8 hours & a lunch

suit up & show up

So you want a new job, to lose weight, to write the next great American novel, or to start a business.  You want to do what you're passionate about.  But you're convinced none of those endeavors will be successful.

And maybe you think, “But it won’t work!  Because to really be successful, you have to get your product/business featured on Oprah.  And that’s impossible!  I’ll never get my stuff on Oprah!”

And here’s the thing.

You’re right.

You’ll never get on Oprah.

Because you’re not doing the thing you want to do in the first place. 

It’s not happening because you’re not doing it.  

You’re not going to lose weight until you stop eating more than you need and start moving more.

You’re not going to ditch the day job, or find a better one, until you figure out what you want and start taking steps in that direction.

You’re never going to get published if you don’t write.

But still, you argue:

1. “But I can’t just ditch the day job!” Sure. There are realities and responsibilities we all have to deal with.  But you can write a page a day while working the day job at the same time.  A lot of people get their businesses going before leaving the cubicle.  There are tons of options between the cubicle and chucking it all to go open the doors of your business in Spain  
2. “People won’t like it.”  How do you know?  Maybe everyone won’t love it.  But everyone doesn’t love John Grisham or Steve Jobs either.  Besides, what other people think is none of your business.  You can’t control it.  And what they think says more about them and their stuff than that great thing you do anyway.  That’s about them.  Not you.
3. “I’m not good enough.”    ‘Good enough’ compared to what?  Hemingway?  I bet his first drafts weren’t all that hot either.  (OK.  Maybe they were.  But you get the point.) Stop comparing your early efforts to ‘the greats.’  If you want to start a business?  I guarantee you that even the most wildly successful people made mistakes along the way.  Besides, who says you’re not good enough?  All those people?  I refer you to number 2.
4. “I don’t have time.”  The truth is that we make time for the things that are important to us.  If you’re not making time, you’re either afraid or it’s not important to you.  If it’s not important enough to you?  That’s okay.  Own that.  Accept it.  Just say, “Ya know?   I really don’t want to start a business.”  And then let it go.  Put your energy towards something you really do want.  (If you’re afraid?  That’s a whole other monster.)

The Guarantee 

Nothing is going to happen if you never start doing the thing you want to do.  And not doing it will guarantee you won’t get the thing you want.

So start.  Today.  And start small.  Start ridiculously small.  

Great novels were not written in a day.  

Neither do successful businesses appear overnight.  

And you don’t lose 30 pounds in a week. 

Do something. Take a small amount of time and write one page or research your business idea or walk for 20 minutes.  Small steps add up, so that’s okay.

Do you know how great books are written?  

One sentence at a time.

That’s right.  Even the great Hemingway wrote - one sentence at a time.

What is it you’ve been putting off that you really want to do?

What could you spend 15 minutes doing today?

All the best!

deb

your board of directors

As surprising as it might seem initially, concepts and strategies that apply to having a successful business or career also apply to leading a successful life.

Here's one.

You are the leader of your life.  And just as it is with business, great leaders don't take yes for an answer.

What do I mean by this?

We've all heard of the concept of the 'yes men', those who agree with the boss simply to win favor and seek promotion.  Trust me, those people do exist.  But those are the people who are first and foremost concerned with themselves and their own position.  

In business, leaders who ultimately are the most effective and best at what they do surround themselves with smart people.  They surround themselves with people who will come up with solutions to problems, and they surround themselves with people who have the best interest of the organization at heart.  That, at times, means pointing out problems.  That, at times, means saying no. 

It works the same in life.

Think of all the stars we've watched meet with an untimely demise due to surrounding themselves with people who never said no.  They surrounded themselves with people who never questioned their actions or pointed out when they were heading down a dangerous path.  And they paid a hefty price.

What does this have to do with you?

Look around at your friends, your family, your spouse.  Is there anyone who will say no?   Or are they 'always supportive'?  Support doesn't mean always agreeing or never rocking the boat.  Your best bet?   Your best bet is to have people who know you, love you, and who you can trust who will call you on your stuff when you're doing something they know isn't in alignment with who you want to be and where you want to go.

