In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it’s easy to underestimate the impact of the people around us. Whether it’s family, friends, colleagues, or virtual connections, the energy and influence of our circle can either enhance our journey to greatness or derail it entirely. In this blog post, we explore key insights from Miranda Von Frickin’s recent podcast episode on the “Own Your Awesome” podcast to understand how to surround ourselves with people who elevate us and amplify our awesomeness.

Step 1: Create a Plan of Action

Imagine Your Ideal Circle

The first step in redefining your relationships is to be intentional about the people you want in your circle. Miranda encourages us to articulate the characteristics and qualities we want in our ideal companions. These could range from general traits like motivation, entrepreneurship, and boldness to more specific attributes such as technological savvy, stage presence, or shared faith.

Miranda recalls surrounding herself with podcasters even before she started her own podcast. By actively engaging in spaces where podcasting was discussed, she inevitably pulled these influencers into her sphere, fueling her confidence and knowledge. This is the power of intentional association—if you dream of becoming a keynote speaker, seek out keynote speakers. If fitness is your goal, engage with disciplined athletes.

Action Step:
– Use a notebook to outline the types of people you aspire to surround yourself with.
– Create a visual representation or vision board to keep these relationships at the forefront of your focus.

Step 2: Audit Your Current Circle

Evaluate Your Current Relationships

Before crafting the future, it’s essential to take stock of where you are. Conduct an audit of your current relationships across different areas of your life—professional, personal, and virtual.

Miranda details her own experience of assessing her professional and home-life circles, acknowledging that some relationships might need rethinking. She emphasizes the importance of identifying which relationships elevate you and which ones drain you. This audit will unveil the health of your current environment and its alignment with your growth goals.

In the digital age, our virtual relationships hold significant weight. Miranda advises auditing your virtual connections and interactions. Are there accounts and platforms that drain your energy? It may be time to mute, unfollow, or even block these sources.

Action Step:
– Categorize your relationships into groups like business, online, and personal.
– Evaluate each category critically: mark supportive relations in green, neutral ones in yellow, and negative, draining ones in red.

Step 3: Make Adjustments

Refine Your Circle for Maximum Impact

Having identified who lifts you and who holds you back, it’s time to make purposeful adjustments. This process might involve making small changes like unfollowing harmful social media accounts or more significant shifts like distancing yourself from negative influences in your personal life.

Miranda shares stories from her coaching career, including a client who needed to step back from a close friend. While difficult, such decisive actions are necessary for personal growth and ultimate happiness. Alternatively, you might need to find new ways to engage positively with supportive individuals who are already in your life but not fully tapped into.

Action Step:
– Initiate conversations with the people you love to align on mutual support for your goals.
– Actively seek out and invest in relationships that energize and inspire you, whether through mentorship, networking events, or social engagements.

Conclusion: Own Your Awesome

Your environment significantly influences your ability to achieve your goals and live a fulfilled life. As Miranda Von Frickin underscores in her podcast, taking deliberate actions to shape your circle is a crucial step toward owning your awesome. By creating a plan, auditing your current connections, and making thoughtful adjustments, you empower yourself to thrive in every aspect of life.

Connect With Miranda:
For more insights into unleashing your potential, follow Miranda Von Frickin on LinkedIn and Instagram, and tune into the “Own Your Awesome” podcast for regular doses of inspiration and practical wisdom.

In conclusion, don’t leave your relationships to chance. Be intentional, be discerning, and watch your awesome unfold.

Transcript:

Miranda [00:00:02]:
Hello. Hello. And welcome to the own your awesome podcast. I’m your host, Miranda Von Frickin. I am so excited for today’s episode. It’s a topic I’ve discussed often in my past as a 9 to fiver, into my entrepreneurship, as well as just friends and family that I talk to about a gold achievement, essentially. I know we’re all about owning our awesome here, and I am a 100% all about that. There are a few ways that we can do this and ensure that we are successful in not only expressing our awesome, but actually owning it and reveling in it and just being amazed by who we are and what we put out in the world, and then having that come back to us.

Miranda [00:00:52]:
One of the ways I wanna talk about today are the people that we’re surrounded by. This episode is inspired by one of my favorite biz besties, Samantha Smith of Samantha Smith Creative. Hey, girl. Hey. I am so pumped for this conversation with you because I’ve had it with stuff out there. And for one episode in particular that she really enjoyed, that really resonated with her, and it made me think how important it is to have the people we’re surrounded by love on us. And when Samantha sent me a Voxer, because that’s how I love to communicate, it was really cool to hear her gratitude for my episode. Now, of course, I’m gonna make her turn it into a testimonial because that’s how I roll.

