BOLDNESS + BRAVERY Page 15 of 21

Why you should never give up…

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“If you really believe in what you’re doing, work hard, take nothing personally and if something blocks one route, find another. Never give up.” – Laurie Notaro

We’re constantly inspired by stories of successful people who struggle for years to make it. People who endure failure after failure and knock-back after knock-back, but who keep moving forward because they believe in themselves and they know what they want to do with their life. People like Sylvester Stallone.

Image source This is a Book by Demetri MartinImage from This is a book by Demitri Martin

In this inspiring video Anthony Robbins explains how, after years as a dead broke unsuccessful actor facing put downs and rejection, Stallone finally scored the lead role in his own blockbusting movie franchise, Rocky, and went on to become a Hollywood legend. If ever you needed a reminder about why you should follow your dreams, this is it!

In Michael Pollock’s article, The Science of Perseverance: How Your Mindset Can Strengthen Your Motivation he explains that ‘according to decades of research, there are two fundamental mindsets that determine how people respond to struggle, setbacks and failure. In one mindset, you’re likely to get discouraged and give up on your goal. In the other, you tend to embrace the struggle, learn from the setbacks and keep moving forward – you persevere.’

Which mindset are you in?

 

Back by popular demand: The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration!

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The Do What You Love e-course is open for registration! This acclaimed transformational online course is for people like you who want to find financial and personal freedom, living a full and happy life.

Do What You Love is about re-opening doors that you thought were locked shut… re-opening possibilities that you thought were long gone… and illuminating possibilities you never knew existed.

It’s about discovering what you really want to do, and giving you practical exercises and tools to do more of it, get paid to do it (if that’s what you want) and generally have a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Sounds like something you need?

Learn more and register here.

Class begins on Monday October 13 and runs for five weeks. Hurry and register now. Don’t miss this chance – it could change everything.

I hope you will choose to be a part of this adventure with us!

Beth

If you lack confidence then this is for you

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What if… you had more confidence?

In our recent survey where we asked “What is stopping you doing what you love?” nearly half of you told us that you are held back by a lack of confidence. Sound familiar?

We’ve all been there. It’s where the ‘What ifs’ kick in. What if I’m not good enough? What if I fail? What if my life changes too much and I can’t cope? What if I can’t sustain this in the long run? What if this is not the right choice? What if after all this it still doesn’t get better?

Hey you! Give yourself a break. Stop being so critical towards yourself before it has even happened. Look at yourself as someone else would, as objectively as possible, thinking about all the good things you have achieved already. Be kind to yourself. That is a much better place to start.

I remember a couple of years back seeing an article in Marie Claire Magazine launching a new mentoring programme with some of the top female entrepreneurs in the country. They were on the hunt for the next generation of exciting young female businesswomen, and were planning to pair them up with women with proven business success to help them leap forward. What an incredible opportunity! My first thought was, “I really want to do this.” My second thought was, “Why would they pick me?” My third thought was, “What if I enter and don’t get chosen?” But then I came back to my first thought, reminded myself that I really wanted to do it, and thought, “But what if I DO get picked. That would be awesome.”

So I took a deep breath and entered. I remembered getting the call for interview at the imposing Conde Nast Publishing building in London, and getting very flustered about what to wear. Again I had a crisis of confidence – “What if there’s someone better at the interview?” “What if I don’t know what to say?” etc etc. But I came back to that other What If… “What if it goes brilliantly, and I get picked?”

So I picked out a fabulous dress and my best heels, swished down to London, flew through the interview and got chosen as one of the 16 most exciting young female entrepreneurs in the UK. What? Little old me? And what a phenomenal opportunity it was too. I got paired up with Kanya King, founder of the MOBO Awards (Europe’s largest urban music festival, with Kanye West, Adele, Jay-Z and Jessie J among the artists who have taken to the MOBO stage). Kanya is one of the most inspiring and brilliant women I have ever met, and her insight and guidance was absolutely crucial in the early days of Do What You Love.

So keep asking yourself ‘What if’, but instead of ‘What if it goes wrong?’ ask yourself ‘What if it goes right?’ Then imagine yourself in that situation, where it has all gone right, and see what that does for your confidence.

 

Your secret weapons

Knowing yourself better is paramount to doing what you love and it is also paramount in your quest for more confidence. That’s why it’s a big part of the Do What You Love e-course, and why I want to share a useful exercise with you today.

The Do What You Love e-course helps you get to know who you really are, what’s important to you, what past experiences have influenced you the most, your strengths and weaknesses, and your attitude to money, time and life in general. Knowing yourself better will help you have a more rational approach to what you want to do and how while quieting your doubts and stopping you from being too emotionally overwhelmed

There are a lot of exercises in the course that help you know yourself better, and today I’d like to share one called “Your Secret Weapons”. This exercise helps you realise you actually have much more power than you might think.

