The Speakers Road to Utopia .....2 more sleeps to go

Some brave decisions have been made, the keynote is down to 45 minutes and the aliens have proved less than reliable in the beam me up stakes - so it looks like I'm going to Utopia International Retreat in Noosa after all.

For a short time yesterday I was led to believe by a client that storms were expected over the Gold Coast - that would be too much cosmic humour when all I want to see is some blue skies.

BUT it appears clouds are not showing up on the Sunshine Coast but the weather report is looking quite bizarre. They seem to consistently use double digits to report their temperatures and are prone to put 2 and 3's in front of their numbers.

Thursday - Fine - Max 30
Friday - Fine - Max 29
Saturday - Fine - Max 26

Coming from central Victoria that seems very odd but it does at least say its going to be fine in the land of the fading curtains. You've got to love Queensland - they even give me back the hour I lost to daylight savings earlier in the month. Sleep in and still make the yoga session = EXCELLENT!

I'm also looking forward to walks by the river pictured above. The river is straight across the pedestrian crossing from the resort and it really is a world apart.

My only concern now is that I haven't as yet experienced the "I'M JUST NOT GOING" hissy fit but I dare say that will come. There seems a routine to these speaking jitters so the appearance of the detailed packing list is bound to set that one off.

Now if only I can change:

Wednesday - Windy and few showers - Max 11

I might even manage to get the washing dry and have clean underwear before I head to the airport tomorrow - its the golden rule of travel - always have clean underwear when travelling the highway of life.

I speak Friday afternoon and present a workshop on Saturday afternoon and then I get to play for the rest of the weekend - guess that makes up for the "speaker belly" and irrational hissy fits.

I'm booked in for Lia Scallon's Crystal Skulls workshop and my big manifesting crystal is coming to get activated by her well travelled crystal skull. I have no idea what that entails but will be excited to find out. Lia also does the opening ceremony which I will be participating in as well so I'll be fascinated to hear her channel the sounds of Sirius. I have little knowledge of Lia's work and her crystal skulls but they seem to be turning up all over the world so I am very much looking forward to that. PLUS I get to go to everyone else's keynotes and watch them do the jittery speaker routine that will be well and truly over for me by the time the cocktail hour rocks in on Friday night. Shame I don't drink!

My place under the palm tree by the pool awaits.

The Speakers Road to Utopia .....3 more sleeps to go

The answer is aliens today. It seems the only sane way – three more sleeps to go and my keynote is still over time – I’ve taken some out and more crept in while I wasn’t looking!!! A few Klingons on the starboard bow right now would be the answer - aliens beaming me up will solve the need to go on.

But let’s hope the aliens beam me up after I get to Noosa because it’s grey and pouring with rain here and we welcome the rain but I’d really like to see some blue skies. A few hours by the pool at Australis after the Utopia International Retreat has finished will be welcome respite from the grey.



This lead up is really making me look back and understand how far I’ve come in this crazy journey I’ve been on for the past 10 years. A keynote really helps you reflect on the things that have become important to your message.

Speaking is one of the scariest and most irrational things you can do as a human because it takes you away from the tribe. Anytime we disconnect from the tribe or our community or the group of people that happens to be in front of us, we go into discomfort.

Discomfort is our greatest friend. As humans we rarely make a bold move if everything around us is fine, its just human nature to want to keep the status quo balanced. But speaking is one of the few things you do that tip that status quo on a voluntary basis. Speakers, musicians, workshops leaders, rally leaders, we all actually put our hands up to place ourselves outside the normal comfort zone. Most would rather die than speak in public so it’s why people are so inspired when you do and speaking is a totally learnable skill for most people.

I’m SO glad I learnt how BUT in the lead up to this un-natural way of being …….. of course I am forced to ask myself constantly throughout he day WHAT WAS I THINKING!

Now where are those aliens?

The Speakers Road to Utopia .....4 more sleeps to go

Well not many days now until I take off for Noosa to deliver the opening keynote speech at Utopia International Retreat.

Everything is looking good – I’ve put in all my paperwork – I’m booked in row 8A so don’t have to do the bun fight up the back of the plane and all is looking good.

