89 Turn Your Whisper into a WOW

What makes a marketing message get heard in our ADD world? “Wow Whisperer” Diane Curran shares her secrets on how women in business can find their unique voice and leverage their innate relationship building skills to master social engagement. Author of The Marketing Deal, Diane provides practical tips on messaging, public speaking and how to grow your business with authentic marketing.

Melinda Wittstock:         Diane, welcome to Wings.

Diane Curran:                    Thank you. It’s delightful to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:         Well, I’m so glad to talk to you again after that delightful minisode episode that you did for us a while back. I just want to dive right into this concept of ‘WOW’, which is, on the face of it, this wonderful thing. Who doesn’t want to wow someone? Yet, we as women can be afraid of stepping into our wow. Why is that?

Diane Curran:                    I’m so intrigued, and to be honest, I was a little surprised at something I discovered, Melinda, when I was speaking with a group of women. I was presenting to them, and I said I wanted to talk about ‘start with a whisper, soar with a wow’. People were intrigued with that conversation and that idea. What I did was I did an interactive exercise where I gave them a request to turn to the person sitting to their left and let them know what wows them about that person.

I gave them a little card to write it down so they can literally present it to the person. They were totally on board with that idea of looking at the person next to them and sharing what is exciting about that person, but then I gave them a little bit of a surprise. After that I said, “So now I want you to do the same exercise, and I want you to let the person know what wows you about them, and that person is the person sitting in your chair.”

Then literally, there was an audible gasp. “You mean I have to tell myself what wows me about me?” Literally, it stopped them. I knew there would be a little bit of a reaction, and they had a little bit of a challenge with that. How do I know that for sure? Because Melinda, what I had them do was at the end of the conversation, I asked them to write down on the card that they were going to give me not only their email address, but also what the wow was about themselves!

They turned it in, and I added up the responses. Do you know that 65% of the people literally did not put what wowed them about themselves down? Only 35% of them did.

Melinda Wittstock:         Really? So couldn’t even come up with one thing?

Diane Curran:                    Well, if they did, even if they did, they didn’t feel free enough to share it with me, which I found fascinating. I literally have the evidence sitting right here in front of me that only 35% of the people were able and free enough to put that down on a card and give it to me, so that tells me that there’s something going on about this with people.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes. It’s interesting. I actually put out a challenge on the Valentine’s Day episode of Wings for women to write a love letter to themselves.

Diane Curran:                    Ah, perfect.

Melinda Wittstock:         It’s a really challenging thing to do. I wonder, the culture that we’ve all grown up in where everything starting with … sorry, I’m just going to say that again. Because the … sorry. The culture we’ve all grown up in, all the glossy magazines and now social media, tells women all the things that are wrong with them or all the things that they have to change, which implies something is wrong with them, if you have straight hair or have curly hair, or you’re too curvy, too thin, too this, too that, whatever, right?

Diane Curran:                    Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         We, I think, assume or focus in on all the things we want to fix rather than the things that we want to celebrate. We focus on the inner critic rather than the inner cheerleader.

Diane Curran:                    Oh, my gosh. That is so, so true. I will tell you that some years ago when I came across this notion of an inner critic, I thought, “Okay.” Someone said, “Well, it’s a good idea to get in touch with that inner critic.” I thought, “Oh, all right. Well, let me go for it.” I love the world of intuition and kind of inner discovery.

I found that my experience of the inner critic, and then it was kind of borne out by some of the reading I did later, was that my inner critic felt neglected and felt the desire to protect me, that kind of survival and instinct that we have when we’re very young, which is, “How am I going to be okay in the world?” That was the job of the inner critic. It wasn’t to be judging.

It was to take care of and be sure that you’re okay. What I discovered was, for myself, I could turn that inner critic into my inner ally. It made a huge difference, where the notion of what could be okay here shifted. I’ve discovered that it led me down a pathway I want to call everyday charisma. Everyday charisma is something that we could take on if we had the words for it.

