Hey Reader,
Grab a cuppa, story time incoming... (sorry in advance, I am not sure if there is a plot)
Back in late 2020, when I retired from pro cycling, i wanted ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the sport.
Not because I hated it or had beef (ok i had some beef), but because cutting ties was kind of necessary for me to really find who i was beyond "Shannon the pro cyclist"
A few months into my retirement, after applying to be on the Voice, and dabbling in building my own Yoga Youtube Channel... I landed in what felt like a full body fk yes.
Life Coaching.
(ok i hated the label but i didn't know what else to call myself, so i settled on the most generic title I could find)
Back then, I marketed to anyone + everyone who wanted to get out of their own way...
When they asked me "sooo... what do you do" I had no idea how to answer, all i knew is that when you get on a call with me, transformation happens.
** try read this next part without taking a breath... ;)
I was helping people heal their broken hearts, find 'confidence' again, launch their creative photography businesses, quit their desk jobs, mend relationships, forgive their abusers, forgive themselves... learn to PLAY again, be adventurous, have fun, come home to themselves after half a life spent conforming to social norms. Find their voice. Fall in love with their body again. Fall in love themselves, break co-dependencies, set 'boundaries', feel their deepest feelings - the ones held inside for so long they've grown cobwebs... free themselves from obligation to BE somebody, and learn to live life in a way that is true to YOU.
GASP!!!
What do you call all of that as an ex-pro cyclist with no 'qualifications' to her name?
Fine. "Life coaching" will do.
Fast forward 6yrs + at least 10 changes to my life coaching label...
Business was good and working well...
I'd helped hundreds of high performers by this point.
Doctors, artists, actors, vets, nurses, photographers, entrepreneurs, ex-truckies, founders, CEOs, students... and HEAPS of athletes: world tour pros, Olympians, national champions, etc...
It made sense that the athletes always found me. Having been one for the first 26yrs of my life... yet still, i didn't have the guts to pull that trigger.
Every time i dipped my toes into the 'working with athletes only' pool... I felt like an imposter.
"who the f*ck are you to work in this space?"
"you're not qualified"
"you didn't even make it to the Olympics!"
So i shoved down that big dream for another month, then another, and another..
But something weird happened as the second-half of this year rolled around...
I woke up to "that feeling"
You know the one you have when you know something needs to drastically change.
When your soul almost leaves your body + you see your life from a birds eye view + think "what the fk am i doing?"
I tell people every day to follow their heart. To say their big dreams out loud + not dampen them to fit into ANY kind of comfort zone, because that's where souls go to die.
And yet, from that zoomed out perspective, I saw so clearly that i was not taking my own advice (call the life coach police)
Business felt stagnant. Mundane. Un-exciting.
I still loved working with my 1:1 clients, but there was no 'motivation' to grow, expand, evolve.
What the heck??
I tried a few new things to spark my interest...
A new program, a few alterations to the current offers...
But mostly, I just kept the status quo, because change was in the too hard basket (and my soul was slowly dying)
Pop in your name and email and the rest opens instantly. You'll also get the next letter straight to your inbox.
I kept doing the mundane, boring sh*t you do as a biz owner to keep things ticking over, and kept ignoring my intuition.
Slowly, amidst the continual avoidance of my innermost knowing...
(thank fk) My business 'stopped working'.
OF COURSE it did.
I knew sh*t needed to change MONTHSSS ago, but I didn't listen bc I didn't want to go through the hard work of making hard business choices.
Pivoting, readjusting goals, leaning into that scary void of the unknown where nothing is in your control, and all you can rely on as the wind under your wings is self trust + self belief.
No fkn thank you.
Instead, I stayed in what as familiar, (even though I knew it wasn't working anymore) right up until my business almost entirely died.
Then I had no choice but to start again from ground zero.
(This next part is hilarious to me...)
I remember the EXACT day i decided everything was going to be different.
I went for a loooonnnnggg walk, and talked to myself out loud for about 2hrs straight.
Not a whisper. A full on conversation speaking into existence my biggest, juciest dreams.
As if my future self had transported herself back in time to tell me all the incredible things that had happened.
"FUUUCCCKKKK YESSSSSS!!!!" she screamed.
"You've arrived. Everything WORKS!!! Everything works. EVERYTHING. Works.
Athletes are reaching out to you EVERY DAY asking how to work with you. Teams are dropping into your inbox, offering to bring you on board as their mental performance coach. Podcasts are seeking you out to guest speak on their show. Events are reaching out to hire you as their keynote speaker. You're travelling the world with your work, with your family. You've been on your dream holiday to Japan.
Oh, AND you did the ironman. It was everything you thought it'd be, but also... life changing."
Except none of that had actually happened.
But I FELT IT in that moment as if it was already true.
The feeling of elation ran through my veins so fast it had me literally skipping down the road.
And since THAT DAY, THAT MOMENT...
everything shifted.
Because I decided it would.
Now I'm sitting here SPIRALLING in the best fkn direction, because WHAT DO YOU MEAN you can just decide who you want to be, what you want in your life, then wait for reality to catch up.
NO ONE teaches you this sh*t in school.
And the BEST part is that it's real.
Not woo-woo bs. This is actually how the brain, and LIFE works.
The "results" are wild.
Athletes reach out to me almost every day asking how to work with me.
Team managers drop into my inbox RANDOMLY.
Podcasters invite me to speak on their show.
And we're relaxing, waiting for the holiday to Japan to spring into existence.
(calm down, i'll give the ironman some more time ahah)
My big shift on that day came from a deep calling + desire in my BONES to work with pro athletes.
To be the voice, the presence, the person i never felt I had back when I was pro.
To help athletes gently (but also sometimes brutally) get out of their own way so they can REALISE their true greatness.
When I say i am invested in every person i work with becoming the greatest version of themselves, I truly mean it.
Because I believe every single person on this planet is inherently great.
We've just never been properly taught or nurtured in a way that naturally allows that greatness to emerge uninhibitedly.
SO if you have a big juicy dream locked inside your heart. Here is your permission slip to just frkn DECIDE that it works out.
Start walking through life as if you have already done it. Already got it. Already been it.
When you do that, life responds in ways that feel like big fat miracles...
But actually it's the most simple equation
Believe it + be it = see it.
Believe it first.
Then show up as if you already have it.
Then it happens.
If you enjoyed this email drop, DM me on IG @shannonmalseed with your burning questions, and I'll write the next email answering them all!
P.S. I recorded a Masterclass all about this, if you want to watch it... watch it here.
** it's all about dealing with the inevitable pressures of being an elite athlete.
Keep shining bright.
Shannon