lessons from a 5-speed on life + business

I'll never forget what it felt like to buckle in the driver's seat of my very first car.

It was a 1991 Saab 900 hatchback with 200K miles on it. 🚗

She was as bright red as they made them with a cloth tan interior, roll down windows and the kind of seats you had to fold down to let your friends crawl through to get in the back. 

I had planned for months how I was going to strategically place my flower sticker and my Sugarloaf ski mountain decals on the back window and I found just the right angle to place my Sony discman so the cords for the cassette tape adaptor worked to keep my Britney Spears CD - throwback to those "Baby One More Time" days - playing on repeat.

To make it even cooler...my car was a manual shift 5-speed.

My mom and dad were adamant that I learned how to drive a standard and my hand-me-down wheels weren't mine until I did.

Talk about incentivizing. 

It took me a few weeks to get the hang of it and I was still terrified of stalling in the middle of the big intersection near our house with no traffic light...but nothing solidifies learning like paralyzing fear, right?

One of the unexpected blessings of being the kid who drove the 5-speed was that getting to school in the snow was a cinch.

I learned how to downshift to navigate the slippery winter roads of New England. 

I learned what my car was telling me by the sound of the engine.

Naturally, my favorite gear was always at the top.

When I think back to how fast I used to drive on Route 84 flying home to New Hampshire my first year at college in Connecticut, it astounds me that I am still alive and didn't get a speeding ticket that was worth more than my car.

And when I think about this theme and our wiring to move at TOP speed in all things - especially business...I've come to learn that driving as fast as the car can go isn't always what's best for the engine.

But have you ever noticed that when all of the cars around you are driving 10-15 mph over the speed limit, you feel like a literal turtle when you move at the pace that feels most natural to you?

Suddenly, you're questioning if you're doing it right and why everyone is in such a hurry and before you know it, your cruise control is set to 80, too.

Everyday I talk to women who have their cruise control set to 80, while their lives and bodies are asking them to slow down.

Their engines are asking them to downshift to match the conditions of their life, their deepest needs and the whisper of their souls, yet their pedal to the metal way of living is a hard act to break.

But here's what I know to be true...

Our greatest ideas don't come when we're living life at a break neck pace.

Our sweet spot is in the place where fulfillment meets function and purpose gets to play with prosperity.

Your best answers are sitting right in front of you.

Your thing is closer than you think.

And what you need for the New Year is not a new version of you, it's a new gear.

What worked in 2019 isn't going to work in 2020.

We know too much now.

And the outer shell of what's no longer working is cracking into pieces to reveal the golden center of goodness that is available to each and every one of us if we will just slow down to get in touch with it.

Archaic patterns are being unearthed and a true call to step in and step up is afoot.

And what I've witnessed in these first 12 days of the New Year is that the Universe is going to call your bluff.

The things you've been marinating on, journaling out and dreaming in to in the background of your life are asking you to fuel up the tank to get ready for the road ahead.

It's time to get some dates on the calendar and some skin in the game.

It's time to change the narrative on how stuck we've been for rolling up our sleeves and putting in the work.

We've been putting in the work over here...and 2020 is already off to a super exciting start.

We've announced the names of 3 of our 2020 Ignite Your Soul Summit speakers, so far - each of which - has a vested focus in creating IMPACT, not only in the lives of their clients, but the organizations they support to affect positive change for humanity. 

Our first 3 speakers (with more to come) are going to ROCK your world on April 25th + 26th, 2020.

And to CELEBRATE - We're offering Buy One; Gift One tickets for just $249 through January - don't miss this one - it's a no-brainer.

We're also welcoming in sponsorship partners with a mind to sustainability and innovation.

Please email kristen@amberlilyestrom.com if you are interested in being one of our Summit Success Partners.

2020 is calling us UP on anything that's no longer in alignment with the truth of who we really are.

Hit REPLY and tell me what gear you're finding in the New Year. 

I'm rooting for you.

xo
Amber