Basement Chronicles with Lisa Dublin
Episode 53: The Power of Doing One Thing
You’re listening to Basement Chronicles with Lisa Dublin, Episode 53: The Power of Doing One Thing.
Hey, you made it. Welcome to my basement.
I’m Lisa Dublin, a life coach and communication coach helping professional and executive women to live, lead and speak with confidence.
Because you know what? Developing your confidence and deepening your faith in God is one of the best formulas for an amazing life.
So, are you ready?
Let’s go.
Hey everyone, how are you all doing?
So, I just came from Saint Lucia, where I was conducting a Speak With Confidence in-person program. We were fully sold out and then some, and I am amazed, grateful, and just sitting here reflecting on how I got here.
Today I want to share some thoughts on the power of doing one thing consistently over time.
You reap the benefits.
As you know, I started Basement Chronicles in my basement in 2020, just when the pandemic started.
Basement Chronicles began as a vlog in my basement with a ring light, a swivel chair and my iPhone.
Now Basement Chronicles has become this podcast that you’re listening to. It is also Basement Chronicles Live, a livestream on radio and on the internet, along with so many other things that we do.
There is a lot of work to be done, a lot of organizing and figuring things out, but one thing is for sure:
I started something that has caught on.
How do I know that? And what is the lesson in all of this for you, dear listener?
On the first day of the Speak With Confidence Saint Lucia Cohort 1 class, we obviously did introductions.
And it turns out that more than half the class had developed a relationship with me over the years by watching Basement Chronicles when it was a vlog.
I could not believe it.
Some people I had never met, but their names were familiar to me because I had seen them sign up for my stuff over the years. I might also have interacted with them on my Lives and on my posts.
Throughout the class, I kept thinking about writing this very podcast episode.
I kept thinking about the feeling of realizing that I was not crazy or stupid to pursue this work—to start the vlog, to keep it going through thick and thin, through pauses, fits and starts, and to begin even when I wasn’t ready, when you could see the chipped wood behind me.
Oh my goodness. All of the things.
I am so happy I kept Basement Chronicles going.
And now Speak With Confidence is bearing that kind of fruit because I think I always had a sense that there was something special there.
I keep coming back to this thought:
Pursue and master one thing.
Pursue and master one thing.
Be known in the world for having contributed in one profound and singular way.
For me, it’s Speak With Confidence.
I guess it is also Basement Chronicles, but obviously you can see how the two things go hand in hand.
I’m putting the finishing touches on my book, I’m Not Going Back to the Office, and the thesis of the book rings even more true as I look at my work over the years.
Your gift plus your WHY equals your calling.
So you need to figure out two things.
First: What am I naturally gifted at?
I like to put it this way: What is easy for you to do and difficult for others?
Most likely, that is your gift.
The second question is: What is my big WHY in the world?
Then you have to figure out how to use those gifts and skills to accomplish your big WHY.
And that’s it.
That’s how you’re going to get by.
As you have probably figured out by now, I’m a natural communicator. I’m a speaker and a writer. And I’m also a skilled coach.
Those three talents actually spell SWC.
Speaker. Writer. Coach.
Oh my goodness. How is everything so connected?
I’m an SWC—a speaker, writer and coach—and I run a program called SWC, entirely unrelated, called Speak With Confidence.
Just a little aside.
Anyway, my big WHY is to help people win in life because I know what it means to lose big time.
And I hate it.
I love to help people overcome things within themselves and obstacles in their environment that militate against their growth, development, progress and ultimate victory.
You guys, I’m always in a roar in my head—for myself, for those I care about, for my clients, for my followers, for those connected to me.
My mindset is: You should be winning.
You really should be winning in life.
So this WHY is so deep that it fuels my fire.
I’m consistent in showing up in life, in my business, for my family and for my clients because I am doing work that I love, that I’m good at, that people want and that gets people results.
That’s it.
If it were hard for Lisa Dublin to coach, speak and write, Lisa Dublin would not be doing any of it.
I’ve thought about what keeps some people inspired and others tired.
A lot of it is, first of all, absolute alignment.
If you can figure out what you’re good at and focus your energy, time and effort on getting better at that, you will become inimitable.
And you know I love that word.
Inimitable means unable to be imitated.
In business, that makes you the top-of-mind choice for people.
In a professional career, that puts you in line for more promotions and more professional opportunities.
But I can already hear your objection:
“But Lisa, you aren’t doing one thing. You have a podcast, a program, a book, coaching and speaking.”
That is true.
But those are not five unrelated things.
They are five expressions of one thing.
My one thing is helping people use their voices to overcome what has kept them from winning.
I teach.
I coach.
I write.