For a lot of people, you think, “Oh, that person is charismatic. Aren’t they amazing?” When they get in a crowd, they kind of stand out and people love them. Well, why is that? I started to investigate what charisma really is. It’s not about being so, I’m going to say, special. It is about having an openness to the unknowns in life, to entering a room and literally putting your focus on others.

This shifts in such a way that people are now attracted to you and attracted to you not because you’re so great and you’re so this and you’re so that, but because you’re open and available for genuine, real communication.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s beautifully said. It’s the difference between trying to be in the spotlight and being the lighthouse.

Diane Curran:                    I love the way you said that. It’s so perfect. And so I want to share with you what the people who gave me their wow actually wrote. Can I do it?

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes, please.

Diane Curran:                    It was so revealing.

Melinda Wittstock:         I’d love that. That would be wonderful.

Diane Curran:                    I’m just going to take a few of them. One of them said, “I’m trustworthy and helpful.” Another said, “I’m grateful.” Another said, “I have a love for people.” This person said, “Resilience.” Another one said, “Caring and calm.” Then the last one said, “A sense of humor.” By the way, these are all women. I wanted to share something that for me makes a difference.

I often use the word people when I’m referring to a group of people rather than it’s women or it’s men because what I find is that there are very few characteristics as human beings that women and men don’t share. There are more characteristics, in fact, a predominance of them that we share as human beings.

This notion of gender-neutral language, where we ascribe attributes to each other because we’re human beings opens up such a bridge in humanity among men and women and really throughout people, it makes a difference to really encourage ourselves to use that kind of ‘languaging’.

Melinda Wittstock:         So interesting. I mean often on this podcast, we talk about stepping into our authentic feminine power. When we’re talking about these archetypes of what is feminine power, we also often talk about harnessing the best of masculine. So I’ve come to the conclusion really that the most evolved people and perhaps charismatic people are not only those people who are in the present moment, as you describe, but are also kind of balanced in that way.

They’re taking the best of the archetypal masculine and the best of the archetypal feminine and combining them. This is true of both men and women. So when we can show up in our full balance in that sense, I think miracles happen. Does that make sense?

Diane Curran:                    Oh, it resonates so deeply. What you were just saying reminds me that it’s accessing our intuitive, and intuitive is something that all human beings have access to. It’s just that it needs to be encouraged and really embraced and explored in a way that is about our unique individual contribution, as you say, our light inside our lighthouse, that we can shine and share with others.

Here are these women who said, “My love for people,” and being trustworthy and helpful and grateful. These are attributes that are so powerful and so, I’m going to say, attractive. We want to be with people like this.

Melinda Wittstock:         Diane, this is so interesting, when we talk about the concept of charisma and what it takes for female entrepreneurs, any entrepreneur, really, to succeed.

There’s such a need to have a very strong personal brand, to emerge as a thought leader with domain expertise in your area. It’s big part of being able to get market share. It’s a big part of being able to develop the trust and relationships you need to be able to sell your product or service or to attract the right people to your team, attract investors.

It’s so much the linchpin of all of that success, and yet women are still often so shy about standing up just even in a room, like you’re describing, but let alone going out on social media or blogging or video or whatever and doing that. How do you get either men or women, people, to that point where they’re comfortable developing their personal brands and getting out there?

Diane Curran:                    Well, let’s dive right into that word charisma because the definition of it really includes … I’m literally reading from the dictionary right now because I think it really makes the point. One of the definitions is it’s compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, so this notion of devotion. Well, devotion for what purpose?

One of the most charismatic women that we know is Oprah. What is it that she does? She focuses on her guests. She’s there for a conversation to discover value, to share value, and to really shine a light on it for her audience, and that is a beautiful contract that her personal brand is to share, is to discover and uncover and highlight.

When you were talking about the things that we have to do to advance our brand, I started to go into my left brain. I was like, “Well, I’ve got to do this task and that task and the other task.” But what we forget is to bring ourselves to the situation, not the selves that focuses on maybe, we’re going to say, perfectionism, but the task that focuses on … or I should say the way of being that focuses on being our authentic selves.

Oprah has never presented herself as a perfect person. We know that perfection is not what ultimately compels us. It is this notion of a shared humanity, a shared quest, the quest to discover our capacity, our … I’m going to say our resilience, our commitment to life. These are the things that attract people to us, don’t you think?

