Ep 50 // Celebrating 50 Episodes

NOTE: Please excuse any errors in this transcript; it was created using an AI tool. Akua Nyame-Mensah 0:07 Welcome to the open door podcast. My name is Akua Nyame-Mensah. I also respond to Aqua and I'm a certified executive and leadership coach recognised facilitator and former sort of leader that loves supporting reluctant buyer fighting and overwhelmed leaders. I've worked with them to help them clarify where they should focus their time and energy each and every day so that they can love themselves, love their work, and ultimately love their life. If you're looking to learn leadership information and hear different perspectives, you are in the right place. My aim in this podcast is to help you see that one of the most productive and profitable things you can do is deeply understand yourself. Understand how you show up, understand how you thrive and allow yourself to align everything in your work in your life, and in your business to support that think of this podcast as your weekly opportunity to receive leadership support. And remember, there is no one right way to lead yourself or others. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. Let's get started. Hello, and welcome to this week's open door conversations podcast episode. Today, as an all days in which I record my podcast episodes. I am super excited. But this time, I am really excited. I'm actually dancing a bit because this is a celebration episode, I am celebrating recording my 50th episode that I have released. And because I have a weekly podcast episode, that means I've been podcasting for about one year. And I don't think I've taken a break. My podcast manager can let me know to listen to this. But I think I've been doing it pretty consistently right. I definitely batch some of my content, and I'll do stuff in advance. But I think that we have released a podcast episode for every single week for about 50 weeks. So I just wanted to take a second to reflect to share some thoughts because I believe that I've come such a long way since I first started. So I want to share some of the things that I've learned and the top three episodes that had been released. Alright, so I'm going to do two of those things in this podcast episode. So if you have ever thought about starting a podcast or wanting to be a public speaker in any way, my hope is that if you listen to this episode, you walk away with some thoughts on how you can show up and be consistent. On the flip side, if you are a fan of this podcast, you will get to hear the top episodes from the podcast. And I hope that you take a listen to them. Because these are the most popular episodes since I launched about a year ago. And I think that all the episodes that are a part of this are really juicy and full of really great not just mindset shifts, but also tactics and things that you can implement right away. So if you've ever thought about starting a podcast or public speaking in any way, my hope is that you walk away with some thoughts on how you can show up and be consistent. And if you've been a fan of this podcast, you will get to hear the top episodes from the podcast and why I think you should take a listen to them. Alright, so let's get into the episode. I can't believe this is my 50th podcast episode that I'm going to release. I mean, I can't believe it. Those of you who are listening to this, if you've listened to why I decided to start a podcast, or you listen to some of my first few episodes, you know that I was terrified to do this. Alright, but since I've released 50 episodes, I think I can definitely share a bit of my experience being a podcaster. Right. And as someone who has coached and facilitated 1000s of conversations now, it's so interesting how podcasting was still a lot scarier to me, because those things I do, right. So that's the speaking, the coaching, the facilitating those things are typically done in confined closed spaces, right? People typically opt into them in a different way than a public podcast. And so I was very terrified of doing this. So to start, actually, I just want to give you a bit of a background to start. So before I decided to do a podcast, I just really wanted to practice and get a lot more comfortable interviewing and actually being on camera, right. And so right now my podcast has no video element to it because I decided later on that hey, there's no way I want to do video because it takes too long my interviewees are uncomfortable. And I also felt like it would just add too much production time and be too expensive to do that. And so I actually started off by doing video interviews on Zoom and releasing them on YouTube. That's where I actually got a lot of my practice. And so I am just so grateful for some of those initial amazing interviewees. The fact that they were open to having this conversation with me, the fact that they were open to being on YouTube, those videos don't have much editing. And I probably look slightly Cray, because most of those were also done during the pandemic. But they were such a great way for me to build my confidence and get a lot more comfortable actually interviewing. Alright, so I wanted to start off by sharing the top three things that I've learned about myself. And I think these are three things that I've been able to develop over time. One of the things I always share with my clients, and even in my content is that, you know, public speaking, being a leader, these are all things that you can develop, right? These