Miranda [00:01:53]:
But it it sparked, some inspiration for this episode today, and we’re gonna talk about all the people we surround ourselves with while we’re trying to own our awesome. So if you have been following me for a while, you know I had a a podcast in the past with another biz bestie, my my girl Jody. It was called Biz Besties. And if you go and wherever you listen to this podcast, search biz besties, and it’s just a photo of a microphone and some color, and it’s with myself and Jody Kenny. We talk about a few different ways, what I call getting there. Right? Getting to our ultimate goal. And I break down there into 5 categories. T h e r e.

Miranda [00:02:38]:
I spell out there. Trust is the t. Habits are the h. Energy is the first e. Relationships is the r, and environment is that last e. And I’m kind of if you’ve listened to those shows at all, I’m kind of tapping into the relationship version of this, of getting to own our awesome. Right? The people we surround ourselves with are so crucial at work, home, play, in our business, even online. Right? Like, a lot of the people I surround myself with are virtual these days.

Miranda [00:03:14]:
Right? Ever since the pandemic, we live on Zoom calls or on LinkedIn or networking groups that are now on Zoom calls or on some other platform that takes us virtual. And it’s amazing that we have access to so many people these days, and I’m just obsessed with it, of course. However, there may be some people that come into our lives for seasons or for reasons, but they’re just not for us forever, or they take us further away from owning and expressing our truest self. So I really wanna urge you to take responsibility today for the people you surround yourself with. Because if we are to ultimately hit our goals, love our life, truly thrive in business, at work, in in our hobbies or just in life in general, the people we’re surrounded by are crucial to that equation. So I wanna give you some practical tips and tools today, not just the higher level energetic speak that I love so much, but there’ll be some of that sprinkled in. So step 1 for taking responsibility for the people that we are surrounded by would be to set a plan of action. Right? Set a plan not only as to who is currently around us, but who we want to be surrounded by.

Miranda [00:04:45]:
Right? So if you were to sit down with a pen and a paper, and if you’re happen to be in a space right now where you’re able to kinda pause this and do it as I speak it, phenomenal. If you’re not because you’re in the car, I love me some car podcasts. I totally get it. Just come back to this episode, and it’ll be a short one. So listen to it again, and then do it with a notebook so you can really, like, do the work. Right? So step 1 would be to create a plan. Who are the people you need to be surrounded by in order to achieve the goals you have for yourself and that will allow you to be a 100% the fullest version of yourself. We’re not looking at the current people yet.

Miranda [00:05:27]:
We’re just looking at if we were to pick exactly the type of person that we wanted to be surrounded by, who would that be? It could be high level stuff like motivated people, entrepreneurs, fierce women, bold women who speak their mind. It could be Christians. It could be people who love Jesus. That would be my people, of course. I’m actually okay with all the people, but I really get my inspiration from those who bring faith into their their life and business. It can be people who are athletes. It can be people who are really disciplined, or it can be free spirits. Right? Like, what are the type of people, high level energetically, core value type that you need to surround yourself with? They could also be very specific people, people who know how to do technology, who are really good at podcasting, people who speak on stages.

Miranda [00:06:23]:
Right? Like, if your goal is to be a keynote speaker, you should probably have some keynote speaker friends. Right? Kinda makes sense. Right? I wanted to put this podcast out for years, and I didn’t, on purpose, surround myself with podcasters. However, I just drew them in because I talked about my desire to have a podcast for so long. So I surrounded myself with other people who had podcasts, and anytime they talked about podcasting, I get a little twinge of jealousy. Right? I’m like, oh, I want a podcast so bad. If so and so can do it, I know I can. And so, ultimately, now that I have a podcast, I’m seeking out more successful podcasters to surround myself with.

Miranda [00:07:03]:
Right? Going to podcast conferences and events and being in rooms where people talk about podcasting because I absolutely love this. So what are the type of people you need to surround yourself with based on your goals? Right? Like, who maybe some people you need to draw in or some people that you need to reconnect with or just kinda bring into your world a little more. Like, kick it up a notch because they’re maybe they’re already in your world. You’re just not hanging with them enough. Right? So who are those people? Pause this. Do the homework. Alright. So if you are driving, of course, don’t do the homework.