Melinda Wittstock:         I think this is really true. I think Brene Brown was such a game-changer in helping all of us understand that vulnerability is okay. Not being perfect is actually okay. It’s relatable. Right?

Diane Curran:                    Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right. I mean-

Diane Curran:                    It is.

Melinda Wittstock:         You can actually connect better to somebody that’s willing to be vulnerable. This comes up so many times on the podcast, this tendency towards perfectionism, like I’m not going to put my hand up in the meeting and speak until I have the idea completely, fully formulated and I’ve done all the research and I know everything. Meanwhile, the guy just puts up his hand with a brainstorm.

Diane Curran:                    Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right?

Diane Curran:                    Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Melinda Wittstock:         Or it manifests, say, with technology and product entrepreneurs releasing too late, waiting, waiting, waiting until it’s perfect and missing that point where your customers are actually the people who are going to help you get your product right. What’s at the root of that perfectionism that stops us from speaking or makes us launch our products too late? Where is that coming from?

Diane Curran:                    Yeah, it is, as you say, socially trained in us from the very earliest ages. “Oh, I have to wait to put my hand up with a question until the question is perfect,” or “I have to wait until I know the answer before I contribute to the conversation,” the answer being that everybody is going to say, “Well, that is inarguably correct.” That is not the nature of dialogue.

I have the great opportunity to tour people around to art, and what I’ve discovered in the world of museums is that one of the most powerful places you can be in is to hear a question to which you do not know the answer and engage in a conversation of discovery together with the person who asked the question. Someone who is leading a group who can have that point of view engages the individual members of the group because suddenly they get the message that it’s okay to ask a question without knowing the answer.

You can see people lighting up and realizing, “Oh, we’re in this together.” That is where charisma comes from. That is where discovery … that’s where groups of people learn things from each other and women … I will say that, to me, one of the greatest strengths about women is that we love to be collaborative.

[tweet_box design=”box_12_at” float=”none” author=”Diane Curran | Deal Marketing” pic_url=”https://www.melindawittstock.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Diane-Curran.png”]If we are able to give each other the signal that collaboration is wanted, needed, and honored, then that creates an opening for community where people and women can step outside that perfectionistic tendency. #WomeninBusiness #WingsPodcast @wowdianecurran[/tweet_box]

If we are able to give each other the signal that collaboration is wanted, needed, and honored, then that creates an opening for community where people and women can, I’m going to say, step outside that perfectionistic tendency and go to the other place we’re socialized to, which is to be collaborative, to be with a group, and to learn from each other. Oh, my gosh, the power and the empowerment starts to really flourish.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes. That is so true because we are very good collaborators and when we collaborate and work together in a group, just even in a meeting where there are lots of men and women in the room, women, if they’re uncomfortable with talking about themselves, can lift the other women up in that situation. “Oh, as Diane just said … oh, as Melinda just said …”

Diane Curran:                    Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:         That is a wonderful way to collaborate, to be heard as a group. I think the whole concept of Wings, this whole mission around this podcast and everything else around what I’m working on, is really to encourage this ecosystem where we do actually lift each other up, help each other put on those wings because we go so much further when we are working in that kind of collaborate or win-win-win way and we’re getting out of scarcity and helping each other rather than competing with each other.

Diane Curran:                    I love the metaphor of wings because when you think about a bird flying, they’re not making a lot of noise when they’re flying. What they’re doing is they’re up there, and there’s a whisper to the sound of wings, and they are looking at what they need to see next, whether it is literally looking for a place to roost, whether it is looking for food, whatever it may be looking for.

Birds fly in formation oftentimes, really on the updrafts of each other’s wings. Geese. We know this, very much so. They literally make sure that they are in formation to generate lift from each other’s flight. It reminds me of something else. Sometimes there is this notion that we have to jump ahead, and if we haven’t, then we’ve lost our chance.

Well, there is always an opportunity, even in a conversation, to come in later in the conversation and make a contribution. I’m sure you’ve noticed this in groups. Sometimes the person who is the quietest and comes in late with a comment, everybody turns to listen to that person. Do you notice that?

