The Pay Off of Doing What Scares You

Wow, it has been a looooonnnnngggggg time since I last wrote a blog post. I have just kept myself from doing it because I was trapped in perfection. If I didn't write something that would change your life forever...there is no sense in ever bothering to write. I am not even certain where that thought came from originally but it surely has affected many areas of my life.

In fact as I type that out I realize that the perfection trap has been a theme for months now. Some time last fall I felt myself needing to bring my energy more inward. To take the time to reflect and to incubate some of the ideas I was playing with. And along the way...that shifted into avoiding doing something because it would not be perfect.

The trap of perfection is a dangerous one. It can make you spin around and get stuck. It can drain you of all of your beautiful energy. And it can make you second guess whether you are living your life's purpose. This is deadly.

Have you ever noticed that you can be feeling really great about something there can be this little voice that asks "Are you sure about that"? Don't listen to that voice. It is a trap. It is designed to keep us playing small and safe.

Now, being safe is a good thing when it is a matter of life or death but this voice doesn't discern between a run in with a gunman and when you are signing up to try a new exercise class.

If you always listen to the voice (and do what it tells you) you will soon find that you are feeling a little dull or worse...lifeless. Luann Cahn tells the story of that happening to her in the book 'I Dare Me'. She had successfully raised a child, built a great career, overcome cancer and was still feeling stuck.  She made a commitment to try something new EVERY DAY for a YEAR!

With each task she stepped outside her comfort zone. Sure somethings were easier than others but imagine how many times she would have had to avoid the trap of perfection. Major Kudos to her.

As I read that book I thought that I wanted to feel more alive. To feel more excitement and passion in my life. So I have been spreading the world that I am committed to saying Yes a whole lot more to the things that scare me. If it doesn't go against my belief system and it won't kill me at first glance...I am going to say yes.  Now, I have been going with the flow and not saying I need to do it daily. But I have been trying to do it weekly.  And so far this year I have done five things that really stand out to me.
1. I tried Zumba - I was dreadful but man did I laugh a lot. Thanks Tangie and Krista for going with me.
2. I rode my horse bareback and with a halter on a moonlit ride with two girl friends. (Now, I have ridden bareback more times that I can count....but not this guy and YES..I wore a helmet.)
3. I took a Spin Class and again...I wasn't the best in the room but I gave it my best.
4. I ate avocados....I even made my own guacamole and it wasn't half bad.
5. I went to the dentist. Without any prompting from my husband and without any reminder cards in the mail. I am (wait...scratch that) I used to be terrified of the dentist. Making me go to the dentist was a lot like putting a cat in the dryer who has been around and around in the dryer before.

And the rewards that I have received from doing these things are priceless.
I feel more alive. I feel more courageous. I am inspired to try more things. And I have received feedback that I have inspired others to be more brave - now this is what I live for.

These challenges have truly fed my soul in a way I never imagined.  So I encourage you to put some duct tape over the mouth of the perfectionist in your head and try something you have always what to try. Try it even if you aren't great at it. Celebrate being a beginner. Laugh at how awful you are at it. And be damn proud of yourself for being so damn brave.

I would love to hear what you take on so please feel free to share them in the comments on this post or join me in my Rebel Hearted Women Community

I also invite you to enjoy this short video clip featuring the afterglow from going to the dentist! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ydBjz9cymg

Until next time Have a Day as Beautiful as you!

So much Love,

Lisa

Mid Way Point

Can you believe it?  2014 is half over.  Six months have already slipped away into the past.  Even as you read this more and more time is slipping away.  

So I have a question for you.  How did the first half of 2014 treat you?  Are you on target to achieve your goals?  Do you even remember which direction you were heading in when the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 2014?  

Each and every year for the past two years I sit down on New Years Eve and I review the year that is coming to an end.  I look at all that I achieved and all that I didn't.  I catalogue my growth in areas and I look to see where improvements can be made.  Then I look at where I want to go in the New Year.  I document the details, toast my husband with Champagne and head to bed dreaming of all the beauty that the new year will bring.  

I keep the goals mostly in mind as I move forward however, I always seem to get off track.  This year I promised myself to spend more time and energy focusing on what it is that I wanted to create.  And as the mid point of the year arrives I get the chance to look over those goals.  To assign myself a report card.  

