What You Seek Seeks You: The Most Authentic and Powerful You

Tracy King is a Force of Nature, as are each of the gifted professionals and communicators you meet in the GPC Community. She is extremely dynamic, intense, smart, sensitive, and famous for her consulting and book, The Competitive Advantage: Create Continuing Education That Is Profitable, Sustainable, and Impactful.

Tracy is the founder and chief learning strategist of InspirEd and transforms the way we learn and earn, one industry, one profession, one learner at a time. She is a certified association executive, certified transformational learning consultant, podcast creator, and host and does all of that in addition to her priorities with a family life of four kiddos and a rescue kitty.

Do you need more evidence she is full-on neurodivergent and “owns it”? She is an exceptional professional colleague and generous friend. A few years ago, she accepted my invitation and challenge to fill the position of Truth Sayer in the Butt-Kicker Quadrant of the Key 12 Network, as invented and taught by Janine Garner. It’s a big role and commitment of regular phone calls because this is the job and traits: The Truth Sayer is honest and calls your bullshit. She forces you to commit to your goals and integrity. The only judgment that matters is how you judge yourself. You have to become bigger on the inside. She exhibits clear values and beliefs. Truth Sayer says “This is what I really think is going on now…”

The main reason for forming a community of gifted professionals and communicators is we can be “too much” and overwhelming, even to ourselves. That’s why we seek and listen to each other in ways we may not pay attention to others. It’s powerful and believable when Tracy says, “What you seek seeks you, but it’s not all love and light. It takes grit and guts to step into your purpose. But lovely, it’s SO worth it!”

She is living out that truth right in front of you. No big mystery here.

Photo by Max Larochelle on Unsplash

Gifted awareness

Q: Is this true for you? Because you are a deep thinker, highly intuitive, creative, analytical, and curious, you bring a particularly complex dimension to professional relationships.

Tracy: Definitely! I’ve received feedback throughout my career that I didn’t at first know what to do around how I communicate (using a lot of metaphor and storytelling) and people wondering how I “see around corners” because I intuitively parse data and patterns into trends and trajectories. I’d be called out as different and curious in my approach — and I didn’t realize for a long time that others don’t see the story around how we work together on our collaborative journeys or see the patterns I see and interpret as part of decision making.

When people say “You communicate differently” or “How did you know that would work?” I was not sure how to tell them because I thought it was apparent. It was just the way my brain works. As I’ve matured in my career I realized my brain works differently and that’s a unique strength I can bring to my clients and professional relationships.

Professionalism focus

Q: Did you become a professional on purpose or did your career path open a door into the profession you identify with today?

Tracy: I’ve always known what my life and career “themes” are but I haven’t been rigid about how they are expressed in my career. When I graduated from college the U.S. was in a huge recession and the job market was highly competitive. I found myself in a job vs. a career, but I brought my “themes” with me and I found ways to express them at that job.

I’m inherently a teacher and communication is my jam. By expressing who I am in that very administrative position, I was invited to create and deliver a business communication training curriculum for a division within the company which launched me on the pathway of seeking to understand how brains learn and through my research distilling models for designing better learning. This has been instrumental in creating InspirEd and serving our clients with excellence.

My professional journey looks like a zigzag across industries and positions; still, by expressing my Tracy-themes in each position I learned something integral to my overall career path. Those themes bring coherence to each stepping stone to where I am and where I am continuing to grow.

Communication focus

Q: Which of your communication skills do you seem to work on constantly, always learning, always evolving?

Writing, speaking, and teaching are the communication skills foremost for me. Together they are also powerful partners in learning design which is ultimately utilizing refined communication skills to map a master’s understanding to a learning brain facilitating new mastery.

Words to Live and Laugh By

The power of quotes and rhetoric is part of the gifted person’s thinking.  Here are the quotes Tracy often uses:

“Who do I choose to be?” Leon VanderPol.

Leon is the author of A Shift In Being and founder of The Center for Transformational Coaching. This question is key when we develop beyond reacting to whatever may be happening around us to living as our authentic self. Choosing who we will be in this moment, in this relationship, in this challenge, in our work – and that we have the authority and agency to do so.

“I am a constant editor. I shed people. I shed clothing. I shed possessions. I shed ideas. The biggest thing I’ve shed is my limitations and perception of who I am.” Jamie Lee Curtis

This is about how leaning into our growth and personal transformation journey requires we make room for new things. And shedding those limiting beliefs is revelatory.

“At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” Lao Tzu

“Always stick to what makes you weird, odd, strange, different. That’s your source of power.” Jamie Lee Curtis

I’ve spent so much of my life shushing myself, muting my presence, trying to fit in so people didn’t clock me as weird or different when all along, that was my power. Being our authentic self is precisely how we find our community and make a difference.

Often, if not weekly, we feature professionals who initiate meaningful conversations with other gifted minds and storytellers–and who they serve. They connect regularly through this blog, our newsletter, and their emails to nurture and support the network that enriches them. See if their words and actions work for you or engage directly by sending a comment and sharing your insights.

If you are curious about how sensitive, creative, intense, multipotential, professional, ethical, expressive, and clear you are about your intentions, wants, and needs, go here to check your GPC Score.