Say Goodbye To Your Comfort Zone (Re-Run)

Amanda Paolicelli: 00:00:00

What's up, Radiant Icons and welcome back to

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Dare To Be Iconic, the podcast made

for icons daring to be themselves.

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I'm your host, Amanda Paolicelli,

and oh my God, you guys, so much has

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happened since our last tea time session

and I'm so excited to get into it.

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But before we do that, I dare

you to follow me on socials.

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It's linked in the show notes below.

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And to check out my journal, break

up with the past, fall in love

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with the future, your five step

guide to turn your pain into power.

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So last week we had my girls Dani and

Noelle on and we spilled all the tea

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about taking the risk on yourself, loving

who you are unapologetically, and we

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revealed a very exciting announcement.

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So if you didn't tune in, pause this

episode and go back to We Have F1

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to Blame featuring Noelle and Dani,

and then come back to this one.

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But I'm still going to say it

here because I'm so excited.

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Oh my god.

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I'm going to the Spanish Grand Prix.

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Yes, that is right.

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We are going to Barcelona and

we are gonna see the cars.

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We're gonna see Lando.

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We're gonna see everyone.

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It's gonna be amazing.

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I'm gonna meet some of you guys and

I am just so over the moon, but I am

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also terrified, which goes into what

we are going to talk about today.

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So our Tea Time Sesh is all about

fighting the fear of the unknown and

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stepping outside of your comfort zone

and why you need to do that in order

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to grow and embrace your iconic self.

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So Radiant Icons, are you

ready for your Tea Time Sesh?

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Because it's starting now.

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So when we talk about stepping outside

of our comfort zone, I think it

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comes back to one little word that

s honestly dictating my whole: 2024

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And if you have followed the podcast

for a while, or you follow the Dare

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To Be Iconic blog, you know what

word I'm about to say, it's trust.

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Yes, that, that little word, that

little five letter word, trust.

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I think is the root foundation of

stepping outside of your comfort zone.

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Because you have to trust yourself in

order to do the things that scare you.

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I didn't realize how much trust would

dictate this whole entire year for me,

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but it's like slapping me in the face that

this was meant to be my word of the year

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because I'm learning so much about myself

through the lesson of trust, through the

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lesson of stepping outside of your comfort

zone, and taking the risk on yourself.

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So let's start with one of the

craziest things I've ever done in my

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life which is, book a trip to Europe

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with only knowing these girls, which

Noelle and Dani are now my closest

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friends, but they were strangers at

the time, for two months in a group

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chat through online communication.

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Yeah, I mean, definitely one of the

craziest things I've done in my life.

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Has it paid off now?

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Absolutely!

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I've been able to create so many

amazing memories within the span of

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starting our friendship in October

to now, and I know we're gonna

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have many more amazing memories,

because we're going to Barcelona!

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Like, we're going to

the Spanish Grand Prix!

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We're gonna be seeing everyone and

anyone, and oh my god, I'm gonna die.

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I'm so excited, you guys.

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But like was that stepping

outside of my comfort zone?

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Yes, on so many levels.

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So like, let's get into that.

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I have never traveled outside

of the United States in my life.

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I was gonna do that in 2020 when I

graduated college, but COVID kind

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of, kind of put a stop to that.

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So I have never been

outside of the country.

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I have never been on a

trip without my parents.

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I've never traveled just with friends

before, especially outside of the country.

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Like, this is crazy.

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And I'm doing this at 25 years old, which

is definitely outside of my comfort zone.

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I mean, I waited eight years to

get my license and I know what

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you're going to say, Amanda,

don't you like love motorsports?

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How can you be the girl that loves to

watch the cars go fast, but not know

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how to drive a car until you were 24.

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You got me there, but I didn't get

into motorsports until I was 24

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years old, until I was actually

taking the driving school classes.

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Like, you know, like it all perfectly

aligned the way it should have.

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Cause I mean, you can't tell me it's not

fate that I got into F1, into motorsports

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when I was learning how to drive.

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You can't tell me it's not

meant to be that I was supposed

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to be a fangirl of the sport.

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You cannot tell me otherwise.

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I am literally convinced.

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So, anyway, going back to my point

there, stepping outside of your comfort

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zone always comes down to trust and

doing the things that scare you.

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And this trip for me is so

monumental because it's all the

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things that I've wanted to do but

haven't done yet or haven't been

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able to experience yet because I

haven't pushed myself to do that.

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I've pushed myself on many other

fronts to do the things that scare me.

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Like I mentioned beforehand,

getting my license, like

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driving was a big hurdle for me.

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And that was my biggest goal of 24 was

for me to get my license and conquer that

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fear and prove to myself that I can do it.

