Aligning with Your North Star: Faith and Personal Growth for Lasting Success

What if you could align your life with a guiding star that never wavers, illuminating your path to success and fulfillment? Join me, Lorayne Michaels, as I recount my transformative experience at Emily Ford's Discovering Polaris conference in California. We'll unravel the concept of the North Star, both as a celestial beacon and a metaphor for unwavering faith in Jesus Christ. Discover how electrifying speakers like Rex Crain used impactful messages to resonate with my journey, emphasizing statements like ‘You can't change your future until you disrupt your present.’

Reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey, I stress the power of having a vision so grand it necessitates personal growth. Explore the idea of placing trust in something solid and unchanging, like faith in God, to overcome limiting beliefs and discover your gifts and abilities. By sharing personal anecdotes, including the lessons from my past marriage, you’ll gain insights into staying true to your values and the costs of compromising integrity. Let's discuss strategies to achieve career and business success by minimizing distractions and maintaining alignment with long-term goals.

Lastly, I introduce my 90-day transformation coaching program designed for those seeking mental, physical, and career advancements. Learn how you can align your life with your true North Star and achieve the fulfillment you deserve. Whether you're looking for promotion, improved well-being, or a complete life overhaul, this program offers personalized solutions that cater to your unique needs. Reach out for a free discovery call, and don't let price concerns deter you—we can find a way to make it work. Join us for an episode filled with inspiration, faith, and actionable steps towards a brighter future.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So, if you don't know, polaris is what is known as the North Star and me, prior to going to this conference, I already was associating the North Star with my faith. I am a faithful believer in Jesus and he is my North Star. So God, my relationship with God, that is my North star for many different reasons, and Jake touched on it when he was describing the North star the actual, true, physical North star, and I'll go into that in a minute. So I already had this preconceived notion of association with my faith in Christ as my North Star and that helps guide me in my business, in my career, in marriage, parenting, friendships, whatever it may be. That is my guiding light. Welcome to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, former EMT and nursing assistant, now business owner and wild entrepreneur. I walked away from over 15 years in medicine to pursue my passion and my God-given talents. Now I get the honor of helping other women discover their passions and purpose. If you're feeling stuck in life, unsure where to go or what to do, welcome. If you're exactly where you want to be great, you're welcome here too. If you have faced any kind of hardship or setback, you have found a safe place here. In other words, no matter who you are or what you've been through or what you're going through, this is the space for you. On the Bite Size Podcast, we'll discuss life, business and faith. There's something for everyone. So grab a cup of coffee and something to take notes with, because there will definitely be things you won't want to forget. What's up, fam? Welcome back to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, lorraine Michaels, and today I'm going to do a recap on the conference that I just came back from in California. I went to Emily Ford's Discovering Polaris. It was Emily Ford, her husband, jake Havron and Anthony Trimino. They were the hosts that put it on. It was Emily Ford, her husband, jay Cavron and Anthony Trimino. They were the hosts that put it on. It was a fantastic conference. It was a one day conference and there was some really dynamic speakers. And after I come back from a conference, I have time to, you know, settle back in and get into my routine with my family and my house and make sure everything's back in order, decompress, go back over my notes and then usually I make a recap podcast about it. So that's what today's episode is about. It's a solo. We don't have a guest today. It's me, yours truly, and we're talking about discovering Polaris. So, if you don't know, polaris is what is known as the North Star and me, prior to going to this conference, I already was associating the North Star with my faith. I am a faithful believer in Jesus and he is my North Star. So God, my relationship with God, and he is my North Star. So God, my relationship with God, that is my North Star for many different reasons, and Jake touched on it when he was describing the North Star, the actual, true, physical North Star, and I'll go into that in a minute. So I already had this preconceived notion of association with my faith in Christ as my North Star and that helps guide me in my business, in my career, in marriage, parenting, friendships, whatever it may be. That is my guiding light, if you will.

Speaker 1: 4:02

So that was good because the speakers somewhat connected the same dots, so that resonated well. I don't know how that was for other people, I don't know. I know there was some believers in the conference because some of them went to their church, but I don't know if everyone was but um, so that was good. Rex Crane was one of the speakers and he is a a ball of energy. He's very high energy.

