Why I Fell from the Face of the Earth...and Where I'm Going Next.

I'm back… and I'm not the same person who left....

After moving to Bali, finally moving into the villa Tom and I spent a year building, and going down a rabbit hole of uncomfortable self-reflection, I realized something: 

I'd been playing small. In my dreams, in my business, in the way I was showing up here.

This episode is the unfiltered version of what happened...the mindset shift that changed my book from a quiet memoir to a full-blown manifesto, the moment a single offhand comment from a friend cracked something open, and why I'm now chasing a goal that makes my stomach drop just saying it out loud.

If you've ever shrunk a dream to make it feel "reasonable"… this one's for you.

Oh..and welcome to the How Dare You podcast.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I feel like I have been going through a massive vortex of insane growth that has challenged me, forced me to be vulnerable, and has really allowed me to think and shift things. Welcome back to another episode of this podcast. It has been a hot freaking minute. And to be honest, one of the reasons why I stopped creating here is because I felt like the person who was recording the podcasts were not the same as the person behind the scenes. And I pride myself in always being 100% authentic, 100% true. And there was just something about how I was showing up here in this podcast that no longer felt aligned. I felt like I had grown in the last four or five months than I ever had, more than I have in the last two or three years. And it has been pretty crazy. I have been doing some behind-the-scenes restructuring in my business. I have shifted my focus. I am rebranding and coming out with so many different things. And a part of me didn't know how to come and share all of that. And so now that everything has landed, I feel like I'm in a much better space to do that and to really take you along the journey. So what the hell happened? We got to Bali and absolutely fell in love. Fell in love with the lifestyle, fell in love with our house for the first time ever in 11 years. Tom and I have a home. This was the villa that we have been building for the last year. And we finally got to move in. And with that came a lot of kind of like restructuring of how we wanted to really design our lives. And I realized for me that there was still a part of me subconsciously that was playing small. And I know that I have been talking about writing my book. I have been trying to take people behind the scenes as much as possible, but I realized that even when it came to that, I was still playing below my potential. I want a life that is balls to the wall. You know, I look back one day and realize that I did everything and I had the best freaking time ever. And I tried and I fell on my face and I succeeded and I won and I went through all the ups and downs and I allowed myself to feel everything. That is the type of life that I want to live. And I realized that there was still a part of me that was playing small. You know, my original goal with my book was I want to sell a thousand copies. You know, and the reason why I said a thousand is because a thousand sounded reasonable. A thousand sounded like, wow, that's a lot of people. But at the same time, it's like, okay, that's doable. I can see how I could make that happen. And then I went out to coffee with a friend, and she was just like, oh yeah, it's so cool that you're writing a book. You can just write a book once and reach a million people. And I kind of just like laughed and nodded, and then I went back home, and I was just like, Holy shit, I am still doing it. I am still playing small. I am still playing below my potential of what I know is possible, of the impact that I can make in the world. And since then, I have just gone down on this insane rabbit hole of thinking, of feeling, of reprioritizing, of plotting what I want from my life and my business. And I realized that the book that I am writing is so much bigger than me. It is so much bigger than me. And I want to get it in the hands of as many women as possible because I know that the message is so freaking important. The message is so strong. And so as I was landing with all of this, I was I started renaming the book, the essence, the life force of the book essentially started pouring out through me and coming out and allowing me to really see what this book is all about. And what I landed on is this book is so much more than just a memoir. It's not even anything remotely related to coaching, which is hilarious because that's one of the reasons why I wrote it in the first place. But I realized that this book is for every single woman out there who has been conditioned to play small, who has been conditioned to people please, who has been conditioned to be grateful for what they have rather than being 100% honest with themselves and going for what they actually want in life. And so the new title of the book is called How Dare You? And the entire premise is it's a good girl's guide to breaking the rules. And I realize that I have been a good girl my entire life. I have grown up people-pleasing, always putting other people in front of me, saying no, downplaying my wins, shrinking my dreams, and that stops now. And I realize that no matter where you grow up, no matter where you were born, what culture you are in, the message is exactly the same. We have been ingrained as women to play small. And so this book is a freaking love letter to every single woman out there who dares to dream bigger. It's like, how dare you play small in this one life that we have on earth? And every single chapter walks you through breaking the rules, these rules, these commandments that have been instilled in us by society. And I'm so freaking excited. And so as this was coming through, I got the idea of renaming this podcast because honestly, this is the big idea, the big message that I want to get across in my social media, in my books, in my content. And so with this new sense of direction, I have just gone balls to the wall on one thing: visibility. Because I know that if I want a big ass dream, this big audacious dream to sell a million copies of my book, I need to play bigger. I need to play a bigger game. I need to step up. I need to challenge myself. And so I am going all in. I am committing to uploading more podcast episodes. I started a YouTube channel. I'm on Substack. And to be honest, I have gone a little bit unhinged because I just want to go visible in multiple platforms. And I know that this is what it takes to actually get this message across. And so if you are following me here, thank you. I am looking forward to sharing more content, to sharing some of the podcast episodes here and sharing a little bit more about the things that I am navigating. You know, in my YouTube, I'm going to be repurposing the content here from YouTube. And in that channel, I'm just being so vulnerable. I am opening up about things that I am navigating as an ambitious as fuck 38-year-old woman who has these crazy ass dreams. Like when I first said that I want to sell a million copies of my book, my stomach literally dropped. I was just like, and again, those voices, the same voices, started questioning myself, started going, how dare you? How dare you think that you can do that? You're not even, you know, you're English isn't even your first language. And then that's when I realized that I am on to something. Because if I can continue challenging myself to show up, to have these big crazy dreams, to share about the behind the scenes, about the process, about things that we're doing in our business, that is crazy. Honestly, absolutely crazy. Like the other day, Tom and I just had a conversation about how we're growing hay clients into a million, a hundred million dollar company. And these are the types of conversations that we have behind the scenes. And so these are also the conversations that I'm going to bring forward in these podcast episodes. So I am looking forward to getting the message across, to breaking the good girl rules, the societal conditioning that has kept loads of women small. And if you are excited to join the ride, you can find me here on my podcast episodes. You can find me on YouTube at Hey Anna Rogers. And I'm also starting a Substack because honestly, why not? I realized that for me to get the message across, I just need to create, to be visible, to have freaking fun with this. And so in Substack, I'm going to be documenting my journey there. I'm going to be, I'm starting different experiments. I'm taking myself out on a date every single week for the next three months and calling it a 12 First Dates project. And this is in line with me trying to become my own best friend because I realize that because I've been conditioned to play small, I have become my own worst critic. And sadly, I know that this is normalized with so many women. But when you say I am my own best friend, people are kind of weirded about that. And I want to actually become my own best friend. Like, what the hell does that even look like? Because over the next three months, I'm gonna take myself out on a date every single week. I'm gonna sign up for different classes, different workshops, eat, buy myself a nice dinner, have a glass of wine by myself, you know, all of these things, and really just discover what it's like to be in my own company. If this sounds like your cup of tea, follow along. I am excited to go all in and to bring you along in the journey. Because honestly, the things that we that I have been navigating behind the scenes have been pretty insane. And so I love you and welcome to the How Dare You podcast.