Put together a board of directors.

That's right.  Get a 'life board of directors.'  Find friends and mentors who you admire and can help you in each area of your life.  Is your spiritual life important to you?  Find a spiritual mentor who exhibits what you'd like to experience in that area of your life.  Is your career important?  Find a coach who can help keep you from getting lost in the day to day details and keep your eyes focused on the bigger picture, and how that all fits together.

Think through all the roles in your life and what you value most, and assemble a board of directors.  Look for people who model what you'd like to see in your own life, can give you solid advice, be a cheerleader when needed, and will tell you no when you need to hear it.

All the best!

deb

a little trick the geese know (to build a stronger network)

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose” - Tennessee Williams

At ‘In Over Your Head’, Julien challenges us to be the leader of our networks towards better achievement.  He doesn’t just challenge us, he says it’s our duty. 

And I couldn’t agree more.  I’ve mentioned before that like attracts like and how we can use this as information to determine where we are in our lives and in our businesses.

Like Attracts Like 

Creative people like creative people. Intelligent people like talking to other intelligent people.  Those who are religious tend to have friends and family who are also religious.  Successful people tend to hang out with other successful people.  

People who are concerned with health and working out?  You got it.  They tend to hang out with people who are concerned with health and working out.

You Say You Want A Revolution

One key to stepping up your game, in your life or in your business, is exactly the thing that Julien suggests.  It’s finding people who already have what it is you want.  This is the model used in everything from recovery programs to Weight Watchers.  And it works.  

Stepping up can be difficult, and messy.  In fact, statistics show that even steak-eating major corporate players who have a heart attack are unlikely to make lifestyle changes that will prevent a second event.  Nine out of ten people who do make these changes are unlikely to maintain them years later.  25% of people who have a heart attack don’t fill their prescriptions and 62% remain at high risk for a second heart attack, largely due to ‘lifestyle factors’.

So Dr. Dean Ornish created a ground-breaking program that resulted in 8 out of 10 of these same types of patients making rigorous lifestyle changes and maintaining them.  How’d they do it?  He pairs them up with others who had similar lifestyles prior to their attack, but who have made and maintained these changes.  

You can apply this to any change you’d like to see, whether it’s lifestyle changes or playing a bigger game in your business.  It works.  

A Little Trick That The Geese Know

What?  Geese?  Yeah.  Julien mentions geese and the way they fly in a V-formation.  They do this to create an uplift so that the entire formation gets more flying range. 

But here’s something else they do.  As Julien points out, the lead goose endures greater wind resistance, just as we do when we step up and lead our networks to bigger and better things.  But when the lead goose gets tired, it shifts back into the formation and another goose takes the lead.  The formation shifts and changes.  Sometimes the goose leads, sometimes the goose follows and encourages the new lead goose to keep up their speed by honking from behind.

So after you’ve stepped up, challenged yourself to lead your network, take a look around and see whose turn it is to develop their own skills and take the lead while you support and encourage from within the formation.  

Before you know it, you’ll not only see the changes you’re desiring in your own life, your whole network will be growing stronger and gaining speed.

Where are the areas where you can lead your network to bigger, better things?

And who can you encourage to step up in their own lives today?

All the best!

deb

  

P.S. Give 10.  Pay it forward & pass it on.  Help thousands of kids today.  (Thanks to all of those who have been so generous this far.  Let's keep it going!  With everyone pulling together and doing their small part, we can get this thing done!)

anything is possible, everything is not

Anything is possible.

I believe it.  Do you?  

Anything is possible.  Look around at the accomplishments and achievements of others.  We can all think of examples of people who came from humble circumstances to achieve greatness.

 It might take work.  It might take time.  Things don't happen magically and they don't happen overnight.  But anything is possible.

Everything, though, is not.  

As I work with clients in keeping their edge in their lives and businesses, one of the biggest problems I see is fear of making a choice.  People are often afraid to make a decision. 

We're afraid that once we make a decision, we're stuck there for life.  We put so much pressure on making the right decision that we don't decide at all.  

