Do you remember this song?
(If not, you might just want to skip this one…)
The key phrase from MC Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit" came to me as I listened to a friend tell me about building a new business. She's focused on building the foundation first--all the non-sexy pieces that come together to support a business.
I realized she's doing all this foundational work to become too legit to quit.
She's got all the pieces together to make her feel like a successful business woman, therefore she presents herself as a successful business woman to the world and voila, she's a successful business woman.
She's off and flying! No way will she quit after she's filled with this feeling of success.
Another friend, also self-employed, is creating this feeling of success a completely different way. She's becoming too legit to quit by jumping into the business, doing her thing and gathering customer feedback. It's a cycle that feeds her legitimacy and encourages her forward.
Two different models, yet the same feeling they're creating--that sense of legitimacy and purpose.
Another way to say it is "Fake it til you make it."
When I was an intern for a big public accounting firm, I had no idea what it meant to "be a CPA". I watched experienced CPAs, took advice from all the good ones, did my best to emulate them and soon enough I felt like a CPA.
At that point the awkwardness left and the world saw me as a CPA. And I was!
Here’s something to try.
When you want something, start by feeling it.
You want a vacation with your family filled with connection and love? What does that feel like in your body? Can you feel bubbling joy in your heart? Excitement in your chest? Butterflies in your belly? Pay attention to where it shows up and what sensations you get in your body.
I don't know what your feeling is exactly.
I do know that it feels open and expansive and freeing. When you've defined how your feeling feels, then follow it. Let your body track that feeling and check in with your brain occasionally. You'll be shocked at how easily situations show up in your life that align with that feeling, once you start paying attention to it.