What Was This Session All About?

T&C 2020 was filled with tons of information for entrepreneurs and digital marketers. Dozens of marketing leaders spoke and provided their secrets to success. But, at the end of the summit, not everyone can absorb the information with confidence.

Lisa Nichols ended the summit with a motivational speech about mindset and faith. In addition, she provided personal stories about times when she had to overcome obstacles and how she never thought she would get to where she is today.

So, let’s dive into the things Lisa talked about. It’s our hope you will leave us with inspiration from what Lisa had to say, as well as the determination to fulfill your dreams.

Who is Lisa Nichols?

• CEO of Motivating The Masses, Inc.
• She is a motivational speaker.
• She “stopped by” to motivate you to be better and live up to your full potential.

What We Learned

How to navigate through 2021? Some gifts come wrapped in sandpaper. COVID-19 is sandpaper, but remember there is a gift. There is a huge opportunity. You are perfectly prepared for such a time as this. You have everything you need to be successful. It’s your job to take this opportunity to ride it until the wheels fall off. 

Get Motivated

Everything that led you to this point has made you perfectly prepared to talk to your audience and provide services to your audience. You have something reasonable and necessary to share. 

Nothing can match when you know you have something good, something to help them, and access to someone’s desires. But, unfortunately, knowing what you do well is one of the hardest things to see because it’s easy to hide behind and avoid it. 

2020 was one of the most brutal years and the most challenging. However, 2021 will be your defining year because you are more significant than all of your challenges. 

People need your help to overcome their problems. But they don’t know about you yet. 

Your conviction and your convenience don’t live on the same block. But your conviction is what is going to be what makes you accomplish big things. 

Don’t stay comfortable in your mediocrity. If others don’t understand your reference, it’s because a higher power didn’t give your gift to anyone except you. You are everything someone’s looking for, but you need to be willing to risk it. If you never jump because you’re afraid to fall, you’ll never permit yourself to fly. 

Fly or fall, though, we know how to get up.  

Lisa’s Story of 1994

In 1994, Lisa’s son was eight months old, and she had run out of diapers. She went to the ATM to get some money to buy them, but it said “insufficient funds” Her balance was $11.42. So she went home without diapers, and for two days, she wrapped her son in towels.

She said to her son, “I will never be this broke or broken again.”

She searched for someone to help her conquer her limiting beliefs and help reach her potential people are always talking about. She found these things by going into marketing.

You were built to last. You were built for such a time as this. 

Don’t sit down on yourself after this event. We all work through frustration and loneliness. So, if you need to do something differently, whatever it is, do it. Whatever it takes. Move every other option off the table.

When the mountain of worry, doubt, and any other negative feelings rise up, remember that your conviction won’t be convenient. Require that mountain to move.

Lisa is not the same person she was in 1994. She is that person with more determination. She knows she was built to last. She knows her potential. She is also still learning. 

The material you have learned at T&C has been given to the perfect person for the job, and that is you. Sometimes you give yourself excuses because your fears try to talk you out of your potential. But don’t let them do it. Don’t get comfortable in mediocrity. 

Sometimes you’re not going to see how far you can go. Lisa didn’t know she would be this woman in 1994. You couldn’t have told her she would influence people globally. If you had told her, she wouldn’t have believed you and probably would have tried to sabotage that future. 

She’s not saying you're perfect. It’s in your imperfection and willingness to grow that you get inspired. On the days you can’t see the good parts of you, borrow someone else’s lens of you. 

Lisa’s Swim Story

Lisa was 15 and loved swimming. She had one problem, though: every time she swam at a swim meet, she would come in “dead last.” She would get an honorable mention or a ribbon that metaphorically says, “ Thank you for showing up. You did absolutely nothing.”

Lisa’s mother would take all of her honorable mentions and put them on the wall. So, her wall outside her kitchen was nicknamed by her brother, “Lisa’s Loser Shrine. 

So, Lisa got tired and quit. She went to her grandmother’s house, which was her safe place. She said to her grandma, “I’m tired. I’m tired of feeling like I’m coming in last. I’m tired of giving my all, and feeling like there’s no results. I’m tired of feeling like I’m not being acknowledged for my contribution. So, I decided to quit.”

Her grandmother said, “Baby, you’re only 15. Come sit down and I’m going to tell you something. You come from a long line of winners. Quitters never win, and winners never quit.”

She told her about her ancestors dying on boat rides on their way to a better life and others dying of heatstroke working in the fields as African-American slaves. 

