That person who you silenced without the slightest thought about what she wanted, or why she had so much to say was YOU. She was the highest potential version of you, and she was trying to get your attention. She had so much she wanted to share with you, ideas, dreams, the vision of what could be. If only you had listened to her. This episode will cover how to spend more time with that amazing muse - YOU.

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Transcript

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes the importance of listening to one's own inner voice to unlock potential.
• Listeners are encouraged to engage in mindfulness practices to better capture their ideas.
• The speaker shares personal experiences of receiving inspiration during sleepless nights.
• A key theme is that taking time for self-reflection can lead to transformative ideas.
• Listeners are reminded that their highest potential self is always trying to communicate with them.
• Practical advice is provided on how to document and act on fleeting thoughts and ideas.

Yes, you can. A podcast for high achievers Hi, I'm Tami North.

The goal of this podcast is to help you become the best that you can be. Don't ever doubt the power you have to make the world a better place. Yes, you can make a difference.

Today I want to talk to you about something that you already know is important. The art of listening. And I mean really listening.

But wait, today's conversation is not one of those you normally hear talking about emotional intelligence and making sure you are listening to other people when they are talking. You're a high performer and you already know you should. And you mostly do listen to others when they're talking.

You're skilled at using empathy and you make quality connections with others in your life. So now today I want to switch things up a little bit and I want to talk about listening to somebody else.

Somebody who is always trying to get your attention. Somebody who cares about you more than anyone.

If you would listen to this person much more often, you would be a lot closer to who you were born to be. You're a busy professional, you're juggling a high powered career and you have a very active family life. I get it.

So it makes sense that you neglect this person. I mean, after all, you're only doing it with good intentions. This person is always with you.

Not to scare you, but they're even with you in the darkest of nights. You know, the nights when you can't sleep because you rarely sit still.

And when you do, you spend so much time self soothing with electronics, smartphones, social media, great TV content that's on these days, video games, etc. So the most likely time that you're going to meet this person is in the early morning hours.

You know, 1 or 2am when you wake up in the night for a drink of water. And just as you're slipping back to sleep, there she is. Some people call this insomnia, but I've always called it a gift.

You know what I'm talking about. When your mind starts to spin because you have so many thoughts and ideas running through your mind.

And yeah, since you fell asleep beside your smartphone, the most likely thing you're going to do when she comes calling is open up Facebook and say something to the world at 1:00am like, well, great insomnia again.

And then you're going to continue to scroll and scroll and scroll and wonder why you can't sleep while you're also missing out on that beautiful, life changing Gift that was almost delivered just for you. That person who you silenced without the slightest thought about what she wanted or why she had so much to say to you was you. Yes.

That voice in the night is often the highest potential version of yourself. And she's trying to get your attention. She has so much that she wants to share with you.

Ideas, dreams, and a vision of what could be if only you would take the time to listen to her. No. You say no, no, no. She was reminding me of the mistake I made at work today and how my boss said something that I'm pretty sure is negative.

And I forgot the supplies from the art store for the project that the kids need for school tomorrow. Hmm. I wonder, does Home depot open at 7am? Huh? Yes, I know. I know. You're gonna always hear all those things.

She's going to tell you all of that because she. She wants you to get things in control.

She's reminding you that you could take a few minutes every day to capture your to dos in a planner so that you could tell your future self to remember the cork board that you needed for the kids projects. And then if you had that kind of stuff under control, you would have time for bigger and better thoughts.

What about the comments she made about how you messed up at work? Well, if we're really honest, you know, you weren't at the top of your game yesterday. You know that you should have prepared better. So.

So she doesn't really want you to forget about that because she's ready to elevate your game. She doesn't want you to feel bad. She just wants you to accept her feedback. You can do better and you will do better. Just take her advice.

Whisper a quiet thank you to her. That's what we say when we get feedback. Thank you. And keep pushing forward.

All of those things, the art supplies, the feedback from your work yesterday, that's just her saying hello. She has a few things she wanted to get out of the way. But what if you sat there and continued to listen to her?

What if you asked her, okay, what do you really want to talk about so bad that you had to wake me up at 1am?

What if you asked her that question with all the sincerity in the world and then you just laid there in the cool darkness and waited patiently but intently for her reply?

I mean, how amazing is it that out of all the versions of yourself, all the versions that could ever be, that your best potential self wants to talk to you so bad? I'm telling you, this is a gift. I know that if you're quiet and still, and if you wait with a gracious and open heart, that she will speak to you.

She will tell you all the dreams that she has for you, and she'll remind you of what you're capable of. And she will urge you to do things that a lesser version of yourself will think are impossible.

What if you woke up right now, I mean, really woke up, and you wrote down the gift that she gave you? She comes so often that you're going to get so many ideas and so many visions. And what if you started acting on only some of them? Some.

