You're listening to Women Infused Radio, where women in the marketplace connect with purpose and spirit, where the conversation covers all things women, business, and fascinating faith. And now, your host, Christy Lynn Olson. Hello, and welcome. I'm Christy Lynn Olson, and this is the Women Infused Radio podcast.
I'm the CEO and founder of Women Infused, a faith-based personal development and business success organization, helping you, a woman in the marketplace, define your value, your voice, and your vision for business and life. And this is my heartbeat. Developing and releasing this podcast for you has been such a thrill, and I hope to inspire, encourage, and equip you to take the steps necessary to release your bigger vision into the world in whatever form that looks like to you. And now, not someday.
Remember, someday is not a day of the week. I've been doing this work for some time, and I'm all about purpose. To find out more about me, you can read my bio and find out more information about Women Infused and what we have to offer at christylynolson.com. There's a link in the show notes for you.
My purpose, or what I like to call my calling, is to help you develop, release, and launch into your calling, to help you step up into the beauty and power of your bigger why. We all have a bigger why, but sometimes we choose to play it safe and comfortable in betting and just remain small, to keep our voice silent. Well, I want to change all that. There's nothing that thrills me more than watching the transformation of a woman as she recognizes her true value and steps out into her higher calling.
Okay, maybe the annual shoe sale at Nordstrom's excites me just a little bit, but still, transformation is everything. Your bigger why is what it's really about, and there's a beautiful power in that place where passion, purpose, and calling converge. Some people call it your sweet spot. It is that thing only you can bring into the world, that thing that you are uniquely designed and created to do.
It's that place where you discover who you are and what you really love. It's where you learn more about who created you and what you were created for. It's both a physical and a spiritual journey, in my opinion. And we're going to talk about all of that here in the Women Infused radio show.
Real women, real business success issues, and the fascinating faith journeys of women just like you and me, hungry for purpose, and it's all connected to your ultimate success. Yes, I'm so excited about what I'm going to be talking about today in this first episode in a series called Unveiled Voices. Now, my core message, if you've been listening to me and signature coaching program, is called Unveiled Voices, and this is a reflection of part of my personal journey. I realized a few things that a lot of my clients and friends struggled with over and over on this elusive search for purpose and finding their significance in the world.
It's a yearning of women everywhere, and it crosses all social and cultural bounds. Unveiled Voices is about the expressions of women everywhere through purposeful words and actions that are changing the world. The whole concept of Unveiled Voices addresses what I think is the lack of confidence, clarity, courage, and connection that silences a woman's voice. I've seen it over and over again, especially with high-achieving, very purpose-driven and accomplished women, very successful women.
But something happens along the way, or we receive some message that tells us we're not good enough, we have no value, and our unique ideas aren't worth investing in. And so we go silent. Sometimes we are aware of what's happening, and sometimes we're so deep into our silence that we don't even know when or how it even happened. Life happens, or something happens that shuts us down, and we hold back.
But we do know that there's something more. There has to be. And it starts out small, but eventually that voice inside us starts speaking a little louder and lingering a little longer until our soul knows something has to change. Something has to shift, and we can no longer remain silent, and it's time to reclaim and unveil our voice into the world.
And why is this so important? Because we need your voice. Your voice matters. And it's not so much that you need to find your voice again, as much as it is that you need to unveil it, define it, and release it into the world, and then attach action to it.
So that's the key, isn't it? To stop spinning all of those ideas in our hands and actually get out and do something about it. And I know I just touched a nerve there, and I'm super guilty of that myself. But that's a topic for another episode.
Today, I want to talk about how we need your voice to bring more balance to the conversations going on all around us, and to increase positive impact for global change. We have sisters and brothers everywhere who need us, now more than ever. Don't think for a minute that your voice doesn't matter. It matters.
It matters a lot. Someone needs to hear what you have to say, and what you have to offer to help solve a need. No matter what sphere of influence you have in the marketplace, someone will inevitably be helped by what you have to say. Someone is just waiting for you to say it so they don't feel so alone or stuck in the world.
Or, have you ever thought about this? Someone is waiting to do your part, because then that will release them to do their part. Don't you see we're all connected, and our purposes are so intricately connected that we just can no longer remain still or silent. But you need to say it with grace, purpose, and finesse, whatever it is you have to say.
