#451: LET GO Of What No Longer Serves You With Heather!
26:19 Share

come on this journey with me. Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity, and set you up for a better tomorrow. I'm ready for my close-up. Hi and welcome back. I'm so glad you're back here with me this week. Oh my gosh. Okay, so this is sort of an exciting week. Okay, for a couple of different reasons. Okay, number one, celebrate your accomplishments. So

This might even be the episode. This could be my 450th episode. It's happening this week, so I don't know if it's this one or I drop two episodes a week, as you know. If you've been with me, if you've been with me, thank you for being here. Thank you for subscribing to the show. I'm so grateful. I love this show. I love doing this show. But so this is 450 episodes. Also, this is my fifth year, my five-year anniversary of having this show. And I'm so grateful that I'm able to do this show.

So it's just, I don't think people understand how much work a podcast is, right? Like, just let me give you a little background on it. I had no idea what I was doing when I launched the show in 2019. I first launched it with Podcast One and we were doing one interview a week and I was doing them in LA, in the studio in LA. We parted ways and I moved the show to Yap Media. Halataha, who manages my social media and has since 2020 launched Yap Media and I moved my show to her.

been with her since her company's doing incredibly well growing so fast super proud of her and move the show to her and then we decided to start testing try like you don't know what you're doing let's try adding a second show each week and see how that does

decided to do a solo episode just because it was easier, right? I didn't have to schedule another person. I didn't have to receive more pitches and review pitches and then read other people's books. And like, it was just, it was more efficient, more effective. And it's something different, right? Like, we'll just give it a shot and see what happens. Guess what the most downloaded episodes of the past two years are? The solo episodes. What? How would we know that, right? Test and try, do different things. Like I would have never thought

as a podcast host that you would do better doing a solo episode but it does data doesn't lie always look at the data the data will inform you okay so had no idea what i was doing when we launched in 2019 feel like i have a much better handle now that i've been doing it for five years

But it took way more work than I ever thought. The amount of promotion behind it that you have to do to get people to listen, to share the show, to ask the guests to share it, to promote it on social media, to do marketing campaigns on platforms where podcasts are listened to. You have to guest on other people's shows to promote your show. You have to research guests. You have to edit shows. You have to do research.

It's a lot, right? Just a lot. So like anything, when you see the end product, like if you see me on stage giving a speech, you're like, oh, she's really good at that. Oh my gosh. If people ever knew the amount of work that goes into things behind the scenes, it's wild. Don't take for granted when you see somebody show up and there's a great picture that it was one take. Cause I'm going to tell you right now, it definitely wasn't. There's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes. Okay.

So I'm super hyped. I hope you're celebrating whatever is going on right now in August for you. I think it's so important to take a moment and just recognize how far we've come, what we've accomplished, the fact that you didn't know this was going to happen before. It just further motivates you for like what else is possible ahead of you. And I don't know, that makes me, I get so hyped about stuff like that. It inspires me to go for more, inspires me to achieve more and get excited about today and the future, right? Anything can happen today.

And the only limitation on you is yourself. And that's pretty flippant exciting because I never thought I would be a podcast host, not even five years ago, like probably a week before the show started. I didn't even really believe it until we did it. And then once you do it, you start as a beginner, you get better as you go along. And then suddenly you're like, well, of course I'm a podcast host. Why wouldn't I have been a podcast host five years later? Right. So it's much easier to see after you've done the work.

work.

AI might be the most important new computer technology ever. It's storming every industry and literally billions of dollars are being invested. So buckle up. The problem is that AI needs a lot of speed and processing power. So how do you compete without costs spiraling out of control? It's time to upgrade to the next generation of the cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OC.

OCI is a single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs. OCI has four to eight times the bandwidth of other clouds, offers one consistent price instead of variable regional pricing. And of course, nobody does better than Oracle. So now you can train your AI models at twice the speed

and less than half the cost of other clouds. If you want to do more and spend less, like Uber, 8x8, and Databricks Mosaic, take a free test drive of OCI at oracle.com slash monaghan. That's oracle.com slash monaghan. oracle.com slash monaghan. What does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts and you'll get...

10 different answers. A bull market, a bear market, rates will rise, rates will fall. Could someone just give me a crystal ball, please? Until then, over 40,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud ERP, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR into one fluid platform. With one unified business management suite, there's one source of truth, giving you the

the visibility and control you need to make quick decisions with real-time insights and forecasting. You're peering into the future with actionable data. When you're closing the books in days, not weeks, you're spending less time looking backwards and more time on what's next. If I had needed this product, it's exactly what I would use. Whether your company is earning millions or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite can help you respond to immediate challenges.

and seize your biggest opportunities. Speaking of opportunity, download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning at netsuite.com slash monaghan. The guide is free to you at netsuite.com slash monaghan. netsuite.com slash monaghan.

