I realized it last night. I’ve lost my edge around Escaping Mediocrity.

Between flying to Russia twice in a month and getting my first ever live event off the ground, I’ve let my commitment to Escaping Mediocrity get soft around the edges. And it shows.

My message is muddy. My blog posts don’t have their usual oomph. And I’m just not feelin’ it.

But that is going to change.

Here’s what I am thinking – and I need to know if you are in cuz I don’t want to do this by myself.

I am going to pick a day in the very near future and declare it Escaping Mediocrity Day.  And I am going to prepare for that day like I am preparing for a safari to Africa. Because I want it to be like that. Exciting. Adventurous. Traveling in new and unknown territory.

And I’m going to blog about it as it unfolds.

Now before I do all that, I REALLY need you to tell if you are ready, willing and able to do this with me, so share your thoughts with me. If it is a GO!, I will start our planning so we can all have an amazing day.

I await your comments with baited breathe!!!

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I’ve heard it a lot lately – in emails, DMs, phone conversations, Skype chats – “I am having a really tough time making a decision about X.”

Heck – even I get stuck making decisions!

So I thought I would share the best tool Martha Beck taught me when we *think* we don’t know what to do. I love it because it taps into the deep wisdom our bodies hold that can circumvent our very smart and very conflicted brains.

(As a side note, many actors refer to their body as their “instrument”. It must always be kept in tune and in touch for it to operate properly. This exercise does exactly that!)

It’s called The Body Compass. And if you’re thinking – “yeah yeah, I already know that.”, do yourself a favor and re-visit it with a fresh heart.

Step 1. Think of the most joyful moment of your life.

Close your eyes and really put yourself into that moment. What do you see? Who was there? What do you smell? Anchor it into your senses. Now, scan your body. Where does that supremely joyful feeling live? Really nestle down into it’s place of residence like a big down bed.

Step 2. Think of the most heinous experience of your life.

Do everything you did in Step 1 to anchor it in your body. What do you see? Who is there? What do you smell. Once it’s vividly technicolor, scan your body again. Where does this complete and total yucky, nastly feeling live in your body. Now you don’t have to nestle down into it, but do make a note of it’s address in your body and what it feels like to be there.

Step 3. Summon the decision you must make.

Visualize each of your available options in turn. Breathe into the details. What will that option look like? Feel like? And when you really are “in” that option, where does the feeling it gives you “live”? Is it a nearby neighbor of Joyful or it camped out near YuckyMcNasty?  Don’t let your brain get in on this conversation. This is about tapping into what your body knows.

I’m guessing that one of the options in front of you lives in Joyful’s neighborhood. And, if I were you, that is the option I would choose.

So my challenge to the tribe is this: try this little exercise on a decision large (like should you move) or small (like what should you have for dinner) and let me know how it goes. As always, I am fascinated by what you teach me.

Love,

Sarah

P.S. Yep – it is a shameless self-promotion for the Creating Irresistible Presence Preview call TOMORROW (Thursday). I’ve got awesome teaching to share, a seat at CIP to give away and another trick up my sleeve, so I do hope you will join me! http://bit.ly/CIPPreview

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This post will be short. With the 15 month old mini-turk running all over the place, my time to focus on writing is pretty limited.

But I did not want to miss checking in with my tribe because you all rock SO much.

This is thing I most want to say: Escaping Mediocrity isn’t for the faint-of-heart. And once you open the escape hatch in one area of your life, you’ve opened the hatch on all areas of your life.

With the hatch open and the course for your heart’s desire, your way may be clear but there are no promises that the way will be easy, fast or simple.

My life at this moment is a perfect example.

I need to do work on my live event, Creating Irresistible Presence. September will be here before I turn around. I also have a Preview Call to prep for and this blog post to write. And a fair number of emails to reply to. My business is growing – which is great! And yet the timing isn’t exactly ideal.

