This episode of Mindset Meets Mastery with Arlene Gale is an introduction focusing on how busy we are and finding value in adding one more thing to a busy schedule. It’s about examining stories we tell ourselves (fact or fiction), mindsets, myths, misinformation, and how we make choices every day to do or don’t use these mindsets to develop business strategies that help or hinder us while trying to move toward mastery in our businesses and lives.
“Don’t let other people dictate what you say about yourself or what you determine is or is not possible. You get to choose how you write your story every single day.” -Arlene Gale
Highlights:
01:07 Mindset Meets Mastery Behind the Curtains
06:44 How Mindset Meets Mastery Can Help You Unpack Your Labels
09:34 Move Beyond Being Plain Normal
11:32 The Downside of Perfection
16:25 The Mindset Meets Mastery Goal
18:25 Who is Arlene Gale?
26:38 Be the Writer of Your Own Story
Resources:
Quotes:
“We have 24/7 news coverage and information overload now. Technology has made it so that you can get any information you want on anything at any time of any day. But… just because we have access to that doesn’t mean that information is accurate or usable.” -Arlene Gale
“It’s not somebody else’s job to tell me how to do something or to know when I have arrived at success. I get to set that milestone for myself, I get to walk that path and determine its direction for myself.” -Arlene Gale
“Move beyond being normal… Being normal sometimes can mean you’re devoid of dreams or goals or you don’t have action steps to move toward completing those goals or those dreams.” -Arlene Gale
“Perfection kills progress.” -Arlene Gale
“I’m just going to be perfectly me because that’s got to be good enough.” -Arlene Gale
“That comparison game is something that can feed that need to be perfect… it’s better for me to make apologies than it is for me to make excuses.” -Arlene Gale
“Dreams are illusions unless they have action steps with them.” -Arlene Gale
“Just because corporate America doesn’t seem to find value in us at our age, doesn’t mean we don’t have value.” -Arlene Gale
“If it needs to be written, I’ve written it dozens, if not hundreds of times because that’s what I do.” -Arlene Gale
“I don’t like the word survivor because I feel like calling myself a survivor is still giving too much credit to the abuser. So I call myself a thriver because as a thriver, I get to live my life on my terms.” -Arlene Gale
“Don’t let other people dictate what you say about yourself or what you determine is or is not possible. You get to choose how you write your story every single day.” -Arlene Gale
Meet Arlene:
Arlene Gale is an expert in helping people tell their stories to build business. She combines decades of business marketing, communicating, and writing expertise to direct clients past damaging business mindsets, myths, and misconceptions toward powerful and profitable business-building success. Arlene is a top notch business strategist. She has helped hundreds of clients, in a variety of industries, earn millions of dollars in business as a result of writing & publishing credibility-building books. She helps clients duplicate these results from start to finish, including writing book proposals earning main stream publishing contracts, before the book is written. If it needs to be written, Arlene can do it, and do it in such a way that it generates income. She has written thousands of feature magazine articles, hundreds of business plans establishing short- and long-term goals, written and produced hundreds of television and radio advertisement, and more.
Website: BookWritingBusiness.com and ArleneGale.com
Email: Arlene@BookWritingBusiness.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BookWritingBusiness/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arlene_gale
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlenegale/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ58NZPGyCdGpn7bcDcY-Fw
Transcription:
Wow! Welcome to this premier episode of “Mindset Meets Mastery with Arlene Gale.” I’m so excited for this episode and for what’s to come because this program, this concept has been growing, churning, maturing, and bubbling around in the cobwebs of my imagination for quite some time, and I’m finally getting to it. I’m really excited! I appreciate and thank you for being a part of this process with me.
I want to start today just by talking a little bit about what does Mindset Meets Mastery mean? And what is the goal, what is the intention for you spending your time here? Because like you, were all very, very busy, and because we’re busy, it’s my job to make sure that you get valuable content that’s going to make it worth your time. And worth your while to spend your time with me. That’s one of my primary goals: To encourage you to spend your time with Mindset Meets Mastery because, you know, we have 24/7 news coverage and information overload now. Technology has made it so you can get any information you want on anything at any time of any day. But you know what? Just because we have access to all of that doesn’t mean that information is accurate or usable. So both of those goals are my goals as we move forward episode by episode in Mindset Meets Mastery.
