Every morning when you wake up, you’ve been given the gift of a brand new day.
Begin with gratitude. Thankful thoughts combined with deep breaths will awaken your senses better than coffee. (I’m not a coffee drinker so my husband disagrees with me on this one.)
My daughter and I recently experienced a silent meditation with a group of women. We greeted each other in silence, we sat for 90 minutes together in silence, we left in silence.
I left my hearing aids in the car for this. Meditation comes easy with this silent advantage–for I’m never distracted by any sound.
It’s in the stillness we find answers. In this busy, busy world, it’s often hard to slow down and just be. Yet, that’s exactly what is needed when you are in need of answers.
So today, you’ve got your gift sitting in your hands: a brand new day.
You know the one…the one that has all the things you’re putting off for some day in the future.
I’m a wonderful procrastinator. My father used to say, “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” (Yes, really.) He would say it jokingly, but I took his words to heart.
I had always wanted to write books from the time that I wrote my first story as a kid. I started writing articles and blog posts for no pay. I wrote for the pure pleasure of creating stories and honing the craft.
My first paid gig was for an online review site. I earned five figures from that site…over a couple of years.
I continued to write for several blog sites and occasionally my articles were syndicated in several newspapers. Chicago Tribune offered me a weekly column in the local section, with no pay. I said yes. It was fun to see my articles in print. Later, I became a paid writer. This lead to other paid gigs, like writing for Ricky Martin’s parenting website.
So this leads to the question, what do you love so much you’d do it for free? This is one of the clues to your passions.
Then the second question becomes, what are you willing to do to create the life you want?
I wanted to write books.
Someday.
There’s a line in Billy Joel’s song, James:
“When will you write your masterpiece?”
I finally started writing. I got up at five a.m. and hit the keyboard each morning. I wrote after the kids went to bed. I wrote in between selling stuff for my sales job.
One book. Then two. Then ten. And still writing the next one.
There are three things you need to create the life you want:
Clarity.
Commitment.
Action.
Get clear on the life you want, commit to what needs to be done, then take action.
What are you willing to do to create the life you want?
Is this you? Are you searching for something “more” in your life?
I used to be so envious of people who found their passions early in life and went on to have stellar careers in that direction. For many years, I was drifting through life with a couple of minor dreams, waiting for that magical “Someday” to appear so that I could start living them.
Someday I was going to write a book.
Someday I was going to travel.
Someday I was going to get up on stage and speak.
Someday I was going to live my passions–if I just knew what they were…
It wasn’t until my 44th birthday that I started looking for some clues to my passions. I explored this topic in great detail. I loved to write. I loved to talk to people. The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize the inklings of passion were indeed there. I just had ignored them for so long.
I was fortunate. I took those clues and created a life centered around passion and joy. I ended up writing several books. I unwrapped a long-buried passion for barefoot water skiing. I travel and speak on various topics–especially PASSION!
There’s a richness in the journey when you center it around what you’re passionate about. Passion fuels you.
So where can you start?
You can start with this simple activity that will begin to bring focus on your passions. Carve out some time in your day–you’ll need at least 30 minutes. An hour is even better. No distractions. Turn off the phone. Shut the door.
Or even better, go someplace where technology isn’t a factor. I did this on a picnic table in a forest preserve near my home.
Here are three places you can discover clues to your passions:
The Past:
Reflect back on your childhood thoughts. What did you long for as a child? What did you grow up dreaming about? What were your moments of joy? What have you abandoned doing but wish you could do again?
The Future:
What are you putting off for “Someday?” When you envision the future–who are you with? What are you doing? What do you have? How do others see you?
Right Now:
Where do you often go in your mind with your thoughts? What do you daydream about? When you are doing something that is of no interest to you, where do your thoughts drift off to?
Your past, present, and future thoughts are rich with clues. Being aware and writing them down is a powerful way to gain clarity.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to share my story of unwrapping my passion for barefoot water skiing after abandoning it for two decades. It was for a movie, I’m Fine, Thanks.
Heck, I didn’t know Grant Peelle, the director, or Adam Baker, the guy behind Man vs. Debt when this opportunity first presented itself, but my intuition said, “Say yes.” The movie would include interviews with Pat Flynn, Chris Guillebeau and Jonathan Fields–guys who were well known in the social media/blogging arena. So the crew was set to come to Chicago in early April.
But there was one problem: I had ACL reconstruction surgery in December and I wasn’t cleared to ski. The doc said, “No way. Absolutely not.” My custom-made brace wasn’t ready.
The next day, I posted a request on Facebook to borrow a brace. The flurry of responses I received were not pleasant. My dearest friends had decided I lost my mind. I was not cleared to ski, the graft was at its weakest point, and I was planning to borrow a brace that wasn’t even made for me. I received some texts, emails and messages basically telling me how stupid I was for even thinking about barefooting on a newly-reconstructed-still-healing ACL.
I told the film crew about the situation and thought we’d have to drop it. But something deep down kept gnawing at me. My intuition was still telling me, “Do this.”
So I prayed for a sign. I needed the reassurance I was doing the right thing. The gut feeling was so strong, I could not ignore it.
Sure enough, I found my sign. Moments later, I opened the door to the garage and saw my hip-to-the-ankle hospital brace lying there. I had placed the brace on the garbage heap several times but my husband and kids had never hauled it out to the curb on garbage day. It sat in the garage for two solid months.
That’s my sign!
Adam gets ready for the interview
So that’s how five guys landed on my doorstep on Tuesday morning on the last leg of their U.S and Canada trip covering nearly 15,000 miles of terrain. Besides Grant and Adam, the crew included Bryan Olinger (cameraman), John Cropper (cameraman) and Dustin Koester (production assistant).
Kevin O’Connell (boat driver), John and Grant
It was a blast working with the Crank Tank crew–five great guys! They filmed the interview in my living room and the next day, we took off for the Fox River in St. Charles and met up with my footin’ buddies, Kevin O’Connell and Tom Hart. I slapped on the huge brace, crawled out on the boom and did two runs down the river. It was a beautiful, cold spring day. The crew also captured Tom and Kevin on the water, but that footage didn’t make it in the movie.
Both Grant and Bryan did some barefooting for the first time. Oh wait, let me say this: Grant did some spectacular faceplanting that day.The poor guy was sore for days afterwards.
Bryan barefooting for the first timeThis is gonna hurt!
I’ve watched the movie twice so far and plan to watch it again and again. If you’re living a life of mediocrity and complacency, the movie is a great wake-up call. Shape your life so the next time someone asks how you are, you can say, “I’m more than fine, I’m $%&* awesome!
Grant sums up the movie so perfectly at the end:
“If I learned one thing on this road trip is that there is no script. Life isn’t about which job you take– it’s about chasing your passions and holding on to them through the ups and downs.”
I’m giving away a DVD of the movie randomly to one person who leaves a comment by midnight, November 12, 2012. Tell me what kind of answer you’d give if someone asked about your life today.
The crew gets ready to film.Tom gives Grant a barefooting lesson
