Plant The Seed

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Hello, my awesome friend. Welcome to our connection point. This is where you and I get together, we chat. Well more like you listen, and we get into it. I'm Ahyiana Angel, and you are listening to the Quit Playing Small podcast. This is a space for inspired thinking, for encouragement, and hopefully for all the goodness that you can handle.

So today, It's gonna be a bit of a story time, but also obviously always connected to the Quit Playing Small book and the thought that I put into this book. And so one thing that I shared in the book was a story about kind of, I guess you could say, planting the seed before I got my book publishing deal. So for those of you that don't know, I made a whole career transition, this was some years ago, and I went from being a publicist, a sports publicist, to a traditionally published author.

And I thought that the author route was my new destination in life, and it was gonna be everything that I had dreamed of. And , as you can see, yes, being an author is a part of my story, but it definitely wasn't the end destination from my story. So I'm gonna share with you a little insight on how we got to me being an author goes a little something like this. If you plant a seed, growth is inevitable. At least that's what I feel. How many times have you witnessed somebody planting a seed and pouring into the planting of that seed. Watering the dirt, the soil, giving it sunlight and all the things that it needs to flourish, and then nothing happens.

That is usually not the case, right? Usually when you plant a seed and you put it in the right environment and conditions for it to thrive and grow, it is going to do exactly that. So make sure that you sew and nurture what you want to grow. What you put out into the universe, either consciously or unconsciously, can potentially manifest into something real, something tangible. I know some people, they give a really huge side eye to manifestation . For some people, it is not a part of their norm. It's not something that they buy into, and I wasn't familiar with it growing up and in my early twenties. It wasn't something that was heavily in my atmosphere that was presented to me to even buy into.

I wasn't necessarily convinced either when I first heard about it, and I won't say that I wasn't convinced because I didn't believe that manifestation was real. I just hadn't had my own personal experience yet. So, when I realized that I had unintentionally manifested my first traditional book publishing deal, that's when it became really real for me, and I actually didn't even realize this until much later.

It started with me planting the seed for nine months. I woke up an hour earlier. Then I needed to be up and I am so not a morning person, and I really wasn't then. But I woke up early because I knew that that was a time that I could dedicate to writing in the evenings if I wasn't working on my manuscript.

I was researching how to become a traditionally published author. Self-publishing was a thing around that time, but it just really wasn't as popular as it is now. And a few people even mentioned to me self-publishing like, oh, would you consider that option? But I quickly shut down their suggestion with my truth.

My truth was I am going the traditional route. Although I didn't have any connections in the publishing industry, I was a first time author. I didn't know what I was doing. Like I said, I was doing all this research in my off hours. I had planted seeds though and convinced myself that I was going to be a traditionally published author.

I took classes on writing and creative writing, developing your manuscript. I took all types of classes because I really wanted to be well versed in understanding the business and the creative side of publishing, and also understanding what I was getting myself into and being prepared for what was potentially to come next.

I can remember saying that every traditional publishing house would have to turn me down in order for me to even consider self-publishing. I had against self-publishing, but securing a spot with a publisher, that was my goal.

That was the big win for me. I think I also felt like that was the big win for me because I was transitioning careers and I needed people to take my transition seriously. I needed them to take me serious as an author, and I think I just felt like going out there writing a book and self-publishing it, it would just be like I was the only one validating my dream. If I had the buy in of a publisher, someone to upfront some of the costs, or not some, but all of the costs of publishing my book to buy into the idea and concept of my book. That seemed to be to me, someone saying, I sign off that this is a legit book, a legit book idea, and that's what I wanted at the time.

I didn't intend to manifest anything at the time though, but my mindset was coming from a positive space. I never had thoughts of not getting published. Getting published was the goal, and it was my laser focus. That is what I was concentrated on. I was dedicated to that goal and I was very confident that it was something I could achieve.

I strongly believed in myself and I wasn't looking for validation from anybody around me, but I knew that me going this route would give me all the validation that I needed for people who were second guessing what I was doing.

Within four months of finalizing my manuscript, the seed that I planted, it blossomed. I was offered a contract to publish my book through an imprint of one of the top publishing houses. Of course I took it . Looking back, I realized that what made my experience happen, in my opinion, that is, was that I had decided what I wanted.

I planted the seeds to allow my dream to take shape, and I not only got what I manifested, but also what I worked for. And I think it's key to say that as well because you can't just manifest everything you want in your life and you're not doing any work to get that result.

You have to put in some of that sweat equity as well. You have to do your research. You have to put in your hours of training, of specializing, of getting to know and understand whatever it is you're trying to achieve and accomplish. It's not all about just manifesting. It's about the combination of manifestation and work.

So what are my action items for you? Write it down what you want, what you're manifesting. Envision it. And then put in that work. Maybe even write down some of the steps that you plan to take in order to get it, and let's see how long it takes you to manifest that thing that you want.

So post me manifesting my book publishing deal, I have manifested quite a few things that upon reflection I'm like, I actually manifested that . And so sometimes it's also just a matter of taking a moment to step back and look at the things that you said that you wanted or the things that you desired, or the things that you wrote down on your list.

And then thinking about how did you get there, how long did it take you? What did that process look like? And sometimes you'll realize you actually manifested that. One simple thing that I realized I've manifested in the years since is some travel. I remember bookmarking this girl's trip to me, Marakesh Morocco.

I didn't know this girl. I really didn't even know anything about Morocco, but I was like, oh, this looks amazing. This looks like such a great trip. Like I would really want to do something like this. Like I wanna go here. I wanna go to Morocco. That girl exposed me to what a trip to Morocco would look like, and I remember saying, I'm gonna do that one day.

Guess who went to Morocco , and it wasn't until after that trip that I realized, Oh wow. I actually manifested this. I'm sharing that to say that these don't all have to be big, major life changing things that you manifest.

Sometimes it can be some of the simpler joys in life as well.

Thank you so much for spending time with me today. I appreciate you. I appreciate you sharing space with me and allowing me into your world, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you have listened to multiple episodes, this is for you. If you have not, if this is your first episode, you can stop listening now.

I know you're gonna keep listening because you're probably curious, just like I am. If somebody tells me to stop listening, I am going to keep listening. But if you've listened to multiple episodes, then you already kind of know what the vibe is, and I would appreciate it if you would let me know what your read is and your vibe is on the podcast by leaving a Spotify rating or an Apple review.

Let me know what you think.

I'll catch up with you on our next set date together. It's probably a Monday or a Thursday, and I hope that you do amazing things in the in between time manifestation and all that goodness. And as always, be well.

Quit Playing Small Book - https://amzn.to/2EENAbb