See, back in early summer when I announced my event, I had no idea when our adoption would actually take place. Russian adoption is a very last minute “hop on the plane now” kind of thing. So I had a choice.

1) I could out my life and my business on hold while I waited for an invitation from the Russian government

or

2) I could move ahead with the things I felt called to do, especially in my business, knowing that if and when we got “the call” I would find a way.

Obviously I chose Door No. 2.

And today Door No. 2 feels hard. But what I know is that this feeling will pass and I will get the things done that I need to get done. Maybe not perfectly and maybe not in the time I would like, but they WILL get done.

So, I screw up my courage and my faith (again!) and put one foot in front of the other.

My question for you today is this: Is there an Escape Hatch you are afraid to open because you don’t know HOW it will work out? What exactly are your choices? Write them down in black and white so you know what your are choosing between. Then make the very best choice you can – for today and for the rest of your life.

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1. My Number One Strategy For Escaping Mediocrity
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If one more thing happens this week, I may go screaming into the streets.

It’s been a JAM-PACKED week for me. Getting Creating Irresistible Presence off the ground, organizing the 30 Days to Irresistible Presence blog series, and some very big stuff happening on the personal front that I can’t share just yet.

It is all amazing stuff.

And it is all happening at the same time.

And I am afraid I am going to drop something very important. Or that I will fall down.

And don’t tell me I won’t, or it will be ok, or nothing will break. And to take a deep breath.

Cuz I know all that and I am still scared.  And overwhelmed. And uncertain.

But here is the one thing I am NOT: alone.

I have my tribe. I have my inner circle. I have my family. And they will see me through. They will hold certainty for me when I cannot.

And what I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is, this too shall pass.

So I am keeping my eye on the prize that is right in front of me. Doing the do’s I know to do.

And that will make all the difference.

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Actually, that should be the extent of my post because that is about where I am today.

It’s just not going according to plan – even with all the flex I built into the plan.

This use to freak me out (and truth be told, I freaked out just a bit over the past 24 hours). I used to pass judgment on myself and create never-ending nightmare scenarios in my head about how awful it was all going to turn out.

I don’t do that any more.

I do stress myself beyond the point of reason but fortunately there are people in my life who cut that pretty short. They won’t allow me to churn in my unreasonable thinking for very long. They are bright shiny spots in my life.

So now what do I do when it doesn’t go according to plan?

Well, first I say it out loud. “This is not going according to plan. And I won’t die because of it.”

Then I tell people who need to know that the plan needs modifying. Like I need to say to you, my tribe, that registration for my live event won’t open on Thursday because there are some key details that I am waiting for.

Then I let myself off the hook. Cuz, like I said, I won’t die and, as best I can tell, neither will anyone else.

And that’s where I am today.

Where are you?

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Apparently I have an intimate relationship with “Everybody”. I can read their minds. I scurry to please them. I hover over the publish button, worrying about how they will respond to whatever I am posting. I fear them.

“What will Everybody think?”

“What will Everybody say?”

“What if Everybody hates me?”

“What would make Everybody love me?”

“What if Nobody (just another word for Everybody) likes it or me?”

Yeah – I’m twisted like that.

Pretty powerful group, this “everybody” who resides in my head. If I allow them, they will control my every move.

Fortunately, I had a pretty amazing teacher who gave me some insights around Everybody. Her name is Martha Beck. (I was lucky enough to be personally trained by her a life coach – AMAZING experience. But I digress.) And I would like to share a few of her thoughts on managing Everybody.

So, let’s use my Burn The Ships post as an example. Writing and hovering over the Publish button brought out every fear I had about Everybody. What would they think? Would they still respect me in the morning? Would they laugh at me? All that mess.

So here are the questions Martha taught me to ask:

- Can you name five specific people who would agree with Everybody?

- If yes, do you even like these people?

- If yes, will the people who love really care about the opinion of these people?

- If yes, are these people actually people you want in your space anyway?

-If yes, are there an equal number of specific people who would disagree with everybody?