Speaker 1: 4:33

At some point during his talks I felt bad because, as a speaker, you want engagement, you want people to be on the edge of their seat, you want them to be connected to what you're saying and engaging. Engagement is a huge temperature. I guess it's a huge gauge that you can use if what you're saying is resonating with the audience, and that's as a speaker. You need to know when to shift. Maybe sometimes you have to pivot completely and change how you are communicating with them, because ultimately, if you're a good speaker, you're there to serve them. It's not about you, the speaker, it's about them, the audience, and what they're going to get from it, because 90% of them are there to receive something. They are there because they want to change, transformation, they want help, they want tips, tools, tricks, they want something that they can take away so that they can leave transformed. And if you are a good speaker, you will be aware of that when you're talking and you can pivot. So, anyways, at some point a couple of times during I felt bad for him because people weren't engaging and I'm, you know, as VIP front row and I understand all that and I come from somewhat of a Baptist background, like I go to a Baptist church so I'm used to the hooting and hollering If I feel something. I'm not. I'm not feel something. You gonna know that I feel it right Because and it also like helps other people like loosen up and feel the spirit, anyways. So some things that I want to touch on and kind of I want to share with you and maybe elaborate on and hopefully you can get something from what I learned as well. Rex Crane One of the things that he said is you can't change your future until you disrupt your present.

Speaker 1: 6:33

And I love that because in my coaching that's what I talk about. When I am addressing people on social media and I'm making reels, posts, stories, whatever it may be. A lot of times I ruffle some feathers and I am constantly telling people nothing changes if nothing changes. So if you are tired of where you're at physically, nothing is going to change until you make a decision. And you know I am not happy like this. I don't feel good in my own skin, I don't feel good physically. You know it's hard for me to do X, y and Z. I'm tired of this. Something has to change. So you cannot change your future until you disrupt your present. Same thing, career wise If you are so sick and tired of the day in and day out getting up and going to the same job that you hate, nothing is going to change unless you change. Unless you take that step, and whatever that may be whether it's getting a promotion, quitting your job and getting into a job that you want to be at, something that fuels you, that lights your soul on fire. Um, so I I talk about that a lot and that's why I wrote it down is you can't change your future until you disrupt your present. And it's huge and it's the truth Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Another thing I wrote down was your normal can become your enemy. Ooh, this one resonated with me so much because sometimes, when things are going good, we just coast, and I'm not saying you have to be discontent or you have to be chasing the next best thing, because that's on the hedonic treadmill. I talk about that in my coaching as well. There is such thing as being on the hedonic treadmill and it's just chasing the next thing, the newest thing, the newest gadget, car promotion. You're never happy, you're always trying to get more. I'm not talking about that ocean. You're never happy. You're always trying to get more. I'm not talking about that. What I'm talking about is how your normal can become.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Your enemy is when you become complacent and you stop growing. If you're not growing, you're dying. If you're not growing, you're recessing, and we should always be growing, learning, evolving. That's just a part of I mean. If you're, I'm not going to even give you an excuse. You should, you should. This earth is filled with so much beauty and resources and education Like we barely use a fraction of our brain If we were to tap into it. Just because you have graduated high school, friend, that does not mean you stop learning. There's so much to learn and so many different ways we can grow and evolve as a person and we should always be evolving into the next best version of ourself, right? And so how your normal can become your enemy is if you become complacent and you just become a robot and you get up, go to work, come home, cook, eat, sleep, do it all over again. How boring is that? So I want to challenge you to make yourself a growth goal, whatever that may be, for something to achieve in the next month, in the next three months, six months, year. Make a growth goal and it should stretch you. It should be something that's uncomfortable I don't want to say impossible, because then you won't even go for it, but it should be something that when you say it, write it down you're like, oh, how is that going to happen? And then I can walk you through the steps of how it can happen. Right there's. I have a whole framework on that and, believe me, it works. What's another thing? Oh, this one is a good one.

Speaker 1: 10:40

Sight is a function of your eye. Vision is a function of your eye. Vision is a function of your heart. Ooh, ooh. I love that because it's so true. What you see, right, sight is a function of your eye. But when you have a vision, when God gives you that vision, that's a vision of your heart, that is a function of your heart, and I know, I know, you know what I'm talking about y'all. When you have that desire deep down in your heart to be an, a business owner, to have, um, multiple strings of income, to own land, to get that, um, whatever, that is that dream, that vision that God lays on your heart, whatever it may be, it doesn't have to be, you know, monetary things. It doesn't have to be. I don't want to sound vain in this, I don't. I don't want to sound like it has to have, it has to be a physical thing, but really tap into your heart. Stop thinking with your mind. Think with your heart. And what is it? What is that vision that you have that you're like how in the world can this happen? That's a vision of your heart and so, um, that so okay.