I speak.
I broadcast.
The containers may change, but the contribution remains the same.
Pursuing one thing does not mean that you can have only one interest, one income stream or one expression of your gift.
It means that there is a governing idea beneath your work.
Your efforts are not scattered across five different worlds.
They are gathering force in one.
And for me, it really is in the field of communication.
Think of a tree.
It may have many branches, but it has one trunk.
So perhaps the question is not:
“Which of my gifts must I abandon?”
Perhaps the better question is:
“What is the one contribution that all my gifts were given to make?”
And yes, you may choose incorrectly at first.
You may have to refine the idea, change the name, abandon a particular product or discover that one expression of that gift does not work.
That is not wasted time.
That is information.
You are not marrying the first method.
You are committing yourself to the mission and the journey of discovering the mission, no matter how long it takes and how many iterations it requires.
The greatest danger, I believe, is not choosing imperfectly, because that is always going to happen.
I think the greatest danger in today’s world is continually starting over, never remaining anywhere long enough to become excellent, trusted or known.
The power of staying with one thing and learning it inside out also has qualitative advantages.
You begin to see the subject matter in a different light.
It is like living with someone for a long time and beginning to know them inside out, in such an intimate way that no one else can match.
It is like looking at something long enough that you are able to figure out where it starts and stops, how it is put together, what makes it work successfully and what the pitfalls are.
It is having the confidence—based on familiarity, experience, expertise and observation—to diagnose and solve major problems in your chosen field.
Then there is how much you contribute to your field.
When you choose the thing that you’re good at and decide to hunker down and really know it, you make a bigger contribution.
Let me tell you, our world is thirsty for excellence.
For the extraordinary.
For the exquisitely crafted.
For the beautifully put together.
For the well thought out and the well planned.
When you stay with one thing, you develop the capacity to deliver at that superlative level.
You become so good at knowing it inside out that you get to the point where you can deliver at a highly excellent level every single time.
It is not hit and miss.
It becomes your standard.
You know, I’ve been trying to find a quote that I came across some years ago.
It is buried somewhere in the Bible app, in the Bible in One Year plan with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel.
Nicky Gumbel was telling a story about a famous person—possibly William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army—and the quote was something along the lines of:
“I’m thinking of an idea so big that when it is created, it will bless the whole world.”
I’m still not sure exactly where to find it.
If you come across that quote, please let me know. I have been looking for it for a long time and haven’t been able to find it again.
But more importantly, that quote is very much tied to my point about doubling down on knowing, developing and executing one thing so well that it can become useful, powerful and valuable in the world.
So, what is your thing, dear listener?
What is your product?
Your service?
Your interest?
Your vocation?
Your hobby?
Your passion?
Your mission in life?
And what would happen if you gave that one thing your full attention for the next six months?
I’m telling you: you would be well on your way to mastery.
I know this is inspiring for most people, but there are also some people who will ask:
“What if I choose one thing, give it my time, energy, money and attention, and it does not work?”
So the coach in me first wants to ask you:
What does “does not work” mean?
Does it mean that it did not make money quickly?
That people did not notice immediately?
That your first attempt failed?
That the original form of the idea had to change?
Let me tell you, Basement Chronicles began in my basement.
It was not always a podcast or a radio livestream.
It began as a vlog.
The form evolved, but the purpose remained: to speak to our foundational, authentic selves, engage in personal development and discuss those things that are at our core.
The point is, your first version may not work.
Your first strategy may fail.
The name may change.
The audience can change.
You might discover a better way to deliver the thing.
But does that necessarily mean that what you are developing is wrong or that it did not work?
Listen, as much as I love what I do, I am not committing myself forever to one method.
And you should not either.
What I am arguing for is committing yourself long enough to discover the mission beneath something and to become excellent at delivering it—no matter the format, version or method.
So I want to end with this:
What are you committing to?
Have you figured out what your one thing is?
Perhaps I can help you.
I developed a handy tool many years ago for my private clients called What’s Your Why?
And I don’t mind sharing it with you just because you got to the end of this unusually long podcast.
I really had a lot to say about finding your one thing because I saw it playing out right before me in Speak With Confidence.
So, if you are still listening, I would love to give you this handy tool called What’s Your Why? It will help you figure out what your deepest motivation really is.
If you’d like it, please sign up using the link in the show notes and I’ll send it to you as my gift for being a podcast listener.
I can hardly wait to hear the results of doing that exercise.
I’ll see you in the next episode.
Bye!
Thank you so much for listening today.
Now, I know that you prioritize your growth and success, so if you feel stuck in any area of your life, why don’t you consider life coaching?
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If you desire more, take the first step right now.
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