Bizz, bizz, buzz, buzz – ouch!

With it finally looking and feeling like spring in Wisconsin, the Baby Bumblebee song from the soundtrack of my Girl Scouting days flew into my head today. Unfortunately this little gem of a diddy also tripped my earworm – ugh…

Here’s the silver lining of the earworm being tripped – the first two versus of the Baby Bumblebee song actually buzz with some solid wisdom:

I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee,

Won’t my mommy be so proud of me,

I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee,

Ouch! It stung me!

It takes courage to go after your big idea or big dream with intent – especially when it takes every ounce of bravery to reach out and grab it.

With the seemingly hard part of catching the dream behind you, you begin settling in. You feel proud of bringing home your big, glorious dream.

And then bam – you get stung by your dream. A new twist or challenge you hadn’t quite anticipated. Landing this big dream was a bit messier than expected.

It’s the stings though that pack the whollop of new learnings and insights. A whollop ultimately enhancing your big dream.

Go out and catch yourself some perfectly, perfect baby bumblebees. It will be worth the stings!

photo credit: looking for a home. via photopin (license)

Because I’m Happy!

Happy for those who use their voice and their art on a national platform to be the change they want for the world:

• Pharrell William’s Be Happy performance.  The dancers wearing hoodies to honor Trayvon Martin. Pharrell and the dancers incorporating the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture used by protestors from Ferguson to Milwaukee to cities all over the country.

• Domestic abuse survivor Brooke Axtell using spoken word. Her voice making a powerful statement to raise awareness of the insipid violence, especially against women.  She closed with these words:

“Your voice will save you. Let it extend into the night.  Let it part the darkness.  Let is set you free to know who you truly are – valuable, beautiful, loved.”

• POTUS’s anti domestic violence message.

• Prince’s words prior to announcing the album of the year winner:

“Like books and black lives, albums still matter.”

When we do our work, when we make our art, #ItsOnUs, as POTUS says in his message, “to go as far as our talents and dreams will take us.”

Whether standing on or off a national platform, when you go as far as your talents and dreams will take your perfectly perfect self, you can and will be the change you want for the world.

Be Happy! Be the Change! Glory for All!

I quit

In evaluating the work or art that is important and compelling to you, having enough time during the day to devote to it is essential.

Insuring time for your work may require pressing the quit button on some other activities.  A good place to start identifying places to earn back time, are with activities that are seemingly innocuous yet suck up significant time.

Purely, as example only, Candy Crush.  Perhaps the time (and maybe even money if you had been stuck for a really long time on a particular level) it would have taken a player to have reached Candy Crush’s World Five, Level 421 of the Soda Swamp episode could have been used towards advancing her big dreams … for example.

When you press quit on innocuous, you press play on your compelling dream.

Go ahead, press quit!

The If-Then Dream Code

While I was out and about this week I saw this clever thought posted.

If

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Equals

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Then

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5 +4+7+5= 96%

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

Both are important, yet fall short of 100%

However

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

Knowledge, hard work and attitude. All important combinations in unlocking your big dream or your idea for your next big project. Get crackin’!

No time for that

Keep your eye on the prize

Hit the boards and go beyond

Go for the gold

Important to all of these idioms is knowing what your goal, your target, your big dream is. A first good step in keeping your eye on the prize, is to write down your goals and big dreams. After all how can you hit the target if you can’t see it?

Seriously though, who has time for writing goals? Life is happening now. Work is happening now. And then there’s dinner to be made and a sidewalk that needs shoveling. Goals? Not today – definitely not today.

Here’s a little something that might grab your attention and have you reconsider this goal-writing thing.

A Harvard study found that people with clear, written goals earn 10x more than people who don’t write down their goals and people who just have goals in their heads. Hmmm.  Kind of interesting isn’t it?  10x more?  Maybe there’s something to this after all! (Check out Debbie Phillips who knows all about this subject and made me aware of this study.)

We make lots and lots of lists to keep our life going: our grocery lists, our to do lists, our bucket lists. Yet taking the time to look inward and think about, let alone write goals rarely makes it on any list.