At the moment I would have to say that I would grade myself a B -.  My inner critic wants to stamp it with a big red F and call it a day.  But the fact of the matter is...I have done some good work.  I have taken some risks and stepped outside of my comfort zone.  I have worked with clients and those clients have achieved some of their desired results.  I have also watched a lot of Netflix and never launched the group programs that I was working on.  I never took the final step.  I let fear create obstacles.  I didn't stand up for myself.  I let doubt creep in.  

One of my most foolish limiting beliefs was brought to light last week when I was running a casual workshop called F*ck the Stuck.  Somehow I got it in my mind that EVERYONE has read the same books as me.  They have received the same takeaways as me and if I was to incorporate those learnings into a class/course/program you would all sit there going "Who does she think she is?  I know this already.  This is not an original thought. FRAUD."  Now as I look back on this I see that it was preposterous notion.  How could anyone see things through my exact same filter?  Answer:  They couldn't.  And it is also highly unlikely that in the last 7 years that I have been on this journey that they read the same 70 + personal development and self help books as me.  

On top of that how many thoughts are original?  Aren't we mostly just recycling that which we have heard and experienced before?  We have to be if statistics are true.  It is said that we have 60,000+ thoughts a day and 95-97% of them are the exact same as they were the day before.   

So what am I doing with this new found knowledge?  Blogging about it.  Simmering on it.  And in the two days that I have been working since I learned that tidbit I have created one and a half programs.  And one of them launches a week from yesterday.  F*ck the Stuck.  My time is now.  2014 is half over.  And even if I perform at the same level as I did at the beginning of the year I am further ahead than I was when the clock ran out on 2013. 

How are you measuring up to your goals set six months ago?  What is getting in your way?

Regardless if you are on track and sailing right along or if you are in the weeds...It is never too late to improve on where you are at.

I wish you all the success you desire in the remaining months of 2014.  

Have a Day as Beautiful as You!

So Much Love,
Lisa

#WiseWednesday

Pain is Inevitable - Suffering is Optional.  I am not certain why it is that I feel compelled to blog on this topic because let me tell you...this quote brought with it a lot of turmoil in my life when I last posted it. However, I am feeling drawn to writing about it again...so hold on 'cuz here we go.

Do you ever choose to suffer in your life?  I know that I do.  Often in fact.  And it doesn't feel very good to admit it here...but it is the truth.

How do I define suffering?  Well, suffering is me not choosing to move on from a situation.  For wanting to wallow around in the pain of it.  Telling myself that it is something that I need to be doing.  Would you like an example?  Here is a recent one...I have been developing a product.  This includes filming some videos.  The topic is surrounding self doubt and self sabotage.  I have never made these videos before and I keep getting trapped in my own cycle of self doubt.  Technological issues really trip me up.  If it is not incredibly basic I will spin around and around, not moving forward because I will never figure it out.  Then...I start to beat myself up.  I tell myself I was stupid for even trying, it is never going to work. What a failure.  And then I topped it with what my BFF and I call "suffering gravy".  This is where I bemoan the fact that it didn't turn out.  And allow this to stop me from moving forward onto a new project.  Unwilling to see what good came from the previous attempts, what silver linings were present, what new learnings revealed themselves.  I sit in this place and I fester here until the pain of sitting in it outweighs the fear of change.  This can take seconds, minutes, days, weeks, months or even years.  It all depends on where the suffering stems from.

My mind is great at picking up old episodes of suffering off the shelf, dusting them off and replaying them like they are new releases.  The pain of that past moment does not need to exist in my present moment.  The only reason it shows up is because I have brought it here with me.  If I wanted to...I could let it go.  I could return the suffering to the shelf and allow myself to be present in this moment...a place where the past and future do not exist.

This can sound like I am just being over simplistic and perhaps even uncaring to whatever situation you may have faced or been facing but that is not true.  I make it a practice in my life to love people (and myself) because of their past and inspite of their past.  It is those experiences that have moulded and shaped you to become this beautiful being that you are in this moment.

The wisdom that I want to share with myself and anyone reading this is that we need not suffer.  We can leave the suffering of years and even seconds ago in the past where it belongs.  All we need to do in order to do that is to let go.  Connect with your breath.  Breathe in deep into your belly.  Follow your breath in through your nose, nasal passages, throat, chest, lungs and into your belly.  Witness it there.  Then watch as it leaves the belly travelling up into the lungs and chest, into your throat and mouth and nasal passages out into the world.  Let it go.  Listen to the sounds around you.  See if you can feel a breeze blowing gently across your skin.  Check in with your body and ask what it needs to feel freedom, joy and love.  Repeat this as many times as necessary.  I think that you will find you are no longer swimming in suffering gravy.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this blog post.  So please feel free to comment or email me.