There are four sleeps now until I speak and I have a funky new hair do and I’ve just come back from a wonderful massage and reflexology session so I’m totally ready to go on one level.

HOWEVER I’m sitting here wondering how I can get out of it – who I could substitute and despite having the most awesome experience last time I spoke I'm wondering why did I ever say I would do it again in the first place! Was I totally mad, what was I thinking! This is totally normal and par for the course and in fact has been going on now for a about week but still I can't come up with a good enough excuse not to go on. Got four more sleeps to go though......

But despite all the drama queen voices fighting for a position in the queue I’ve written my keynote and it’s 15 minutes longer than it needs to be and now there is anguish over which part has to go ….. and there’s four more sleeps to go!

What Would You Die For?

It was Monday lunch time so why would a bunch of hairy old hippies in bad trousers who insisted on ending every sentence with “man”, lead me to ponder the deep question “what would I die for”?

I went to see the movie “The Boat That Rocked” and after being immersed in lashings of humour, great rock and roll music and the inevitable over indulgence in every transgression on offer in the 60’s, I ended up in a deep and meaningful moment asking myself “what would I die for”.

As is often the case with comedy, through all the joviality I was moved to tears as the story progressively rocked toward some moments of truth.

Set in the mid 60’s the story is based on a bunch of rebellious DJ’s who had been banned by the authorities from playing rock and roll music from land based studios.

With everything SO accessible today, this situation seems ludicrous. But yes back in the 60’s the only place for British teenagers to hear rock and roll on their transistor radios or “trannies” (the 60’s equivalent of an i-pod not a Rocky Horror cast member) was to tune into the legendary pirate radio stations anchored in the freezing cold waters of the North Sea. At best floating rust buckets and worst case death traps bouncing about in appalling weather conditions, the colourful crew happily rocked on and raised their finger at the straight-laced government authorities who were constantly battling to take them off air.

As the movie progressed I realised I “knew” all the characters. I had worked with every single one of them when in the 70’s I played in a glitter band in the only licensed nightclub in the bottom half of New Zealand’s North Island. They had different names and faces of course but their personalities and souls were identical.

Not wishing to give away too much of the plot the government eventually legislate them out of existence and it’s a bit like the synopsis of the Titanic story – “the boat sinks”. But when it came time to be taken back to the safety and legitimacy of the shore, the DJ’s refused to budge. They kept working although they were now breaking the law and risked jail terms in doing so. When the boat started taking on water instead of heading for safety, they continued to broadcast – knee deep, then waist deep in water. They were prepared to go down with the ship, just like the musicians on the Titanic did.

I know it was fiction but because I “knew” these people so well, I understood that all those years ago I would have done exactly the same thing. Without a thought for my own personal safety, the passion I had for my work would have kept me playing. My band would have been the same, as would the motley bunch of bouncers, bar workers and floor staff that populated that seedy, sin infested night club in the 70’s. We had a common vision and a common goal, to create the best possible experience for our patrons. With a community that strong, anything becomes possible.

On the way home I became quite sad as I pondered my current position. I work in a field that is similar to rock and roll; our industry has many similarities. It is not conventional, we have alternate views to the mainstream, there is heavy opposition from places of power and therapists and musicians have the same morbid fascination with bodily function. But the most important comparison is that our product or output comes directly from the soul.

So why isn’t our industry more cohesive?

• Why are most therapists governed by fear - the fear of promoting their businesses’; fear of being seen as pushy or aggressive or showing off if they “toot their own horn”.
  
• Why is money such a taboo subject?
  
• Why is success thought so shameful by so many?
  
• Why are so many “waiting for a sign” or permission from some external source to help all the people who are injured, suffering, unwell or needing positive guidance – is the current state of the world not enough of a “sign” we are needed?
  
• Why do other therapists judge and label those who do become or even seek to become successful as “selling out to commercialism”?

Then I asked myself “am I selling out” and would I die for my work?

As the passion grew within me I realised I would still die for my job. I would face a death sentence if someone tried to stop me speaking my truth, which is that everyone in the personal development and natural therapy industry deserves massive success in whatever doses are right for them.

