“You don’t have to validate your actions to anyone!”  These were the words spoken tonight by one of my mentors, John Di Lemme.  Although they were meant for an entire audience, I felt as though he was staring me in the face confident that this message would change my life.  How many times have we taken action in our lives excited about getting results when all of a sudden we get stopped by a friend, family member or colleague who begins to question our decision?  They boldy ask us “why would you do that?” or “you actually think that could happen?” or even “you must be insane thinking you will get there.  There is no way!” 

Ah yes, don’t you just love unsolicited ”advice”  from someone not pursuing their dreams so they try to tear yours down?  And the worst part about it is that sometimes we actually start to believe them!!  That tiny little voice in our head that we worked so hard to quiet down when making this huge action taking decision in the first place starts to creep back in and gets louder and louder.  “Could they be right?…What have I done?…Who am I to think that I could do that?”  And then we begin to validate to that person why we made our decision in the first place.  We begin to share our thought process and validate to someone why we are doing what we are doing as if we need their approval on something before moving forward.

STOP!  Why do we feel the need to validate our actions to someone who is doubting us in the first place?  When we decide to take action and make big things happen we must be prepared to believe in ourselves 100%!  We must have faith in ourselves and know that we will achieve our dreams.  We must be prepared to take action every day and not give anyone the power to make us start to doubt ourselves. 

One of my favorite quotes is by Eleanor Roosevelt “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  Believe in yourself.  Keep moving forward.  Stop validating and start believing!  Thanks, John!

Smiles

Kate

7 days with no phone, email or internet….I know, I know…I didn’t believe it was possible either, but it was fabulous!  From Mexico to Honduras to Belize, I spent  an amazing 7 day on the Champions Cruise with Christie and John Di Lemme and 60other amazing  individuals and it was unbelievable…or as one of our tour guides would say…UnBELIZEable!!  I just love that!!! 

We enjoyed crazy fabulous excursions, getting to know the group and of course masterminding.  I’m not going to lie…I was definitely nervous about being so “disconnected” from everything for an entire week and there were times when I started getting a bit overwhelmed thinking about all that I was missing, but I make the decision to STOP and shut it off.  We all need time to step away from our busy lives (both personal and professional) and just relax and enjoy.  Not only do I feel rejuvenated, but I am so psyched about some of my new goals and I feel more committed than ever about taking action to make sure I achieve them!  There is nothing like getting away for a bit to help put your life back into perspective.   

I went tubing in Belize, Snuba diving (yep, that’s snuba…not scuba…google it) in Costa Maya, hung out in Honduras and cruised in one of the biggest ships in the world!  It was an absolutely fabulous experience and one that I will cherish forever.  I made some great friends and I am excited about having them in my life.   

We all have so much going on in our lives and it can be challenging to get away, but I encourage everyone to take some time for yourself to stop over thinking and doing.  Take time to step out of your business and truly enjoy some amazing experiences.  Of course this doesn’t mean you have to book at week long cruise (although I would highly recommend it and can’t wait to go on another one), but do something that takes you out of “your world”.  Get together a group of like-minded people to hang out, mastermind and enjoy!  Happy Dreaming!

After another night of barely four hours of sleep, I jumped…ok…well…stepped out of bed, but before my feet even touched the floor my mind was already racing thinking about the many things I had to get done that day.  Proposals, emails, calls, staff changes, interviews…oh the list went on and on when finally I said STOP, a trick I learned from my friend and absolutely fabulous entrepreneur, Barry Gottlieb  to remind myself to shut it off and be calm.

Day after day I was finding myself caught in this same routine of overthinking and overstressing and for what?  Why is it that we are so good at becoming overwhelmed with the many things we have on our plate each day?  We all have goals we look forward to accomplishing and often times we put so much pressure on ourselves to get them done RIGHT NOW.  We are continually working on our next project and quite honestly it can be exhausting. 

Lately I have realized that the only reason I am able to come up with creative ideas or get something done more efficiently is because of my past experiences and what I have learned from them.  Although some were quite challenging (and I would never have chosen to go through them), the things we have gone through in our lives make us stronger, more educated and ultimately more fabulous! 

So the next time you are faced with a challenge, instead of getting stressed, embrace it.  Take full advantage of the opportunity and know that you WILL get through it.  Instead of thinking about not wanting to “deal with it”, focus on realizing that at the other end is a stronger and more fabulous you!

Love public speaking? While most won’t jump at the chance to get in front of an audience, it is a great skill that we can improve according to Corey Saban, President of CS Media Works. The Boca Chamber had another fabulous PULSE luncheon and Corey shared his tips and tricks on how to effectively give a presentation and position yourself as the expert.

