We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Albert Einstein
If you’ve been reading my blog at all, or following me on Facebook, you know that I’m always doing something different – traveling, meeting authors that I love, planning a trip across the globe, attending conferences for fun, etc. A lot of what I am doing now has to do with a decision I made 8 months ago! This deserves a bit of background…
I AM AN INTROVERT
When I was a kid, I was VERY SHY. I even remember Valentines Day, 6th grade, like it was yesterday. Our teacher had us write down everyone’s names in the class on a piece of paper and write down one thing we liked about that person and give it to them. When I got home, I was really interested in seeing what all the other kids wrote about me (by the way, teachers, I do NOT recommend this activity). 50% of them said “you’re smart” or “you’re a good speller” (which most people spelled wrong, bless their hearts). The rest said “I like you because you’re quiet” or “you’re shy.”
I remember thinking “I want more friends. I want to be outgoing. I want people to like me for other reasons.”
The next year, my best friend switched to a different school and forced me to make new friends at my small school. This was the beginning of me not being as quiet and shy and I even ended up getting into the Hospitality Industry, where communicating with people became a huge part of my life. But, I would still consider myself an introvert.
Being that I work from home and in high schools, I found it difficult to meet people in their 20s and 30s. Fast forward to the fall of 2013. I was in a rut. Physically, my health was not good, and it was affecting me at work, and also affecting my relationships with people in my life. I wasn’t even hanging out with my great friends that I already have, let alone thinking about trying to expand my social circles and meet others. I was stuck.
I’m the type of person who, when stuff hits the fan, I like to deal with it alone. I like big crowds of people for a time, and then I want to recover from being overwhelmed and overstimulated by myself for a bit. I NEED alone time. I’m not shy anymore, but I’m perfectly content participating in most activities by myself… which is why I consider myself an introvert.
However, I understand that connections and relationships are important and I absolutely LOVE my time with people who inspire me. I just didn’t know what to do until last year.
WHAT HAPPENED?
About two years ago, I watched Scott Dinsmore’s TEDx Talk – How to Find & Do Work You Love. That caused me to sign up for his emails and over the course of a year, I constantly found them valuable: I found other bloggers I grew to love through him, and I really liked his posiitve energy and love for the community of people that had evolved in Live Your Legend.
I found out about a free webinar Scott was hosting on how to develop personal connections and relationships with people and where I didn’t think this was necessarily an area I was struggling incredibly, I always like to learn new things. And in that webinar, I learned some great tips that I could implement and then Scott discussed his course, Connect with Anyone, that included Mastermind Groups and Coaching, which very much piqued my interest.
After the webinar, I found that it was Scott’s passion for creating a community of people who were doing things that mattered that really attracted me most to the course. I was watching it thinking “I want to do work that matters…. Maybe hanging out with these people and learning from them is a way to start figuring something out.”
However, I had seen other personal development and business courses that seemed overpriced and I never invested in any of them because I saw them as a scam. Fortunately, I had followed Scott and LYL for long enough to convince me that this was something different, and in order to make a big change in my life, I had to go outside my comfort zone a bit, and be open minded.
Immediately after the webinar, I joined the course and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Here are a few reasons why:
- A month after starting the course, through the encouragement of Naz and Leah, my Mastermind group coaches, I took my first paid social media client. And then I took my second.
- I got over my fear of being on camera and hosted a community Spreecast to teach people some of the basics of Twitter. (Just looked to put a link here for you but.. Oops! I guess I deleted it by accident from the Spreecast site!)
- I then went on to start interviewing young entrepreneurs for my blog on this same open video format. This is still one of the most fun things I’ve done and I’m excited to do more.
- I applied several of the things I learned in the course, such as the 3-second rule, and have since met many people I look up to and admire in industries that I care about. Not only have a met them, but we’ve continued to build relationships since.
- I earned a ticket to the World Domination Summit! You can read about my experience here.
- WDS was AMAZING and I am still so grateful for that opportunity! I was able to meet Scott and his wife, Chelsea, finally somewhere other than video chat, as well as Naz and Leah, who were major game changers for me in my life.
- I got to meet a ton of people that I had taken the CWA course with, along with many other bloggers and people I had previously only met online. Not to mention the conference itself was outstanding. I even stayed in an Air BnB in Portland with Naz, Leah, and two other participants from the course. Naz and I even experienced our first ever bat attack!!! (Ok, sort of ;)) And I got to teach the Aussies how to play cornhole, more importantly.
- The best thing that I got out of the mastermind and coaching was just really becoming aware of my ability to do something that mattered, and my confidence that I already was.
- Because of my confidence boost, I started helping a musician friend of mine with his social media and, long story short, he used those resources to help him fund a trip to Nashville to try out for The Voice, something he never thought he would do. Helping other people make their dreams come true —- it’s very humbling 🙂
- I learned that making real connections with people takes time and a little work, but when you make it happen, it is worth it.
- I expanded my group of friends exponentially. Not that I needed more friends, but it does help to have a group of people who believe what you believe, who have similar values, who push you, who encourage you, and who believe IN YOU. I am so appreciative for this group.
- I just straight up love the vibe and the atmosphere of LYL. You should have been at the LYL meetup in Portland. SO FUN. What a group.
- Something else cool that happened is that a few months ago I bought a book called Social Media Fascination, by Deborah Owen. At the LYL meetup in Portland, I was speaking to a couple of women and come to find out, one of them was Debbie! What a random chain of events but how awesome! We even had a Skype session this week to talk about what we are both working on.
- Yesterday, I was in Los Angeles and had lunch with a new and outstanding friend that I met in Portland. This would not have happened had I not done CWA.
- I don’t feel stuck anymore.
UPDATE already…..
I just realized that I had listed Danah Boyd as one of my “dream connections” when I did the CWA course and…. wait for it…. I met her last night in Los Angeles 🙂 She wrote the book It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, which I bought a few months ago, and gave a speech/conversation at the LA Public Library through ALOUD last night. I went to LA for it and met her afterwards. She is a fireball and I love her work!
FINALLY…
I wanted to share all of this with you because it made SUCH a big impact on my life.
If you are thinking “I want to do something that matters.” or “I need to expand my circle” or “I’d like to join a Mastermind group” or “I don’t love meeting new people but know I need to”… etc. than I would highly recommend this course.
DISCLAIMER
I feel like we live in a world where this is necessary, so just for the record… I do not make any money if you join Scott’s course. What I get out of it is the satisfaction of knowing that maybe my experience being shared with help someone else make a decision to do the same. So if you do, let me know!
Another round of the Connect with Anyone course is starting now and you can access the site here.
If you enjoyed this post or think you have friends who might value from it, please share it with them and leave me a note in the comments!
And please visit my website over here (currently in the process of merging the two, but not quite there yet :)). Thanks!
Monet Diamante | Create Your Legacy 
July 31, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Wonderful to read about your journey Monet. Life’s much richer when you surround yourself with people who inspire you, share similar values, and know how to have fun. WDS 2014 definitely helped me get out of my introverted tendencies long enough to meet some fantastic people, Scott included. Great to see you working with Naz and Leah too – those ladies are on fire!