Hello and welcome and today's word is the word permission.
A very interesting one this that's come up a lot in my work recently.
So have you ever waited for someone else's approval before pursuing your dreams?
Or perhaps not another person's approval but waiting for something to happen before you allow yourself to do something else?
A good example of this would be someone with an entrepreneurial mindset who decides they want to start a business but oh I can't possibly start until everything's perfect.
And perhaps you decide that you can't start dating again until you've lost 5 kilos.
But who's making that decision and who says so?
Many of us wait for permission.
We wait from society,
Family,
Circumstances or a very interesting inner voice.
And we wait and wait and wait until sometimes it's too late.
But to realise that no one is coming to grant me the life that I want.
I have to be the one who gives myself permission.
When we realise that it's a very profound moment.
We give ourselves permission about what we're going to believe in life.
We can give ourselves permission about what we're allowing ourselves to do,
To achieve,
How happy we're going to be etc.
So what permission have you been waiting for?
What would happen if you stopped waiting and just started?
Permission perhaps about a level of happiness.
Permission perhaps about a dream.
Perhaps you've always wanted to go to a certain country or travel or live somewhere else.
Perhaps you're waiting to give yourself permission to feel free,
To feel loved.
Permission lurks in so many areas of our life.
But we are the only voice that now really counts.
And although many of us have grown up in families and societies and school systems and political regimes that have decided things for us,
Today could well be the day that you take that voice back and start giving yourself more permission.
There are some great inspirers when it comes to permission and one of the first that comes into my head is actually Beyonce.
So she didn't wait for permission to take control of her career.
She left her record label,
She built her own empire and she redefined success on her terms.
She was not willing to wait for the okay from outside.
Elizabeth Blackwell in the 1800s,
She's another great example.
Women weren't allowed to study medicine in those days.
She refused to accept that rule and she became the first female doctor of the United States and paved the way for thousands of women in medicine.
She gave herself permission to fulfil her dream.
And we have,
Of course,
Malala Yousafzai.
In a society that denied girls an education,
Malala gave herself permission to learn and fight for others' rights to do the same,
Even at great personal risk.
Now studies show that people who take initiative without waiting for approval tend to be more successful and fulfilled.
Self-permission reduces stress and increases confidence by shifting control back to the individual.
Giving ourselves permission is all about self-empowerment and recognising the power of our own voice.
And did you know that J.
K.
Rowling was advised to get a real job instead of writing?
But she ignored that advice and off the back of that she built a billion-dollar literary empire.
So three steps today around this topic of permission.
Number one,
Please stop waiting for readiness and perfection.
You don't need to be 100% ready to start on the journey of your dreams,
Whatever that may be.
Just start moving there,
Just start the journey and everything else will follow.
Number two,
Validate yourself.
If you feel the need for approval,
Give it to yourself.
Say,
I approve of myself and that's enough.
I think I look great and that's enough.
I give myself permission to love myself just the way I am.
And number three,
Take one bold step today.
Apply for the job,
Publish the post,
Say yes,
Say no.
Do one thing without waiting for permission.
And sometimes our inner voice is our harshest critic and holds us back more than anybody in our external world.
And we're going to end today on a quotation by Sophia Bush.
You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.
