A few weeks ago, I did a 15-minute exercise that completely shifted how I see my own work.
I was sitting on my couch, scrolling through LinkedIn.
I came across a creator half my age, with a fraction of my experience, confidently talking about building her online business.
She had 45K followers.
A waitlist.
Premium pricing.
She’d been doing this for a year.
I have been writing online for seven years.
Published 8 books.
Helped multiple authors write and launch theirs.
And I was charging one-third of what she charged.
Working twice as hard.
Operating in a tiny market.
I closed my laptop.
Closed my eyes.
Took three deep breaths.
Not in a dramatic, cinematic way.
But to put me in the meditative state.
Something cracked open quietly.
I realised I had been playing small.
And it had nothing to do with talent.
I was trained to play small.
So instead of asking:
“How can I be better?”
Or,
“How can I convert followers into clients?”
I wrote a different question in my notebook:
“How do I want to live?”
Then I imagined one ordinary day in that life.
Not the awards.
Not the applause.
Just a normal Tuesday.
I wrote about:
– Where I wake up.
– How I spend my morning.
– Who I serve.
– What I charge.
– How I feel about my work.
That 15-minute exercise exposed the ceiling I had unconsciously placed on myself.
Thinking big doesn’t start with strategy.
It starts with permission.
Permission to imagine a life that matches your experience.
Permission to charge at the level of your expertise.
Permission to step into authority instead of waiting for validation.
Most people don’t lack skill.
They lack expanded vision.