Posts by Lisa Work

A New Visionary Mom

Posted by Lisa Work in Resources + News | 0 comments

Welcome to the new space for Visionary Mom! The Visionary Mom Toolkit is ready and FULL of videos, worksheets and powerful actions to make your dreams a reality. Please, go check it out, it’s my gift to you for being part of this community.

I just wanted to take a minute to say hi, welcome back and I hope you are ready to rock it!

I’ll be back blogging like a woman on a mission tomorrow.. for today.. head on over to The Toolkit and have a look around. (if you are on my mailing list already, check your inbox, the link to access the toolkit should be waiting for you.)

And then, I just want to say THANK YOU! Thanks for visiting this space, for saying hi, for sharing Visionary Mom with your mom friends and for just being YOU. I’m really fully of love and gratitude that you come by and spend part of your day here with me.

See you tomorrow. xo, Lisa

Updates and Checking In

Posted by Lisa Work in Resources + News | 0 comments

Hey Mamas!

I am mad dashing to the finish line, putting all the final touches on the Visionary Mom Toolkit.  Wowzas!  This thing is pretty intense!  I’ve totally poured my heart into it, creating a rock solid resource that will help each and every one of you get way more stuff done in your life.

But not just any stuff… that wild, set your heart free, do what you love, live with passion kind of stuff.

If you want to get in on the action.. be sure to sign up for my newsletter over there to the right and I’ll send you your free, all access the pass to The Toolkit the very second it’s ready.

And then, I have a new Visionary Mom Team starting at the end of the week, and I am so in love with the moms on that team already!!

With this new team, I am reworking the structure and delivery of the program to help you really, no kidding accomplish some big things during our four months of working together.  There will be more laser, specific to YOUR needs coaching from me, an easier interface to help you get right to work, and alot more digging in, clearing out the junk that gets in your way.

But it’ll still have that amazing safe, intimate, nurturing space that all the teams have loved.

There is still a spot or two available if you want to jump in, by the way.     Details here.

AND, on top of all that,  I’m doing a remodel of this space… whew!  No wonder I feel a bit nuts!

Without a doubt, there are some crazy new, big happenings around here!!

I am so out of this world excited.

There are good, powerful things coming your way.  Look out!

So, needless to say, but wanted to come by here to say so anyway…

I probably won’t be around here too much this week and may in fact put up a big ugly, “closed for maintenance sign” at some point.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

But, the shut down should be short and then I’ll be back, balls to the wall, ready to help you make every single, amazing, fantabulous dream of yours come true.

Ta ta for now….  Rock on!!

Are You Doing The Right Work?

Posted by Lisa Work in Productivity + Motivation | 0 comments

Do you ever doubt yourself, wondering if you are doing the right stuff to make your dreams happen?

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As you set out to work on your goals, the question will ineveitably show up, “is this what I should be doing?”

More than anything, you want to succeed, you want your business plan to work, you want your creative endeavors to flourish, and you want your projects to win.

With a to do list a mile long, it is super easy to get overwhelmed and to doubt, doubt, doubt.

Here is how to tell if you are doing the “right” work:

1.  Do you have a plan that is well thought out and creates a clear path to where you are going?  If you need some help making a good,  potent plan, check out my Make A Plan Workshop.

2.  Have you looked at the specific tasks that you need to take in order to make your goals happen?

3.  Are those specific tasks in your calendar and are you using your calendar to plan out your work each day?

4.  Are your tasks moving things forward, or are they just busy work?  This is a big one!  We all can easily get sucked into time wasters (facebook) and trick ourselves into thinking that we are “doing work” but really, we are just spinning our wheels.

5.  Is the work you are doing fulfilling your vision, making happen the life you imagine?

6.  Are you filled up and nurtured by what you are working on?

7.  When you finish a task, are you left with a feeling of satisfaction?

8.  Is how you’re spending your time producing results?  Those results could be actual clients, new newsletter subscribers, or it could be learning something new or getting yourself organized.  Watch yourself with this one!  We can spend tons and tons of time “educating” ourselves – there is so much good information out there.  But if that’s all you’re spending your time on, if you don’t apply your learning and use it to make stuff happen, then you are not producing results.  Don’t fool yourself!