So the other thing that is wild right now for me is this week, it was August 8th, 2017.

The news story that was trending in media was me, which is so weird, right? If you weren't in the media business, you probably wouldn't know who Heather Monahan was back then. And I didn't have a podcast. I was a business executive at a media company and I had been fired. And so I posted about it. That went viral all over all social media because I said, I've been fired. And people, you know, didn't say that very often back then. They still say that often say so.

It got picked up by a ton of news outlets. So August 7th, or was it August 8th? I don't remember. 2017 is when that story went viral and was shared everywhere. I'm going to actually share it on social media this week on LinkedIn. So if you want to check it out, follow me on LinkedIn so you can get my content there. But the reason why I want to highlight it and I want to share it on social is...

For anyone going through it right now, like I always want to point to, I was at the lowest of the lows. I was crying my eyes out. I cried my whole ride home from Naples. I had a non-compete, non-solicit. I couldn't bring my team with me. I couldn't compete in the industry I'd been an expert in for 20 years.

years, right? Like everything that I felt I had for value in business, I had to walk away from to start over somewhere as a beginner. And I didn't know what to do. And I was a single mother raising my child with major bills, right? Like there was no layup that was going on where I was like, Oh, I'll take a few months off and figure it out. No, that was not my situation. So I just remember I was panicked. I was under a weighted blanket. I was freaking out. And I

The best thing I did was I posted that I had just been fired. That post went viral, landed me on the Elvis Duran show. And when I was on that show, he said to me, well, obviously you're writing a book.

And I wrote my first book, Confidence Creator. And that started this whole new path in life that I never in a million years would have dreamt that I would write two books, that I would have a podcast, that I'd be a board member, that I'd be a keynote speaker, that I'd be a consultant, that I'd have coaching and mentoring programs. Like what? What is any of this? I didn't know about any of this world at all. Literally knew nothing about it. And I just immersed myself in it.

And as I did and just kept moving forward, taking messy action after messy action, doors started opening and I figured it out along the way. And I think for a lot of us that we get caught up in, it should be this one linear way and this one path. I have found having faith in yourself, having faith in God, having faith in something bigger that the universe is aligning for you and just moving forward, taking action is the right way to go.

sitting around overthinking things and believing there's like this one perfect plan. I haven't ever seen that work out, right? Certainly didn't work out for me in corporate America. And that's not how things have worked since I left. It's more a series of mistakes, opportunities, miracles. It's kind of all over the board. It's not this one linear clear line.

at least my life has not been that way i don't think most people's has been that way or you're probably leading kind of a boring life if it is right it's just kind of flatlining which that doesn't sound like living to me so i will always definitely be more of less swing for the fences go big make some epic fails along the way make some mistakes pick yourself back up and swing again and

The more you do that, the easier it gets, right? And the more exciting it gets too. And the more you have this knowing that I don't know exactly how it's going to work out. I just know that it will. And having that faith and that confidence and belief that I'm moving in the right direction. I'm with people that support me, encourage me, challenge me to get bigger, go for more. I'm doing the next right thing.

That to me is where you're supposed to be. So if you're not there, oh my gosh, pump the brakes. Know this. Know that there is another way. There is another path. Your skills and talents can be used and recognized and valued so many different places with different companies, working for yourself with different clients. Get rid of, fire the negative people, fire the villains in your life and set yourself up to take off because you're

My life is so completely different than what it was seven years ago. Even the people I'm with, it's so wild. I had lifelong friends in that media business. Of course, I had been in it over 20 years and I still do, but...

I thought I had thousands of friends. I have probably 10 friends that I've kept in the media business. Not much more than that, right? Like a very small number of friends that I've stayed close to. And a lot of people dropped me immediately, right? It wasn't all my choice. It was definitely when I lost my title and lost, I guess, that clout in that business, some people just walked away. So it's

It's interesting, those negative times in your life can really show you who your friends are, which is such a blessing and a gift because nobody has time to be spending time with those that really don't have your back. I'd rather figure that out and be running with my ride or die, running with the people that I'm always going to run with through thick and thin, through good times and bad. You want to know who your real people are. It's so, so important. This week is just one of those introspective weeks where

I want to challenge you to look back. So often, you know, we get caught up in the moment and the new thing and the new challenge we're pursuing and the new, oh my gosh, what if I don't achieve this? Or what if this doesn't happen? And we put all this pressure on ourselves and

I was looking back. I'm turning 50, as you know. I'm turning 50 next week, actually. And I was looking back at my 40th birthday party. I had this huge party in Miami, rented out this place at the Lowe's Hotel. And it was insane. I had people from all over the country fly in. And it cost me a fortune. It was super fun, right? I'm glad I did it. But going into my 50th, I don't want to do some big party like that. Like, I'm so much more...