“We have 24/7 news coverage and information overload now. Technology has made it so that you can get any information you want on anything at any time of any day. But… just because we have access to that doesn't mean that information is accurate… Click To TweetI intend to talk about the mindsets that we develop, whether it’s information we pick up and we start taking ownership of, because “they said” it should be done that way, or “they said” you can’t do it that way. Whatever it is, we all have mindsets that we pick up somewhere along the road of life and they most often hinder us, but sometimes can help us as we move towards success.
We’re talking about mindsets, we’re talking about myths, misinformation, misconceptions, and the other goal is to remove the mystery from how we can become successful in our businesses. And yes, we’re going to do a little crossover, not just from business, but to our life’s goals as well. How are we going to be successful in business and life on our own terms? That’s the bottom line of what the goal is for Mindset Meets Mystery. Boom! Mic drop! I’m out. I mean, really, what else is there to say?
Well, let me tell you a little more, I want to spend a little bit more time trying to talk about WHY in more detail, and WHAT in more detail. We’re talking about the stories that we tell ourselves. And it doesn’t matter if the things that we say to ourselves when we look in the mirror, it doesn’t matter if they’re fact or fiction. Somewhere along the way we pick those up and we’ve taken ownership of those things, and they do impact the way we act or react to the world both professionally and personally.
I’ve got 30 years of expertise in combining business development, business marketing, branding with writing, and written content, and helping businesses to develop consistent content across all platforms so that they present themselves and their business in the best possible way. The good news is I have a bunch of expertise I want to share, but even better news is that I have some expert guests, some fabulous professionals who have put their money where their mouth is, quite frankly, they’re big dollar earners, and they’re happy, and they’re successful, and they’re honest and vulnerable, and they’re going to share their myths and mindsets, and their stumbles and bumbles along the way, and how they pick themselves up again to move forward in a positive way and become successful again on their terms.
One of the things I’ve learned about success, my success doesn’t look like your success, and if somebody says that you can only measure success this way or that way, then I’m going to call BS on that. You know, I really am because it’s not somebody else’s job to tell me how to do something, or when to know when I have arrived at success. I get to set that milestone for myself. I get to walk that path and determine its direction for myself. So again, there are a lot of times during Mindset Meets Mastery where I’m just going to stop and I’m going to say, you know, that’s a bunch of BS because we don’t have to do it that way. As a matter of fact, I’m going to bring on guests who can tell you this is a myth, or this is a mindset about goal setting or goal achieving that we’re just gonna stop right now because it doesn’t work for whatever reason. And we’ll discuss those reasons, too. But I digress, back to the topic.
“It's not somebody else's job to tell me how to do something or to know when I have arrived at success. I get to set that milestone for myself, I get to walk that path and determine its direction for myself.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetWhat is Mindset Meets Mastery? Why are we going to talk about these topics, and who am I talking to? Are you potentially someone who can benefit from the topics, and the guests, and the experts? I often speak and I speak to different kinds of groups, and sometimes I’ll ask them to stop and think about who’s labels do you wear?
Sometimes I get a look, you know, you see people almost want to look over their shoulder and pull their shirt around to the front so they can read the labels, “Okay, is this my Gucci. Or is this my YSL? Or my Prada? Or my Dior?” No, it’s not about those kinds of labels. It’s about the labels that other people have laid on us that we’ve picked up, whether it’s been through childhood, or through a relationship, or just in a work environment. There have been labels that have been dumped on us and we chose to pick them up and run with them. What do I mean by that? Okay, well let’s talk about it a little bit. Let’s unpack that. Have you ever heard, or ever felt that you’re not ___________ enough? And you can insert in the blank whatever word that you’ve heard most often. Let me give you some examples of things I felt or I’ve heard other people say, you’re not smart enough, you’re not motivated enough, and then there’s the you’re not tall enough, thin enough, pretty enough, you’re not woman enough. Whatever it is that you fill in that blank with, whatever word that is, whatever emotion that is, Mindset Meets Mastery is for you. Because we’re going to unpack that statement, and we’re going to talk about why that label doesn’t fit you. And the great news is how do you overcome that? How do you lay that label down and move on to something that’s going to be more powerful, more positive, and allow for more success.
