In the spirit of people worth knowing, I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to someone I will always have time for. Someone I have a lot of respect for and someone who I am honoured to call a friend – you can find his blog here and on twitter – he’s @Juxte

I’d like to think we all have our own @juxte. Someone who has known you for donkeys. Someone who has earned your respect. Someone who has carte blanche when it comes to telling you exactly how it is.

Justin is head of communications at Osum. Quite frankly, he should be running the company (although I hear his boss is beyond gifted and definitely perfected the art of stick handling – hah!) In the short time Justin has moved in to the energy sector he has created a culture of change, he has challenged the status quo and he has pushed himself to limits that have probably resulted in sweaty palms to say the least.

He’s the visionary. The epitome of the go-getter. The guy who dreams big and lives bigger.

Having a less than comfortable day, I found myself on the phone with Justin. We reached a point in the conversation where there was a brief silence before Justin blurted out: “Can I push you? Can I push your buttons?” And in true Justin style, he did exactly what he set out to do.

I’ve broken away from the day job. I’ve set up in business for myself. I’ve been working hard on the pre-launch. I’ve made a point of running it by Justin. His response?

1. Why is it so small? And why are you making me read so much?
2. If you don’t seriously fail and learn big 17 times in your first year, you’re not doing it right.
3. What’s your number? Your goal? Where is this going to take you?
4. It’s best served in three. Anything more is confusing.
5. Well thank god something’s making you uncomfortable – it’s the only way you’re going to grow.
6. Don’t wait for the fuggin anointing woman – do it.

He’s right. On all counts. Why is self-medicating so difficult? Why are we so good at seeing the potential, talent, and success in others but when it comes to ourselves our vision becomes impaired? I can’t tell you why, I can only tell you it’s common.

I ended the call with a lot of insight, sound advice and the perspective I needed to talk me off the ledge – HAH! I ended the call that much closer to achieving my goal.

They say it takes a village to raise a child – I think it takes only one to raise an entrepreneur.

On that note, if you yourself are venturing into the world of self employment or just pushing yourself to do things that make you uncomfortable, then I hope you find some grit in @Juxte’s words of advice. I’m willing to bet that they’re words we all need to hear from time to time.

xo

Twitter has been bugging out on me this week. I started wondering – is it just me… ? So I sent out a tweet asking if anyone else was having issues. For some reason I thought it would be reassuring to know that there were more people experiencing the same frustrations.

Guess what? There were. This got me thinking – why did I feel like it was just me? Why did I want to know if others were in the same boat?

These last four weeks have been more challenging than I’d like. More setbacks than I’m used to. More uncertainty than I’m comfortable with. It’s been tough.  We’ve all been there.

So here’s the thing – we can all experience fear, we are all unsure of ourselves at times, we all get nervous, we all have doubts, we are all capable of bigger and better, we are all competent when we focus, we are all able to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and move on knowing more about what not to do next time round.

There are two words that I think go really well together – fear and excitement. I do my best to keep them as balanced as possible. Fear tells me I’m doing something new and excitement keeps me moving forward so I can see what it looks like on the other side. When one of these words starts to dominate the other, we become stagnant or too mainstream. I find the middle is a good place to be.

So regardless of where you’re at or what you’re experiencing – there’s a whole world of people thinking, feeling and experiencing the very same thing.

Some tips to keep your perspective:

1. Focus. What do you want or where exactly are you going. Everything else measures up against this and it either supports your efforts or will hinder it.

2. Find people who are already doing that thing you want to do or in that place you want to be – connect with them (see my post on networking to make sure you get it right), learn from them, surround yourself with people just like them. You cannot help but become part of what you’re around.

3. Recognize the tape recorder playing in your head may just be that… a tape recorder. Not fact. Not gospel. Just a bunch of gibberish you bought into once upon a time but no longer applies.

4. Find a cause bigger than you and enable it. Something you’re passionate about. Something that makes a difference. Something that allows you to give back.

5. Learn. Make mistakes. Learn again. Make more mistakes and then when you’ve learned more – fall down. It’s ok. It’s all part of the plan. Falling down is absolutely part of the process… what really matters is what you do when you’re down there. Embrace the pity party… or as Sinatra suggests… pick yourself up and get back in the race. HAH!

photo credit: alexkess

Special thanks to www.jackhumphrey.com – Friday Traffic Report, for hooking me up with the know how on videos and wordpress! argh!

I love meeting awesome people! I met quite a few today… one of which I feel compelled to blog about. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the fabulous Talyn.

A woman with a vision, a published author, one with great talent, a creative flair and the power to change the lives of many. She’s one of those people who’s effect lingers on long after you part ways.

Talyn is founder, owner, and president extraordinaire of Let It Shine. A tool that inspires the mind and promotes positive change. A gal who like me, has inspiration in her blood. www.letitshine.ca

I think you’ll agree that this lovely lady is one to watch! Talyn – you my dear, are amazing at life!

I surveyed people who appear happy in life. I asked them two questions:

1. What books were instrumental in getting you where you are today?

2. If you could go back and talk to yourself when you were 20yrs old, what would you say?

The unedited answers to these questions are below for your reference.

Books:

Harmonic Wealth

The 4 hour work week (www.yourmaninindia.com)

Anything from Wayne Dyer
Les Brown
Brian Tracy
Think and Grow Rich
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Sugar Busters
A New Earth
The Science of Mind
The Bible (Mainly Old Testament)
Anything from Spong

Osho
The Prophet
Missed Fortune 101
Many of the for Dummies Series
Johnathon Seagull
Busting Loose from the Money Game
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
The life of Pi

He’s just not that into you.

Advice:

Never doubt yourself

Don’t try to do it all yourself

Find some focus and give that everything you’ve got  

Sell your strengths… but buy your weaknesses.

Be you. Just you.

Ask lots of questions.

Some interesting stats I thought I’d share with you. First of all, this site gets most of its traffic before 11am on a week day… the most visited section of this site? Inspiration! Out of 100 people, 70 will go here first.

The links that receive the most clicks? Margaret and Helen and Standout Jobs are tied for first place followed by Forrester.  Wonder what this tells us about who frequents this space? Wonder what opportunities this presents?