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes. It’s interesting. Why is that? I mean it’s curious because I guess there’s an aspect of intrigue.

Diane Curran:                    Yes, and there’s also something else that I suspect may be slightly unconscious, but it’s there percolating just below the conscious level, which is, “Well, if this person has been here listening the whole time,” because usually that’s the case, “I wonder what they’ve discovered that they now feel compelled to share. I want to know what that is. I want to know what their thinking process has been while the rest of us have been chattering away like little birds. What has this person been profoundly discovering and uncovering such that they now feel compelled to contribute?”

Melinda Wittstock:         Well, this is so interesting in this aspect of attraction or enrollment. I’ve just noticed that when women try to sell or market, say, for instance, like men, like in pursuit, like in pursuit of the wildebeest, which I can go out and get-

Diane Curran:                    Oh, God.

Melinda Wittstock:         … and kill and kind of like bring it back. It doesn’t work for us so well. However, when we do attract and enroll and almost like embrace, it’s a different thing. It just seems to be much more in line with, again, archetypal feminine power. When we do that on social media or when we do that, just as you describe, in a meeting, it works so much better.

Not only do we get better results, but it just feels more authentic, I think, and there is a real grace to it and a power to it. It’s just a different type of power.

Diane Curran:                    No question about it.

One of the things that when we are thinking about delivering our message, we oftentimes don’t know … and I want to just share this little secret that is very scientific and very workable with, and here’s what it is. We listen faster than people can speak. What I mean by that is people speak at about 125 words a minute, and people listen at about 400 words a minute.

So what happens is that we listen and we have about … we’re about 75% not really engaged, meaning we can hear many more words than are being delivered to us. What happens is our attention can wander. There’s plenty of time for it to wander. As a speaker, you want to do a couple of things. You want to recognize that people are thinking about what you said, and yet they’re also kind of going off on their own riffs.

As a speaker, to help people listen, what you can do is go for the interactive, meaning give people something to hold or use or do that connects them not only with you but with themselves and with each other. Now their attention is engaged because they don’t know what’s coming next or they’ve got something to discover. Also, you want to vary your speaking pace and use pauses.

Why? Because that way people get to think back on what you just said, and they may have a chance to assimilate it, think it again, and keep it more fully. The other thing is: trust your audience. Give them the freedom and know that if you’re presenting something of value, that is going to be present such that people are going to want to focus on it and want to kind of mull it over, spend time with it, let it marinate for them.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]As a speaker, to help people listen, go for the interactive, meaning give people something to hold or use or do that connects them not only with you but with themselves and with each other. #WingsPodcast #WomeninBusiness[/tweet_box]

Use that and trust it and don’t feel you have to just pummel people. Don’t you hate presentations where you’re not given a moment’s respite from the words? That’s when it sounds like, oh, my gosh, a hard sell.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah. It feels like you’re being talked at. The more I see that, the more I see that there’s a deep level of un-confidence that is behind that, when people feel like they’ve got to get their words out really fast and they’ve just got to … it’s almost like they fear they’re going to be cut off at any minute, and they have to get it out there. They have something to … wait, wait, let me … I’m just going to pick up there again.

Yeah, I’ve always thought that when people do that thing, Diane, where they’re talking at you that really it’s a mask for lack of confidence because it’s almost like-

Diane Curran:                    I agree.

Melinda Wittstock:         It’s like, “Oh, God, I’ve got to get the words so fast because if I don’t, they won’t hear me, or they’re going to cut me off at any minute,” or whatever. But you’re right. It really doesn’t work. What are some ways in which practically women can step into this confidence, this ability to just … are there any … sorry. Let me pick up again. Sorry, I’m struggling today.

Diane Curran:                    You’ve had an overloaded week.

Melinda Wittstock:         God, that’s for sure. What are some of the ways that women can really boost their confidence? Are there any kinds of exercises or things that you recommend to really exercise that muscle, I guess, if you will, right? It doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t just turn confidence on.

