We've all been there. You finally step foot into the job you've wanted forever, only to feel like you aren't good enough for the role - or worse, a complete fraud. You're not alone, an estimated 70% of people from all walks of life, both men and women experience imposter syndrome at some point in their careers. In this talk, Tiffany shares her own experiences, along with the framework and tools she uses every day to eliminate it. You'll walk away knowing how to:
Get off autopilot
Identify the negative self talk in your head and how to handle it
Identify your villains & find your Shine Crew
Discover your Legacy, what you were meant to do in life, and learn how to visualize it
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Thank you. Alright. I apologize for the audience participation that's about to happen in, ten minutes. So I'm gonna say that right off the bat. So before we get started, this is a little bit about me, and I just wanted to just take two minutes of your time for a quick share about my product.
It's called FlowJo, the Growth Hacking Box. There's one hundred ideas in here to grow and scale your business. Between whether or not you're looking to acquire new customers, convert them, retain them, have customers advocate on your behalf, there's a hundred cards in here nicely organized for you.
And because I really want you to like me, because I obviously have impostor syndrome, I have two to give away. So who wants it? Just come down. I don't Run. Run. This is how it works. Audience real like, real audience participation. I want sweat. Alright.
So my story in the marketing world started very early on in life. When I was nine years old, got my first PS1 IBM computer, so you can see that kind of dates me. And right off the bat, my dad bought me a modem, two thousand four hundred baud modem, and four hundred four thousand eight hundred baud modem, and then eventually I got into this world of the Internet.
And all before the age of well, getting into junior high, I'd already created an affiliate website because that's what you do when you live in a very small town in the middle of America and yeah. So I early on, the reason why I tell you this is because you have to understand that for me, I love digital marketing.
I love it so much, which makes the story a little bit heartbreaking in a way because at some point, and you will see, I almost quit. So when I realized after I finished university, I'd gotten I had my communications degree, and as with any communications degree, I had no idea what the hell I was gonna do with it.
And I get out of school, I find a job as a secretary in a web development company, and over a couple months, they start realizing that I was good at this SEO thing. Of course, I didn't know what SEO was or any of the words surrounding it, but they were very patient with me, and before I knew it, I realized that SEO was this thing I had been doing with these websites I was creating as a kid, and I really loved it.
So now, things are going great. For the next ten years, I am a freaking superhero. I am loving how much I'm learning. I'm super curious about everything. I'm asking all the questions, and I'm really I'm staying under the radar. Right? I had no pressure on me.
Everyone's just kind of interested in the fact that I was doing good things, so that was fine. And as things were going on, I'm feeling really good, I'm starting to get promoted, and then I started to get a little bit noticed. And then that's when it happened.
The unicorn company, and you all you all have a unicorn company in your head, the dream company that I've been wanting to work for for so long tapped me. And they said, you know what? Like, we want you to work for us. And of course, like, you finally get the validation that you need, so you're like, absolutely, I'll do anything.
I should have probably listened to the job description because it was very much not what I do. But here we are, I was like, I'll do it, whatever. One month in to the unicorn company that I'm supposed to love and that's supposed to validate me, I realized, oh my god, I freaking hate my life.
This is month one. Month two rolls around, month three rolls around, four, five, six, seven, I'm just at this point, I'm like, I just gotta make a year so I can get my stock options and just get the **** out. Like, I gotta I I have to do this.
And around, I would say, month nine or ten, there was this stream, like, probably a week where I just stopped sleeping. And I was getting to the point where you know you get a little bit crazy, and I had this like crash. And this is a guess.
Now I know it's burnout and all those words, but at the time, it was just all I knew was that I was a complete failure, and there was no way I was gonna be able to walk into work again. So it's probably this is the third night of literally no sleep, and it was two o'clock in the morning.
And as with all decisions that you make at two o'clock in the morning, let's have a moment of silence for all those horrible decisions we make at two o'clock in the morning. So I had decided that I needed to act. I I I needed to do something because tomorrow morning was the first day of my new life.