You can't get someone over the head with it. Leaders of impact and influence, they cultivate. They don't aimlessly weed whack. They just cast vision, and they communicate that vision over and over again.
They lead with integrity and excellence. My passion, because of my journey and background and purpose, is working with women in the marketplace. That could be part-time, full-time, maybe you're in sales, maybe you're in corporate America, direct sales, non-profits, ministry, media. And I've done a lot of studying on what I believe are the seven cultural areas of influence in our society.
Now, you might hear some people refer to these as the seven cultural mountains. And we need every voice to be present, heard, and accounted for in all of these areas in order to affect change. It's what you're wired for, to be a change agent. You are called to impact and influence your culture no matter what your position, no matter what country you live in.
And I know you are a leader, because you wouldn't be listening to this podcast if you weren't. So let me explain for a minute what I mean by those seven cultural areas of influence, or the seven pillars that you'll find in any society. Government, education, the media, economy, that includes business, entrepreneurship, sales, whatever, wherever there's an exchange of money. Family, religion, or the church, and arts and entertainment.
And of course, there are subsets of those seven, but everything eventually fits in somewhere, I think, to those seven categories. Now, change agents define the culture of the day. So not only do we need to join in the conversation, we need to lead the conversation and be actively present in the decision-making process in each of these influential areas. And to the woman of faith, this has a particular mandate for me.
I believe that there is a very real move of God that is particularly releasing women right now to rise up and awaken to their calling in and through their vocations. We are part of the solution, and together, we are called to be change agents in the sphere of influence that God has called us to impact. These are kingdom-building principles, ladies. Now, let me just give you a little personal faith disclosure here.
I'm a radical, sold-out lover of the one who loved me first, a follower of Jesus Christ. And most organized religion drives me absolutely crazy. But at the same time, I love the church. It's part of my heritage.
It's part of my story. It's part of my DNA. I am a unique hybrid of where the sacred meets the secular. And I operate in both worlds simultaneously.
It can't be either or with me anymore. And that was a huge aha, by the way, for me when I was going through my personal journey. I live in this world and have worked in the wonderful world of corporate America, the educational system, nonprofits, entrepreneurship, as well as the church. I'm very real and transparent about all of my experiences.
There's some things I've been hugely successful at, and some things I failed miserably at. Some experiences have deeply wounded me, but I've begun to understand that all of my experiences, what I do and who I influence, have incredible value instead of you. This world needs help, and we need you. You may be a completely different place than me spiritually, and that's okay.
It's a very personal journey, and I want you here in the community of women infused. We are infused with purpose and spirit. You are powerful, and you have a story to tell. I want us to learn from each other and grow as we begin to lead the conversation and change the world.
No woman left behind. We have a lot of mountains to climb and to claim, and we're in this together. Are you starting to see the bigger picture? We need your unveiled voice.
You have a purpose to fulfill. No more shrinking back, no more silence. Now, you may already know what you're called to do, and I'm so happy for you, but if you don't, keep with me, because I'm going to help you figure that out. So how do you unveil your voice, begin to unwrap the details of your unique calling, and step into the beautiful power of your bigger why?
It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go out, quit your job, and move to some remote third-world country to make a difference. I used to think that. But as noble as that is, and perhaps that is your calling, it might just mean that you need to learn how to create more influence and impact right where you are. But you need to figure that out if you feel like there's something more out there for you.
In all my work, studies, and experience, I've identified three critical areas that we're going to focus on. Your value, your voice, and your vision. And there are six steps that you can take to define your value, voice, and vision, so that you can release the power and possibilities that are already inside you. And that's really the end game of all of this, isn't it?
To step up into your sphere of influence and make a difference. To create a legacy that matters to you and those that will affect around you. So this episode is all about that first step, how to uncover your voice. I intentionally use the word uncover because you haven't lost your voice.
In this dictionary, the word uncover is defined as this. To find or become aware of something that was hidden or secret. To allow something to be seen by removing a covering. To make known, bring to light, disclose, and reveal.
I love that, don't you? Do any of those words just jump out at you? When I was looking at it, the whole concept of something that has been hidden or secret? Oh my goodness.
And deep down, I know you know it's your season. Or at least it's a new season. And you're probably feeling like a shift has to occur. I know I've heard a lot of people talking about that.
