This post is part of a series exploring Blue Heron’s core principles. If you’d like to catch up on the first two, you can read:

• There’s Always Enough to Share — about generosity and trusting abundance.
  
• Think Boldly: A Principle That Helps Founders Rise — about daring to imagine what’s possible.

This third post explores the blueprint you already carry — and what it means to trust it.

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One day in early spring, I found a single red bean on my entryway rug.

Just sitting there. No rhyme or reason.

I hadn’t cooked a pot of beans in weeks. No one had been over. I hadn’t left the house. And yet, there it was. A little spot of red against the pale gray rug, almost like it was meant to be found.

And clearly, I did.

I’ve learned to pay attention when something shows up unexpectedly, even when it doesn’t make sense. Maybe especially when it doesn’t make sense. Meaning often lands before understanding catches up.

For some reason, Jack and the Beanstalk popped into my head immediately. Maybe it was because I’d been knee-deep in strategy work at the time, helping folks figure out how to find economic footholds. Maybe it was just a random coincidence. But I picked up the bean, put it in a little jar, and set it on my kitchen windowsill. It’s still there today. A silent reminder of the mystical – something I didn’t fully understand yet – but somehow knew it mattered.

So I kept noodling on this bean and here’s what struck me. Inside that bean is everything it needs to become itself.

Its blueprint is already written. It doesn’t wonder if it’s enough. It doesn’t question its purpose or check with the beans around it before sprouting. Given light, water, and soil, it knows exactly what to do to be a bean.

And it made me wonder. What if we trusted ourselves – and the things we’re trying to create – the same way?

Because we don’t, do we? We plant the seed and then dig it up every five minutes to check if it’s growing. We second-guess ourselves. We worry our beans to death.

I see it a lot with folks I serve, especially when they’re stepping into uncertainty — starting a business, chasing a dream, trying to bring something from nothing. And that’s usually the exact moment the old beliefs start whispering.

Maybe you’ve thought it too. “I don’t know anything about business.” That belief sets the whole loop in motion. You think, “I’ll probably screw this up.” That thought stirs up anxiety, maybe fear – especially when money’s involved. That fear keeps you from taking the next step, and when you don’t move, it validates the belief. “See? I was right. You don’t know anything about business.”

And just like that, you’re stuck, and not because you can’t do it. But rather the voice in your own head drowned out everything except the stuckness.

We all do this. It’s human.

Research suggests we process around 6,000 distinct thoughts a day, and we spend more than half our waking hours in internal conversation. That’s a lot of mental chatter competing for our attention. When your relationship with yourself is shaky, that voice gets loud enough to talk you out of what you’re capable of before you even start.

But here’s the thing. Just like the bean, you carry the blueprint. Your ideas do too. The work isn’t to rewrite the instructions, but to create the right conditions for them to unfold – and then trust the process enough to stop digging them up.

Feed the seed. Don’t dig it up looking for proof.

So why would I share all this here, in a single blog post, instead of waiting for a coaching session? Because one of Blue Heron’s core principles is Serve First.

For me, serving first means sharing what I’ve learned instead of hoarding it until someone signs up or pays for it. It means giving you tools, perspective, and insight that can help you move forward right where you are.

I believe you already carry the blueprint for your own becoming. You don’t need someone else to hand it to you. It’s there. My work, and Blue Heron’s work, is simply to remind you of that and help you create the space, structure, and support to let it grow.

Here’s to the red beans that show up when you least expect them.
Here’s to the ideas we stop worrying to death.
Here’s to trusting what’s already inside you – and letting it become what it’s meant to be.

#FlyAboveSoarBeyond