Our mind is the best tool to lead us to positive life changes. But what you feed in your mind and how you put those into action makes the difference. In this episode, Caterina Rando, the author of Learn to Power Think, provides her insights about learning how to live through your goal by owning your voice and knowing your value, which will put you into action. By reframing your mind on being more compassionate, more loving, and more supportive of yourself, and the more you can master self-care, that’s going to impact your productivity and the level of bliss in your business and your life. Tune in to this positive thinking exercise of an episode to lead yourself to a healthier life.
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Own Your Voice: How Knowing Your Value Puts You Into Action With Caterina Rando
We’re going to go shark deep and talk about knowing your value, not how much you charge, but your inner value and what you have to offer. Caterina Rando is with us. She is an expert in this space. She’s a Master Certified Coach, the highest designation that’s awarded by the International Coaching Federation. She’s the best-selling author of the book, Learn To Power Think and coauthor of a number of other books that are geared toward women in business, and the Founder and Publisher of Thriving Women in Business Magazine. Without further ado, let’s get into our conversation. Welcome.
I’m happy to be with you.
We’re talking about our inner values and understanding that. Why is it important? Why are we talking about this topic?
Everybody in life has a variety of experiences, their family of origin, the culture and society they raise in, the advertising messages that we get 200,000 a day, and much of this impact us in not a kind, uplifting, empowering way. It’s important for us to know that even if we’re not super wealthy, educated, or come from a successful family, and most people don’t come from any of that. They come from a family with perhaps trauma or challenges. The point to know is that you have massive value to bring. You’re worthy and lovable. When we don’t know that at our core, we often do not use our voices, pursue our dreams, and create the life we want. I want everybody to create the life they want.
You were going with this as we were starting before the session that the number one human condition or challenge is that there’s this part of us that feels like we’re not enough. It’s why there’s imposter syndrome. I have many people who identify with that at some time in their life that whether it’s from an experience that we have or a trauma. We’re human and emotional beings, and there’s this tug of war that we have with different parts of ourselves. Tell me about that. Do you agree with that? Is that something that we all play with or what’s your feeling about it?
Learn to Power Think
We’re all different and unique. At the same time, we’re often raised in institutions that don’t allow for our uniqueness and authenticity. When I say we, I say everyone on the planet. We go to school and we’re told to cross our hands and be quiet. Girls are told to be seen and not heard. We’re told, “It’s important that you be a good girl,” which might be different than how we’re behaving at the time. Sometimes we’re even told more overt messages like my dad was told by his dad, “You’re born stupid. You’ll live stupid. You’re going to die stupid.”
When the people that are delivering those messages are people we love, respect, and care about, we give power to those messages. This is why it’s important for us to decide at some point, “It doesn’t matter about the past. What matters is who we want to be now and how we want to get there.” Even if we don’t 100% believe that we’re awesome, amazing, and fabulous, does the belief that service or does it take away? It serves us even when we don’t yet feel it to start to focus on whether we are worthy.
How does someone do that? Let’s say there’s someone who is holding themselves back. They’re not using their voice, stepping forward, or taking advantage of opportunities and not moving forward in their life, not living the dream. They would not do things that are important to them because they feel like they’re not enough. They don’t have enough experience. They’re not old enough or whatever excuse they’re telling themselves. How do they shift from a place where they don’t feel worthy or aren’t believing that they have that capacity to where they do? How does somebody make that shift?
Action is the antidote. The reason I believe action is the antidote is that anything that is new and we want often makes us uncomfortable. For example, I love public speaking. I could do it all day long, every day, without any anxiety, but that’s only because I’ve done it 100,000 times. For most people, it makes them anxious. It’s also a vulnerable thing to do public speaking. If you don’t have experience with it, it’s going to make you uncomfortable.
At the same time, if you have a business or you want to be a leader, you have to develop that skill so that you can share your message and ideas, and create visibility. If you’re not willing, you can study public speaking all day long, but if you’re not willing to take action around it, then you’re never going to move forward. When you say, “How do they do it?” I could say, “Take a class. Get a mentor.”
We have massive value to bring. We're worthy and we're lovable. If we don't know that at our core, we often do not use our voice, we often do not pursue our dreams, and we often don't create the life we want. Share on XThere are certain things to create massive change that a lot of people do not embrace, and I’d like to share those with you. Education is the first step. If I want to learn how to communicate better in my relationship, I can take a class and learn that. Learning stuff is not mastering stuff. The only way you master it is with ongoing support, ongoing guidance, a structure like a program, course, weekly therapy, or any structure that is ongoing that has you continue to be guided and improve.
