The Burnout Queens Wisdom: Do something crazy for yourself!
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The Motivation Dilemma…Stop Sitting and Waiting!
Oh how we have come to dread hearing the ‘M’ word! You know the one…
♦ I have no motivation.
♦ I just can’t get motivated.
♦ I don’t know what will motivate me.
♦ I’ve lost my motivation! (Quick call search and rescue!)
Oh the motivation dilemma! If you are waiting to be ‘struck’ by motivation, kind of like lightning, it’s not a good bet given that lightning never strikes twice in the same place! So much for motivation. Well, you don’t have to wait for the heavens to part, motivation is in each and every one of us right now, tomorrow, and each and every day after that. “Great” you say, “so how do I find it?” (Ahhhhhhhh!)
You don’t find motivation…
You don’t get hit by divine motivation…
You live motivation!
Motivation is in the doing. Motivation takes commitment and follow-through. It’s about action. If you sit and wait for motivation, you could be waiting a very long time, a lifetime even! Have you got the patience for that? No, you have to get up and do, get up and try, sometimes over and over again if you want to feel motivated.
Try this…think about something that you have been waiting to be motivated to do. Now ask yourself, “Why am I waiting and what exactly am I waiting for?” Wouldn’t you get more satisfaction and pleasure from actually digging in and doing it? You certainly would get more results!
You ‘find’ motivation when desire and action share the same path.
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The thing is, if we really want something we usually do it. For instance, I want to order-in dinner tonight, no problem with my motivation. How about taking Friday afternoon off? I’ve got motivation galore! So question number one just has to be,
If you absolutely aren’t motivated to act, is it something you truly want to do?
It’s pretty simple, next time you are waiting for motivation to hit, get honest about what you want to do or what the desired outcome is for you. Then after consideration, you still want to do it, just start. Take a step NOW. You will love yourself! Once you begin to see motivation as a verb rather than a noun the sky is your limit!
Darling, doing is a choice, so get up,get moving and get motivated!
Until Next Time…Grab Life by the Crown!
P.S. The BOQs would love to hear from you! Leave your wisdom and comments in the box below.
PPS! The Burnout Queens have a special invitation waiting for you…
We would love you to be part of our exclusive members only club for women, The Realm!
Hands Up, Baby Hands Up! (Is Procrastination Your Pink Permission Slip?)
Do you procrastinate? Pretty sure that at least 80% of you had hands in the air! It’s such a great word…it rolls right off the tongue.
I have trouble with procrastinating.
I really have to stop procrastinating!
I can’t help it, I’m a procrastinator!’ (Love that one!)
Lose the psycho-babble and what you’re really doing is postponing, delaying, avoiding, putting-off and neglecting. Yes, procrastination is your pink permission slip to ‘avoid’ life stuff that you perceive as risky, boring, tedious, fear-provoking, difficult, unknown, or unexpected. Plainly put…
Postponing is a way of saying NO to your life!
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You may tell yourself that you are putting-off for all the right reasons: time, convenience, time, conflict, time, catching-up, time… or even in aid of elusive ‘balance’. (You’re not.) When you ‘delay’ doing something because it is <insert scary word here> you are actually actively avoiding anxiety, fear, change, as well as failure and (oops!) success. Beware my darlings!
You can’t ‘put-off’ and live life fully and enthusiastically!
We know it and you know it delaying, putting-off, postponing, avoiding, neglecting, or procrastinating makes a day feel like a struggle. Most of us associate ‘procrastination’ with tasks we don’t want to do for whatever reason (and we can be very creative with those!). Now, here’s where the ‘getting honest’ thing has to happen. Read the following list, which is by no means comprehensive given how creative we can be with postponing, and then tell us that avoiding or delaying or ignoring doesn’t create chaos and complications in your life. Here we go:
- making decisions or choices
- being late for work, meetings, appointments, or social events
- billing your clients
- complimenting someone
- attending classes
- not speaking out in class or lecture
- completing your degree or certification
- slowing down on a project that is going well
- taking a vacation
- taking medication
- losing weight
- missing gym sessions
- visiting, calling, or writing (yes some people still do) family or friends
- paying bills
- collecting a debt
- not calling the doctor, dentist, lawyer
- not investing
- not pursuing a career opportunity or promotion
- not buying a house
- not divorcing
- not saving
Whew! Now do you believe us? When you put off the big stuff, you are seriously messing with your life. Even worse, you become disappointed, discouraged and disillusioned with yourself. Burnout is just around the corner.
Postponing is a way of not giving to yourself.
It’s time for you to stop delaying and show up in your life, crown and all! That’s what being a Burnout Queen is all about!
Until Next Time…Grab Life by the Crown!
P.S. The BOQs would love to hear from you! Leave your wisdom and comments in the box below.