Would I break the law? When I thought about it – I already am. I have dedicated so much to have the freedom of my own business that some things have been left by the wayside, unattended. Not through conscious decision but from being so poor I couldn’t do anything but ignore my taxes and the mounting levels of debt and I had no choice but to trust the funds would eventually come to sort it out. I just kept going and still deal daily with the chaos I have banked up over the past seven years.

I know what it’s like to go to the edge and jump off and not fly. I know how it feels when you hit rock bottom with a crash. I work way more than I “should”. I’ve endured serial aloneness. I know the discomfort of overcoming my fears and my deepest demons. I know what it’s like to bomb in front of an audience and I’ve felt defeat more than once. But I realised I won’t stop until I’ve nailed this thing called a “dream” because like so many of you, it’s my soul purpose to help people positively.

I’m not telling you this to have you feel sorry for me, please celebrate with me because my work now gives me so much joy and fulfilment and the rewards I receive now far out weigh anything I have to “fix” now.

Why I tell you this is so you won’t give up if you are feeling like a looser if things aren’t working out like you thought they “should” or if others are making you feel less than adequate,

You have the divine right to build whatever is right for you, but it takes courage and strength and I wouldn’t have got this far without the support and love of my mentors and investment in my business knowledge.

I’m certainly not endorsing you doing anything stupid or risky but if you read the bio of your favourite author or seminar leader, they will have a story of hardship. They will have slept in cars, gone through relationship breakups; most have been bankrupt or close to death more than once. But they believed and they kept going because their desire to achieve became greater than their fear.

Like our DJ heroes, the people who achieve their dreams are the ones who over come their fear and just kept rolling the message out.

A successful business equates to freedom. At the end of the day I always give thanks for the blessing of freedom to live my life the way I choose. Would I die for the gift? YES!

Things for you to ponder?

1. How can we as an industry embrace the same rock and roll passion that kept the musicians on the Titanic playing as the boat sunk and create a common vision and a common goal?
   
2. Would you die for your current job?
   
3. If not, what would you need to do to create a job to die for?

Utopia Interview Series 2009 featuring Jeremy Donovan

I had the great honour to interview Jeremy Donovan, a remarkable man with a remarkable message. He has such a passion for healing and his Australian Aboriginal Culture.

His story is quite extraordinary, going from an incarcerated teenager with little future to someone who is a highly respected healer and international performer, travelling the world, spreading his message with great love and integrity.

In this phone interview Jeremy shares stories of his life, his family and some of the history of the Didgeridoo, why many indigenous women choose not to play it and the importance of the story telling and dance. It was recorded a few days before Christmas and it was a very special gift that keeps on giving.

I have edited this interview for the Utopia International Retreat Interview Series. The audio is well worth the investment of time because Jeremy shared so much with me and a few of my natural therapists who were also on the call asking questions.

Jeremy will again close the Utopia International Retreat 2009 but will be joined this time by his dear friend and shaman colleague Dr Steven Farmer - you can hear my interview with Dr Ste here

ENJOY!!

Jeremy Donovan Utopia 2009

MP3 File

This photo is of Jeremy performing the closing session at Utopia International Retreat 2008 and shows me receiving the beautiful healing I described in the interview.

You can find out more about Utopia International Retreat here

You can find out more about Jeremy Donovan here

You can watch Jeremy performing in the following YouTube Clips

Is your business suitable for the pen or the pot?

As I stood viewing the myriad of community notices on the gigantic notice board at the Hepburn General Store last week, one rough hand written notice jumped out.

Firstly it horrified me. Then it got me to thinking further about the deeper message for small business owners that was imbedded in this hastily written give away.

When I was a small child the chickens down the back in the hen house where my only pets. So I was always sad around Christmas time because they “went on holiday”.

This holiday always coincided with me being taken to my grandmothers for a special treat. Now here’s the thing - when I’d get home the chickens had packed their bags and “gone on holiday’ - leaving the hen house silent and empty with feathers all over the back lawn.

