Which voice is the loudest in your head: The Survival Voice or The Truth Voice?
If you are afraid or feeling fear, your Survival Voice is probably drowning out your Truth Voice. In a speech to the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Graham Weaver talks about how to switch that so that you are being confidently led by your Truth Voice.
Graham said when he graduated from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, he took a safe, corporate job that he was never excited about. About one year into the job, at an offsite in Napa, the voice in his head told him, “This isn’t you. This isn’t what you are meant to do.”
But leaving a good, safe job can be scary. How do we conquer this fear? We learn how to manage the voices in our head.
Graham said we have two voices fighting inside of us all the time:
1 - The Survival VoiceThis is the inner critic that injects fear, doubt, worry, and anxiety. It wants to you to stay in fight or flight mode.
2 - The Truth VoiceThis has been called many names, including the source, God, god, the spirit, your intuition, the universe, your sould, etc. This voice is quieter and shows up in your body: your heart, your gut, and your chest.
Your Survival Force drowns out The Truth Force too often, but the voice of fear will lead you to a life that is too small. Full power starts in the second voice; the voice that is really you.
If you want to live at full power, Graham says you have to do these three things:
1 - Face your fears by pulling the nail out of your head.
2 - Follow your energy.
3 - Go all in - now.
1 - GET UNSTUCK: TAKE THE NAIL OUT OF YOUR HEAD.
The nail is the thing that is keeping you stuck, and until you remove it, you can’t reach your full power.
Types of Nails
1 - Bad habits
2 - Unresolved past experiences
3 - Rules or assumptions
4 - Fear keeping you stuck
We can’t pull the nails out of our heads because we either haven’t admitted that we have one, or because we know that life will get worse first. Speak your truth. Identify and name the nail that has you stuck. But know that when you pull the nail out, it will hurt at first. All change hurts at first, but everything you want is on the other side of ‘worst first.’ Everything you want is on the other side of The Pit, and everything you want is often on the other side of the thing you fear right now. If you want to live at full power, take the nail out of your head and do what you know you need to do.
2 - FOLLOW YOUR ENERGY
What makes you excited? Energy is the language of your soul. When you are excited about something or someone, that is your soul talking to you. Write down 9 things that bring you energy. Then, ask yourself, “Out of all 9 of these things, which one would I choose if I knew I couldn’t fail?” That is the path you want to pursue. The human soul needs something it can hope for, and energy is the language of your soul. Follow your energy.
3 - GO ALL IN - NOW
Goethe says, “Until one is committed, there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.” Most people never really commit to anything. You will never get where you want to go being half-in and half-out. The survival voice tells us, “Not now. Wait until you are ready,” and that is the end of it for them.
Graham says, “Write down everything you fear because your fears have the most power over you when they’re in the recesses of your subconscious mind.” Getting your fears out of your head and on paper can strip them of their power. Then think about and focus on what you are excited about. Most people never live the life they want because they say they will get there when …
… When they have more experience. … When they have more money.
… When they have more time.
But people never get there, so they never live the life they want. Instead of waiting, go all in now. You, with energy, all in as long as it takes, are enough. You don’t need anything else; you have everything you need. You just have to go all in. When you go all in, your identity shifts because you are no longer on the fence. The voice of fear loses its power when you go all in. You stop spending energy fighting yourself. You, plus your energy, plus going all in is not just enough; it’s the most powerful force there is.
SOMETHING(s) TO THINK ABOUT
1 - What is your biggest takeaway?
2 - What is one nail that is keeping you stuck? How are you going to remove it?
3 - What gives you energy? What makes your soul get excited?
4 - What does going all in look like for you? What is one thing you can do to show you are all in?
For a printable PDF version of this post, click here: Graham Weaver: Which Voice Will You Listen To?
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