Diane Curran:                    Yeah. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         But at the end of the day, it is like a fear or a lack of value in ourselves that manifests as that lack of confidence. What are some ways that you recommend for women to, yes, exercise the confidence muscle?

Diane Curran:                    Well, I would say that … I’ve got kind of five fears about public presenting. Why I want to focus on that in answer to your question is that if you think about it, every time you speak with someone who is not you or not a close friend, you’re out in public, especially if you are either presenting to a group of people or you’re meeting people for the first time or you are in a group where you’re not already well-known, that’s the public.

There are a couple of things that I find are helpful to know, which is first of all, if you’re going to be with a new group or a new situation, do what theater people do. Give yourself a call time, meaning get there early. Settle in. Take care of whatever the details are so you literally know where you are. If that is to be on the phone or to be with a … say being interviewed on a program online, give yourself a call time.

Put yourself in your seat a half an hour early and collect your thoughts, collect your calm. Get your glass of water and just be present. Second thing is, sometimes when it’s your turn to speak or the mic is turned on or the camera is on you, you suddenly freeze. What I find is useful for folks is to not picture this vast, massive audience but to consider if you were speaking to someone who is a friend, literally envision their face and speak to one person.

Right now, I’m speaking to you, Melinda, and so I have a sense of conversation with you. There are other people who are going to be listening in, but we’re having an authentic conversation one to one, person to person. That really brings the personal magnetism right up naturally. It’s the way people talk to each other. Next thing I would say is that sometimes we think, “Well, gosh, I have so much more to say that I have time to say it in.”

Here’s a game you can play, and that is give yourself the little affirmation that, “I’m going to finish easily before I get the hook,” meaning you have all the time you need and more to say what matters and then allow for a pause, the idea that silence is your friend and gives your listener a chance to hear and assimilate what you’ve said. You don’t need to say five or 20 or 50 more words.

Say a few less and trust the rhythm of conversation. Okay, and then that charisma fairy … here’s a really bold thing that women can do, and I invite them to take it on, and that is ask the people you know in life, “What wows you?” What wows them about you? Be prepared to hear the answer and allow it to be real for yourself. You are going to discover things that people love about you.

You can ask your dear friends. You can ask the people you trust, but you can also ask … say if you’re in business, ask your customers. Be bold. They’re going to tell you, and you are going to be surprised to find out the value you’re bringing to other people. You know what? By hearing it from someone else, you can take that on. That’s going to really raise your confidence.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s so important, asking your customers. Your customers are there to make your product better, so don’t fear them. They are going to help you. I mean I think the reason we become entrepreneurs to begin with is because we are solving problems. We’re creating value. They’re not doing us a favor by buying our products. We’re helping them, like we’re creating value.

Getting out of that dynamic, it’s so important to remind ourselves of that. But customer interviews are a really good thing, and you want them to tell you the truth because they’re going to make you better.

Diane Curran:                    Yes, and don’t be afraid to ask them two or three questions that gives them space to say what’s wanted and needed. For example, you could say, “In addition to what we’ve experienced together, is there anything else you’d like to see included that wasn’t part of it?” Sometimes they may give you a brilliant idea. It’s not necessarily going to be, “Well, you should have done this better. You should have done that better.”

You’d be amazed at the contribution people want to make to you that really can be gold. Be gutsy. Be courageous. Women are gutsy and courageous, but to have that in dialogue allows us to claim that in a way that will yield some amazing results.

Melinda Wittstock:         Diane, take me back in time because you’re so insightful and I know that all of this just didn’t happen overnight. What were the ‘aha’ moments along your journey that got you to this beautiful wow whisperer place?

Diane Curran:                    Okay, well, can I … I’m going to tell you about my most difficult moment in the public eye, which was when I was in the fifth grade. I had been selected to play the cello in a quartet with four other kids that were older than me, who had been playing longer than me. I was in the first year, but apparently I had chosen an instrument, which they needed.

We were going to do a concert, and we were going to be up onstage playing at a concert in front of the entire school and town. I spent every Saturday practicing with the other members of the … two violins and a pianist. We were practicing one thing, and we had to do it from memory. The song was called The Pony Race so you know it had a lot of notes.

