Trust the Nudges: How to Listen, Lean In, and Take the Next Best Step

In this episode of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, we dive into the power of trusting the universe, trusting your gut, and trusting yourself. Whether it's those quiet whispers during a walk or the big decisions that keep you up at night, learning to lean into those nudges can lead to breakthroughs you never imagined.

✨ Here’s what we’re diving into:

• 📍 Why trusting yourself is the ultimate game-changer
• 📍 How to honor your commitments (with compassion!)
• 📍 Simple steps to tune into your intuition and take action
• 📍 The truth about small wins and why they matter
• 📍 Erica’s personal journey with her 2025 word of the year: TRUST

💡 Plus: Erica shares the behind-the-scenes story of creating Her Collective and how leaning into trust helped her bring this dream to life.

👉 Ready to shatter those self-imposed ceilings and step into your best life? Tune in now and let’s smash through them together!

🌟 P.S. If this episode resonates, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. Don’t forget to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review – it helps more women find this message!

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Transcript

Yeti X & FaceTime HD Camera: 0:00

Have you ever ignored those little nudges from the universe? Me now I'm talking about those whispers that you need to hear, even if it's not necessarily what you want to hear, or sometimes it starts off just as an idea or inspiration or something that comes to you and you're out on a walk or meditating. And let me be real honest with you. I am guilty of not leaning into those nudges all the time. I'm guilty of not listening to them. Uh, because let's face it, right. Those just seem to be nudges. There's not scientific evidence. There's not data to back those up. But what I have really learned over the past couple of years is that those little nudges that you get, those ideas, those whispers. They're really just gifts if you listen, and if you lean into them, But I think it's so easy that we take those nudges and we take those gifts and we say, No, it could never be me or why would I ever do that? Or I can't take that risk or there's no way that I could ever, because I'm not smart enough. I'm not tall enough. I'm not the right person for that job. But here's the deal. Those nudges are going to keep showing up and showing up and you're either going to keep ignoring them. Or you're finally going to trust yourself to listen to those and take action. And that's what I want to talk about today. And that is trust. Trust in the universe, trust in yourself, trusting in the process. And I want to talk about that because trust has become my word of the year and. It's not one that I ever would have expected or picked for myself, but. The more, I lean into this idea of trust. Right. Trusting in the timing of things, trusting in my decision-making. The more I have learned. What that really means for me. What does trusting really mean for me? So today we're going to dive into what that trust really means. I want to talk a little bit about how I learned to lean into those nudges and how you can too, and how you can build more trust in your self. You are listening to the glass ceiling and sticky floor podcast. The podcast that will empower you to shatter limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities. So you can live your best life. I'm Erica Rooney and I'm on a mission to bring more women into positions of power and keep them there. I'm obsessed with all things, growth and abundance. And I'm here to talk you through the tried and true secrets to get you to level up your career and your life. We talk about the hard stuff here. Imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear and burnout. So pull up a seat, pop in a near bed and let's dive in. Hey, Hey, y'all welcome back to the podcast. I am so excited to dive into this episode today because we're going to talk about trust and trust me on that one. No pun intended. Y'all. This isn't the word that I thought that I would pick for myself. But here we are. Right. So grab a cup of coffee. Let's get those headphones on because I want to talk to you about how, how did trust even become my word of the year? Because honestly, I didn't even know I needed it. I thought I did trust myself. Right. Because I always tell people, you can only count on yourself. Like you are your star player. You are the one person that you can count on. But how often do we tell ourselves that we're going to do something, whether that's working out or eating healthier or not drinking or getting, you know, all of your emails, inboxes down to zero, we tell ourselves we're going to do all those things. And then we let our own cells down. And we often do that because we're putting everybody else ahead of our own needs. Right? We're putting our kids ahead of ourselves, our bosses, our colleagues, our partners, our neighbors. I mean really since when do we put ourselves first, it really is a struggle. And I just recognized that. I would set all these goals for myself and I would do my best to get them all done. But the ones that I didn't get done were always the ones that I was setting for myself. And this word actually came to me when I was having to make a financial decision on, did I want to invest? And the question was really like, do I have the money to invest or not? And like, what do I do? What is this going to do for me and my business? And