Crab Nets, Carburetors, and the Foundation of Self-Trust

I didn't know people bought seafood until I went to college.

Growing up in Louisiana, you caught it yourself. Shrimping, fishing, setting crab nets on the waterways. It wasn't just about the catch — it was family, connection, and rhythm. We didn't complain about the early mornings or the hard work. We looked forward to it.

What I didn't see then is what I can see so clearly now: those mornings were training ground. And they were quietly laying the foundation for one of the most powerful things I now teach.

Self-trust.

What the Crab Nets Were Teaching

Hard things don't have to feel heavy when they're grounded in joy, purpose, and connection.

That's what I was learning without knowing it — showing up, following through, and enjoying the challenge because the effort felt meaningful. Not obligatory. Not performative. Real.

My dad also rebuilt carburetors. Ships' engines, small motor vehicles, motorcycles — all kinds of engines would come through the garage and often end up on the dining room table, to my mother's chagrin. I was not naturally skilled at this work. It was entirely outside my wheelhouse. But I showed up anyway — because he invited me, and because it gave me time with him.

Looking back, that's one of the clearest illustrations of what self-trust actually looks like: saying yes before you know how. Being willingly "blissfully ignorant" because you trust you'll figure it out along the way. Stepping in, even without all the answers.

That's exactly what grows you as a leader.

Your Story Is Your Evidence

Here's what I see again and again in the entrepreneurs and leaders I work with: self-trust isn't missing. It's unrecognized.

I once worked with a client who told me, with absolute conviction, that she had no follow-through. "I never finish anything." So we looked at the evidence. And it was everywhere. She showed up for her clients, her family, her community — day after day, in all the ways that mattered.

Once she connected to that truth, her momentum shifted. Not because she'd acquired a new skill or strategy — but because she stopped dismissing evidence that had been there all along.

That's the same for you.

We tend to log our experiences as "just things we did" instead of recognizing the formation that happened through them. The confidence built. The capacity expanded. The muscle of commitment exercised, over and over again, in contexts that didn't feel dramatic enough to count.

But they count.

The Invitation: Look at Your Own Story

Here's the reflection I want to offer: what have you dismissed as not a big deal that actually holds clues to how you operate best?

Look at your history — the jobs you showed up to, the family commitments you honored, even the hobbies. Notice how many times you've already demonstrated the ability to commit, follow through, and grow. Notice how many times you said yes before you had all the answers and figured it out anyway.

That's not ancient history. That's your foundation.

When you build your business and leadership from that foundation — from real evidence of your own capacity — effort becomes rooted. Follow-through becomes meaningful. And success becomes both inevitable and sustainable, not because you've become someone new, but because you've finally recognized who you've been all along.

Key Takeaways

• Self-trust isn't always built in dramatic moments. It's built in ordinary commitments, honored every day.
• Hard things don't have to feel heavy when they're grounded in purpose, connection, and joy.
• Your history holds evidence of your capacity that you may not be giving yourself credit for.
• Self-trust isn't missing. For most of us, it's simply unrecognized.

The invitation: look at your story with fresh eyes. Find the proof. Build from there.

You are never the obstacle. You are always the way forward — and the evidence of that has been in your story all along.

🎧 Listen to Episode 142 of The Self Trust Solution, and reconnect with your own self-trust: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/o3gtHLWdK1b