Successful Bloggers Do These 5 Things (5 Ways to Grow as an Entrepreneur)

Life isn’t easy. But can you imagine how boring everything would be if it was? On episode 10 of the Do It Scared® podcast, Dr. Edie Wadsworth, my dear friend and mentor shares just how dark and difficult life can be But that’s never stopped her from taking chances, following her heart, and constantly striving to evolve into the person she’s always known was inside of her.

 

The Do It Scared® Podcast with Ruth Soukup provides weekly motivation, inspiration, and practical instruction for anyone tired of settling for “good enough.” Each week we tackle topics like goal-setting, overcoming procrastination, finding the time, energy & know-how for accomplishing our dreams, and overcoming the obstacles that stand in our way. Don’t miss an episode; subscribe here.

You’ve only got one life, and you can’t live it according to anyone else’s expectations. And sometimes that means you have to let go of your fear, take a big step into the unknown, and see where you land.

Dr. Edie Wadsworth, my dear friend, mentor, EBA® alum, and guest for Episode 10 of the Do It Scared® podcast, is an expert at taking chances. She’s also one of the bravest and wisest people I know.

Edie grew up poor, surrounded by addiction, alcoholism, and violence. She was “that kid” in school–the one who didn’t have the right clothes or the right shoes and didn’t come from the right family. But, even at 8 or 9 years old, she realized that she could rise above her circumstances as long as she worked hard and became so good at whatever she was trying that nobody would ever be able to tell her “no” again.

 

Edie went on to become a highly successful and respected physician, but she felt like she wasn’t making the best use of her gifts and everything that life had taught her. She had always been driven by a desire to prove herself to everyone else, to portray an image of perfection, but she began to realize that it was her imperfections that could better help others.

She walked away from her career, began practicing natural health, and decided to share her story. She started a faith and lifestyle blog called life{in}grace, and she uses it to encourage women to follow their dreams by opening up about her own struggles. She also wrote an amazing memoir called All the Pretty Things, which is an absolute must-read.

In Episode 10 of the Do It Scared® podcast, Edie talks about overcoming incredible obstacles, changing career paths, and why it’s so important to focus on what you can give instead of how you’re perceived. It will definitely make you laugh, make you cry, make you think, and, hopefully, make you take action.

Get the synopsis below or listen to the whole podcast on iTunes or on Google Play. (Or just search for “Do It Scared” on your favorite iPod app!)  Never miss a new episode by subscribing on iTunes. You can also find the full show notes at https://doitscared.com/episode10/.

It is our imperfection that helps us become who we want to be. Click to Tweet

 

Successful Bloggers Do These 5 Things (5 Ways to Grow as an Entrepreneur)

THE MAGIC IS IN THE STRUGGLE

Everyone is obsessed with perfection or, at least, trying to LOOK perfect. But Edie said it’s our imperfection that helps us become who we want to be. “The part of our lives that we want to hide from everybody, that struggle, that failure, that is where the magic is, and if we will allow ourselves to be exposed in that area, amazing, amazing things can happen,” Edie said. “If you have a hard story…that you’re hiding, that you’re numbing yourself from, that you’re running from, there’s so much healing and so much transformation in letting that be exposed so that it can be healed, so that it can be used as an area that will inspire and challenge and help in the healing journey of other people.”

FACE YOUR DARK SIDE

In the movies, there are heroes and villains. But, in real life, we’re all a little more complicated. Edie believes that it’s important to acknowledge that you’ve made mistakes, own them, and use them to remake yourself into the person you want to become. “One of the biggest hurdles for me was getting to the point where I could come face to face with that dark, awful part of myself, let that part of myself be transformed, and then be willing to share that, be willing to open up to that, so that the hard work of my remaking could happen,” she said. “And that’s not an easy process.”

JUST JUMP

Edie has made some big decisions that were incredibly scary at the time, but she’s repeatedly embraced the unknown and ended up in a better place. “When you’re willing to be really courageous and brave in your life, when you’re willing to do it scared, there’s a truth to that and honesty to that, that I just feel like if God is not for you, maybe the universe honors,” Edie said. “I look at my life today, and it’s crazy. I mean, I make four times as much as I did as a physician. I get to work from home. I get to take vacation when I want to. I get to be with my kids all the time…I just feel like none of that would have been possible without continually, over and over, being willing to almost throw it all away to keep growing, to keep learning, to keep jumping off a cliff.”

GIVE YOURSELF AWAY

There’s a passage at the end of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity that has always been especially meaningful to Edie, and it’s all about letting go. “It basically says that the real you, your real self, you will not find by chasing it; you will find by giving it away,” Edie said. “My life has been a constant series of doing that, of saying, ‘How can I give what I have away?’ And sometimes that meant sacrifice, sometimes that meant…giving something up for a while and then coming back to it later. But I think we can get so caught up in chasing success, in chasing numbers, in chasing what the world views as, ‘Oh, she finally made it.” And I think, honestly, in my life, it’s been more a series of just giving it up and being willing to hold things loosely so that love and gifts can freely flow instead of holding on to one thing.”

SERVE YOURSELF BY SERVING OTHERS

Stop thinking about yourself and start helping others. Click to Tweet

If you ever find yourself stuck inside your own head and losing your confidence, Edie has a solution: stop thinking about yourself and start helping others. “When you’re really serving people, you actually forget about yourself, and you stop worrying about how you’re coming across, how people are perceiving you, and you start worrying about the person who needs what you have to offer, who needs your word of encouragement, who needs your vulnerability,” Edie said. “And when you focus on other people, the confidence just comes because you’re not confident necessarily in yourself; you’re confident that what you have to share could be a blessing to someone else. Go bless them. Go love them. You’ll forget about your own struggle.”

 

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These are just some of the highlights from this episode, but there is SO much more to hear! You can listen to the entire episode on iTunes HERE or on Google Play HERE. Visit doitscared.com for show notes from this episode, and never miss a new episode by subscribing on iTunes.