Successful Blog

Find the Extraordinary in You!

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Do the Work of a Master

Church in South America

In the early evening, the natural light is just so that a photograph taken by a master will be stunning in its beauty. Every photon and atom aligns to make what might have been lovely or dramatic become even more. It’s the power of talent, skill, energy, and a giving up of oneself to the work.

When we do something with whispering passion the universe responds.

We see it in the church that isn’t our own that makes us feel still, as if we know something holy. We hear it in the unfamiliar music that brings us home. We feel it in the fabric so well woven that it feels like a child’s face when she’s smiling. We smell it, taste it, days after a fine meal has been shared.

Human hearts, human thoughts, and human hands consume themselves to make something of integrity and love. If we start with the integrity and the love, the rest comes without a glance. It becomes just what we do. We breathe the difference into life.

It’s extraordinary — extraordinarily human.

When we hurt, when we laugh, when we win, lose, or learn something we never knew, we look for each other. We look for what only another person can add.

We change the world just by being. Imagine what happens when we do what we’re meant to do.

It’s not ordinary.

Nothing human is ordinary.

Find the extraordinary in you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!
Image sources: top-ETStrauss

Tunnels, Flying, and Where You Belong

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Building a Business Is for the Birds

Central American Archway - ETStrauss photo

Ever find yourself lost in a tunnel? Lost your job. Lost your best client. Lost your trust in yourself. How you got there isn’t the point. The problem is whether you’ll find your way out.

You’re faced with a choice. Do you keep walking forward, lay down in the dark, or try to blast through to the outside?

The voices in your head tell you that you’re foolish to think that anything but walking will get you anywhere. The voice in your heart is broken and tired. Yet the voice in your soul whispers, “Don’t give up.”

And you have this thought that maybe . . . well, they say that there is always a darkest hour . . . but you wonder whether the world you believe in exists only in your mind.

I’d like to offer one word.

Fly!

Fly out of that tunnel. That’s what the birds do. They take a deep breath, look to the light, and keep flying until they’re in the sun again.

Oh yeah, it’s work. Oh yeah, they get tired. But every instinct tells those birds to keep flying on, . . . and oh yeah, they sure seem to know when they get where they’re going. And when they get there, they sure look like they belong.

The world needs your song, your determination, and your laughter. The world needs you to “Build and Become.” No one else brings your version of clever.

Fly.

We’re waiting for you.

You belong in the sun.

Seagull landing

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!
Image sources: top-ETStrauss; bottom-sxc.hu

Everyone Is Looking at You. Will You Crash and Burn?

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The Whole World Is Watching

It’s a room filled with people. It’s a conference table. It’s a huge presentation. It’s a chance for the job you were born to do.

Suddenly, everyone is looking at you. You realize you don’t belong.

Any minute you expect blinding lights asking you, “Where were you on the night that you did the most dastardly thing we can make up?”

If you don’t do something fast, you’re going to crash and burn.

What Do You Do When People Are Looking at You?

In situations like that, we want to make our best impression. It’s easy to get self-conscious. We can feel everyone is judging us — so maybe we should too. We look for negatives. We imagine. We misconstrue. We misread social cues. Then we respond in ways that make the negative things actually happen. That’s the crash and burn part.

This sort of crash and burn can happen to anyone, but we’d like to avoid when we can.
Here are some ways to respond when it seems an unfriendly world is staring you down.

  1. Breathe. Deep long breaths bring oxygen to your brain to help you relax.

  2. Think. Remember who or what is more important than this.

  3. See. Picture a fabulous success from your past.

  4. Move. Reconnect with your senses. Create energy.

  5. Raise your chin. Lift your view and your opinion of yourself.

  6. Smile. Give a smile and get one in return.

  7. Talk. Say something positive.

  8. Look back. It’s hard to be self-conscious and self-involved when you’re truly interested in someone else.

It’s the “self” in self-conscious that throws us off. We start thinking impossible, imaginary thoughts. The room isn’t thinking about us nearly as much as we are. They don’t notice the details that we’re destroying ourselves for.

It helps a lot if we trust — ourselves and other folks.

What do you do when people are looking at you?

How do you look back?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Writing, Words, and People We Have Known

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I've been thinking . . .

about writing, words, and people.

When I write I am alone. No one can help. Every word needs to find its way from inside me. Yet. . . .

Every word comes touched, moved, expanded by the people I have met, interacted with, and loved. Those who have been in my life are inside, around, and through everything I write. They are present even in those bits I think are only about me.

I see every person I have ever known. All I’ve learned is in every word.

I cannot write today’s thoughts without revealing yesterday’s history.

The meanings of our words reflect the people we have known.

Liz's Signature

Give to Yourself First

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I've been thinking . . .

about what we give away. Most folks I know give away what they need most.

If we need to feel we belong, we give that feeling to everyone. If we respect, we’re respectful in every way. If we need a hug, that’s what we give.

Does that make us saints? . . . people pleasers? . . . victims?

The answer is in whether we give to ourselves.

When we give away what we need — that connection, that respect, that hug — to everyone, but ourselves we still need what we give. We give from weakness. We hope that someone will see and give back. Other people control whether our needs are met. We end up trying to please them. If they don’t, we can feel used.

If we give to ourselves first, we give from strength. That connection, that respect, that hug is given without needing a return gift. It’s easier to choose who deserves such gifts, because we’re giving without need. We’re stronger and more attractive.

Appreciation. Respect. Trust. Love.

Give them to yourself first.

The world needs us to do that.

Liz's Signature

Are You Listening to Loud Voices or Your Own?

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I've been thinking . . .

about loud voices.

Ever notice that in some conversations, the loudest voices, not the wisest voices, seem to win? The Internet can be that way sometimes. Sometimes we pass on broken ideas as if they are the only way something should, could or would be done. Loud-voice logic is not always the most compelling, though it may be the most passed on.

When too much information is coming my way, I fall victim to this “loud-voice listening.” When I’m unsure and looking for answers, I find myself following loud voices, because they seem so certain themselves.

When I’m tied for time, I take the first answer that works. That first answer is usually the loudest voice nearby. Unfortunately the first answer is rarely the best answer for me. Best answers happen when I follow my own voice — not that I get it right every time.

Loud voices are wrong just as often as I’ve ever been.

It’s work sorting through voices, especially the loud ones, to figure out my own thoughts. It takes time to decide what’s worth action and what’s not. It’s an effort to see behind the words to the possible missing or broken thoughts. Time and energy aren’t resources that come in unlimited supply.

So I find the voices I trust and listen to them.

Then I wonder . . .
When I sound certain without even knowing I do, am I just a loud voice to someone else?

Liz's Signature

Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!