PPS: The Burnout Queens have a special message and invitation waiting for you…
Don’t you dare give up on the life you’ve always wanted! Join other smart and creative women who like you, want a better, bigger and bolder life, but need a little hand-holding, support, and celebration as they create it. It’s absolutely free and it is never too late to join these inspirational ladies.
This is not the time to postpone, procrastinate or avoid! Become part of our exclusive international women’s member club The Realm!
PPPS: Did I mention we ‘do tea & cake’ parties together? Learn how!
How ‘Strictly’ and ‘Dancing’ Enhances Your Greatness!
Have you seen the celebrity show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (or the American ‘Dancing With the Stars’)? It pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers for the ultimate competition for the glitter ball and the best celebrity dancer. It think it’s one reality show that can inspire you to tap (get the pun) into the greatness of you!
Okay, I am NOT one for reality shows. I have not watched one season of the Apprentice with ‘the Donald’ or Lord Sugar, nor the Amazing Race, and never any Survivor series. You can imagine my surprise when I found myself deeply entrenched watching all the episodes of Strictly Come Dancing (and before that Dancing With The Stars). Of course my analytic brain wondered why…
- could it be because I danced as a young child, teenager and was entered into dance competitions myself (and won I might add!)
- was it my mesmerization with sparkly costumes, big hair, big makeup & high heels
- was it the theme of taking a challenge and turning it into a triumph
- it was all of the above and MORE
These 2 series (I can only vouch for these ones) are the perfect examples of motivation, drive and achievement. All the things our clients quest for and question us about. The perfect example, with the perfect formula…..so lace up your dancing shoes ladies, and give this formula a twirl.
Step 1 – take a risk outside your comfort zone. (Jerry Rice, all American football player turned ballroom dancer? Carol Kirkwood BBC weather person turned ballroom dancer? Master P, hiphop artist/producer turned ballroom dancer? Jake Wood, actor turned ballroom dancer? You get the picture—someone you’re not… being transformed into someone you will become…
Step 2 – learn a skill previously outside your personal proficiency to ensure legitimate challenge. Tax the brain to learn something different, harder, outside the usual brain function. In this case, weekly ballroom dances that require 6-8 hours a day of practice on top of a busy career schedule. The best brain stretch there is….
Step 3 – learn from a professional ballroom dancer (mentor, coach) who is relentless in making you work, sweat buckets, loose weight, gain muscle and a sense of your body you never had before.
Operative words…learn, fail, get frustrated, get bruised (bones and ego), fall down but learn to get back up, try it over again and master it. Discipline to mastery…
Step 4 – put these teachings to the test, whether you are fully prepared or not (the airing dates create the schedule to learn, practice and present each dance per week) The contestants did it, ready or not and learned to roll with the punches…a key component of success.
Step 5 – discover learning dancing produces a learning about yourself as a human being when faced with limitations and deadlines. Discover the strength of your body, discover the agility you can acquire, discover the ability to move in a powerfully beautiful way.
Step 6 – learn there is something inside of you you never could have imagined was part of you prior to taking on a new challenge. Capability to stretch beyond and grasp a new reality of who you can become and what you can accomplish. (set this to music!)
Step 7 – learn to overwhelmingly enjoy the process of learning again through both mistakes, pain, embarassment and triumph.
Step 8 – learn that competition with others, is always really about competing to be your very best regardless of others. (aka competition with your limitations)
Step 9 – embrace ‘practice’ as the key to perfecting your skills. The more the dancers spent practicing the same step, the more they perfected the step, perfected their posture, perfected their execution, perfected their integration, perfected the dance, perfected their performance.
I became a Dancing With the Stars junkie (when I lived in Canada and Strictly Come Dancing when I relocated to the UK) because it was exciting for me to witness the change in human spirit and the fight within each of the celebrities to care deeply about this new skill they were learning and wanting to do it better, best, perfect. The shift from just wanting the top prize to wanting to improve and perfect their abilities was addictive.
Taking it beyond the dance floor, it reminds me about risking and challenging and testing myself to uncover and discover more potential within me that until that moment of revelation I did not know I possessed. It reminds me of why I keep pushing myself, why I keep reinventing me and how absolutely exhilarating it feels to succeed at it for myself.
It is that strength once uncovered and no longer avoidable that I can take into my career realm and share with others about hopes, possibilities, discipline and perserverance. Pure transformation.
And I can see in those celebrity contestants what I have witnessed in my clients…the excitement of embracing change in themselves, to tap into that knowledge that they ‘have the right stuff’ to make something more powerful, engaging and meaningful for their lives.
So lace up those dancing shoes and set the motivation formula for mastery in motion….
risk + challenge + practice + test + discover + enjoy + compete =
the greatness of you.
Find something to reach for beyond where and who you are now. As one contestant once wisely said….”don’t just wish for it, work for it”.
Now…shall we dance…cha, cha, cha! Love The Burnout Queens xx
Be awake to the sounds of life
The Burnout Queens Wisdom: Be awake to the sounds of life