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Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

Golda Meir – Israeli teacher, kibbutznik, stateswoman, politician and the fourth prime minister of Israel

Hey Disrupters! It’s here again, Friday, Friday, Friday! We love it!  It’s the first weekend of August, right in the heart of the dog days of Summer and I don’t know where you’re listening, but yes, it is hot wherever you turn.

For me, not only outside but also inside as I am turning up the temp on myself as I work to finish my book “Disrupt” set to come out soon.  So, a little bit of drama there as I sprint to the finish line on this project.

Anyway, our spark of inspiration today revolves around trust, but most importantly, trusting ourselves.  Israeli Stateswoman and Prime Minister Golda Meir was quoted as saying that we should ‘Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”

Trust… whoo.  Now that one is a biggie for most of us but especially if you are new to the business of shaking up the Status Quo in your own life.

It’s been said that trust is the willingness to be vulnerable, being courageous enough to take the leap of faith to open ourselves up to others, trusting them to “catch” us.  But, why is it so hard to trust ourselves? I mean, we spend time giving others the benefit of the doubt, we cut them slack or give them grace when they’ve messed up or even broken our trust.  We give others a pass, so why can’t we do the same for ourselves?

Trust is the willingness to be vulnerable, being courageous enough to take the leap of faith to open ourselves up to others, trusting them to “catch” us. 

Trusting ourselves makes us feel vulnerable, it’s fearing that we are not perfect and others might see us as not perfect.  We go along with someone else’s perception or opinion of us because we’re afraid that just maybe, someone else, a parent, a boss, whatever may know better than we know ourselves what is best for us.

We lose our trust in ourselves through self-judgment and negative beliefs in ourselves.   When we do this, we give away our power, watching our lives rather than participating in our own lives.

We keep what we know to be true about ourselves bottled up inside as we defer to the “wisdom” of others.  Sometimes we allow others to be the decision makers in our lives, maybe out of fear, maybe because of convenience.

How can we, as Maya Angelou said “get our own backs”?  How willing are we to show up and be seen by ourselves?  How can we boost our own self-trust?

So I’ve got three tips to remember as you head into your weekend, three ways to help you to start to “have your own back” and trust yourself.

Number One: Trust Yourself.  It sounds simple enough but is the hardest step to take when disrupting your status quo.  The Playwright William Shakespeare once said, “To Thine Own Self Be True”.  No one knows the real you but YOU.  Sometimes we get lost, we lose sight of ourselves and the goals that we once had for ourselves, but in the end, it all comes back to YOU.  So, put you first.

Let’s start by keeping your promises to yourself. Do what you say you will do – for yourself.  Trusting yourself is not about being perfect or aspiring to hurdle this impossibly high bar of perfection.  Give yourself a chance.

Failures are not the end, they are the beginning of your next attempt to do things better and differently.

Remember that failures are not the end, they are the beginning of your next attempt to do things better and differently.  Forgive yourself for mistakes, yes, maybe you missed the mark this time, but there is always the next time.  And the next.

So please, cut yourself some slack, refuse to give up on yourself.  Most importantly, trust that you are enough. Period.

Number Two: Trust the Process. You know more than you think you know.  It takes a lot of courage to stand up and take personal responsibility for your life and your decisions. Life has a way of working things out and the best part is that our lives are our own to explore, and we have the freedom to change course when necessary.  Set your intention to trust yourself a little bit more every day.

Trust yourself to have the answer AND trust the answer.

Trust yourself to have the answer AND trust the answer. Ask for advice if you need it but take it with a grain of salt.

One of the first keys to coaching is that as my Client, you already have the answer to your situation inside.  It is my job as your Coach to hold the space for you while you uncover the solution that works for you.  If it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t work.

Trust Your Desired Outcome – Trust your Plan.  You were given this for a reason.  Look at it every day, turn it over repeatedly in your mind.  Examine it.  Envision it from beginning to end.  You may not have all the answers but why smother your spark before it even takes hold? `Let it breathe and grow.

Number Three: Trust That it will be OK.  And it will be OK.  We’ve all heard of the exercises where you “trust fall” into the waiting arms of a colleague, in effect, trusting them to catch you.  Trusting them to make sure that you are OK.

I wonder what it would look like if you just once, trusted yourself enough to fall into your own arms, trusting you to catch yourself?  You know better than anyone else what it means to be you, how it feels to be you.  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, accept that you are human and we all make mistakes so lighten up and take it easy on yourself.

Be nice to yourself. Talk nicely to yourself.  Love on yourself a little bit.  Disrupting your Status Quo is nerve-racking enough.  Why beat yourself up? Fall into your whole self. It will be OK, I promise.

As always, go out and disrupt your Status Quo!

Trudi Lunnie-Thomas, BA, MA is a Life and Executive Coach for Woman on Fire Coaching and Consulting and Host of the Woman On Fire Radio. Her goal is to help her clients to disrupt the patterns established as part of their Status Quo, the habits, and limitations that control every part of their lives so that they can reclaim who they really are and how to live their lives to the fullest.  To continue the conversation, please come over to my blog at www.thearena.online. Thank you and go out and disrupt your Status Quo!