On not being the smartest chick in the room.

My niece, Kristen, who is extremely intelligent (along with my other two nieces, Heather and Robyn) commented at the beginning of her Freshman year at Ohio State (my and both of her parents' Alma Mater) that she was adjusting to not being the smartest girl in the class. She is, after all in Honours Engineering at one of the top schools in the US.

I reflected on that statement at the time and wondered what that felt like. Now, I don't claim the intelligence level of my nieces (although I am a pretty smart chick). But where I've been the smartest chick in the room was in my profession. After about 12 years in recruitment I'd reached the pinnacle of success in so many ways. Others made more money than I did, to be sure. But I was working 4 days / week and doing rather well. I was clearly at the top of my game and the "go to" person in accounting and finance recruitment in Auckland.

I spent the next 2 years really just going through the motions. I would interview a candidate and know within 5 minutes (and that's being generous) whether I could place them, where I could place them and if it was the right decision for their career. Then I had to spend 30 - 45 minutes with them going through the motions of an interview so that THEY felt like that had value.

I would sit in client visits and know in 5 minutes whether I could help this company. I knew what they needed (many times when they did not), I knew if they really had the authority to make the decisions and whether they would make them quickly or be a pain in the backside. Then I had to sit through the next 45 minutes with them establishing a relationship and making sure that they felt like they had received value from me.

Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing in terms of furthering relationships from both a candidate or client's perspective. But once you attain a certain level of mastery in something it just feels sometimes like you are going through the motions.

For the last several years that I was in recruitment I longed to learn from others who were better than I was. I longed to be challenged, to try something new and a bit daring or edgy. But it just didn't happen.

Then I moved to Sydney, gave up my recruitment career, started my new business and began to hang out with some really cool people including but not limited to the Thought Leaders Community, and the SRI Community. Not to mention my friends that I began developing through Tony Robbins (the grad community is much more active in Sydney than in Auckland).

I just completed Thought Leaders Million Dollar Expert's Immersion Program (yes, ANOTHER course!) yesterday. This was two days of intense thought around my business, my message, my mode of delivery and my market. Very cool stuff. I have a lot of work to do, which is really really exciting.

I was blown away by the caliber of talent in the room, quite honestly. Not only was I not the smartest chick in the room, I wasn't even in the top 50%!

And what a wonderful feeling that is.

My main message, I've discovered, is to help people re-invent themselves. Isn't that perfect? I've had 4 distinct careers, been married, amicably divorced and am now dating again, and lost 22 kgs / 50 lbs 5 years ago. I've re-invented myself several time over!

I think that challenging yourself and putting yourself in the position where you're not the smartest person in the room is not only a great way to re-invent yourself, but is also a fantastic way to keep from having to. If you're constantly learning, evolving and growing you can avoid most pitfalls that will necessitate a major change in your life.

Hmmmm, something to think about.

Neuro Strategies - Wow!

I'm sitting at home and really enjoying being here. I haven't spent too much time in my house recently and I really love it. It's quiet and warm and comfy. I have the candles lit and the music on. Life is good!!!

I spent all of last week (Sunday - Saturday) in Steve Linder's Neuro Strategies course. Most of you reading this will know that I've done a lot of Tony Robbins work. I really see Steve as someone who is standing on Tony's shoulders; adding Tony's work to others' (including traditional NLP) and using his brilliant mind to combine it into distinctions which are uniquely his own. Plus, he has a way of "chunking things down" to make them elegantly simple and very accessible.

What did I gain? I feel like the cobwebs are cleared from my mind. My ability to recall things from both short and long term memory has been enhanced. I'm remembering things from my past in vivid detail all of a sudden. Including the weave of people's clothing. It's amazing.

More importantly though I gained a lot of strategies to retrain my own mind, to put more empowering meanings on events from my past and to keep myself at cause in my life instead of at effect.

Most importantly I gained the ability to use these tools to help others make a real difference in their lives. I am confident that I can help anyone at anytime overcome challenges. I can help them create an empowering future for themselves and teach them some tools to live into that empowering future. I can also help people get out of debt, gain better health and wow their friends at cocktail parties by lifting people out of their chairs with just two fingers. :)

And, I gained three certifications that I can now put on my profile: NLP, Time Line Therapy and Hypnotherapy. Cool stuff.

And I've already been using some of these distinctions. I met with a couple of men I'll be working with to deliver sales training and offered up Steve's "buying strategies" model. They loved it and will incorporate it into a sales round table that we are participating in tomorrow.

I also introduced some of the concepts to the RCSA (the recruitment industry's trade organisation in ANZ) when talking to them about delivering a series of webinars.

I know these tools and strategies will make a huge difference in my life and others and really can't wait to start sharing them.

To that end...if you are in Sydney...I will be holding a training day to go over some of these distinctions on the 8th of August. Location TBD. 10 AM - 5PM. Let me know if you are interested and I'll tailor the content to the majority of the group.

Unfortunately the late hours have played havoc with my yoga practice. But I have gotten back into it slowly over the last couple of days with just standing poses. Tomorrow will be a full self practice before the round table.

Scooty and I have been having a lot of fun. We've been buzzing all over town...including an impromptu, white knuckle trip over the Harbour Bridge (very windy) at 9:00 last night. I think I was driving about 40K's. Luckily there was very little traffic.

Busy week this week again. Lots of potential opportunities...more on that later!