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So for me right now at 25,

traveling to Europe with my friends.

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That I've only known for a short

amount of time, and to experience

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something that I've always wanted to

experience, which is the Spanish Grand

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Prix, is something that I know is

going to teach me so much about myself.

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But, I couldn't get to the lessons

that I'm going to learn in June.

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If I didn't take the risk on myself

and step outside of my comfort

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zone and this all goes back to

Taking the risk of putting myself

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out there when I first met Noelle.

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Half of my friendships within this

chapter of my life since I've truly

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started living couldn't have blossomed

if I didn't take the risk, choose

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myself, and put myself out there.

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And I know that's scary because this

fear of the unknown is a scary thing.

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We don't like to not have

control over our lives as humans.

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We love to know, or maybe at least

my personality type, we love to

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know X, Y, and Z, what's gonna

happen when this, this, and that.

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But what I've learned through this whole

entire process of basically saying goodbye

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fear and hello risk, is that you have

to trust yourself and you have to have

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the courage to put yourself out there.

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You just have to.

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And, when I look back on my Dare To

Be Iconic journey, there's this common

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trait of being courageous, of being

brave, because it's scary putting

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yourself out there online and putting

your heart for display, not knowing

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how people are going to receive it.

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I started Dare To Be Iconic

because I knew there was a reason

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I was learning all these lessons

in life at the same exact time.

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And I knew I always wanted, like, since

I was a little Amanda, I knew my purpose

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was to impact people through my art.

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That little spark to start Dare To

Be Iconic wouldn't have happened

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if I didn't have the courage and

the trust in my abilities and in my

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stories and in my talents to put my

heart on display and to do the thing

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that scared me, which was being so

vulnerable online by just being me.

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I remember being so

scared and poor Meleena.

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It's always Meleena.

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We were doing our first photo shoot

for Dare To Be Iconic, and her

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boyfriend had left to do something

and it was just me and her eating

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cake on her like island that she had.

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And I just remember sobbing to

her being like, I am so scared.

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But I know this is the right step, like,

I know this is gonna change my life in

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a good way, but Meleena I am terrified.

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And change is terrifying.

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The fear of the unknown is terrifying.

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It's super scary, but

sometimes we just gotta do it.

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Sometimes we just have to push

ourselves through the fear.

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We have to acknowledge it, for sure.

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It's a valid feeling.

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We all feel this way.

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But we have to push through it

and work through it to get to the

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other end and majority of the times

when you fight through the fear

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it's the most beautiful blessing.

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Because I truly can't imagine my

life without stepping outside of my

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comfort zone and taking the risk on

myself to start dare to be iconic

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because my life has changed so much.

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If I didn't work through the fear of the

unknown and step outside of my comfort

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zone, which was being vulnerable online

and sharing my story and using my voice,

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we would not be where we are today.

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When I think of stepping outside of your

comfort zone and working through fear,

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it all comes back to that decision of

choosing you and having to keep honoring

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that commitment as you go on through life.

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And for me to honor that commitment of

choosing myself comes down to trust.

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Trust connects to fighting fear because

I have to trust myself in order to

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do the things that scare me and fight

through fear, I have to acknowledge

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the fear, I have to push past it, work

through it, so that I can come out

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on the other end and have all these

amazing, beautiful opportunities.

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Because truly, if I didn't work

through fear and just kept doing

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it, I wouldn't be where I am today.

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And that's the honest truth about it.

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I think fear is a great motivator for

you to learn things about yourself that

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you honestly never would have known.

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And this ties back into stepping outside

of your comfort zone and why you need

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to do it in order to flourish because

stepping outside of your comfort zone

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challenges you to try new things, to

do the things that scare you, to fight

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through fear, to meet people that you

never thought you were going to meet.

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Sometimes we're not ready to

step outside of our comfort zone.

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And that's okay.

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Sometimes we can't just jump

into the deep end fully.

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We have to dip our foot into the shallow

end and work our tolerance up to,

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you know, getting into the deep end.

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And that is okay.

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That's completely valid and normal.

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You have to little by little challenge

yourself every day to do something

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that you wouldn't normally do.

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So what are some ways that you can

step outside of your comfort zone?

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For instance, if you've been wanting

to reach out to a content creator

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or an influencer or a brand that

you just love, like their content,

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you love their product, just do it.

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Send them a simple DM because you

never know what will happen from it.

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And one thing that I can apply that to in

my life is the majority of my connections.

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Noelle is a great example, or the

guest that we're going to have

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on next week, my friend, Alison.

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I just reached out to her on Instagram.

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The same thing with Noelle, I

reached out to her on LinkedIn.

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I took the chance and

just said, you know what?