Speaker 1: 12:06

So another statistic that he said is 83% of people think that their best days are behind him. Y'all, 83% of people think that their best days are behind them. That breaks my heart. There I can resonate with that. I can definitely feel that, because there was a point in my life where I had it all that I, you know all that.

Speaker 1: 12:34

I thought that I wanted. I had it all. The job was great, I had a house, I had a marriage, you know all these things and I thought I had it all and I was advancing in my career and you know it was, I was making darn good money, but I was working a W2 job. It it would. It was not my business. I did not have a business yet, and so I can, I can understand that, because at some point. You know, this was my first marriage and that ended and I lost it. I lost that job, I lost my husband, I lost the house, I lost it all. And there was a point in my life where I was like, damn, I messed up big time, like I'm never going to have that, and I fell into a depression.

Speaker 1: 13:16

I definitely thought my best days were behind me and I can tell you that's a crappy feeling, that you start to lose hope. And when you lose hope, you lose vision, you lose your motivation, you lose your drive and then you fall into that rut of just the day in and day out. And that is not where we are supposed to be. God did not create us to live in lack. God did not create us to live in that mentality of failure. We're supposed to be thriving. We're supposed to be living, breathing on fire, just excited, and also living in our passion and in our gifting, because when we do that, we are able to serve and give like no other. We are able to serve and give like no other. We are able to make the world a better place, because when we're all tapped into our gifting, we're able to be the best version of ourself and it would make the world so much better.

Speaker 1: 14:23

It's never going to be perfect, I know that, but anyways, 83% of people think that their best days are behind them. That is so sad, and I want to be a reason that you are not a statistic. I want to be a reason and a tool and a helpful um push for you. You know who you are. You're listening to this, you know and you have this feeling too, and you have that curiosity. What else is there? There's gotta be more to life than this. There is so, um, something I want you to think about.

Speaker 1: 15:04

So, if you're in that place of, about, so if you're in that place of, or that season of, yeah, but yeah, but I don't know, I don't know what drives me, I don't know what I can go after. You know I'm, I'm, I'm in my fifties or beyond, like, literally, lorraine. My best days are behind me. No, I promise you, if you are 50 and above, your best days are darn well ahead of you. There is so much more to life still, and if you are not living in your gifting and your passion, you still can do it. Trust me, ask yourself what draws the compassion out of you, what makes you excited, what brings that fuel, that energy, that drive? Because I guarantee you, those are clues to what you're supposed to be doing, those are clues to your it factor right. Those are clues to what that passion, that vision that's in your heart, it'll lead you there.

Speaker 1: 16:15

And something else that I wrote down that I absolutely loved because, um, there's been times where I've stopped in my tracks, so I wrote down a vision so big that you have to grow into it. I definitely don't want a vision that I'm like, oh yeah, I can do that Done. No, I need to grow into it. I want to become the person I am today, june 7th 2024. The person, the woman that I am today is so much different than the woman I was 10 years ago.

Speaker 1: 16:52

I have changed and grown so much, and I'm not I'm not saying entrepreneurship is for everybody, it's not but if you are in that space, you're an entrepreneur. Oh my gosh, I have learned and grown so much by being a business owner, by being a speaker, a coach. It has grown me immensely, not to mention the people, the connections I've made, the friendships I've made, this huge dream that God gave me of helping women step into their calling by leading them, pointing them to Jesus and helping them figure out their passion, their gifting, by being an encourager, by being a coach. From healing from addiction abuse. You know different trauma. Healing from that and walking through that and being able to walk other women through that has changed me in the best way possible.

Speaker 1: 18:00

Hey, it's Lorraine. As you know, it's my joy and passion to teach and encourage others through this podcast, but my heart is actually at live events. Currently, I'm available for booking, so if you're organizing a live event, I'd love to share my story. Your audience will walk away with tangible tools on how to overcome limiting beliefs, break down obstacles and discover their gifts, talents and abilities in order to live a life that God created them to live. It's not the size of the audience that's important. It's the connection and impact that I will bring. For more information, email me at Lorraine at TheBoldBeginningscom. Being a business owner and trying to figure out what is the next step, what am I going to do? How am I going to provide? All those things have made me an incredible human and it's been the best, most difficult journey of my life, let me tell you. So let's I'm going to dive back into.

Speaker 1: 19:13

I want to talk about the whole North star. So Jake talked about how to identify your North star and again I associate it also with my relationship with Christ. So the first thing, the first characteristic about the North Star is it's unwavering, it never, it never changes, it never moves. In fact, the other stars in the constellation are moving, but the North Star, the Polaris Star, does not move. And so, just like Jesus, just like God, he's unwavering, he does not change, he's the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. He's never changed. He's your bedrock, he's, he is solid, right, you can always count on him.