I always enjoy these young professionals luncheons as it gives us an opportunity to not only network with each other, but also become more educated on various topics from experts in our community like Corey. In addition to learning how to engage the audience, develop a solid outline to ensure your presentation is clear and on track, Corey also talked about body language and developing a relationship with your audience and potential clients/customers.

Thank you, Corey, for an awesome event! I look forward to seeing more young professionals come out to our events and join in our community!! Until then…stay fabulous!

Committed to Your Success,

Kate

I was at an awesome event tonight held by one of my fabulous friends, Sandy Donovan, who runs BNI chapters here in South Florida. Not only did we get to hear a fantastic speaker, Frank De Raffele, but I met some really cool people doing some great things in business.

I was also inspired by Sandy to decide what my theme of the year would be. As the leader of BNI, they come up with a theme for the organization each year which is awesome, but what about personally….how cool to have a personal theme each year!!! Sandy and her team chose the theme “Adding Value”….love that!!!

So, what’s YOUR personal theme this year? What are you going to strive to do this year? I still have to come up witih mine!

Entrepreneur Magazine Creative…Passionate…Courageous…Entrepreneurs ROCK!! Today I attended the Entrepreneur Magazine Growth 2.0 Conference and it was AMAZING!! The energy…the excitement…the ENTREPRENEURS attending!!! What a fabulous day!

While the entire day was fantastically filled with great speakers, presentations and lots of helpful tips and tricks, the highlight for me was meeeting the 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year, Rick Alden, Skullcandy and College Entrepreneur of the Year, Bradley Ericson, 3SecondReceipts! Both absolutely driven, passionate and amazingly creative guys!! I had a blast hanging out with them and listening to their stories!!

Check them out!!

For those of us who have ever been branded as too picky, unrealistic or simply playing the lead character in our very own romantic comedy, do you ever start to wonder if maybe you really are expecting too much? Too much out of a relationship…career…friends and family….life?!!

As we move along in our journey, we all try to make the best decisions and hope that we will have our happy ending, but why is it that so many people choose “good” when they could have “great”? We must make tough decision for ourselves in faith that greatness is just around the corner, block or sometimes miles down the road (and this is when it gets tough to hold out for great). Either way, it will be worth the wait, right? Or is this expecting too much?

Have you ever given up good to make room for great? Whether it was for love or another dream of yours, what did you have to sacrifice and what happened when you did?

Ever spend a ridiculous amount of time wondering “what if” or “should have”? When we make a decision, we’ve made it. We’ve left a job, broke up with a boyfriend, paid for that trip, bought that car, went out on that date. We can’t turn back time. It’s done. Why then, do we often times spend hours talking about the past and what we should have done.

As my amazingly wise father tells me, “You make a decision based on the circumstances you are going through and how you feel at that time so once you make a decision, you’ve made it and it’s time to move forward.” Yep, still after all of these years he is full of great advice. It’s a shame I don’t always listen to him the first time he offers his words of wisdom.

We all make “mistakes”, experience failures, do things less than perfectly (shhhh…don’t tell anyone), but each of these things only makes us grow stronger, allows us to see our lives in a different way, helps build our character and…well…makes our lives interesting. Think about how much energy you save when you stop thinking about what you could have done. Bottom line…you didn’t. It’s way more fun…and productive…to think about what’s next to come!!

There just something about the start of a new year that is…well…new…fresh! It’s like we get to start over. New plans. New dreams! It’s crazy how fast time goes by and how every year we seem to say the same things by the end of the year. “This will be there year that I do ________!” What is your “blank”? What will 2010 be for you? What will YOU create this year?

It’s one thing to say it, but it is quite another to actually put your plans in place. My hope is for you to take action. Do. Be. Create! Truly make 2010 the best year of your life!

May 2010 be filled with love, laughs, happiness and tons of fabulousness!!

“WHAT?!!!” is all I could get out of my mouth as tears streamed down my face! Let’s just say that yesterday didn’t go quite as I had planned both professionally and personally. As I sat in my car going over the conversation three…four…twenty times…all I could think about was what I “should” have said, “could” have done. Why was it so difficult to just be open? Be honest? Be vulnerable?

Why is it that some days we know exactly what we want and where we want to be and others so full of doubt, frustration and loneliness? My imagination had completely taken over flashing the worst case scenarios all staring me as the pit in my stomach grew out of control! I could feel the color drain out of my face as I contemplated who to call or what to do.

One phone call later and the knots in my stomach started to unwind. My sense of doubt, frustration and complete overwhelm started to lift off of my shoulders. Who would have guessed that my baby brother was so insightful and full of the exact words I needed to hear during my oh so fun “pity party”.

Things don’t always go the way we think they will. Things don’t always happen the way we think we should. Be thankful because maybe they are just not supposed to. Something bigger and better may be waiting to show up. Be faith-filled. Be thankful. Be you! Be open to the many opportunities that life brings your way.

Thank you, Joseph!