Some of them will resonate with you very strongly. What if you decided to make the best ones real? Could you imagine the life that you'd be living right now?

This doesn't happen to me every night, but it happens enough. I'd say every month or so. And it comes in a very powerful way.

For example, I can tell you I have some exciting news that will help you achieve your dreams. Something I am working on right now that will launch around the new year. The vision for this major project came to me just like this.

Rather than focusing on fear and anger and division, I opened myself up to hear my best potential self. I let my own creator remind me that I'm capable of so much more than I bring to the world every day.

I'm capable of helping others achieve their dreams so that they might make the world a better place too. And thank God I heard this vision.

I literally got out of bed one night at 2am right in the middle of COVID and I went into my office with my whiteboard and my sticky pads, and I wrote down every. Every single thing I remembered from the vision.

I had to capture it all before I forgot it and before the magical inspiration faded away with the sunrise. And in those moments when I wake up at 2am like that, and I feel just compelled to write, I just whisper to the universe, thank you.

And then I say to myself, you'll sleep well tonight. That night, I woke up in the middle of COVID and I just captured everything I could think of onto the stickies in the whiteboard.

I remember around 5am when my husband walked into my office and the look on his face. That is something I will never forget. I think it was part awe and part wow. She might be crazy, but still, I had my idea. I had it completely captured.

And since then, day by day, I'VE been chipping away until right now. I can see that it is definitely going to happen. I look forward to telling you about that.

But these kind of ideas come to all of us if we take the time to listen. For some people, it might be when you're in the shower or out walking the dog or on a morning run.

It could be any place that you're just doing something that's kind of simple. Washing the dishes, driving, walking around the grocery store.

If you take the time to really listen to yourself, it takes you to a new level of mindfulness and you become open and available for new ideas that will change your life to come to you.

So that's the key thing I want to talk to you about today, that I want you to get out of this episode is how often do you actually hear your own ideas. The gifts that come to you in the night.

This is your most powerful self, letting you know that there's some things that you could be doing that your future self wishes with everything that that you would do.

So what are some ways that you can intentionally spend more time with your highest potential self and hold on to the inspirational gifts that she delivers to you? Well, just as I mentioned before, easy, mindless activities are an ideal time for you to receive this information.

Just pay attention when you're folding the laundry, driving to your normal locations, showering, cleaning house. When you get any idea or any vision, just immediately stop what you're doing and write it down.

I use Evernote and I have the Evernote app on my Apple Watch and if something comes to me, even if I'm driving, it is very easy.

I can literally just tap my watch and immediately take a voice memo and then it uploads into my Evernote account where I can get to it from any device I'm on. So with this ability, I can quickly capture any idea, even if I'm cleaning or exercising or driving.

See if you can find some ways to do that in your own life. I've used this concept for a lot of things to do with genuine driven women.

For instance, podcast ideas, blog ideas, products I might make to help you with your dreams and visions. Since I use it for that all the time, it's like I've been exercising that skill.

So then now when really big ideas come, I am trained to notice that they've arrived and I'm trained to immediately capture them. So that's something I think you do need to practice. Kind of like working out. It'll get easier the more you do it.

Definitely start trying to get yourself in a habit of noticing a great idea you have. And even if it's a crazy idea that you think to yourself, I will never do that.

Just take time to just jot it down or record it in a voice memo or something. And just get in the habit of capturing these ideas, because if you do, you never know when the one that really resonates with you is going to hit.

And if you're in the practice, then you will definitely capture that really cool idea that comes when you do have the opportunity to hear from your higher potential self. Try to hold onto these moments, even when you should be sleeping. Think of it as a gift.

Instead of getting frustrated that you're awake and angry that you're awake, or think to yourself how bad tomorrow's gonna be because you woke up. Instead, think of this time, this peace and solitude in the night. Think of it as a gift. Ask your voice questions, get to know this beautiful muse.

Invite her to visit more often. And if nothing else, just relax in the discussion and think to yourself, I wish this would never end.

Think of it as if you are talking to your future self. You know, the you 10 or 20 years from now. Ask her to come visit more often.

And just as you start to think of it like that, and you really do wish that you could continue to think of this concept that she's tell you about or whatever, eventually she may say, no, that's enough for tonight. You need your sleep. And voila. No insomnia. You fall right back asleep. But what if she does stay?

And what if she fills you full of beautiful plans and dreams? What if you wake up overflowing with enough inspiration that you'll have months of fuel for your passion? That sounds amazing.

Much better than one hour of sleep. I would make that trade any day. As I said earlier, you'll sleep tomorrow night. Don't worry. Another way to really notice these moments is this.

I really love studying body language. And I'm not an expert by any stretch, but it is a fascination of mine.