I'm very dramatic at two o'clock in the morning. So two o'clock in the morning rolls around, and I'm like, okay, I tomorrow morning, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna quit. I'm just gonna show up and give them my resignation.
I'm gonna explain, you know, this wasn't a good idea. You know, it's not you, it's me. I had the whole breakup. And then I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to sleep. So I, like, go to sleep. And then, I get to the point where, you know, you're, like, trying to sleep and you're like, no.
It's two o'clock in the morning, Tiff. That's not enough. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna quit now. Open up my laptop, and I'm I'm eloquent, so eloquent at two o'clock in the morning. It pretty much was like, I never wanna see you again.
I am a failure. I am the worst at this job. And then I sent it. Yeah. It's my favorite moment in life. So immediately when I did it, it was like pure relief. On the couch, I literally, like, fell asleep like that. And I'm a little bit of an early riser, so only, like, a couple hours later, here I am back, and it's six AM, and things are looking a little bit brighter because I finally got to sleep for the first time in three days.
I'm like looking at my laptop, and I see it's kind of open, and I'm looking at my dog, I have a little chihuahua, who's like pissed that he just had to sleep on the couch all night when he's used to the bed. So he's, like, kinda looking at me judgy.
And then I'm like, did yesterday happen? And I'm like, no. I wouldn't have done that. Open up the laptop. I see scent, and I see, like, last day. And I was like, maybe I gave two weeks notice. Maybe. I open the email. I read it, and it is the most disgusting email.
Like, it makes me throw up just thinking about it. I completely destroyed all reputation. So, of course, my first reaction at six o'clock in the morning is, oh my ******* god. What am I gonna do? So, again, six o'clock in the morning tiff is different.
Six o'clock in the morning tiff is strategic. She's gonna come up with her whole new lifespan in the next five minutes so that she can get on with the world. But I realized at this point, which is so heartbreaking, that I don't wanna be in marketing anymore because apparently, I am horrible at it.
And this thing that I loved, I decided, it doesn't I don't fit anymore. So, I had to decide I need a new career, as with some people do. But, I I wanted to go back to, like, forget computers, forget anything, I'm going to try something different.
So at first, it was like, why don't I be a hairstylist? And I'm not good with any like, no one should give me scissors for any reason whatsoever, so that was already kind of off. And I also thought, like, how would I go back to my parents after six years of education and be like, hey, guys, I wanna take two more years of the certification for hairstylists.
They're gonna be like, you're no longer a child. So, out. So the second one, because I'm single, so I'm like, think out of the box. I can be a nun. Hear me out. Free lodging, free clothing, like this doesn't sound that bad when you think about it.
I'm Catholic, it works. Except your prime job is to do chores. And, like, let's be real. That sounds awful. So out. And at this point, like, I'm starting to have a meltdown, and I look out the window, and in my head, this is like such a pure beautiful moment.
It probably wasn't. But I see this girl, and she's walking down the street, and she just looks so proud of herself, and she's just like happy. And I'm like, wanna be doing what she's doing. And attached to her is like six dogs. And I'm like, dog walker.
I will be the world's best dog walker of all time. And I will I can tell you the end right now because it's not gonna affect the story. A meltdown is forming in about thirty seconds. So, just so you know. So, I'm like looking at the dog walking, I'm like, this is going to be amazing.
I'm gonna be able to I'll be healthy. I'll get to walk outside. I have all these dogs, and dogs make you happy, and it's gonna be great. And this is like mid November. So at this point, I'm thinking, okay, mid November, it's in Canada.
We're gonna be knee deep in snow in all of a month. I'm like, I don't really like cold. So I'm like, okay. But then I'm like, Tiffany, because six AM, Tiff is smart. Every job is hard. We all have the pros and cons of every job, but you can do this.
And you're good in marketing, and you could do local SEO, and immediately, because like me, I'm thinking of every marketing strategy for this dog walking thing, not the actual work. And then, I get to another point where I'm like, looking at because at this point, she's like over here, and I see this like big, like, gigantic dog that she's walking.
