Last week, I was honored to be able to hear Geena Davis give one of the most powerful keynote speeches I have heard in a while. It spoke to my heart on a lot of levels and I thought I would share some of my “take-aways”:

3 qualities that helped Geena Davis become a success:

NAIVETE - Sometimes NOT knowing how difficult the journey is going to be is a blessing. I know that I often experience this in my life and my business.

COMMITMENT - You must be completely committed to what you want to accomplish. How committed are you to your goals?

TENACITY - If you want something, just keeping trying over and over and over. Get under the person’s skin. According to Dictionary.com, it is the act of being tenacious -

I especially like #5 to define tenacity for entrepreneurs.

Great quotes from the presentation:

“This is YOUR time to make a change!” (referring to women in the room)

“Have unfailing belief in yourself”

In response to the open QnA:

Q: How can we follow in your steps as an activist for women’s rights?
A: I am not an activist. I am an advocate. I work with the world and the media to PARTNER and enlighten. I am taking research to experts to raise consciousness about women. The raised consciousness will then affect change about the representation of women in the media which will then empower women. (In response to the work she is doing at The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media)

Q: Do you have suggestions for achieving balance as a women?
A: I don’t know if balance is possible. You just do what you can do to the best of your ability. Stop beating yourself up for not feeling like you are balanced.

I could go on and on about the work that she is doing to affect change in the media for representation of women in children’s programming, but I will spare you the pulpit talk. You can check out her work on her organization’s site. But it is good. Let me just say:

17%

That is the same statistic that has held true since 1946 with the number of women compared to men in various programming….  enough said?

Overall, I absolutely LOVE her viewpoints about affecting change as an ADVOCATE instead of an ACTIVIST and accomplishing balance in your life.

You may remember me talking about an event that I attended in May with my daughter. And you may have seen the blog my daughter started as a result of that event. She’s an intermittent writer (hmm…where does she get that from?) but it’s good stuff.

More importantly, let’s talk about that event. One day spent learning a process to help us uncover the answers to all those questions that often stop us in our tracks. Can you relate?

This day was hosted by Johnny Covey (yes, great-nephew to the popular and brilliant Stephen Covey). Johnny’s philosophy is that the answers are all within us–we just need to learn to tap into them.

After that event, I had a number of people ask me if he was going to offer the event again because they wanted to attend and they wanted to bring their teen (like I did). So…

Why am I sharing this with you now, 5 months after the event we attended (that was life-changing for my daughter and eye-opening for me)?

Because Johnny is going to be offering this event again, with a few changes, so that YOU can take advantage of this process that you can use over and over again. The best part is that he is offering it to you and your family. So bring your teenagers and young adults. Bring your spouse. Bring you mom and dad.

Here is the information for this event which starts next week. And YES, Liz and I will be attending again. So join us!

Below is the information but first, let me give you the overview:

When: Wednesday evenings starting October 12

How: Tele-course (so on your phone line); calls will be recorded

Cost: The price is $297, but you can get it for only $97

Simply email Johnny at noriskresults@gmail.com and let him know that I sent you. (no, I am not making any money on this–I just really believe in what he is doing). It’s that easy!

And then share this with anyone else who you think could use some direction and support!

Discover the next step in any area of your life, discover what is holding you back from taking that next step, and have the ability to have the answer to these two questions in any area of your life.

You will also know your…

• dexterities

Define exactly what your strengths are.

Discover how to fully utilize your strengths.

• equity

What untapped potential do you have?

What resources are available to you right now?

• core values

What are your core values and how are they influencing you?

Realize how to align your core values to create the results you desire.

• purpose

Find what your purpose is.

See how to use your purpose to motivate you in every area of your life.

• who are you committed to being?

You are never going to set a goal again.

You will know if you will reach your desired result before you start.

• the commitment completion process

A simple process to make sure you complete what you start.

Count the cost beforehand so you know if it is worth your time and energy.

For the complete flyer, CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK: The Answer In Me

If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.

This is an excerpt from the commencement speech that Steve Jobs made to the graduating class of 2005 at Stanford. He is talking about his experience in college AFTER he dropped out and it greatly impacted his vision of what is possible. If you haven’t seen the video, it is 15 minutes of awe-inspiring, motivational and genius commentary–worthwhile.

I was reading a commentary this morning about Steve and his impact on technology and the world as we know it.  What impacted me most about this comment is his journey that took him into a calligraphy class. At the time, it seemed so unimportant and whimsical.

And in retrospect, it was pivotal and the perfect journey to give him the experience he needed to have the impact he did.

I have often pondered the questions “Why is this happening to me?” and “Why did I do that?” as I know most of us have. I often get frustrated at not understanding the path I am on even when I fully submit to the process.

And with hindsight, I see how the path was SO important to my own learning, understanding and ability to empower others from a real place inside me. And as I live the path, even when I know it is what I need, I can’t ever see the “why” until later….sometimes years later.

I don’t know if Steve Jobs fretted about taking a calligraphy class instead of something more important like a business class. Probably.

He says in the video that instead of following logic, he followed intuition. And in the long run, it worked out quite well.

So I wanted to share. Have you had this same experience? Have you ever had to wait 10 years to be able to connect the dots and understand why?

Here is the video in case you wanted to watch it…it’s good!