Also, those structures have us be focused on this and help create momentum. Do you what else people need to thrive? They need encouragement. It doesn’t matter how old you are, not just kids. We need community. We all want to feel seen, heard, valued, welcomed, and included. We want to know that we matter and that we have value to bring. Finding a place where that is the culture, rather than a place of toxicity, is going to make a huge difference in changing our lives.
I want to unpack some of the things that you say because there might be people who are reading and don’t believe them. You said, “Action is the antidote.” Let’s go back there. There are these affirmations that people can say, “I believe that I’m the greatest.” Mohammad Ali, “I’m the greatest.” It was a combination of that action of saying that to himself and then him getting out there, but then taking that second part that you said which was learning, applying, and putting themselves through a mastery process.
I took karate with my kids. Karate is a perfect example because there’s a structure there and guidance that takes you from a white belt when you’re just starting out. As you progress and pass certain functions that you’re able to perform, certain skillsets that you’re building, then you’re able to get a new belt through demonstrating that you can do it and you’re practicing it on the floor. You may be learning some techniques that you’re learning through doing and practicing. You presented that there needs to be that balance of putting it into practice, getting that feedback, and understanding what needs to be corrected and that’s that mastery loop.
With that feedback are some guidance, encouragement, and modeling. We don’t talk about modeling enough. I find that I learn best from watching people do things and noticing what I like about what they’re doing and what I do not like that I would not do as well.
Own Your Voice: Action is the antidote because anything that is new, anything that we really want often makes us uncomfortable.
I watched my son. He’s playing soccer in the video game, and he’s watching how the players are moving then I saw him do it on the field, even in the right position. We’re talking about making that shift from believing and using action as that antidote. I liken it to video games. It makes it so much easier when we play it like a game where we realize we’re going to fall down and start over or begin again from a level that we fell out of.
Maybe we get to level 1, level 2, and then it gets hard, then maybe we get thrown out of the game, we die, get shot down in whatever it is we’re playing. You come back but with a different level of experience, knowing how to play to that level and then identifying the things that you need to do to get to the next level. It seems like if we took our lives a little bit more game-like and played a little bit with it as opposed to taking everything personally that we would get further faster by being in the game.
The gamification of life is definitely a good way to go when you’re trying to accomplish new skills and things that you’re developing. The thing that we’re making an assumption is that people are getting in the game. It’s important also to note that many people are getting ready to get ready, to begin to think about getting going for way too long. Part of it is this idea of, “I have to do it right the first time,” whether it’s conscious or unconscious. This is why I like to say, “Perfection is not required and it’s not encouraged.” You mentioned karate.
I like to rollerblade. In any physical activity that you’re going to do, you’re not going to be masterful the first time. Rollerblading is a great example because if you haven’t done it, you are probably not going to be very good the first time unless you have been a skier, surfer, or something like that. This idea of research and of, “I have to figure it out. I have to plan,” it’s in the doing that we learn how to do things and that we begin to move towards mastery.
I run and I love doing women’s retreats. I’m planning on doing one in Mexico. The first time I did it, the goal was to do it, not to master it. What happens when you do it? However, it goes the first time for anybody, you see what worked, didn’t work, “What did I like? What did I not like?” More importantly, you have the experience of living through it. Sometimes you have the experience of loving it and that gives you momentum to do it again. It gives you vitality and energy.
If you have a business or you want to be a leader, you must develop skills to share your message, share your ideas, and create visibility. Share on XWhat are some strategies to get people into action?
One thing we talked about was community, but when you declare to someone else, ideally somebody who you respect, that you are going to do something. For example, I said to my friend, Eddie, “I’m going to write that grant,” like I really want to write a grant, “No,” like I know how to write a grant. I told my friend, Eddie, that I was going to do my first draft of it by Monday. That gives it more momentum because I declared it to someone else who I respect and who I know is going to be on me if I don’t do what I said I was going to do.
Because you’ve declared it, if you don’t do it, it’s putting you out of integrity with yourself.
Even if I don’t do a great job, at least the first draft is done. People are focused on, “I got to get it right, that they’re often paralyzed.” Declaring helps us get action and get some support. For example here’s my secret, since the pandemic started, I’ve been doing everything in the dining room. I like the dining room. I got a fancy office upstairs. I have barely gone in there in a few years. The challenge is now my dining room table looks chaotic and I have not had my attention on it, so I’m having a Purge-A-Palooza party virtually with some other girls where I’m going to work on my dining room table, and they’re going to work on whatever they want to work on, but we’re doing it together to get together. That gives it more momentum. The other thing is it makes it more fun.