I'm like, oh, I probably wouldn't want to walk big dogs. Like, I don't I'm like so small. Like, what if something happens? Like, I can't do this. And then I'm starting to, like, have tears because I realize that, you know, this might not be my future.
And at that point, I looked down, and my chihuahua is giving me, like, the most, like, f you face you've ever seen. Because I realized at that point and I'm, like, already, like, you know, doing the like, oh my god. Oh my god.
I don't even walk my own dog. And that, my folks, is rock bottom. So at this point, I have to decide, okay, this is it. I have to stay in this marketing thing because this is all I know how to do. So how am I gonna deal with it?
So at this point, I knew I needed a plan. So the thing with impostor syndrome, which is so weird, is that we all like, I started speaking in Europe about this a couple years ago, people were saying, we don't have impostor syndrome. Because in their head, they were thinking, like, this is like a girl thing.
Like, only girls have this. But we weren't really structuring. Like, that's why I hate the word because the word already has connotations that is kind of weird. So I wanted to break it down for you to see, maybe if any of us I I see that it's a crowded room, so I'm sure that you guys are possibly think that this might be a thing.
But just for me, we're gonna do some audience participation there. I want you to stand up when I say certain sentences. If you've ever thought the following things, want you to just keep standing. Okay? Number one. I'm afraid people important to me may find out that I'm not as capable as I think I am.
If you've ever thought this, please stand up. Whoo. I got a lot of them right off the bat. This is awesome. I feel my success has been due to some kind of is that right? Yeah. Oh, we got we got pretty we're ready at everyone, but let's keep going.
The reason I got my position because was because I was in the right place at the right time. I tend to remember an incident in which I've done my worst more than those in which I've done my best. I'm afraid people important to me may find out that I'm not as capable as I think I am.
That one hurts. And at the end of the day, I'm not just I'm just not good enough. So, I think almost everyone in the room, and usually it's about seventy percent, but this is this is insanity. So, well, no, stay stay stay standing.
While you're standing, I need all the speakers in the room to raise their hand and keep it there. I need anyone who's a founder, a president, c level, any of that. Raise your hand. I need directors. I need managers. I need team leads. I need anyone that has any.
Now, let's take a moment and look around. Like, really look around the room. You have found your people. Now, you can sit down. Now, the scary thing about this is that how are we going to focus on other people if this is the thoughts that are going through our head?
How are we supposed to manage the next generation of marketers if we can't get outside of our own head? And there's research out there that is thankfully being done. When they first started doing research about impostor syndrome, they were saying it's a woman's only thing because they only were asking women about these questions.
Oh, bias. But when you start looking into it, you start realizing seventy percent of the US population is saying that this is happening to them. Fifty eight percent of tech employees, and they're coming, surprise surprise, from those dream companies that we all know and love.
So what's really happening is, here we are thinking we are a hot effing mess, When really everyone out there is thinking we're cool, amazing, and capable, which is making them feel like a hot mess once again, and it's this horrible loop. So a lot of the times, especially in the startup world, we're constantly being told that you know, you have to have this growth mindset, you're allowed to fail, and it's like you're constantly in this mode, we gotta keep learning, and all this stuff, and it's great,
but why don't we start now by saying, don't believe everything you think. And if you can walk away from this talk after we've gone through some of these lessons, just please walk away with that thought. So now, let's get back to the story where I'm having a meltdown and breaking out of my life.
And I decided that I needed to speak to someone immediately. I needed to, maybe find a therapist, find someone who I was gonna be able to speak to, and it ended up being that I found in, like, the psychology of the day thing that I was looking at, a meditation coach, Sabina.
And immediately, we we kinda sat down in front of each other, and the first question that she asked me when we sat down was, I want you to tell me about yourself, like, tell me what you like about yourself in one sentence. And immediately, not even thinking, not even a second went by, I go, there is nothing I like about myself.