I didn't really have the answers. And if I'm honest with you, I still don't really have the answers. But I just had this nudge. They kept telling me it was what I needed to do. That that was the next step I needed to take. And so I just decided that's what I would do that I would trust those nudges. And that I would make the investment. And that is really hard to do. When you are an entrepreneur, you don't have that regular corporate salary. And you're trying to pay the bills. If you have to make a big investment, it's like, holy shit. I want to know what's going to pay off. But the problem is sometimes you don't, sometimes you have to do a million things and see which one sticks. Right? Sometimes there's AB testing, who knows, but for me, I had to trust. Those nudges that I was getting, but it was the right decision. And I don't mean like, oh, just trusted. The universe is always going to give you the right opportunity because that's not the case. But what I mean by trusting. Is I really felt in my bones, that was the right business decision for me to make. And so for me, I needed to trust my own gut and that is so hard to do sometimes. So I'm going to rewind it back in time, a little bit for you to just a couple months ago, when I started thinking about what did I want my word to be, right. And I was probably about November of 20, 24. And I'd done abundance before, and that really stood for abundance of love, abundance of money, abundance of purpose. And that really resonated. One of my words, one year was undeniable, right? I was undeniable. This life was meant for me, that I wanted. And as I was leaning into 2025. I thought I would pick another word like that, especially since this is my first year as a full-on solo preneur. Right. And I wasn't sure, I mean, abundance sounded great, right? I liked this idea of rested ambition. That sounded good, but nothing was just like binding to my heart. And, and I feel like if you do this word of the year thing, you know, when it hits you, you know, when the right word is. But I just kept. Missing out on whatever could be. Right. But I kept thinking, right. I need to trust myself. I need to trust myself. And y'all that word trust would come into my purview and then I'd be like, that's a terrible word. Don't ask me why. I thought it was a terrible word, but I kept thinking it was a terrible word. Right. Here's the thing though, life has a funny way of nudging you towards what you need, even if it's not what you think you want. Right. So already the universe is nudging me. Towards this word of trust. So I finally trusted my gut. I leaned into those little moments where, you know, my intuition was whispering like Erica, Hey, pay attention to this. And that's when I said like, okay, I hear you let's do this. And that's when I said, trust is my word of the year. So I want to talk about what does it mean to trust myself? And it's not just about trusting the process, trusting, you know, that what's coming to me is made for me, which it's all of that. But it really means in, it really means for me, trusting myself, trusting my gut, trusting the nudges that I get about what is the next best step. Even if I don't have the full plan baked, right. Even if I don't have the whole idea, I can still move forward. And I'll give you an example about this. I really leaned into trust when I launched the community, her collective. And if you follow me, I know you have seen this all over the place, but I recently launched an online digital community aim to empower women and amplify their voices and help them get into positions of power without burning out. It's an amazing concept. And when it first popped into my head, I of course had these ideas of like, you don't know how to do that. That's going to take six months to launch. Like, what do you know about this Erica? All of those little self-doubts, but I just leaned in and I started working and I started leaning into what would this look like and brainstorming and thinking. And. I didn't know how it would turn out. I really did not. But what I will tell you is it's been a lot easier than I thought it would. Don't get me wrong. It has been a lot of work. There've been, you know, a couple of tears behind the scenes, but mostly excitement and it's all coming so easily and naturally, and I think that's happening because I trusted myself. So I wanted to share that example with you. Oh, by the way, all founding member slots, they're almost full. I only have a few more left. So like what I'm doing, it's working. But I wanted to share that with you in case you have this big idea for something at work or at home or in your business, and you just aren't sure that you should do anything with it. Trust yourself to take that next best step. And in doing so in trusting yourself to take that next best step, you can then take the next one. And the next one and the next one. And maybe it brings you down a very clear marked path, right. That you know exactly how it's going to end up, or maybe it totally takes you down a path that you've never walked. But as the most gorgeous and stunning and breathtaking view. So again, trust yourself. Show up right. Now if you're like me though, you're probably like, I'm not sure how to trust myself. Like I think I do. And I will tell you full on. I thought I fully trusted myself until I realized how I was breaking my own promises to myself. But here's how we're going to do it. I've got three things, three ways that you can work on trusting yourself. The