Last month my dad turned 70
As he dropped me off to the station after his celebration dinner, I asked him 2 questions: "How does it feel to be 70?" and "what advice do you have for younger people?"
Listening to his answers, captured in this video, it was really apparent to me that he was answering this question with his younger self in mind.
This got me thinking about what I would tell my younger self about getting started with PR and I think it would be this:
We've been doing a lot of talking about purpose recently
Including why purpose is important to your PR strategy and how to do purpose-driven PR.
The reason for this is because when I reflect on the nativity story, particularly from Mary's point of view, that's the overarching theme that jumps out to me about this season
Here's why:
In giving her the gift of Jesus, God took an average little girl and gave her the opportunity to present herself in a new light by lifting the lid of her potential; endowing her with His power and giving her purpose.
But, most of all, God gave her something special to share with the rest of the world- an expression of His love.
To me, this shows us as modern women that we are also pregnant with purpose- meaning that we have something to give and contribute to the world too
However, as a person who sits at the intersection of many identities, I know how hard this can be to believe at times (if not all the time)
You are literally presented with messages built from systems that contradict and try to convince you otherwise every single day but...
Guess what?
Your ability to speak up, step out and shine as the woman that God created you to be is tied to coming out of agreement with society and accepting your divine status as "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28)
Yes you!
Simply put, you can't be a thought leader if you don't actually believe that you have ideas worth sharing...
You can't make impact if you don't believe that you have the power to...
You won't use your voice if you don't believe that it's significant...
You can't be visible if you don't feel that who and what you represent matters...
Because it's impossible to shatter glass ceilings that you continue to uphold
Ready to break them down?
Here's what you must do instead
What's your word or theme for 2021, sis?
Last year mine was "be fruitful and multiply" so-
This year, for me, it's "scale"
In other words, I'm taking all the things that worked in my life and business from last year and building upon them this year.
Business-wise, there were 2 areas where I really saw "fruit":
-Helping women in business to DIY PR through The Perfect Pitch Packet
-Providing done-for-you PR services through The Perfect Pitch Programme
so these are the areas that I want to scale this year.
The issue?
In last week’s musings, I mentioned that 2nd Timothy 2:21 calls us “vessels of honour”
Click here if you missed that post, sis!
In light of the scripture above, it's something that we just tend to throw around as believers but I really wanted to know- What does it actually mean to be a vessel?
Here’s what I discovered:
Chile, this week has been a lot!
Like seriously…
Recently, I talked about the fact that faith increases our capacity to succeed
Click here if you missed that, sis!
But did you know that you have other capacities too?
For example:
A) Mental capacity
The ability to make your own decisions
B) Emotional capacity
The ability to overcome limiting beliefs, your ease in adapting to challenging situations, and the quality of your relationships
C) Physical capacity
The ability to perform a variety of physical tasks
In the wake of such trying times, we run the risk of running low in one or more of these capacities
Which will then have knock-on effects on our ability to walk in purpose because…
As the saying goes, “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and this is really clearly illustrated in 2nd Kings 4:1-7
in which the woman literally took empty vessels, poured oil into them until they were full and then distributed the oil for profit.
2nd Timothy 2:21 says that we are “vessels of honour” so, like the widow did with hers, we need to make sure to fill ourselves up before we pour out to others. Here are 20 ways that I have been doing that this week:
Apart from the typical advice of praying and reading the Bible, in between, work, I have been doing one or more of the following each day:
Last week we talked about 3 disempowering life and business beliefs
Remember that, sis?
As we stand at the beginning of a new year, I think it’s important that we discuss how to make it a success
If you’re anything like me, you’ve entered this year with a set of goals and things that you would like to achieve
Here are 4 lessons that we can learn from the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7 about how we can do that:
Last week, we talked about the fact that lack of faith decreases our capacity to succeed
Remember that, sis?
The most obvious way that lack of faith shows up is through unbelief or lack of faith in God
which, according to The Parable of the sower, usually happens because of “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22)
But another way that it shows up is through a lack of belief in ourselves
For example-
When the woman approached Elisha to appeal to him for (divine) help in her situation (2nd Kings 4:1-7), I don’t think that she expected to be the answer to her own question or the solution to her own problem
Why?
Because she came to him talking more about the problem than what she might have or be able to do to solve it
In fact, it was not until Elisha asked her what she had in her house, that she even took inventory of what she had at all (2nd Kings 4:1-2)
As soon as she did take stock of what she had (a jar of oil), this precipitated the action that she took to activate her miracle
i.e. borrowing vessels from her neighbours, filling them up and selling them to the point that she could pay off her debts and “live on the rest” with her sons (2nd Kings 4:3-7)
So often, as modern women, we do the same thing
Cue edge snatching moment…
Last week, we talked about how to increase our capacity to succeed and the vital role that faith plays in allowing us to do this
Because:
Faith increases our capacity to receive from God,
The bigger your life, business or visibility goals- the bigger your faith will need to be
If that’s true, it follows that lack of faith decreases our capacity to succeed.
The most obvious way that lack of faith shows up is through unbelief or lack of faith in God.
According to The Parable of the sower, this usually happens because of “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22).
For the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7, it would have been easy- even expected- for her to lose faith in God
I mean, not only had her husband died- he left her with huge debt and creditors ready to make her sons slaves if she was unable to pay it off!
But she didn’t…