Wishing you a day as Beautiful as you.

Much Love,
Lisa

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#ChooseDayTuesday

#ChooseDayTuesday...A day of the week dedicated to choices.  A weekly reminder that we ALWAYS have a choice.   Even if we do not believe that we have one. 

It is funny how easily it is for me to fall into the belief pattern that I have no choice in a situation.  For example...Tuesdays are my big client day.  I love having a day that I get to spend the day coaching female entrepreneurs.  Helping them to create a plan so that they can work less, play more and create a financially viable business.  

But there are some days when I wake up and I tell myself that my only option is to do my work.  My to do list feeling like it is a "Have" to do list.  A list devoid of choices.  Rather than a "Get" to do list.  This morning I was fretting that I had so much to accomplish in a day.  I looked at my coaching schedule and felt like I had no choice but to put my coaching hat on.  But truth be told...I had another choice...I could have called in sick, sat on my bed, eating cheetos and watching netflix or working on other things.  But that wouldn't have been in my best interest nor would have it been in my clients.  What matters is the simple reminder that we always have a choice.  There are always options.  We don't have to like those options but we do have them.  

What are you choosing today?  Today - I am choosing to take small steps that will move me closer to achieving my goals.  

Wishing you a Day as Beautiful as You!

Much Love,

Lisa

Are you looking to connect more?  Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram 

#MindsetMonday

On a whim I decided to check out my blog....just to see...when exactly was the last time that I posted.  And WOW...I need to blow the dust off.  So here is an impromptu post....talking about the importance of the proper mindset.

Have you ever started your work week with...Oh Shit It Is Monday?  With the level of enthusiasm matching what you would muster to go to the dentist for a root canal with a hangover?  We have such a dislike on for Mondays.  We expect the worst from a Monday...and then it comes as no surprise when the day is filled with detours and disappointments.

What if we looked at it as though it could hold just as much promise if not more so than any other day?  What could happen then?

The thoughts we think set us up for success or for failure.  Our mindset is the key to our future.  It is said that we have upwards of 60,000 thoughts per day and 95% of them are identical to the thoughts we had the day before.  It is like one big loop.  It is important for us to check in...are my thoughts positive?  or Negative?  Will they bring me closer to what I want?  Or further away from it?  Now take it a step further...what do I need to be telling myself so that I am empowered to be successful in making what I want a reality?

The more frequently we check in the better off we will be.  Now it is easy for me to write this but much more difficult for me to apply it.  In fact there are so many different times that I talk myself out of doing something that could positively impact my life.  I tell myself that it is hard so why bother, that no one would appreciate it, that I have nothing of value to say and other bullshit like that.  When I find myself in a cycle like that I need to snap out of it.

My favourite way to do that is as simple as a two minute fix.  If you work with me you will know it as a 2 minute random dance party.  Pick your favourite mood boosting, fear blasting, booty shaking song and get it playing on youtube or itunes and get up and dance.  I bet that by the time you are done...you are feeling better.  If that didn't work choose another song and try it again and break out your cheesiest moves.

I want to know your best mindset improving tips so please add them to the comments...let me know what works for you.  I just may ask you to share them with me on my podcast.

Are you wanting to connect more?  Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Or if you would prefer...spend an hour with me learning what could be stopping you from getting what you want in your life and business.  Visit my website to contact me.

Until next time...Have a Day as Beautiful as You!

Much Love,
Lisa

How Do You Feel? Aka Day 2 of 20 - List Building Blogging Challenge

Today's prompt - How Do My Clients Feel Before They Work With Me?

This is a relatively simple question for me to answer.  And the reason for this is that my ideal clients are feeling the way I once was.  So it makes it easy for me to be in touch with those emotions.

Before working with me my clients are....
Feeling frustrated.  They want to have it ALL.  The career, the love life, the lifestyle and the cash to pay for it all.  They take stock of their life and realize...they may be rocking some areas of this and the other areas are falling flat.

Women come to me wanting to know how to cash in on their passion.  They have a business that they love (or an idea for a business that they are in LOVE with).  They are pouring their heart into it.  They are doing their best to dodge the fear land mines that are standing in their path.  Even though they don't know exactly how they can grow their business are wanting to move it forward.  They fight the battle of sticking it out and making it work or *gulp* giving it up and getting a job.  Even the very thought of getting a job makes their stomach turn.