I was coming up on to get onto the stage, and one of the other girls in the orchestra decided she’d better get out of the way of my cello, so she backed up in her chair and literally went off the riser behind the piano. Thank goodness she was not hurt, literally was not hurt. But I was so mortified and so embarrassed, Melinda, that I thought, “Oh, my gosh, how am I ever going to do this?”

The notes went all out of my head. All of my mental preparedness went for nothing. I get up on stage. I said, “Well, I have to do this. I have to sit down in my chair. What’s going to happen next?” Thank goodness that I was so stunned, this was wow and not in my favorite way, that I sat there. The girl who was playing the piano had to do the first note. She had a little sort of interlude.

I literally put my bow up to the strings, placed my fingers on the cello, and somehow, when it was my turn to start, I started. It was like I was having an out-of-body experience where I watched all the notes happen. Apparently they were the correct notes because at the end we all got a standing ovation. I remember learning something very valuable, which is trust your preparation.

I had no idea that all that Saturday practice was going to come in handy when I thought emotionally, “I can’t do this.” Somehow, I had enough stun to set that aside and do it anyway. What I learned was that it was the preparation. It wasn’t my idea of how it was supposed to go that was going to carry the day. I’ve learned that trust in the process, trust in the learning, trust in the discovery was going to make a huge difference.

Guess what? I had no words to say, so I wasn’t required to perform words. I was required to be in the music, to trust the moment. So when it came time for me to learn how to do that with words, I discovered that, you know something? I prepare way too many words, and I only get to say probably about, I don’t know, 25% of the words I prepare, but trust that the 25% that are appropriate to say in the moment are going to come out of the mouth.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right. Well, you know what’s really lovely about this, this really resonates with me because when you watch, say, Olympic athletes that crush it, their preparation … it’s almost like they trust their bodies to do what their bodies are supposed to do under tremendous pressure. It’s the ones that overthink it that get in their way. It’s like getting into this flow where you just actually trust yourself.

Diane Curran:                    Yeah. Yeah, it’s true.

Melinda Wittstock:         I really understand that. You see it, and there are lots of studies about this now, around this concept of flow consciousness or flow mastery, how to literally get out of your own way.

Diane Curran:                    There’s a woman, a client of mine, who I was supporting in developing a presentation she’s going to be doing literally later tonight. We were working on the points she wanted to make and all of that. I was adding pauses for her and so forth. Then she said to me at the very end, she goes, “What should I say when I start? Like what should be the first thing I literally say to the audience?”

I said, “Well, remember this. There’s going to be somebody introducing you, so you don’t have to say your name,” because she was worried that she should say her name. I said, “Your name has just been said. You don’t need to say that. Here’s what I suggest you say. Get up to the podium, look at everybody, and say, ‘It’s so good to be with you.'”

I know her, and that is going to make her just relax and be with the people in the group. When she’s with the people in the group, her energy has a chance to be present for them. She said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s interesting. Have there been other, I don’t know, epiphanies along the way in your career, like challenges and things that you’ve had to overcome in a business sense that … wait, so I’m just going to ask that question again. I’m sorry. Diane, as you look back on your career and all the different things you’ve done, have there been other challenges or other moments … and we all have them, where we find ourselves in some sort of fetal position and we have to figure out how to get up out of that.

Every female entrepreneur that I’ve ever interviewed, including myself, has had those moments. How do you get out of those and kind of keep going? How have you?

Diane Curran:                    The number of those incidences is what I would say is unaccountably legendary. There are so many of them.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right. Yes. I know. I have a long list as well. I mean we all do.

Diane Curran:                    I learned if they’re going to keep coming … and they will because I am so not done with my career. I’m just getting to the next phase of it. There’s a little technique I learned, which is … you know the phrase, “The mind is a terrible thing to waste.”? Well, some days, it’s just the mind is a terrible thing. What I’ve learned is this.

