Let Your Freak Flag Fly

One of my favorite movie scenes is from The Family Stone, where Ben, played by Luke Wilson, says to the character played by Sarah Jessica Parker:

Here's the thing, Meredith. You have a freak flag. You just don't fly it.

I share this quote with clients a lot because I often hear from them that they feel extremely uncomfortable really being themselves in their work. Don't get me wrong, they want to, but they're afraid of what others will think. I've talked with:

• An advertising executive who intends to be a writer

• A technology manager who wants to become a coach

• A health care worker who is studying to become an astrologer

• A creative who longs to become an artist

• A design director who dreams of opening a farm-to-table restaurant

And so many others. Aside from the money fears that arise when leaving stable careers to start something new, the biggest fear is that others will think they're crazy.

And I get it. When I left a 20+ year successful career in the corporate world to become a coach, my inner critic went to town - really, Winn, the world needs another middle-aged woman to reinvent herself as a coach? But once I decided to move forward anyway, despite these fears, it got easier and easier. Do I think some people have rolled their eyes or thought I was crazy? Absolutely. Did it stop me? No.

I'd started to fly my freak flag.

And this same thought, what will people think, keeps coming up for my clients long after they've launched their own businesses as they go deeper and deeper into the unique work that they really want to do. But what I've seen repeatedly is that the more they show up fully as themselves, freak flag flying, their work gets better and better, and they're finding more success than ever before.

So I ask you, how can you let your freak flag fly?