9.  Do you love what you are doing? Is your soul singing?

10.  Can you see your goals getting closer?  Does the finish line feel not so far away?  Can you see yourself finishing and achieving your goals?  This is a good sign that you are, in fact, doing the right work- when you question yourself less and less.

The real answer here is that you are doing the right work – your right work – if you are satisfied and fulfilled, if you feel like you are accomplishing things and making your dreams happen.

If you don’t feel like that, then guess what?  You probably aren’t doing the “right” work.  You’re likely spending your time doing “should” stuff or things you’ve agreed to that have nothing to do with your dreams and goals.

But, don’t stress if that’s the case.  It’s never too late to get started- to begin.  Use these 10 guidelines to check in with yourself, and get yourself back in the game of living your dreams and accomplishing your goals.

How to Juggle It All

Posted by Lisa Work in Mom + Work Balance, Productivity + Motivation | 3 comments

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You are a mom and have all the stuff to do that being a mom requires. You also have to make your home tidy and a happy place, and you probably also want it to be lovely and super welcoming. You may also work, or have your own business, or you dream of starting your own business. And what about being creative? Or your friends, traveling, working in your garden and all the other amazing stuff you hope to accomplish in this life?

How in the heck do you juggle it all and get it all done?

Truthfully, you probably won’t be able to.

Say what?  

It’s true. When you are about big stuff, living inspired, and following your dreams, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to do it all.

At any given point, you are probably dropping the ball with something.

The key is in how you look at it.

You can either beat yourself up, feel like crud and wish you could “just do things better.”

Or, you can deal with the chaos that sometimes comes with living a big life!

Accept that life will not always be perfect, you will not always have it all together in every single area of your life, and you will often drop the ball with things.

To really truly follow your dreams, you’ll probably need to prioritize and decide what things are really important and what things are fine to let go.

One of the biggest things is to let go of being perfect.

When you are truly orientated around your dreams, your passion and what you want your life to be about, things like having a perfectly neat home may not matter. Sure, you will want to tidy up and not let things get out of control, but spending hours every day making things just right is likely unnecessary.

Unless your thing is interior design and decorating and that is what you are truly passionate about. Then you probably will spend tons of time making your home just so, but you decide to let go of baking bread every week and making all your food from scratch.

You get the idea. Focus on what is truly important to you and let go of the stuff that, sure in an ideal world would be great to have perfect, but in this world, let go of the stuff that doesn’t really matter.

Giving yourself permission to just focus on your good stuff and let go of the rest – this will free you up to truly live your magical life.

When Failure Strikes, Just Keep Moving Forward

Posted by Lisa Work in Mindset and Getting Unstuck, Videos | 8 comments

I know, sometimes easier said than done!  Failure can really de-rail us and leave us feeling unmotivated, frustrated and like maybe we should just give up on this dreaming business.

But, all of us fail.  Things go off plan, accidents happen, stuff we could never have predicted throw us a curve ball.  All of that is really a normal part of making big things happen in life.

Here is me talking about a recent failure of mine and my very best advice on how to deal with things when they go off track.

So, how do you deal with failure??  Share in the comments below!

How Can You Work In That Mess?

Posted by Lisa Work in Mom + Work Balance, Productivity + Motivation | 2 comments

Here’s a quick productivity tip:  Clean up your workspace.

I know, it sounds simple enough, but this is an important aspect of being productive, motivated and inspired to get to work.  And by work, I mean taking action on your dreams, being creative and doing that thing that totally inspires you.

This is what my desk looks like at the moment:

Kind of scary!

About once per week, I notice myself feeling unmotivated, sluggish, and totally not inspired to work.  Then, I realize that my desk is a mess!  This is where I work, but I just don’t want to hang out here when it looks like this.

Now, I know this about myself.  Messy desk = Lisa doesn’t feel like working.  Sitting here frustrates me and stops the flow of creativity. Big time!

And yet, about once per week… my desk becomes a big ol’ crazy mess!  And I wind up feeling tired and sluggish, with zero motivation.

No accident.

The space that you work in will either totally inspire you and motivate you, or it will bring you down and exhaust you.

For me, it’s a quick fix – just clean it up, put everything away, open the window to let in some fresh air, and voila!  I have a happy workspace again.  It’s not perfect or even my ideal desk/work space, but it allows me to get to work.

Chaotic messiness slows things down.

