An 18-Minute Dare to Get Off the Broken "Stairs" - Thinking Outside the Box in 2010
Do you think you're broken? Are you easily stopped by unexpected roadblocks in life? Do you have the tendency to give up? If you'll indulge me, I'd like to pass along a bit of Driver Family wisdom that may be the catalyst to you unleashing your potential! (***Wait until you see the video I have in store for you at the end of this blog entry!***)
Growing up a blue-collar kid (Dad a mechanic who worked two jobs and Mom, who is now a nurse, was a stay-at-home mom for 13-years), my sisters and I were no strangers to two motivational stratagies:
1. Dad’s favorite motivational montra, “For the Love of God, TURN THE RECORD OVER!” 2. Mom’s motivational lessons on thinking outside of the box to problem-solve
When one of my sisters or I began to whine non-stop about a situation we couldn’t solve (You know, something potentially life-threatening, like during the big hair era in the late 1980s, when my sister Kerry would use all my hairspray and refill MY bottle with water) Dad would take a deep breath and shake his head slowly from side-to-side. Less then a second later, as you might imagine, he’d say those fateful 9-words, which always began with, “For the love of God…”
You probably know a man just like my father. Dad is a doer. He’s always busy doing something, i.e. changing the oil in one of our cars, shoveling that endless Boston snow, painting the kitchen to match Mom’s new curtain color scheme, grocery shopping, or rubbing Mom’s back when she’s not feeling well on days 3 to 5 after the red-fluid-filled chemo needles are injected into her veins (Mom is fighting breast cancer). You probably know a man just like my father. Dad always has a checklist of things to do in his head, so he has no time for complainers, gossip, or whining – he never did.
You probably know a woman just like my mother. Mom looks at the glass half-full. She’s a visionary. Mom can decorate a room with HGTV style with her eyes closed; she’s super-visual and has a knack for finding the right solution for any situation – from where to put the new light orange chair from Ethan Allen, to what to do to mend a broken heart, to how to annihilate an intimidating heartless bitchy boss. You probably know a woman just like my mother. Mom scribbles famous quotes and motherly words of wisdom on the back flap of colored envelopes, which always contain an ego boost from Hallmark. (I think my mother has personally kept Hallmark in business for the past four decades.)
Thankfully, having the combination of both parents' belief systems and values has catapulted my sisters and I into lives that we love: We are hard-working, problem-solving, loving mothers, wives, friends, and daughters. Luckily, our parents believe in us, but even more importantly, they taught us to believe in ourselves, and we do. Do you? Do you believe in you? Or do you find yourself complaining about being stuck in life? Do you see all the possibilities that surround you? If not, ask yourself, "What would be possible if I changed the way I looked at my life?"
Occasionally, I'll meet someone during one of my keynote presentations who'll say something like, “I hate my life and there’s nothing I can do about it” or “I’m stuck in a go-nowhere career and I’ve tried everything to find a new job” or “I’m soooooo alone and the only people I attract are cheaters and liars.” The compaint always ends with a request, "Please give me a body language move to make me more successful, powerful, and confident!" In my book, YOU SAY MORE THAN YOU THINK: A 7-Day Plan for Using the New Body Language to Get What You Want, I highlight that the "New Body Language" includes making an attitude adjustment. When your belief system is aligned with success, then powerful word choices and confident body language immediately follow suit.
Change your way of thinking = An Increase in success, power, and confidence
For the record, it is impossible to do everything you can. I promise you that if you think you’ve tried everything… You. Are. Wrong. My sisters and I can give you 100 options that you haven’t tried yet. The first step is to stop focusing on what you don’t want and start focusing on what you do want. When you focus on what you want your path will appear. The second step is to accept my 18-Minute Challenge:
TAKE THE 18-MINUTE GET OFF THE BROKEN "STAIRS" CHALLENGE
(I dare you to do it for 30-days)
What can you do for 18-minutes a day that can bring you joy, serenity, success, abundance, love, ridiculous amounts of money, admiration, and adoration?
Surf the web for a new place to live or work, maybe consider relocating to a new state or country, research house trades like in the Cameron Diaz 2006 movie – “The Holiday”, meditate, journal, write out cards to long lost loved ones, stretch, put on Madonna hits from the 80s and dance around, drink your coffee on the porch with your coat, gloves and hat on, and breathe in the cool fresh winter air while you watch the squirrels dance along the top of your old wooden fence, plan out all your meals or clothes for the week, or do the fun and easy exercises at the end of each of the chapters in my book “YOU SAY MORE THAN YOU THINK: A 7-Day Plan on Using the New Body Language to Get What You Want!”, the list is endless.
One of my favorite things to do for my daily 18-minutes of self-improvement is visit www.ted.com, where the world’s greatest thought leaders speak for 18-minutes. TED has changed my life and the way I run my businesses Lyin' Tamer Education and the Body Language Institute. Maybe it can do the same for you! To jumpstart the new you, here is one of my favorite TED speakers, Mr. Benjamin Zander from The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. (I have my certification students at the Body Language Institute watch this video as part of one of their Power Challenges homework.)
Enjoy (I know you will)!
Bottomline: To excel in your life, considerable flexibility in your thinking process is mandatory. If you want to wow your boss, your in-laws, or yourself you must be the one who challenges conventional wisdom. Recognize and promote alternative perspectives. Escape old entrenched models and adopt new techniques to put to use in your organization and in your life. As an individual you have the infinite ability to contribute something unique to yourself. Having a life you love starts with you taking the first step off the non-moving escalator. Declare 2010 to be a year to “Get off the Broken 'Stairs'.”