I help people write Building Business Books as part of their business plan. And I hear people talk to me quite often and tell me people will ask them the question, something like this: “So what makes you think you can do _________, for example. What makes you think you can write a book? What makes you think anybody’s gonna want to hear what you have to say? What makes you think that you’re going to be any good at business? What makes you think anybody’s going to buy anything that you’re selling? Do you feel that negative energy that comes from those statements? But yet, how many of you have heard those things, whether it’s from well-meaning family or friends, or it’s just from somebody who doesn’t know you, but is always a downer. We’re going to talk about those kinds of topics, and we’re going to move past them. If you’ve ever felt like you’ve been on the receiving end of the can’t do’s or shouldn’t do’s, then Mindset Meets Mastery is exactly for you.
Here’s another one that I really, really like. Well, what you’re dreaming of doing or what you want to do, that’s just “not normal,” that’s beyond your reach. You know what? I have to stop because, I chuckle because in my opinion, being normal is soooooo overrated. And I think it’s normal people who enjoy just being plain normal are the ones who tell you that things aren’t normal. Well, I’m here to encourage you to move beyond being normal, don’t want to be “just normal.” Being normal sometimes can mean you’re devoid of dreams, or goals, or you don’t have action steps to move toward completing those goals or those dreams. So again, being normal is extremely overrated. I set a goal years ago to move beyond normal. I want to reach for the potential of greatness, because okay is just not okay with me. So, if you want to be extraordinary and you want to move beyond normal, beyond just okay in your life, if you want to move towards extraordinary, then Mindset Meets Mastery is for you!
“Move beyond being normal… Being normal sometimes can mean you're devoid of dreams or goals or you don't have action steps to move toward completing those goals or those dreams.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetWe’re going to take a quick break and when we come back we’ll talk a little bit more about what we’re going to do in Mindset Meets Mastery, and why this program is for you. Stay tuned, we’ll be right back.
Welcome back to “Mindset Meets Mastery with Arlene Gale.” One of the topics that I want to talk about before we leave today, I want to address the mindset about perfection, and how, again, in my experience, perfection kills progress. I work with so many people who are so worried about getting IT right that they get nothing done, and in my opinion it’s so much better to get up and do something, you know, get that website up and running and start bringing in business and in three months you can go back and revisit that text and readjust that content. Every six to eight months, no longer than a year, you update your website anyway because you’re going to be so much smarter about your services and the tools you use as you work with more and more clients. But if you wait for a year before you do anything, you’re going to be a year behind in moving towards your hopes, and goals, and dreams. Do something! Don’t allow perfection to be the killer of any kind of progress.
“Perfection kills progress.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetI gave up trying to be perfect a long, long time ago. And I say to myself, when I look in the mirror these days: “You know what? I’m just going to be perfectly me today, because that’s gotta be good enough.”
“I'm just going to be perfectly me because that's got to be good enough.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetOne of the traps that I know I can fall into if I’m not “perfectly me,” is comparing myself to other people. And that’s a dangerous, slippery slope because then I start wearing the labels of “I’m not good enough,” or I’m not this enough, I’m not that enough. Because we’re different people and we have different skill sets, we have different passions. So that comparison game is something that, you know, can feed that need to be perfect. I just can’t go there, it’s too dangerous. It’s better for me to make apologies than it is for me to make excuses. And that’s kind of where I’ve gotten in my life. I’m going to do my very best every single day, and then we’ll take it from there. Sometimes that means “Yeah me,” or “Yeah us, we did it!” Other times it means I have to look somebody in the eye and say, “I apologize, I dropped the ball on that one.” Or, you know, “I made a mistake, how can I fix this?” And that’s okay, because that’s part of being “perfectly me” and that’s all I can be is “perfectly me.”
“That comparison game is something that can feed that need to be perfect… it's better for me to make apologies than it is for me to make excuses.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetWe’re going to talk about comparing, and contrasting, and overcoming so many obstacles as we go through these programs, and I’m going to be talking to a lot of different experts.