chill around. I just want to do something easy and like see the people I love and have so much fun. And I don't want the drama of like having, you know, disagreements and what about this night? And it's just, I'm over that. And it's funny how different times in your life, you see things so differently and there's nothing wrong with that. Like whatever it is to me, I just love the easy button. I love having fun. I love being with good people. But

And having a good time. And that's just, you know, I saw that differently 10 years ago. It had to be this certain way and this like over the top party and whatever. And that was so great for that moment. But it's so, so different now. And it's just so funny to watch how we all change with time. Well, I was looking for these pictures, right? Because I wanted to reminisce. And it was so funny because pictures were so bad back then 10 years ago. Gosh, our iPhone pictures were horrible. Technology has changed drastically.

as we all know, as everybody has their AI avatars now. And I was looking back at these pictures and when I was searching, this is what was cool that I wanted to share with you. I was searching on my phone for 10 years ago and I started seeing all these pictures of me in business 10 years ago. That's not what I was searching for. I was searching for the birthday party pics, but I was still in corporate America in the media business at the time.

And I was seeing these pictures where I just look like heavy on my heart. Like, I mean, I think I look great. It was 10 years ago, but I just like, I saw all the stress on my face and

And I know why. I was working side by side with someone who didn't like me. I wasn't living up to my potential. I was dimming my light, trying to make other people feel better. And now that I look back, I could see it on me. Isn't that crazy? In the moment, in the time, I don't think I could see it. I knew I was unhappy. I wasn't living my best life, but...

I also thought, you know, maybe this is just like what work is. I didn't really know. It wasn't horrible. You know, there was times that were great and super fun. And I, you know, I spoke on a lot of stages back then. And I love that part of it. I love my team. I built this amazing team of people and I thought they were great. So like there were aspects of my job I really liked. So I would focus on those things. But then, you know, the people I didn't agree with a lot around the culture in the office, I didn't agree with.

obviously a number of the people I worked with in the executive team. And so I could see it so clear now looking back and sadly I couldn't see it back at the time. All right, cut to, so I was going through those pictures and then I decided to look at like right when I got fired, which was seven years ago this week, as I mentioned. And it's wild because I remember when I was looking at those pictures and looking at my face, um,

i thought if that girl ever knew where this girl is today she would be so hyped and i want you to do that like go back five years seven years ten years and look at some pictures of where you were what was going on in your life at that time

And imagine if that version of you could know where you are today, like how proud they would be. Right. And so I try to remind myself of those things because I, just like you get caught up in these moments of, okay, well, I took one Tony Robbins stage. Like when's the next one? And when's the next, you know, I'm going back to leap in February, but what else huge am I doing? I need to go bigger than that this year. Like, right. You start putting this pressure on yourself that everything has to be bigger and you know, you have to keep going for more.

But I also, as much as, listen, that's just me. I like to push on me to grow and to do more and do better. But I also, what I've learned is I want to give myself grace and I want to recognize the wins and I want to appreciate how far I've come because that's super important too.

And getting that chance to look back at those pictures and just kind of having that conversation with myself is I am so proud of me. I'm so proud of that girl back there 10 years ago, seven years ago, five years ago, because I know she was scared to death, but she kept moving forward. Right. She kept taking messy action. And because she did that, I get to sit here today with you on the show.

If she didn't do all those things, if that younger version of me didn't step into the fear, didn't keep moving forward, didn't keep swinging for the fences, even though she didn't know where she was going, I wouldn't have the show today. It wouldn't be five years in on the show. So my point is this. Acknowledge how far you've come. Recognize how proud that younger version of you would be to see you today. And I hope you are today of where you are. And if you're not...

then this is the wake-up call that you need to go for more. This is the wake-up call that no one has it all figured out. Fear is a green light that means go and go faster. You've got to just start stepping into it. Hold yourself accountable. Declare where it is that you're going. Even if you don't really know, forward is a direction. Pick forward and

And just start going, take that messy action, hold yourself accountable, build out a 30 day plan, right? And this is exactly what I'm doing with my August group coaching this month is holding this team accountable, having them define their goals, claim their goals, have an intention for the month, hold themselves accountable that you're going to check in.

Take daily action steps, right? Like all these very basic things that so many people just don't do. If success was easy, everybody would have it. I get it, right? Like if success was easy, everybody would be fit and in shape. If success was easy, but the reality is sacrifices come into play. Prioritizing comes into play. Hard work comes into play. Discipline comes into play. Choices come into play. Not making a choice is a choice. And that comes into play, right? Like all of these factors come into play. And I think that's what I'm trying to do.

