Inspired By Who You Meet - In Person & Through Social Media

YOU INSPIRE THE WORLD!
This week I did two book signings & a couple of workshops to show people how to draw your dreams into reality and promote my new book Drawing Solutions:  How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your LIfe.  I was completely inspired by who I met and the stories they told.  Here are a few of them:

You are resilient and committed to self-actualization despite the odds.

At 3rd Place Books in Lake Forest Park north of Seattle, I heard an amazing story.  One of my participants recalled an employee meeting at her job where the boss showed them Maslow's chart of hierarchy of needs.  He said "With this job you will never become self-actualized.  You will only meet your most basic needs.  You will be able to pay your bills and buy a new refrigerator if you need one.  And that is it.  If you want to become self-actualized, leave now.  We are never going to do anything to make this job any better!"  This woman said she stuck it out for many years, while growing more and more miserable.  


She realized she needed to build her strength and courage, accept that she was going to have to create a change. Then, she watched the Draw Your Future TEDxRainier video and shortly thereafter heard a Billy Joel song playing in the store where she worked, "This job is going to give you a heartattack-ack-ack-ack..."  and she said, something snapped.  She went right into her boss's office and quit.  Now she is off on a big adventure - first traveling, then setting up the business she's always dreamed about and despite not having it all buttoned up, she's never been more excited.


You pursue your dreams.

Emily didn't even see the talk or the video, but when her mother showed her this template, something clicked!  Now she is running her own Vision to Reality groups on Orcas Island.

You want to make a difference.

Diego saw the video on YouTube and he contacted me through social media.  He and his team are helping to lift kids out of poverty by teaching them innovation and creativity skills in some of the poorest schools where he lives in Chile.  He contacted me because he was using Alex Osterwalders' business model innovation.  He is teaching young people how to become micro-entrepreneurs and he wanted to add our Snapshot of the Big Picture process to his toolkit.  Would I let them use it?Absolutely.  Like Diego, I am committed to offering tools to everyone, everywhere.

You inspire all of us to dream big dreams and work hard to make them happen.

Aaron is a fantastic cartoonist who came to my workshop at the San Juan Island library.  He is working hard on his vision and building his team, despite the health issues he has to deal with everyday.  He's also got great support, his very cool brother.

I know you have big dreams.  Draw them and send them to me so I can share them with the world.  Every one of us matters.  Your dreams elevate the rest of us.  Thank you for being here.

Love,

Patti

When It Comes to Getting Advice, To Thine Own Self Be True

People love to give advice. No matter what I am doing or interested in doing in the future, if I share my idea or “what’s up with me” with someone else, they always have something to say about it. Some of the things they share are cautionary and come from a fear based perspective, others are supportive, expansive, and often take my idea to a higher level. No matter which perspective their advice comes from, I try to remember whatever I am hearing is only information and I can do with it what I will.

Now if I followed everyone’s advice, I would currently be sporting straight brown hair, an extensive tattoo all the way down my left arm, have had lasik surgery 18 times, made and lost my fortune that came from my extensive career as an engineer specializing in concrete innovations like coffee laden barista mugs sporting pictures of the goddess superimposed onto the face of a famous basketball star. Need I say how critical it is to do only the things you think will be successful?

Case in point, recently I’ve been shopping around for an agent to represent my book. I’ve gotten lots of interest from agents across the country and I have been selectively responding, sending my proposal only to those, who after some research, seem to me to be a “good fit”.

I got a call from Mike Ebeling www.ebelingagency.com who gave me some great feedback on how to improve my proposal. Since I am well aware how easily I am influenced by OPO (other people’s opinions), I knew that the most important thing I could do was to take in his advice, be gracious and see if what he had said “rang true” for me. He had kindly said something like, “You really need to bump up everything you are doing to the next level. Look at your client list, Starbucks, Microsoft, Gates Foundation, you need to get them to endorse that book!” He gave me specifics on what else he thought I should do, and kindly sent me a sample of something he thought might paint a clear picture of what he meant.

One of my core Buckingham strengths www.strengthsfinder.com is INPUT, so when it comes to tips and tools and blogs and posts and samples and examples of the things I should know about, I typically shout, “BRING IT ON!”

Once I have gathered and read what feels like “enough” information, I ask myself, “Is this the right choice for me?” Seems like a simple enough question, and it is unless you have some kind of relationship with the person giving you that advice and are worried that by not following their tips, you may jeopardize that relationship. It can pretty much derail you when you try to heed anyone else’s opinion over your own. Letting yourself be ruled by the thinking of another often leads to no where fast.

Once I have settled on the right decision for me, then I take action to get whatever it is done right away. In this case, I upgraded my personal website www.pattidobrowolski.com found someone to help produce a broadcast quality video www.threechicksmedia.com and I cashed in a few favors with my layout pal Brad, to help make that proposal look ultra-snazzy! All of that will take about two weeks to complete but at the end, thanks to Mike’s advice, I will be upgraded.

What process do you use to filter or integrate advice? It’s your boat out there in the water and you sink or swim accordingly. My advice to you, (if you want anymore of it), is to make sure you take all the time in the world to make decisions that are right for you and above all To Thine Own Self Be True.