We’re going to tackle topics such as, what’s the difference between being busy versus being productive? Did you know that there’s a difference between being effective versus being efficient? Because there absolutely is. We’re going to talk about positive and powerful business communication. We’re going to talk about success on your terms and how to make success easy, because it really can be.
We’re going to talk about the F word, yes, we are. Yes, failure. Failure happens to everybody. It’s more about, when you fail, how do you recover? Because those things go hand in hand. And how do you take risks in such a way that they’re calculated risks so you don’t risk everything by making a decision to move this way or that way.
Let’s talk about the differences between being a solopreneur versus an entrepreneur.
Another one of my pet peeves is when people say: “Dream big, go dream dreams.” You know, that’s great. And “they say” that like that’s all you need to do to make anything happen. But dreams are illusions, unless they have action steps with them. So we’re going to talk to people about taking action, and how action steps get measured, and ways, and processed. So we can continue to make forward progress on our journey to being successful on our terms.
“Dreams are illusions unless they have action steps with them.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetThat’s all we’re going to do! Yup, just those little bitty things right there. That’s my goal, to help us to all be better individuals, to be better contributors to our society, to be better and stronger and more positive in what we contribute to our own lives and to the lives of others.
You know, I know it sounds like a lofty goal and I’m sitting here and I’m hearing myself say these words and I’m thinking, “Wow, really you think you can do all that?” See, that’s those negative labels that we need to overcome, those mindsets that we’re going to overcome because I’m not perfect. I’m perfectly me. And so, yes, we’re going to talk about all those things and so much more. We’re going to build a community in Mindset Meets Mastery, where we’re going to learn from each other, and we’re going to rise together because by supporting each other in win-win scenarios, everybody wins. And that’s my goal.
I’m developing a Facebook group for “Mindset Meets Mastery,” where you can ask a question of a guest, you can ask a question of me. If you’ve heard somebody out and about speaking, or you know somebody who would be a great guest on “Mindset Meets Mastery,” by all means, recommend that too, because this is not my show. Yeah, it does say “Mindset Meets Mastery with Arlene Gale,” but I’m the facilitator, I’m the connector, I’m the head communicator.
Honestly, I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t know it all, but I’m always willing to learn. And my goal is that, by the end of every day, I’m so much smarter when I go to bed than I was when I woke up that morning. So that’s the goal, and I hope that you’ll join me in so that we can do this together!
Now, let’s answer the questions about: “Who the heck is Arlene Gale anyway? Who on earth does she thinks she is? And why is she qualified to talk to me about mindsets, and mastery, and any of the stuff that she said she’s going to talk about?”
Well, that was just a little weird talking to me about me that way because I’m just a person who’s worked hard to get to where I am. Not unlike many CEO’s, or middle managers, or stay at home moms who did “home-based businesses,” or who are wanting to get back into the workforce after raising their children and getting them into school, and now they have all these skills that they want to use to build a business of their own. I’m not unlike the people who dedicated many, many, many years and even decades to the corporate world only to be “downsized” because the corporation decided, “hey, you know what? We can hire three teeny boppers straight out of college and pay them less than what we’re paying you,” right? Has anybody come across that? Because I happen to work with a lot of people who have, and just because “corporate America” doesn’t seem to find value in us at our age, doesn’t mean we don’t have value.
“Just because corporate America doesn't seem to find value in us at our age, doesn't mean we don't have value.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetSo again, back to who is Arlene Gale? I have been writing and doing business development, business marketing for 30 years. And my primary goal and client service right now is to help people write business-building books in a powerful and profitable way, which means there needs to be a foundational marketing plan because I work with way too many people who have published a book or two all the way up to 8, or 9, or 10, books, and they spend a lot of time and a lot of money writing those books only to make no money off the book sales or off of the expertise that the book is supposed to leverage. I find that very sad, so I combined my marketing and my writing skills to prevent that from happening. And it doesn’t matter if you have a professional story to write and use to build business, or whether you have a personal story that you want to use to build business. I do either one.
