I heard 2 things this week that really helped me change my perspective on the ideas of problems and failure.

Failure

Do you know Sara Blakely?  The creator of Spanx?  Love this woman!  She’s so inspiring so when a video of her was making it’s way around Facebook this week, I had to click and see what she had to say.  She was talking about how  when she was a kid her father encouraged her to have failures each week because that at least meant she was trying.  She reframed the definition of failure to mean not trying something, versus focusing on what the outcome would be.  How great is that?  If you look at it that way wouldn’t it be much easier to go after what you want?

Here’s the link to the video in case you want to watch.

Problems

Another person I really love is Tony Robbins.  I went to one of his live events back when I was in my 20’s and couldn’t really appreciate it.  I remember being a little cynical and weirded out about all the hype and having to hug strangers around me.   Fast forward to today and I would LOVE to go to one of his events!  He had a movie come out this week called I Am Not Your Guru.  It’s a behind the scene documentary of his live event called Date With Destiny.  I started watching yesterday and only got halfway through and already took so many notes!  One thing that stuck out was that he said “our problems are what make us grow“.  Again, it’s just a reframing thing but it really has an impact.  If you take  a problem as something you can learn from, overcome and then help others going through the same thing, isn’t that so much more powerful than just focusing on it as just being a problem that you have to deal with?  It’s definitely put me in a different frame of mind!

You can catch that movie on Netflix but I must warn you it can be really powerful and emotional.  Be ready!

If you watch either of these, let me know what insights you took from them.

When you have your own business, you know you need to take action to make things happen.  You can’t just sit there and hope things are magically going to get done on their own.  But there’s a difference between trying to force yourself to do something and being inspired to get it done.  You can definitely feel the difference.

When you’re trying to force something, it feels hard, like a chore, you may feel stuck and the ideas just aren’t flowing.  No matter how hard you try, it’s just not working.

Inspired action on the other hand feels like bliss – ideas magically flow out of you, tasks seem effortless and fun.

Have you experienced this before?

Recently I had a situation in my business where I wanted to create something new but what I started just didn’t feel right.  Each time I attempted to work on it I had that dread feeling and I kept avoiding it and making excuses – but I knew it had to be done.  Yesterday I magically had a breakthrough so after analyzing what happened, I want to take you through the steps so you can apply it to whatever it is you want to accomplish to trigger inspired action.

1 – Step Away

Yesterday  I had a brunch date with 2 long time friends.  We hadn’t seen each other in a while so it was great catching up.  One of my favorite things to do is to spend time with friends.  It feels like home to me – there’s a comfort, familiarity and history together.  It feels easy being with them.

Tip:  Take a break and do something you love to do

2 – Try To Help Someone Else

Toward the end of our brunch, I told them about a success story of one of my recent coaching clients.   One of my friends mentioned something that she’s been secretly wanting to do – coach people on how to eat healthier.  I was so excited for her!  She’s perfect for it because she lives and breathes the stuff!  I had so many ideas for her on how to get it going!

Tip: Take the focus off of yourself.  Reach out and help someone else – Give of yourself – it feels very rewarding.

3 – Stay In High Vibe

When I got back home I was still super excited and sent her an email with all of my ideas and encouragement for her to go for it!

Tip:  Find ways to stay in a great mood

4 – Set A Deadline – Sense of Urgency

It was 2:41pm and I knew I had a call with my own coach at 3pm.  There was NO WAY I was going to get on that call and tell her I still hadn’t made progress on my project.

Tip: – Set a hard deadline – nothing wishy washy

5 – Let it Flow

With a sense of urgency and expecting last minute miracles, I let myself start thinking about my project again, and then as if by magic, the ideas came to me!!  I frantically started writing everything out – I literally couldn’t write fast enough and was worried I’d miss a thought.  It was so exciting and by the time the call started I had a whole action plan mapped out that I was truly excited about and ready to discuss with her.  I was able to come up with the ideas because I was in the perfect frame of mind to do so.

Tip:  Let you mind be open to new idea and be ready for the floodgates to open!

Do you have something you know you need to do but you’re feeling stuck?

Try this 5 step process and see if you’ll be triggered to take inspired action!

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If you’re looking for personalized support, in your new creative venture,  apply for a free clarity session!

“A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the desires of others”

Are you at a point in your life where you feel like you need a change?  You want to start something new?  Our lives have twists and turns and the path isn’t necessarily a straight line or even always clear.  You change, grow and evolve and should give yourself permission to try something new if that’s what you desire.  Sometimes we tend to pigeon hole ourselves or even label ourselves.  “I’m a realtor”, I’m a lawyer”.  That doesn’t mean you can ONLY do those things for the rest of your life.  It’s your choice what you want to do or be.

For example in my own life, I always had a desire to do something creative but in the beginning tended to put it on the back burner.  I started out after college going into computers as a programmer and systems analyst for a licensing company.

After a few years I gave in to my creative urges and started a gift basket business.  I worked at both my job and my business for a few years then finally left my computer job because my goal was to build up my basket business.  I still wanted some steady income so I also did software training on the side.  I eventually gave up the software training to give my full attention to my basket business.

I stuck with it for many years but it started to taper off a few years after having my girls.  I started to lose interest and eventually just said I was done.  It was hard to let my regular clients know I was going to close my business but I couldn’t just stick with something just because I was good at it or to please other people when I knew in my gut it was over.

I did some web design and on the creative side I started making hair accessories for my girls and selling them at craft fairs and gift shops.

I was always into photography but it accelerated when I became a mom.  When the girls were babies I was obsessed with photographing every moment because at the time we were living in Florida and my mom and sis were back in NYC.  Thank goodness for digital because I photographed and emailed photographs every day!

I started making my own accordion photo books and started selling those as well.

Soon after I decided to go pro as a photographer and have been doing it for years now and loving it.

About  a year and  a half ago I was starting to get that itch again and I realized I really love helping people get started with their own  businesses and making connections.  It really excites me to see other women going after what makes them happy!  And that’s where I am today with Life Happens Now.

In a nutshell this was / is my professional life…

• Computer Programmer / Systems Analyst
• Gift Basket Business Owner
• Web Designer
• Maker of Hair Accessories and Photo Books
• Professional Photographer
• Coach / Mentor For Creative Startups

I forgot to add in there at some point I was obsessed with cake decorating and thought I would be  a professional cake decorator! 🙂

It’s ok to be multi passionate, to be curious and to try things out to see what you like. Not everything has to be a full fledged business.  It can be  a hobby, you can be a consultant or freelancer, start something part time.  The choice is really up to you.

Don’t feel bad about starting one thing just to realize it wasn’t meant for you.  You don’t need to feel stuck or guilty about it.  I have  a friend who went to med school, became a doctor,  then a few years into it decided he wanted to be a professional magician…and went for it!  How inspiring is that?!?

The coaching and photography fill different needs for me.  I always need to do something creative so photography fills that need but I also want to make an impact and a difference in people’s lives and that’s where the coaching comes in.  It’s so rewarding to see the transformation in women who are making the commitment to go after what they want.  To see things happen that they at first didn’t think was even possible.

So, now take  a look at your own life.  Have you stayed with the same job for years but now feel stuck and unfulfilled?  Are the kids all in school and now you actually have time to do something for yourself to start your creative gig?  Go for it!  Even if you have to ease into it by taking a class or doing one small thing each day.  Just get started.

Life happens Now – Don’t wait!

Tell me in the comments what you’d love to be doing now….