This post is sponsored advertising content by State Farm®. I’ve teamed up with them and the Color Full Lives podcast to encourage you as you level up in your life!

What does leveling up look like for you? For me, it looks like winning an Iris award for entrepreneur of the year, hosting a sold-out accountability group every month, and freelancing with some of the biggest publications online, just to name a few things.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some growing pains. Some of the pains are self-inflicting like learning to get organized, to getting things done on time, or placing boundaries. Others are due to circumstances. When you start to level up, things change and that affects everything. I’ve lost friends. Walked away from disagreements without getting my point across. Faced an incredible amount of scrutiny. It’s all part of the process.

When you level up, you have to leave some things and people behind.

Everybody isn’t ready to rise above the drama and the petty to experience real breakthrough. All of that back and forth bickering on social media and the family arguments about the right way to do things? Chances are, the folks who always have time for that ain’t going where you’re going, so let them go. Let it go.

You’ll also find that as you build and grow that you will need to invest time, energy, and money into your new and improved thing. The folks who you might need to leave behind? They won’t understand that. They’ll try to talk you out of it at every point. They will tell you not to pay for this thing, or don’t go to that thing. Don’t try to learn SEO, or ask for more money, or pay for a virtual assistant. Those folks don’t understand that you’ll never grow if you keep doing the same old thing. Let them go. Let it go.

It’s okay. Everybody ain’t ready.

The question is—are you?

Are you ready to move into the VIP area where the responsibilities are higher but the rewards are greater?

Are you willing to be uncomfortable for a short period as you work to make yourself and your family longer for the long haul?

I wasn’t at first. I thought I had to maintain the same relationships in order to be “real”. Or that I had to keep working at the same rates to be “normal” and “humble”. Once I realized I was holding myself back by trying to stay true to a life I was working to elevate from, I started releasing, and I started to win.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating that you leave your day-ones behind. I’m just saying, don’t hold yourself back by holding on to dead weight.

A balloon filled with rocks can’t soar. Let it go

Check out the latest season of the Color Full Lives podcast!

Are you in a season of leveling up, too? If so, you’ll want to go back and listen to the latest season of the Color Full Lives podcast, sponsored by State Farm. Hosts Angela Yee, Aminatou Sow and Tonya Rapley not only share tips and advice about their path to success, they also interview influencers and entrepreneurs who are telling it all, too! They’re talking everything from starting businesses to investing, life insurance, dealing with finances in relationships and more.

Check out Color Full Lives on iTunes and on Soundcloud, and be sure to follow the #LiveColorFull hashtag on social media.

This post was sponsored advertising content by State Farm. For more information, please click here.