🧠Weekly MindSweep No. 177 | What’s On My Mind | Validation (Copy)
May 2025
Week 174: Curated Conversation: Validation
Week 175: Mind Your Business: Validation
Week 176: Manage Your Mind: Validation
*Week 177: What’s On My Mind: Validation
Let’s sweep the brain…
🎬 Rather watch or listen instead of read? Now you can!
👉 Click here to Listen
In the MindSweep this week:
Curated Conversation with curated GIF’s & puns (for your entertainment).
Jamie’s Second Brain Corner: Links to references. Need a map? I’ve got you!
What’s I’m Reading - Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Collaborations with Terri Hamilton (Thursday) & Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce
My face đź’ś and a link to schedule your free consultation.
Fueled By Growth or Fooled By The Ego?
Oh, hey Creative Trailblazer,
Last week, I hit “Send” on the boldest project I’ve devised since ditching my “safe” day job for full-time entrepreneurship.
It was vulnerable.
It was personal.
It’s my almost 5 years in this space laid out for someone to view.
The slide deck is a stunner, yet my palms felt like Niagara Falls as I hovered over the send button.
Just before clicking the button to launch this rocket ship, my brain, the overprotective stage parent it is, leaned in and said: “What if they hate it?”
One heartbeat later, I was doom-scrolling Instagram like it was an emotional EpiPen, chasing a dopamine sprinkle to calm the nerves.
Sound familiar?
Let’s sweep the brain…
🎬 Rather watch or listen instead of read? Now you can!
👉 Click here to Listen
That’s the creative brain doing exactly what it’s wired to do: scan for social proof before it lets us exhale.
Yet, our recent Curated Conversations kept reminding me that Confidence is the engine; validation is just the dashboard light.
That tiny moment reminded me why we’ve spent the past three MindSweeps swimming in validation: It can fuel us or fool us. [1]
Validation matters, but only when we discern whether it fuels our growth or fools our ego. [2]
Here’s how we can learn to make that call in real time and why is confidence first?
Confidence expands when we act—each micro-step flexes the “I’ve-got-me” muscle.
Let’s recap what we’ve uncovered this month in a pocket-sized framework you can use the next time you wonder, “Is this feedback useful or just ego glitter?”
🧠The Source Test
Ask: Am I in the right room?
Validation from someone who doesn’t understand your craft can feel loud but land hollow. Instead, look for mirrors that reflect your values, not fun-house distortions. Keep your eyes on your own paper.
Remember, We’re not for everyone—sometimes the work is to find our people first.
🧠The Signal Test
Ask: Is the praise (or critique) specific and honest?
Our group agreed that “inauthentic compliments” and “haters gonna hate” live on opposite ends of the same noise spectrum.
Useful validation, sits in the middle—clear, kind, and actionable.
🧠The Self Test
Ask: Does it align with my inner compass?
When feedback clashes with your sense of truth, that friction is data. Use it. One curated member summed it up when they said:
“Discern when validation is serving us or our ego.”
Using this new awareness, you can now choose to change your brain's well-worn route of negative head-trash talk.
Micro-Practices to Train Your Validation Radar
Evidence Board: Keep a running log of big and bite-sized wins to remind your brain it can self-approve before the internet votes.
“To-DON’T” List: Celebrate what you consciously skip (hello, dopamine!) when the world says you should do everything.
Field Studies: Treat new offers or social posts as experiments: low stakes, high learning, zero attachment.
Discernment in Action
Every time we choose which voices we let in and how we process them, we’re literally chiseling new grooves in the brain. That’s self-directed neuroplasticity: neurons that once fired along the old “Am-I-good-enough?” loop can reroute toward “I’ve-got-me” certainty.
Think of this Source-Signal-Self filter as your personal neural GPS:
Source: Tells the amygdala, “Stand down—these people get me.”
Signal: Gives the prefrontal cortex clear, actionable next steps.
Self: Lights up the anterior cingulate—the brain’s integrity meter—so decisions stay aligned with your values.
When your next launch is looming, run your idea through Source, Signal, Self, take one grounding breath, and choose the feedback that fuels genuine growth. Then celebrate the win on your Evidence Board, no matter how small. Repeat often enough, and the pathways strengthen, turning discernment from a conscious exercise into muscle memory. [3]
Oh, and my pitch? Accepted without question. “Where do I sign?”
I’ve added this to my evidence board.
My experience, my vulnerability, and my willingness to put myself out there and serve creative entrepreneurs; validated.
My questions for you this week :
How do you distinguish between constructive silence (space to process) and discouraging silence (an absence of support) after you share new work?
If your Evidence Board could speak, what hidden pattern in your wins would it point out that you haven’t fully leveraged yet?
Reply and share with me!
Let’s discuss ways I can support you and your business.
You don’t have to do this rewiring alone.
Our Curated Conversations are a living lab of like-hearted entrepreneurs who practice perspective-taking, offer specific feedback, and model healthy validation. Lean on the community when the old neural ruts feel deep; your wins and questions help all of us rewire faster.
Hit Reply if you’re ready to go deeper.
I’m here for the whole journey—turning neuroscience into practical tools, business strategy, and the messy middle where life and your creative gifts intertwine. Whether you need a fresh perspective on pricing, a rewrite of an old story you carry, or simply a reminder that your work already matters, I support creative entrepreneurs just like you in rewiring mindsets and building businesses you’re proud to own.
Are you a like-hearted entrepreneur ready for support? Let's connect.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
[1] Did you miss our month on Confidence?
[2] Did you miss our month on Ego? (It’s an oldie but a goodie!)
[X] Did someone say MindSweep MAP?! Learn more about my Personalized MindSweep Mapping Process
MONDAY: 8 am - Curated Conversation - Zoom
Changing the world, one Monday Morning at a time. Learn more + Sign Up for a Monday morning reminder!
What I’m reading
Intermezzo
Author: Sally Rooney
An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family—but especially love.
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common.
Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties—successful, competent, and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women—his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke.
Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined.
For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude—a period of desire, despair, and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
Find it where you browse for books.
Collaborations!
Join us NEXT Friday, June 6th, at the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce for this two-hour interactive business community experience.
We'll discuss ways to cultivate business through Sales, Marketing, and Communication methods that support relationship building, showing up authentically, and connecting deeper with colleagues and the people you serve.
9-11 am - Open discussion, community support, brainstorming ideas
Join me in meeting business owners in our community. You'll leave with new tools to help you make connections and build your business!
Free; Registration is required: REGISTRATION.
Mindful Connections
Connecting like-hearted entrepreneurs to build relationships, offering support, understanding their passions, and sharing their names in rooms of opportunity.
Join us Thursdays, 12-1 pm EST.
12:00 - Take 5—a guided meditation with Terri Hamilton of Positively Terri to ground your week with peace and focus.
12:05-1 pm Round-table Share
Who you are
The gifts you bring to the world
Who you serve
The answer to a Curated question to spark conversation.
If you found this on the web, sign up to join us!
In other news…
Feeling #FOMO about Curated Conversations? Join us!