- In the end, and if there really are 5 people – and I usually struggle to come up with who they are – do I care about what they think enough to let them control me?

Now, I will confess that the fear does not magically and completely leave me once I run through answering all these questions. BUT, it does shrink the size of my fear – and of Everybody – considerably.

What about you? How do you deal with Everybody?

P.S. Don’t forget – the first Ustream Tribal Meeting is tonight (Tuesday) at 10p EST. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/escaping-mediocrity.

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an essay by The Young Turk

If I were a snail I would be a pond snail. I would swim fairly slow. I would be very useless.  My shell would be made out of calcium. I would play. We would play with another snail. We would play.  I would leave a trail of slime. I would love being a snail.

I would have one foot.

I would have fun.

Also I would play snail ball.

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A guest post by Sally G.

This post has a theme song.

People Are Strange by Echo and the Bunnymen: http://tinysong.com/sECk

I gave myself a new title yesterday – Spirit Sleuth. From this point onward, I will observe everything around me as a Detective who is trying to solve a case. Everything that happens will hold within it a clue. Everyone who crosses my path will have something to do with the truth that I search. Nice to know that my English Major background will finally be put to good use!

When I brought in the mail, I was excited to see my woman’s magazine had been delivered. I always look forward to reading through it at night with a hot cup of tea – my reward for a day that I’ve at last put behind me. I then decided to see it as a Spirit Sleuth would see it ~ what message for me lay somewhere on its cover?

Strong, Sexy, Stylish leaped off the page. It was in reference to the actress featured inside the issue – but it got me to thinking: if someone were to run a feature story about me, what three adjectives would they deem appropriate to scream from the page? And more importantly, what three adjectives would I desire to sum me up succinctly in a nano-second?

Dull, Forgettable, Strange. Hmmmm, not very flattering – and it would be the last time anyone ever featured me in their magazine, that’s for sure.

Who spends money to read about Dull, Forgettable and Strange?

I’m going to make an executive decision here and forget about how others might define me. After all, that’s been my ‘problem’ all along, hasn’t it? Letting others define me and then living up to those expectations regardless of how well the adjectives fit?

I’m going to create myself as I’d like to be seen.

Spiritualists do that – they create themselves in the grandest version of the greatest vision that they can imagine. And I’ve decided that I am a Spiritualist – at least, I’m practicing to be one because I do believe it to be the most effective way to eventually replace my false Self with my authentic Self.

The vision I’ve been holding of me walking up to a closed door, opening it, throwing my arms around the Authentic Me that’s waiting there and crying, “Oh thank heavens I’ve finally found you – we can be one at last and the role playing will end forever!” isn’t really working for me. And I’m quite enjoying this idea of myself as a Spirit Sleuth – so, yes – I’m going to create three adjectives to describe me the way I would like to be seen, which is probably how I actually am, I just haven’t fully found the confidence to act on that yet.

Fascinating, Funny, Fluid

I probably didn’t have to use alliteration just because the magazine did – but I actually like this. If people knew what went on in this head of mine in the time it takes to blink, they might actually deem me fascinating. And I do have a different way of looking at the world – and I may also be the only person on the planet who has a fear of closed doors, so – Fascinating stays.

I also consider myself to be quite hilarious – I truly do crack myself up on quite a regular basis. Yes, not everyone seems to be on my wavelength and I do have a wit that requires you to pay attention to everything said up to my hilarious outburst because I do tend to play off what is being discussed and spin it into the humorous. But people who are capable of doing all that do tend to laugh too. And more than once people have looked at me differently and said, “Wow, you’re funny.” – like THAT was beyond imagining until just moments before. So, Funny stays too.

Besides, this ability I have to see a different spin on something being discussed really helps me with my present missive as a Spirit Sleuth – from what I can gather so far, you really have to look for what’s not there and in the looking for what’s not there, it suddenly becomes visible to the point that the entire event or exchange is completely about what was not even noticeable at first, leaving you to wonder how you ever missed it in the first place.

