It’s time to uplevel and step into who you choose to be
He felt like every time he returned to the quintessential small town he called home, people still identified him with his life of 10 years ago. In those 10 years though, a lot had changed. He’d lived in multiple cities, built a new career, been married, and traveled the world. And yet he couldn’t shake the identity of his past - he wanted to show up as himself, in the present, but was constantly being pulled back in time. How could he move forward with who he was now? Or better yet, who he was becoming?
Have you ever identified yourself with something that is no longer part of you?
Or perhaps identified yourself with something that isn’t a reflection of who you are as a person, but rather what you do: your work, job, status. In a culture where our default is to describe ourselves as our job title, it can keep us tethered to where we are, stuck from moving forward, and create resistance when we feel as though we are meant for something more.
When you are driven by a desire, need, or commitment for change, adjustment, or advancement in your business, life, or career, what you are seeking is an uplevel:
A step up the staircase on your journey of becoming -
becoming more of yourself, at a higher level, operating at a higher frequency. Or as one client shared as he prepared for his uplevel: it was time to pilot a bigger plane at a higher altitude and enjoy a new, elevated, atmosphere.
In order to take flight, we have to shift inward: to our being.
As long as we are attached to the past, we are never going to leave the tarmac. It’s not to say the past is good or bad - hold no judgment, please - or that we need to forget about it. It’s simply detaching ourselves from what was in order to step up, and into, what we want next for ourselves. If we hold on too tightly to the past, it’s all we can see in the future and we re-create what we already know and end up stuck standing in the same place.
The internal narrative often goes like this: There has to be more to it, right?… What do I do when I’ve been doing it (insert job, title, habit) for so long? I can do it with my eyes closed. But there’s got to be more … what is it??
It’s time for an uplevel and it starts with who you are being.
Here’s the thing:
You get to be anything you choose to be.
You read that right. Anything. You. Choose. To Be.
I’m reminded of tennis professional Novak Djokovic’s speech after winning his record breaking 23rd grand slam title in Roland Garros:
“I feel that I had the power to create my own destiny… I try to visualize every single thing in my life, not just believe it, but really feel it within every cell in my body. Be in the present moment, forget about what happened in the past... future is something that is just going to happen, but if you want the better future, you create it.
Take the means in your hands, believe it, create it.”
This is where your identity, uplevel, and personal brand meet:
a point of integration where you choose who you want to be from a place of alignment and authenticity. This isn’t ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ - this is knowing who you are, how you want to feel, and becoming that person; allowing it to come through you and your being to evolve.
I experienced this first hand as I took on a complete refresh of my website from copy to content to colour, following an inside-out approach:
I started with why (who am I being?)
I dove deep into how (what am I doing?)
I allowed what flows naturally to come to me (what is the result?)
I was reminded of the most important part of personal branding: it’s constant evolution. The world we live in allows us to be anything we want to be. Create the title that best suits you on LinkedIn. Give your bio some glam on Instagram if that’s how you want to show up in the world.
It’s not about being someone else, it’s about being your whole, integrated, self.
Living a life of integration is a weaving, blending, and braiding of all aspects of who you are. No more hat wearing (unless that’s part of your style) and live a life where you can wear one multi-functioning hat as a multi-faceted human. “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have” and take it to the next level: allow your personal style to optimize who you are being.
Whether your personal brand is as complex as colours and fonts and design, or as simple as how you show up at work including your communication and contribution, ask yourself who you need to be to experience an uplevel.
As I approached my branding photoshoot and subsequent copy creation, I had my future professional self in mind. Being at the next level in my coaching career looks like connecting more deeply with clients, hosting retreats in nature, bringing groups together to learn, and speaking at events.
This is the secret sauce, missing piece, key to success in your uplevel:
focusing on who you are being at your next level. It’s trusting in yourself, finding clarity on what you want, and identifying you who you are being at the next level that is leading you to the result you desire. And when you’re ready, it’s communicating it to the world. Be courageous in showing up at your next level; practice different language around who you are becoming, test, try, experiment.
Before you know it, everyone around you won’t see your past anymore and they’ll identify you as the person you are becoming.
Kirsten Schmidtke is a professional coach, speaker, and lover of lake life. She works with leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs to help them up-level their careers, businesses, and lives. Are you ready to explore what’s possible for you? Contact Kirsten to start the conversation!
