"It's always awkward before it's elegant."

Hi Poppys! I want to chat with you today about that feeling you get when you are doing something for the first time or just something new. I was feeling that way myself actually on the weekend when I was doing the photo shoot for the new website and I’ve done a few before but it’s not like I do them all the time and I was just feeling really awkward. So we took some shots, like about 1000 and there's probably 10 good ones which is great, totally worth it.
I was chatting with a friend of mine, another amazing feminine leader her name is Mandie she's from Soul Strategies you need to check her out, and we were talking about feeling like the newbie, feeling like the new kid on the block and she had this beautiful quote that she shared with me that she learned from Gina Devie one of her mentors, and she says:
"It’s always awkward before it’s elegant.” ​
(Watch the video or read the transcript below to find out how to deal with feeling like a newbie...)

I just thought of course! You know, we all experience that feeling, I mean we can relate it to so many areas of our lives. Those of us who have kids you remember when you had your first child and you know, trying to stand there and put their nappy on and get the clothes on and you just felt like it was all so awkward and then trying to get them on the boob and milk’s squirting here and there. Then you have your second and third kid and you can do it in your sleep and you know what you doing.

So it's a feeling that we can all relate to. With this whole birthing analogy, it feels like it is a birthing for The Tall Poppy Collective, you know birthing my authentic expression is sometimes really raw because you're sharing your truth.

So how do we as Empowered Leaders deal with this newbie awkward feeling when you want to be out there and share what it is you’re passionate about?
 
It's not like you're putting on a mask, you are not faking it, you really care about what you're saying and you really are in service. You know that's when you are really connected with your authentic expression, your truth.

Some tips for you:
**Don't compare your chapter 1 with someone else's chapter 21 okay? Just don't do it, that's good old comparisonitis coming into play. We all follow some amazing people to get inspired by them and and learn about what they do – you know and it can become really easy to say “Oh my god they just make it look so easy and they know what they're doing!”. Now everyone started somewhere, everyone was The New Kid on the Block at some point. You don't have to compare your chapter 1 with someone else’s chapter 21.
**When you are doing self reflection which is a really important piece of being a self-aware leader – so, for example, you had a photo shoot and your thinking back over the day, for the first 24 hours only think about the good parts, think about how well it went, only think about and reminisce the good bits then after you've given yourself that buffer of 24 hours to just be kind and proud of yourself. Then you can have a look and think to yourself “next time I will…..” that's where you insert those parts that you would like to do differently next time. So you’re not looking at it going “you are a fucking loser! What did you do THAT for?” Don’t do that! Be kind to yourself and say “OK, next time I will…..”  
**My next point is do Oprah style and journal about “What I know for sure...” This concept is really beautiful, it's you reminding yourself “What I know for sure”. It is really helpful when you are stepping up and out, when you're feeling a bit wobbly in newbie land. So as an example, this morning in my journal I was writing about “What I know for sure...”  and I wrote three things underneath.
- I'm a good person (I know this to be true)
- I am capable (because I'm thinking about a future project)
- I am willing to take the next step (I choose. That willingness? That's up to you)
**Talk with a friend in a similar situation and have a laugh at yourself you know, don't take things so seriously! Ring up and ask “what's your take on it?” Get support.

Speaking of new, this is new…. I’m so excited because I am launching something called #tallpoppysunited and this is The Sisterhood for Leaders! It is a free  mastermind that I am creating for people like you, people like me, people all over the world who are stepping into and are already in their leadership and looking for a community and wanting to be part of something bigger than yourself, people who want to have a space where you can feel like a newbie if you need to. Or wanting to celebrate something awesome about yourself and sharing what you're all about.

This is so exciting! To kickstart it all off I am hosting an amazing online event featuring some awesome Australian Feminine Leaders and I will share more with you about that in the coming weeks because the event is happening on 25th September, put that in your diary. I'll also be letting you know how you can get your free tickets to this awesome event and then become part of this Free Mastermind for your chance to be in the sisterhood with other leaders.

That’s all from me today, hope you're having a gorgeous magnificent beautiful day! It's sunny where I am, I’m loving it. What am I doing today? I'm going to my son's swimming lessons part of the school swimming lessons, should be fun and then I'm gonna go out with some girlfriends tonight to see an amazing movie called Embrace and I will share about that with you later on the Facebook Page!