At the beginning of 2021 when everyone was claiming a specific word for the year, the one that came to me was up-level. (I mean, it’s not technically a word but who am I to argue with Jesus ya know?)
I liked it...a lot. 2020 transformed my life and I knew that if up-level was my word for 2021 then dang, I had better buckle up. There was one thing I didn’t foresee in my excitement about what was to come. I’ll admit, it caught me off guard. To be honest, it did more than that. It nearly made me quit on everything I had built over the last year and here’s why…
My mentor has talked about this more than once and I heard it but I didn’t quite understand it at the time. She (Martha Krejci) talks about your 5%. Your 5% are the people in your life who just want you to shut up. They are the ones who will probably never buy anything you’re selling, are often made up of your family, and will shut you down - loudly and, dare I say, obnoxiously.
I knew this. I was prepared for it. I even knew exactly who my 5% were. Or so I thought. You see, when you level up, your audience grows and as your audience grows so does your 5%. If you’re not prepared for it then it can catch you off guard.
They say it’s lonely at the top and the likely reason for that is simply not knowing who to trust anymore. At least before when you were still struggling to succeed the people who were your friends were nice to you because they liked you, not because they wanted to get something from you. It’s a whole new ballgame when people are nice to your face and threaten your livelihood behind your back.
Levelling up requires discernment. You can no longer blindly trust everyone just because they’re nice to you. And honestly, you probably shouldn’t have been doing that to begin with. A precious friend of mine texted these words to me and I realized that they were common sense for her but hadn’t been for me.
“Trust and proximity are earned. No one is entitled to either.” - Lauren da Silva
When I read that, I realized that I had been giving trust and proximity to anyone and everyone and that needed to stop. Levelling up requires more of you. More wisdom, more discernment, and thicker skin. Matthew 10:17 tells us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. I had been walking into every situation like a dove and that’s just not wise.
If you let your 5% silence you and shrink back from who you were created to be then you won’t be able to serve your 95%. Is it worth it? No, it isn’t. It’s time for you to rise up, shake it off, and link arms with people who truly do have your back. Stop focusing on your 5% and instead focus on the people you are here to help. What you focus on you get more of so make sure you’re focusing on the right thing.
P.S. If you want to link arms with a tribe who has your back feel free to jump into my Facebook Community.
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