Embrace The Fear

“To be the best, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable and embrace it as part of your growth process.”

I found this quote in on of my favorite inspirational books, “Training Camp” by Jon Gordon. To be the best at whatever we do requires going outside one’s comfort zone, which is definitely easier said than done. It’s so easy to get complacent and convince ourselves we don’t need to strive for better but life is a journey that’s meant to be revealed to us over time and with each new chapter, new opportunities emerge as we continue on our journey to become even better than we ever imagined.

But recognizing and embracing these opportunities usually requires us to get uncomfortable for a while. Our inner spirit can sense that something better is just within our reach, but stepping out into that is another story. All sorts of emotions come up when we’re ready to step out and that’s what makes us uncomfortable. Fear of the unknown and self-doubt are typically the biggest things that hold us back. The good news is that everyone is confronted with the same feelings. It’s what we do with those feelings that define the best of the best. I love this quote “Feel the fear and do it any way” (The Success Principles by Jack Canfield). And there in lies the key, the best of the best feel the fear and dot it anyway. It’s part of the process and the sooner we learn to accept it as part of the process, the quicker we’ll grow and experience all the exciting opportunities that await us.

The best of the best are passionate about what they do and are always striving to learn and improve. They don’t let being uncomfortable stand in their way for achieving their inner desire for greatness. They also do it with a sense of humility. They know that no matter how much they learn, there is always an opportunity to learn more and at the same time impart what they’ve learned with others.

Learn to embrace being uncomfortable; it really is sign that you’re heading in the right direction to achieving all that life has in store for you. Don’t let fear hold you back, move forward in spite of your fears and enjoy the wonderful rewards that await you at the other side of those fears.

Riding The Current

A few you may have seen this recent post from me on Twitter and Facebook, “Living your life in complete faith and confidence feels like gliding on the current of God". This quote just so completely resonated with me in capturing the true essence of living a purposeful life that I felt compelled to share it and thought it would be great to expand on it through my blog.

One of my favorite mentors Ali Brown (www.alibrown.com) talked about this in terms of living your life effortlessly completely focused in faith and confidence. Her story is so inspiring to me because she started out just like so many of us – wanting more and sensing more was out there for her but not sure how to attain it or grasp her true purpose. She was frustrated where she was both personally and professionally and passionately wanted to make a change. It was when she truly embraced that desire and made the decision to start living her life by faith and not getting caught up in the “how” that her true path and essence for being started to unfold.

Today, she is the example of living a life completely based in faith and confidence in the outcome. She went from not having enough money to even withdraw from her ATM to now running a million dollar online marketing and coaching business and speaking internationally. She often jokes that she doesn’t know how it will happen, she just makes the decision that it will happen and has complete faith and confidence that the how will present itself at the right time.

This is really how God intended us to live. A scripture comes to mind that I’ve relied on when I feel unsure about anything. Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths”. And Psalm 37:5 clearly gets to the how, “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.” Ali Brown finally connected the dots for me, taking what I understood intellectually but I now embrace with my heart and soul. God must laugh as He watches us toil and struggle knowing all we really need to do is quiet ourselves and listen for His direction. We are so programmed that everything we want in life has to be hard but that is clearly not God’s intention.

God has placed our dreams right in front of us - we just need to plug into His current to start experiencing them. How exciting is that?!! Living our lives completely trusting and confident He will provide allows us to ride the wave and enjoy all the abundance and greatness He has in store for us. This is where the magic begins to happen and as Ali so eloquently put it, when you start “riding on the current of God”.

The Power of Social Media

Let’s be real. As design professionals, our world has changed dramatically over the past several years. With the internet now deeply entrenched in our lives, it has changed not only how we research and access information and products but also has changed how we market ourselves and our businesses, or so it should!

In a world where social networking and marketing are growing at an amazing rate, I often get asked if we, as design professionals should be using the various online social mediums in our business. There are many opinions out there as to which social mediums to use but the bottom line answer to using online social media is a resounding YES! Since this seems to be a very hot topic right now, I’ve decided to devote the next few blog articles to taking a look at the more common social networking and marketing tools out there and provide some real time information on why and how to use them as well as how to incorporate them into your overall marketing strategy for your design business.

This week, we’ll focus on Facebook. Let’s start with the latest statistics. According to insidefacebook.com, as of February 2009:

• Facebook reported nearly 45.3 million active US users as of February 2009.
• Facebook is growing in every age/gender demographic. Fastest growing segment: Women over 55.
• Facebook is growing faster with women than men in almost every age group. Women comprise 56.2% of Facebook’s audience, up from 54.3% late last year.
• 45% of Facebook’s US audience is now 26 years old or older.