You can download the interactive PDF here:

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(It is called ‘Explorer’s Log 15’ as it is just one of the many exercises in the Do What You Love e-course)

Please share your secret weapons in the comments below – I’d love to hear what they are, and how you felt about doing the exercise.

Use those secret weapons to start on your journey and remind yourself of them often along the way too, don’t let yourself forget how strong you are

What else can you do to build your confidence? Surround yourself with people who can support you, who give you energy and make you feel better about yourself. This is HUGE. Start seeking out those people today.

I won’t lie, you will feel doubtful, be scared, overwhelmed, and make mistakes as you push yourself towards doing what you love, but it’s all part of the journey and you will come out of this experience stronger and more resourceful than you ever thought possible.

 

Your confidence mantras

In its non-spiritual form, a mantra is a statement or slogan repeated frequently. The purpose of which is to put yourself in a certain state of mind. When we released the survey and invited your comments, many of you hasked for phrases that would keepyou motivated and give you some food for thought. We love beautiful words and images here at Do What You Love, so here’s a little compilation of our confidence boosting thoughts for you to enjoy. Take a moment to really think about them, and how they can relate to you on your own journey towards a happier life.

DWYL Confidence Mantras

You can get more of these inspiring words on our ‘Words to live by’ page here. And if it’s permission you need: permission granted

– Beth

 

PS Here are some useful resources if you want to read more into the subject of confidence and how to boost it

Nothing is impossible!

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Today we bring you a guest post by Mary J. Dinan, author of The Global Suitcase, an inspirational travel book that’s been published worldwide.

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Author pic Mary Dinan (300dpi)

I’ve always loved travel literature. Over the years I’ve spent hours in my local book shop looking at books by travel greats like Michael Palin, who went around the world in 80 days, Jonathan Dimbleby, who embarked on a 10,000 mile trip into the heart of Russia and octogenarian Dervla Murphy who went to Afghanistan on foot and to India by bike. Then one day, while I was scouring the shelves looking for my next read, a lightbulb went on in my head. I decided, right there and then, that I was going to write a travel book.

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Life According to Mr K – If your business model isn’t working, change it

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lifeaccordingtomrk

“You have to do what you dream of doing even while you’re afraid” – Arianna Huffington (Co-Founder, The Huffington Post)

The evolution of our business part 2 (read part 1 here)

The inaugural DWYL retreat was a sellout success, which we were told affected many of the participants deeply. In the two years since, many of those who attended have told us very personal stories of how the retreat experience actually changed their life’s course, and how the people they met there have been a big part of those changes.

However, behind the scenes, based purely on return on investment of time and financial resources, the reality was that for as long as we had to rent a venue there was little to no future in a solely retreat driven business. When you consider the hours that went into the preparation and running of the event, the team had essentially been working for less than minimum wage, and it was not a sustainable business model. Diversification was required.

Having said that there was an undeniable vibrancy at the retreat that was almost tangible and could not be ignored, plus it was the source of a huge amount of valuable connections, both for us and for participants and teachers.

During one of the evenings Beth had arranged for an Oprah style interview with our special guest Matt Stinchcomb, Vice-President (and one of the Founders) of Etsy.com, who had travelled from Germany to come and speak. His interview was a great reminder that even businesses as large as Etsy can evolve from the most unlikely and humble beginnings – theirs is an amazing story for another day! It was the only interview that week I was able to listen to and I believe I was meant to hear what he said. It highlighted how businesses evolve due to a need that is not catered for, and how they have to be nimble and flexible to adjust to changing demands.

Seeing so many people sat in that room who had decided to travel from various countries to North Yorkshire also really struck a chord with me. I was starting to see what Beth saw. There were so many like-minded souls around the globe who just needed a purpose to meet and common ground to discuss. Do What You Love could be that vehicle – and an in-person retreat was only one way of bringing those people together.

It was from this realisation that our collaborative e-courses emerged. Beth had already developed and run her own flagship Do What You Love e-course for the first time with an astounding response, and we soon realised this was an incredible way to connect people facing similar issues in a safe, supportive environment. The next step was to start working with others at the top of their game to provide practical, valuable advice to people wanting to follow particular career paths, often challenging the norm and supporting them to make bold moves.

Over the past 2-3 years this has developed into a business model which is cashflow positive (without debt), responsive to changing needs and technology, relevant, sustainable and exciting. We turn down more offers for collaborations than we take on, and we build deep trusting relationships with those we do choose to work with. By collaborating with others we are constantly learning, improving and finding new ways to do things. Every day is different, and every day we support more and more people to do what they love. It’s not always easy – sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes it is overwhelming, sometimes it is exhausting. But always it is rewarding, profitable and totally worthwhile. And it allows US to do what WE love, creating the lives we want to live. And surely that is a massive part of what it is all about?