A clean open space allows for creativity.

Simple as that.

Take a look at where you do your work, whatever your inspired work may be.  Does it call you over, inviting you to get stuff done?  Or do you avoid that space because it’s chaotic and totally unwelcoming?

What can you do, this weekend, to make a space that will welcome you and inspire you?  What can you do to open up that flow of creativity?

Are Your Dreams a Priority?

Posted by Lisa Work in Dreaming Big + Vision | 0 comments

I know that you have dreams and I also know that those dreams are important to you.

But, are you giving those big, awesome dreams of your top billing in your life?

Do you make fulfilling them a priority?  Are you sure??

It’s reality check time.

Take 5 minutes to do this quick exercise:

1. Look at the past week (or, if it’s been an out of the norm week, pick a recent “normal” week).
2. Write down everything that you did.  How did you spend your time?   What things did you work on?   See if you can map it out with everything in it, including how much time you spent on each thing.
3. Then look it over.  What are you spending your time working on?

My list - LOTS of time working! Which is my big dream right now.. yay!

This will reveal for you your priorities.

The stuff on your list are the things that are getting your attention.

How much of that attention is focused on your dreams?  Tell the honest to goodness truth here.  Are your dreams getting top billing?  Or are you squeezing in very little time (or no time!) to actually make your dreams come true?

If what you learned here was bad news, guess what?  It’s actually good news!  Why?  Because now you can do something about it.

If you start making your dreams a priority, this really cool thing happens – you’ll start to see those awesome dreams of yours come true!

Supermom vs. Visionary Mom – It’s time to get REAL!

Posted by Lisa Work in Loving Yourself + Life, Mindset and Getting Unstuck, Mom + Work Balance, Raising Visionary Kids | 0 comments

There is so much pressure out there to be perfect.

To be the most unflawed mothers and women we can possibly be.

It’s crazy really.  I actually think it’s crippling our ability to be good moms.  We are so dang focused on getting everything just right in fear that if we don’t – we’ll mess up our kids.   And that hyper attention to being perfect has us fail to be in the moment and pay attention to what our kids really need.

I know I do this.  I stress about the food I am feeding them, what kind of school they should go to, should they even go to school?  Are the clothes they’re wearing made from natural materials?  What about their toys?  What’s in that sun tan lotion?  How do I discipline them so I don’t squash who they are?

MUST.GET.IT.ALL.CORRECT.

Everywhere we look we are bombarded with messages that we are not doing enough.

Even at playgroups.  We try to put on our happy faces and share about how amazing our kids are.  We don’t talk about our problems, the real struggles we are having behind the scenes.  Our flaws.

Our fears.

We just don’t talk about that stuff!  We want the people around us to see that we are doing a good job.  We want to feel like we aren’t messing things up.

Lately, I have been talking with so many moms, who’ve been opening up about the problems they have in their marriage.   I think that now that I am divorced, it’s “safe” to talk to me about these things.  But, before, I just never heard about what was really happening behind closed doors with my friends.  I know I never talked about the problems my ex and I were having.

There is so much shame and so much fear that people will discover we aren’t perfect, that we don’t have it all together, that things are broken.

It’s terrible!

When faced with this kind of shame and fear, most of us hide.  We stuff those problems down and work extra hard to get all that other stuff just right.

We get sucked into a cycle of trying to be super-mom, super-spouse, super-woman.

And the harder you try to get things “just right” the more you question yourself, the more you feel like you are failing, the more inadequate you feel.     The more you doubt yourself and feel like you are falling short, the more detached you become, the more hidden, the more inauthentic and so, totally not YOU!

This leads to trying to be someone we aren’t.   Trying to be that “super mom”  – which is not who you really are!

Being a great mom and a great person - involves one simple thing:

Being yourself.

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Fully sharing who you are, loving the way that you love, taking care of your home in a way that make you happy, spending time with your kids in an authentic way vs. how you think you “should” be doing things.  Doing things that work for YOU.

I know that’s not always easy.  But that’s what it is to be a Visionary Mom.

• A Visionary Mom is someone who is totally in love with her kids, but doesn’t sacrifice her own identity in service of them.
• A Visionary Mom is someone who has dreams and courageously chases those dreams.
• A Visionary Mom stands for things that truly matter to her, even if it is not what everyone else thinks is the right path.
• A Visionary Mom embraces her imperfections and is not afraid to talk about the down and dirty challenges she faces in her life.
• A Visionary Mom does not strive to be perfect, instead she works hard to be herself.

