SURPRISE YOURSELF THIS YEAR This month I have met the most amazing people, some I expected to meet and others, wow, just showed up. CHILDREN'S STOREFRONT At the edge of Harlem is a school where I went to teach Visual Goal Setting two weeks ago, to the students in grades 2nd - 8th. I met the Board President in a restaurant in upstate NY, in one of those "chance encounters" while working for PepsiCo.  He asked if I would come teach his students my process.  So I volunteered to go and it was a complete BLAST! That's not to say it was not challenging,  In a radio interview with the ever fabulous Serene Mastrianni fromRadio2Women, she asked what did I hope for in my experience there?  I said, "To be relevant."  Honestly that's the goal with every audience, but in this case, I knew the kids might possibly be the hardest. Was I ever surprised! They challenged me and loved me into bringing 500% of myself. Here's a little about this amazing community at CS: it’s a place of genuine hope for the families of this Harlem neighborhood. The landscape of New York City is ever changing and continually presents new challenges. The Children’s Storefront prepares young people to rise to those challenges and to expand their ideas of what is possible for them.   These kids were ON FIRE so I expected the best from them and they delivered.   The biggest surprise was that on the day I arrived, the Canadian Tenors were also at the school.  YES!  When my last class finished, I got to go down and be treated to the most amazing experience.  The Tenors singing with the Children's Storefront choir. SURPRISE! super thanks to Principal Wendy Reynoso and Ray Cameron, Board President for making this happen. Why Surprising Yourself is Important Whether you like it or not, you can get stuck in a rut in your thinking. It's the way that pattern making machine of a brain works.  Taking risks, doing something unexpected gets the neurons firing in your brain, makes you more resilient to change, ups your serotonin level and shows you new aspects of your true self. Getting in the Church I was also invited to lead the morning services and also a workshop at the Seattle Unity church.  Here, thanks to Rymii Kaio, I was able to talk about what's outside that 10% box that we know about how our brain works and speak to the 90% unknown. This was a great experience.  If you are interested in having me at your church, please pass this video on to your events coordinator.  It begins with some lovely music by the fantastic Erin McGaughan and friends, then leads into my talk, so listen and enjoy. COMING UP there are some exciting things happening that have come from meeting you.  I'll be presenting with OD expert Julie Boardman on Accelerating Change Using a Visual for the Junior League in Seattle, I'm speaking at the National Governors Association Meeting in DC, (thanks to lobbyist Lee Cowen who I met on a plane) and getting ready to go to Denver to do a workshop at the Annual Women's Conference.  I hope our paths cross and until they do, remember -  you create your own reality by how you respond to what is happening. Challenge yourself to be all that you are so you can step beyond what you already know into who you truly are. GOAL SETTING SEATTLE UNITY CHURCH Congregations and friends learn the power of visual goal setting using Drawing Solutions, Visual Goalsetting.  If you want to get revitalized or realigned, this 90 minute workshop  is a perfect way to do it! CHILDREN'S STOREFRONT VISUAL GOAL SETTING Have you been drawing your dreams into reality?It's not too late, nor too early to get started!   TRUEBLUE SALES CONFERENCE 2013 One of my favorite clients is TrueBlue. This company puts people to work and changes lives everyday.  If you want to create a visual that will help you tell your story to employees, to your clients, to the world, we can help you.