Think of a river.  It simply flows.   It can be powerful and dangerous or it can be smooth and tranquil.  But it flows, and moves forward naturally.  When we know what our goals are and what direction we want our life and our businesses to head in, it's much like that river.  

That river has banks.  It has boundaries.  Without them, the river would have no direction at all.  It wouldn't even be a river.  It would be a pool of water running off in many directions until it dispersed so far that it no longer existed.

The choices and decisions we make are like the banks of the river.  It's what gives us direction.  And just like a river might have a bend or two, we can change those decisions later as circumstances change or as we gain more information.

Everything is not possible, but anything is.  It starts by making the decision.

All the best!

deb  

P.S.  Help me celebrate the launch of Work Her Way

P.P.S  Give 10.  Pay it forward & pass it on.  Help thousands of kids today.  (Thanks to all of those who have been so generous this far.  Let's keep it going!  With everyone pulling together and doing their small part, we can get this thing done!)

getting it all done (& why it's not happening)

The holidays will be here before we know it and I’m amazed at the stress and worry I’m already hearing.  It’s not new stress though.  I hear it all the time.  People talk about work/life balance and wonder if they’re doing too much and not doing any of it well.  At the same time, they ask how they can get even more done with the same 24 hours they had before.

Don’t Wait for ROWE to Come to Your Town

This is one of the major issues addressed by Maria Shriver’s “A Woman’s Nation” report in which she calls for policy changes in government and asks companies to create solutions that fit the modern family model.  

But you have this problem today.  And if I were you, I wouldn’t wait for the government to do it or for my company to go gung-ho for ROWE. 

What is ROWE?  It’s a Results-Oriented Work Environment that has been adopted by companies such as Best Buy.  With ROWE, employees are held accountable for the results they achieve, rather than the amount of time they put in in the office.  

That sounds great, but despite reports that tell us that the majority of employees actually spend only about 75% of their time at work actually working, as a society, we still have the time-for-money model ingrained in us.  

Case in point:  In working with a business-owner with a 12-year old $75 million company, he was speaking about one employee in particular.  His statement was, “She’s a good employee.  She works a lot of hours.”  He couldn’t point to the value she added or the results she achieved, he could only point to ‘she works a lot of hours.’  

Productivity, Streamlining, the Latest Tips & Tricks

Yes.  You can try the latest productivity tips and tricks.  You can put together another to-do list.  You can keep that Blackberry or iPhone calendar running hot and heavy.  You can even applying standardization and streamlining tactics from the business world to your life.  

That might sound boring, but so is laundry.  And when was the last time you had to do an emergency load of laundry because your kid’s soccer game crept up on you?  Or ran through the fast-food joint because things  came up and you suddenly were crushed for time?

These things can help, but it’s not where you start handling your problem with getting it all done.

Where Do You Really Spend Your Time?

Name your top 3 priorities in your life.  Then ask yourself, how much time did you spend on those priorities last week?  Not much?  

Then ask yourself if those are truly your top 3 priorities.  Get honest with yourself.  And get specific.  If you say your family is your top priority, but you spend every week on the road so you can keep that job making the kind of money you’re making, is providing for your family the top priority?  Or spending time with the kids?  (If your real priority is providing for the family and that job is the best way for you to do that, then give up the guilt.  You’re doing exactly what you’ve set out to do.)

Once you’re truly clear, that’s where you start.  

Create Your Own Path

Don’t let what is important to you pass you by because you waited for someone else to come up with a solution for you.  Create your own path.

When you are putting together your schedule or your to-do list, start with your priorities.  Actually schedule them in, and schedule them in first.  

Learn when to say no, and what you can give up.  Begin to look for solutions that work around what’s truly important to you, rather than trying to cram what’s important to you into the spare 5 minutes you have each day.  

You can’t do it all.  But you can define for yourself what is truly most important, begin there, and create your own path to a more fulfilling life.

All the best!

deb

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take the leap to success

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success." - Thoreau

Long time readers of this blog will recognize that as one of my favorite quotes that used to appear in the sidebar.  Coaches talk a lot about the ‘walking consciously’ part, but the time comes when it’s time to leap.  

