin with, right? In order to improve, we have to acknowledge that there's somewhere we want to be that's better, quote, unquote, than where we are right now. We want to, let's say, for example, have more clients, we want to have more revenue, we want to be have a higher conversion rate on our consults. We want to just get better at our craft we want to get better at and more efficient at writing copy on Instagram or getting more comfortable with doing live videos on on Tik Tok I don't know is their lives on Tik Tok, Tik Tokis not my platform. But the point that I'm making is that while improvement feels like this positive thing, I actually find that feeling the process of improving feels negative in our bodies, it feels like we're not yet there. Right.
Jessica McKinley 08:58
when we think that something's better there than here, we tend to feel not so great and want to resist or avoid that emotion. So there are some thoughts that helped me be in this place. Because the nature of business is that you should always be improving in something. And if you do create the habit, especially in the beginning of trying to avoid this feeling of improving. Even if it's subconscious, you're going to create a business that stagnates you're going to all of a sudden hit a plateau and be like, oh, like I don't know why I had clients but no more are coming because you aren't improving in any in any way. Right.
Jessica McKinley 09:45
So what can we think what can we feel and what can we do to make space for improvement and not beat ourselves up along the way?
Jessica McKinley 09:58
Number one thought What is, this is the process I love this thought for me, it is really helpful. Whenever I am in the middle of, of learning, I talked a lot over the last couple of months about my experience with, with launching happening sessions and doing a launch for the first time and not just constant, active selling and selling people from consults, like having an open and closed day. And I'm doing that again that I will I did it again last week when you're listening to this. And the process is not fun. It's painful, right? Like your brain just is in constant freakout mode, like I don't know, we don't have evidence that this is gonna work. It's not working, right? Like, we fall short of our goal consistently until we hit our goal. I even worry about the other people who hit their goal the very first time. Because if you do that a lot in the beginning, then you're really bad at improving, because you don't know how you haven't developed that resiliency, that skill of improving.
Jessica McKinley 11:09
So I like to sit with this thought, this is the process, whatever the results are, whatever the feelings are, I'm just like, Oh, I'm in the process of improving. This is what it feels like, I don't try and escape it. I don't try and rush to the place where I am, quote, unquote, improved, where I have the result that I'm aiming for. I just sit in the place of like, this is exactly what I signed up for. This is what I want to be happening. Right?
Jessica McKinley 11:38
Another thought is, if future me has already done it, it being whatever thing result you're trying to improve to or whatever quality you're trying to improve to? What would she think about the phase that I'm in? So for example, if future you has already created 200k, let's say? What would she think about the fact that you only created $500 this month? And I say only but that's actually just a thought, what would you think about the fact that you created $500, I was writing an email yesterday, and I was writing a story about how I invested in myself in a bold way in a big way of, you know, more than like 40% of what I earned it a whole year into this program. And as I was writing the number that I had earned, I was wishing that it was lower. Because I actually wanted to prove the point that it doesn't matter how much you've earned at this point. That means nothing about what you can create in your future. So this is kind of just a way of reverse engineering that so for example, like I had said, Oh my gosh, I remember it was so powerful. The first time I invested in the 200k mastermind, Stacy Damon's program, it was 25k at one time in six months. And up until that point, I had only made $63,000 the previous year again, I say only but before that I had made half that before that I had made half that for a year. And I so 25k to pay when you've earned 63k and your business seems like a lot like that. I don't, I had never done anything like that before. And as I was writing the email, now that I've created over 200k My thought was, oh, I kind of wish that there was a lower number.
Jessica McKinley 13:56
So I want to offer that to you right now. How can you and like I'm about to give birth and then I'm about to be at that phase where I'm trying to get to know my body and re strengthen my body and get back to my like comfortable, healthy weight again, without the baby in there. And my thought as I gained weight throughout this pregnancy, I think I've gained like, I think I've gained maybe 25 pounds I gained 42 account and maybe I've gained like 30 At this point I still have about four weeks left. And my thought is just like bringing on I love a good before I love when the failure is so epic. And so failure in business not a failure in weight gain but like when the when the distance between me where I am right now. And my goal is so vast because I just know on the other side of this, once I achieve it future me is going to feel the proudest she's ever felt of me. Because I had to overcome so much to get there. So I want to offer this to you like your future self, she's already created this goal. And she just didn't think anything about the phase that you're in. In fact, she thinks it's so badass. She thinks, Oh, my God, isn't it so amazing? Like, that was hard. And that felt not great. And I just kept going. I just knew that eventually, I was gonna succeed. It was inevitable, right?
