What Are Your Waiting For By Julie Cross

In my work, I hear people all the time saying that they really want to do something great with their lives and so I wonder what exactly they are waiting for.

I too have been guilty of this, I admit it. And it is especially relevant in this time when some of us have lost our stages/work due to lockdowns.

So, what is doing something great and making a difference in the world really look like? Perhaps we have thought that it has to be somehow connected with fame, television, becoming a YouTube sensation, traveling to Africa to feed the starving, adopting a child in need or, for me, being the next Oprah!

Ah, but that is not necessarily the case. Sure all of those events and things can make a difference but what I want you to know for sure, you do not need to ‘put off’ making a difference.

When the Pandemic really hit Australia I was at a Speaking Convention in Adelaide with many of my speaking colleagues, and suddenly things got very real and the country started shutting down and locking up. There we were, phones out with message after message cancelling our work for the next 6 months at least. There would be no conferences or large events in the near future. I went through the same emotions that everybody would have at some stage… fear… ‘Oh my Gawd, there is a Pandemic, will we all die?’… then, ‘What if I never work again, what will I do?’ And then we settle in and keep moving, one step at a time, staying focussed on what we can do. in the wrong direction. Then I stopped, and gave myself a good talking too, “Julie, you tell everybody else that we all have a stage to serve the world from, to make a difference… so you may not have your ‘paid’ stage in front of a room full of people right now, but there are stages to be found!” So, I went down to my local IGA that day to get a few things. I noticed the girl in the deli was looking particularly down, and very routine and habitual in her interactions. Perhaps she had been negatively affected by those ‘toilet paper buying fear ridden people’, and they had been giving her a bad time. Or perhaps she was feeling the pain of the pandemic like the rest of us. So, I say, “Good Morning’ with little response and then I ask for 200 grams of ham. Well she grabs the tongs and grabs the ham and throws it on the scales. I look at the scales, I look at her and I look back at the scales… you are not going to believe it… 200 grams right on the money, the first time! Well, I look back at her and I start clapping and cheering and congratulating her. She went bright red, and I said, “Oh, come on, that sure must feel good… how often does that happen, you should have a bell to ring when that happens!!” Then she leaned into me and said, “Well, it does feel pretty good!” Next thing you know everybody in the IGA is running to the Deli to see what is going on. We are all talking, laughing and connecting as I tell them the story. Just what the world needs right now in this time of fear, mask wearing and social distancing. Then the guy beside me looks at her and asks, “125grams of ham please”, and we all laugh again. I may not have been paid in money that day, but I was paid in love and laughter, and karma will have my back. I left with a spring in my step feeling like I had a made a difference that day.

So, if you are not at work at the moment, think about how you can still use the stage you have in your circle of influence and then reflect on how you are going to work that stage that you have in the Beauty Industry when you do open again. Every interaction you have with a client, every time you touch them, converse and consult with them, every time you recommend a product and advise them, every interaction is an exchange of energy and an opportunity to leave them not just looking better, but ‘feeling’ better than when they walked in. And every time you do that, that client will walk out and affect everybody she touches with her energy that day, and so the ripple effect is in action. Please don’t ever play small on your ability to enhance lives and change them, one interaction and touch at a time.

Now your work may not end up on television, you may not get public applause, and you may not win awards (Oh, actually I am sure you will win awards!), but that is not really why we should be doing it. I mean that is the ego’s reason and of course there is a part of all of us that enjoys that and delights in the applause and recognition… but we are playing a bigger, deeper game than that. When we truly get this we realise we can start now! No preparation, no waiting required, just go to work and interact with your clients through the lens of a bigger vision, a vision where you see how by affecting your clients with warmth, care, sparkle and concern does really make a difference in people’s lives. In this high tech world, and now this socially distanced world, people are craving high touch more than ever, and you have found the perfect stage to work in that space.

And remember, like I had too, if you aren’t at work right now or you still want to do more outside of your work space, well you could write something today that could inspire somebody, it doesn’t have to be a best-selling book that makes a difference, it may just be a poem you give somebody or a FB status Update. You don’t have to have a stage with hundreds of people in your audience for you to deliver a stirring speech that changes people’s lives… you have stages everywhere in your life. Yes, in your workplace, but also over lunch with a friend, your interaction with somebody serving you, somebody beside you on a train… these are all moments where you can affect somebody positively and make a difference.

Please don’t underestimate that when you affect one person, and just one… start there… when you affect one person positively that person then goes on to affect somebody else and so it goes on, you will never know the full extent of that ripple that you caused… you may never see the end result, you may never get the immediate gratification and the applause from the audience, but it will come back around, know that, it will be back… and so we don’t wait, we start now, just with one act today, we start right now, just get started with the clients you have booked in today.

Sometimes it is in the smallest of gestures. I notice that some people find it hard to give people a compliment, well just start there even, start with that one gesture that takes all of a couple of seconds and watch the difference it can make. Then notice the ripple as that person is affected… and don’t play small on that, you just did something great.

So many people waiting for an opportunity to do something great with their lives instead of realising that they already can do something great, right here, right now, just with the best of you!

Let your sparkle shine, the world needs you… now more than ever!

www.juliecross.com.au