Is there any chance that being "humble" is holding you back? Make no mistakes, I want you to remain humble and authentic to who you are meant to be. The thing is, that the way YOU define "humble" might be creatling a glass celing. This is a glass celing of your own creation. Today, you will define humble in a way that honors where you have been while you remain persistenly driven toward your own purpose driven life!

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One of my favorite songs lately has been “Humble Quest” by Marin Morris. Something about this song grabbed my attention and I want to talk to you about a breakthrough I had in the process of listening to this song and then researching why Marin Morris wrote it. Literally, what her mindset was and what she was thinking about when she wrote it. I talk about various ways you might hold yourself back quite often – and I’ve never thought that being “humble” was a bad thing. After listening to this song, there is definitely a new way I want YOU to think about and define what “humble” means for you.

Generally, being humble is something that most authentic leaders consider to be a virtue, but depending on how you define “humble,” defining yourself as “humble” might be holding you back in unexpected ways. Today I’m going to give you a new perspective.

First – I want to talk about the power and importance of music, as it relates to your mindset.

As a certified Executive career coach, I’m quite knowledgeable about how your own thoughts are at the root of the outcomes in your life. When you decide what you’re going to allow your brain to think ahead of time, it changes everything.

• Quite literally, what you are thinking about a given circumstance will change how you feel

• How you feel will change the actions you take

• The actions you take will create your results.

I’ve only been very clearly aware of this for the past decade or so and I’ve become quite adept at the tools a coach can use to assist a client in this exact process for the past few years. Still, now that I am steeped in the subject of mindset and thought work – when I look back in my life, I realize I did manage my thoughts and emotions very often by using my music and playlists. This was long before I knew what coaching and self-coaching was, as a practice.

These days, I have two perfectly curated playlists on my phone that create the ideal mindset for stepping out of my comfort zone and for continuously striving for a bigger positive impact. I’m very picky about the songs that I add to these two playlists, one is about me – who I am at my very core, in my soul. This is a very personal playlist and I do not share it with anyone. It is mine alone. It keeps me focused on my values, where I came from, and where I want to go – who I want to be when I get there. I listen to this playlist when I am tired or feel lost or am not sure what path to take. For me, it is like nourishment, wholesome goodness and peace.

The other playlist that I curate very deliberately is focused on goals, dreams, courage, determination, strength, accomplishment, and other generally powerful themes that speak to me. I listen to my goal-achievement-focused playlist almost every day, on the way to work or while I’m getting ready in the morning. When I used to have a 10 to 15-minute walk from my parking lot to my desk, I would often listen to it walking into the building in my earbuds. I did not fully understand what I was doing then, but I 100% know now what I was doing: I was setting my intention and the mindset, with which I was going to walk into my day and into my workplace. It was a very intentional decision.

I have created a version of my motivational playlist on Spotify. I’ll link it in the show notes if you want to hear it or to get ideas for your own motivational playlist.

A couple months ago, I heard the song, “Humble Quest” by Marin Morris and these days, it does not happen often – but as soon as I heard this sone, I added it to both of my core playlists. There are very few songs that go on both my values and my driven play list – but this one immediately fit that category.

So, like I said, I did some research to see if I could find out what Maren Morris was thinking when she wrote the song. Just to see if she was thinking what it seemed like she was saying…

The song “Humble Quest,” starts out with a persistent beat – it quietly and deliberately ‘drives’ the song forward for the entire duration… but, it’s the Lyrics that captured me. One of the things Maren Morris said about this song: “It’s an ongoing, perpetual quest. Not like a one-time fist-pump, but a driving, continual push.”

Yes, I’m with Maren - a perpetual quest, a driving continual push; THIS is how I want to live my life.

She said, “There's just something in me that is always trying to pay my dues and not cut in line, so to speak. Especially for women in country music, the word humble is thrown around a lot. If you start to believe in your own self and success, and even feel prideful in it, you're starting to lose your roots and where you came from. And it's almost used as a ceiling," Morris says of the inspiration behind the song.

She also said that, “As you become more successful, you gain more confidence, and then there is simultaneously an expectation that the more successful and confident you become that it can be perceived as arrogance or as having a lack of humility.”