Speaker 1: 20:01

That leads me to the second one is it's dependable. Same thing with the North star. It's dependable because it doesn't move, because it's unwavering, it's dependable. You know, back in the Jesus times, um, when God was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, um, he was saying you know, you, he told. He gave instruction to follow the North Star, and then they had the cloud too. Also, whenever the cloud would move, they had to move with the cloud. So that was guiding them when to move and when not to move. But the North Star was their point of reference and that's where they were going and where they were headed. It was unwavering, it was dependable, and that's where they were going and where they were headed. It was unwavering, it was dependable.

Speaker 1: 20:50

And so I want to ask you what in your life do you think is dependable? What are you resting on? If it's not Jesus, if it's not your relationship with God, what is it? Is it your job? Because things can change, the economy can change, you can get, let go and that thing, that job that you think is dependable, can be gone. Then what's going to happen? Right, your relationships? We might think that that's dependable, but sometimes it's not. And I'm not saying this to be a Debbie Downer or to be like. Nothing you have in your life is dependable. I'm not saying that. But what I am challenging you to do and to evaluate is how you're looking at these things, the things in your life that you think are dependable. Are they really in your life that you think are dependable? Are they really? And should you put your faith and trust in something that is dependable, that is solid, that is unwavering and unchanging? Because that's what I did. I was putting everything, all my eggs, in one bucket, and I was depending on something that was not dependable, and it wasn't until that I really dove into my faith, and it wasn't until that I realized that God is my rock. He is unwavering, unchanging, and I need to depend on him because when I get let go from the job, I'm going to count on God to lead me to people and connections, to get me into a new position, to lead me to the right new door that's going to open and that's going to provide abundantly for me.

Speaker 1: 22:36

The third characteristic of the North Star is it is true North. What are places in your life where you have compromised, where you did something and that wasn't your true North? Right? Maybe relationships or something you did that wasn't really in alignment with who you are and it wasn't in integrity? Right, I've been there. Hello, my first marriage. I cheated on my first husband. That is why that's why my first marriage ended was because I stepped out.

Speaker 1: 23:15

So I made that decision and I compromised my faith, my integrity, who I really am, Cause I'm. I'm not an unfaithful person, I am a faithful, honest, loyal person. And so what? What did it cost you when you weren't in alignment with who you truly are, you weren't operating in your true North and you compromised? What did it cost you and how can you prevent it? What can you do to prevent you from not operating in your true North. I know what I did. I stopped surrounding myself with the wrong people. I got much deeper in my faith. I healed through my own trauma, my own crap. What was the reason why I stepped out? You know, I had to figure that out. I had to learn and heal through that and ask myself why did I do it and how can I change so that I don't do this again? And I did. I did a lot of healing and so moving on to success.

Speaker 1: 24:29

So if you're an entrepreneur, if you're in the business space or you're killing it in your career, how do you want to succeed? How can you succeed? You need to minimize and eliminate distractions. You're killing it at your job and you want to get better. You want a promotion. You want to own the company, you want to franchise. What can you do to succeed? Minimize and eliminate distractions.

Speaker 1: 24:57

Ask yourself each day, every decision that you make is this bringing me closer to my end goal? Is this bringing me closer to accomplishing my goal, to get me to where I need to be? And if it is not, eliminate it. And sometimes that means changing your circle of friends, because if you are hanging out with people that are bringing you down and not bringing you closer to where you want to be. You need to eliminate that, and that sucks. That's really hard, because I've had to do that in a couple of different seasons in my life. All right, there's so much more. I absolutely love this, but I don't want to overwhelm you or just go on and on forever.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Let's see the next thing. I want to talk about Living All right. Here's a good one False North star signs. This is a good one. So getting into this industry I absolutely, speaking in coaching, um is very difficult. You have to build trust and there's a lot of fake people out there. There's a lot of phony people out there and I'm speaking directly to um people that are that are thinking about hiring a coach or becoming a coach speaking, going to events, um, this whole industry that I'm in.

Speaker 1: 26:35

You have to be careful and you have to know your North Star. You have to be so solid in who you are. You have to be solid in your faith and you have to have discernment. Because I have learned. I have quickly learned, and the hard way, unfortunately, quickly learned, and the hard way, unfortunately, that everybody is not as they seem or not everybody is as they seem and you have to be careful. And so lately I have been praying for discernment and wisdom not to cross paths with anyone that should not be in my world or in my orbit, because there's a lot of phony people out there. They're going to promise you the world and they're not going to deliver, and so that's why I am so incredibly passionate about how I help people, and I am not.

