What I Learned at Blissdom
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Opryland Hotel, Nashville
Oh sure, my weekend at Blissdom was full of meeting people and parties and such, but there were just a few little tidbits that I stuck in my pocket and kept for later. In fact, lots of information that I needed to read over and absorb once I came back.
There were two amazing keynote speeches at Blissdom--one opening and one closing (funny how that works). Never one to do things in the traditional manner, I'm going to tell you about the closing talk first.
Scott Stratten
Author of UnMarketing, Scott Stratten gave the closing keynote, and to say that guy was hilarious would be an understatement. Hi-lar-i-ous. He seriously should just take his show on the road. (Oh wait. He already did that.) Anyway, 30 side-splitting minutes later, here's what I gleaned from Scott:
Be awesome.
That's it. Just be awesome. Nobody wants to read "meh." Nobody spreads average.
People spread awesome. Awesomely great. Awesomely horrible. Awesomely sweet. Whatever is awesome, it will spread.
A few awesome posts are a whole lot better than a lot of posts that don't say anything.
Here's what I got from Scott's talk that I want to try to improve in my blog. I sometimes settle for the "meh." I sometimes fall into the old I-have-to-put-something-out-there trap and end up with an average post. What I need to do, instead, is to make each post as awesome as I can so that it's worth your time to be here.
Wow. That's humbling.
Brene Brown
Brene was the opening keynote speaker for Blissdom, and after hearing her talk I could have just gone home and been completely satisfied. I have about six pages of notes from her talk--my hand just could not keep up with all the wonderful bits of wisdom she shared with us.
It's going to be hard to distill everything down, but I'll try to categorize a few of the things she talked about.
Shame
1. We all have it, that thing inside of us that says "You are not enough."
2. Nobody wants to talk about it
3. The less we talk about it the more we have it.
Shame brings us down, destroys us. But the only thing shame can't survive is being spoken. WORDS destroy shame.
Wholeheartedness
What do the lives of people look like who say "I am enough"? They are wholehearted lives. These are the people who say "I don't know who I am, I may not be perfect, but I'm going to go ahead and put this out there."
The wholehearted are people who believe in their own worthiness. See, most of us have developed a list of what makes us worthy: "If I do this, I might be good enough." But worthiness has no prerequisites. Worthiness says, "This is just me. It's all I have to offer--myself--and it is enough."
Vulnerability
Most of us think vulnerability is related to fear and uncertainty, and it is, but when put into practice, vulnerability is related to courage and strength. (I loved that!) Vulnerability says "I am willing to feel and I'm willing to let myself be seen."
Vulnerability is the birthplace of
- love
- belonging
- joy
- gratitude
- authenticity
- innovation
- creativity
She summarized her thoughts this way:
1. Know your short list, those people whose opinions really matter to you. Your go-to people. The people who would do anything for you.
2. Know your boundaries. "Choose discomfort over resentment." This was huge to me because I am such a people-pleaser. I'll say yes to just about anything I can, but Brene's point is that if you are going to resent the thing you said yes to, it's not worth it. Say no now so you don't resent it later. (Lots to think about there!)
3. Know that you are enough. Ask for what you need. When we don't put value on our work, we end up resenting.
4. Our stories matter because we matter. "Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we will ever do." Blogging comes down to one thing: courage. Share the story of who you are with your whole heart.
My takeaway from Brene: I feel like I need to use this space to be braver, to tell stories that I haven't yet told, to be more vulnerable than I've allowed myself to be. This might be hard, but it might also help someone else in the process.
How about you? What story do you need to share with authenticity? What makes you awesome (besides just being here)? I'd love to know!