And the crazy thing about this is, I wasn't going around with like a cloud over my head, and like broody, and no one likes me, or whatever. I was this exact person, going out in the world, not liking a single thing about myself.
So she gave me a look like, oh, we got a lot of work to do. And immediately, she had said, okay, the first thing that you need to do, because you obviously have some **** working out in your brain right now that you need to stop, the thing she wanted me to do was to get off autopilot.
Start realizing the things that you're saying in your head that you don't even realize you're saying right now. So the first thing that she asked me to do was to come up with all the things that I was saying in my head daily.
And so every time I went to the washroom, I would like write a little note. Every time I like took a break, would have an alarm on my system, and I would write. And if you've worked your way down, these are the themes that were happening.
If you get to number eight, oh yeah, I could feel the tension in the room, like, it says, I look awful naked. Now imagine, you're just trying to live your life, go to work, do these things, and you have this thing stuck in your head, and you can't get through it.
And that really bothered me that here I like, when I actually saw that written, I went like, oh my God, like I was embarrassed of the stuff that I was telling myself in my head. That when you look at it, you can tell yourself like, this can't be true, but it's as real as day.
So she asked me, okay, take this list and I want you oh, first of all, this is diarrhea of the brain, like, pass. But she told me, like, take that and come up with the opposite of each sentence. And then, I want you to memorize. If this, then that.
If this, then that. And so, I started to do that. I started to say, you know what, I have valuable I have valuable things to say. I'm killing it, even I love my body. And we started going through, and she goes, okay, how do you feel about those?
And there are certain ones, as I was walking down the street, I almost got this euphoria because I started doing that automatically. As soon as one thought bad thought would hit, I started saying the nice thought. And so I started feeling really good.
But then that number eight kept sticking, and it wouldn't go away. And I came to her the next week, and I'm like, I can't. Like, I can't I can't say it with any kind of feeling, like I just I wanna be invisible. And she goes, okay then, you know where to start.
Like, it's time to start. And that was the first thing I ended up working on. And for me, that meant I had to lose forty five pounds. And I did. And then the second that I did, I I started realizing that I was seeing things in a bit of a different light, because that was my thing.
Now, you may create this list, and it might be something to do with work, or it might be something to do with your parenting, or something to do with everything. Whatever that thing is, that's where you need to start. Because guess what? You're not gonna get anywhere during this whole process if you haven't done the thing that's like in the core of your being that you just you have to you have to go and confront.
So after we do this, the next part is that we need to unmask the villains in our life. Now, the villains are really interesting. There are these people actually, no. We're gonna do a little bit of a test. Everyone close their eyes, more audience participation.
Close your eyes. I want you to take a deep breath. All right? So deep breath. Out. Another one more deep breath. Out. Now, keep your eyes closed. I want you to think of the person that makes you feel icky. Like, makes you feel jealous, makes you feel feels like a bully, doesn't make you feel good.
Okay. That person. Open your eyes. That is your villain. That the first person you thought of when you did that, that's that's the person that we need to focus on right now. And in some cases I'm sorry for the emotional roller coaster, by the way.
I made you get all relaxed and then, like, hit you. But the thing about this this villain is sometimes it's not who you expect. Sometimes it's the person that you keep looking, scrolling down on Instagram, and you keep focusing on and, like, losing your mind because they have a better life than you or so you think.
They may be your family members. They may be your, like, mother or father or brother or sister. Like, who knows who this person is, but they're your villain. And now you need to decide. You have you have two choices if you're gonna deal with this.
And the first is, like, you do not spark joy, so you're out. Like, unfollow, get and I would suggest, even when you go home today, literally look at that Instagram follow list. Don't worry. No one cares. Just unfollow the things that make you unhappy right off the bat.
Let's clean that up. But really start to decide, you know what? Starting today, I cannot let this person in my life. Now, let's say you're like, I can't do that, Tiff. Like, it's my mother. So, fine. But it's time to start having some real conversations.
Like that and now let me tell you, this is not easy. This was like the worst probably step, like in the icky factor. But for me, it was going to certain people and being like, you know what, when you do this, I don't feel good.