Jessica McKinley 15:41
And are you able to latch on to the thoughts of future you in order to sit and be calm in whatever phase that you're in, whether it's with money, whether it's with a skill set, whether it's with efficiency, or time, any of that wherever you're at the perfect place for you right now. I say that. Having been there, right. And I'm still there in other ways, like, I'm in this room of coaches that are some of the best life coaches in the world. If they're launching, and they're doing million dollar launches, I literally just read a post right before I press record, from one of my colleagues who created 70k, in one month, in this month, and she was like, I did barely even did anything. And I'm like, Ah, I'm not like, why isn't that me? I'm just like, oh, wow, she must have been in the process before. And now she's been in the process long enough. And she's created the result. I'm in the process like my me getting to that point of a 70k month, it's just inevitable, might be this month. So fun. Okay, so don't rush out of where you're at be with it, while just really tapping into the powerful thoughts that the future you has about the phaser you're in. A third thought you can hold on to you can use you can post it note is problems aren't problems. They're just data, right?
Jessica McKinley 17:16
So whatever problem you think you're running into, when you're improving in a masterful CEO way, you just take your drama hat off. All the ways that you're saying, like, everything's burning down, nothing's working. People aren't interested. I don't have enough. All of that is just drama. It's not true. If you get to the facts, you could be like, Okay, I saw I made X number of offers. This many people ghosted me on the offer this many people responded and said they were interested but then didn't buy anything this many people said, thanks. This many people bought in and you get the data, right? problems are problems when you don't have a thought about them. So that really calms me down all the times, like I didn't, whenever I really feel like there's a problem, whether it's in my life for my business, I always just remind myself that problems become problems, when I start to think about them as problems. Until that point, just just life, just data, just numbers. It's not really a problem. Okay.
Jessica McKinley 18:37
Another thought is improving is not a problem. You should always be improving. It Like It's similar to the thought this is just the process, right? But we really need to remind ourselves that if you just snapped your fingers and could get to everywhere you want it to be in terms of what you're trying to improve on right now. There would still be something else that your brain would be like, Okay, now we're here. Now we gotta improve. Now there's something else to improve on. And instead of making that like, oh, my gosh, that is just the American way. Why can't we ever just be happy? It's like, yeah, the reason that you can't be in that is because you're trying to rush out of the process.
Jessica McKinley 19:19
You can be happy, but it's not once you get there. It's right now you can love yourself, for struggling. You can love yourself while you're figuring it out. And know that eventually this isn't even going to be something that your brain has to think about anymore, because it's you've mastered that skill. Now, going after and taking the action that is the process that we do in failure collection, that is a process we do in setting up our monthly goals, or action plans, scheduling it out getting after it, but this part, this part where we can set July's improving, and we think about what we've done. That is the part that stops the Happters that stops you from reaching your greatest potential that slows you down, that trips you up. It's just not necessary. Make space for improvement, not just for you, but for your team. And for your clients and your customers. Imagine, I didn't think that there was any, there should be any room for improvement, people should just come into happening sessions, and they should just get it immediately. What kind of coach would I be? I would, first of all, I'd be a stressed out coach, because I'd be like, Oh, my gosh, they don't get it yet. They're struggling there. They didn't get results in their first month. No, I'm like, Okay, you're improving. It's not a problem, give me the math, I'm able to go in deeper and to lean into whatever problems quote, unquote, they're bringing me because I don't make their problems, problems. Majan, if you could do that for yourself, I want this for you. So we commit to failure collection, and then we commit to evaluating, but you're not going to want to, and you're certainly not going to be able to cleanly evaluate what happened this last week, this last month, this last launch, whatever phase of whatever thing you're evaluating. If you are spinning out in drama, if you are making it a problem, that you're not yet masterful at the thing, that you're improving it, it's not a problem, wherever you're at whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or you're having mastery level problems, wherever you're at is perfect for you finally, decide that solving this problem is for you. It's a necessary part of becoming your billionaire self, your multi millionaire self, your multi multi millionaire self is if you didn't have this problem to solve for right now. You would not be able to create the big life that all Happster seek. Okay? So whenever you are in the process of collecting failures, when you are in the process of improving when you are just not yet where you aim to be. Remind yourself that the problems of where you're at are meant for you. They serve you. They're important, and they're necessary. You so got this my friend. I'll see you next week.
Jessica McKinley 22:52
Hey Happters. If you want to learn more about today's topic, head over to what's happening.com forward-slash podcasts. That's what's happening. podcast that's what's happening w-h-a-t-s-h-a-p-p-y-n-i-n-g com forward slash podcast if you're a business owner and you're resonating with what we talk about here what are you even doing come hang out with me over where the party's at on Instagram at what's happening w jets again that's happy h-a-p-p-y-n-i-n-g and book a discovery call to see if coaching is your next best step