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Hello everyone and thank you for joining me! And hello November! The countdown is on to the holidays. When I think of the holidays I think of busy and I want to share with you an insight I had recently around the whole concept of busy.

I, like many of you, dream of a time in the near future when things will settle down and there will be an opportunity to move at a slower pace and enjoy a phase where not much is going on.

The insight I had was there really is no slow time of year. Sure, certain activities slow down at certain times of year but then other activities creep in to take their place. I remember when I was in my office job summer was a slow time of year in terms of how much mail we were getting, so the day-to-day workload was lighter. However, this was also the time of year many people were taking vacation so it wasn’t uncommon to have weeks where we were staffed at 70% or less. This was also the time of year projects needed to be completed because we didn’t’ have time for them the rest of the year.

Now that summertime is over and the kids are back at school and we’re not yet in the thick of the holidays you would think this would be the time of year when things slow down. I don’t know about you but I am as busy as ever. I’ve mentioned before we had our BNI chapter leadership transition and The Maine Women’s Conference has been in a recruiting phase for board members and volunteers.

In my business there have been a surge of networking events and meetings because now is the time everyone has the time to give to their businesses. They are typically not distracted by vacations, staffing issues, back-to-school, holiday parties, etc.

My point is I’m thinking we need to give up the notion that there will be a time when we are not busy. This may sound like bad news but it actually gives you some freedom. Knowing you will always have things that will occupy your time you now can make a choice on what will take up your time. Use your time for the things that bring you satisfaction, fulfillment and even enjoyment, and don’t give it to things that feel like a burden or an obligation.

Also, you and I have choice in how we feel about how we are spending our time. There is nothing inherently wrong with being busy if you like what you are spending your time on. Busy is only a negative if what is keeping you busy is taking you away from what’s important to you. If that resonates, you my friend, have some decisions to make. If it doesn’t feel in alignment with who you are and how you want to live, change it.

And you know what? This isn’t even the topic for today’s episode. It’s just my random thoughts. However, it’s not a bad lead in because today I’m continuing my review of Tara Mohr’s book, Playing Big. I don’t even know if review is the right word. Rather, I’m listening to the audio version of Playing Big and sharing some of the content that jumped out at me and my thoughts on it.

This time I wanted to talk about chapter 2, titled…

The Voice of Inner Wisdom

I’ve heard this “voice” referred to in many ways. Tara calls it The Inner Mentor but I’ve also heard it called The/Your Inner Voice, The Inner Coach, Guardian Angels and the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t matter what you call it, what matters is that you recognize it as something that we all have inside of us that allows us to tap into universal wisdom.

It’s interesting that this has come up in the book Playing Big because I’ve also been engaged with this concept through the podcast The Lively Show with Jess Lively.

In season 5 of The Lively show Jess Lively has been on-air coaching volunteers from her community by helping them to distinguish between their ego-self and their inner voice.

In these sessions Jess is helping these women (they all just happen to be women though Jess coaches men as well) to hear and communicate with their inner voice which gives them simple and direct messages that leave them feeling at peace about the past, at peace with where they are now and at peace with where they are going.

As opposed to the complicated, dramatized long list of things we think we need to do all at once, dictated by our ego-self, the inner voice provides very simple next steps.

From what I’ve heard of these episodes, this guidance from the inner voice has left the women being coached feeling calm about moving forward and ready to take action.

Tara Mohr claims that “listening to the inner mentor instead of the inner critic is the first of the major shifts that enable us to move from paying small to playing big. We move from giving our attention to the inner critic voice to giving it to the inner mentor voice; from taking direction from the critic to receiving the wisdom of the inner mentor.”

You have free wisdom at your fingertips. It’s time for you to start hearing and listening to your inner mentor so you can start taking the easy path to playing bigger. Can you believe you have right within you a source of comfort, peace and love?

Know that this voice would never tell you to push, work harder or take care of more people to your own detriment. It’s not to say other people can’t be taken care of, it’s just the inner mentor does not see how your unhappiness, exhaustion or worry could possibly help other people. Often, when we take a step back we find there is a better solution than for you to give and give and give until you don’t recognize yourself anymore.

Tara Mohr emphasizes that the inner mentor does not replace an external mentor. Both are valuable and the inner mentor can be a compliment to the external mentor.