I’ve written stories, books for hundreds and hundreds of clients that have helped them bring in millions of dollars in new business because of the writing that I’ve done for them. I’ve written thousands of magazine articles, probably just as many, if not more, newspaper articles. I’ve written television and radio advertisements, public service announcements, and yes, even some programming, press releases, and resumes. I mean, you know, if it needs to be written, I’ve written it probably dozen sometimes because that’s what I do.
“If it needs to be written, I've written it dozens, if not hundreds of times because that's what I do.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetI’ve been writing since I was about eight years old. I’ve been keeping journals. I have written nonfiction and fiction in those journals because I had a bookshelf in my bedroom when I was young that was full of stuffed animals, and we’re talking carnivores versus veggiesaurus. We’re talking big animals versus little animals. And when you have any kind of community like that, you know, there’s somebody who’s always going to have their feelings hurt, or there’s somebody that’s not going to play nice with someone else. And in that community of these stuffed animals, when I was eight years old, I used to write their stories. I used to write my stories, written through their eyes sometimes because it was less painful. Because I grew up at the hands of a multigenerational, abusive, alcoholic father. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was damaging. But no, it didn’t stop me and it didn’t hold me back. Even though it took me many, many, many years, probably even decades to figure out who I really was instead of carrying around, or wearing the labels that I was told. The “not good enough,” the “not capable enough,” “you’’ll never be,” “no one will ever” or whatever. That’s part of my background, my past. And on the other side of my family, that legacy is religion and culture used as a weapon, especially against the women. I come by all of those chains, burden labels, quite honestly actually, but that’s not who I wanted to be.
I told my story in my first book with my name on the front cover, and that book called “Face Forward, Move Forward.” The first half of the book is my story. More details about how I grew up and the impact it had on me. And it transitions to, when I’m 18 years old and now all of a sudden I’ve been beaten for the last time, betrayed, lied to and thrown out. Well, now what am I supposed to do? How do I live a life that’s 180 degrees different than anything I’ve ever seen modeled. It was a journey, that’s for sure. And it was about putting one foot in front of the other every day to undo, and unlearn, and redo, and relearn healthier habits, and processes, and abilities so that I could indeed actually just survive for a while, that’s all I could hope for was just mere survival. But now, I don’t like the word survivor because I feel like calling myself a survivor, is still giving too much credit to the abuser. I call myself a thriver, because as a thriver, I get to live my life on my terms. I set my goals, and again, some days that means “Yeah me,” “Yeah team,” and other days it means “I apologize for a mistake,” but I make those choices. I am responsible for my actions.
“I don't like the word survivor because I feel like calling myself a survivor is still giving too much credit to the abuser. So I call myself a thriver because as a thriver, I get to live my life on my terms.” -Arlene Gale Click To TweetMy book “Face Forward, Move Forward,” actually then became a multiple international bestseller and award winner, and I started booking, speaking gigs all over the world on topics from that book, and that was no accident. I actually wrote the book and made that a part of the plan. So here, more than four years later, I’m still booking, speaking from the topics in that book, the good news is I help my clients duplicate these results, and it’s doable, and it’s actually easy once you have a plan, and you have an accountability partner who knows what they’re doing. Like I do. Once I started achieving success, people started coming to me to ask me if I would help them write their book. And so I did! And that’s how Arlene Gale “The Book Writing Business Coach” was born. I’ve been a uniquely qualified writing coach for the last four or five years, and I continue to do it, and my clients see better and better and better results.
Again, I’m excited to be here with you for Mindset Meets Mastery, and I hope you will join the Mindset Meets Mastery Facebook Community, and that you’ll check out what I do on my websites, bookwritingbusiness.com, or go to arlenegale.com and find out more about the podcast and the things I’m doing in just a general business environment. Because not only do I teach book writing, but I teach general business success concepts. Business building is powerful and it continues to change. Please connect with me in either of those places.
I look forward to moving forward week by week with you on this Mindset Meets Mastery journey. Thank you for your time here today and get connected, stay connected. And I want to leave you with this thought. “Don’t let other people dictate what you say about yourself, or what you determine is or is not possible for you. You get to choose how you write your story every single day.”
“Don't let other people dictate what you say about yourself or what you determine is or is not possible. You get to choose how you write your story every single day.” -Arlene Gale Click To Tweet