first one is going to be honoring your commitments to yourself, but with a dose of compassion and I'll get into that. The second one is listening to your intuition, trusting your gut. And then the third one is all about taking the small steps. So let's rewind it back to that. First one, honoring your commitments to your self. This one is the hugest it's going to make the most massive difference for you. But basically, if you say you're going to do something. Even if it is as simple as drinking more water or taking an afternoon walk. Show up for yourself. Right? Do what you said. You're going to do, drink the water, lace up your shoes, get out there and do the walk. Okay. But here's the kicker and this is a big one and this is the game changer for me is do it with compassion. So for example, If you're like me, you got the intentional workout every single day, but you know, let's be real like after a rough night at night sweats and hello, peri-menopause like, I see a girl. I don't always have it in me to do that. Instead of, you know, talking trash and all that junk. I just take a deep breath and I adjust, right. I give myself the grace. And then I move forward because trust is not about perfection. All the time. It's about consistency and it's about kindness. And if my goal was to have a kick ass workout in the gym, but all I have in me is a walk around the block. I'm going to take that walk. I'm gonna do what I can do. So honor your commitments. If you tell yourself that you are not going to use your phone when you're laying in bed at night. Put your phone somewhere where you can't use it. Or tell your partner who they can then hold you accountable, right? Put boundaries in place for yourself, guard rails, if you need so that you do stay true to your commitments with yourself. Now, the second thing is all about listening to your intuition. And I want to know. How often do you ignore that little voice that is deep inside of you? You know what I'm talking about? The one that says, Hey girl, this is not the right decision. Or maybe that little voice that says get after it, go, go, go, go do the damn thing. I want you to start tuning in. And one thing that has helped me really kind of tune in is to get quiet. So I'm that kind of person like, I jump up and in the morning I start my day and I immediately dive into reading a different material. When I feel like I'm really struggling with a decision. Or a question in the business that I'm having. I try to sit down with my journal actually, and just take a little bit of time to meditate, or sometimes I get out and do walking. Uh, just like think tanks with myself or with a friend where I talk through the question or the problem that is in my mind. And I do that because the quiet helps, but also movement helps, right? People don't get these great ideas for things. And they certainly don't tune in when they are knee deep in emails or like doing all these crazy things around the house. Right. You get, you get real clear during those quiet moments. So get, get quiet. Listen in, tune up. Your gut will never steer you wrong. And then the third step that I told you about is all about taking small steps, but I also want you to celebrate your wins. Because when I say trust yourself, it doesn't mean like go all in it. Take these giant leaps of faith all the time. Sometimes it really is just about the small steps. Y'all I'm gonna be real clear. I've been putting off this podcast for like two weeks. And you know what it does. Then it just keeps showing up on my to-do list every single time. So sometimes that small step, like for instance, the one in recording this podcast was like, let me just get my ass upstairs. And put myself in my podcasting seat and do the damn thing. Okay. That's all it takes. Sometimes it's as small as saying no to getting coffee with a friend, because you know, it's going to stretch your free time and you just don't have any to give. Right. Those are the moments that matter. Those are. The moments where you can really start to build trust in yourself. So here's what I've learned. Y'all. When you trust yourself when you really trust yourself. You align with your truest path? You start to feel less overwhelmed because you're not fighting yourself. It's not you against you, right? You begin to see that you don't have to have all the answers all the time. That sometimes you just have to take the next best step. Now y'all listen. Trust is not just a word. It is a practice. It is a daily decision for you to lean in. To listen and to believe in yourself and speaking of trust, y'all I just want to say I'm so grateful that I did trust myself to lean into creating her collective. And if you were listening today and you thought, okay, I need a double tap on that. Or what are the. The kids say DoubleClick fees days, mean double click on that. Hit me up message me. Let me know if you want to join the community, but we will all be working with each other to help each other lean into trusting our grads, trusting the next best step. And. Just trusting that this is all going to be the best fricking year yet. Right. Are you with me? Hell. Yeah. So. That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. And if this episode resonated with you, please do me the favor of sharing it with a friend. Or someone you don't even know because it really helps it land in the hands of the woman that needs to hear it most. But until next time, let's stop placing a ceiling on what's possible and start smashing through them.