Ask the right question - Why not you?

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” – Eleanor Roosevelt

What I have come to understand is that most of us are not owning our gifts because we have been taught that it is conceited to do so. We give away our power so often because of this and really undermine our natural brilliance. Some of the questions that we ask ourselves when we are experiencing these feelings of inferiority are:

• If I have confidence in myself will I appear cocky or narcissistic?
• What if I’m not perfect?
• What if they realize I am nobody important?
• Who am I to be doing this?

What I have found is that when we start asking ourselves these types of questions, we start to escalate. We pile on all the things anybody said that supports these ideas. The failures and mistakes from the past come to say hello. Before we know it, we are feeling horrible about ourselves and our confidence levels plummet. If we have to do a presentation or sales call, what happens next is interesting. Some of us switch into false bravado and in order to pump up our confidence, go into overdrive which can border on arrogant behavior. Others of us pull all of our energy in for protection against the horrible feelings and we can appear cold or robotic.

The bottom line is we stop showing up as our authentic selves. When we let our confidence issues hijack our authentic selves we have given our power away. We have relinquished the one thing that is our super power. Our unabashed true self which has been there since the very beginning is the unending source of confidence that will always get us through. Tell yourself your victory stories and create your confidence formula. Tap into your inner King or Queen that has the authority and power to do whatever it is that you are endeavoring to do. Train yourself to call out and name those imposters within and embrace them as friends showing you that you are growing and expanding. And please remember to ask yourself the right questions. Instead of “who am I to be doing this?”, what if we asked, “what is mine to do?” Or, “what would I do if I knew I could succeed?” Lean into the question, activate your gifts and then step into your greatness with confidence.

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the The Magnetic Voice SHOW wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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Imposter syndrome for all - how we can reframe imposter feelings to serve us

“The exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.” Albert Einstein

What I love about this quote is that Einstein was near the end of his life when he shared it with a friend. First of all, if you are experiencing imposter feelings, you are in good company. I believe that when imposter syndrome or feelings show up, it is often an indicator that you have grown or expanded in some way or are about to. If we could embrace these feelings as friends showing up to say, “Great job! You have just done or are about to do something amazing” how would our lives change?

According to some estimates, 70% of successful people experience imposter syndrome. That sensation of feeling like a fraud is usually caused by the belief that despite their objective successes a person has persistent self-doubt and anxiety about being “found out” and shamed as an imposter. It was widely believed that high-achieving women made up most of the percentage but there is now quite a bit of evidence that men experience Imposter Syndrome as much as women.

It can be very crippling unless we learn how to reframe the imposter thoughts that will come up as we grow and succeed. When we realize that, not only are we not alone in these imposter feelings, they very well could be an indicator of our growth and development we can choose to embrace them. We can laugh and say, “I see you, perfectionist within and I now remember that you are showing up to remind me it is ok to be out of my comfort zone and grow.” Please don’t be afraid to speak your imposter thoughts out loud to a trusted friend, mentor or therapist. They only have power if you keep them bottled up. When you name them and call them out they cannot stop you anymore. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

Be sure to subscribe to The Magnetic Voice Show so you never miss an episode!

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How to access your confident alter-ego

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” Oprah Winfrey

When I began my career as an opera singer, auditions were my biggest challenge. I would practice and practice and nail it in the studio but as soon as I entered the audition, I would feel my confidence and self-esteem plummet. I found myself failing over and over again. Whenever I thought about auditioning, my breathing would become short and high (not good for singing) and I would start picturing all the things that could go wrong.

I realized I needed to find a solution. I noticed that when I was singing for an audience these feelings did not show up. I started to wonder what the difference was. What I found out was that before a performance, I would tap into the part of me that was more concerned with delivering the message than the fear of being judged. I took this idea even further when I would become the character I was portraying. I would ask myself what would my character feel or think in these situations. It immediately took the pressure off Monique and I became grounded in curiosity. I then took it even further and started to wonder how I would feel or behave if I was a seasoned performer who had years of experience. I found myself stepping into the Monique that was already successful.

