Stalling in the shallows or diving in the deep end?
My newsletter this week was inspired by my reflections on growth after attending the Asia Professional Speakers – Singapore (APSS) Convention which was on Friday and Saturday last week.
Over the course of those two days, I saw incredible, world class speakers deliver keynotes, including Nir Eyal, Brian Walter, Fredrik Haren and Tim Gard. I heard brilliant creative ideas from people like Oksana Koriakova, marketing genius. I attended breakout after breakout with awesome practical takeaways, from wonderful speakers like Ian Stephens, Dr James Smith, Anneli Blundell, Julia Grace and Nienke Bloem.
It’s left me feeling inspired, enthusiastic and excited to continue to level up as a speaker.
A question I was asked more than once was “Is this your first time at convention?” And honestly, it wasn't. I attended online during the pandemic. I attended the in-person event two years ago. But this was the best one I’ve attended. When I was sharing this with another attendee, I realised it wasn’t about the high quality of the speakers, or the excellent organisation, or the warmth and inclusion of the APSS community (even though all of that was tremendous!).
It was my changed mindset which made such a positive different to the enjoyment and inspiration I drew from attending. I know I am now viewing myself and my speaking business through a different lens, compared to previous years.
I started 2025 feeling completely different about my business in comparison to previous years. The biggest change was that for the first time, I felt massively positive and energised and completely determined to create and maintain a business more in line with what I want it to be, for my customers and for myself and my family.
My experience over the last three to five years have resulted in a complete transformation when it comes to my mindset and level of resilience. There isn't one specific thing I can pinpoint that’s led to this change; it’s been a combination of factors, as is often the case. What I can say is that as a result, I'm fully committed and diving in at the deep end when it comes to growing my speaking business.
For me, my speaking business requires hard work, focus, curiosity, regularly getting out of my comfort zone and staying open to valuable feedback for continual improvement.
And diving in at the deep end means I am fully embracing all those challenges, alongside celebrating well-earned successes and learning how to pivot and respond when plans go off course.
For so many years, I was stalling in the shallows. Stalling in terms of making excuses (even though I didn't realise that's what they were) and delaying action which would move me closer to more speaking engagements on stage.
This looked like:
Not fully committing to speaking
Being too passive about finding customers
Making flimsy excuses as to why I didn’t really fully commit
The real reason? I was scared. Scared of failing. Scared of not being good enough. Scared of putting myself out there and being criticised. I could go on.
As a result, stalling in the shallows felt safer for my frightened brain.
But the flip side of staying safe was staying stuck and playing small.
The Illusion of safety I’d unwittingly created was holding me back from doing the things I truly wanted to do.
This is why I am such a huge advocate for conscious leadership. Putting the principles of conscious leadership in action, over and over again, has played a big part in shifting my mindset and moving me toward the deep end.
And diving in at the deep end for me looks like:
Full commitment to growing my speaking business.
Actively working through discomfort
Holding myself accountable for taking regular action to move me closer to my goals
I truly know now that my success is directly proportional to the risks and the actions I am prepared to take.
I’m all in. No more stalling in the shallows. I’m diving into the deep end.
And I can’t wait to see what happens.
