An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #14: The Breakthrough (originally aired May 23, 2014), with minimal editing for readability.
[To Roz Duffy]
So much of what you’re talking about is about trying and doing, which are actions that you take, as opposed to fear and anxiety, which are thoughts that you think. And what I keep hearing you say is that we have to act, that we have to live in our bodies and in the world and not live in our minds. And when we live in our minds is when we get trapped, is when we hold ourselves back.
I love this idea that you can try one small thing. It doesn’t have to be everything. You don’t have to be the best at it. You may end up being the worst at it. But at least you did it. At least you did something. And I can really see how you have created platforms for people to try throughout your career.
I was one of those people who had a lot of thoughts and a hell of a lot of opinions. But I never really shared any of it, never really did anything about it. And it was that opportunity — to not have to be in front of 400 people at a conference, and have to submit a proposal, and plan for four months some hour-long presentation and all this stuff that would have been doing it to the fullest extent — but rather at an un-conference that is relaxed and allows you to do things off the cuff and experiment and take a chance.
It took a tremendous amount of encouragement from you, Roz, who hardly knew me, and from our mutual friend, Matt Knell, who had brought me there from New York that morning. I had had absolutely no intention of participating. I was just going to a bunch of sessions and supporting friends and learning interesting new things.
At the time it felt like you guys pretty much forced into doing it, but I guess I was the one who showed up. And it opened up the rest of my life to me. I mean, I don’t know where I would be had it not been for you creating that space, Roz. So keep doing what you’re doing, because at least for me, and I know for many other people, but I can really only speak for myself, it has had life-altering outcomes.
An excerpt from my dialogue with Paul McAleer on our podcast Designing Yourself, Episode #14: The Breakthrough (originally aired May 23, 2014), with minimal editing for readability.
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