Many life coaches are starting to talk about using the business concept of kaizen, still talking about ‘small steps’, and applying it to your life.  It’s true that this can work.  

But as someone who has trained people on the Toyota Production System, I want to tell you that kaizen is one piece of the puzzle that makes kaizen work.  It’s a part of a whole.  It works, but only if other concepts and practices are in place as well.  

Swinging For the Fences

The company also has stretch goals.  There have been times when they’ve set goals as aggressive as improving customer service by 50-percent and pulling $100 million out of the supply chain within a 3 year time frame.  That meant changing the ways things had been set up for 30 years, deeply ingrained and embedded processes and practices, in just 3 years.  (In Toyota time?  That’s like 3 months to you and me.)  And doing so in a way that drastically improved customer service while saving big bucks at the same time.  That's huge.

When Jane Beseda, vice president and general manager of Toyota's North American Parts Operations set that stretch goal, she made it clear to her team that, “Targets should be aggressive and in conflict.”   

Yep.  Conflict.  You know what conflict means.  It’s uncomfortable.  

Allow Me To Translate

There’s a time to weigh the options.  There’s a time to plan.  And then there’s a time to go for that stretch goal in your own life.  

And when we’re honest, we know.  We know that there are things that are the right things for our lives, and for our businesses.  We’ve been thinking about it for a while now.  We already know it’s the thing we need to do.

What we’ve really been doing is using ‘small steps’ to convince ourselves that we’re doing something.  While in reality, we’re still feeling fears and still holding ourselves, and our businesses, back.

There’s a reason you hire a personal trainer.  The personal trainer is going to not only hold you accountable, but they’re going to push you farther than you’ve push yourself and help you get there faster.  Much faster.

It’s the same reason you hire a life, career, or business coach.  They’ll tell you things you’ve not thought of before, and they’ll have tools to help you.  They will also, like that personal trainer, hold you accountable and push you farther than you currently push yourself and help you get there faster.  Much faster.

It’s Time to Leap

And yeah.  Just like companies leaping toward their stretch goal feel moments of chaos and conflict, just like that personal trainer will push you until you’re sore the first few workouts, it’s going to feel uncomfortable.  

That’s okay.  If you need someone to help you through the uncomfortable time, get someone.  It’s that easy.  Problem solved.  

It won’t feel uncomfortable forever though.  Just as you get stronger in those workouts and a new norm is established, the uncomfortable part won’t last as long as you think it will. 

So go ahead.  You’ve thought it through.  You know there’s something you have either been putting off or just ‘chipping away at’.  You’ve been “walking consciously towards your goal.”  But now, it’s time to jump.  It’s time to go drastic.  It’s time to “leap in the dark to (your) success.”

All the best!

deb

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waiting on the muse (inspiration)

Thanks to Dee Wilcox at Creative Perch, a wonderful blog I recently ran across, I saw this post “On Inspiration” in which Andy Rutledge argues that designers are not wizards who need to attribute their work to inspiration.  Between his post and her reaction, it got me thinking.......

Of course, I have had those moments where words seem to flow through me, seemingly from nowhere.  But inspiration?  Inspiration is one small part of the entire creative process, or of life in general. 

It’s the ‘aha!’ moment.

We see it in children all the time as they devise a new game using nothing more than a box, some string, and some crayons. 

It’s the “I know what we’ll do!” moment.

And often, it is something we can trace back.  We can see the connections of things we’ve seen or heard or experienced in the past, coming together in what seems like a lightening bolt and the feeling of, “Yes!  That’s it!” that accompanies it.

And yes.  There are scientific explanations for how this happens in our brains.

Turning What Creative People Do Into Myth, We Devalue Craft

We often talk of inspiration as if is an ever-elusive, super-spiritual, special dispensation from the gods that has worked through us as we create something that mere mortals can not produce.  

And yes.  Andy is right.  This is one reason people often become frustrated working with creative professionals.  (Although I suspect it ranks higher than no. 14 on the list of reasons why.)  

We forget that architects and artists study the elements of design.  Writers study language and structure.  We ignore the work and study involved, and the practice.  

