Three Unsexy Ways to Realize Your Dreams

Time to read: 1:19.62 minutes

Happy New Year Corporate Rebels!

I hear a lot about people's dreams or people ask me how I have realized my dreams. If you follow my stuff, you know I'm a believer in magic. I'm also a believer in something a lot less sexy than magic. That is...

Discipline.

It's true that my clients get raises and promotions and get happier at work and in life (their dreams). It's true that I have the flexibility to travel and raise my own children while also having a fulfilling and meaningful career (my dreams). Many days, the path to realizing those dreams is as much discipline as it is magic.

It takes discipline to take a hard look at how you conduct yourself or the choices you make to evaluate if they align with what you want. You have to force yourself to have hard conversations that clean up old patterns and relationships. You sometimes have to stick your butt to your chair to write the report, create the development plan, or for me, today, produce this newsletter. There's nothing magic about making yourself do The Thing.

Here are three ways to stay disciplined about creating your dreams when you're tempted to get another cup of coffee, call the dentist, or talk to your cube-mates:

1. Remain true to your bigger commitments. That report is just a thing. This newsletter is just a thing. And that thing represents your service to your customers, your value of trust, and your love for your people. This one thing you have to do is part of a bigger picture that is made up of hundreds of "just a things."


2. Decide to start. It's pretty simple. Just decide you are going to do the thing and sit down to make yourself start. Once you start, it is much easier to keep going until you're finished.


3. Set up a reward. I'm a big fan of joy and fun so I reward myself all the time. Something like this works for me (dorky, I know), after you write your weekly newsletter, then you can make another cup of tea. (Maybe I should dream bigger. After you write, you get a diamond ring.)

Support and accountability also help you create your dreams. A few of you have reached out to tell me that all the January spots to talk with me are already filled. I opened a few more.

If you want to create a 2019 plan to get you on the path to what you want, let's talk! Choose a time here.

And now I get that cup of tea diamond ring!

With rebel warmth,

Christina

P.S. If you want to explore ways to create a plan for 2019, let's talk. I have a couple of step-by-step processes in my toolbox that will get you set up for a wonderful 2019. Choose a time to talk here.

P.P.S. Please share this link with your friends who want a plan for 2019. Just forward this email directly to them.

The 1 Thing That Will Make Your Work Instantly Easier!

Estimated read time: 34 seconds (because things want to be simple in this season)

Sending you this imperfect selfie to show you how easy imperfection is.

During client calls today, I heard a lot about perfectionism and the desire to move forward already! Do any of these examples sound familiar to you?

• You tweak a Powerpoint presentation over and over because it's not quite finished yet.
• You stay up late rewriting a report to get it "just right."
• You have delayed on publishing something because if still needs work.
• You still haven't written those cover letters.

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you might be a perfectionist. Or at least have some perfectionist tendencies.

Perfection is the enemy of complete and in many cases, complete is the more important of the two.

(If you are a space or medical device engineer, feel free to go for perfection.) For the rest of us...

The cure for perfectionism is easier than you think. Simply follow these steps:

1. Produce the imperfect thing.
2. Take a deep breath and let go of the drive to make it perfect. Seriously. Stop working on it right now.
3. Send it out, publish it, or present it in all it's glorious imperfection.
4. See that, in fact, you don't die.
5. Repeat.

After a few repetitions, you'll get used to it. You'll be more efficient and able to focus on other projects and on, maybe, sleeping or fun.

Send out the thing you've been perfecting now. I dare you. Then write me and tell me all about it.

I always love to hear from you.

With love,

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE. P.P.S. There's even a typo in this newsletter to continue to demonstrate that imperfection won't kill you.

This newsletter is embarrassing.

Estimated read/view time: 2.5 minutes. (There are videos in this newsletter. You need to watch, like, 4 seconds of each video to get the point.)

This is what TRYING to do the right thing looks like. Horrible!

As most of you know, I hosted an interview series this summer. In fact, those of you who have followed me for a while know that the interview series dominated my life for months.

I learned a number of valuable lessons, and today I want to peel back the curtain to share the most valuable lesson with you.

Which brings us to show and tell. Some embarrassing show and tell.

The hardest, most vulnerable, most painful part of producing this series was the #$!#!& opt-in video. That’s the little video that appears on the sign-up page.

This was the first time I had created a video, let alone one that was going to be public! I had all kinds of advice from my coach. I had prepped like crazy – wrote a script, set up a “studio,” practiced, planned my outfit, did my hair, and did around 50 takes.