Speaker 1: 27:26

I don't fluff it. I come to you book, wide, open colors laid out. This is who I am and how I work. I'm a woman of God. I'm a person of faith. You don't have to be a person of faith to work with me. However, everything that I teach and talk about is rooted in Jesus. I would love to talk to you about Jesus. I would love to share the gospel with you and to bring you to Jesus and to help you discover your relationship with Jesus. Yes, absolutely, but everything that I talk about and teach about is centered around that, and I don't I don't hide that, and I have found lately that some people are using the God card, um, like a trendy thing, and they say that they're a believer.

Speaker 1: 28:17

But you have to be careful. So before you jump into bed with anyone figuratively, you know before you sign a contract, before you start to work with that person, research them right, have a conversation with them. I have free discovery calls. If you are thinking about working with me, let's jump on a call and I will talk to you and be very upfront about who I am, how I work, and I would expect the same from you. But you have to be able to recognize the false North stars. What are you feeding yourself? The things that you're listening to, the music, the movies, the trends, the people that you're hanging out with? What are you feeding yourself? Making sure that you are feeding yourself the positive and the truth. I mean it doesn't have to be all sunshine and rainbows, like there's reality, and reality is hard sometimes, um, but, but. But. Make sure we're not focusing on the negative and we're feeding our mind garbage, deception, deception is everywhere. Making sure that you have that awareness of what is truth and what is deception.

Speaker 1: 29:27

And, like I said, people use God as a front. They'll talk about it, they'll say that they're a Christian and that they're a believer, but they don't live in integrity and they operate in a dirty way, and I am realizing that more and more. So, like I said, research the people that you are planning on investing in and talk to them and find out how their walk is. If it is important to you to work with someone who is faith-based, just because they say they are doesn't mean they are, so be careful and look into it. False teachers Again, that's something that I've been praying about is discernment.

Speaker 1: 30:11

Is that God will give me the wisdom and the discernment to see that in other people? God will give me the wisdom and the discernment to see that in other people. I'm educated enough and I know well enough about the Bible. When someone is just throwing stuff out there, or, if they're, if they really know it and believe it and operate in it. So, making sure that people are teaching the right thing and it's truth, are they referencing the Bible? This is, this is for people who are believers, and that's important, um, because I understand that people not everyone is a believer, but if you're going to reference a Bible verse, let's make sure that it's correct and it's in alignment and you're not manipulating God's word to make it better for you, right? That's manipulation, we?

Speaker 1: 30:57

I talked about that. I don't remember where I talked about that. Oh, how to identify whether or not someone is an influence or if it's so, um, yeah, anyways, sorry, friend, false teachers, yeah, anything. Basically, for those of you that are faith driven, anything that separates you from God or brings you further from God is obviously not of God. So there was a lot of good nuggets. There was a lot, a lot of good nuggets at this conference.

Speaker 1: 31:40

Again, I learned a lot. I learned a lot about people. Don't put people on a pedestal. That's the other thing that God revealed to me. In any situation, whether it's your career, whatever it is, don't put people on a pedestal, because here's the thing People are going to disappoint you. We're human, we're flawed. That's just, that's the way it is. So, friends, I love you and I hope this episode was, um, insightful and impactful. These were just some of my takeaways from this past event.

Speaker 1: 32:18

And again, my coaching program is open. It's always open. It's ever evolving. I don't have an open, closed season.

Speaker 1: 32:28

So, please, if you are thinking about coaching, coaching, if you are someone who is tired of where they're at mentally, I have a 90 day program that is for you. If you are someone who wants to get a promotion, advance in their career. I have a 90 day program that's for you. If you are someone who wants to change mentally or physically wants to change mentally or physically, your physical fitness, your mental emotion I have a 90 day transformation program that's for you. Friend, you were not made to live in lack. You were created on purpose, for a purpose, and it is my honor and privilege to help you tap into that and live in alignment with who God created you to be. I have a 90 day transformation program that I made just for you. So message me on Instagram or email me, lorraine, at the bold beginningscom, let's hop on a free discovery call. We will figure out if we're a good fit and if this program's right for you or if there's something that I can do that's tailor-made just for you.

Speaker 1: 33:50

Don't let price hold you back. We can have a discussion. All right, friends. Please like, share and subscribe. Leave a review. That's the easiest, most free thing that you can do. Right Is leave me a review and pass this along so that we can spread the word on how you can be the best version of you. Have a great day, friends.