Are you passionate about what you do?

"Chase down your passion like it's the last bus of the night"  Terri Guillemets

I am very blessed to have been put in a position where I can coach and inspire those around me, especially business professionals.  One thing I always tell people is; if you are not passionate about what you are trying to inspire in others, how do you expect them to be passionate about it? 

Are you passionate about your business?  Do you enjoy what you are doing?  If the answer is yes, then when you are talking about it, don't just tell people, show them how you feel. 

We all get into the rut of our day to day lives and sometimes we lose sight of why we are in the business or job we are in.  So, how can you tap into that passion?

I encourage you to ask yourself these questions:

What is your favorite thing about what you do? 

If your answer is " I get to help people" that's great. But what is it about helping those people that makes your internal cash register go Cha-ching! 

There are several things that I love about coaching and training.  One of them is when I am conducting a training session and some of the people that are in the room are shaking their heads in agreement and their faces light up because they just "got it".  Oh yeah, cha-ching! 

When someone comes up to me weeks or months later after I have met with them and they say "I did what you told me to do....and it worked!  Thank you!"  I must admit, there have been times when I don't even remember the conversation, but the fact that something I said or did had a positive influence on their life....cha-ching! 

Who are your favorite clients?

If you really start to think about the clients you love most, the passion and enthusiasm comes through automatically.  You may find yourself smiling while you are thinking about them or maybe even crying. 

When I think about some of the women I had the pleasure to work with as an advocate for victims of sexual assault, I can almost put myself right back in that moment.  The feelings are still so real.  It's a great way to get reconnected to my why. 

Maybe your passion comes from something completely different.  Maybe you enjoy the challenge of your work or the physical nature of it.  If you build things, you might love seeing the finished product.

Whatever it is about what you do that makes you happy, I hope you will start to focus on that.  When you talk about what you do to others, your happiness will come through.  More importantly however, you will feel that passion build up inside of you.  When you have the passion and purpose in what you do, motivation comes easily.

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us" Henry Dave Thoreau

I hope you are able to tap into what lives within you and share it with the world.

Who is your Hero?

                                    

     There has been a lot of talk lately about the Lance Armstrong fiasco.  Although I am sure it will  blow over just like the Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and Brett Favre scandals eventually did.  Recently,while in the Bay Area I saw the headline of one of the major newspapers front page with the words “LIAR AND CHEAT” over Armstrong’s’ picture.  I listened to the news reporters on both the T.V. and radio vehemently denounce him.  I was struck at how quickly we turn on those whom WE have placed on pedestals in the first place.  I am not defending any of these people and I am very disappointed in each of them, but they are not nor were they ever someone I saw as a hero.

     I am a HUGE football fan myself.  I absolutely love watching my 49ers play and I can be very passionate about the game and the players.  I love watching talented players make great plays.  I love it even more when after the game they are humble and have kind words about the other players and the coaches.  But they are not my hero's. I would LOVE to meet former NFL Coach and turducken eating (A Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken) John Madden.  I think he is funny and smart and it would be so COOL to hang out with him and watch a football game.  But John is not one of my heroes. 

     I only have a few mortals that come to mind that I consider heroes.  Someone like Jimmy Carter who (Politics aside) has dedicated his life to peace negotiations, eradication of disease and helped to found Habitat for Humanity.  I don't have to agree with everything he has ever said or done, but I  admire his heart and genuine desire to help people.  Someone like Mother Teresa who's service to the poor and lost could fill the rest of this blog and more.

  I am blessed to be able to hang out with my true Hero's,  my children.  Each one of them has overcome a significant challenge or taken a chance in ways that I don't think I could have at their age.   Our son Austin will perform in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"  at his high school this week.  He will be playing one of the lead characters.  I think it is admirable for a shy teenager to get up and take that risk.  Let's face it, many adults don't have the guts to do something like that.  But for a kid with Tourettes Syndrome to do it?  Well, that is just amazing to me. 

    I have often tried to put myself in Austin's shoes.  I don’t believe I would have handled having Tourettes as well as he has.  Austin continues to move forward in school, he is  a part of Young Life and now, performing in his second play.  He has never used his “disability” as an excuse to hold him back. 

     When I think of all the small things I have let hold me back in life, the chances I have not taken for fear of ridicule,  I am in awe of my son.  He has taught me more than most adults and shown more courage and determination than any sports figure or celebrity I have seen. 

         I will continue to admire the sports players and celebrities that I enjoy watching.  I may get even mad or disappointed when they fall from grace.  But, I hope I never put any of them on  a pedestal that I have created and then let it take so much of my precious time or thoughts when they do fall.  Because we are all human, and we will all make mistakes and fall from grace. 

     In the meantime, my true heroes I keep close to my heart.  The ones I see moving forward and taking chances.  People like my son Austin, who has already taught me many things.  I can't wait to see what else I can learn from him. 

Can't Buy Happiness?

     The other day, I was in the drive through at Starbucks getting some much needed caffeine for my 6 hour drive to the Bay Area.  I paid for my drink, got my change and waited for my drink to arrive.  Then, I thought about something my friend Jennifer Tolley had told me the week prior.  Recently she had gone through the Starbucks drive through and someone ahead of her had paid for her drink.  So, that is what I decided to do.  

     I gave the girl $5.00 and asked her to please pay for the next persons drink and if there was any money left over to put it in the tip jar.  She was more than happy to do that.  In fact she told me “I love it when this happens.  Sometimes we can get quite a stream of this going.”  She thanked me, and once I had my drink in my hand I was on my way.