When I’m at the point where I’m sitting here and I’m looking at something and maybe I’m working on my computer and I’ve got a bunch of documents in front of me, it’s like, “Oh, what do I do next? I’m not sure.” Or I find my thinking slowing down, where it’s like, “Why can’t I figure out the next thing here?” I literally get up and I use that technique that people often say when they go into a room they forget why they came in.

Go into another room literally to clear my mind of whatever the heck it is that’s blocking it and then walk around for a minute or two or even three or four or five, whatever it needs to be, and then come back with an empty mind to the task because whatever thought I have that’s gotten stuck like a broken record, I just want to let that go and clear the decks and then start with a fresh thought because it’s about being available for the next discovery.

I don’t know the answer. How exciting is that? I get to discover something new. It works like a charm in the smallest possible ways, but it works in those emotional moments, too, where you feel like, “Oh, my gosh, I don’t have what it takes. I don’t know what’s next. I made this horrible mistake,” whatever it is. Let that go. Clean mind. Clean, empty space for what’s coming next.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, that’s beautiful. I mean I took up meditation some years back, and my practice gets more and more sophisticated. I don’t know what I would do without it. But that clearing, having silence, clearing your mind and literally just asking for inspiration, whether you believe in God or the universe or whatever it is, just asking for it and then saying what I do, is I say to myself, and I’ll hear it when it comes, and then getting into the practice of letting go, like trying to dis-attach from the outcome.

Diane Curran:                    Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         [crosstalk 00:42:00]

Diane Curran:                    Literally physically standing up so that you’re sending a signal to your entire self, not just your mind, not just your body, not just your emotions. You are literally signaling your entire holistic being.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s beautiful.

Diane Curran:                    Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Diane, what’s next for you? Where are you taking your career? What’s the big vision? Where are you going? Yeah, I love to hear people’s inspiration and visions for where they’re going in the next year, five years, 10 years, all of that. What’s yours?

Diane Curran:                    I decided that for the next five years, I’m no longer going to play in traffic. What I’m going to do is I’m going to take advantage of all this amazing technology we have literally right at our desktops, at our fingertips. I am finding myself online more and more. My first course is coming out very soon.

To my surprise, of all the courses that I’ve dreamt up and thought about, I gave myself a task, which is, “Okay, think up three courses. Let’s see which is the first one you’re going to do, but think up three so you have something to work with.” Then the one that wanted to percolate up first is called Time Mastery for the Time Sensitive. I thought, “Oh, my gosh, I love time.”

Time used to be my mortal enemy. Now it’s my newest best friend. We’re going to go out there in the world and play with time and encourage others to be in that conversation. I am having such a ball. It’s taking more time than I ever expected.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yeah, you’re taking the time to help other people save time. That’s pretty funny.

Diane Curran:                    There you go. What I love about that is that I know therefore it’s a worthy adventure, so I’m going to invite other people on it with me. I’m very excited.

Melinda Wittstock:         Oh, that’s great. How can people find out about your course and also, how can people work with you?

Diane Curran:                    There’s a couple of ways. I have a website called themarketingdeal, D-E-A-L.com. If you go there, right on the homepage, up pops a little opt-in where you can get free quick-start guides for the Time Mastery course, so you can get them right away and start playing with them and working with them, and I’m going to give people an offer to start out with the course free if they jump in as early birds.

You can literally go right on there. The thing will pop up. Opt in for your Time Mastery quick starts. Boom. That’s easy. Then if people want to work with me, just go and contact me. I’ve got lots of information about my wow whispering, about my other services on my website. You can poke around, wander around. People love to meander. It’s kind of like going to my own little private shopping mall, and see what I have to offer.

I’ve got books. I’ve got courses. Check it out, and we can have some fun together. Let me know what your biggest need and question is, and if I can’t help you, I’ll make you get the resources that do.

Melinda Wittstock:         That’s beautiful.

Diane, thank you so much for a delightful and inspiring conversation and putting your wings on with us today and also the beautiful way that you characterized flying, birds, and how evocative that is of women lifting each other up. So beautifully said.

Diane Curran:                    Oh, thank you. It is my pleasure, Melinda. I love what you are doing. I love the community you are creating virtually for all of us. Together, we are going to soar. It is such an honor to be with you.