Passionate Theme of the Day: Models & Mentors

“Mentor: Someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.” ~ Anonymous

“You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself.” ~Diana Ross

Hello passionate friends. Today’s post is about models & mentors…in my case specifically, it’s about a model AS a mentor. I teach public speaking and we often talk about being a confident speaker. (That’s once we get them over the initial hurdle of not wanting to hurl once in front of the group). But conquering nervousness when public speaking is a whole different post.

At this point in the semester, the students understand the organization of thoughts and main points. How to construct a thesis statement. They get how to construct an intro/body/conclusion. But many of their presentations could use a boost is in the confidence area. They just aren’t as confident as they could be, therefore their presentations lack oomf, pizzazz, gusto, flair and could generally use a little more razzle dazzle.

My recommendation? Find a confidence mentor. According to Dictionary.com a mentor is an adviser, master, guide, preceptor. Now, I’m not talking about the usual business mentor. Or necessarily someone you’ll ever talk to or have a relationship with (although if you can identify someone in your local vicinity that you could actually meet with, more power to you).

The cool thing is, this works in all areas of life, not just with public speaking. For example, I’ve been looking to boost my confidence in the area of writing my book. There are loads of questions I still have. Books I convince myself I still need to read. Research I tell myself I still need to uncover and e-courses I should take in order to help me with the process. In all actuality, I just need to step up to the keyboard and start typing. DUH.

So I started to take a closer look at why I’m procrastinating. There’s a laundry list of reasons why I couldn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t take on this endeavor. All signs point to one nasty four letter word. FEAR. Yuk! Leaves a bitter aftertaste in my mouth..

I got to thinking of someone I could model myself after. Someone that embodies confidence and abundant expectation. I wrote down a list of all the qualities and characteristics I want to OWN and weave into every fiber of my being. Here’s a few of the words I’m looking to wear as I walk down the catwalk of life as a published “writer”:

Bold
Fierce
Courageous
Sassy
Expectant
Passionate
Motivated
Driven
Powerful
Unique
Creative

As synchronicity would have it, just as I completed this list, I had a conversation with a friend about being deserving vs. undeserving. Her idea is that we should all try on underserving for a while. Be undeserving? What? Stick with me here…my friend says we all get too hung up in the voices that whisper things like, “Oh…I don’t deserve this and I definitely don’t deserve that.”

She asked me to consider the idea that we should be open to receive all the abundance in the Universe simply because we ARE. Simply because we were birthed into this world and are the baby darlings of the Universe. Not because, “Well he works SO hard, of course he deserves THIS”, or “She is SO giving of her time, of course she deserves THAT”.

My friend’s idea is that we don’t HAVE to do anything to deserve something. We should just be expectant of all goodness simply because we exist. No more and no less deserving than anyone else. That immediately triggered an idea about who my confidence model/mentor would be. And she happens to actually be a model.

I instantly thought of model, mogul, fashionista and mother - Kimora Lee Simmons. If you’ve seen her Style Network show Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane you know that Kimora is the embodiment of the qualities on my list. It’s as if she walks through life saying, “Of course I fly around the globe in my private jet. Why wouldn’t I?” “Of course I have 4 personal assistants to help support me as I run my empire. Why shouldn’t I?” “Of course I’m a model, a mogul, and a mom. Why couldn’t I?” OK, so she can come off as a bit of a diva from time to time, but hey...at least she’s being her.

I absolutely LOVE her for this. She should bottle and sell THAT!! She already has a fragrance called Beauty, but she should name her next one Confidence. She simply oozes it out of every pore. Kimora walks through life deliberately creating an abundant, beautiful, and successful reality. An exact description of the kind of like I’d like to live.

What qualities could you use a little bit more of in your life? Get out that ol’ dog eared notebook and write out some juicy ones. Then take a look around you. Think of friends, neighbors, community leaders, celebrities, authors and coaches that move or inspire you to up your game. Who portrays themselves in a manner that you could see as advantageous to incorporating into your own repertoire?

Back to that “fake it till you make it” concept. Some aren’t a fan of it. I say, if it works…work it. If I’m feeling funky or not bringing my A game and I think of Kimora all sassy, fierce and fabulous…I can close my eyes and imagine myself modeling some of that. Harnessing some of her powerful energy and channeling that into my own mix. If it helps give me an added spring in my step, sparkle in my eye and charisma for class, why shouldn’t I borrow some of her mojo?

Now go out there and find your own super-model-mogul-mama to fashion yourself after! Kimora Lee Simmons is spoken for.

Do what you gotta do. Say what you gotta say. Be who you gotta be.

Sparkle, shine & be divine,
Kam-a-licious