    Here is the best part though.  I left with a huge smile on my face.  I couldn't stop smiling!  There was no one behind me in line when I did this, so every person I saw pull into the parking lot on my way out, I thought “Maybe it’s you!”   As I pulled around the corner I saw the next person in line in the drive through.  I got even more excited.  I imagined how happy and surprised she might be, how it could really make her day.  Maybe she would go back to work and be especially nice to her clients or co workers.  Maybe she would pay for the next person and the feeling would continue.  I was getting more excited by the second!

   I spent $5.00.  Just five dollars and that gave me quite a bit of happiness!  Now, let me get something straight; I did this for me.  I love the feeling I get when I help someone.  I love to day dream about the possible impact I might have on someone else’s life.  It is not because I am some fabulous unselfish person.  That is my pay off.  My internal cash register is set for certain pay off’s and this is one of them.  J

   As I was writing this blog, it occurred to me that the young lady in the drive through window was most likely impacted as well.  Maybe she would be in a better mood or have a better day because of this five dollar investment. 

     I guess my point is, I want you to be a little selfish today.  Do something for someone else because it makes you feel good!  It does not have to involve money.  You could compliment someone on their hair, clothes, purse or children.  Maybe you could let someone go in front of you when waiting in line.  What ever it is, I hope it makes you feel good.  I hope it puts a smile on your face and makes your day better.  I am going to imagine that you are out there right now, doing something fabulous.  My internal cash register will be cha chinging all day.  Totally worth the five bucks!    

+jennifer@bnioregon.com 

+Anne Herrick 

+Curtis Barnes 

+Cori Murphy - The College Authority 

+dave kelly 

+Ed Wilson 

+Julie Niles-Fry 

+Sandi Garoutte 

+Lisa Pepper Satkin 

From Victim to Survivor

Many years ago, I was a Victim Advocate for victims of sexual assault.

Being a part of the process of someone going from victim to survivor was one of the more rewarding experiences of my life. It was also one of the most difficult.

At the time, I was a young mother with small children at home. I don't think our motherly instincts are ever more intense then when we have young children at home. As they get older you start letting go just a little more. Like letting one of them go to Slovakia. Lol

There were many people that I came in contact with during my time as an advocate, many I learned a great deal from. Being as I am a mother myself, the girl I am about to tell you about sticks out more than most.

A young lady who after many years of silent torture at the age of 17, finally spoke out against her perpetrator.

For years she suffered in silence worried that if she spoke up it would kill her mother. The person who took her childhood from her, was her biological father.

Part of my job was to meet the victim at the hospital when a report came in. We together would meet a nurse who was specially trained to conduct evidentiary exams. Then I would accompany the victim to the police department for the victim interview, another form of evidence gathering. If the “case” made it that far, I would also accompany the victim through the court process, many times sitting on the witness stand with them holding their hand. Through this process I would counsel them as much as I could, sometimes receiving phone calls at 2:00 am.

Back to the young lady, who we will call Olivia.

Without going into too much detail, I can tell you that over the years that this torture went on, it happened in many different places. As part of the evidence gathering the victim needed to go with the police to all the locations and point them out, one by one and then describe exactly what had happened there.

As we were sitting in the police car driving around to these different locations, Olivia was in the front seat of the car and I was in the back. The officer wanted her in the front seat so he could clearly hear her recounting of the facts. That is a funny word. Facts. As if what she suffered at the hands of this monster could be reduced to that one word.

She kept looking back at me, wanting some reassurance, I could feel her pain as she tearfully described the horrific things her own father had put her through. I reached through the tight area between the front and back seat closest do the door and showed her my hand, she grabbed on to it. A little while later after we had to actually get out of the car and walk to a remote location, I asked the officer if we could please sit together in the back seat. 

The relief on her face was obvious.  From there we went on while she held on to me and I on to her. Olivia gave her recollection of the incidents coming through in broken words as she tried to speak through uncontrollable sobbing.

Olivia got through that day. She also got through the next several months while her family turned on one another, some even turning on her. She testified in open court against her father. Recounting things to complete strangers that a child should not even know about, let alone have to live through.

When the case was over, I remember visiting her at her job a few times. Once she ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug. I remember thinking “If I could just wipe away all that happened to you, If I could just make it so it never really happened at all.”   I so wanted to take her pain and make it go away. But Olivia, was a survivor. She went through something unspeakable and she survived.

What lessons have I learned from Olivia, a frightened child, who became a survivor?

Life can be inexplicably difficult. Sometimes, we might feel as if there is no coming back after a difficult set back.

I learned that we can't erase our past, but we can learn from and over come it.

If Olivia is any indication, then we are much more resilient than we think.

What are you needing to bounce back from? Is there something holding you back from living your life? From being that person that you were put on this planet to be?

Sometimes, we just need to be reminded that we are stronger then we think. Sometimes, we need a little help figuring out what is holding us back.

I invite you to explore all you could be. Whether it be through counseling, books, audio tapes or workshops. Or maybe just a much needed conversation with someone.

What are you waiting for?

Here are some things that might inspire you to take that next step.

“No Matter What” Audio Book by Lisa Nichols

Video “The last lecture” Randy Pausch

TED Video “Listening to Shame” Brene' Brown

Beyond Reasons Workshop from Productive Learning and Leisure

Mind in Business Workshop PL&L

If you would like more information about these workshops, please let me know.

I would be happy to help you.