“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”
Charles Bukowski
I have always been one to keep things simple. And by simple I do not mean easy. There is a big difference. So I guess that makes me an artist, one that is able to make hard things simple. Awesome.
I follow a blogger named Chris Brogan. He is the CEO of Human Business Works, a business design company and is a New York Times bestselling author of The Impact Equation and Trust Agents. I love him. He is an artist of business. And one of my mentors.
Chris created an exercise called My Three Words. It is his process of creating a focus for the coming year. When I read his post, I immediately fell in love with his process and had to share it.
You see, I have always seen things in 3’s (and sometimes 4’s). I love triangles (and squares). Most of my professional life I have created strategies, plans and programs in this way.
My Three Words for 2013 Hone
I will hone my skills in order to live my purpose of helping to empower people and businesses through sharing my knowledge and experiences with love.
Harness
I will harness my passion for storytelling and stay focused on what makes my soul come alive. And do more of it.
Honor
I will honor my promise to myself and others, to do all things with love, authenticity and integrity, to speak my truth and to create art, which in my case is the art of business and personal development and storytelling.
OK, your turn. What are your Three Words? If you feel compelled, click here to share them with me. I would love to see them. If you are feeling really bold, post them on our Facebook page. Or tweet them to @passionsquared2 with the hashtag #mythreewords.
A big shout out of thanks to Chris Brogan, for being so awesome and sharing this exercise with the world. If you want to subscribe to Chris Brogans Blog, click here.
As many of you know, I heart Seth Godin. It’s one of those professional crushes so to speak. Yes, I have many of those.
His mind, his brain, his ability to turn what may seem complex into the most simple to understand thoughts. Today is a great example of that as Seth talks about the importance of making decisions.
Seth’s Message On Making Decisions
On today’s Blog, Seth says, “You don’t run a punch press or haul iron ore. Your job is to make decisions. The thing is, the farmer who grows corn has no illusions about what his job is. He doesn’t avoid planting corn or dissemble or procrastinate about harvesting corn. And he certainly doesn’t try to get his neighbor to grow his corn for him. Make more decisions. That’s the only way to get better at it.”
Faith Without Works Is Dead
While I am a deeply spiritual person, I do not subscribe to any formal religion. But this statement, which does come from the Bible, is one of my favorites and also one of my mantras.
When I speak about passion, dreams, faith, hopes, believing in yourself, and vision boards, I also mention taking action and executing on those passions, dreams and hopes. Why? Without taking action and making decisions to execute on your ideas, they are just that, ideas, thoughts and dreams that will never materialize into anything. Thus, faith without works is dead. Think about it.
My Secret Recipe
As I wrote in a blog a while back, titled I Think I Can, I spoke about how to turn your dreams into reality. My recipe is take two cups of passion, add a cup of skills mixed with a gallon of execution, and you are well on your way to doing big things. It really is that simple. So many times we miss the last ingredient, and find ourselves no closer to our dreams, simply because we missed that last and most important step.
So my challenge to you, today and always, is to start making decisions. Take action on your ideas. Your dreams. Your hopes. Yes, make that vision board, they are awesome, but also take the time to figure out how you are going to take action on those visions. You can do it, I know you can. I have faith in you. Now get to work!
Click here to subscribe to Seth’s Blog. It’s an easy read, and one that is sure to get you thinking, growing and possibly making more decisions.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Søren Kierkegaard
As this amazing year comes to a close, we took a moment to look back at what made your heart sing.
Not surprisingly, you loved posts about our hair heroes such as Vidal and Ann Bray, and our profile on the incredibly talented family of hairdressers, and our friends The Teals. Our plea to “just do it” in our post What Are You Waiting For stuck a cord with you, as did our super easy social + digital cheat sheets and stories. These were your favorite blog posts of 2012.
It has been an awesome year creating and sharing our passion with you, thank you for being here with us and taking the time to engage with our form of art. It matters. You matter.
(shared with LOVE + GRATITUDE from your passionistas Nina + Gordon)
“Follow your inner GPS, not some busted old map given to you by others.”
Rose Etheridge
In a few days we will be ringing in a New Year. Another year of life, success, learning and challenges.
I am not one for traditional New Years resolutions, in reality, there is not much I do that is traditional. But one exercise I like to do when the year comes to a close is focusing on what I want to keep, what I want to discard and what I want to add.
This allows me to get real clear on how I want to enter the new year. It really is amazing what happens when we get still for a moment, gain clarity and listen to our inner GPS. Maybe you have a practice similar to this? If so, I would love to hear what works for you.
My 2013 List
What I want to keep.
My passion.
My Utopian view of the world.
My deep desire to help others.
My work ethic.
My daily gratitude practice.
My belief that people are good.
My love of family & friends and making them a priority.
What I want to discard.
My fears. (I have a lot of them)
My anxiety. (Created from the above)
My sadness. (Losing my Dad has been devastating)
What I want to add.
More focus. (It’s been a pretty cloudy year)
More activity, both socially and physically. (I’ve been pretty lazy to be honest, and my clothes are a sore reminder and my friends are over it.)
We are not trees. We have the ability to focus on and do anything we want to. We have the freedom to follow our inner GPS. What is yours telling you?
As I sit here and write this, I am still numb thinking about the tragic events of December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary. Like many of you, it’s been difficult to find the words, to go about our everyday lives, knowing that there is so much suffering happening. It sure does put things in perspective.
This post is in honor of the beautiful, precious and innocent children and teachers we lost and for the survivors and the families, whose lives are forever changed.
How Will You Use Your Voice?
When events such as this take place, we all have different ways of coping. Some lash out and get hateful and mean, as many of us have seen on the social web.
But the social web can also be very empowering, used for good and a beautiful example of this is Ann Currys #26Acts movement. An idea, a hashtag, and taking action. Those three simple yet powerful things have launched a movement for good around the world. Simply awesome.
It’s moments like these that make me proud to be part of the human race and stands as a great reminder that there are so many good people in this world who are standing up for love and using their voice to make a difference.
I Believe In Love
You see, I believe in love. I believe that love is more powerful than hate. And I believe that the more love we put out into the universe, the more love there will be. And in our heartbreak and pain, we have a choice. We can get mad and hateful, or we can get empowered and do something good, like Ann Curry did.
I believe that if we all made a choice every morning when we woke up that we would be more loving, more kind, more compassionate, and more careful with our words and actions, our world would be in a better place. It begins with each of us.
Are You In?
I am participating in #26Acts. As of today, I am at #6. And each day I will find more ways to help make another life better. I am making a difference. I am doing something. And it feels good. Will you join me?
To learn more about the #26Acts movement, click here and become part of something greater than yourself.