are all skills that you can get better at. And I definitely think that not just podcasting, but just public speaking in general, I've gotten so much better at. And so the first thing I actually have on here, and it's really surprising, because this was something that was very difficult for me to do in the past. And like I said, I still sometimes self censor, I still sometimes, you know, don't always share all parts of my perspective, because I don't always feel like all parts of my perspective are necessary. But the first thing I have on here in terms of what I've learned about myself is that I can speak off the cuff right. And once again, I think this is a skill I've had to learn. It's taken me years of practice, and I continue to practice. So my podcast by live streams, those are all opportunities for me to practice for me to try things on for me to share concepts, approaches, and get a tonne of feedback. So the second thing that I've learned about myself is that I can repeat myself. So one of the scariest things about deciding to leverage social media for my business. So it was a very intentional decision. First and foremost, I decided I wanted to, you know, launch a coaching and consulting practice. And then I was like, I think I need to leverage social media to be able to find clients and secure clients. So one of the scariest things about deciding to leverage social media for my business was feeling like I would get bored with my message, right was feeling like, Hey, I was gonna be really repetitive and annoying a lot of people and also annoying myself, I've learned, I can share the same thing a million times. And I can still be just as excited about what I'm sharing, and just as excited about sharing it to different people. So I can be a broken record. And I am just really excited about what I do. I'm really excited about my content, really excited about learning new things, really excited about other people's stories. And that's really what my podcast episodes are all about. So that's the second thing. The third thing that I've learned about myself is that I can have a point of view, and that I can shift and the world is not going to come crashing down. So some of you listening to this that might know me personally, that might be hilarious to you. But similar to this point about sort of putting yourself out there into the interwebs. I find it terrifying. Because you never know who's going to listen. You know, some people aren't going to like what you have to say you don't know the type of reaction they're going to have. Even with the work I do, right people opt in to work with me, they invest in me right in order to work with me. And sometimes I still get bad reactions. So imagine if I can get better reactions from people who know me know the value I provide. And what I do imagine what it's like from people who don't really know me, but have decided to listen to one podcast episode. So deciding to invest in a podcast has been so scary, but ultimately, it's been my favourite part of my business for the last year or so. I can't believe we are already at 50 episodes. And I know I would not be here without the support of my podcast manager, my amazing VA all my service provider buddies, the amazing interviewees, business owners, coaches, founders, all of you, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my podcast episode. And you That's right, you listen to this. Thank you so much. Next, I want to get into the top three episodes on the podcast. So full transparency. The top episode was actually my story, and I'm slightly shocked. But that was the number one episode but I don't actually want to go into that. You can take a listen if you like the link will be in the show notes. But I wanted to showcase a few other episodes that I think are incredibly important and I think the reasons why they are so listened to I think indicate where people potentially feel like They might need some support. So the first one is actually the sixth episode. And it's what I describe as my hashtag ask Akua episode. So that's the episode where I actually take questions from my audience. I take questions from my clients, I take questions from, you know, people who are around me and I share some thoughts and some tactics that people might want to keep in mind. So episode number six, the hashtag ask Akua episode is all about self worth, and self love. I think that this is a very, very important episode. And it's probably one of the most that I share out of all my episodes, because I truly believe that self trust, self worth, self love and self advocacy all are very much closely related. And in this episode, I also talk a bit about my involvement in the hashtag I'm remarkable movement or initiative. And that initiative has really been key to helping me get to where I am now. Because I feel like now I am just so much more comfortable advocating for myself, and self promoting because I realise that I have this larger goal, this larger vision for myself, and through advocating for myself and leveraging self promotion, I can really get there. So in this episode, I talk a little bit about self compassion, right, the importance of finding a balance between growth, right, and making sure that you're taking care of yourself. I also talk a bit about the definition of success, right. And this is really what I do with my clients, I help them define success for where they are now. And really help them think about how they can leverage their business, but ensure