And I want you in my life, but I have to tell you this because I can't I can't go another step. So that's the first step. Now, unmasking your villain isn't just outward, it's also inward. We are villains to someone else, whether or not you wanna believe your unique snowflake that everyone loves, you're not.
So you need to figure out where you are a villain. And I had a cousin of mine, Teresa. She actually passed away a year ago. What she used to tell me, which I loved so much, was that she'd say, whenever you're walking down the street, we always have that moment where we see someone that, you know, we like something about them.
And we we pass that moment, and we don't say anything. But what ends up happening is we pass by this person, and then we just like kinda look at them, and then like have your, you know, ****** resting face. And like they look at you, and they're like, oh my god.
And then they you've created this cascade reaction where everyone is now walking around like, don't look at me. And like, welcome to every city in America. So now, instead of doing that, how about we just say, like, I really like your shoes as you're walking by, or like like or just smile at someone.
What if we what if we did that instead? What if we stopped being as fill in and holding inside? And let me tell you, it works. There was one day I was, like, walking I was in the streetcar, and I had kind of done this weird loop where I'd seen the same woman in the streetcar, and she looked stressed out.
Like, she looked like she was lost and didn't know where to go. But the thing is about this woman, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was super tall, beautiful black skin, short hair. She had this, like, wonderful flowing dress, and I just wanted to, like, let her know that, like, she's incredible, and she has no idea.
So we get out of the streetcar, and, like, she's kind of ahead of me, and I'm, like, doing, excuse me, excuse me, as we're crossing the crosswalk. She thought I was gonna mug her. And she turns around, and we have this moment where I'm looking at her, and I'm like, I just want you to know that like, you look radiant.
Like, you just I've seen you. I know that you seem to be like lost or anything, I just want you to know. And moment like, the time stopped. And she looked at me, and she's like, oh, I needed that. And I was like, good luck today. She's like, thanks.
And it was a complete stranger, but it was such a beautiful moment that I got to share, just because I decided to take one second to say something nice. So I hopefully, while you're here with other people, and you're seeing all these people, and you're afraid to talk to them, hopefully, you'll go and make that extra step today, and start doing that in your life.
Next step, so building your crew. Now, the first time I ever spoke at a conference, I it was a CTA conference, and I was doing a panel, and what they do is they bring you to a speaker dinner like the night before. So you have to remember, I've been obsessed with marketing for so long, so all of a sudden, I'm in a table with all the people that I love.
And everyone's talking about all these great projects that they're working on, and I'm sitting there like, oh my god, like, I do nothing. And I'm at the the crux of my meltdown, so this doesn't help. And I'm sitting next to Joanne Weeb, copy hackers.
I don't know how many people know her. Like, obsessive. I bought all of her things. Like, it was bad. So she comes in. She's so lovely. So she comes to me, she's like, so what do you do? Like, what are you working on?
So I, like, immediately was like, oh, I do this and this and this. I have a question for you. And she's like, okay. I'm like, do you ever feel like a fraud? And it was like that moment of like Debbie Downer TIFF, Jesus Christ. I mean, she looks at me and she's like, yeah.
And like across from me, it's like, Gia Loudi, Angie Schottmuller, all of a sudden, everyone just kinda looks at me, and they were like, oh my god, me too. And all of a sudden, we start having this conversation. And that conversation kept going throughout the conference, and we I started talking and it's funny because years later, I thought that Joanna did this, but because of imposter syndrome, but it was me.
I had listened to this podcast, Call Your Girlfriend, and they had talked about the Shine Theory. And what the Shine Theory is is that we're never gonna as women, we're not gonna be better or get anywhere in life if we keep competing with each other.
We have to actually help each other. And helping each other means sharing your finances, you know, doing like, bragging about things, and, like, talking about your losses and struggles, and being open with each other. That was the only way we were gonna do it.
So I had said, why don't we create our own shine crew? And this is this is my shine crew. And in order for you to create a shine crew, there's certain things that you have to remember. First of all, there needs to be one ringleader.