You know the drill. You probably do some version of this ritual every day for meetings, presentations, and clients.

Within minutes of the video going live, I got feedback from my friend Anne that my video sucked. (Love ya, Anne!)

After a momentary freak out, Anne came over to help me reshoot the video. I threw on my favorite dress, ran my fingers through my hair (that I hadn't washed), and stood against a wall in our bedroom with no script. Anne and I danced around like crazy people for a moment, then we shot the video which is the one most of you saw. We did 3 takes.

The point is this. You are compelling as you. Being you doesn't take effort or stress or trying. Of course you need to prep and maybe do a little planning. Then you simply need to show up with your wonderful self, quirks and all.

Here's a challenge: Stop TRYING to DO the corporate thing right this week. Stop listening to the stories that say you have to be a certain way in order to be successful at work. Instead, BE yourself.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

What's your excuse?

It's a scorcher! Spend one minute or less reading this in your air conditioning!

From my 12-year-old to you.

My 12-year-old daughter is the keeper of my screen savers. She surprises me regularly with inspirational quotes interspersed with photos of Taylor Swift. (Equally inspirational, I assure you.)

The quote above is what I found on my screen last week, and it got me thinking about you.

The world has been intense lately. If you live in Minnesota, you have a front row seat on the protests and the conversation about racial justice. If you watch the news, you've heard about what's happening in Turkey, Baton Rogue, Dallas, and the conventions. At our house, we have no shower, no kitchen, and all our belongings are in boxes. We are covered in dust and living in 100-degree weather.

This is what my office looks like today. The state of my office (no files, no desk, no chair) present me with the perfect excuse to not take calls, not write newsletters, not show up.

All of these things make great excuses to stop. And yet, you still have to go to work, move forward on the things you care about, feed your family, and show up every day.

What's the excuse that is currently holding you back? Here are some popular options:

• my voice doesn't matter
• my house is a wreck
• too busy
• too tired
• out of town
• it's all too complicated; I don't know what to do

Per my daughter's quote, you only have to be a bit stronger than your strongest excuse. Take a good look at the excuses you're telling yourself and find the way to be stronger.

I've said this before. No matter what the context, whether you are the leader of a corporate team, your family or a social movement, YOU are needed.

No excuses.

In love,

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

What to do when what you really want is a nap.

Estimated read time: 2 minutes.

Here's one of my favorite images from the interviews. This one will be live in July. Don't we look like we're having fun?!

We've established that I have busted my butt for the last three months producing the amazing Corporate Rebel Series.

What I really wanted this afternoon was a nap. I didn't have it in me to do one more thing.

What I needed to do was conduct another interview and write this newsletter. To say that I didn't feel like it would be an understatement.

This got me thinking about you and all the times you don't feel like (fill in the blank).

Another story: When I was in a leadership program a few years ago we had to do all these terrifying things high in the trees, where we could, like, fall and die.

One of them was this balance beam that felt like it was 6 stories tall. We had to get from one tree to the other by walking the balance beam. As I was scooching across, legs shaking, stomach hurting, doing everything I could not to look at the ground (oh so far down there), our leader yelled out, "This is what commitment looks like!" My first thought was, "Nah. I'm a mess." Then I got it. That moment has stuck with me ever since.

Commitment is not pretty. It's not certainty. Commitment does not require you to feellike it. Commitment requires you to show up even when you don't feel like it.

Commitment requires you to focus on your purpose, your bigger reason for being. For me that means remembering the people in offices who are wondering if they are crazy... who crave the freedom to be themselves while still succeeding at work.

So I put on my mascara, conducted an awesome interview with an expert on executive presence and sat down to write this newsletter. This work matters. Yourwork matters. Let the mattering carry you forward even when you don't feel like it.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

A humbling look behind the scenes!

Estimated read time: 2 minutes

The official production studio for the Corporate Rebel Series (note the requisite Nerf blasters and penguin audience)

The Corporate Rebel Series is finally on its way! Alleluia, praise baby Buddha, thank you, universe!

The truth is I feel so vulnerable having this series out there that I can hardly breathe.

Today, I want to pull back the curtain to show you what it's been like on the inside so you can see that:

1. I struggle with the same things you do.
2. You can see what's possible when you face your fear, make a commitment to something big, and keep moving.

Sound like a plan?

First, the Corporate Rebel Series required me to face my fears.