And believe me, it is your season to find or become aware of something that was hidden or secret. It's your time. Author and speaker Lisa Bevere said once that it's your time, not your turn. Because if it was your turn, someone else would have to sit down.
No one has to sit down here. In fact, it's time for someone, a lot of someone's, to rise up. And that someone is you. But first, like when you build a house, you have to lay the foundation.
You can't skip this step because everything else is built upon what you discover about yourself here. So here are two things that you can do to get started on the journey. Number one, part of uncovering your signature voice is about honoring yourself. This is not selfish.
It's about getting still and perhaps asking some hard questions about who you are and how you see your life right now. Don't be hard on yourself. Just take an honest inventory of where you are and perhaps how you got here. Start asking what I call soul-level questions.
What part did you play and what do you own that brought you here to this place? What do you love about your life? What's going well? What's not going so well?
And what do you want to happen in maybe one, three, or five years? Timeline is up to you, but I think you shouldn't go more than five years because we need to focus on the now. So I want you then to paint a picture, create a vision board, write it out, brainstorm, dream, and dream big. I love vision boards.
You can either do them electronically. There are a lot, if you get online, there are a lot of places that you can just do some kind of electronic visual media board. I like the old-fashioned way. I tear out pictures.
I write words. I make it all fancy. I get a poster board. I use glue and paper, scissors, all that stuff.
And then a lot of times I'll even laminate it and hang it right next to my desk so it's obviously right in front of me the whole time. Whatever works for you, but I really encourage you to get that visual. Visuals are a strong representation of what our unconscious mind is continually processing. Now, in order to do this, the quiet time I'm talking about, I have found that you have to create the space for yourself just to process all of this.
And it might take some time. It may happen layer by layer as you are ready. Remember the saying, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. There is a great book that I just started reading called Finding Spiritual White Space by Bonnie Gray.
I'll put that information in the show notes for you as well. I saw this quote by her, and it just spoke to me. White space. It's the space on a page left unmarked.
White space makes art beautiful. It gives the eye a place to rest. Without it, clutter takes over. Just as beautiful art needs white space, our souls need spiritual white space.
A place to rest in order to find balance and beauty. Now, that is exactly what I'm talking about here. Finding a place to step aside and rest. To find the beauty of your life.
To let your mind stop focusing on the daily stuff of life and allow it the space to breathe. You need to create the space to get still. And if getting still and being silent is hard for you, that might be the first question you need to ask yourself. What are you maybe afraid of hearing if you get still?
I regularly get away and go on mini-retreats with myself. Yes, myself. My alone time is like oxygen to me, and I need it to survive. I'm basically an introvert who loves connecting with people.
Yet too much time with people exhausts me. I'm just being honest here. Because when I'm with people, when I'm with you, I am present, I am all in. And that takes an immense amount of my energy, especially when I'm with larger groups.
That's just how I'm wired, and I begin to understand that. So I need to continually get away and take time to recharge alone. Now, sometimes I go away for the day, sometimes for a weekend or even a week. Go to a place that feeds your soul.
Maybe that's a beach, a cabin, a hike in the mountains. Maybe that's a luxury spa. Maybe that's more of an aesthetic place. There's this great book.
You're going to find I love books, so I'm going to be giving you lots of references to books. And here's one I'll put in the show notes, but it's called Sacred Pathways, Discover Your Soul's Path to God by Gary Thomas. And he talks about nine distinct spiritual temperaments. There's even an assessment that you can take.
That might be really freeing to you, because I think sometimes we have this idea that in order to be spiritual or in order to meditate on things, that we have to be in this perfect little churchy religious place. And that is not true, because depending on how you're wired, some of you may love to jog. And while you're running those 10K races, that's where you get your most spiritual eye. I don't know, that's certainly not me, but I love to walk.
So I do tend to find a way that works for my soul, even if I just have to sneak it in for 15 minutes. So find that place, whatever it looks like to you. Now, I usually bring a few books that I'm reading or want to read. Don't bring too many.
I bring a journal and my favorite snacks. Remember, we want to eat healthy, but I also want you to take care of yourself and treat yourself. So if you need something that's a favorite snack, a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of wine, whatever that is, please do it, because this is about you. Here again are two favorite books that I love to bring on purpose retreats.