Miranda [00:07:40]:
Let’s just keep listening. But if you did pause this, because you will eventually, and did the homework, I’m super curious what you came up with. Feel free to shoot me a DM on LinkedIn, Miranda Von Frickin on LinkedIn, or on Instagram, miranda. Von Frickin. I would love to know who are the people you need to be surrounded by for a couple of reasons. One, because once you put it out there and you answer the call that I’m putting out to you, the universe will respond by sending you some of those people. 2, because you’re putting it out there and you’re putting it in writing, subconsciously, you’re gonna start to look for those people. Right? And 3, I’m a super connector.

Miranda [00:08:18]:
It’s kind of my jam. I live on LinkedIn. I love networking. I host 2 different events myself. Maybe I know some of those people, and I can make an introduction for you. Happy to do that. Alright. So that is the plan.

Miranda [00:08:31]:
We created the plan. Good for you. Make sure you celebrate that. And then maybe do something pretty with the plan too. Right? Like, make a little collage of the words or a little vision board of the type of people you’re trying to call in, so you’re always hyper aware of those people that you want to call into your world. So that’s step 1, create the plan. Step 2 is to audit what’s currently happening in your world when it comes to the people that you’re surrounded with. I love me a good audit.

Miranda [00:09:00]:
In my corporate space, I didn’t like it as much, but I was always really good at it. And now in my entrepreneur world, I really enjoy a good audit because it’s just collecting data, so you can make the best decision for yourself based on your goals. So in this instance, when you are doing an audit of the people you’re currently surrounded by, think about all the places you go. Are you a 9 to 5 or so you’re at the office? Who do you have lunch with? Who do you go on breaks with? Do you go for a walk, like, at work? And what are you talking about? Like, who are the people you’re surrounded with during that 9 to 5 existence? Are there any people you should be surrounded by at work? Like, if you wanna get promoted, should you be hanging out with more leadership types? I mean, hint hint. If you’re an entrepreneur, who are the people you’re in groups with? Right? We’ve got networking groups. We’ve got coaching groups, memberships you’re a part of. Who are those people and are they the right people? Are they in alignment with the goals you have for yourself? And if not, what can we do about that? Right? Think about, too, our home life. Okay.

Miranda [00:10:10]:
So we can’t really you know, I’m not telling you to go get divorced, get rid of your kids, kick your in laws to the curb. What I’m saying is the people at home you’re surrounded by, who are the ones that are loving and supporting on you, and who are the ones that you could probably make some adjustments to, the amount of time you spend. Right? Or how can you communicate with them in a way that says, hey. These are my goals. I’d love for you to support me. That’s a whole different conversation, and maybe I’ll make that a separate podcast too. But in your home life, think about the people you’re surrounded by most. That’s not your 9 to 5 life.

Miranda [00:10:47]:
It’s not business. For me, it would be my husband. I’ve got a mother and brothers, my daughter, my son, sports moms. Right? Like, as I’m a sports mom myself, so I’m surrounded in my, quote, unquote, home life with my daughter’s teammates’ parents. Right? So that’s even an extension of my home life. So are these people feeling what you’re doing? Are you are you telling them your goals too, or is it, like, an awkward we just sit in the chairs and stare at the game? Like, not me. These people know me, and they know how I roll. And if I have a goal, I’m sharing it with them, because, obviously, I own my awesome, and I’m expressing myself in all the places.

Miranda [00:11:25]:
But if there were people that maybe made me feel yucky or were super gossipy or just weren’t just didn’t leave me wanting more, I would probably give a little distance to those people. Right? But so far, so good. Now think about too our online environment. Right? Like, who are we surrounded by online? Is it time to maybe do an audit of your socials and maybe unfollow some people? Are there people who only talk about certain topics that stress you out or annoy you or you just keep scrolling by because you’re sick of seeing their faces or they’re complaining all the time? Maybe it’s time to unfollow or disconnect from or even block. I blocked someone this morning on LinkedIn, and, man, it didn’t feel good. But I often will mute people or unfollow for 30 days or just kind of not engage in their content, so I don’t see any more of it because it it’s just not doing anything for me. Now is this selfish? Yep. It sure is.

Miranda [00:12:24]:
And let me tell you why we need to be a little more selfish when we are online because the online world can really suck us in. You all know that. Another podcast episode probably for that too. But, what we consume online can be helpful or hurtful. Right? And so it’s up to you to decide is what I’m consuming online are the people I’m surrounded with on my social platforms. What are they doing for me? Are they hurting? Are they harming? Are they elevating? Are they exhausting me? Like, what are they doing and how can I maybe make adjustments to it? And so that’s number 3, of course, that we’ll dive into. But before we get into the third one and really dive into making adjustments, of course, I want you to pause if you can and take inventory of who you’re currently surrounded by. Right? All the places.

