Success is not for the lazy

I saw a quote once that said “Intensity is not for everyone – neither is success.”  You must be willing to be intense, scary, loud, excited, passionate and most of all be willing to go to extremes for your goals otherwise don’t even bother setting any. 

I drag my feet sometimes because something I am working on isn’t exactly exciting or isn’t igniting my passion.  It is during this time that I can find yet another great sitcom on Netflix to watch, see what’s happening on Facebook again or find another awesome Pinterest page to get sucked into.  Now I am not saying that you don’t need downtime and that Pinterest and Facebook aren’t helpful in inspiring you but really you should be asking yourself why am I not working on something that does push my levels of creativity rather than working on something I find boring and tedious.  If you are serious about a goal then you will do whatever you need to in order to achieve it.  If you make excuses then you know you are not that interested.  My boot camp instructor says you must be “committed not inspired.”  Commitment takes over where inspiration stops.  It’s great to be inspired by something or someone but what are you going to commit to?  Are you willing to make the ultimate sacrifice? Are you willing to push for everything you want?  Are you willing to overcome the resistance that keeps holding you back? (Thank you Jason Rasset for suggesting I read the War of Art). 

I hate should haves or could haves.  There is no room in your life for those statements.  You must be willing to sacrifice everything to be successful.  You must go forward in your life with purpose and shake things up. My favorite quote is change is the only consistency and I know that in order to be successful you must be willing to change.  So my commitment starts now.  I know that in order for my blog to be successful I need to write every day.  I need to refocus my energy away from the “time sucks” that I keep falling back on and I need to realize my goals and my success are bigger than my fear of failure.

What are you committing to today?

Why you should do what makes you happy...

There are hundreds of ways every day that we can make a difference in someone’s life.  Sometimes you have no idea that the conversation you are having is changing that person’s outlook and thoughts on where they are in life.  I know for me I am always trying to be supportive and helpful and when I see someone struggling with issues (many of which I have and still deal with) I want to reach out and help them.  I want them to know they are not alone and that even the most successful people have setbacks and struggles.  It is the fact that these people don’t let it get them down that makes them most successful.  I tend to motivate others when I am struggling the most myself because I know it takes the focus off of me and in helping others I am actually helping myself.  

Yesterday my younger brother and I were talking about his photography and art and how not having a website or Facebook page is a lost opportunity.  My brother has overcome some amazing hurdles in his life and I told him that it would be a tragedy to waste this second chance you have been given by not doing what you love.  Put yourself out there, find your passion, show off your talents and I promise you that you will be successful and happy and the second you are truly happy all the pieces will fall into place.  I believe that the key to happiness is being at peace with yourself and knowing that while your life may not be exactly where you want it to be - you are exactly where you are supposed to be.   

Doug, go out and create a passionate, fulfilling life – you deserve it. 

What a wonderful world

I sat down to write this and thought about what to talk about today and many things came to mind.  The struggles with working out, eating healthy, pants not fitting, work not satisfying enough or wishing I could be closer to the people I care about and then it hit me.  Even with all these "little" things going on in my life I am incredibly blessed and decided that I would only talk about being grateful for the things I do have.  I am healthy - after having back surgery in 2003 I can run and do the things I love to do.  I have wonderful friends and family who care about me and do awesome things everyday to show they value our relationship. My job is stable and while some days it frustrates me it challenges me more than I have ever been challenged.  I have a beautiful new condo that is mine.  I can paint the walls and do what I want to it because I bought it. Right now I am sitting on the back patio listening to my FREE fountain splash while watching the birds fly around getting their last meal in for the day and I think just like Louis Armstrong said - what a wonderful world.  Happy Labor Day everyone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=m5TwT69i1lU

Writers write!

Today I took the plunge and started my blog.  I have been dragging my feet for about a month now.  I heard the message:  Writers write!  I am now a writer and need to own that!  For the last year or so many people have told me that I inspire them.  I always think... me?  Really?  Then I started to actually listen to them and realized I have some amazing things to share with people!  I have had a successful sales and marketing career and I have ideas that will make you rethink your marketing strategy, tips and tricks to motivate your team, ways for you to feel re-energized about a task or project that may seem exhausting and tedious.  But all those things come with the price of having to take the step and actually putting things in place.  I can give you idea after idea and throw everything in my arsenal at you but if you don't take the step and implement the strategies then nothing will change.  This advice is not just for your professional life but your personal life as well.  For some reason people are willing to sacrifice and push harder when it comes to their professional life than they are their personal life.  It took me a long time to realize is that these lives go hand in hand and if one is out of sync the other is surely going to follow.  So I started to take care of my personal life and everything else fell into place.  I have more energy to focus on business ideas because personally I am happy and healthy. 
I know that for many of you (myself included) working out can be a chore.  I never really enjoyed it, couldn’t find anything that really interested me and actually thought for awhile I was the type of person that didn’t need to work out.  It’s amazing what we will try to convince ourselves of.  The best advice I can give you is just go out and try something new.  Try to find something that you will like and stick with.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  If it means you have to buy some new equipment (a bike, shoes, a stand up paddleboard, a kayak).  Whatever it takes – I promise you that if you love it you will stick with it.  There are awesome deals on Groupon all the time to go stand up paddleboarding, or kayaking.  Try it before you buy it!  If you hate it you will be even less likely to try something else after that.  Remember though that there are also many free things you can do – go hiking, running, swim at the pool at your complex.  Getting is shape doesn’t have to cost you a ton of money.  It was fate or meant to be that I found the workout that changed my life.  I started working out with a fitness boot camp here in San Diego after I met my instructor at an event at work and his passion for fitness really inspired me.  I saw his enthusiasm and thought wow...I want to be a part of whatever group he is leading!  Most of my Facebook friends know that while I don't "check in" much - I never miss a check in for my workout.  I am proud of the progress I have made and continue to make.  I love the group that I work out with and the most valuable lesson I have learned is that there is power in partnership.  I used to think that weight loss is private and personal and something that you go through on your own.  That was why I was unsuccessful.  I finally got the clue...people all deal with the same issues and when you find that in someone else you feel better somehow.  More human.  So, I joined weight watchers and lost 75 pounds and while it took me a year to lose the weight, I feel great and know I did it the healthy way. 
There is a saying that if you love what you do then you will never work a day in your life.  So my goal is to create something here that inspires and motivates others to take action - any action on achieving whatever goals you have and in the process cultivate the passion I have for changing lives!  So my first blog post advice is simple:  Get up! Get out! Get fit!  

See you next time!

Deanne