How about this though as a way to give this goal-writing thing a whirl, which is apparently a lucrative endeavor?

Consider devoting 5 minutes to writing a goal you have for the next day or two. It doesn’t need to be heroic, just a little something you would like to accomplish in the next 48 hours. For instance a goal might be, “I spend ten minutes each morning reading the newspaper for the next two days” or, “I greet one stranger at the grocery store.”

While I don’t expect that you will immediately earn 10x more because of this exercise, I do believe that taking some small steps toward goal writing will start to create a desire and excitement to write bigger goals. Goals that are in service to your big dream or goals that begin to unearth the big dream that only perfectly, perfect you can make happen.

Grab some paper. Set the timer for five and go for it. Big things are about to happen!

Jiggle, wiggle, fluff, fluff

When was the last time you allowed yourself to return to the days of being an unapologetic, squirmy child with adults asking you, “Do you have ants in your pants?”

When was the last time you skipped around the house, singing at the top of your lungs?

When was the last time you did a good hokey-pokey shake of your entire body?

As we mature, we become less squirmy and more self-conscious. Our inability to sit still for more than two seconds in a chair eventually becomes replaced with the ability to sit for hours around the boardroom table – some of which is productive sitting and some, not so much.

Random skipping accompanied by giggles, laughter and singing becomes replaced with scheduled trips to the gym lacking in the spontaneity of joyous physical and verbal out bursts.

Thank goodness for the spontaneity the polka band at the Friday night fish fry provides. That unencumbered chance to channel your younger self’s jiggles, wiggles and giggles as you fly out of your chair as the band plays the first notes of the chicken dance.

As you gather your thoughts for the week and all you want to accomplish, consider throwing in a little jiggle, wiggle, fluff, fluff to get your energy and your body moving. You might be surprised what a lively skip down the hall unleashes for you this week! A little jiggling, a little wiggling and a little fluffing of your arms might be all you need to see your work, to see your project, to see your dream through a new inspired lens.

Start squirming!

Words matter

Identifying the most absolutely perfect word or group of words creatively strung together that evokes positive emotion can make the difference between an ad that produces poor sales versus the ad that creates extraordinary sales.

Or the writers who crafted memorable movie lines using the exact right words. Memorable words that have become part of everyday vernacular:

“Toto, I’ve got a feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore.”

“Show me the money.”

“You can’t handle the truth.”

Or the brilliant and beautiful writer Gary Hollander whom I believe lovingly and carefully selects each and every word as he writes his husband’s elegy. Words to honor Paul’s life, words to celebrate Paul’s life, words to savor memories. Words that Gary has used to write a poignant and moving story about life, living and the power of love.

What words will you write on the note you tuck into your child’s lunch? What words will you say to the disgruntled customer to ease their frustration? What words will you share with a friend who has lost the long-time love of their life?

Words. Important, powerful, life-changing. Words to inspire ourselves and others to be the change we want for the world.  What words will you choose?

Ready, Set, Pee!

Pets? No thank you.

For years I have taken exceptional delight in being a pet free home – except for the brief stint many years ago of one Waggley Tails Fin, an overweight goldfish. With our daughter having severe allergies, I was definitely home-free in keeping our abode a pet-free sanctuary – or so I thought.  Enter karma.  Enter allergy shots. Enter Chandler the hypo-allergenic beauty dog, thirteen months ago.

As I was bemoaning the arrival of a four-legged addition, I was showered with lots of encouraging and effusive support.  Statements about how much I would love a dog, what joy the dog would bring, the companionship, how much I would learn from a dog.

Chandler the beauty dog!

For those of you who were lovely enough to provide your “you’re going to love having a dog” encouragement while I rolled my eyes in obstinacy, I will say this, “You were right, I was wrong.”

In fact, I’m learning quite a bit about life. At this point, I’m hoping my mother isn’t reading as I share one of the more eye-opening learnings from Chandler the beauty dog.  Specifically, his urine elimination patterns – sorry mom.