Miranda [00:13:19]:
Maybe start by putting out categories like business, online. Sometimes it’s hard to separate the 2. I’m an online entrepreneur, obviously, but I can separate, like, my clients, my potential clients, where I get leads from, like networking events, chambers, groups, organizations I’m a part of, and then my just social scrolling on LinkedIn and all the other sites. So write down the categories and from there go to those categories either mentally because it’s home, you’re not gonna walk around your house, and say, like, who are the people that, you know, are awesome and need continue to support me and be around more? And who are the people who I could probably, you know, kind of phase out a little bit? If it’s home, again, maybe pray on that or maybe talk to the loved one and say, hey. Listen. I wanna share my goals with you. What do you think of these? Like, how can you support me with these, or I would love your support. It’s probably a really nice statement for you to say to them.

Miranda [00:14:17]:
Alright. So pause this. Go do the work. DM me when you come up with your your biggest moment from the audit of the people you’re currently surrounded by. I don’t need your list because I don’t know all your people. But if you have a question about this or if you really wanna hash out something or come up with a nice phrase or power statement around something, feel free to DM me on all the places wherever you find me and follow me. I’d love to help you through this, of course. So alright.

Miranda [00:14:48]:
And if you are driving, you know what to do. When you get home, listen to this again and schedule some time. Right? Schedule a good half hour to relisten to this and do the homework if you’re not able to do it in real time. Alright. So first, we’re creating a plan of who we need to be surrounded by, then we are auditing who we currently are surrounded by and what they bring to us energetically. Are they for us or not so much? And then 3, we make adjustments. You saw this one coming. So alright.

Miranda [00:15:19]:
Adjustments. These can be tough. Right? They can be uncomfortable. It can be as simple as just muting somebody on Facebook or unfollowing them on LinkedIn. Same with Instagram. It can be as easy as that where they don’t really know that we’re unfollowing them, or it can be as difficult of an adjustment, a bigger adjustment by having a an actual conversation with someone in our world to say to them, listen. This this doesn’t work for me anymore. I had a client who kinda had to part ways for a little bit with one of her closest friends, and it was a hard adjustment.

Miranda [00:15:53]:
It was a hard conversation, and she came at it very strong, which I probably wouldn’t have come at it this way. But but she did, and it works for her, because everybody’s personality is different. Right? So do what works for you. But she came at them and said, I need to take a break from you. What you’re what you’re bringing to me energetically is doing more harm than good. And, you know, I love you. I want the best for you, but when I’m around you, I think different thoughts. They’re not my highest level thoughts, and it’s bringing me down.

Miranda [00:16:21]:
And, again, it’s not about you. It’s just it’s just how I am when I’m around you. So that that hurt. I I can only imagine that that that woman on the other side of that call felt, And, you know, it was almost like a breakup. Right? Like, I mean, if you’re in a crappy relationship and they gotta go, you have to have that uncomfortable conversation while still respecting the other person, but more respecting yourself. So if you’re making some adjustments, I urge you to start with yourself and start small. Right? So the online stuff is super easy. The the work stuff, if you’re a 9 to 5 or maybe a little more difficult.

Miranda [00:16:56]:
Maybe you go to lunch with the same person and you get fast food every time and you gossip and you talk smack the whole car ride, and you’re just thinking, like, oh, like, I come back feeling released because, listen, I have done this before, so no judgment. I’ve been that 9 to 5 or who vented for 30 minutes in the car ride to go get my Chipotle and then vented the whole way back, talk smack, and then went back and put on a fake happy face. So I don’t urge that. However, here’s how you get away from it. You tell the person, hey. I I brought my lunch today. Maybe you pack your lunch, and I’m gonna I’m gonna eat it, you know, in my car, or I’m gonna I gotta run an errand, so I’m gonna eat my car. I’m gonna eat my car.

Miranda [00:17:37]:
Or I started walking, depending on where you live. I’m in upstate New York. It’s it’s nice out now, finally. Thank you, Lord. So maybe you go for a walk on your lunch break, and you can invite the person and say, hey. Do you wanna go for a walk? But, just a heads up, I’m gonna be listening to a podcast. There’s this new one you may like. It’s called own your awesome.