And we ignore that inspiration can be cultivated.  It can be sought, and found.  

It doesn’t always strike when we want it to.  That’s true.

And sometimes we do find ourselves having to wait for it, or being struck by it at inopportune times.  

But still, attributing too much credit to inspiration alone can have it’s downside.

The Dangers of Attributing Everything to Inspiration

For one thing, we don’t live inspired 100% of the time.  You’ve had those moments of realization.  You know they’re fleeting.  The moment when everything comes together, and you suddenly know what you should do.  Or the idea suddenly occurs to you.  

But sometimes, we’re chasing that feeling, waiting to feel inspired before we actually do anything, and we should then call this by it’s right name:  procrastination.

It can also become something that we use to avoid the responsibility of our lives.  “Yes.  The article I wrote was awful, but the inspiration just wasn’t there.”  (As opposed to the truth, “I kept putting off sitting down at the laptop until the last minute.”)  

What if we all waited until we were ‘struck by the muse’ to go to work?

Would you allow your kids to stop going to school because they weren’t inspired?

Inspiration Is Inspiring

I do believe inspiration is necessary.  We see it in areas such as science, medicine, or technology, as well as the creative world, leading to advances and inventions that improve our lives.

In life, we hear stories of those who have overcome adversity, and are inspired to improve our own lives.  If Tina Turner can leave the jerk and end up so much better off, so can we.  

So yes.  Inspiration is important, and fun.  

We just need to remember that it’s only one part of the equation.  

After all, even in those times where the words, or a story, seems to come 'from out of the blue'?  Rarely does it end up on the page perfect and whole and complete.  

If creative work is so infused with the divine and simply flowing through a person, wouldn't it come out perfectly in an instant?

Aren’t We Confusing Inspiration with Motivation?

Sometimes.  But what we’re really after is deeper than inspiration and/or motivation.  And it occurs in areas other than the creative fields.

But there will be more on that later.  (Check back!)

In the meantime, what inspires you?  Do you cultivate it?  

In your life?  In your business?  

Where do you find it?

All the best!

deb

P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to the RSS feed, and signup for the newsletter in the right sidebar.  

P.P.S.  And if you're feeling less than inspired today, maybe this will help:

 

Anchored from lindsey olivares on Vimeo.

the sound of settling (challenge yourself)

"There is no passion to be found in playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."  - Nelson Mandela How often do people around us tell us, directly or indirectly, to play small?  How often do we tell ourselves that this is all there is going to be in life, so we may as well get used to it?  Is that really what we want our lives to be?

People Keep Telling Us It’s Over (But We Know Better)

I recently read one of those, “If you’re a woman who isn’t married by a certain age, you have a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than settling down” articles.  And I have to admit that it got to me for a minute.  (By the way, this article?  If you’re a single mom?  Apparently, you’re just supposed to forget it entirely.)

Then I remembered that this article is based on the assumption that all women want to procreate.  And it also skips the assumption that perhaps those of us who settled the first time around are a little more self-aware, self-assured, and more discriminating as we consider options of taking a 2nd plunge.  (Or that we all even want to do that.)

But yes, we’re adults.  And there are compromises to be made in living life.  We (and I’m taking the liberty of speaking for some of my girlfriends here as well) aren’t angry.  We’re not bitter.  We’re just more self-aware, self-assured, and discriminating than we used to be.  We’re not waiting for Brad Pitt to show up at the door.  Actually, we’re smart enough to know that Brad Pitt might be a real pain in the butt to live with.  But it does take more than the gorgeous, popular guy we were attracted to in our 20s.  We’ve raised the bar.  We’ve raised the standards.

Or there’s this client I’ve been working with.  He hated his job.  I’m serious.  He hated his job as much as anyone I’ve ever known who hated their job.  At first, he would go on and on about how much he hated his job and then go on and on about how his education, his background, his experience, his responsibilities, all just meant that he had to suck it up and be miserable in this thing that takes up more time in his life than anything else.  Oh.  And now he’s got his age to consider.  