Having never been a dog owner I was fascinated that when the beauty dog “tinkles” it’s not a full bladder release.  Rather a little here, a little more there until he has officially marked the entire block – of course, marking over some other four-legged friend who has already been out for her morning walk.

In Chandler’s “sprinkle overs” I quickly recognize a very specific person around the board room table.  The one who has determined their singular role at the meeting is to “tinkle” all over everyone else’s ideas and suggestions while not contributing their own.  Or the group who claps when you acknowledge that you’ve met the term limits of your leadership. Or your well-meaning colleague who believes your idea won’t work because it’s already been done.

Your big dream is too important, too amazing, too wonderful to be soiled by anyone.  Surround yourself with the people who will genuinely cheer you on and provide you the support to launch your art, your big dream. The world is waiting for your perfectly, perfect brilliant dream!

Unleashed privilege

Going for your big dream.  It’s not always easy. The inevitable barriers. Your doubting self-talk.  Running yourself ragged between your full time job, getting lunches packed, laundry, the kids’ violin lessons, PTO meetings, book club and hosting Saturday’s neighborhood winter party.  So much to manage.  So much to do.  The life of privilege.

Privilege, however, gives your big dream an advantage. No worrying required about where you’re going to sleep tonight.  No rumbling stomach to distract your thought process.  No worrying about extra bus fare to get to the library to access a computer for tonight’s blog post.

If you are fortunate enough to be privy to privilege, how might you be in community with someone who doesn’t have all the advantages you do?  How can you cheer on the young daycare provider who is a single mom and going to school part-time?  What book or resource might you share with the woman who cleans the office building whom you’ve seen arrive wearing her fast food uniform?  What steps can you take to make someone else’s dream a little bit easier?

I promise you that when you provide your generous nature with another person, both of your dreams and the world will be richer for it!

Drag Queens, Tupperware and Burps!

That big, brilliant idea of yours that only perfectly, perfect you can create – what’s keeping you from giving it a whirl?

Is it because it’s been done before?  Is it because you can never be as “smart” as Mary Sue in the IT department who serves on two different non-profit boards and was just recognized as the company’s top performer? Or are you just at a loss of where to start with your big idea – how to take that first step?

The reasons to not give your idea, your big dream a whirl are infinitely plentiful.  The reason to start, the reason to give your idea that you’ve been turning over and over in your many showering or driving brainstorm sessions is simple and short:  you.

You have a unique perspective to bring to the world.  No one else is wired like you.  It is your own brilliant flaws, imperfections, gifts, talents and life experiences that make you especially qualified to introduce your big dream to the world.

Take Kevin Farrell actor and author, for example.  He has become the top-selling Tupperware lady in the United States. A remarkable feat given the enormous availability of storage containers in the aisles of your grocery store and big box retailers.  Retailers have made certain you never have to sit through another Tupperware party again – ever.

Dee W. Ieye – the country’s top selling Tupperware lady!

Enter Kevin’s alter ego:  Dee W. Ieye.  Dee is the drag queen of Tupperware and has managed to give the 65-year old Tupperware party a double twisting somersault flip forward to relevancy. By leveraging Tupperware’s proven business model Dee is selling something much different than Tupperware.  Dee is selling entertainment, Dee is selling theatre – Tupperware just happens to be the vehicle.

In addition to providing entertainment, Dee’s approach provides the forum to come together in community versus feeling a sense of obligation to buy something.  While we would need a psychologist to weigh in on this, my notion is that Dee is the number one selling Tupperware lady in the U.S.  because she taps into an emotional motivation versus an obligatory motivation to purchase that super wonderful lettuce crisper, that you may or may not need.  The purchase happens because Dee allows you to imprint a positive experience.  She instantly replaces that sense of despair of having to buy something you really don’t want or need because it’s your next-door neighbor’s Tupperware Party.

The world needs your big idea. It needs your smarts and brilliance to modernize “done before” ideas.  The world needs you to press that burp seal and let your idea escape from the tightly sealed storage container it’s been in for much too long!

Start burping!

#YourTurnChallenge #DayOne