Grit and Gratitude

May 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I read an article recently that compares the hero’s journey to our own journeys when we are attempting to reach a compelling goal. We start off with a seemingly insurmountable task, need to slay many dragons along the way (or pirates, as I like to call them), the tension mounts as we get closer, we feel defeated and want to give up at regular intervals, but we persevere until we reach our goals. I have linked to the full article below.

The hero’s journey, when put that way, sure feels familiar. I have stretched myself more than I could have ever imagined over the last couple of years. First, I set out as a non-sailor on a sailing adventure with my family, experiencing both physical and emotional discomforts along the way. I consistently slayed my pirates along the entire journey. Now that it’s over, I look back and realize that I accomplished my goal and got past my pirates by simply persevering because of a compelling goal in mind.  I just had to do it. I stood with my grit.

My latest stretch has been writing my first book, getting it published, and now launching it on June 4. I have slain many pirates along this path as well, and I continue to do so. Although I believe with every ounce of faith that my message is one that needs to be heard, my pirates are shouting: What if the book is an absolute disaster? What if no one cares what I have to say? What if the writing is terrible and readers don’t even get far enough to hear my message?

I will stand by my grit knowing that I am on the hero’s journey of life, with my own compelling goal being this: I must be heard. I must share what I know to be true.  My book’s message:  You must learn to slay your own pirates if you are to reach your own compelling goals.

My grit got me endorsements from big names (Neal Petersen, Diane Selkirk, Joanna Strober, and Brian Tracy), and a sponsorship from Pirates Booty for Book Expo America (where I will be autographing at booth #377 on May 30 and 31 and handing out over 500 snack bags of Pirate’s Booty!). With my compelling goal as my backdrop, I achieve little successes along the way, until I get to the end of this particular story.

But it’s not just the grit.  I could not have done what I’ve done without the kindness and generosity of those who have helped me along the way, like my book endorsers and my sponsor. It has me believe in the genuine goodness of people and the willingness of most to help others out. I am so grateful that so many have willingly helped me along the way.

I realize that it’s also gratitude that keeps me slaying pirates. My family has been on the journey with me. I have many friends who have regularly asked me how it was going and gave me encouragement and support daily. And I’m grateful for getting to do what I love.

Where to go from here on my own hero’s journey? Once a goal has been reached, we are changed for good. We have grown, and become bolder to take on the next challenge.

Read the full article referred to above:  http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/.

Filed Under: Change, Goal-Setting, Motivation, My Book, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Who’s Your Pirate?

April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I am a firm believer that perhaps the single most important factor that stands between you and your dreams, your real resonant successes and what you really, really want in life, is your Pirates. We all have them. They will be with us until the day we die. So who are they??

Our personal Pirates are those subversive, whispering voices that sabotage our most exciting and compelling plans over and over again. They are so subtle, yet so part of who we’ve been that we think they are part of our personal truth. Our Pirates seem to attack our psyche just as we approach doing something that takes our breath away, and work harder and harder to hinder our efforts as we get closer and closer to taking the leap. The result: Our Pirates separate us from being our truest, highest and best selves.

Your Pirates will be with you for the rest of your life. Whatever they are saying to you, they are indeed saving you from failure. But at the same time, they are also “saving” you from living your life as you were meant to be living it.

What are your Pirates saying to you? I’d love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Change, Goal-Setting, Success Tagged With: , , , , ,

Happy Holidays & Toward 2013

December 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

While I am currently traveling abroad, this post is scheduled to come out on Christmas Eve, when those who celebrate will be moments away from Christmas, and those who don’t, will be getting ready to head out for the obligatory Chinese food. Either way, there’s a tremendous amount of electricity in the air, lots of light, and an exciting feeling of what’s in store for the next year.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Steve Jobs:“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

As a coach, I am passionate about helping people live according to their passions. Passions can be about an idea (e.g.a strong educational system), or a job (e.g. the work you do), or a hobby (e.g. painting or music), or about something you do that likely comes very naturally to you (e.g. helping people be more efficient). While there are so many things to be passionate about, for everyone it’s different.   What does remain the same across the board, however, is that when you live passionately, you feel empowered to accomplish so much more in line with who you really are and your highest, best self.

At year end, it’s appropriate to evaluate where you’ve been (which becomes your starting point for today) and where you’re going. For 2013, I challenge you to pick something you are passionate about and move closer to it.

Goal setting in any realm remains the same: Step one involves evaluating where you are today so you know where to start. Step two is to figure out where you’d like to be, which becomes the ultimate goal. And finally, in step three, you design small steps that will bring you closer to where you want to be. Eventually, you’ll get there, I have no doubt, but if the task feels daunting, the key is to begin taking these designed steps. After all, tomorrow will come, and when it does, you will either be that one step closer to where you want to be, or you won’t. It’s really as simple as that.

To help you with this exercise in all areas of your life, be sure to sign up for Success 2013 where we will set goals with a plan for taking individual, realistic steps to moving you forward to that ultimate vision you’ve created for yourself. We will repeat the exercise in all 12 areas of your life, with a method for revisiting each area every year to keep you moving forward. The process keeps you on track, feeling empowered and intentional in all that you aim for.

May you feel empowered and intentional in all your endeavors from this day forward.

Happy holidays everyone, and happy New Year.

Filed Under: Goal-Setting Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Putting It Out There Takes My Breath Away

December 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I just spent a very full weekend writing my book during the Bestseller in A Weekend Boot Camp. The webinar allowed me to sit in the comfort of my own office, and was so intense that I barely had time to go to the bathroom, let alone eat. While my self-care suffered afterward, the inspiration and excitement I got from it was worth every penny, every uncomfortable moment. I feel energized and excited to get my book written. And the end result is so compelling for me that it literally takes my breath away. That doesn’t even take into account the fact that I’ve now announced it to the world, and therefore am feeling that I MUST get it done.  In. The. Next. Six. Months. (Okay Barbara, now Breathe…).

Which leads me to the subject of my book: Right now, the working title is: Sailing to Success: 7 Steps to Creating Your Courageous Change (Lessons Learned from Sailing the Pacific). By the title, you’ll get that it will integrate my family’s sailing adventures of 2009-2012 together with how one gets past barriers to do what you really want, even when it takes your breath away to even think about it. Or when your negative self talk says it’s impossible. Or that it’s ridiculous. Or whatever other things it says to you.

Over the next few months I’ll be enlisting you, my readers, to help me with case studies, surveys, opinions and ideas to include as content for the book. Let me know if you have any burning questions you’d like answered around the topic. What do you think of the title of the book?  Would you buy it? I’ll be asking questions that may have yes/no answers, or others that are more open-ended. Please share your thoughts with me – I strongly believe that your comments will help others. To start with, take this survey on how you, personally, get to making an important change.

And now for the first tips to making your Big Change: Announce it to the world. Once you are scraped up off the floor and resuscitated, there is nothing like it to motivate you to get started.

Filed Under: Motivation, My Book Tagged With: , , , ,