Now think about who typically purchases design services. With these statistics, we’d be foolish to ignore Facebook as a means of connecting with both current and prospective clients, not to mention networking opportunities with other businesses that compliment ours. Our business is based on relationship building, word of mouth has historically been our best source for clients and Facebook provides just that, an online means for promoting our services “word of mouth”. Not only can we create relationships, we can do it faster than ever through Facebook. And best of all, Facebook doesn’t cost any more than a little bit of your time each day; there is no financial investment required.

Promoting your business on Facebook begins with setting up a strong profile. It allows you to showcase what you can do, who you can help, what you have to offer. The next step is networking by reaching out to people in your industry on Facebook and start making connections. It's a great way to see what other businesses are out there in which you share similar interests and target market and see where you might be able to leverage that to help both your businesses. Set up your Facebook page with the intent on keeping it business focused. That doesn’t mean you cannot share anything personal but when communicating on Facebook, never say anything that you wouldn’t say to your clients in a face-to-face conversation. Invite your clients to join you on Facebook and use your posts to communicate design tips, great finds, inspirational thoughts, as well as aspects of your personal life that are funny, interesting, basically anything that would help them get to know you better. You can also post photos of your work or pictures of designs that really inspire you. To really start building relationships, post comments in response to other posts. It can be as simple as one or two words and gets your name out there to their Facebook friends.

Finally, post daily to keep you and your business in front of your Facebook network so when they or their friends need design services, you'll be top of mind : )

Get Uncomfortable

If you want to experience the greatness life has to offer you, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable. What does that mean? It means stretching yourself beyond your capabilities knowing that in the end you’ll grow and your newly acquired strength and confidence will continue to propel you forward to reaching your vision. We all have this ability to go outside our comfort zone and persevere – otherwise we’d still be crawling on the floor : ) Think about a baby taking its first steps. Crawling around met our needs but we all knew there was something better. We’d struggle to pull ourselves up knowing this was the first step in walking but quickly realized it wasn’t as easy as it looked. We’d fall down time and time again, sometimes taking a nasty fall and getting injured. But we wouldn’t let that stop us because each time we tried, we’d gain that much more strength and feel our goal of walking that much closer until one day we’re able to easily stand. With renewed confidence, we take our first step only to fall once again. But we knew with commitment and perseverance, we somehow learned to pull ourselves up so surely we can walk! We practiced again and again, putting all our energy into taking that first step, not letting anything stand in the way of reaching our goal. Then one day we finally do it, our perseverance paid off and we take that first step, second step and before you know it, we’re running around elated that we’ve reached our goal and loving the new life we’ve arrived into!

But, how do we lose the ability to persevere through anything to reach our goals? Somewhere along the way, someone told us we can’t do it, made us feel inadequate or told us our dreams were too big for us and we began thinking small and living a life that was comfortable. Think of how amazing our lives would be if we employed the same level of commitment and perseverance we did as a young baby trying to walk into all that we do today! We can do this and those that have achieved greatness before us have tapped into this allowing nothing and no one to stop them from achieving their vision for their life. Think of some of the great sports figures of today. Tiger Woods started life not knowing how to swing a golf club, Michael Phelps didn’t swim before he walked, although some may disagree : ). They both started at the beginning, taking those first few strokes, experiencing the challenges along with the victories, and living a life that was probably more uncomfortable than comfortable in those early years. But it was that internal drive to go beyond their current capabilities that allowed them to excel, growing stronger both mentally and physically. They each embraced their sport and passionately committed to being the best at what they did. They had a vision of greatness and they didn’t let the challenges and setbacks that came their way stop them!

No one said the path to achieving greatness in life would be easy but the journey is well worth the results! Find that inner child in you that allowed you to persevere and not give up at the first challenge that came your way and reconnect with that belief and inner drive to achieve anything you put your mind to! Learn to ignore the naysayers, learn from your setbacks to make you stronger and let your vision of something better be your guiding light. Your greatness is within your reach!!

It's Time to Weed And Feed

Many days we got so bogged down with all details of managing our business that it's easy to lose sight of our vision. In fact the vision you started out with that inspired and energized you can seem out of reach many days. You cannot underestimate the power that your vision has on your business and your life. Your vision is your beacon that you need to constantly keep in front of you, allowing it to guide and direct you. It reminds you of the higher purpose you have in your business and keeps you focused on the end result.