It’s time to stop working so dang hard to get things right.

It’s time to get real – about who YOU are, what YOU stand for, and what matters to YOU.  If you are struggling with things, maybe those things are not what REALLY matter to you.

Here’s an example.  Say you obsess about feeding your kids perfectly.  You want them to be healthy and you worry about it.  But, you find yourself NOT doing the things you say you’re going to do.  Maybe, just maybe – eating a 100% clean perfect diet is not what is REALLY important to you.  Yes, we should feed our kids good food and, of course, we want them to be healthy.  But, trying to be perfect about it?  NOTHING is healthy about that!

For some people eating really well and having a hyper focus on food is their passion – it takes no effort, it is just what they love and implementing good eating habits and always serving “perfect” food is as easy as breathing for them. But, for you, you struggle.  So maybe it is time to cut yourself some slack and get real.  Yes, you will try to feed your kids healthy eats, but making yourself crazy about it is not really serving you – or your kids!

Look at this with anything in your life.  If it is hard and an effort and you spend an insane amount of time beating yourself up for “not getting it right” – maybe your attention is on being supermom vs. being a Visionary Mom.

A Visionary Mom works hard to live an inspired life, which has nothing to do with getting it right.

If eating perfectly inspires you – do it.  If it’s sucking the fun out of life, let it go.    Focus instead on nurturing your kids in other ways that work for you, that inspire you, and that leave you feeling awesome about who you are!

That is the biggest difference between being a Visionary Mom and a Super Mom.  “Super moms” make themselves crazy trying to be perfect.

Visionary Moms are true to themselves and let things go, in service of being happy and fulfilled.

Cultivating Your Passion – Part 2 – Easy Steps to Keep Your Dreams Alive

Posted by Lisa Work in Dreaming Big + Vision, Loving Yourself + Life | 0 comments

I think we have all experienced that feeling of loosing touch with our dreams.

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When your motivation, your passion, the joy and enthusiasm disappears and the only thing you’re left with is frustration, disappointment, doubt and questioning yourself.

No fun!

Well here are few easy things you can do to keep your dreams alive.

1.  Create a Vision Board that you have up in front of you, reminding you and pulling you back into the yumminess of your dreams.

2.  Talk about and share your dreams often, with people who get it.  It is VERY hard for your dreams to live only inside of you.  To help them grow, you have to water them and the best way to do that is to talk about what you love with people who will get excited right along with you.

3.  Make a plan to fulfill your dreams so the path to get there is clear and feels doable.  Not knowing where you’re going is a sure fire way to leave you feeling overwhelmed and unsure.

4.  Find someone that will help you stay accountable.  Someone who wants you to win and will keep you pointed in the right direction.  Stop trying to do this alone!  There is something really powerful about reaching out and asking for help.

5.  Get back on the horse.  Things will likely happen that throw you off course, that challenge you and that make you feel like throwing in the towel.  But, you have to keep moving forward.  Giving up will get you nowhere.

6.  Believe in yourself and your dreams.  They matter.  YOU matter.  What you want to make happen in the world matters.  Remind yourself of this often.

7.  Be gentle with yourself.  Starting something new, diving into your dreams, going for it.  That is scary!  It’s risky.  So love on yourself as much as possible, be kind when you make mistakes, forgive yourself.  It takes real courage to live a passionate life and the rest of the world won’t always be behind you.  Be proud that you are doing – that your trying.  And be kind when that fear shows up to slow you down.

What are your dreams?  What are you truly passionate about?  What mark do you want to make on the world?

Cultivating Passion in Your Life – Part 1 – Dealing With The Naysayers

Posted by Lisa Work in Loving Yourself + Life, Mindset and Getting Unstuck | 2 comments

If you are just now joining us, this past week we’ve been looking at living a passionate life.

First we talked about Passion, Purpose and Vision, then How finding your passion is not as hard as we make it out to be.

Today, let’s chat about Cultivating Passion

The word cultivate is usually used for gardening.  It’s about preparing your soil, creating an environment for growth.  And that is exactly what you need to do if you’re going to live a passionate life.