They are feeling trapped.  The biz isn't bringing in the dinero, the cake, the cash, the flow that they need/want.  They have people in their lives that are looking at them, waiting to say....I told you so....get a real job, give up the dream and get back to reality.  These people are just projecting their own fears onto the Rebel Hearted Woman.  The Rebel Hearted Woman knows that she feels most alive when she is chasing her dream.  When she is doing what she loves best and serving the World from her heart.  If she could only get her fears and the naysayers to shut up.

They are looking around their lives and knowing that it could hold so much more if they only had someone who believed in them. Secretly they are asking....how can I have it all?  Am I just being selfish?  Is it possible to... Travel the World - Totally Possible!  Fulfilling Relationship - Absofuckinglutely!  Rocking Business - Uhm Hello Why are you doubting this?!  A sense of Community and comfort knowing that you are not the only one wanting it all and going about making it reality? - CHECK!

Sometimes they have their business all figured out and the romance department is totally off the tracks.  Oh sure they would like to have a partner that treats them right.  That knows what a catch they are.  But relationships take work and so do new businesses so they pour themselves into the biz.  They date a person who is not a good fit because hey...we get lonely and the bed gets cold.  All work and no play makes Jane a dull and bitchy gal.  Sometimes it is even worse than that...they have this fucked up belief that they can't actually have it all.  One can only be blessed in one area of their lives at a time....so if I want my business to rock I have to settle for someone that treats me good "most" of the time.  LIES!!!!!!!  Big Ass Bold Face Lies!

My clients also flock to me feeling like they have some serious money blocks.  They are doing what they should and still the World conspires to take their money.  For example:  They are signing up new clients, the bank account is in the black, that new pair of Jimmy Choos are looking like a reality and then....BAM!  The car breaks down, the dryer stops drying and the deep freeze has turned into a defrosted puddle of mushy meats.  Proof that you can't have it all right???  WRONG!  Absolutely untrue and yet still a lie masquerading as a truth.

Most recently I have also found that my clients come to me wanting to reunite with their Rebel Hearted side - to step outside their comfort zones.  We get comfy and complacent and the next thing we know...we have lost momentum.  Our fears kick in and soon we are overwhelmed and stuck.  I have learned that I have a beautiful knack for holding space for people.  I can hold your feet to the fire while standing next to you.  We can break through fear barriers together.  We can do this through emotional and verbal exercises....or we can jump off a mountain.  You choose...I am up for both.

Regardless of how my clients come to me feeling I am always more excited about how they feel after they have worked with me....stay tuned for a future blog post featuring some wicked client testimonials and outstanding results.

Are you interested in receiving more juicy tidbits about having it all? Please subscribe to The Rebel Yell by clicking HERE.

Want more personalized attention than that?  Apply for a complimentary and confidential Power Hour.  60 delicious minutes spent discovering what you want to achieve, where you are currently and what the gaps are that are keeping you from having it all.  APPLY HERE

Wishing you a day as beautiful as you!

Much Love,
Lisa

Day One of Twenty List Building Blog Challenge - What Do I Love About My Business?

What Do I Love About My Business?

The fact that I made it up of course!  It is true...my company is a made up "job"  that brings me many gifts.  Freedom, Pleasure, Passion, Purpose and Joy.

One day I was speaking my truth and I offended a follower on Facebook.  Let's call her Sandra Sufferer. This called in the drama, and allowed for everyone's fear to flood the surface. Later I discovered that Sandra Sufferer had posted on Facebook that I was so pathetic that I needed to make up my own job.  And the effect of reading that statement was so....freeing!

I loved it.  Of course I made up my own job.  Before reading this I was trying to fit into the role of a life coach.  And I had no fucking idea what a life coach was.  I gave myself permission to drop the title of coach.  I started to play with my title.  I am a Community Creator and Connector.  I am a Rebel Hearted Woman.  I am exactly who I am in any given moment.

My business allows me to be me.  I am able to stand in my truth, to speak my truth, to listen, to hug, to heal, to play and grow.  To Glow and To Flow.  I am able to help women stand and speak their truth.  I am able to create and hold space for women to transform their lives.  I am able to do what I love and love what I do every moment of every day.

Who wouldn't love that?

Are you looking to connect with your passion?  Want to stand in and speak your truth?  Curious about meeting your inner Rebel Heart?  Feel free to connect with me for a complimentary Power Hour Session.  60 Minutes dedicated to discovering you.  How delicious is that? Connect With Me Here

Wishing you A Day as Beautiful As You!

Much Love,

Lisa