I always imagined they were having a nice time because they inevitably never came back and a few weeks later the cycle began again as 12 little fluffy yellow peepers were collected from a local farm.

You can imagine my horror when I joined the dots on the holiday lie and our Christmas dinner offerings!

The fate of my chicken friends all came flooding back as I read the sign at the Hepburn General Store:

TO GIVE AWAY = ROOSTERS
(for the pen or the pot)

As I walked the two blocks back to my house my mind began to think through the “pen or pot” analogy and why it was so relevant for business.

The reality of being in a small business draws many parallels to the harsh reality of life in the country.

In a small business if we don’t serve the needs of those around us we can quickly find ourselves in a pot of boiling water.

However, if we do serve well and can creatively communicate our message out to a group of people who want and need our services, then we will live a long prosperous life.

Roosters are like natural therapists. They walk a fine line because just like roosters a big new batch of therapists roll out of the teachings schools each year. Sadly only a small percentage will survive.

The big thing roosters and new therapists have in common is that they look similar, they talk the same and they do similar things. Until they develop a point of difference they are dispensable.

Most flocks only need one rooster because they start fighting for domination.

However, the one who gets chosen for the pen is NOT usually the one who fights the best but the one who has the best personality and can show it.

Foxy the Rooster dominated the hen house on the edge of my property for many years is a grand example.

Foxy was a stunning looking rooster with a flowing auburn bouffant mane. He kept the gals happy, crowed with great gusto and bore a striking resemble to Tina Turner in the way he would strut around the Hen Hilton.

But a dark cloud came over the pen one when day two voices started to crow…………

Foxy had bred a rival and this interloper was now brave enough to start showing his true colours and he was starting to unmercifully beat up on Foxy.

Foxy who was getting on in years now became frightened, and cowered in the corner whilst this newbie took over his “rutting and strutting” duties.

BUT because Foxy had served so well and was so full of personality it was the interloper who was removed unceremoniously from the pen, placed in a cardboard box and delivered to a local farm to take his chances in the pen or pot race.

Foxy recovered in minutes and was back in the role of "Prince of the Pen" and reigned supreme for many years to come.

Foxy was a winner on five levels because he:

1. Delivered on his promises and could be relied upon by all in his kingdom

2. Built relationships in and around his pen (we all loved Foxy)

3. Was not afraid to show his vulnerable side (he was a real wimp)

4. Stood out from the crowd with his beautiful auburn coat of many colours and consistently and clearly churned his message (crowed all hours except dawn)

5. Outsmarted the competition by simply being his wimpy self but his heart and authenticity saved him on many occasions.

Therapies can learn a lot from Foxy!

By being authentic and real, figuring out what makes you unique and then standing strong in your message and your ability to clearly communicate that message to others will help you stand out from the crowd and show how different you are from the competition.

Even if you are a wimp cowering in the corner, these whimpy virtues can be enough of a difference todetermine your entry to the pen or pot.

In business things can move quickly. Technology changes, trends change, new laws can impact or even just keeping up with your every day marketing AND seeing clients can become exhausting.

But if you have built strong relationships with your clients you will find they are loyal so long as you keep giving and improving your service to them.

One way of standing out from the crowd is learning to speak in public. In fact it’s imperative to your success. The gentle art of creating good stage presence in fact saved Foxy’s life on every level.

I am running a f*r*e*e Teleseminar

Wednesday 11 August 2009 at 8pm (Melbourne Time)

to promote my live event called Your Next BIG Leap which commences in 10 days.

There is only ONE seat left for the live event - jump in here if you want to jag it

BUT there is a heap of space on the free teleclass for everyone so jump in here and register now so you get the workbook and the audio recording.

Is Perfection Hurting Your Business?

We wait until its perfect and we wait ……..and we wait………

Perfection is like waiting for an uptown train on the downtown side of the platform. It will be a long waiting game because quite simply it’s not going to happen.

There are too many variables in the mix to create perfection, so why are so many therapists so hell bent on waiting for things to be perfect before they will make them public or available to the world?