One is called The Path by Lori Beth Jones, and the other one is Pathway to Purpose by Katie Brazelton. Bring some devotional books, some music, whatever that looks like to you, because it's all about self-care. And we as women, we don't always do that very well. We tend to put everyone's needs ahead of ours.
My family knows how important this is to me, and they even start recognizing it sometimes before I even know. They'll kindly say to me, hey, when was the last time you did one of those mini retreats? Bless their hearts. They know if it goes well with me, it's going to go well with them.
Now, the second thing that you can do to begin to uncover your signature voice is to define your values and beliefs. Values and beliefs are your north star. They are your guiding principles and the non-negotiables in your life, and they will support your purpose, your vision, and your mission on a daily basis time and time again. I always start with having my clients take the time to identify what I call their five signature core values.
These tend to transcend both personal life and many times into your business life. When you have clearly defined these, you will find that you will attract clients with similar values, not identical, because nobody is going to be identical to you and your unique mix of core values, but complementary. And when these are the non-negotiables that you live by, it's hard to separate them out from your business life. Taking on clients or even friends who aren't even remotely aligned with your core values are going to be a huge energy drain down the line.
Just a little food for thought here. Now, you might also want to define what those values mean to you. The same word could mean different things to different people. And having a clear definition and communicating that definition in all of your conversations with people and in your marketing strategies will help build what they call that know, like, and trust factor much quicker.
I always say, if you don't know what you stand for, you have nothing to stand on. Now, I have a system with values cards and definitions that I use, but you can look up words that describe what you value, and that would be a good starting place. My five signature core values, just to give you an example, are faith, authenticity, integrity, beauty, and purpose. Let me explain to you what each of those means to me.
Now, again, these are you. to me. So you may use the same words, but have different definitions to me. Faith is very important, but not only my spiritual faith, but even deeper than that, I have faith that God is going to complete everything he started in me and that I have everything I need to follow through and step up into that thing that I call my high calling authenticity.
That just means I'm real and transparent. I try to be as authentic as I can in every situation. Integrity to me means you walk the talk and talk the walk. That's kind of a high standard I set for myself.
I can't expect everyone to be in that same place, but I clearly set that for my own standard beauty and beauty. I am all girl. I am all in. If you can wear it, apply it.
I certainly love it, but it's deeper than that. Believe me, to me, it also means I need to be surrounded with beautiful things and that could be as simple as one little bouquet of flowers or that could be I have beautiful music playing in the background. My office needs to look pretty and that's just me, but I have to be in these environments that just speak to my soul. And then purpose is the last one for me.
Purpose, everything I do has a purpose attached to it. I'm driven by purpose. I search for purpose in all that I do. It just is a core of everything.
When I'm out of alignment with my values, when I think things aren't going well, I revisit those values and I need to review and assess my business and my life. And that's the time that I can make course corrections. And that may mean letting go of a relationship that drains me. That may mean that I have to stop doing something that is not getting a good turn on investment of time, energy, money, et cetera.
And it doesn't mean those things are necessarily bad things. And it doesn't mean those relationships are necessarily bad relationships. It just means I know I only have so much energy and I know I only have so much time. And so I really pursue using my time in the best way possible and build my relationships on things that I really feel are supporting me as opposed to taking away from me.
Now, it also may mean adding something to my life or my business that is a better and more accurate reflection of my signature core values. Ideally, they're all an integral part of my business and personal life, not just one or not just three of them, but all five of them really need to be equally threaded throughout what I do. When I only see one or two show up to me, that's out of balance, that's out of alignment for me. And it might be relate mine directly to my financial statements in my business.
When I was not operating fully in all five of my signature core values, I was suffering financially. So, you know, take a look at that because once you identify your five core values, take a look and really honestly assess, are you walking all of them out or have you forgot about three of them? And that's okay. That's why we take this time to get quiet and review and look at our values and over and over again.
So it's not just something you do one time. You want to continually kind of have a check in with yourself. Now, here's a side note on values. You can have more than five values, but I have found that focusing on your top five has the most desired outcome in the long run.
The rest could shift and change a bit over time, but these five will remain your foundation in my experience. So let's say you come up with 10 words and you think these are my 10 values. I can't possibly narrow it down to five. I'm going to challenge you to just take a quick look at that list.
Let's say you have 10 words on your list. Just look at it in the first five that jump out at you. Just circle them. Don't worry about it.
