Meet Wes Putnam

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Wes Putnam. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Wes , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

This has been a major thing to develop, as I’ve always considered my confidence and self-esteem my Achilles heel. The conversations I have with myself about myself are horrid. That’s not unique to me, and I like to think that if I have developed confidence and self-esteem in my life, anyone can.

There are two key things I did (and do) to ongoingly develop my confidence and self-esteem. The first one is, I stick with things that are challenging. Every time I go beyond where I would want to stop, I’m investing in the bank of self-confidence. Every time I go beyond where I would normally stop, whether I am ultimately successful at the task I’m out to accomplish or not, I am discovering and creating a “bigger” me that can face the next challenge.

The second thing I did (and do) which is critical, is I surrounded myself with people who believe in me. I have people in my life that know I’m great even when I’m at my lowest. I have often borrowed other people’s confidence in me when I didn’t have it for myself.

Over time, these two practices have helped me develop my confidence and self-esteem immensely.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I recently left a rewarding and fulfilling job I had been at for 17 years where I coached, trained, and developed people to live extraordinary and powerful lives. After leaving, I wanted to be apply all of my experience working with people and transformation to impact the quality of people’s lives dramatically. To do this, I have started my own business as an online fitness coach and partnered with a friend in a business/entrepreneurial coaching business.

My fitness company is called Unicorn Fitness and it’s “for people who don’t take life too seriously, but have serious health and fitness goals.” I help busy people get fit and focus on long term health so they can enjoy living life confidently and fully now and for years to come.

My other business, Being in Action Coaching, our mission is to empower entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders to live powerful, thriving, and vibrant lives now instead of “someday.” We help people see what they can’t see that is in their way of producing the results they want, and then we empower them to get it out of the way and thrive.

In both businesses, what I love is seeing people break free from constraints and thrive.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Creativity-When I get stopped. I get creative. What’s 3 other ways I can resolve this issue? And how can I have fun doing it? And I think people are just so creative. What I love about creativity, is there are so many different ways to express it. My creativity doesn’t look like yours, or someone else’s, or vice versa, but I believe everyone is a creator by virtue of being alive. I believe it’s important people express this (and I don’t just mean arts. People are creative organizers, or with spreadsheets, or the way they approach a problem. Whatever it is–everyone is a creator).

Persistence-there are tons of platitudes about “learning from your failures.” Okay, cool. Fail more often then, but where I propose the real growth comes from is in that moment when you make the choice to keep going past the failures instead of getting stopped. That moment of choice is magical. I have several times discovered a whole new “me” when I went BEYOND where I got stopped or failed. When I discovered who I was out beyond my conversations of “I can’t.” “It’s too hard.” “I suck.” etc. etc.

Transformation – I have the benefit of being steeped in powerful transformational conversations for 17 years as a Staff member and Leader for Landmark Worldwide. I discovered how to reinvent myself time and time again. Letting go of who I thought I was from the past to step into a whole new future is critical to live an extraordinary life beyond what I could currently see. I recommend anyone starting out (or well into your journey) does transformational work. I recommend the Landmark Forum, and then stick with it and really develop yourself as a human being.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did and do is love me. Just as I am, and just as I’m not. I’m gay. I have ADHD. Like any human being I’ve made plenty of mistakes, faced difficult challenges, and made dumb choices in my life. I have never had the experience from my parents ever that it’s not ok for me to be me. My parents gave me/give me all the room in the world to express myself and discover myself out in the world as I am–and they love me through it. For this, I am eternally grateful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://myunicornfitness.com https://beinginactioncoaching.com
• Instagram: @beinginaction

Image Credits

Cynthia Cooper