How to Access Your Inner Mentor

The instructions I got from a former coach of mine was to go quiet, close my eyes, and focus on my breathing until I felt settled. Then I was to ask a question and listen hard as if I was trying to hear and understand someone who was speaking softly in a noisy room.

Jess Lively coached her on-air volunteers to become aware of their heart or their gut, whichever region they tended to receive intuitive messages through. As she asked questions she guided them to imagine their focus going down, out of the head and into the heart or gut. She also gave pointers to distinguish between the ego-self and the inner voice. For example, the ego-self uses a lot of words and explanations whereas the inner voice will be concise, sometimes giving one or two-word answers.

The ego voice also comes from a place of worry and concern whereas the inner voice exudes calm.

If you are a writer or like to journal, you can write to your inner mentor instead.

Don’t judge the answers that come back. Sometime your ego will get freaked out by how simple the answers are and immediately try to complicate the solution.

If you want to have Tara guide you through a guided visualization you can find that in the audiobook version of her book or there is a link for supplemental materials in the kindle and paperback versions. She also has prompts for journaling and reflection.

I can tell you I have had some wild experiences when I have intentionally sat quietly to ask my inner voice for guidance. It is usually around a current challenge I am faced with or it’s a request for a creative idea. Many of my presentations and workshops are crafted with the help of my inner voice.

And without a doubt my book, Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing, came from inner wisdom. Not even the outline was done without inner guidance. I didn’t sit down to one writing session without first asking my inner voice what I needed to share to help other ambitious hard-working women overcome their self-doubt and stress so they could easily accomplish all the things they’ve been dreaming about accomplishing. Most of my writing sessions were done in a calm meditative state and it is part of the reason I had the book written so quickly even though I only had a few hours each week to dedicate to it.

There is wisdom right at your fingertips that you can learn to access at will. Whether it is meditation, journaling, exercise or a guided visualization that helps you access your Inner Mentor, start talking to her today.

Use Your Inner Wisdom for Your 2019 Goals

You can also tap into your inner wisdom to help craft your 2019 goals and if you’re at the workshop I’m doing on December 4^th in Portland, Maine, you will definitely be accessing your inner wisdom and that of the 32 other women who will be there.

If you want to come out strong in 2019 you’re going to want to set your goals for next year before the New Year starts. December is the perfect time to plan, prepare and get excited about the year to come.

For me, goal setting is the process that gives me more clarity and structure around what is going to bring me to life. That’s why I call my goal setting process “creating goals that are worthy of you.” Goals that are worthy of you are exciting and feel good. You are called and compelled to achieve a goal that is worthy of you. It gives you that extra bounce to do what needs to be done.

Goal setting is the support system to playing big. It is because of my ability to set these personalized goals that I’ve been able to run a marathon, start a business, launch a podcast, write a book, become a national speaker and workshop facilitator, as well as do 1000 burpees in one workout, increase the profits in my business and do a live event.

My goal setting system is very personalized because the goals that have brought me to life are not the goals that will bring you to life. This process will help you to create and achieve goals that are a perfect fit for you.

It’s time to toss out the old arbitrary formula for setting goals and create goals that not only represent who you are and the life you want to live, they will guide you to let go of who you are not and old patterns that do not work for you as you move toward your goal.

In this workshop you and I will:

• Explore what has worked and not worked for you in the past
• Create goals that are what you want for yourself, rather than what others want for you
• Learn how to leverage your superpowers in the attainment of your goal
• Create a way to track your progress to sustain momentum
• Identify who you need to be to achieve your goals (missing from most goal setting systems and yet so crucial to your success!)

This process is going to reveal your Highest Self.

If you are done with suffering through the struggle of goals that are not aligned with your strengths, or dealing with the heartbreak of an unattained goal this workshop is for you!

Date:  Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Time:  9:00 am-2:30 pm, Doors open at 8:30 am.

Location:  CoworkHERS, 411 Congress St, Portland ME

Parking:  All-day parking at the Temple Street Garage included in the price of the workshop.

Price: $175, Early bird price of $125 until 11/23/2018

However, this space can only hold 32 participants and tickets have already been sold so don’t wait for the last minute to register. Get signed up now. Go to womentakingthelead.com/goals2019 and reserve your seat!

As always, I hope this was of value to you and here’s to your success!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

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Resources

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

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