Hmm.... Decisions, Decisions.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

~ Cheshire Cat

I’m in the midst of two significant projects: Publishing and marketing  my first book (watch for it this spring) and leading an organization that is engaged in its first strategic plan. While reading some materials from Board Source about strategic planning, I came across the quote above from Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  The statement is refreshing in its  simplicity and truth. You’ve got to know where you want to end up, or you will meander, rather than reach destination.

Cheshire Cat’s statement is a great reminder about getting clear on our priorities. It’s rather like a pep talk .

If you find yourself always asking which way to go and what your best course of action would be, you may want to pause and consider where you want to end up. Then, consider the path you’re on. Will it take you where you want to end up? If you need to correct you path, act now!

January is a great time of year to get clear on your priorities. We’re just three weeks  into the New Year, so if you discover that you need to back up and reroute, you have plenty of year to get where you want to go.

This week, do two simple things:

1) Decide what you would like your relationships/career/finances/creative projects to look at on 12/23/2012.  Write it down.

2) Picture how far along the path to your destination to you want to be on 06/23/2012.

3) Make a 5 month and an 11 month checklist of what needs to happen by your target dates so that you can begin to put needed action into perspective.

4) Watch an inspiring video to get your energies flowing. Here’s one you may enjoy: Simply The Best mind movie.

5) Begin.

Enjoy examining the path you’re on. As usual, I welcome your comments. As always, make it a great week.

~ Tess

Copyright 2012

Destiny Rising, LLC

Before you know it, the work/life balance you may have acquired in December is but a dim memory. I have recently found a resource, thanks to my niece, that you may enjoy. It helps stop the merry-go-round feeling.  Try this every day for just a moment. In the moment, you can find balance and accomplish what’s important to you until the 2012 Holidays roll around.

One Moment Meditation by Martin Boroson is quite delightful.

As always, make it a great week, and I welcome your comments.

~ Tess

Copyright 2012

Destiny Rising, LLC

Let Your Music Play

Do you remember how, when an album dropped on the stereo,  the needle of a record-player would take a few moments to get into the groove before the music began? Take a moment and recall the rhythm of the seconds before a song begins. Is it three revolutions or four?

To me, the example above is what getting into my groove is all about, and it may be the same for you. Whether this new year is about heading in a new career direction, taking on a creative project just for you or reinventing your life, it’s important to know what it is that gets you into your groove so that you can be inspired and accomplish more.

I’ve found two resources that have help me tap into my creativity. One is a terrific wikiHow article about staying inspired. I’ve read or heard much of the information before, but I can use it as a great resource when concentration and creativity aren’t flowing. I’ve bookmarked the article on my computer for days when I sense that I’m getting stalled. The other resource is a link to an amazing AOL nature radio station. I found it when I recently subscribed to tunein.com.  The nature station has a twofold benefit:  It helps me quiet my mind enough to go deep into the zone of accomplishment.  I also use it for relaxation when I need to quiet my mind.

Here are the useful links for you:

Wiki ways to stay inspired

Sounds of nature

As always, I welcome your comments and make it a great week!

~ Tess

Copyright 2012

Destiny Rising, LLC

10, 9, 8, 7...

I used to think that every New Year’s Eve had to be spent making as merry as New Year’s Eve appears in movies. In movies, the stroke of midnight heralds the arrival of love long-awaited, love reignited and parties in Times Square. As I’ve moved about the country, and added a few years to the clock, New Year’s Eve is a different experience. It is still special, but its significance is different than it was when I was 20 and 30. It is now a time of review, appreciation and anticipation.

In the final week of 2011, I’ve initiated a kind of hush in my mind. Rather than looking at the list of self-imposed deadlines I’ve missed with regard to publishing, business building and lifestyle, I’ve made it a point to consider all that I’ve accomplished in 2011.  From this list, I am building my vision for 2012 – making notes on my key areas of focus, outcomes and achievement in 2012.

I invite you to do the same. Here is my recipe for New Year’s Eve 2011 (this exercise is as fresh on January 1 as it is on the December 31st, in case you’ve already gotten dressed for a fabulous night out):

Find your day planner or a calendar from 2011. Find a pad of paper and a pen. Once you’ve got all of these items in hand, Listen to some inspiring music. Start with energy, and then follow it up with some mellow music: Play the energy music as you review your calendar month by month. List your advances, accomplishments, endings and beginnings. Play the mellow music as you contemplate and write about what you’d like 2012 to bring to your life.

In case you’re looking for inspiring music in an instance, feel free to use the music I chose.  I simply loved it!  I selected a music selections  from my Favorites on You Tube. The two pieces are Beautiful and Before Man. The two pieces will provide 20 minutes of New Year’s Eve Hush that you’ll appreciate well into next year.

Enjoy your celebration. As  always, I welcome your comments

~ Tess

Copyright 2011

Destiny Rising, LLC

My new book, Building A Powerful Vision Board will be published by January 1st. I expect 2012 will be an exciting year. 2012 has gotten a lot of  press. What do you most want to do with your new year?

It’s time to begin getting yourself ready to make 2012 a year you’ll treasure.

If you feel as if 2011 has passed you by, here’s a bit of inspiration I found on YouTube that I selected for such an auspicious year…

Five Minutes Of Motivation To Get You Ready For What 2012 Will Bring!

As always, make it a great week.

~ Tess

Copyright 2011

Destiny Rising, LLC

For All The World To See

While enjoying Thanksgiving in Nashville, my niece-by-marriage introduced me to Pinterest (.com). I have been looking for an easy-to share, easy-to-search web-based Vision Board tool, and now I’ve found it for free.