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I love their content.

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I love what they represent.

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I'm just going to send them the DM.

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If I didn't just do something that

I wouldn't normally do, I would not

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have the friendships that I have now.

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I would not have the

connections I have now.

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My friendships with Noelle and Alison

have been two of the biggest blessings

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of my life because they've led me to

so many other amazing human beings.

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And it was because I just took that

chance and just said, You know what?

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I'm gonna challenge myself and reach out

to them because I love their content.

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You know what?

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The worst thing they can

do is leave me on read.

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Another one is, do something

you've been putting off.

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I'm not a procrastinator.

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I really am not.

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Cause it gives me so much anxiety

to like leave things last minute.

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I love to batch content.

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I love to work ahead.

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I think that when I do notice

myself procrastinating, I do see

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myself, you know, putting things

off that I know I need to do it's

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because I'm scared of it and there's

this underlining fear of failure.

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And so I challenge you, if this

is something you also deal with,

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I dare you to find the core root

of why you are pushing it off.

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For me, it would be marketing

my journal on social media

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because I am scared of failing.

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I have worked so hard on the journal,

don't get me wrong, I'm so proud of it,

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but I am scared to promote it on social

media because I am afraid of failing.

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I'm afraid of what people will

say if they don't like it.

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I'm afraid of other people's opinions of

them thinking it's just stupid and That's

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scary to me because I put so much work.

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I put my heart and soul into it uh, just

like I do with any product, but my journal

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is a little bit more personal because

There are exercises that I've personally

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done that have helped me so much.

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And I just took so much time crafting

it and I'm just scared of it failing.

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And I think the reason why I've pushed

off some things that I need to do for

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the journal is because I'm making excuses

of, Oh, the podcast needs to come first.

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Oh, my LinkedIn posts

need to come in first.

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I can't deal with the journal

right now because I just, I

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just don't know where to start.

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I do know where to start.

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I do know where to start.

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I'm putting it off because I'm scared

and I need to work through that.

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I need to work through that fear

of failing, I need to push through

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it, and I just need to do it.

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So I am daring myself actually,

the next week, so when this comes

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out, I will have a plan already set

in motion to promote my journal.

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So that's what I'm gonna do.

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Let me know on socials what you are

gonna do for this specific thing if you

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notice that you're putting things off.

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I'm gonna hold myself accountable

by saying it here on this podcast.

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My last action step for you guys

on how you can step outside of your

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comfort zone and really confront fear,

taking a class or going to an event

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that you typically wouldn't go too.

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So a recent example for me is I went to

the She Cultivates event here in Orlando.

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It's a great networking opportunity where

you can meet like minded women on their

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journey of just bettering themselves.

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And I had met Elizabeth who is the founder

of it through PodFest in Orlando, Florida.

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I also, I went to a conference before

my podcast came out and that was also

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stepping outside of my comfort zone

because it was the first time I was

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talking about Dare To Be Iconic at a

networking event, because usually when

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I'm at these conferences, I'm there

for my day job, you know I am there to

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talk about financial capability stuff,

because that's the field I work in.

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You all I was so scared.

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I was so scared, but it paid off because

I made some really great connections.

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If I didn't go to that networking

event earlier in the year and put

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myself out there and go to like

these mixers they had that I wouldn't

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normally go to when I'm at conferences,

I would have never met Elizabeth.

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If I didn't meet Elizabeth, I wouldn't

have found out about She Cultivates.

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If I didn't find out about She

Cultivates, I wouldn't have made the

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amazing friends and connections that I

made at the event I went to last week.

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Honestly, it's just opening

up my world more and more.

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So it goes back to my point of just having

the courage to put yourself out there and

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facing fears because it is going to pay

off because you never know until you try.

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It's that concept of high risk,

high reward in my mind, right?

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The more I've put myself out there, the

more I have done the things that scare me,

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the more I have been rewarded in my life.

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And in turn, I think that all

comes down to choosing yourself.

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Because if there's one thing I have

learned and I believe in fully, is

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that once you start choosing yourself,

opportunities just come to you.

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Why not put yourself out there and choose

yourself and do the things you want

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to do, even if it scares you because

eventually it will reward you in the end.

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It always pays off.

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All right, radiant icons, that

is our tea time sesh for today.

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I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

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I know I did.

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I am so, so excited for what is

to come for Dare to be Iconic.

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So if you liked today's episode, please

make sure to leave a review, rate it,

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share it with your friends, honestly,

share it on social media, do anything

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you want to do that just helps Dare to

be Iconic grow and have more beautiful

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radiant icons come into our community.

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Remember radiant icons, dare to be

iconic, and I will see you next week.

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Bye!