We need to have just a little bit more fun in the things that we’re doing to give us that extra oomph and empower us for sure.
Own Your Voice: Learning stuff is not mastering stuff.
Doing it together gives it more vitality and more energy. That’s the other thing because often we feel so alone. Do I want to be in my house on a Saturday decluttering? I do not. That means it’s not going to happen, but if I make a date with some girls and we do it together, now I’m going to be a blessing to do it.
What’s your definition of productivity and why?
I consider myself an action-oriented person and I do get a lot done. Sometimes I do what I call putzing, which means I just do whatever, but I don’t have an agenda. Sometimes even that is highly productive. Being in action would be my definition of productivity. As long as you’re an action, something is happening.
What is the most valuable productivity tool that helps you to save time, energy, and money?
No to-do lists. Everything goes on your calendar at the time that you have allotted to do it. You have to make a decision about when you’re going to do it and you put it on your calendar. Perfection is not required. It doesn’t get done? That’s fine. Take it off that day and put it on another day. Everything lives in your calendar. Whatever’s not getting done is not on your calendar and is probably not important. Otherwise, you’d put it on your calendar.
The more you can master your self-care, the more it's going to impact your productivity and the level of bliss in your business and your life. Share on XWhat did I not yet ask you that you think is important that this audience knows?
One of the things I’ve learned in all the years of doing my thing is that many, especially high-achieving people, are hard on themselves. That’s why I like to say, “Perfection is not required or encouraged.” Look at where you can be more compassionate, loving, and supportive of yourself. I’m all about love and kindness in your business. How are you doing that with yourself? Are you being loving and kind to yourself? The more you can master your self-care, the more that’s going to impact your productivity and your level of bliss in your business and your life. Let’s put more attention to that.
A friend of mine has been having some health challenges and she declared that she was going to make her health her second career, which I thought was a smart way to reframe it, to make it a higher priority than she had been giving it up to that point. We need to give our self-care and take care of ourselves, more sleep, more movement, and more fun.
Those types of things are essential to keep in bliss and our vitality. It grounds us if we circle back around to the first point that we started with, around our value. Our inner value grounds us to appreciate who we are. It helps us when we are connected to ourselves in that self-care and we’re grounded. It helps us to better connect to others and gives us a clearer place in the world.
We have to fill our own cups so we can be generous with our overflow with others. You can’t give from an empty cup.
Own Your Voice: Find a place where supporting each other is the culture rather than a place of toxicity. It will make a huge difference your life.
Where do we find more information about you?
The best place to start is my website CaterinaRando.com. When you go there, there is a link to my many free resources, CaterinaRando.com/Links. I do 1 free workshop every month, sometimes 2 on speaking, selling, hosting retreats, or whatever else I’m in the mood for. I’m here to support women with their sales, speaking, and hosting retreats. I’m all about reminding everyone that they have massive value to bring. There’s a lifetime supply of people to serve. Use your voice to uplift your life and the lives of others.
Thank you so much for being here
Thank you. It’s my privilege.
All of you who are out there, thank you for being here, and know that you matter. You have incredible value. We are all individuals with a unique set of experiences, which adds such richness when we come together to collaborate on projects. I’ve always been amazed at how people see things differently and how it adds so much value to my life, my projects, and the things that I’m working on when I seek those unique perspectives.
Know that your perspective is valuable. You bring tremendous value and use your voice in going after what you want, asking for mentorship, that raise, or looking for that next level of your career. Use your voice to stand for things that are important to you. We talked about a lot of things here. Using your voice puts you into action. That’s one of the things that Caterina said. For her, being in action is the definition of productivity. Go out there and put your voice into action. Thank you. We’ll see you in the next episode.
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About Caterina Rando
Caterina Rando is a Master Certified Coach, the highest designation awarded by the International Coach Federation. Best-selling author of Learn to Power Think and co-author of numerous books geared to women in business and Founder of Thrive Publishing and Thriving Women in Business Magazine. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in organizational behavior and Master of Arts degree in life transitions counseling psychology, both from the University of San Francisco. Coupled with her certification as an Emotional Intelligence Trainer from Qmetrics® Corporation, Caterina has the knowledge, experience and heart to help women entrepreneurs thrive!
Caterina is known for her dynamic, warm, uplifting, and authentic speaking style and her extraordinary ability to make everyone in the audience feel like she is speaking directly to him or her. She consistently delivers compelling, practical, and inspiring messages that engage, uplift, and positively impact everyone to think bigger about the stunning results on the horizon and how to achieve them.
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