Receive, Then Create

Read time: 2.5 minutes

If you’ve been reading these letters for a while, you know I’ve been training at the AJC Coaching Career School.

A leadership, coaching, and personal development program in London that’s been one of the most Life-anchoring decisions I’ve ever made.

• It’s a 6-month container.

• 3 in-person intensives.

• A group of extraordinary humans.

• And some of the most honest, humbling, & transformative coaching I’ve ever experienced.

As part of the school, every student gets what we call a “laser session” — a 30-minute one-on-one conversation with Ankush Jain (our coach and the school’s founder) in front of the rest of the group.

It’s recorded. Everyone watches each other’s.

And you walk in with a question that matters to you.

Here was mine:

It came from a real place.

Clients say they want to change.
They invest.
They show up.

But sometimes the fire fades.

They hesitate.
They ghost.
They shrink back.

And I wanted to know — how do I hold a cleaner space for that? How do I hold my own commitment while deepening theirs?

I was genuinely curious. But what I didn’t realize at the time was how much of this was me trying to prove.

• Prove I was good at this.

• Prove I was effective.

• Prove I was creating transformation.

• Prove I was doing it “right.”

And that was the energy underneath the question.

I just watched my session back this week.

And what hit me wasn’t a new answer.

It was a deep recognition.

I could see — clearly — that I’m not the same person who first asked that question.

Because even just 2 weeks later, the desire to prove has already softened.

The trust has deepened. The experience of Being with clients — and with myself — already feels more grounded.

And that shift isn’t because I learned a better “coaching tactic.”

It’s because I started allowing myself to receive:

Receive my own growth.
Receive my own enoughness.
Receive the impact I already have.
Receive the moment, instead of rushing to improve it.

And the more I receive… the more I create.

Not the other way around.

You can’t outcreate your capacity to receive.

That’s what I want to share today. That’s the real insight behind this laser session. And I think it matters now more than ever.

We’re a week and a half post-Christmas. Almost 3 full days into the new year.

And if you’re anything like most high performers, January tends to come with pressure:

• Set the new goals.

• Do better.

• Be better.

• Achieve more.

• “Fix” what wasn’t enough.

• Make this year count.

But just as a possibility.... what if this January… wasn’t about doing more?

Letting who you’ve become actually arrive. Letting what you’ve created actually count.

So many people are excellent givers.
They keep showing up, serving, creating, building, giving.

But they’re terrible receivers.
They deflect compliments. They minimize wins. They resist rest. They move the goalpost.

And the problem with that?

Because creation requires space. And space requires receptivity.

So here’s what I’m sitting with this week:

I don’t want to start 2026 with a fresh set of pressures.

I want to start it by receiving who I already am.

Letting my self-image catch up with my growth.
Letting last year arrive.
Letting the energy of “not enough” dissolve — not by force, but by truth.

There’s nothing wrong with goals.

And perhaps... before you create new ones, it might be a wise move to give yourself permission to pause and receive the gold that’s already here.

Not because someone gave it to you…

But because you gave yourself permission to embody it.

And in my experience, that’s something worth trusting.

~

Love & Blessings.

Happy Saturday,

Julian