And we're left to say, what is it that I choose? What is it that I'm okay with? Like, am I going to invest in me and hold myself accountable? Or am I going to sit on the sidelines and complain more about my life? Option B is not so good, right? Like start doing something differently, whatever that is for you, right? Remove one negative thing from your life. Declutter one thing from your life so you can add one positive. Like start somewhere small and

So that you can start stacking those wins, feeling proud of who you are, building some momentum, getting negative people out of your life, pulling some positive people in.

and start getting excited again. It just seems so simple and it really is easy, but at the end of the day, you're the one that's gonna have to hold yourself accountable if you don't have an accountability partner. And if you don't have an accountability partner, go to my website, heathermonahan.com, sign up for the free 30-day accountability partner program. You will get an email from me each day reminding you to stay focused on your goals, reminding you to take action steps towards achieving them and holding yourself accountable.

Meet a different guest each week. I ask you to try to find your passion. She's helping.

The way that I compare it, and this is what I did when I got fired, is I thought about like losing weight. And like, if you want to go on a weight loss journey, you're going to weigh yourself in every day. You're going to have a target weight. You're going to change the way you eat. You're going to change your exercise plan. You're going to have someone check in with you. It's no different in business. It's no different in life. Like whatever those goals are, whether you want to create more confidence in your life or you want to get a promotion or you want to start a side hustle, you're going to have to go in every day.

You need to define these things. You need to intend them. You need to revisit them. You need to surround yourself with people who have already done it, right? So often it's the who, not the how. The who is what's going to get you there faster. The who, the person that's done the thing that you want to do. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Find the who, right?

And start raising your hand and asking. A closed mouth never gets fed, right? So there's just some of these basic principles in life and business that when you keep revisiting frequency cells, keep reminding yourself of it, and then keep stepping into that unknown to move yourself forward, right?

you're going to start seeing some wins and those wins are going to stack on each other. And those wins are going to get bigger. And those wins are going to launch you to your bigger, better life. And so that's when I'm reflecting over this last decade. That's one of the things that I'm thinking about. I'll tell you, and I want to get into this. I'm going to get into this a lot on social as well, is that I am thinking so much like what are the biggest life lessons I've learned over the last decade? I got to say, this is the biggest one because,

is look back and let go of what no longer serves you.

Too many times in my life, even my old job I was hanging on to for too long. Just because something's comfortable doesn't mean it's good. You know that expression, the devil you know versus the devil you don't know. Well, if you're calling what you know a devil, get the heck out of there. No. That's the biggest takeaway I have in my life in the last decade, whether it's personal relationships, business, anything, food habits, workout habits, whatever it is, that if you're

hanging onto something, you're getting dragged and that is no way to live. Stop looking back. It screws with your neck. Look forward, right? Like the windshield is so much bigger than the rear view for a reason. Your windshield is forward. That's where you're going. Stay focused there. Focus on where you want to go, not on where you were and hanging onto something that should be gone. Close the door on it.

When you close the door, a better one gets open. And that's a promise, right? But you've got to be willing to let go and close that door. And for a long time, I hung on and dragged, whether it be through relationships, through that old business, through that old company. That was my biggest takeaway and lesson that I learned. And I want you to learn it so you don't have to live through it. I want you to learn what took me a decade to learn. I want you to learn in this moment.

30-minute episode. So promise me that you will let go of what no longer serves you. You will close the door to what is not the right door for you so that you can open the door to the better one. The better one doesn't open until you close the other. Don't get dragged. Let go of it. Cut it and watch how much better things get. That's my biggest takeaway. That's my biggest learning from the last decade. And that's one that I won't forget because I've repeated the mistake so many times, sadly. Lesson has been learned.

Level 50 is being achieved in a week. And that is, that's my big takeaway for you today. Okay. So let go of what no longer serves you. Close the door on it. Cut it so that you can open the door to something so much better. And I promise you that will happen. Okay. Until next week, keep creating your confidence. You know, I will be.

more excited for what you're gonna hear start learning and growing inevitably something will happen no one succeeds alone you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it i'm on this journey with me

Hey team, if you're enjoying this podcast where we delve into high achieving people with transformative lives, then I have an exciting recommendation just for you. Introducing the Thais Gibson podcast, a show that dives into creating long lasting change by starting at the subconscious level. Did you know 95% of our conscious decisions are actually determined by our subconscious? Thais.

Ty Ease, an expert in attachment theory, is the creator behind this podcast. She uses her expertise to help you transform your relationships, health, career, and every other area of your life by leveraging the power of your subconscious mind. So if you're ready to break those limiting patterns and create the life you truly desire, tune into the Ty Ease Gibson podcast. You can find it on all major podcast platforms. Trust me, you won't want to miss it.