And one thing I learned about when reading about body language is a concept called micro expressions.

Micro expressions are that little flash of expression that goes across a person's face right before they fix their face to be what they really wanted to show the world. So if somebody's mad, they might smile and say, oh no, everything's great. And they'll flash that TV ready smile.

But you notice just a split, split second right before they smiled, their face crunched up like a monster. It was just a flash, but it Was there. That is a micro expression and it gives you clues into what the other person is really thinking.

Well, the voice of your highest potential self does a similar thing when you have a problem or a challenge.

When this problem or challenge first comes to you, maybe somebody asks you a question, even that initial moment that it's presented to you and you realize, oh, I need to do something about that or I need to say something.

Right before you actually let the words out of your mouth or try to solve the problem, you're going to get a flash through your mind of that initial and that it's an initial thought that you think, oh, I can't say that that'll never work or wow, that would be crazy. But you don't say that.

You then think of something else that'll be much more reasonable and something much more sensible and that is what you actually say. What if that initial thought was a micro solution?

What if it was really the best answer and what if it flashed through your brain quickly and you needed to grab it? That was the. That was the real answer.

What if you gave at least a little space to some of those micro thoughts that flash through and let them grow just a little bit before you dismiss them so quickly? They're kind of like a flash of intuition. Think of them like that.

This higher potential version of yourself does not only come to tell you beautiful dreams and visions, it also tries to get you to take smaller actions that will improve your life. Things like you need to be more organized or it's time to develop a healthier lifestyle.

She'll also try and save you when you're going down the wrong road, if you're drinking too much, if a man is ruining your life, if a group of friends is pulling you into drama filled muck, or if it's time to find a new place to live or work. So take the time to listen to her. She tries to put you on the right path. Most people call this intuition, but I'm calling it what it really is.

This voice is the best you trying to escape. Trying to lead you to a powerful life where you can create the greatest good and have the biggest impact on the world.

I'm not saying she's always right, but there's so many ideas that you've had and so many that you took zero action on. Some of these would have changed your life for the better.

I ask people all the time if they have a dream and usually they tell me something safe, something they think won't draw too much attention or judgment.

I asked Somebody the other day, and they said, yeah, I just want to have a really nice house and two kids, and I want my husband to be happy with, you know, I want me and my husband to be happy. And I said, okay, that's good. That's actually. If you could have anything you want in the world, that is your entire dream. And she said, huh?

I'm like, okay. I'm like, but that technically is going to happen anyway. Like, that is. She was.

This particular person was already well on a path for that to literally be her outcome.

So is there anything just a little bit bigger or more an impact you want to have on the world or some bigger goal for this family unit that you're trying to develop to create? Is there something bigger that you want?

Something that might be impossible, but something that you actually want to shoot for that's not going to automatically already come true? And then she thought about it for a while, and then she told me something. She's like, well, there is this one thing. And she said that.

And I'm like, okay, now that is a dream. Don't just think about what's safe. Think about something that you really want.

And I want you to consider something is going to a job that you complain about every day on social media and then going home to eat dinner and then scrolling your night away on your smartphones. Is that what you want out of life?

Because I'm pretty sure that if I asked yourself 20 years from now, they would hope that you take a different action. One thing I would encourage you to do is at least plan your time that you're going to spend scrolling or staring at Netflix, and plan that into your.

Into your day.

If you want to spend two hours a day staring at your smartphone and looking at Facebook, then I would highly recommend that you just write that in your calendar, scroll aimlessly through Facebook for two hours and make that a plan, because then at least you're sticking to your plan and get used to doing that. And I think that if you had a choice of how you're going to spend the next two hours, I don't think you would write that in your plan.

I think you would come up with something else. So be more intentional about the time you're spending.

It's a good exercise, and I think I'll talk about that on a different podcast, but that's a good exercise of how to take control of the time you are spending and to make sure that you're. That you're spending your time the way you really wish you'd be spending it.

If you really want to live a more fulfilling life, that path will definitely take more focus and it might take a little more energy. But if you're really focused, you'll be surprised at how little energy compared to the life you're already living.

That living a focused life will actually take a similar amount of energy, but since it's so focused, you will make greater gains going forward.

As you start to have wins, you'll become so inspired and fueled by that inspiration that you would work as hard as you need to to hold onto that because it's going to feel so good if you could only get a taste of what your life could be like. That is what I want for you. That is why I wake up at 2am and I map out ways to help you.

You are so powerful and I just want you to believe that as much as I know it's true. So we're going to be going on a journey for the next few months and I want you to come with me. I want you to come fully in.

In order for you to get the best outcome, I'm going to need you to free up your mind and be ready to receive gifts of inspiration. And I'm going to need you to dream. I'm going to need you to dream bigger than you ever have before.

You are powerful beyond measure and you were born to change the world.