All of a sudden, this thing that brought such anxiety became just what I was and I performed from the place inside me that had done it a thousand times. I called it “putting on my glamour” and I actively connected with the part of me that was confident and already living the life of my dreams. When we activate our curiosity and connect to the part of ourselves that does know how to do the things we are endeavoring to do, we open up to the Infinite within. There is a flow that begins. We carry within each of us different archetypes. My favorites are the King/Queen, Sage, Artisan, Warrior and Magician. The idea of these “characters” within allows me to have the confidence to face any challenge and do things I might never do.

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

Looking for more 1-to1 help with YOUR VOICE OF LEADERSHIP? Check out my coaching packages at themagneticvoice.com Then click “Transform with Monique” to book a complimentary connection call and let’s see which one is a good fit for your needs!

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Discovering your unique confidence formula

“Successful people often exude confidence-it’s obvious they believe in themselves and what they are doing. It isn’t their success that makes them confident, however. The confidence was there first." Dr. Travis Bradberry

As a vocal specialist and charisma coach, the issue that comes up most for my clients is confidence. There is a belief that if only they had more confidence they would earn more money, be more successful, have better relationships and magically attain all their goals and dreams. My dear clients are often shocked when I tell them my beliefs about confidence. I believe that, like faith, we are born with as much confidence as we will ever have. The art of confidence is not to acquire more confidence but rather to uncover our gifts that are already there and express them with all our heart.

When we approach confidence in this way, we realize it is not all one thing. We can realistically appraise our strengths and challenges without feeling overwhelmed by ideas of “I am not good enough”. We discover that in order to do even the smallest things that are new to us we have to feel a certain level of confidence. The confidence is there first. Then we are able to learn, achieve and step into our greatest self and truly achieve our dreams and goals. We experience ourselves as lacking confidence when memories of failures and past mistakes take hold and rob us of the possibilities of the present moment. We literally can’t remember victories and feelings of confidence when that happens.

When I work with clients on confidence, I ask them to find memories of victory over fear and doubt in order to create victory stories for themselves. Looking for these events in our lives causes us to remember more and more memories of confident moments. I invite them to track what rituals, thoughts and actions enabled them to overcome their fears and doubts in those moments. Then I ask them to create a list of the things necessary for them to feel confident and commit to practicing them whenever they are going to start something new, learn something new or take inspired action.

What is your confidence formula? For an example of a confidence formula, check out Napoleon Hill’s. Remember, your unique confidence formula is a living breathing document that changes and grows as you do. Make it fun. Make it pretty. Commit it to memory and keep it somewhere you can see it often.

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Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

Be sure to subscribe to The Magnetic Voice Show so you never miss an episode!

Could self-talk be a new way to celebrate?

“I am the greatest! I said it even before I knew I was.” – Muhammid Ali

Many of us don’t realize that we get to decide what we think. Our thoughts seem to be on automatic and can sometimes invade our experience. If we are not intentional about what we think and the way we talk to ourselves, our history and unconscious patterns will take over. The criticisms and left over feelings of defeat and helplessness will start playing on a loop in our head. The voices and phrases that hurt the most start showing up randomly and we don’t catch on until we notice we are in a “bad mood” or feeling depressed..

This inner dialogue is the background noise that is constantly running in our mind like an app open and running on your phone that is draining the battery. Before we know it, we are down for the count and have no conscious idea why.

Now, what if we consciously set out to “scratch those records” or self-talk patterns? For example, when you are about to record a video, begin a presentation or sales call, what are you thinking? What kinds of things are you saying to yourself? By combining the secret power of breath, active gratitude and visualization with self talk we create a space within ourselves where energy, creativity and our best work can come together.

The next time you are going to be seen and heard, picture 3 outcomes or intentions you would like to experience. Begin by breathing deeply and place yourself on the other side of the event. Feel the deep gratitude and hear yourself describing the celebration and victory of a job well done. I join you in celebrations, as you feel the flood of gratitude, joy, love, strength and light. WHOOHOO!!!

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the The Magnetic Voice SHOW wherever you listen to your podcasts!

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Light yourself up!!! - Visualize & Share

“Visualization is the human being's vehicle to the future – good, bad or indifferent. It’s strictly in our control.” EARL NIGHTINGALE, American Radio Speaker & Author

Most of us spend a lot of time visualizing what could go wrong so that we can come up with plans B&C before an event or presentation. It is how we have been taught to prepare.

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, To be prepared is to make ready beforehand or to put in a proper state of mind. Unfortunately, most of us are preparing by practicing all the things that could go wrong in our mind and feeling all the emotion and stress of things going wrong. We can get so caught up in worry that visualizing the future we want to see or “dreaming” feels indulgent.

