Ep. 29: Get the F*ck Out of Your Own Way

Career Design Podcast

Episode 29: Get the F*ck Out of Your Own Way

Lindsay 00:00

I'm Lindsay Mustain, and this is the career design podcast made for driven ambitious square pegs and round holes type professionals who see things differently and challenge the status quo. We obliterate obstacles and unlock hidden pathways to overcome and succeed where others have not stagnation feels like death. And we are unwilling to compromise our integrity and settle for being average in any way. We are the backbone of any successful business and those who overlook our potential are doomed to a slow demise. We do work that truly matters aligns with our purpose, and in turn, we make our lasting mark on the world. We are the dreamers, doers, legends, and visionaries who are called to make our most meaningful contribution and love what we do.
Lindsay00:42
This week, the Human Capital Resource Institute reached out to me because they wanted to figure out how to get my certification back to being active. Let me paint you a picture. In 2010, I took the hardest test of my life, and it was the senior professional of human resources, the SPHR. And I studied for 12 weeks in order to take this exam, it was the hardest thing I had ever done. But when I walked away, I had a piece of paper that validated that I was an expert, a strategic expert in the space of human resources. And I swore to God that I would do the work to keep this certification going. As long as my human resource career endured. I have since actually let that certification lapse, along with another byproduct of that certification, which was my senior Certified Professional, from the Society of Human Resource professionals. Why would I do that something I worked so hard to do. And I'm going to tell you why I decided to let this thing that I worked so hard go, I want to take you back to the moment after I got my passing test result. Now I actually had determined where I was going to get the proctor testing center where I was going to have this assessment taken and I was there for like three hours to do it. In the parking lot. There was one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. And I knew that regardless, I was going to end up either celebrating or drinking my wine was okay, if I did it, pass it. But when I hit submit, I go to that moment and I see the preliminary pass, I had passed. And this test has around a 53% success rate and passing so I had done the work I had prepared myself. But it was hard. It was challenging. I spent every free moment studying. And it was so validating, so validating because I had proof that I was the expert in this space. And guess what happened after that. I sent it off to everybody I know. And I got huge rounds of congratulations. And it did nothing to open any additional doors in my career. And here's why, collective consciousness, the programming that we had the belief that we need somebody to sign off on our genius on our expertise, actually is what holds us back, fear is what keeps us small. So I believe that if I had this piece of paper, that suddenly I would now be qualified to do the job I was already doing. This is what I see with people who are in their career, they look to get pieces of paper to get this external endorsement, that they are in fact, worthy. They are in fact qualified, they are looking for this approval. And it's become from the very, very beginning. We start by looking at the people who raised us typically your parents or whoever that you know the maternal and paternal figure is in your life. We desperately seek out their approval, we look for their buy-in we look for that. And then we go through this what my friend Mandy West calls the factory model of life, which is everybody goes through the schooling, and we know how far schooling fails us but we have the government sign off on here's what you need to know in order to be able to compete as an adult. Nothing around things like personal finance or how to actually get a job. But how do you play by the masses? How do you do that? And this programming is what keeps high performers small. They start to look externally for the validation of their efforts. They start to look for somebody to sign off that they are good enough that they are worthy in They forget that the person that they need to convince the person who they need to believe, is already there. And it's you, you already know deep down, that you are truly worthy of creating anything in your life. But the belief is that we have to get somebody to sign off, we have to get somebody's approval, we need to play by the rules that society has constructed for us. But I want you to think now about the most remarkable people that you know, in your life. I want you to think about them. And I want you to ask yourself is did they play by the rules? Because the people who change the world didn't. They took that rulebook, and they burned it. They decided to forge their own path. They were trailblazers, okay. And here's the thing about how corporations work today, they are literally stifling genius. They are stifling their own the people who are the leaders of the very top, and the people at the very bottom are playing by rules that put them in boxes, and we call these job description cages that say, here's your defined zone, don't do anything outside of this unless you want the repercussions of it, don't play bigger. And then we wonder why we have a shortage of innovation. We are literally killing it. And it is through this collective consciousness belief that we have to play by the rules in order to get ahead.

Lindsay 06:37

The moment that I stopped playing by the rules is the time when I became so powerful, it intimidates others. You know, this too, because if you're listening to this, you already know that career design means creating a reality for your future, that calls in the most powerful message that you have in your zone of genius. There is something inside of you, you know this, you may want to fight it, that conscious part of you wants to fight it. But there's something inside of you that is meant to change the world. You're not here to be one of the masses, you are one of the awakened few that knows that regardless of the fear that you feel, that's humanity in your way that you are meant to do more. That is why you listen to me, that is why you are listening to this message. That is why you click download, you click to play, you are meant to hear this message. now. Stop playing small and get the fuck out of your own way. I say that with complete unconditional love. But I have watched the most brilliant Maverick leaders and high-performance executives and people who change organizations believe that they should play small. And it is why you suffer from things like anxiety and depression. And you feel completely alone. It is because you have neglected the most sovereign part of yourself, which is your genius. The thing that helps up-level humanity. It is there it is inside of you at the very top CEOs that are changing the world. They're not playing by the rules, they are changing the game. The people who are making massive shifts inside of organizations, they're the ones who decided to break three free, they are no longer caged in their job description, they are willing to go against the grain and sacrifice the things that seem to matter like security and safety. But if you want to be secure and save, then you will be a cog in a machine that gives no consideration to who you are. In order to become an invaluable part of a community of a society of an organization. You have to be different than the masses. At the very end of your life, no one is going to care about how you played by the rules. Nobody writes a book, nobody creates us a story. Nobody builds a movie. around playing by the rules. I woke up I went I played by the rules and then I died. Is that what you want your obituary to say at the end of your life? Because that's not fucking good enough for me. And I hope it's not good enough for you. But I was taught to value this beyond everything else. When I had nothing and I was homeless at one point. I learned that security and safety were all I desperately needed at all I needed in order to survive. But when I put myself in that cage of playing by the rules, I watched my light, my soul my purpose become extinguished. So this message today here is for you. I don't know who needs to hear it. But I'm here to tell you to stop playing small stop believing the masses. It's only when your mind and your spirit are able to become one that you will become who you really want, and truly are meant to be. Because what is holding you back is that belief that you have to play inside of the lines. That's what's holding you back from true potential. It's like a prison, it keeps you small, it's easy to get in your own way. So it takes massive courage and initiative to break out of this prison that you've constructed for yourself. But it is a self-imposed prison, you do have the ability to break free to move forward, to focus on what you want, instead of what keeps you safe. I have a sign in my office and it says, everything you want is on the other side of fear. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. The things that will set you free create the most fearful environments. But that is because you have to take an extraordinary act of bravery to unleash the thing that is inside of you.

Lindsay 11:15

And with that, if there's something in here that message whether you are a leader or whether you are an individual who is trying to move through the intentional career, design pathway, and blueprint, you either want to create an organization that's all around helping people aligned to their passion, their purpose, the pursuit to create massive profitability for their organization, or you're an individual who wants to pursue their passion, to find a purpose to allow the pursuit of that to create massive profitability for you individually. It is a win win. There are some bionic if that is you, I encourage you to reach out. It is time to unleash the thing that is inside of you the thing that you were meant to be stop playing small and get the fuck out of your own way. I want to hear from you. If that's your