Then she said, “I know you think you have the option of quitting sometimes. But quitting isn’t even in your blood. Slowing down isn’t even in your blood.” And she would thank God for giving her this opportunity. 

So, she told her to go out and swim, even though Lisa said she was constantly losing.

Then, at the next swim meet, she saw her entire family in the bleachers. She was totally embarrassed, but her family told her they had her back. This was the only thing worse than just coming in dead last. 

She asked the judge if she could just get her honorable mention then and there. But the judge said her group already swam. She was relieved. Then, he told her coach she could swim in the open lane with the 17 and 18-year-olds. So, Lisa begged them not to let her swim.

So, her coach said Lisa needed practice. Lisa said, “No, I know how to lose.” But her coach insisted. So, she went swimming. Unfortunately, her lane was in the center of the pool, which was the worst lane to be in if you’re going to lose. 

Lisa gets onto the diving board, and she immediately sees the difference between a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old girl. Lisa had her lacy swimsuit, while the older girl had speedos. Lisa had her cornrows with barrettes, but the older girl had on a speedo cap. In addition, she had on waterproof mascara, while the older girls had on goggles. All of these differences showed Lisa the changes that take place as you become an older, more focused swimmer. 

She introduced herself nicely and asked the older girl to wait for her, and they could walk to the locker room together, but the older girls ignored her and focused. Lisa tried to do the same but giggled in the process. 

She prayed to God about her faith and told Him she would try to have faith even though it was difficult. Then, she hit the water, telling herself over and over, saying, “Quitters never win, winners never quit.”

There was one girl even with her amid the laps, so she tried to swim faster. Finally, she got to the end and had no one next to her. So, she thought they were already out of the pool. So, she apologized to her coach. But, the coach told Lisa to look behind her. The first person after Lisa had just hit the halfway mark. She asked if she was supposed to swim three laps instead of two and asked what was happening. 

So the coach asked what she did differently, and she thought about it and told her coach what she chanted while swimming. Lisa had broken a 17-18-year-old group national record. 

She was asked what she usually chanted, and she said, “I don’t want to lose.”

So, mind the conversation in your head because it can make a big difference.

Mind Your Mindset

In 2021, you’re going to feed yourself the mindset as if you’ve already accomplished what you want to do. You are perfect for such a time as this, and you have everything you need to do it. 

“Write” a good story that everyone will be inspired by. In a good story, it has you wondering and doubting. It has hills and valleys and trials along the way. Don’t put a period where God (or your higher power) put a comma. 

You’re on the right path. Between your birthday and your transition day, you have to make that dash dance. Your life is about making that dash dance. That dash is about recognizing your life is supposed to be a bit disrupted and a bit disruptive at different times. You want that lifeline to go up and down at other times. Use EVERYTHING as fuel. Everything is making you who you are.

Lisa wouldn’t have wanted in a million years to wrap her son in a towel, get on food stamps, eat beans and weenies, stand in the holiday lines to get a free turkey, and so much more. But she’s better, stronger, more humble, more grateful, and more determined because she did. 

If you eat cinnamon or nutmeg by yourself, it doesn’t taste good. But when you put it in a peach cobbler, it does taste good. All of your ingredients don’t taste good by themselves. 

How are you making sure your dash dances, disrupts, is disruptive, and will be impactful? You don’t have to be Gandhi or anything like that. All you have to do is serve people. Let your genius out. Your genius wasn’t meant for you. Your genius was meant for others. 

Ask people to help you see yourself through their lenses and pick up someone else’s faith in you. This is what Lisa did, and she would walk with their vision until she had her vision of herself. 

2021 is waiting on you to blow your mind. Lisa doesn’t set goals anymore. Instead, she just works to blow her mind with how she does everything, from how she works to how she loves.

Who are you choosing to be? You can’t be who you were in 2020; you’ve outgrown that. You no longer can hide behind excuses, your brilliance, your computer, other people, etc. Can you put yourself first? You have a long line of people to serve. It’s your job to be at the front of that line. 

What would it look like if you slid every other option off the table, danced like no one was looking, or sang as if you harmonized every time? 

Speak up and speak out. Don’t be afraid. Recognize that if someone rejects you, then they’re not your playmate. What if you could dance in the spirit of awareness? What if you could pray and be still? 

In 2021, disrupt everything you can and plant a new seed, so it can grow and rise up above everything. Then, grow your harvest in 2021. 

What Do You Think?

If you watched this presentation or are familiar with Lisa’s work, I want to know what you think. Leave a comment or tell a story below.