Until one day when he read one of those “do what you love and the money will follow” articles that assumes that he knew what he loved to do and that what he really wanted was to chuck it all to go raise alpacas in the mountains somewhere, uprooting his family to some remote location as well.  Nevermind what kind of education the kids would get in this place.

But of course, he’s adult.  And there are compromises to be made.  That article, as misguided as it was, at least opened the door for him to see other possibilities.  He began to see that, especially since he liked the actual work he was doing, he could find a more suitable work environment that would allow him to be happy doing something he did actually like doing, while still supporting his family in the lifestyle they’d become accustomed.  

Suddenly, he knew what he really wanted.  And being miserable in his job wasn’t acceptable anymore.  He had raised the bar.  He raised his standards.

Where Are You Holding Back?

“Well, I used to run marathons but then I started having problems with my knees, so I can’t work out anymore.”  Really?  You can’t work with a trainer to start strength training?  Or do yoga?  Or anything?  Your only other choice is to sit on the couch, and take all the health problems that come along with becoming more and more overweight?

But It’s Not That Bad......

Is that really something to shoot for?  Is that really what we all want to say towards the end of our life?  “Meh.  It was okay.  I had a great run when I was younger.”  

Challenge Yourself

Whatever area it is that you’ve let yourself take compromise so far that it’s really, in essence, giving up.....stop it.  Today.  Sit down and start looking for the other possibilities in between the two extremes.  And then set a higher standard than where you’ve been living.  

But ultimately, it’s up to you.  

In the end, wouldn’t you rather look back and say, “Wow.  I’m glad I never gave up.  I’m glad I kept challenging myself and moving forward -- because things just kept getting better.  What an amazing ride the past 5 years have been......”  

But you've got to do the work.  It's up to you.  No one is going to do it for you.  (You can get help figuring it all out.  But ultimately, it's still up to you.)

Is 'getting by' really enough?

What standards do you need to raise?

Where can you start today?

All the best!

deb

P.S.  Do you know where you want to be in 5 years?  Do you know what your values are and you living in line with them?  Do you want to enhance your creativity or live a more creative, fulfilling life?  If you need help in those areas, see what changes people have experienced and what they're saying about this telecourse.  Space is limited and registration ends Friday, July 31 - so sign up today. 

And don't forget to sign up for the newsletter in that cool little box in the right sidebar.  

you can do it! yes you can! (why motivation isn't enough)

I often receive comments (or tweets or emails) calling something I've written 'motivational'.  While I'm flattered by these comments, I also find them worrisome.  Here's why:

Motivation is not enough

Let's talk about health for a moment.  What percentage of heart attack survivors would you expect to take their medication?  

It turns out that 25% of people who had had a heart attack did not fill their prescriptions.  

Perhaps even more startling, while meeting with a disease manager increased patients use of medication and following prescribed plans, 62% of patients who had experienced a serious cardiac event remained at a high risk for a second event, largely due to either not following prescriptions or -- 'lifestyle factors'. 

That's right.  They're overweight.  In fact, while heart disease has continued to decline over the past few decades, those results are beginning to level off.  This is mostly due to lifestyle factors such as obesity and smoking.

You would think a heart attack would be pretty motivating, wouldn't you?

And what about obesity and smoking?  23% of adult males and 19% of adult women in the US smoke, with 4 out of 5 smokers reporting that they want to quit.  

The scary statistic?  1.3 million smokers do quit every year with only 20-40% being able to quit and 'stay quit' for one year. 

And weight loss?  We all know that obesity is on the rise, right?  And we're all well-acquainted with those factors deeper than 'wanting to look good'.  You know, all the health factors about maintaining a healthy weight.

Wouldn't you expect that those who'd actually experienced a heart attack to have plenty of motivation to take care of their health?  To quit smoking and lose the weight?

And how many people do you know who are motivated, charged up, ready with a plan to lose weight every Monday.  

My grandfather, who quit smoking decades ago, used to say that he was great at quitting smoking.....he used to quit every single Monday.

But I'm Excited!  I've Had a Flash of Inspiration!

How many times have you read something that 'clicked'?  Something that made sense and made you see things a little bit differently?  And maybe you thought, "Great!  That makes sense.  That'll work.  I'm going to do that!"

