Stop asking permission to be great

“At some point, I just stopped asking permission to be great.”

— Lisa Nichols

Lisa Nichols is an entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker, and CEO of Mindvalley University. But more importantly, 20 years ago, Lisa was a single mum with $12 in her bank account, broke, and broken. The father of her child was away in prison, she was fired from five jobs, and she had to wrap her baby son in a towel because she didn’t have money for nappies. In her worst state of mind, she came to the realisation that nobody was going to help her until she helped herself. She decided to take whatever action was necessary to break the limitations she had imposed on herself and to never be broke and broken again.

We’ve all been at that point. Maybe not broke financially, but definitely broken as a person. We’ve walked out of meetings feeling like we didn’t get what we deserved. We’ve had ideas stolen from us, credit stolen from us, and our greatness is hidden behind other people’s ignorance and arrogance.

But we can get out of it. We need to make a decision to never accept the limitations again. We can make the decision to let our greatness shine. AND as Lisa says:

WE NEED TO STOP ASKING PERMISSION TO BE GREAT!!!

This interview and Lisa’s story is so inspirational, I am not going to break it down for you. There are no words or sentences that I can use that transcribe the emotion and inspiration this interview provides.

So for this blog post, all I ask is for you to watch this video. Just watch the first 6 minutes and 30 seconds. That’s all you need. I promise, that if you watch the interview with presence and with focus, you will feel what I felt, and you will be inspired.

But if you really would like to know more, below are some fascinating key take-aways from the video.

1. Stop asking permission to be great: Lisa Nichols

You are great. You don’t need to ask or wait for permission to shine. If you think you have something worthy to say or something worthy to contribute, then say it. If the audience didn’t grasp the depth of your contributions, say it again until they do. Nobody is holding yourself back. You are the only person holding yourself back.

You don’t need someone else’s permission to be great.

2. Whatever you want to do - just do it: Jackie Chan

When you are young, do whatever you want to do, learn whatever you want to learn. 10 years to learning will set you up for a life time of returns from these skills. Do it now. Do it when you’re young. Don’t wait to tomorrow. Because tomorrow may be too late.

3. Greatness comes from the little actions: John Wooden

You formulate your own greatness. But greatness isn’t this massive single action that explodes from you occasionally. Greatness comes from being diligent and consistent in doing the right thing all the time. Every action that you take, do the right thing and when you do it consistently, you are great.

Coach John Wooden is famous for creating the greatest basketball teams in the world. He makes his players do the little things consistently and correctly, no matter how famous they are; from sweeping the floor to never swearing.

If you still need more inspiration, then below are some famous inspirational quotes from Lisa Nichols:

• Mostly, the world sees you the way you see yourself - You want the world to respect you and see you as confident and high value, then you need to respect yourself first and be confident in your convictions.

• You are the designer of your destiny; you are the author of your story - Your life is what it is because you’ve accepted it. If you don’t like it, then don’t accept it. Take the actions to get a better life. Don’t just sit and complain.

• You deserve to be happy, you deserve to be joyful, you deserve to be celebrated. But in order to do that you must first fall madly in love with yourself - If you want a better life, start with loving yourself.

• Sometimes you have to be willing to let go of something old to grab onto something new. You have to be willing to let a part of you die that you used to be comfortable with in order for another part of you to be born - There are people in your life you just have to let go. If they are not adding to your journey to becoming the best version of yourself, then let them go.