009 | The Secret to Liberating A Billion Souls: Trust AND Surrender with Shelley Paxton

07/14/20 • 42 min

Shelley Paxton is internationally recognized as The Burnout Fighter and Fire Re-igniter. She is the Chicago-based author of Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life, a book where she shares her journey from working in Corporate America as the CMO of Harley-Davidson to becoming the Chief Soul Officer of her life and career.

Shelley has spent over 25 years in the corporate world as a highly regarded marketing and advertising executive with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Visa, McDonald’s, and AOL. Her work has been recognized and featured in multiple media publications including Thrive Global, Forbes, PBS, and CBS. Since taking her Soulbbatical in 2016 and launching her company, Shelley has been on a mission to liberate a billion souls by inspiring them to embrace their greatest truth, purpose, and possibility.

Shelley joins me today to share all of the “Ands” in her life and career. She discusses her ballsy move to liberate a billion souls by creating a title wave of change in people’s lives and organizations. She discusses the magic that can happen when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process instead of the corporate process or the process of others. She discusses how you can trust, surrender, and follow your soul’s desires while working in the corporate environment and why the first step to reconnecting to your soul is to get reacquainted with yourself and your personal values. She also explains the difference between rebelling for something versus rebelling against something and why she believes, deep down, everyone has a rebel soul.

“You have to know where you’re heading, and you first have to know yourself because getting reconnected with your soul really is getting reconnected with your GPS system.” - Shelley Paxton

This week on Life in the AND:

Shelley’s big, audacious goal of liberating a billion souls - one soul at a time
How Shelley stays grounded in holding onto her big, overarching goal while liberating one individual soul at a time
The magic that happens when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process
Bridging the gap between working in the corporate world while following your soul’s desires
Getting reacquainted with yourself and your values and why it’s the first step to reconnecting to your soul
Choosing to believe that crisis always comes as a gift to teach us a lesson
Why Shelley believes everyone has a rebel soul
How your ‘ands’ are the lego pieces of your life
Using fear as fuel to get to where you want to go
Why Shelley believes trusting and surrendering to your soul’s desires is the “And” everyone should stand for

Resources Mentioned:

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Connect with Shelley Paxton:

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

“You have to know where you’re heading, and you first have to know yourself because getting reconnected with your soul really is getting reconnected with your GPS system.” - Shelley Paxton

This week on Life in the AND:

Shelley’s big, audacious goal of liberating a billion souls - one soul at a time
How Shelley stays grounded in holding onto her big, overarching goal while liberating one individual soul at a time
The magic that happens when you trust AND surrender to your soul’s process
Bridging the gap between working in the corporate world while following your soul’s desires
Getting reacquainted with yourself and your values and why it’s the first step to reconnecting to your soul
Choosing to believe that crisis always comes as a gift to teach us a lesson
Why Shelley believes everyone has a rebel soul
How your ‘ands’ are the lego pieces of your life
Using fear as fuel to get to where you want to go
Why Shelley believes trusting and surrendering to your soul’s desires is the “And” everyone should stand for

Resources Mentioned:

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Connect with Shelley Paxton:

Embrace Life in the AND

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Previous Episode

007 | I Control My Destiny AND So Does "The Universe"

Does “The Universe” control your destiny...or do you? That is a question pondering the minds of many people from all walks of life. I don’t know about you, but if I sat on my laurels and chose to let "The Universe" take the reigns over my life and business - nothing would happen. However, If I took complete and total responsibility and accountability over my destiny - I also know that leaves me fully accountable for all of my failures. It means I would probably beat myself up over things that I truly had no control over.

So how do you walk the fine line between gaining control of your life and letting things be? How do you balance controlling your destiny and letting “The Universe" do the heavy lifting?

In today’s episode, I discuss how you can control your own destiny while still trusting that “The Universe” will provide. I discuss the impact of leaning too heavily on "The Universe" to fulfill your destiny and explain the Locus of Control concept in psychology. I discuss how taking too much control and accountability over your life can lead to negative effects, like stress and anxiety. I also share strategies to help you strike a balance between trusting in "The Universe" to provide what you need to succeed while also taking control of your destiny.

“The Universe IS the wave. We don’t know where The Universe is going - but we DO have control of how we surf it.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

The Locus of Control concept and the impact of having a high internal Locus of Control
The difference between people with high Internal Locus of Control versus high External Locus of Control
The pros and cons of Internal and External Locus’ of Control
Finding a balance between letting "The Universe" control your destiny while taking control of your life and business trajectory
Balancing high intentions with low attachments to the final outcomes
Getting clear on what you’re truly responsible for
Why frequently trying to prepare for the worst is a mistake many high-performing leaders make

Resources Mentioned:

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by Michael A. Singer

Embrace Life in the AND

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Next Episode

008 | Comparison is a Thief of Joy AND a Source of it

Comparison is such a natural human experience that asking you to avoid it like the plague can be a lot like asking you to build a billion-dollar organization overnight. It’s pretty impossible. But many coaches and consultants will tell you to avoid ‘comparisonitis’ - the habit of comparing yourself, your skills, and your success to others. And while comparisonitis can be a thief of joy... it doesn’t have to be.

In fact, comparison, at its core, is not really good or bad.

It’s an ‘and.’

Today, I explain why comparison is a thief of joy AND a source of it. I explain why we feel the need to compare ourselves to others and why it’s actually a normal part of humanity. I discuss the two types of comparison and the benefits and disadvantages of each type. I explain the difference between malicious envy and benign envy and how we can use our envious feelings as a tool for personal growth and joy. I also explain how to reduce the harmful comparisons in your life while leveraging the truly beneficial ones that will help you experience more gratitude, celebration, and joy while expanding your personal and professional growth.

“If you can get rid of the ‘I’m not good enough,’ or the ‘I’m incapable,’ or the ‘there’s something wrong with me,’ then you can stay in a space of feeling that inspiration, that motivation to propel you forward and that gratitude and celebration for where you are.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

Understanding that comparing yourself to others is a natural human experience
Why trying to avoid comparisonitis can often backfire
The two types of comparison and the pros and cons of each type
The difference between malicious envy and benign envy
Being aware of when you’re comparing yourself to others
Identifying what your heart needs that your ego is trying to achieve for you
Determining whether the comparison is truly important and reasonable
Identifying what you’re making the comparisons mean about you

Embrace Life in the AND

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.