What if we started visualizing what could go right? Seeing the events, meetings and presentations we are preparing for having the best possible outcomes? What if we took it even further and literally filled ourselves and the others involved with the light of success. Imagined light coming down and filling our mind & body, healing and energizing anything that needs to be healed or energized. After we are flooded with this Light and Universal Energy we then send it to those we love and maybe even customers and clients we haven’t met yet. Imagine sending this light of success into the event or meeting itself so you are always walking into rooms full of your loving energy and light.

When we realize that, although there is much of life we have no control, how we show up in life is something we do have control over. What areas of your life would change drastically if you practiced this kind of visualization before you arrived in the moment? How would you carry yourself? Give yourself permission to light yourself up before your next meeting or presentation and share your expertise as an extension of that light. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

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Activate Gratitude and Open Doors (Season 9-Episode 6)

“Gratitude opens the door, the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe. You open the door through gratitude," Deepak Chopra

The decision to begin an active gratitude practice is the smartest decision any business owner can make. Entrepreneurs make hundreds of decisions every day and this one will affect every area of your life.

There is a difference between being thankful and active gratitude.

Thankfulness is saying “thank you” or sending a thank you note. Active gratitude is a state of mind that permeates all of your actions and is felt deep within the soul. Tony Robbins says that when we are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears.

There have been numerous studies on Gratitude in the past few years. The data gathered tells us that the practice of gratitude may even be able to change and rewire the brain. As Neuroscientist Glenn Fox puts it, practicing gratitude lights up the same region of the brain associated with empathy, regulating emotions and stress relief.

When we activate gratitude by remembering moments we felt extremely grateful, we light up all the parts of our brain that we need to feel confident and ready to be seen and heard. When we activate our gratitude practice we discover that fear and gratitude cannot exist at the same time in the body. When we go into our meetings, presentations and sales calls having practiced gratitude for their success we bring a power into our energy and presence that will surely open doors.

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

Looking for more 1-to1 help with YOUR VOICE OF LEADERSHIP? Check out my coaching packages at themagneticvoice.com Then click “Transform with Monique” to book a complimentary connection call and let’s see which one is a good fit for your needs!

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The Secret Power of Breath

Prime Your Energy - Prepare to be seen and heard

Today we are exploring how to prepare to be seen and heard. Our goal for this show is to share ways to prime your energy so you show up with your brilliance warmed up and ready to go.

Ask any world class athlete or performer what they do to prepare for competition or entering the stage and you will find that they all have rituals and routines that focus their energy, attention and intention. Whenever you are speaking to represent your business and expertise, we want to give you an edge and encourage you not to skip this step.

“Breath is the bridge that connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts” Thich Naht Hanh

The moment we put our attention on conscious breathing or taking deep slow breaths that move the diaphragm, two things happen. First, we must go within to focus on the breath so everything else falls away and the only thing that matters is the now moment. Next, it signals the mind and body that we are safe.

Using the breath to stimulate a sense of safety and bring our conscious attention to the present moment is an easy way to practice focus while calming all of our systems. Each breath brings us back to the beginning where anything is possible. That moment between the inhale and the exhale is where all creativity begins. What is the first thing we do when we are born? Inhale. And what is the last thing we do before we die? Exhale

As a professional opera singer, I was taught the power of breath in service to expression. The human voice supported by conscious breathing is what allowed me to fill theaters with my voice without using a microphone.

This same practice gives speakers the opportunity to speak from their most powerful state of being so their entire body is connected to their thoughts. I invite you to spend some quality time with your breath and meet your most powerful self.

Known to many as “The Magnetic Voice,” Monique McDonald is a Grammy-nominated, award-winning vocal specialist and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. Initially terrified to audition or speak publicly, Monique studied intensely with excellent coaches to cultivate her confidence. As a result, she celebrated with outstanding Opera and Master Class performances throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and the US, including Carnegie Hall, NYC, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When Monique helps you unlock your natural charisma and your “Magnetic Voice,” you benefit from secrets learned in over twenty years through High Stakes Performance combined with her unique coaching style. Her passion is inspiring charismatic communication and mastery of the human voice to empower entrepreneurs, speakers, and leaders.

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