Here’s What That Badass, Beautiful, Powerhouse of a Businesswoman REALLY Thought of Me…

I knew almost NO ONE there.

At one point, as I was standing around, drink in hand, I saw an interesting-looking woman.

I smiled at her.
She stared at me.
(It actually felt like she stared THROUGH me.)
She didn’t smile.
She kept walking.

Okay.

Later that evening I found myself sitting right next to her for about 10 minutes.

She never once made eye contact with me.

I eventually left and went somewhere else.

I figured I simply had not yet made this woman’s “People-Who-Are-Interesting-Enough-To-Speak-To” list.

After all, she’s one of the highest-ups in a well-known, 8-figure company.

No big deal.
All good.

But then.
Last night.
In a 1:1 conversation with this very woman, I discover…

1. She doesn’t even remember seeing me at that event because, it turns out, she was feeling deeply self-conscious, nervous, and introverted the entire time. She was having a hard time connecting. In fact, she admitted to me, she was plagued with imposter syndrome throughout the event.
2. At a couple subsequent events, she’d actually WANTED to speak to me, but had put me on her, “People-Who-Are-Too-Cool-And-Probably-Wouldn’t-WANT-To-Speak-To-Me” list.
3. She was (wait for it…) super intimidated. By…me.

Whaaaat?

Yes, folks.

Here I was, thinking:

She saw me, she’s actively ignoring me, and she must not be interested in speaking with me.

When in REALITY…

She never saw me.
She wasn’t actively ignoring me.
She was REALLY interested in speaking with me.
And, she was intimidated by me.

Every month I get fun reminders that my PERCEPTION of what’s happening with myself, with others, with the world, is so often comically, verifiably WRONG.

And I go about living my life, making decisions from these often-wrong stories.

And so, I aspire to become a person who one day  masters the art of NOT buying into the less-than-powerful stories she makes up about others.

Until the day I achieve mastery though, I’ll just enjoy the constant game of  getting better and better and better at not creating less-than-powerful stories about others (and uncovering/unraveling them afterwards if I do).

I invite you to join me.

It’s a game that’s quite empowering and oh-so-much fun.