Masterful Mindsets

“Let the rhythm of your own heart’s desires be the beat you keep. Because it’s when you march to the beat of your own drum that your whole life becomes a passionate dance to the most beautiful music your soul has ever heard.”  ~ Michelle Weimer

Do you march to the beat of your own drum or do you give in to conformity because you are afraid of what others will think? Do you listen to your heart or do you make decisions based on guilt or shoulds?

Too often we try to drive our lives fueled by negative motivators but that doesn't work well. So if you really want to create the life you desire, you've got to let go of those negative motivators and start marching to the beat of your own drum... 

It's already March and before we know it, it’ll be the first day of spring. Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the new year and setting goals for the future. I wonder though, how many of your goals were truly yours?

What do I mean by that?

Well it seems that so often people set g...

“At the end of our lives we all ask, Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?”  ~ Brendon Burchard

Every year on my birthday, I like to take time to reflect on my life. Honestly, some years I spend the entire month in reflection. It’s a fun way to celebrate and be grateful while also seeking ways to make the next year even better. And this year is no different. However, some years, I have had the opportunity to spend it with one of my mentors, Brendon Burchard and a group of fellow Certified High-Performance Coaches™.

We get together every year for training and some years it happens to fall around my birthday. We are able to be in a room together sharing love, wisdom, energy and an intense passion for helping people live their best lives. (It’s a training but it also feels a bit like a celebration!)

Anyway, as I sat to journal on the questions that I might want to ponder for my birthday self-reflection, I found that something Brendon always talks about kept coming up for me…

If yo...

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” ~Anthony J. D’Angelo

I believe that in order to continue to grow and be our best selves, it’s important to be a lifelong learner. It’s also essential to our growth and our happiness that we strive to learn about things we are passionate about. I was recently talking to my youngest daughter about this because she is wanting to grow and improve on something she is very passionate about. Likewise, as our oldest daughter begins her senior year of college, she is loving her classes because they are topics she’s interested in learning.  

Problem is, some people stop being curious or interested. They stop being passionate and consequently, they stop learning, growing, and improving. Or sadly, some people never did enjoy learning (in the traditional sense) so they hesitate when it comes to lifelong learning. And I get it, learning something new is often low on the priority scale. After all, life gets busy. We have...

“Comfort is the enemy of progress.” ~ PT Barnum

I was in a yoga class recently and the instructor asked us to ponder the question, “Will you choose courage or comfort today?” She left it open ended… and since it was the beginning of the class, it would be easy to assume she was just talking about our physical effort for the class. But of course, you know me… I took it much farther than that. Because the truth is, you could literally ask that question for every instance, decision or action in your life.

As class continued, my thoughts went inward, and I had an aha moment that led to a shift for me, which reignited my desire and passion for progress. So, I wanted to share it with you, just in case you need a little nudge to push you out of your comfort zone too.   

Now first, let me just say that being comfortable isn’t always a bad thing. We as humans are usually striving for comfort in some way. But it’s when being comfortable gets uncomfortable that we must recognize we are stu...

“Do something every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

When was the last time you tried something new for the first time? I posed this question to my Tuff Chicks Group recently because I think it is important to try new things, be open to change, challenge yourself and of course, as the featured quote says, do something that scares you!  

I was speaking with my own coach recently (Yes, coaches have coaches – the process works! So why wouldn’t we?!?!) and was asked to rank how much I feel I challenge myself and to name something I’ve done lately that has pushed me out of my comfort zone. It was kind of interesting because at first I was being really hard on myself and then I began to think of several occasions recently when I’d stepped out of my comfort zone to take a risk, learn something new and challenge myself big time with a huge project. Doing the exercise made me feel really proud, because stepping out of my comfort zone is something that I try to challenge myself to...

"I’m proud of the scars in my soul. They remind me that I have an intense life." – Paulo Coelho

Have you allowed the scars of your past to haunt you and hold you back from living full out in your life? Or do you see the beauty and strength that can be found in those scars as reminders of an intense life?

Last Monday was Memorial Day here in the US. It is traditionally a time to honor those who’ve lost their lives while serving our country in the military. But it’s also become a time when we honor all who have passed on before us. For me that brings to mind one of the biggest scars in my soul.

I’ve been through some things in life that most would see as difficult and heartbreaking experiences. Of course, nothing as tragic or horrific as what those who serve in the military might experience or that someone who has grown up in an abusive home might know. But none the less, losing my mother at age seven and then later in life, spending eight years struggling with infertility are amo...

"Let us realize that: the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a blessing, the love of work is success!"  ~ David O. McKay

If you live and work in the US then you might look forward to an extra day off on Labor Day at the beginning of each September. But did you know, Labor Day is meant to be a celebration of the work you do?

Labor Day originated in the 19^th century during one of the most dismal and difficult time in America’s labor history. It was an annual event to celebrate workers and their achievements. These days however, most people don’t celebrate their work or achievements. As a matter of fact, according to Forbes, more than half of US workers are unhappy in their jobs, so it’s really just seen as an extra (and often much needed) day off work. But when you love what you do, it’s worth celebrating.

For most of us, we will spend the largest part of our lifetime working. I started working when I was 14 years old at a family owned ice-cream shop. And from that ...

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” ~Socrates

As we come to the end of our series on loving your work, if you know you don’t love what you do, and can’t seem to get the passion back, perhaps you realized it’s time for a change. I know it can be scary to put yourself out there, especially if you’re not sure you have what it takes to change, but you don’t have to be afraid of career change. You just need to build a plan so you can be prepared to put your best foot forward.  

Last week I shared some valuable components that you will want to gain clarity on before considering a career change. No use changing if you don’t know why you’re changing or what you really want. (Missed it? Read it here.) Once you’ve gotten that clarity, you’re ready to build your plan and take a leap into a new career.

Build an understanding of the market.

It’s important to build an understanding of the market you want to work in so you ...

“The success of your life’s work is fueled by the love you have for that work. And that love is nurtured when you keep your purpose and passion in the forefront of everything you do.” ~ Michelle Weimer

I heard from several of you after last week’s Masterful Mindset. The common theme for many was that they “used to” love their work. But they feel they’ve lost their drive and are too burnt out to care much anymore. The combination of hectic schedules and demanding workloads full of mundane tasks have overtaken the passion and joy that used to be what drove them to show up fully everyday with purpose.

The big question I keep getting… How do you get that purpose and passion back?  

Well, if you’re finding that your problem is not that you don’t love what you do, but that as you go through the wearisome routines of day-to-day tasks or tackle overwhelming projects with underwhelming results, you’re feeling like the passion and zeal you had for your career has been replaced with a dull...

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”  ~Steve Jobs

The longer version if the above quote by Steve Jobs, is this:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

So, what about you? Do you love what you do? Are you passionately performing at mastery level doing your life’s work or just going through the motions at a job that does nothing more than pay the bills? The time you spend working really is a large part of your life. So why spend a lifetime any other way then doing great work that you love?

Whether you are an employee, an entrepreneur, the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company or a stay-at-home parent (And don’t kid yourself – that is a full-time job!) – I want you to get honest with yourself...