right, that they continue to be human right and ensure that they're doing all the things so that they can show up and be their best selves. So in this episode, right, I talk about the hashtag I'm remarkable initiative. I also talk about the importance of self checkins and self reflection on your progress, the importance of finding enoughness in your business, and how only you Yes, that's right, only you can define success for yourself. So if that sounds interesting to you, please make sure that you take a listen to that podcast episode. It is the second most downloaded episode on my podcast, alright, and the links will be in the show notes. Alright, so the second one. And what I really like actually about these top three is that they are all different types of episodes that I produce. So this second one is actually an interview it is episode number 21, eliminating impostor syndrome and being a new coach by Kim Witten. And once again, this was such a fun episode to record. And Kim Witten is an amazing coach. So she's a new coach and has had such a diverse background, if anything, I think that she really embodies the types of people that I tend to support and tend to attract. Because she's multi passionate, she's a multi hyphenate, she has done so many amazing things. And I think that in this episode, she's really able to take her over 20 years of experience, right, she also has a PhD, and she's a certified coach to really share what's at the root of many confidence issues. She's also the first coach to share with me her perspective or her different perspective on imposter syndrome, and how she feels like a lot of times imposter syndrome is imposed on us, right? And so she believes in something called imposter phenomenon in addition to impostor syndrome, and I really just love that perspective. And it's something that I talk about as well, because I think it's important to identify, right, where that feeling of not being enough or not being good enough comes from is it internal, or is it external, or is a combination of both? In our conversation, we also talk about how to recognise right toxic environments and whether or not it makes sense to adjust to them. Alright, so if those sound like interesting things to you, I really would recommend that you take a listen to this episode, because you will probably learn a thing or two and take away some really tangible tactics that you can implement immediately if you feel like you suffer from impostor syndrome, or you feel like you find yourself in a toxic environment. Alright, so that's the second most popular episode on my podcast, the third. And once again, these are just such exciting podcast episodes for me, but the third is episode number 11. And that's my episode called time is manufactured in the mind. This is some of my core content. This is some of my favourite stuff to share, because it's around time management and productivity. And because I support leaders who many times feel like time is that main unit that they use to measure success they use to measure their lives they used to measure what they're doing in their business. This is such such an important episode to listen to. If you Want to shift something if you want to do something differently, right, and one of the core things that I share around this is that everyone talks about how important it is to manage our time. However, no one teaches us how to manage our time effectively, right? And productivity is closely related to how we treat our time. And I like this term, actually, or freeze, treat our time because time will really shift depending on how you feel. All right. And there's so much more to this. But if you want to hear more around the importance of cultivating your self awareness around time, questions, you can even ask yourself relating to time, right? And how you can shift your perspective of time from being negative or fear based right to being more proactive. This is the episode for you. I also introduced my leadership focused quiz, right? That really helps you think about how you're showing up as a leader in relation to your time and what that means for your ability to engage with others in this episode, as well. So please make sure that you take a listen. All right, so all these episodes will be linked in the shownotes. So take a listen and let me know what you think. And also let me know what I should record. Next. I'm always looking for new questions to answer, especially in my hashtag ask Akua episodes. As always, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this special episode. Do a little dance for me. And please make sure that you take a second to rate review and share your favourite podcast episode when you get a chance. I also just wanted to let you know that I will be taking a break in August because we all deserve to have our break. And so if you don't hear from me in August, you know it's because I'm taking a break and rusting. Thank you so much and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today's episode. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please share it with your friends. We can continue this conversation on social media the links to my socials so that is LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. You can find them in the show notes. If you tagged me in a story and include the hashtag hashtag ask Akua I will share a special little gift with you. Thank you so much once again for your time and I cannot wait to share my next episode with you stay safe and sane.