In order to create this series, I had reach out to people I didn't know and ask them to be part of it. (Even for an extrovert like me, this was terrifying.)

I spent 2 weeks hitting send on email after email (139 to be exact). There were people who seemed so big and so important, I couldn't bring myself to contact them. With the encouragement of my friends, I finally did. Many of them said yes! (Amazing people like Ann Betz, Dr. Ron Friedman, and Henry Kimsey-House are part of the series.)

After 39 emails and 5 live conversations, the next hundred got easier.

Second, this project has required me to stretch beyond what I thought I was capable of.

I had to figure out ethernet, learn to edit videos, conquer YouTube, and handle Skype glitches. (I'm no tech wizard.) I had to stay focused so my children continued to get to school and our dog got walked. I even managed one tea date with a friend and talked to my husband on occasion.

Then there was the &%#@$* opt-in video (the one on the sign up page. You can see it here). I've never done anything with video and certainly, nothing that was going to be public. I recorded about 100 takes, took the feedback from my coach, and did 100 more.

And then as soon as the #$&%*$ video was live, one of my best friends called to say it "sucked." After wondering for an hour if I should get a new best friend, my BFF and I re-recorded the video and now it feels like me.

Know what I discovered? I can handle the technology. I can put a video into the world. I can plunk a huge project into an already full life and still keep the wheels mostly on the bus.

Third, working on this series has forced me to let go of any illusion of perfection.

There are a couple of glitchy interviews. A broken link in an email? Yep, have that. Hair sticking out - got it. Dog whining at the door during an interview? Yes, that, too. Sucky opt-in video? Check!

Action over perfection is the mantra that got me through. (Feel free to steal that one.)

Fourth, I had to face rejection.

People declined to participate. I survived.

Fifth, the Corporate Rebel Series has reinforced that the world is a good place, people are generous, and all you have to do is ask.

Putting together this series has been like a giant scavenger hunt. Even the most famous experts, the ones I was afraid to contact, are lovely, normal people. They are thrilled to help and to be part of something that supports our mutual mission to make the world of work better for the people who go there everyday.

I have been surrounded by guardian angels who share their feedback honestly and love me enough to tell me the truth.

Their generosity has been inspiring.

The Corporate Rebel Series has grown legs. With each speaker, an ecosystem has developed of people who care deeply about the work we do and how we can bring heart and sanity to our workplaces. Now, the series is running on its own and the audience is gathering.

A number of people have asked me where this is headed. The truth is, I have no idea. At this point, I'm along for the ride and having a blast.

And I'm ready for a few more tea dates.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.

What's your weird little process?

Estimated read time: 2 minutes.

One process option; Freaking out

I was talking with a client this morning, and she told me she was feeling indifferent about some work she needed to do. Then she proceeded to judge her indifference and talk about how bad it makes her feel. Do you do some version of this to yourself?

Years ago, I was sitting in a circle in a leadership program, and one of my close friends was sharing how frustrated she was with her own apathy. She was feeling sad and useless. Then our mentor landed a golden nugget on us. He said, "What if apathy is part of your process?"

Whoa! Life changing moment! I want to share it with you!

You have a process. You've probably been following it for years. And when you are in the "not so productive" part of your process, you probably judge yourself and give yourself a hard time for being "not productive." The guilt and judgment sap your energy which is not useful. Make sense?

Here's the thing, assuming you eventually get your project / homework / phone calls / meetings done, your weird little process is working for you. Imagine that? It's working! Who knew?

Another example. My process is that I make a stop in FREAK OUT (and I clean). I spend 1-3 days in self-doubt and questioning and general panic when I'm stepping into something new. Then I pull myself up and get to work with a clarity and determination that the magic pixies generated in the FREAK OUT.

The FREAK OUT is the springboard to productivity. I used to pile on judgment, fear and guilt about not getting anything done. That was oh, so helpful. And now, I'm all, like, "check it out. Here I am in my weird little process. Even though I hate this, I'll pop out in a day or two and get to work." Weirdly, it works. Every time. Even when I fear that this time it won't.

So, what's the place you stop on your way to productivity and courage? Apathy? Indifference? Fear? Doubt? Resistance? Anger? Resentment? Avoidance? Get to know that weird little stop on the track to action, creativity, and production. Then you can drop the judgment, ride it out, and get to work with even more energy.

I hope this helps.

Christina

P.S. If you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, they can sign-up for The Corporate Rebel Video Podcast and Newsletter HERE.