Who knew it was me? I literally forgot. Don't know more than ten people. You gotta keep it small. I would say five to start, or four. And you really need to do these things. Talk finances. Promote articles. Discuss problems. This is really, really important.
And I know all of you might be thinking, or some of you might be thinking, I wish I had one, but I don't know where to start. Well, there's a hashtag there, hashtag shine crew. So if you want to find a shine crew, you have a million people here that you can, you know, maybe possibly meet.
I know there's a shine crew in the audience here that was formed because of this. Try to find your people. And this might not be the place. Like, you might have other areas where this is just a small piece of what you do.
Maybe it's knitting. Maybe you love dogs, whatever it is, find your shine crew in that. Maybe you're a parent, and you want other another group of parents. Whatever it is, find a shine crew for you. Now, now that we found the shine crew, it's time to really set expectations.
So we have our crew, we feel a little bit confident. Let's start deciding, you know, what are our boundaries? Because we'd love to go through the world with rose colored glasses, but it's a little more fragmented than that. Like, the world's kind of a ****** place.
So one of something that Angie had taught me was before she used to talk to clients, she used to always ask them for, like, expectations, and kind of create a report card where if she were ever to walk into a meeting, she would know what would be considered like an a, b, c, or d.
So that's kind of out of the way. So you walk in, you know what the other person thinks about you right now, and you can just talk business. You can talk how are we gonna fix this, what are we gonna do, And I love that.
So I took that and used it for my own clients, but then I decided to create it for myself, for the relationships in my life. Like, how what is considered a bad relationship? And you can do it bimonthly, if you're cutthroat like me, or you can do it quarterly or yearly, but look at the friendships and see how many times you've actually spoken to people, or whether or not the engagement, like, can I call them for any reason at all?
Like, what is considered a friend? So this is really important. I love that if you're going to go on this track, you really need to set your boundaries. Now, next, you need to create your bucket list. Now, I've had a bucket list for since I was a kid, and I even created the couples bucket list and self care bucket list with FlowJo, because I want other people to feel the love that I feel about bucket list.
And with Sabina, like, eventually, you know, about a year into us talking, she had asked me what my goals were. And, you know, those ones, I can come up with goals for everything. And that's why I like bucket list because it's like career, and fun, and finances, and relationships, I had it all.
But she goes, no, Tiff, what is your legacy? And that caught me. She goes, when you look back at your life, what do you want to know? What what do you want to have done? And I was like, okay. And the thing is about a legacy is it doesn't have to affect everyone.
It it can just be one person. It could be one man told me after a talk that he knew, like, he had kind of hit his legacy when his son would come up to him, you know, he was only a child now, but when he came up to him older, and he told him about his first love.
And he goes, and I don't care who it is, but if he comes up to me and says things like, you know, this person like is smart, and they make me feel good, and they're really kind to other people. He's like, I know I did a good job.
I know I was the father that I wanted to be. When I look at what my legacy is, is my legacy is this. I want to be able to teach people about impostor syndrome and open people up, because I believe with all my ability, that the only way marketing is going to be great is if everyone's invited.
And it's not just gender and sexuality. I want people with disabilities in the room with me, and telling me what it's like, and how I can fix my marketing dependent. I want people who, you know, have different economic status than me, people who didn't finish high school, and didn't finish university.
Those they're just as important, and they're they have the same great ideas. But we can't do that when everyone's raising their hand as managers saying, I feel like ****, and I'm, like, so bottled up. How are we gonna invite anyone else in? So it's really important for me to have my legacy.
So once again, there's another hashtag if you'd like to share what you think your legacy is, and don't feel obliged to do it now because it took me like a week, but it's there. And then the last thing is actually the hardest, for me anyway, it might not be for you.
And the interesting thing about this one was so one day, like about a month ago, I showed up at my grandfather's house, and he was like he looked like he was having some kind of attack. And I realized quickly that he was actually having a panic attack for the first time.