Don't edit it. Don't overthink it. Those top five are probably going to be the ones that you should just start with and you can change them if you need to over time. Don't get hung up on which five they are.
You're going to know it. Believe me, if you really take a look at it, they're just going to jump out at you. So I want you to write these words, define them, create a visual for them. Remember I talked about visual aids, vision boards, whatever you need to do.
Maybe you even want to create an avatar or an icon for them. Something that reminds you of what each of those words means to you. Now beliefs, that was the other side of the coin. I was talking about values and beliefs.
Beliefs affect your attitude and your perspective on life. Many times your core values and beliefs give you a sneak peek into your purpose. Because when you take your values and beliefs and use that as a funnel to sift all your activities and all your opportunities through, you're going to be fully functioning in the foundation that you have set for yourself. And you're already set up to step into your purpose and your bigger why or the calling that God has on your life.
It is no accident that these all begin to line up for you. What do you believe in? This is not purely a question about religion. It's also about what your guiding life principles are.
For example, you might say, I believe in the golden rule. I want you just to maybe write five to 10 statements that begin with, I believe, and then fill in the blank and do yourself a favor. What do you really believe? Not just what you think others expect you to believe, not just what you think is politically correct, but be true to your beliefs and don't compromise here.
It is not sustainable. Here are two more powerful questions that you can ask yourself while you're creating the space to uncover your voice. Number one, what do I want to happen? And number two, what am I afraid will happen?
Take some time to journal these questions. I'm a huge fan of journaling. I believe that the pen will write or the mouth will not say. So just let yourself write unedited.
Don't worry about grammar. Don't worry about structure. Don't worry about complete thought process. This is your chance to let your soul speak volumes about your life, where you are and where in your deepest dreams and desires you want to be in your life.
These two questions are deeply personal and your answers might surprise you. If you are being honest with yourself, your deepest longings, your heart's desires shouldn't surprise you. The surprise might just be how long they have been buried. So get a pretty journal that speaks to you.
Take a notebook, whatever that is. It's a very sacred time, so don't skip this step. I want to end with two encouragements for you. The first one is what I'm calling the word unveiled.
The best blueprint for success you can find is the word of God. It's time-tested and true, and every good business practice is rooted in God's truth. So I want to read to you a verse in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10. For we are God's masterpiece.
He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he has planned for us long ago. Isn't that awesome? We are God's masterpiece. We are his one-of-a-kind work of art, and he created us to do good things, and not only good things, but good things that he planned for us long ago.
That is directly pointing to your destiny, your purpose, and your calling. I want you to take the scripture. I want you to write it down on a card. I want you to look at it.
I want you to memorize it, maybe. Take it to heart. That's the point. I want you to take it to heart.
You are God's masterpiece, and you have great and awesome things to do. The second thing I want you to do and take away from this is an action challenge, and the action word we're going to talk about today is uncover. I want you to start to uncover your signature voice. I want you to journal, read, pray, meditate, get away on a retreat with yourself, rediscover who you are and what you love.
Begin to uncover your signature voice. Thank you so much for listening today, and remember, along you are significant, but together we are amazing. Hi, this is Christy Lynn Olson. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Unveiled Voices and uncovering your signature voice.
I'd love to stay connected with you and be able to share more personal development insights, success tips, and special event notices with you. There's a sign-up box for the Women Infused e-newsletter on the website at christylynolson.com. And as a special gift for sharing your email with us when you sign up to receive the newsletter, you will receive a printable download of Unveiled Voices, the six steps you need to take to define your value, voice, and vision. Each of the steps is followed by a biblical reference that will speak life and biblical truths into the six principles I have outlined in this series.
Let me know what steps you're taking to step into the beautiful power of your bigger why as you unveil your voice to the world. Help lead the conversation by connecting with me on social media. I'm on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, wherever you hang out. I'm probably there.
Just search for me at Christy Lynn Olson, or go to my website and click on the direct links. And make sure to tell your friends to listen in to the Women Infused radio podcast, available for you on iTunes, Stitcher, and the Her Heartbeat app, available for Apple. This has been Women Infused Radio, connecting women around the world with purpose and spirit, and we want to connect with you. Get your free gift, Unveiled Voices, six things you need to do to define your value, voice, and vision.
For more information on the free gift and links to join the conversation on social media, visit us at christylynolson.com.