You have to create an environment that allows for passion to live and grow.

One of the biggest roadblocks to expressing and celebrating whatever it is you’re passionate about is nay-sayers.

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You know those people in your life that like to tell you how hard it’s going to be, what silly ideas you have, how you have to be practical and careful?  How it can’t be done?   Those people.

I know that when I am fired up about an idea, so freaking excited that I can’t settle down, I just want to talk about it.  Except that the person talking to could care less.

But, I am a talker, so I plow forward anyway, hoping that they will get excited.

The more I go on about my brilliant, exciting idea, the more they have to poo-poo my vision.  But, Lisa, “you can’t do that… you have to think about the kids.  How much will that cost?  That sounds great, in theory, but you have to be realistic.”    and on and on they go, telling me why it can’t be done.

And pretty much right away, I’m deflated.   Sound familiar?

It is really, really hard to share our enthusiasm into negativity.

What often happens is instead of creating more excitement and love for your idea, you move into convincing, defending, selling, trying to talk someone into something that they are just not interested in, at all.

There is absolutely no passion in that.  Zero. Ziltch.  Nada.

When you are in big time convincing mode, are you inspired?

No way!

Probably you are annoyed, frustrated, and maybe even a bit angry.  Personally, I have gotten into full on fights with people I really love because they just “don’t get it.”  Stuff like this can actually ruin relationships.

And your dreams.

Because if you are only surrounded by people that “don’t get it” – you never, ever get the opportunity to really share your  passion.  And worse?  You don’t get to be heard.

You don’t get to experience your dreams and your ideas, your inspiration and excitement, uplifted, celebrated and acknowledged as worth going after.

And, that sucks.

So, the first step in cultivating passion in your life is to find people that “get it” – people that will support you, cheer you on, encourage you and say, “yes, you can do this!”

Not everyone in your life is going to be like that, so you want to make sure you have some people who are.  To counter balance the people that want to talk you down.

I’ve heard advice to just get rid of the naysayers, to leave them behind as you move into new possibilities in your life.  Personally, I don’t agree with this advice.  Yes, if you have truly toxic relationships that eat at your soul and leave you feeling unsafe, my advice is 100% walk away.

But, there are people that really love you and only want what’s best for you.  They just aren’t big time dreamers, chasing after possibilities.   Living a passionate life is not their thing.  So they are not going to back you up as you go chasing after your dreams.  But they still matter and are important to you.

So, the best thing to do is just let them be.  Don’t try to change them.  Stop trying to convince them to live the way you live.  And stop trying to get their approval and support for your big ideas.

Instead, go find other people in your life to fill that role.

Give those people a big giant part in helping you achieve your dreams.  Engage with them often, share your ideas, let them share theirs.  Built up these relationships to you can stay afloat when those other people try to bring you down.  Let your community of big time dreamers be your life raft in a sea of “it can’t be done.”   And that, my friends, is the world out there.  It can’t be done is seen and heard everywhere you go.

The best defense?  Find and be a part of an amazing community of people who will cheer you on as you explore and pursue your dreams.

Having trouble finding this kind of community?  I have a solution for you!  The Visionary Mom Teams are designed to provide exactly this type of role in your life.    A team of women – of mothers – who get it.  Who want to live extraordinary lives and who want YOU to do the same.  Recently, a mom on one of the teams wrote this about her experience:

“I joined a visionary mom team in the last few months of my Ph.D.  I have a two year old son, and I was feeling exasperated about the amount of stress I was under, all the work I had to do, and the effects that this was having on my relationship with my son.  The problem was there was no one in my life who was really supporting me in my goals of finishing school and being a good mama.  The visionary mom team became a huge part of my support system.  I found the other women on my team so inspiring and I love hearing about their lives.  Even though we were working on totally different things, we also had a lot in common in our drive for self improvement and love of our kids.     I felt like I was really heard and that I was understood and accepted for who I am.”  ~Tatiana

I really do think that having this kind of community in our lives makes THE BIGGEST difference in us being able to do the things we love.

The next Visionary Mom Team starts on July 1st, and we have a few spots still available.  If you are needing/wanting this kind of support to help you fulfill your dreams, please come and play with us!

Details about the team are here.

And then, next up – Part 2 in cultivating your passion – easy steps to keep your dreams alive.

See you tomorrow!