You're motivated.  You're pumped up.  You're excited.  You're ready to go.  And then......

You know what usually happens.  Right?

Working With Someone Helps

The Mayo clinic study discovered that heart patients who worked regularly with a disease management consultant increased the number of patients who followed regimens that would reduce their chances for a second event.  

Working with someone in an area you'd like to improve can have the same effect.  And yes.  Doing so can help you stay motivated, and it can help build in accountability.  But you also want to work with someone who understands the change process, and who has tools that can help you achieve real, sustainable, long-term results.  

If you're looking to change any area of your life, it's going to take more than motivation. 

If you attend a workshop or read something that makes you feel better for a moment or gives you a flash of inspiration or a suggestion you can try?  That's great!

But don't settle for just getting motivated.  

Because creating the life you want?  It's going to take more than motivation.  

It's going to take some work.  

And yes!  You can do it! 

All the best!

deb

P.S.  If you're interested in one-on-one coaching, shoot me an email.  If you're interested in creating an extraordinary life in a group teleclass, check this out. 

why you'll never be on oprah (suit up & show up)

So you want a new job, to lose weight, to start a business, to write the next great American novel.  But you’re convinced that none of those endeavors will be successful. 

And maybe you think, “But it won’t work!  Because to really be successful, you have to get your book/product/business featured on Oprah.  And that’s impossible!  I’ll never get my stuff on Oprah!”

And here’s the thing.

You’re right.

You’ll never get on Oprah.

Because you’re not doing the thing you want to do in the first place. 

It’s not happening because you’re not doing it.  

You’re not going to lose weight until you stop eating more than you need and start moving more.

You’re not going to get out of the hideous job until you figure out what you want and start taking steps in that direction.

You’re never going to get published if you don’t write.

But still, you argue:

1. “But I can’t just quit my day job and become a novelist!” Sure. There are realities and responsibilities we all have to deal with.  But you can write a page a day while working the day job at the same time.  A lot of people get their businesses going before leaving the cubicle.  There are tons of options between the cubicle and chucking it all to go write your novel in Spain  
2. “People won’t like it.”  How do you know?  Maybe everyone won’t love it.  But everyone doesn’t love John Grisham either.  Besides, what other people think is none of your business.  You can’t control it.  And what they think says more about them and their stuff than that great thing you do anyway.  That’s about them.  Not you.
3. “I’m not good enough.”    ‘Good enough’ compared to what?  Hemingway?  I bet his first drafts weren’t all that hot either.  (OK.  Maybe they were.  But you get the point.) Stop comparing your early efforts to ‘the greats.’  If you want to start a business?  I guarantee you that even the most wildly successful people made mistakes along the way.  Besides, who says you’re not good enough?  All those people?  I refer you to number 2.
4. “I don’t have time.”  The truth is that we make time for the things that are important to us.  If you’re not making time, you’re either afraid or it’s not important to you.  If it’s not important enough to you?  That’s okay.  Own that.  Accept it.  Just say, “Ya know?   I really don’t want to write a book.”  And then let it go.  Put your energy towards something you really do want.  (If you’re afraid?  That’s a whole other monster.)

The Guarantee 

Nothing is going to happen if you never start *doing* the thing you want to do.  And not doing it will guarantee you won’t get the thing you want.

So start.  Today.  And start small.  Start ridiculously small.  

Great novels were not written in a day.  

Neither do successful businesses appear overnight.  

And you don’t lose 30 pounds in a week. 

Do something. Take a small amount of time and write one page or research your business idea or walk for 20 minutes.  Small steps add up, so that’s okay.

Do you know how great books are written?  

One sentence at a time.

That’s right.  Even the great Hemingway wrote - one sentence at a time.

What is it you’ve been putting off that you really want to do?

What could you spend 15 minutes doing today?

What are you waiting for?

All the best!

deb

P.S.  If you haven't read Dave Navarro's post on "Why You Do What You Do (And Why It Should Scare You)" over at Rock Your Day yet.  Go.  Read it now.  It's seriously thought-provoking and challenging.