Have you ever felt stuck in a cycle of being overlooked? Situations can arise that make people feel invisible or inadequate. Afterwards, it’s possible to feel drained or replay everything that’s wrong when endlessly thinking of that cycle. Have you ever thought being overlooked could be a blessing in disguise? Now is a good moment for a Wise Walk.
On the True Stride podcast, we take a Wise Walk to slow down and check our reality. True Stride is that feeling you get when you’re aligned in your heart with all that you do, and you feel energized and happy with each and every step that you take. I’m your host, Mary Tess Rooney, and I connect with Jeffrey Shaw to go on our Wise Walk for this guest episode.
Jeffrey Shaw contributes to the world as a photographer, author, and speaker. He uses his experiences of business, branding, and marketing to advocate for self-employed business owners, small business owners, and progressive-minded companies. Jeff is host of the Self-Employed Life podcast, along with being the author of LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible and The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success. Listen to Jeff speak about feeling overlooked, effort and surrender, internal capacity development, and alignment. On our Wise Walk, Jeff and I share our thoughts on these questions and more:
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- Where is a moment you felt overlooked, but it ended up being a blessing?
- What was the next series of choices once realizing you’re not aligned with people or a situation?
- How do we evolve between being overlooked and being visible?
- What are the key messages of a self-employed life?
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Inside the moments of feeling overlooked or unseen, there is a chance to look internally at ourselves to notice something that might be not aligned or misguided. Where in our life do we feel overlooked or invisible? Can we figure out if overlook is from lack of effort or lack of surrender? What choices become available to help us take one action in our True Stride?
Take a Wise Walk to uncover a new sense of freedom. Within that freedom is the opportunity to voice our value and a path to connect with an inspiring community. From there, we can explore what it looks like to move forward in our journey.
In this episode:
[00:23] – Welcome to the show!
[01:24] – Jeffrey Shaw and I talk about the paradox of being overlooked leading to being visible, and similar scenarios, like the pandemic.
[03:35] – Who is Jeffrey Shaw? Listen to Jeffrey talk about advocating for self-employment and explaining how his story supports his passion.
[05:41] – Where is a moment that Jeff felt overlooked, but the situation ended up being a blessing? Jeff speaks about being in alignment externally.
[08:07] – When our life is missing alignment externally, we absorb the undesired side effects of disconnection.
[09:46] – Jeff suggests an approach of action after realizing life lacks alignment externally. He gives an analogy between business and life about forcefulness versus mindfulness.
[11:28] – Looking back, Jeffrey says the delays of giving his first TED Talk were actually helpful for when the opportunity arrived.
[12:59] – Jeffrey touches on the balance of effort and surrender that he believes brings things into his life at the right timing.
[15:59] – Overlook can come in many forms. I describe how the theme of “overlooked” gives clarity around effort and surrender.
[17:29] – Sometimes surrender comes a little later than it should have, and it usually comes by force or without choice.
[19:09] – Instead of forcibly holding onto what isn’t working, heed and recognize the feelings that come up.
[21:32] – In the times of feeling overlooked, there’s a chance to be seen on a level past our understanding.
[23:28] – Being overseen can be an emotional trigger, and there’s usually a reason for the trigger. Jeffrey encourages everyone to give themselves grace.
[25:45] – Jeffrey says being overlooked can also be a sign that something within ourselves needs to shift or change.
[28:15] – Reclaiming individual power opens the opportunity to be visible.
[29:52] – Jeff explains why life in self-employment and personal development is backward.
[32:17] – I turn the tables on Jeff and go through his podcast questions in the S.E.L.F. acronym.
[35:23] – Jeff and I complete questions to the S.E.L.F. acronym.
[36:40] – Thank you for listening!
Memorable Quotes:
- “The gift of being overlooked comes because we’re trying to make something work that isn’t meant to work.” – Jeffrey
- “When you’re not aligned with someone — whether that’s a relationship, or a business transaction, or a partnership — there’s that disconnect, and you can feel invisible or unseen. Then, that discomfort or that un-alignment, it forces you to take responsibility for yourself, and say: ‘Okay, this is not working. What’s a different choice I can make?’” – Mary Tess
- “We so often live our lives trying to fit what we want into it, instead of stepping back and deciding ‘what’s meant for me’.” – Jeffrey
- “The one voice you can always overlook consistently is ‘self-doubt’ because you have everything that you need within you.” – Mary Tess
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