Lessons from Alanis (yes, THAT Alanis)

This unexpected insight is 🤯

This week’s “blog post” is an email I sent to my community. If you’ve been loving these posts and want to get your eyes on some juicy stories that engage, educate, AND serve as an example on email storytelling, come join us! If you decide it’s not your thing, you can leave at any time 😉

They say bright ideas come when you least expect it.

Or is it love they’re talking about 🤔

Either way… the other day, my evening came to a screeching halt.

Did I have a handful of things on my to-do list that I really wanted to get done?

Yes.

Did I decide to slam gently close my laptop shut and refuse to think about any more biz shit for the rest of the night?

(And maybe even the whole next day?)

Also yes.

I mean, the to-do list will always be there, right? 

So in that moment, I decided to just let go of the stress of all of the tasks piling up and just. let. myself. relax. 

My brain was fried and I was DONE.

But fast forward about 30 minutes or so and you’d see an emotionally-charged mess that definitely didn’t look like “relaxing.”

Let’s put a pin in that.

Have you ever had one of those moments?

You know, those moments where you swear you’re finally going to take some time for yourself…

And next thing you know, you’re eating ice cream straight out of the pint, tears streaming down your face as you listen to Alanis Morissette louder than is socially acceptable?

…oh, just me? 

Heh 😬

Well, I definitely struggle with not doing things. 

The whole idea of resting typically leaves me feeling guilty, like I’m not using my time wisely or I’m wasting the precious moments I could be using to get xyz done.

It’s a work in progress for me.

But I also know it’s not healthy to be “on” all the time, to always be thinking about biz next steps or what I need to add to the ever-growing to-do list.

It’s easy to turn off your brain when you’re working for someone else, but the moment you start doing your own thing…

It’s freakin’ impossible!

But back to the pin we put in that “relaxing moment” I was having 🙄

Laying on the couch, I let Spotify take me song by song through some of Alanis’ greatest hits.

And while listening to “You Learn,” I seriously stopped mid-ice cream scoop and perked up.

Did… did Alanis just speak to my biz brain?

She sure did.

(See? Told you it’s hard to turn off!)

Because while I was “supposed” to be relaxing and giving my mind a break…

She was belting out words that seem so simple, yet 

they completely confirm the mindset we should learn to embrace when it comes to our biz.

I mean, think about it:

“You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn…”

Is she not just reiterating that: 

EVERY single experience we go through in our biz (and in life, really) is a learning experience?

… And that if we accept the fact that things aren’t always going to go according to plan, even THOSE moments end up being positive because they allow us to grow?

DAMN IT ALANIS! 

Now I can’t even listen to her without having an ah-ha moment. 

So much for resting, right?

While this realization was fresh in my mind, I went straight to my laptop (wiping tears as I walked across the room) so I could get these ideas down before I forgot them.

Because we will ALWAYS forget them 😅

And now I’m here, fleshing this idea out into an email (well, now a blog post lol) to share lessons from Alanis with you.

My friend, I know when things are rough, it can seem like we’re failing.

But to fail means we’ve accepted defeat.

So when something…

Takes longer than we want it to… or our stats and numbers aren’t as high as we want them to be… or we’re having a hard time finding clients… or we’re doubting every single action we take in our biz…

Or any other “negative” thing you want to add to the list…

What if we just took a moment to think about what this undesirable experience is uncovering?

What if we accepted it as an opportunity to grow instead of jumping to the idea that we must be failing?

Because the living, crying, loving, losing, etc. isn’t happening for no reason.

And it’s in those important moments that we can choose to stop, observe, and reflect on what the experience is trying to teach us.

So let’s channel our inner Alanis. 

Let’s be open to learning from ALL the things that happen while building our biz.

I know you’ve got a lot of great ideas to bring into this world and there’s NO way you’re going to let a small setback stop you from reaching your dreams.

Right?

Right! 

So here’s to Alanis for being a badass singer who’s now apparently infiltrating my emails and motivating us to embrace that growth mindset that will help us in our biz 🥂

PS - One of the reasons people sign up for my emails is because they want to learn more about using story to connect to a point, relate to their readers, and build stronger connection.

Your stories don’t need to be elaborate. Real-life moments are always going to be more engaging than some far-fetched story that makes them wonder if it’s even real to begin with.

So if you didn’t get a chance to check out this past blog post, it explains why your everyday life is the perfect topic for your emails.

And isn’t this email an example of that? (Because remember, this post was initially an email 😉)