She keyed in on how the word, “humble,” can be weaponized against people and in particular, women. It can hold you back.

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I often talk to you, and how you are out there, grinding daily in your job – doing everything you can to add value and to be seen as someone worthy of more senior leadership. You know how it is – you have your nose down, getting it done, making it happen and before you know it – it has been 4 or 5 months and you wonder how long it’s going to take before anyone notices how amazing you are. You always say yes to your boss, heck – you say yes to so much, because you want to be seen as a team player, as someone who is all in.

Haven't looked up in a while

Been biting my tongue, behind a smile

Falling on swords that I can't see

Poison my well on the daily

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You start thinking, maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe I have hit my upper limit, maybe I should just accept where I am.

Got easier not to ask

Just kept hitting my head on the glass

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Then one day, you realize how much harder you are working than your direct supervisor, or than some of the people who are more senior than you and you start to think… “Why can’t it be me?” You start to feel frustrated and you KNOW it is time for you to demand more of yourself and more from your organization. IT IS OK to advocate for yourself. It is OK to be compensated for your value, for your effort. It is NOT arrogant to expect to be paid what you are worth!

I was so nice 'til I woke up

I was polite 'til I spoke up

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Then the chorus kicks in, which to me is all about a purpose-driven life. You were meant to have an impact, on your family, your community, in your career and in the world. You were born to do BIG things and you were given a multitude of talents and superpowers to have your own unique influence.

I'm on a humble quest

And damn, I do my best

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Your sense of what your purpose is will change as you grow and progress through your life, and that’s ok. I roll with the desire to “never be satisfied”. I always want to be striving to help you and other’s using the superpowers that were entrusted to me.

Not gonna hold my breath

'Cause I still haven't found it yet

No, I still haven't found it yet

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As you rise in your career and become more successful in life, you will start to feel or hear about people from your past who haven’t yet made the decision to take control of their lives. You will continue to want more, to strive for more, you will remain strongly on course, following that driving beat toward your humble quest. All the while, they might gossip and tell others that you are full of yourself, that you are arrogant. They could show signs of jealousy or envy. If they are very close old friends or family – this will hurt you and you will not understand. You will wonder why they aren’t happy that you are making your own dreams come true. You might start to think that they are right and that you should make yourself smaller, hold yourself back – that you are wrong for shining so bright. THIS IS THE CEILING, a ceiling that is of your own making. You cannot control what other people think, do, or say. You can wish, inspire, nudge, and even try to pull them with you, but if they will not come – that is their decision. You feel the pull of your own quest. You MUST push on. Just make sure you stay self-aware and walk that balance between confidence (knowing you are going places and you are 100% capable to figure it out) vs. arrogance – thinking the world owes it all to you automatically.

The line between fulfilled and full of myself

I'm trying to find it and I might need some help

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It’s the line between finding the courage to stand up, rising, as the powerful being you are with a strong good purpose – and not wanting to hold anyone else back while you do so.

Standing up was enough of a battle

How do I not cast a shadow?

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Aren’t we all. Stop apologizing for wanting to make your mark, for striving, and for growing into the most powerful version of yourself.

I'm a hell of a hassle.

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So, the way I want you to look humble now is more like this: You KNOW you did not get to where you are today without a lot of other support:

• Creator

• Parents / Care givers

• Partner / Spouse

• Family / Friends – your circle

• Mentors, previous leaders who believed in you

• Coaching / leadership training

• Teachers / those who taught you all the things you know now

• Team members /peers / colleagues

Don’t forget where you came from. Never stop helping others rise. Mentor and lead the next generation. Like an apple that falls to the ground, where the seeds take root and create new sprouts. Always nurture others to give them opportunities you had (and especially opportunities that you didn’t have).

Remain in gratitude for where you are now and as you see the path clearing ahead of you for more incredible opportunities. Remain in gratitude AND always remember that you are a truly amazing and capable person. Powerful beyond your own imagination, and YES – if you hear me saying these words today, I am saying them to YOU. You are powerful, capable, beautiful, driven, and humble (in the best way possible).

This life is YOUR Humble Quest. Decide today what you are going to do to with it – don’t hold back for even one more moment.