Well, hello, my name is Samantha Hawkins.
I’m the creator of the Gold Line Truth Blog series available
on the Online Learning center@excom.com.
I’m also the host of the Speak Your Truth podcast in
partnership with excom.
And today we’re doing something a little bit differently.
I usually, I’d be joined by a friend of mine,
some incredible subject matter expert in the industry,
a leader in the industry.
But this month, I’m just speaking
to you directly from my heart for this episode here.
Now, if you read the blog for this month, it’s called
Do The Thing Anyway.
And if you haven’t read that blog yet, really, why not?
If you haven’t subscribed
to the Gold Lion Truths blog either, make sure you do that
and do check out the blog for this month.
Like I said, it’s called Do The Thing Anyway,
and it talks about a response
that usually comes up in my head as many times
as I have had the opportunity, the privilege of being able
to teach at, uh, academies, workshops, conferences.
And I’ll have someone afterwards that will come to me
and they’ll say, Sam, man, you do so much.
I wish I could do that. I wish I could.
I could be a part of a committee.
I wish I could get on a stage and, and teach a class.
I wish I could have the confidence to do this.
I wish I could finally get started.
I’ve been wanting to do a podcast. I wish I could do this.
And I, sometimes I have, I have literally said to them,
look, let me tell you, I’m not up here doing this thing
because I’m just that special.
I’m not up here doing the thing because of any connections
or because all the right things fell in place for me.
I was just someone who did the thing, stepped out
of my comfort zone, did something
that I had never done before.
And guess what? Don’t always get accepted.
It’s not always a yes,
but every time that I reach out, I step out
and I do the thing.
No matter how scary it is, no matter how brave
or bold I have to be to do it in the first place.
Every time that I step out of my comfort zone
and it pays off in a big way, tells me, Hey,
it was worth it, and I’m probably gonna do the thing
again next time around.
How often do we let our own self doubt
stop us from doing the things, taking the chances,
submitting for that call, for papers, for a conference
that we want to do.
We want to have the audacity to do it,
but sometimes it seems like self-doubt is a nine
to five job all in its own.
We doubt ourselves. We second guess ourselves.
We compare ourselves to others.
We say, well, I couldn’t, I can’t possibly do it
because this person’s doing it.
But, but look at them. They’ve been doing it.
Uh, they’ve done it a half dozen times, a dozen times,
forgetting the fact that everyone started somewhere.
Everyone started somewhere.
Don’t despise the small beginnings.
Truly, you have to start somewhere.
I would encourage you to start right where you are.
Start with what you know. Start with what you can do.
You may not make it yet on the national stage
of a conference, but if your state chapter,
they put out a call for papers.
If you see that regional conference
and they put out a call for papers,
I dare you to do the thing.
Consider the fact that many people in this industry dared
to do something big, to do something great, and we can look
and we can marvel and we can say, oh,
man, it paid off for them.
In a big way. You realize that a community as strong
as nine one Wonder Woman, nine one Wonder Woman, created
by my friend Sarah Weston.
It all started with her
and her friend doing the thing, doing something
that no one had ever done before.
Having the audacity to step out of their comfort zone
and to dare to envision a community
where people in this 9 1 1 industry could realize that, Hey,
this person in Montana
and this person in Georgia, you’re in the same boat.
You might be going through the same issues.
You might be having the same challenges. You are not alone.
And the way was paved
because of bold decisions, brave decisions made
that we have The nine one Wonder Woman Community.
You think about my friend Ricardo Martinez, who dared
to be great and dared to start a movement.
I am 9 1 1. Now.
We all recognize it for what it is in the movement
that it is today, how strong it is, not just in our country,
but uh, across the border.
Whether it’s I am 9, 9, 9, I am 0, 0 0,
how strong that movement has pervaded
and continues to this day.
But it all started with him stepping out of his comfort zone
and doing something big, bold, audacious,
and it paid off self-doubt.
We can let it win all day long, and we can wonder
and only imagine what we might have accomplished,
where our lives could be the journeys,
the professional journeys that our lives could have taken
had we dared to do the thing.
We can sit back and we can imagine and daydream
and wonder all day long, all month long,
all year long, we could decide to do the thing.
Now, sometimes you might step out
and like I said, not everything is going to be a yes.
Not everything is going to pay off.
You may submit for a, a call for papers, for a conference,
and it may not be an acceptance the first time around.
Guess what? There’s a lot of conferences out there,
and there’s a lot of reasons why sometimes a really great
session might not get accepted.
Doesn’t mean end of the world,
doesn’t mean you don’t have a story because you do.
You have a story, you have insights.
You have something to share
and think about the individuals that are just waiting
to be impacted by your life,
by your story, by your insights.
But it’s not gonna happen until you decide
to do the thing, do the thing.
Anyway, I’ve been blessed to be the chair
of the editorial committee, but
before I was even the chair of
that committee, I was a member.
And again, being a part of that committee, I I,
I recently met someone the other other day
after a conference and he said, man,
I didn’t even know Apco had committees.
I didn’t even know there was such a thing
as work groups like Nina has as well.
There is. And he looked at me
and he said, how did you get in that?
I said, brother, nothing special.
I signed up, I signed up one day
and I’ve been a part of an incredible committee
three years now, going on a fourth.
Do the thing.
Don’t overthink why you shouldn’t do it.
Don’t overthink why you don’t belong at
that table in that community,
why you don’t deserve to do the thing.
Don’t overthink that.
Instead, think about, think about what you could accomplish
when you overcome the self-doubt
and you decide to take the chance to apply
for that scholarship that you keep, you keep seeing,
you keep seeing that scholarship.
It could be a continuing education scholarship
to go to a conference.
It could be a scholarship to get that CMCP
to get RPL to get cp.
It could be that workshop.
It could be that conference that you said, you know, I,
I came here all about this conference and,
and every year it, it happens in my state
and I just, I don’t know.
I I, that’s for other people. That’s for folks.
That’s for folks that are newer in this industry.
But that’s for folks that’s been here
longer in this industry.
When in truth, if you’ve been in this industry
for a year, for two weeks,
you have been in 9 1 1, thank you
for your service for the two weeks.
I get that you are still in training,
but it is never too early to begin
to think about your professional development
and where you want to go, that you don’t have to be like me.
And it wasn’t until five years in that I finally got bit
by the bug and realized training was the calling for me.
It could be sooner for you.
I know because I get to meet people all the time.
I met someone recently
and she said, Hey, Sam, I’ve actually,
I just got released out of training.
I just became solo and I already know I wanna be a trainer.
And so I’m seeking out all the training,
all the classes I can take to build towards that.
And on the flip side, I don’t care if you say, well,
I’ve already been in this industry for 15 years.
I’ve been sitting in the seat long enough.
That’s for the new folks. No, it’s never too late
to do big, bold things in your life and your career.
And it’s never too late to share the story
and the insights that you have.
So I challenge you, invest in yourself,
bet on yourself in a big, big way.
And that thing you’ve been thinking about, doing that class,
you’ve been thinking about building, presenting,
even if you present it just within your center, build it.
Do it. Step out. You might pay off in a big way.
Do the thing. Be bold. You are worth it.
You are worth it. Thank you, and you take care.