As for retreats and in-person workshops, for sure we will run these again in the future, but as one arm, rather than the lifeblood, of our business.

Challenging our assumptions about how we should deliver, what we should deliver, and what we knew about the people we were trying to serve was fundamental to an early major shift in our business model which has evolved into the Do What You Love we are today.

How about you? If you run a business, have you shifted your business model over time? If not, it it time you thought about doing that? What if you turned your business model on its head and tried the opposite of what you have been doing for years? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Until next time (when I will share a behind-the-scenes glimpse at each of our collaborations),…

Mr K

Life According to Mr. K – On how Do What You Love was born…

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lifeaccordingtomrk

“If you can dream it, you can do it” – Walt Disney (Co-Founder, Walt Disney Productions)

This month’s theme is ‘Love Business’. I thought it would be interesting to give you a little insight to the birth and subsequent growth of our company.

Just over three years ago I was sat at home listening to Beth tell me that she had made a rather spontaneous decision to book a trip to San Jose in California. She was off to ‘An Artful Journey Retreat’ to take a class from two artists named Kelly Rae Roberts and Mati Rose McDonough. She had been reading Kelly Rae Roberts’ book ‘Taking Flight‘, and decided that she wanted to meet her. As always I told her to go for it. Sometimes we just have to spend some money and treat ourselves.

At that time she had been working tirelessly on the legacy aspect of England’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018, in a very corporate environment. The trip was an opportunity to relax and get painting again after more than a decade on the back burner.

When she returned  from California her smile said it all. She looked like a different woman. She had met kindred spirits and rediscovered her love for ART. The enthusiasm was evident. She came away knowing she wanted to work with and for women like those she met on the retreat. She effusively explained this thing called blogging and the potential business model that she had observed. It was different – in fact worlds apart – from what she was doing at that point, but very intriguing.

She went in search of some relaxation and inspiration. She came back with a the beginnings of a whole new life for us. What was to transpire from the trip was more profound and pivotal than either of us could ever have imagined! The seeds of what would become Do What You Love Ltd were sown.

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Life According to Mr. K – The courage to create

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In last week’s post I touched briefly on the courage it takes to create something. Of course this ‘courage’ has to be supported by a steely determination and conviction to realise your vision whether it be a painting, a song, a design or even a story. But it is that first step that is the most crucial – that long deep breath you take that makes you feel a little sick knowing you are about to leave yourself that little bit more vulnerable than before.

Whatever you are working on, it is your vision, your creation and it should reflect you. The courage comes from imparting something very sincere and soulful from within. You are taking a very intimate part of you and placing it in full view of the world.

I have a great deal of admiration for authors of late. It is not an occupation or a calling that you would instantly relate to the need for courage. But to put your ideas down on paper for others to read, critique, form an opinion about or even dismiss outright, I feel is very courageous indeed.

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Thought for the week (29): It’s time to be brave with your creativity

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Julia Cameron quote

Being creative in your work, and in your life, takes guts. Being creative means doing things differently, and thinking differently. It means challenging the accepted norms, coming at things from different angles, and sometimes taking giant leaps of faith.

Putting your creative work out in the world also takes guts. Whether for you that means reading someone a story you wrote, exhibiting a painting you created, even just voicing your ideas in a brainstorm, there is always that fear that it will be knocked back, criticized, laughed at, rejected. But think of the flipside. What if Monet, Roald Dahl and Steve Jobs had never been brave with their creativity? What if they had let the fear of what others thought stand in the way of sharing their ideas and their magic with all of us? The world would be a poorer place for sure.

Life According to Mr K – Love Life (5) Who are you?

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lifeaccordingtomrk

There is great comfort to be found in the sense of belonging and thinking, “I do that too!” I do hope that at times whilst reading my blog posts you may nod and chuckle to yourself in agreement. In those moments we can relax and breathe a sigh of relief. We are not alone!

Finding common ground with humour can allow us to bond, seek perspective and has definitely helped ‘break the ice’ in varying situations over the years.

I particularly love observational humour. One of my favourite comedians is Lee Evans. I remember one sketch in particular when he demonstrates how we attempt to get into a hot bath. It was priceless. I was in stitches… it was as if he had been spying on me, observing and noting all the ridiculous faces and noises I make. Judging by the audience I was not alone.

We often find great comfort belonging to a group, whether that be family, friends, teammates, classmates, work colleagues or any other collection of people. Safety in numbers if you like. This may be in part dictated by the society in which we live. In Japan, where there is a strong sense of collectivism, there is a famous saying, “The nail which sticks out gets hammered down”. Whilst here in the UK the sense of ‘group-think’ is nowhere near as strong, and individualism (especially in places like Brighton where we live) is often celebrated, in our social groups there is still a tendency to do what your mates do. It can take courage to step away and do your own thing.

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