The other night I had the opportunity to listen to one of my “heroes” in person, Jillian Michaels… For those who don’t know her, she used to be one of the Biggest Loser coaches and now does her own workout DVDs etc. She is awesome and one of the hardest/shortest workouts I have ever done. She doesn’t let you just quit.
Well, on Tuesday night as apart of the Public Affairs week at Missouri State University, she was invited to speak about ….. And wow, did she motivate and inspire me. As well as kick my tushy from her platform. She had many amazing things to say but what got me was things that I have heard and been told in other areas of my life. Only this time, I was really listening.
“You can tolerate the how if you have a why.” — that doesn’t just go for working out and loosing weight but also life. This photography business. Last sum
mer, at the Photography Awesomesauce Workshop, they talked about not having a passion for photography if you don’t know your why (a post for another day) But here yet again someone else was ‘yelling’ it at me.
She mentioned having a detailed and defined plan for your life. If you don’t have one, you will just stay stuck. And literally, she is right. We followed the expectations of life, the ones we believe we are supposed to follow “work, eat, sleep, repeat.” Michaels said, “Living in this way makes us …ugh… where we power down.” She reminded us that the only obligation we are required to follow is the one where we need to contribute our awesomeness.
“Hey go out into the world and be awesome.”
She said that our passion shuts down because we are not doing what we want. To turn it back on, we have to start feeling moment to moment. Michaels suggested an exercise of setting an alarm every hour to get yourself off of auto pilot. “Ask yourself, how does this make me feel.”
Another exercise she suggested was one about fear that reminded me of the book Uncertainty (the business book I just finished!) Writing down three scenarios — What if it works, What if it doesn’t, What if you do nothing.
“If you try, truthfully you will live through your failure and grow and succeed. If you don’t the worse will always happen.”
“If you are stuck or suffering, you wake up tomorrow and you say why not me and look to change dynamics… have courage to change… When you do that, it will be a greater richer life, greater richer work…”
All in all, I left the presentation, inspired in my personal life, my work life, my photography life, and even my weight loss journey. I can’t wait to sit down and start detailing out a little bit better!
Who inspires you?