Yesterday I viewed the 2009 Archibald prize entrants and the one I thought was perfect, wasn’t the one the judges chose. Am I wrong? No, I just have a different view on what is perfect, as did all the other people voting in the public choice section.

Driving your business to a state of perfection is an impossible destination because the next person after you to view or read or experience your work will have a totally different take on what you have created.

I believe what is important is to get your work out for people to see and experience, take their adulation and criticism and build it into your next product or upgrade or new concept.

I am much the better for having viewed the picture I loved yesterday. That artist would have deprived me of that state of joy had they not put brush to canvas or not entered it in a contest where I had the opportunity to see it.

I love the story of the virtuoso violin player who walks off stage after a brilliant performance and announced “tonight I played that piece perfectly…..tomorrow night I will play it even better”.

As we grow and learn in this process called having a small business we can be like the violinist, understanding that even things we worked on “until they were perfect” will often have space to be improved somewhere in the future.

I have been reminded of this as I have been working more with live groups of people. One event in particular went hideously wrong despite everything being put in place “perfectly”.

The feedback from the audience at this event was that they loved that we shared the “imperfection” with them. It meant they could understand that things can go wrong but the world doesn’t end when they do.

What’s more it gave them the permission they needed to have a go themselves because the worst results they could get were the same disasters we did!

In fact one of the attendees coined this phase which has been quoted frequently by me ever since:

"It doesn’t have to be perfect
to be perfect"
Leighann Reitano
The Soul of One

I shared this quote with a coaching colleague in Canada and she came up with this briefer version:

"Imperfect is Perfect"
Andrea J Lee
Multiple Streams of Coaching Income

If the moment doesn’t have to be perfect, then perhaps some more of us can be encouraged to have a go at more things?

I don’t know about you but when I look at these quotes it takes the heat off any situation. It makes starting a newsletter, building a blog, putting together your first workshop or even taking your first paid client easier.

Now before you all get too excited I’m not saying this gives you permission to cut corners or be “barely good enough” but we could all embrace the thought that things could be out in marketplace being put to the test and improved upon as you go.

The first newsletter I wrote is VERY different to the ones I write now. I spent hours on my first efforts and they were professionally edited (no spellos or typos – my heart felt thanks to Patricia McKenzie who hauled me through that process).

These days I’ve accepted that there will be things that probably wouldn’t pass in an English test but I know the content adds value to your business. I’m happy if my “imperfect” message gets one of you off your butt and into action, the imperfect grammar then pales in significance to you taking action!

Where are you currently waiting for the “perfect moment” to occur to release something or do something?

Could you perhaps accept that imperfection is in fact perfect and move forward anyway?

In a synchronistic twist to the collection of quotes on imperfection, I was reading a book by a wonderful Indigenous Elder called Min Mia who is one of the keepers of women’s lore/law. She tops the scale for nailing the perfection concept in two words.

“Perfectly Imperfect”
Min Mia
Under the Quandong Tree

I loved the concept of “perfectly imperfect”. Min Mia holds the teachings of 13 Australian animals and I did a Song Painting workshop to learn “how to” paint Min Mia’s animals. There were about six of us in the class and we learnt how to paint the basic shapes.

We had many different coloured cloths we could choose from for each flag and each person interpreted the shapes with different colours and different combinations of dots and lines and they all turned out different - they were all “perfectly imperfect”.

My flags hang in my kitchen and I’m no artist but I love them and think they are just perfect! So perfect in fact that my friend used them as the artwork on his CD – you can see my flags flying on his website here.

But are they technically correct......... NO............and did some of the other students in the class technically paint better flags than mine ...........YES.......but mine have bought joy and purpose to many without being perfect, just as everyone else's did on every level.

When you are in the flow even something appearing imperfect turns out to be just perfect.

Perfect comes from a place of EGO whereas imperfect comes with the gift to learn or improve.

So from now on my standard is “perfectly imperfect” - what is yours?

-oOo-

You can comment on this topic at my blog or let us know your favourite Archibald Prize entrant

This was my favourite Archibald Finalist






































Artist: Jan Williamson
Subject: Nancy Kunoth Petyarr

What was yours?
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