Here’s the start of my first web-based Vision Board:  My New Interest In Pinterest

Enjoy…. Soon, I’ll be publishing my Kindle book “Building A Powerful Vision Board”. Watch for this before they year’s end so that you can being 2012 in Vision Board style

As always, make it a great week – and I welcome your comments.

~ Tess

Copyright  2011

Destiny Rising, LLC

Here is the “blooming” (no puns intended, really) result I wish for you, for all of the effort you’re putting into building your life:

Bloom Where You Are

As always, make it a great week…

Tess

Copyright 2011

Destiny Rising, LLC

Fairy Princess and Swashbuckling Pirate

Halloween… My favorite time of year. Children arrive at your door, and they have no doubt about their authenticity. When kids put on their Halloween costumes, they truly believe that they are who they’ve dressed to be. Tonight, a beautiful 4—year old girl with golden curls stood at my door, looked me straight in the eye and hollered “Happy Halloweeeeeeen!” She was confident and stood at the front of the pack. The most delightful aspect of her presence was that she didn’t see herself as a 4-year old in costume. In that moment, she was Superwoman, and she was claiming her chocolate.

Pre-schoolers and kindergarteners are pure in spirit and inventive. What you see is what you get. They expect this to be true at their age, as well. They don’t get caught up in worrying about whether or not they can be what they want to be. They haven’t experienced decades and decades of resistance or a lifetime of unfortunate messages that slow their pace toward achieving their dreams.

At exactly what age do we compromise and stop believing that anything is possible? I am pretty certain that the big compromise occurs sometimes after 18. I say this, because for many years, I worked in College Admissions. I have been to hundreds of College Fairs, and talked with thousands of high school students about what they intend to do with their life. They are generally limitation-free. Whenever students talked with me about their plans, I made it a practice to refrain, at this event, from any negative commentary about the likely mismatch between aspiration to enroll at a college or go into a particular field and their scholastic aptitude. In instances such as these, I’d try to learn more about why the student was drawn to the field and broaden his/her awareness of how many different careers there were in a field where they were not likely to be academically matched. I had no interest in diminishing their spirit. College Fair night was like Halloween. Teenagers felt that anything was possible.

I don’t think that the big compromise occurs by 22. I have hired and managed many new college graduates. They arrive, with their alma mater bravado, degree in hand, ready to change the world and advance rapidly in their career. Some of them will! Some will wish for more freedom and empowerment than their companies will give them. They’ll likely work long hours and do work that is far less sexy than they ever imagined. I know I did. I recall that my first career position after college was as an Administrative Assistant in and Education and Meetings area of the Illinois CPA Society. I answered phones, made about twenty pots of coffee per day, set out lunch, typed contracts and learned how to be a meeting planner. I know now that what I brought to the job was a degree from a fine institution, enthusiasm and pep. Naturally, with that fine resume and no work experience, I felt underpaid and underappreciated for my talents. Though I thought I could fly, I made some crash landings in my work that might have gotten other people fired. Thankfully, I had patient bosses. They never told me to expect less or belittled my belief in what I could accomplish. They allowed me to maintain my optimism and self-confidence.

I’m 50, and as I look around, most everyone has made the big compromise. Fortunately, I didn’t get the memo.  Where do you stand in terms of the adventures you’d like in life? We’re almost to 2012 – a year that is billed as being a time of great transition. If you could choose to change your path, where would you go? As always, I welcome feedback and would love to know where you’re headed with your superhero self.

~ Tess

Copyright 2011

Destiny Rising, LLC

“Life doesn’t have to be whitewashed in order to be beautiful.” – Emmanuel

Knowing that I don’t need to whitewash or sugar-coat my life is a refreshing message.It’s a relief to know that elements of my life can be edgy, uncertain and  and authentic. And so can yours.

While much of my work is focused on creating a powerful vision and achieving goals, I have both been on this little blue marble long enough to know that we all live with uncertainty. Right now, my uncertainty ranges from “will my house sell/” to how my “portfolio career” will unfold. I need to complete the final 10% of the work required to bring my book and courses  to market by 12/31.

Perhaps you are like me and you occasionally lay awake in the quiet hours between 3:42 AM and 5:17 AM. Fortunately, in the light of day I realize that the unpredictable nature of a new life requires new skills, new goals, new timelines, and the ability to adjust expectations.

Long story short…. be patient with yourself, address the true challenges, create bright futures and discover your bliss. Then, get a good night’s sleep!

Run!

It’s been a while since I have shared any vision exercises with you. Where has the time gone? Not to worry. As we  move into the final 90 days of the year, there’s still time to explore a dozen new ways to create a powerful vision before the crystal ball drops in Times Square. Get your running shoes and clear a little space on your calendar.

Let’s take it nice and easy and warm up with a vision and creativity exercise:

This week, make five dollar-bill sized pieces of paper. On each piece of paper, write the words Possibility, Hope and Inspiration. As you go about your week, pay cash for something 4 times. Each time you pay cash, hand one of your dollar-bill sized pieces of paper to the cashier.

This exercise  accomplish two things. First, you’ll create “flow”. You’ll have a ‘money’ experience in an increasingly ‘plastic’ world.  Secondly, you’ll expand and inspire someone’s thinking, if only for a moment. Watch them as they read your message. If they ask, “Do you want this back?”, tell them to keep it and to pass it on to someone the next time they pay with cash. You’ll be igniting someone’s vision with each of the 4 pieces of paper you share.

Here’s an important part of the exercise: Save the last Possibility, Hope and Inspiration paper for yourself, and keep it in your wallet for 30 days. As you likely know, 30 days creates a habit. In this case, you’ll establish a habit of possibility, hope and inspiration.

As always, I’d love to hear about your experiences and if you like what you read, pass the link to this blog post on to the people in your life.

Make it a great week.

~ Tess

Copyright 2011

Destiny Rising, LLC