Miranda [00:17:56]:
Hint hint. But that’s that’s a nice way to really say to the person, not like, I don’t wanna hang with you anymore, or you’re really toxic, or this isn’t good for me anymore. Just say, hey. I’m gonna go for a walk tomorrow. Maybe invite them, see how it goes, or maybe just not altogether and just say, I’m going for a walk. I got my earbuds on. I’m gonna listen to this new podcast. I think the best thing I did for myself back in my 9 to 5 days during my lunch break was to switch up that routine.

Miranda [00:18:21]:
Right? To drive a different way to work sometimes, you know, go the longer way, leave a little earlier, Listen to a podcast on the way to work. And then at lunchtime, I was super pumped to finish that episode I was listening to, or, you know, run an errand or walk the mall depending on how close you are, you know, whatever’s in your vicinity of your work, whatever you’re able to do, because I know everybody’s different. I know, you know, some people who work in my area, have to take a bus into work because they park in a in a certain location and they’re not close, and maybe there’s not a lot of things in the area. But maybe you just say, I’m gonna go in the conference room or go outside and sit somewhere and just let the sun beat on my face. Ultimately, you have to do what’s best for you. Right? What are your goals? How are you owning your awesome? And are the people around you helping that or hurting that? So step 1, create the plan. Who do you need to be around? Step 2, audit the current people in your world. Take inventory.

Miranda [00:19:20]:
What’s working for you? What’s not? And then step 3, make some adjustments. So, of course, if you’re doing the homework in real time, feel free to pause and maybe, like, highlight some of the step twos, the people that you came up with and, you know, in different colors like red, they gotta go. Yellow highlighter, maybe they need some, like, a decrease in time or an adjustment or a conversation. Green people, because these are my people, these are the ones who I need to increase time with. So maybe you plan some coffee dates with them, go to lunch with them, have meetings with them, do Zoom calls with them if it’s virtual. I know when I sat down and did this audit for myself a couple years ago, there were women. I was like, I need to be in her world. She is moving and shaking.

Miranda [00:20:06]:
She’s making things happen for herself. How do I get more in her world? Whether I need to pay for her time, right, through coaching, whether I need to become a member if she’s got a membership or take some of her courses or just engage in her content more, I need to be around her more. How do I do that and figure it out? Sometimes it’s as easy as asking the person too and saying, hey. I love what you’re doing. How do I how do I surround myself with you more? Like, don’t be all like, hey. Can we be friends? Although I’ve heard that a few times, and it’s cute, and I love it. But I would start with, hey. I love what you’re doing.

Miranda [00:20:41]:
You know, give that person a compliment. I love what you’re doing. You know, sometimes people will say, like, oh, your energy is contagious. You know, like or you make me feel some type of way, and it’s so positive, and it makes me really motivated. Like, thank you. You know, thank that person. Be around them, and find out maybe what’s the next event you’re going to, or what groups are you a part of. You know? So it doesn’t look like you’re stalking, of course.

Miranda [00:21:02]:
But so you just surround yourself with that person a little bit more, and then find out who they’re surrounding themselves with. Because my assumption is if they’re moving and shaking and owning their awesome, they’re around some great people too. And you just may be one of them if you make that adjustment. Well, friends, thank you so much for spending time with me. I loved this conversation. I wanna hear from you. This is the first time I’ve asked this, and I think I’ll be asking it a little bit more going forward. I wanna hear from you what you did in that plan.

Miranda [00:21:33]:
What who do you need to be surrounded with? What was the audit like when you took inventory of who you were surrounded by? What did it look like? Did it freak you out? Did it give you some moments, or were you like, yes. I am surrounded by all the right people. And if that happens to be the case, which it rarely is, if you’re surround everybody in your world is just perfect, then awesome. Tell me how you do it. But and if that’s not the case, that’s okay. You’re not alone. Let’s make some really easy adjustments to just increase the positivity, the support, and the love, and helping you to be 100% yourself and truly own your awesome. And you do that by having great people around you.

Miranda [00:22:13]:
All right, friends. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Own Your Awesome. I’m your host, Miranda Von Frickin. Be sure to connect with me on all the places Instagram, LinkedIn, follow me, here, of course. Follow the podcast. Send me a review if you’re enjoying this so far. This is my 5th episode. I’m loving it.

Miranda [00:22:32]:
I hope you are too. And of course, check out my website for more information to work with me. It’s Miranda von Frickin dot com. Until next week. Continue to own your awesome.