Which leads me to my final adjective: Fluid

If I do anything well, it’s going with the flow. I mean, I’m learning to do that well now – I wasn’t always fluid, I was more on the other end of the spectrum – very rigid. However, if you’re going to dedicate your days to looking for things that aren’t there and then affixing meaning to those things that only you see, and only you see them because only you are looking for them – then being rigid is only going to hold you back.

Fluidity, however, allows me to be involved in an interaction, oblivious to the clue it holds until I suddenly remember that I’m a Spirit Sleuth – and I then continue on as though I am still oblivious (because not to do so would probably completely freak out the other person or people in the exchange) but the whole time I’m really looking for the underlying meaning that could really change everything if I can find it, interpret it and then act upon it in kind.

It is not lost on me that this blog post could be entered as evidence in a future law suit launched to challenge my sanity.

Not that anyone would have any reason to do that – but if they did, I could see this working against me. Unless the lawyer was a Spirit Sleuth too. What are the odds of that though –- I’ve heard they don’t even have souls.

Spirit Sleuthing is definitely no place for the Mediocre. And it can be lonely at times. What do you say – will you join me in my work?

Sally G. is a self-professed work-in-progress who has chosen to keep the aspects of herself that work ~ releasing old habits, labels and tendencies that do not. Chanting the mantra “Self-Actualization ain’t no place for sissies” ~ she fully supports, encourages and inspires all the courageous travellers she meets along the way. Sally’s reflections, humour and insight are on full display on her blog site and on Twitter

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This is going to be hard. I am a serious multi-tasker and I make a TON of phone calls in the car.  But I also know that cell phone use for calls and for texting while driving is creating serious safety issues.  Of course I just think it’s the other guy who’s the problem, not me.

That’s what we ALL think.

So today, I am going to be part of the solution. I’m joining Oprah’s No Phone Zone Movement that is launching today. My phone is going in the glove box when I get in the car so I’m not tempted to answer it or even check it while I am driving.

Need some statistics to convince you that our cell phones and driving don’t mix? Here you go:

• Every single time someone takes their eyes or their focus off the road – even for just a few seconds – they put their lives and the lives of others in danger.  Distracted driving is unsafe, irresponsible and in a split second, its consequences can be devastating. ~ U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood
• New research findings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that show nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured.
• On any given day in 2008, more than 800,000 vehicles were driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone.
• Across the board, federal researchers who have directly observed drivers of all ages found that more and more people are using a variety of hand-held devices while driving – not just cell phones, but also iPods, video games, Blackberrys and GPS systems.
• In particular, cell phone use for talking and texting is now more prevalent on our nation’s roads, rail systems and waterways, carrying a dangerous potential for accidents.

For our safety and the safety of those we love, we’ve all got to be part of the solution. Here’s what you can do:

1. Put your cell phone in the glove box while you are driving. Get temptation out of reach!

2. Check out the No Phone Zone Causes Page = www.causes.com/nophonezone

3. Sign the No Phone Zone Pledge – http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/455

Let’s help safety on the road escape mediocrity today, ok?!

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Ok – it’s official. Getting rid of crap seems to be something everyone is interested in doing. (See Tuesday’s Crap Attack post for more info).  And if we are all interested in doing it but we aren’t actually engaged in doing it, perhaps we could use a little extra motivational push!

And here’s the thing. Not one of us can escape mediocrity if we are carting around loads of stuff. Even if it is stuffed into the basement, the fact that this stuff exists occupies bandwidth like a program running in the background of your computer.

So, I’ve decided to make the a Tribe Project/Challenge and I invite everyone to join in.

Here’s how it will work:

-I will regularly check in and update this post from now until Monday and share what I have gathered up and what has actually left my house.

-Other members of the tribe can do the same in the comments section.

-We also all need encouragement and cheering on when tackling projects like this so let’s root for each other as we make progress.

This is going to be fun!

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