It is when we take our eyes off our vision that negativity, self doubt, fear and frustration creep into our mindset and drain us of our energy and purpose. How do you know when you've taken your eyes off your vision? Do you feel like you're treading water to stay afloat in your business? Are you afraid to stop doing what you're doing for fear you'll completely drown into the chaos and confusion that surround you? Do you feel like your thoughts are spiraling out of control telling you you'll never get it all done and feel paralyzed in your current situation? These are telltale signs that you are no longer focused on your vision.

So, how do you reign in the chaos and zoom in on your vision? The answer is very simple, just stop doing what your doing when these thoughts and feeling surface. I know saying that is easier said than done and like anything else, it takes practice. Our bodies and minds have learned to kick into survival mode when we feel overwhelmed. The negativity that creates feeds on itself and spirals us away from our vision. Rather than putting ourselves out there, growing and taking risks, we instead hold back and struggle to stay where we are. By training ourselves to simply stop, reassess and hone in on the bigger purpose for doing what we're doing, we will counteract the negativity and bring our vision back into focus. I heard a term the other day that sums up what we must do - "weed and feed". We must WEED out the self-doubt, fear and negative thoughts and replace with faith, trust and belief in our vision - FEED the positive. We can only do this by recognizing when we've lost focus and taking the extra effort to stop, weed and feed!

Stay Focused On The Next Pitch

Life seems to have the uncanny knack of throwing us a curve ball at the most inopportune time. The dictionary defines a curve ball as a pitch that is released in such a way "which causes the ball to drop suddenly and deceptively veer away from home plate." This past week I definitely had a curve ball thrown my way! I love the words "drop suddenly" and "deceptively veer away". That's what curveballs do in our lives - they drop in suddenly and deceptively cause us to veer away from our focus or goal. It's how we respond to the curve ball that separates the winners from the losers.

This week, I attended a workshop and was relying on my iPhone to stay connected with my business. My iPhone had other plans for me. While in the midst of typing an email, the screen went blank and the icons froze. I initially shrugged it off, thought a simple restart would clear it up but that was to no avail. I had to coordinate a delivery for a client this week, schedule appointments as well as coordinate our teleseminar but my iPhone was not on the same page as me and decided it needed a break. Even more uncanny, when I tried to access my email via the internet, it wouldn't connect. It was only Tuesday and I couldn't imagine going through the week without access to email, important phone numbers, etc. I had things to get done and needed the info that was now locked away from me! I was absorbed in figuring out how to get connected again and stressing at the thought of not being able to get everything done. I mentally checked out on the first morning of my workshop, completely caught up in my own thoughts and distracted from the valuable training I was receiving. My unexpected curve ball had successfully veered me off course and no longer was I focused on the workshop I had rearranged my calendar for and driven 7 hours to attend!

It was then that I realized when life throws you a curve ball, you CANNOT allow it to veer you off course. You have to get over it quickly and focus on the next pitch. You may miss a perfect opportunity to hit a home run if you stay focused on the curve ball. Being disconnected from email and the internet was probably the best thing for me this past week. A majority of things I needed to do didn't get done but in the scheme of things, there were no disasters, just some delays. But more importantly, once I accepted the curve ball for what it was, I was able to hit a home run by being able to totally focus on what I was learning without any distractions and gain more from my workshop than I probably otherwise would have. Sometimes those curve balls can be exactly what we need. Learn to let the curve balls go by and stay focused on the next pitch so you can take a swing at your next home run!

The Passion Within

Looking at Michael Jackson’s life, his passion for music and dance were self-evident. I can remember being completely mesmerized the first time I saw him do the moonwalk, totally blow away by that performance! He made every dance move appear to be just a natural extension of him. And in reality it was, he lived and breathed his passion for music and dance and he easily shared it with us in those early years.

As the years passed, it was hard for all us who grew up with the “Thriller” Michael Jackson to see his life take so many twists and turns, and suddenly that passion that so deeply burned inside him during the 80’s seemed to fade into our memories as headlines of a different Michael Jackson emerged. We’ll probably never know what or who caused him to stray from his inner passion. Was it fear of being too successful, surrounding himself with the wrong people, not living up to his own high standards? The same voices that plague all of us and keep us from being all that we could be were no stranger to Michael Jackson. With his much-anticipated return to the music world on July 13th, part of me wonders if he was trying to once again reach deep within himself, overcome those inner voices and emerge in his true passion once again. We’ll never know but in his passing, I want to pay tribute to and remember him for the true artist he was, sharing his passion with us and making everyone’s lives just a little bit happier.

Remember to stay focused on your inner passion and not let the little voices inside of you divert you from all the wonderful gifts and talents you have to share with the world around you.