Today, I want to discuss how connecting with who you are and with your heart lies at the center of creating good work for yourself and sharing this with the world. This is a crucial step I offer in my yoga business training program I call Mechanism of Influence which goes down in about a month. Check it out.
Once while driving to teach a yoga workshop, I mentioned to a friend that I was worried about what I was going to say and do in my workshop. She responded quite matter-of-factly, “I don’t know why you haven’t figured this out already but people don’t come to your yoga classes and workshops because of what you say or do. They come because of who you are.”
This almost flippant, no-bullshit comment sent me on a long journey to consider who I am and how that translates into the heart of my work.
What about you? Who are you and how does that translate into the heart of your work?
Good work is the opportunity to both discover and share who you are with the world in a way that feeds the world and that feeds you back.
Sometimes this heartfelt work is what you do for a living, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s very public, sometimes not.
But what’s always true is that at the heart of good work is … YOU.
Whether you’re a yoga teacher or a tax accountant, a therapist or a thespian, your work is a profound expression of your heart. It’s the sacred opportunity to love the world by sharing your gifts that the Universe has given you with the world.
So how does getting to know yourself translate to good work?
If your work involves getting exposure, before you build your website, before you start your marketing, before you develop your message, and miles and miles before you begin offering your products and services, your very first step is to do a deep dive into your own heart and figure out what makes you YOU.
How?
A great way to start this heart inquiry is to examine those things that make you come alive? What are you called to offer the world? What excites you? What can you give to the world that comes easy for you, that doesn’t feel like work?
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Amen, Howard Thurman!
Knowing what makes you come alive illuminates your passions and your passions are what sets you apart from others in your field. It shows you how you can do what you do in only the way that you can do it.
When I offer business and teaching mentorships, the very first assignment I give people is to make a list of their assets. This is a list of at least 30–40 tangible and intangible things that illustrate who they are and spells out what they love in the world.
For example, here’s a short list of some my assets:
I love jazz
I love poetry
I’m a twin
I have a website
I have a newsletter list
I love to travel
I’m an American who lives with his family in the South of France
I have professional and education credentials (E-RYT 500, RYS, YACEP, BA)
I love to write and have published 3 books and hundreds of online articles, newsletters, and blog posts
I believe in the goodness of people
I love to laugh
I love history
I love storytelling
I love to connect ancient philosophy and modern science and how they relate to our everyday life
I believe that love is at the root of everything (obvs)
So, what does my love of jazz and poetry and the fact that I’m a twin have to do with being a teacher, mentor, and author?
Everything.
Writing out this list clarifies for ME exactly who I am. More to the point, it spells out very clearly all the unique ways that I can share myself with the world. It may not inform me how to teach sun salutations or lead people through the Yoga Nidra Roadmap but does inform me about how to do those things in only the way I can.
Because the truth is that my work is not defined as being a teacher, mentor, or author. I’m Scott Moore sharing his love with the world in the form of teaching, mentoring, and writing.
While scrolling through social media recently, I heard a clip from an interview with a business expert who said, “Don’t be the best in your field. Be the only one in your field.” In other words, do what you do in the way that ONLY you can.
When you do your work in only the way that YOU can, you attract those people who are picking up exactly what you’re putting down. If your work involves building an audience, instead of building a massive audience of various kinds of people with various kinds of interests it’s better to build a very specific audience with specific kinds of interests. Specifically, you’re building a select audience of people who resonate with who you are and what you do best. Let those people who want something else go find it somewhere else. You’re not trying to please those people because it’s inauthentic, fruitless, and exhausting. When you are busy doing what you love to do, work never feels like work. And when people do discover your work, they feel like they’ve come home. You’ll hear this phrase repeated over and over, “I feel like you are offering exactly what I need, like you were put here just for me.” And you can honestly tell them that yes, you were.
The absolute best compliment I ever get is when someone comes to class and as I’m greeting them on the way in the door they say something like, “Man, I’ve had a hard day and I just need a ‘Scott’ class.” I never consciously created a “Scott class.” Rather, a “Scott class” is the result of me simply doing what I do with copious references to poetry, jazz, or storytelling.
You have a way of doing what you do and there are people out there who are eager to pick up what you're putting down. As you discover who you are, what you love, and what your unique skills are, you’ll attract exactly the kind of people who resonate with you. Your work will feel effortless.
Everybody wins.
I invite you to take just a minute or two and do this simple exercise. Make a list of what makes you YOU. Write down 30–40 tangible and intangible things about you. Put everything down from history, experience, unique skills, even (and especially) those difficult lessons you may have learned. If you’re wondering where to start, try listing some of the things you love most as well as those things that make you come alive.
Because remember, “what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Then, go out and fearlessly apply this heart-centered approach to your work.
Please write back and let me know how it goes.
Yoga Business Training
Enrollment is open for my next small-group business mentoring program. I’ll be selecting a small group of people who are interested in focused business building where we will discuss step-by-step exactly how to build your Mechanism of Influence, the system that teaches you how to make a massive impact on the world while earning a great living doing the work you love. It’s the system I use every day which has given me a great career, helped me to become a leader in my field, and enabled me to become non-location dependent.
Enrollment is very limited. Register before September 19th and save $100.