Do You Worry About the Future?

G'day! (I learned that from my Aussie friends this summer).

Fear of the future is as common as the vanilla ice-cream that I hope you slurped up this summer (or this winter for all you southern hemisphere folks). 

You get to see your past in vivid technicolor, and the future is a hazy path with elusive, invisible twists and curves. No matter how much you lay awake at night running scenarios in your head or how many legal pads you fill with detailed plans, your future is coming, and it is unknown.

Just the word "unknown" is enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the most experienced vice president or analytical engineer. 

Can you relate to any of these experiences?

• Feeling that it's time to shake things up, do something different, pump some new creativity and inspiration into your work and uncertain how to do that?
• Realizing that you spent a fortune getting trained in a field where you don't want to spend the next 25-40 years and lying awake worrying about what to do next?
• Feeling shaky about the process of becoming an adult (even if you technically already are one) and resisting the sacrifices to your freedom and happiness that you assume come with adulting?
• Forcing yourself out of bed each morning to fake your way through a job that is sucking your soul because you're afraid you won't be able to afford your mortgage?

Each of these examples is about fear — that you might make a seismic mistake that will haunt you forever — worry that you'll end up sitting at your kitchen table in a few years wishing you had chosen something else. Or worried that pursuing what makes you happy means no house, no college for your kids, and no financial security. 

I am here to tell you one simple truth. Life doesn't have to be hard. Work doesn't have to be hard. You are in the driver's seat. You make the choices. You get one go-around in this life, wouldn't you like to be happy and fulfilled?

Because you follow The Corporate Rebel, here is what I know about you:

• You are committed to making bold moves in your career and life;
• You want to align your work with your values; 
• You strive to choose courage and consciousness in your decisions;
• You want to create happiness and success on YOUR TERMS.

Even so, do you sometimes feel uneasy, fuzzy, uncomfortable, or stuck?

Maybe you are missing a sense of clarity or permission to take the next step toward your future. Whatever you are out to accomplish and whatever is holding you back,the fastest and easiest way to get clear is to sort it out with someone who gets your world and is committed to your success. (Otherwise, it is all just rattling around in your fuzzy and overfull mind!) 

If having a conversation with someone who gets you will help, let's talk! We'll unpack your personal situation, and I'll share my best ideas and insights about what might be possible. I'll help you get clear about where you're heading and together we'll create a plan for your next move. Whew. All of that in one free call!

I've opened a few spots in my personal calendar to talk to YOU. Choose a time that works for you right here. 

I look forward to connecting!

Christina

P.S. Now is a great time to start a plan for your next move. Wouldn't you love some clarity and access to my best ideas and insights? You can get all kinds of ideas and insights by hopping on the phone for a free phone call. Choose a time that works for you here.

If you don't see a time that works, email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com and we'll find one!

Your Christmas Present Is In Here. No Peeking!

I spent last week in San Francisco with my coach and my entrepreneurial buddies. For an entire day, my friends were commenting on my Taylor Swift concert t-shirt. You'll see in a moment how my outfit has anything to do with you (beyond the fact that I was rocking that shirt – remember the Own It newsletter? Check it out here).
 
I love Taylor Swift thanks to my 12-year-old daughter who got concert tickets for Christmas. I'm wearing Tay-Tay because it is a reminder of one of the best things that happened for me this year (alongside my awesome clients). The concert was fantastic - the tiny paper airplanes, the runway, the dancers. What made the concert sublime was anticipating with my girl for a year and holding her hand in the crowd while I answered question after question about the scene. If I could have moved into that moment for the rest of my life, I would have.
 
This made me think of you because I see people blowing through their lives without pausing to celebrate and give themselves credit for the amazing things that happened in the year. Instead, we beat ourselves up.
 
Are you someone who is hard on yourself? It’s easy focus on where you’ve failed, what you could have done better or improved, what you wish had gone differently.
 
It’s hard to take credit for and celebrate the things you rocked. We make up stories like:

• “I’ll sound egotistical.”
• “It’s vain.”
• “Those things weren’t that important anyway.”

As my father-in-law says with his Texas drawl, “That’s buuuulll-sheet.” It’s time to give yourself all kinds of a crazy credit. Starting now.
 
Here’s what you do:
 
Take a piece of paper and write down all your accomplishments, successes, breakthroughs, celebrations and wins. Use your calendar, journals and notes to remember what you did in 2015.

• Did your kids make it to most of their swimming lessons? Write it down!
• Did you build relationships with people in your new (or old) job? Write it down!
• Did you say no? Write it down!
• Did you totally rock your hair this year? Write it down!
• Did you change jobs, win an award, host an event? Write it down!
• Did you let go of what people think of you? Write it down!

When you see all your accomplishments and wins in one place, you’ll realize what a rock star you were this year. It’s exhilarating and humbling.
 
My gift to you this Christmas is your own magnificence! Open it now. You get to enjoy it forever!
 
Merry Christmas!
 
Christina
 

The Principle of Escalating Positivity

I've been with my coach in San Francisco this week wrestling with what's next in 2016. I had big decisions to make that would potentially open and close significant doors in my business and life.
 
You know what I’m talking about. Those constant internal dialogues (and for us extroverts, constant external dialogues – thank you long suffering Steve and friends) that sound like this,

• “What if I make the wrong choice?”
• “What if I close the door that was my path to success?”
• “What if my choice fails?”
• “I know, I’ll figure out a way to cram it all in and not make a choice at all!”

You get what I’m saying, right? (Please say you do so I feel normal.)  I was causing myself a great deal of stress and anxiety, like stomach hurting, obsessing, waking up early stress. Can you relate, here?
 
Then my coach asked me a couple of excellent questions that will help you, too. (And duh, I’m a coach. I ask people these questions all the time. I was the cobbler’s child who had no shoes. Geez.)

• What am I making these decisions mean?
• Are those meanings even true (like am I really closing a door or damaging a relationship)?
• What would I choose if I gave myself full permission to choose what I want?

And if that wasn’t enough, she landed a kicker that I want to share with you – the words that brought the lightning bolt of clarity down upon my head:
 
“It sounds like you are making fear-based decisions.”
 
Shazaam! Crack! Boom! Shit. (Sorry, Sandy. I promise I don’t swear in all my newsletters).
 
I was looking at these decisions through a lens of scarcity, loss and what I was going to miss. Once I saw that, I shifted to looking at what values I was honoring, the abundance I want for my life, and what feels right in my soul. As soon as I saw that truth, I was like, done. Decisions made. Stress gone.
 
You make big and small decisions every day. I invite you to look at your choices through the lens of your values, abundance and what’s right with your soul. You’ll find clarity and peace. And goodness knows, the world needs more of both.
 
(If you’re curious what I decided, read the P.S. below).
 
I hope that helps.
 
Christina

 P.S. I said no to a big opportunity in order to maintain focus on my two priorities: my coaching business and my family. I rehired my coach for next year and by doing so, made a huge investment in my priorities (see first decision). I cancelled a trip to CA that would have been a blast and built great relationships in order to honor my daughter’s request for me to stay home and witness her stretching her wings on a stage at her school’s Martin Luther King performance (refer back to my priorities).