Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. I've got a question for you. Do you choose a word of the year? You know what I'm talking about. How back in December, everybody gets really reflective on how the year went, the highs, the lows, and they set these truly beautiful intentions for the coming year.

Erica: Now what I love about this process of choosing a word of the year is that word can then act as a north star, and it guides you back to your goals. Now in the past, I've chosen words like abundance and courage, but you're probably wondering why are we talking about the word of the year in, like, the July. Right? And that's because this past January, I could not think of anything. Nothing resonated with me.

Erica: I thought about words like growth and focus and intentional, but nothing felt good. Nothing felt right. Nothing felt true to my core. And the best that I could come up with in the beginning was this mantra that you've heard me say in the past, which was you start, restart, or keep going. And while I love that, it wasn't like that word.

Erica: Well, I've got good news. I finally, finally, finally got it, and I cannot wait to share it with you. In January, I knew that this year would be all about growth. It was sometime last year that I realized that while I love, love, love HR and I love being a chief people officer, I really felt like I was missing out on my core why.

Erica: You know, the whole Simon Sinek, what's your why? Now my why has always been about helping people. When I was a personal trainer, I helped people live their healthiest lives. We work towards feeling good about our bodies and on our physical strength, and we focused on goals like being able to get up and down off the floor of my grandkids and running races. And it was such a fulfilling career because I was a front row observer and guide in getting people towards their health and fitness goals.

Erica: Now in HR, I was in that same front row seat to help people grow their careers. But one thing that I found about climbing the forward ladder is the higher up you go, the further you are from the individuals in the organization. And my job really shifted from helping these individuals with their career aspirations to focusing on revenue and EBITDA and profit margin. And, you know, my job was also to guide my team, to be able to do all of those things, like helping people reach their career aspirations. And while that brings me a strong sense of accomplishment, and I feel really great about what I'm doing, I missed being in that front row.

Erica: And that's when I dove into this podcast, executive coaching, keynote speaking, all of that. And I'm still learning and discovering so much about myself, about the businesses of coaching and keynote speaking and damn y'all there is so much to learn. But now finally, finally, finally, finally in July, I have my word becoming, it just feels so good to hold onto this word and use it as my word of the year. And I love it so much because it means that I am who I want to be. And I am now becoming, I am becoming the best version of myself.

Erica: I am becoming more successful every day. I am becoming more mindful every moment I'm becoming healthier every day. I'm becoming who I want to be. And I am becoming all that I dream of. But here is what I love about this word becoming It holds this profound duality that serves as a reminder that we are both enough just as we are, but we are capable of continuous growth and transformation.

Erica: It is this invitation to acknowledge and honor our present selves while embarking on a transformative journey towards self improvement. And y'all know I am someone that always, always believes that we can grow. It celebrates this idea that our lives are not stagnant, but more like a canvas that we can paint our own unique experiences, constantly evolving and expanding and encouraging us to step outside our comfort zones and explore new possibilities to embrace change. What I love about becoming is that it isn't about chasing some future version of ourselves. It's about realizing that we are already pretty fricking fantastic.

Erica: You know, it's this dance between growth and self acceptance. You are enough today. Right now in this moment, you are enough just as you are. But that doesn't mean that you can't become even more incredible and that you can't scale to new heights. Becoming is the word that just resonates with my soul.

Erica: It just feels so good. It feels true and it feels right. And every morning I remind myself that I am becoming, I remind myself that I am exactly where I need to be on my journey. It can get hard when you are venturing into this unknown territory, whether that's a new relationship, a new job, a new industry, or maybe you're just going through a breakup and you're finding out who you are as a new single person. Wherever you are in your life, you are becoming.

Erica: And that becoming, it opens up infinite possibilities. The word becoming, it just feels so expansive, doesn't it? I love it. So I wanna share with you how I practice becoming, because it isn't enough to just declare this as my word of the year. I actually need to live it too.

Erica: And if this word feels right to you, if you are like, yes, damn, Erica, this is good. I want you to pick one or two of these things to embrace so that you can own your own becoming. Now first reflection. Hindsight is a gift that we will all have someday, but nothing gives you hardcore evidence like a good one moment of self reflection. You can sit quietly, you can meditate, or you can journal, but in these moments, I want you to go back and think about your achievements.

Erica: I want you to acknowledge your strengths and look for ways that you can still grow. This practice gives you the evidence that shows you how far you've come in your journey. And it also helps you stay grounded in your progress. Now the second thing I want you to do is embrace curiosity and courage. You know it.

Erica: You're gonna need to be curious about where you can grow and how you can grow. And you're going to have to have the courage to do that. Ask yourself questions like, what would my dream life look like? What do I need to do to get there? Who was in my life?

Erica: Who's not in my life? What kind of people do I want around me? What can I do today to get going? When you cultivate this curious mindset and explore these new ideas, you are opening yourself up to just all of these avenues of growth that you may have never found possible before. So be curious and then be courageous.

Erica: And that takes us exactly to number three, which is getting out of your comfort zone. Yep. You know it. This is where the magic happens. Challenge yourself to do something that scares you just a little bit.

Erica: Maybe it's connecting with new people or trying a new hobby. Maybe it's signing up for race. Y'all know how to find something fitness related right on in here, but just get outside of your normal routine and do that something. And that takes us to step four, which is embracing failure. You are never going to hit it out of the park with perfection every single time that you try something new.

Erica: It's impossible. So embrace failure as a stepping stone in your journey of becoming. Learn from it. Use it as a step towards pro. Even the most crazy successful people stumble and fall on their faces.

Erica: And guess what? It's how they get back up that truly defines who they are. And it's how you get back up that truly defines who you are. And then lastly, I want you to celebrate every damn step. Even the smallest of wins, the tiniest of milestones and the minuscule moments of breath, celebrate them each step forward.

Erica: No matter how small that step is, is a step forward. It is one of a thousand and thousands and thousands of steps in your journey of becoming and remind yourself that you are enough just as you are. And you are becoming more. Remember, friend, there's no destination in becoming. This is a lifelong journey and a really fun adventure filled with beautiful surprises, some super fun things, but most of all, some truly incredible moments.

Erica: So today I want you to take a moment to just sit quietly. Reflect on who you are today and how far you've become because you are enough. My friend, just where you are just as you are, you are enough, but you have a world of infinite possibilities that are available to you to come. So thank you for listening today, friend. This is one of my favorite episodes so far, but before you go here is your daily reminder that it is time to stop putting a ceiling on what is possible and it is time to start breaking through it.

Erica: In the meantime, you know the drill. Head over to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and now threads to find more content just like this. And you know what? Send me a message. I want to know what your word of the year is, and I'll see you next time.