And he didn't know what it was, and he thought it was a heart attack, and we kinda had to get through that because he's Portuguese, so it took a while for me to, like, explain to him that this is not what it was.
But I asked him to close his eyes and think of where the pressure was. So he said it was it's right here. And I asked him, okay, what color is it? He kinda looked at me like one eye, was like, what are you doing?
I was like, hear me out. What color is it? And he was like, it's black. And I was like, what is it? What's the material like? He's like, it's really tight. And I'm like, oh, how does it taste? Is it sticky? And he's like, it's sticky, it's this.
And so we started describing it, describing it, describing it. And I was like, okay, take it out of your body. Take it out, and I want you to stretch it. And he's like, still closing his eyes, stretching it. Now, I want you to like, make it like it's cotton candy and change the color to blue.
And so he did that, and and then I was like, okay, now, you know, throw it up in the air and let it go. And so he did it, and then you see him and he comes out and he's like, oh, that worked.
And I know it worked because the day later, he goes, do the do the cotton candy thing to me. Do the cotton candy thing. I think it's happening again. Luckily, we got over his panic. It's actually we're good now. He's got he's got what he needs.
But that shows you the power of visualization. That's how close we are to either things going really wrong or things going really right. And visualization's hard for me. I never really know how to do it. So I want you guys to get a taste of what that really looks like by watching this.
If people say your dreams are crazy, if they laugh at what you think you can do, Good. Stay that way. Because what nonbelievers fail to understand is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult. It's a compliment. Don't try to be the fastest runner in your school or the fastest in the world.
Be the fastest ever. Don't picture yourself wearing OBJ's jersey. Picture OBJ wearing yours. Don't settle for homecoming queen or linebacker. Do both. Lose a hundred and twenty pounds and become an ironman after beating a brain tumor. Don't believe you have to be like anybody to be somebody.
If you're born a refugee, don't let it stop you from playing soccer for the national team at age sixteen. Don't become the best basketball player on the planet. Be bigger than basketball. Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything. When they talk about the greatest team in the history of the sport, make sure it's your team.
If you have only one hand, don't just watch football. Play at the highest level. And if you're a girl from Compton, don't just become a tennis player, become the greatest athlete ever. Yeah. That's more like dreams are crazy. Ask if they're crazy enough.
So that feeling that you got while you were watching that, that like inspired feeling, That's really important. And that's that's I want you to hold on to that and know that you can get that with your own goals, not just by walking watching a Nike ad.
You know, it's when you're visualizing, you've created your legacy and you started deciding it, there's one step that you first have to do. First thing is decide, what am I going to be consuming to make me feel that feeling right there, instead of feeling the really like grossness that I've been feeling, thanks to like the news and all those other things.
Right? Next, it let's talk about how to write like a journal. Like, I usually write in a journal my perfect day. What I would love to see. How I'm going to get to that legacy. When I'm at that legacy, what does that day look like?
And I made sure I I did that, and I read it every single night until I believe it. And it's really hard sometimes because at my lowest points are the days I can't visualize, and there's something to that. Right? So here we are.
We have all these things that we need to start thinking about, and it's really important that we start taking it step by step. Now, three and a half years later, I was sitting in front of Sabina, and she asked me a question. She goes, okay, in one sentence, how would you describe yourself?
And without even thinking, I went, I don't know. I like me. And she stared at me in the eyes, and I could see that she was starting to tear up, and a whole three and a half years just went I went, whew, okay.
So, I wanted to end this by saying that I believe, with every ounce of my being, and I wouldn't be here if I didn't, that every single person in this room and the ones that left are great. Not you were great, not you will be great, but right at this second, you are great.
And that you have the potential to get whatever your legacy is. And if you need to hear it right now, you are good enough, right now. So when we go out into the world, if there's anything that has caught you that you wanna start doing, I wish that hopefully you'll be able to take the first step today, outside, in your break, or whatever the case may be.
And to be honest, I wish you good luck, not that you need it, and go get it.
