Get Out of Your Own Way

“My hunger goes back to the place where anything is possible. When I look at what is driving us forward as a country, or even as an organization, I very much believe that our choices define our reality and how we live our lives. You can look at the glass half empty or half full. It is the way I have lived my life in the midst of a really challenging story with trauma, losses, and much more.

“I believe this time is an incredible opportunity. People need to be inspired. They need to know they can make a difference. They need to know that others care. For me personally, it is where I get to the edge and I have to jump off. It’s like there is something there; that I can’t turn back. I know I am here to do more, be more, and create more.

“What drives me is the life I am creating. Because I believe that I am here to serve others, I have a responsibility. At the end of the day, it can’t be about me, because if it’s about me, then I am pretty lifeless. It doesn’t work for me.

“If it is about serving others, making a difference, making a better world, then I am engaged. There has been a lot of fear in my journey—fear about ‘Is this mine to do? Am I the one? Do I trust that I know?’ The part that keeps feeding my hunger is I know I am here to make a big difference, and the only thing that keeps me from making a big difference is my fear.

“If I truly believe I am a vehicle of change, then I have got to move out of my own way, and I have to step into the battles as they present themselves.”

The above are the words of Courtney Ruby, quoted when she was the City Auditor of Oakland, California. It is an excerpt of from my book: Gutsy Women Win. 

When Courtney decided to run for City Auditor, her first run for public office, she had to decide for the sake of what. That's when she found her answer which was to bring integrity and ethics into local politics. Quite a vision, huh?

I find that when I am faced with having to decide an action, I ask myself “For the sake of what?” When I get a clear answer, I find myself willing to get out of my own way and go to the edge because now I am clear.

“For the sake of what?” are you willing to get out of your own way and go to the edge?