It's time for us to leave our ostrich ways behind.

In Part 1 of this three-part series, I'm calling us in to stop avoiding the things we don't want to see. Because what we refuse to look at doesn't disappear. It quietly works against us—undermining our creativity, momentum, strategy, and our ability to create real impact together.

This episode is about revealing your narrative identity: making the invisible visible, giving voice to what's been assumed, and naming what's already shaping (and sabotaging) what you're trying to build.

• Why "not looking" is one of the most common and costly patterns for individuals and teams

• How narrative identity silently determines how far we can create, build, and innovate

• The critical difference between thinking something and saying it out loud or writing it down

• Why making the implicit explicit is a lost art and essential leadership work

• How avoidance shows up as "spinsville" in teams, strategy, and planning

• Why clarity requires contrast (and why that discomfort is necessary)

This first step—Reveal—is grounded in six foundational questions. I especially want you to do this work with your team, organization, or movement:

1. Who are we?

2. Who do we belong to?

3. Why do we exist?

4. What are our values—lived, not laminated?

5. What do those values mean for what we will and won't do?

6. What do we believe—and invite others to believe with us?

These questions don't create a mess. They reveal the mess that's already there so we can finally do something about it.

I've learned (sometimes the hard way) that:

• We can't fix what we won't see.

• We can't create beyond who we believe we are.

• Teams divided on identity will always pull apart, not together.

• Strategy, vision, and goals fail when identity work is skipped.

Asking these questions doesn't cause misalignment. It exposes what's already working at cross-purposes.

If you're thinking, "This feels too messy to do on our own," you're probably right. I share why facilitated space, patience, and structure matter when teams do this work and how I support groups through Revealing, Reclaiming, and Reframing their narrative identity so they can move forward with real momentum.

• Part 2: Reclaim — Choosing the parts of your narrative identity that are lost that you want to keep, and which ones you want to get rid of

• Part 3: Reframe — Rebuilding a narrative identity from the parts that work and which will let you create what you're here to create

🎧 Related listening: Episode 122: "It All Starts With and Goes Back to Who You Are" sets the stage for this series.

If you're tired of what's quietly killing your creativity, focus, and forward motion—this is where the work begins.

About: The Reframe to Create podcast is hosted by Joy Spencer, an Executive Leadership and Storytelling Coach, Speaker, and Organizational Development Consultant working with professionals and leaders at all levels within organizations. Joy leverages over 17 years of experience she gained while working to champion change in social justice movements, including those related to global access to essential medicines and consumer advocacy for online privacy. This work required a dogged commitment to not merely challenging the status quo, but to reimagining and working towards creating an ideal future. It is this commitment to creating that has shaped Joy's coaching philosophy and approach today. Using her signature C.R.E.A.T.E. framework, Joy guides her clients through a process to become incomparable in work so they can get paid to be themselves.

Follow Joy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joy-spencer/

It all starts with and goes back to who you are.
Not just who you are as an individual, but who you are together.

Your team.
Your organization.
Your movement.

If you're stuck.
If progress feels slow or painfully circular.
If you're working hard but not moving forward sustainably…

Chances are, it's not a strategy problem.
It's not a talent problem.
It's not a goal-setting or execution problem.

It's an identity problem.

In this episode, I unpack why so many teams end up in what I call Spinsville—endless conversations, competing perspectives, and lots of motion with very little momentum—and why the root cause is almost always a foggy, fractured, or misaligned narrative identity.

Because who you believe you are determines what you can create.

• Why teams spin in circles even when the data, strategy, and intentions are good

• How misalignment around "who we are" quietly drains energy, trust, and momentum

• Why identity—not strategy—is the true source of organizational function or dysfunction

• A simple story that reveals how narrative identity shapes behavior (even when no one's watching)

• Why you can't skip straight to creating a new narrative without understanding the one already operating

• The three essential steps for narrative identity transformation:

• • Reveal what's hidden and invisible

  • Reclaim shared meaning from your stories

  • Reframe a narrative identity that fuels forward momentum

I also connect this work to conversations I've had with David Hutchens and Hans Hansen, and share why sense-making—not just storytelling—is where real alignment is forged.

When a team shares a clear, connected narrative identity, everything else gets easier:
strategy, decisions, priorities, execution, innovation.

When that identity is fractured, no amount of planning will save you.

If your team has been spinning its wheels, this episode will help you understand why—and show you where to start if you're ready to get your creating power back.

To continue exploring narrative identity and transformation, check out:

• Episode 31 - You Can Only Go As Far As You Are

• Episode 60 - A New Approach to Your Transformation | Hans Hansen Part 2

• Episode 59 - The Missing Key to Your Transformation | Hans Hansen Part 1

• Episode 120 - From Storytelling to Sense-Making: How Teams Build Meaning Together | David Hutchens

And if you're ready to do this work now, email me at joy@reframetocreate.com with the subject line Narrative Identity.

It's time to reveal, reclaim, and reframe—so you can create the legacy you'll be proud of.

I'm done, y'all. It's time to drop the idea that you have imposter syndrome for good.

In this episode, I'm not helping you "fix" imposter syndrome. I'm helping you challenge and discard the entire idea. You'll learn where this concept came from, why it doesn't serve you, and how to understand your feelings without pathologizing your humanity.

We explore:

• The real definition of "imposter" (and why it's NOT you)

• How your environment might actually be the culprit

• The history behind the "imposter syndrome" label

• Inner Blocks (GAILs) and how to reframe your emotional experience

• Five powerful reframes to replace this limiting narrative

You're not an imposter. You don't have a syndrome.

You're a human with gifts meant for service and this episode will show you how to come back to that truth.

About: The Reframe to Create podcast is hosted by Joy Spencer, an Executive Leadership and Storytelling Coach, Speaker, and Organizational Development Consultant working with professionals and leaders at all levels within organizations. Joy leverages over 17 years of experience she gained while working to champion change in social justice movements, including those related to global access to essential medicines and consumer advocacy for online privacy. This work required a dogged commitment to not merely challenging the status quo, but to reimagining and working towards creating an ideal future. It is this commitment to creating that has shaped Joy's coaching philosophy and approach today. Using her signature C.R.E.A.T.E. framework, Joy guides her clients through a process to become incomparable in work so they can get paid to be themselves.

Follow Joy on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joy-spencer/