Aug 27, 2026 · 15 min · 6 segments
**What’s holding you back?** After more than two years away, *Talking in Circles Podcast* is back, and this felt like the right question to begin with. In this episode, I’m thinking about fear…
Funmi RichardsHost
And why that is not entirely wrong, because if you're looking to get promotions in your job, oftentimes you may need to get like a certification or something to show the higher ups that, oh, this person is ready for business and this person is doing what they can to get business done.
But the thing about thinking, oh, it has to be to get from point A to point B has to be X, Y, Z, is that oftentimes we think, oh, you have to just do this one thing.
But I think that the taste of this pudding, in this case, is not just the eating, but in the consistency of being present.
So you can't just show up one day do xyz and close your door and say okay i've done xyz and that's that's all no you have to keep showing up i mean for me now the last few months i think one there was a question i asked because i was tipping towards like the press depression and one day i was working on a project and i remember asking myself that if i was the hiring manager would i hire me When I asked myself that question, I was first like, why am I putting myself through a test? But I thought about it again, and I was like, to be very honest, would I hire me? And I was like, yeah, I would hire me for talent, but am I showing up the way I could show up? And I was like, maybe not.
And so I told myself that, okay, for the next couple of months, As God will have it, I would do my possible best to show up consistently and keep showing up and see if I will...
We'll visit that question and ask myself again, would I hire me based off of...
the results that that consistency and the compounding effect of the consistency because the compounding effects of the consistency compounding effect of doing something again and again so that you get better at it and you you're smarter about it you're able to do it more efficiently so when i say what's holding you back i feel oftentimes it's our deepest fear because society has told us that to get ahead you either have to bow or you have to be a part of a clique so you feel like you have to be less of yourself and those who are part of cliques I'm not shouting at you I'm just thinking I'll correct me if I'm wrong in the other comment sections or things like that let me know your thoughts So, I feel like oftentimes, we as humans, we've been taught, and especially for those of us who are Africans, and maybe worse off if you're Nigerian, you've been taught that you have to dim your light.
And why that is not entirely wrong, because if you're looking to get promotions in your job, oftentimes you may need to get like a certification or something to show the higher ups that, oh, this person is ready for business and this person is doing what they can to get business done.
But the thing about thinking, oh, it has to be to get from point A to point B has to be X, Y, Z, is that oftentimes we think, oh, you have to just do this one thing.
But I think that the taste of this pudding, in this case, is not just the eating, but in the consistency of being present.
So you can't just show up one day do xyz and close your door and say okay i've done xyz and that's that's all no you have to keep showing up i mean for me now the last few months i think one there was a question i asked because i was tipping towards like the press depression and one day i was working on a project and i remember asking myself that if i was the hiring manager would i hire me When I asked myself that question, I was first like, why am I putting myself through a test? But I thought about it again, and I was like, to be very honest, would I hire me? And I was like, yeah, I would hire me for talent, but am I showing up the way I could show up? And I was like, maybe not.
And so I told myself that, okay, for the next couple of months, As God will have it, I would do my possible best to show up consistently and keep showing up and see if I will...
We'll visit that question and ask myself again, would I hire me based off of...
the results that that consistency and the compounding effect of the consistency because the compounding effects of the consistency compounding effect of doing something again and again so that you get better at it and you you're smarter about it you're able to do it more efficiently so when i say what's holding you back i feel oftentimes it's our deepest fear because society has told us that to get ahead you either have to bow or you have to be a part of a clique so you feel like you have to be less of yourself and those who are part of cliques I'm not shouting at you I'm just thinking I'll correct me if I'm wrong in the other comment sections or things like that let me know your thoughts So, I feel like oftentimes, we as humans, we've been taught, and especially for those of us who are Africans, and maybe worse off if you're Nigerian, you've been taught that you have to dim your light.
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