One of the things it’s taken me a year to figure out is the fact that it takes two-way conversation to create a business.  For so long, I’d read positive attitude books, studied personal development, and bought into the idea that I can think great thoughts, keep those thoughts isolated inside of my head, and that this would give me the tools to build a business.  I would often spend hours doing things like brainstorming and writing journals, hoping to build up such a strong momentum that I would just be brimming with joy and positive energy that would rub off on everyone around me, and business would gravitate toward me.

And you know what?  It sort of worked.

I started to feel more and more optimistic, ideas started coming automatically, and other people remarked that they were inspired to be around me.  People often left after talking to me, noting that they always had ideas coming to mind for hours after we’d gone our separate ways.  I’d often get so excited that I could hardly sleep.

But here’s where the breakdown happened.  It was nearly impossible to turn this into measurable monetary results.  Sure, I was getting people excited, but they weren’t paying me for that.  There was another downside: I wasn’t able to sustain the excitement consistently.  It came and went in bursts.  And when I was alone for extended periods of time, I’d get into a funk.  This is one of the hardest things I’ve had to struggle with as an introvert.

Saying affirmations into a vacuum has little effectiveness.  What has strong effectiveness is conversation.  When you speak your affirmations into someone else’s ears, you’ve now caused them to be processed twice.  When you regularly describe the life you’re intending to create for yourself, other people will start to get excited for you and see the possibilities for themselves.  Plus, they’ll start looking for ways to support you.  Finally, they’ll start to think of you as the kind of person you want to be.  That’s when life gets exciting.

I didn’t realize that, all along, it was the conversations with people that was making a difference, not the stuff I did by myself.  It seems kind of obvious now.