Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone and Inspiration Found

This is a follow up to my previous post on being successful.  I received more comments privately than on my blog, speaking to the differences between nature vs. nurture.  Thank you to all of you who responded letting me know it got you thinking!

Shortly afterwards, I read this blog post by Jasmine Star on the possibilities of being a successful photographer if you are not naturally outgoing.  I was surprised that Jasmine is introverted because her online personality is so extremely outgoing to the point that I have wondered if we would get along in person because I like quiet people.  I shy away from out-going people and I don't like being the focus of attention that is way out of my comfort zone.  But then I wondered what impression I create about myself and if I come across as outgoing.  Honestly, I prefer that same wallflower corner position she speaks of so I can watch others.  I don't mind being a contributor and will step up out of frustration into the position of leader when others in my group (whether it is PTA, work or kids' soccer) are slow to speak up.  I have also had to step outside my comfort shoes as I start my photography business to help others feel more comfortable in front of my camera and to achieve the photos I know will make them happy. 

Mint Julep

Here are some of the blogs/artists/people who inspire me to do better and who amaze me with their own personal successes and achievements in no particular order:

Stephanie of 50 Toes Photography - I just recently stumbled across her blog and am amazed with how she is grabbing control of her life and making changes to not only live/eat healthier, but to become happier with herself.  And not only that, but she is encouraging others to make healthier decisions and she arms them with facts.  She has lost over 60 pounds since she started making different choices.  Wow.  But it is more her humility and positivity for life that have drawn me in.  Her enthusiasm is catching.  I will be meeting her in person at the Blue Lily reunion workshop in a couple of weeks and I CANNOT WAIT!

Merlot Swirls

Lorelei is another one who amazes me.  In the book Outliers, the author talks about 10,000 hours being a magic number for mastering a skill and pretty much becoming an expert at whatever it is the person does.  I'm betting Lorelei has 10,000 hours under her belt for creating and designing jewelry as it seems to me that it comes so naturally to her now.  She has told me that she used to lay beads out on her table before stringing, but now she just reaches for beads and strings as she goes.  Without even really thinking, she just KNOWS what beads will look good together.  This girl has mad skillz.

Baby Pink Rings on Baby Blue

Jane has me in a perpetual state of awe with the number of things she accomplishes daily.  She is a Mom to three, she is a homeschooler, gardener and cook extraordinaire (oh my word, her recipes are THE best!) and still makes time to blog about all of her activities (I think she has taken canning to a phenomenal level) which makes me want to try all of the things she does, but I know there are not enough hours in my day.

Strawberry Swirls

Barbara Bechtel and Lori Anderson both gave up working for The Man to make beads and jewelry full-time.  While this is living my dream, this also sounds so scary to give up job security and health insurance.  I don't know many who have been able to do this, but I know there are more of you out there!  Either way, I am totally captivated by their blogs as Barbara shares details of an artist's life and Lori has awesome marketing ideas for branding and growing your own business.  I have learned so much from both!

Swirling Skies

My friend Rebecca endured years of physical/sexual/emotional abuse at the hands of her father and other men who her father passed her off to whenever he wanted.  Her journey in working through this in an effort to find peace and a normal life often leaves me in tears for what she went through and has overcome without repeating the cycle.  I am continually in awe of the strides she has made.  Rebecca is the bravest person I know.

Whispering Wind

Keirsten of Lune continually inspires me with her own curiosity of how things work and then setting out to master techniques that she teaches herself.  She is an intellectual with a self-deprecating sense of humor, yet simultaneously down-to-earth and unassuming.  I know I will always get an honest response when I ask for her opinion and value that because I know her answer will not be sugar-coated.  She has also been one of my champions in encouraging me to do more with both my beads and photography.

Lavender Seaglass

Mallory of For the Love of Beads is one of THE most positive people I know.  I love that she is always looking for the good and does a post on Fridays about Three Beautiful Things.  She has faced many struggles, the most recent would be watching her daughter overcome cancer (YAY Jenny for being confirmed cancer free!!!).  Yet she never has an unkind word to say and shares bits and pieces of her life, her family, her dog (I just love Pixie and want to grab her snout!) and of course her beads.  I had the pleasure of meeting Mallory in person at a Southern Flames (my local glass/lampworking society) meeting a couple of years ago and she is just as sweet in person.  If we lived closer, I would adopt her as my second mom.

Azure Reflections

So those are some of the folks who inspire me to be a better person, artist, photographer, friend, wife and mother.  Now for my follow-up two questions:

1) Do you step outside of your comfort zone to be more successful in pursuing your goals/dreams and how?

and

2) Who inspires you to be better in what you do and why?  If you include links, I will compile a blog hop for later!  I still go back to this one for a list of favorite blogs and Etsy shops.

Secrets of Success

I want to preface this post with the promise that there will be bead pics posted here tomorrow.  So if you're wanting to see my beads, they're not here today.  :)

I picked up this book --> Outliers in the Newark airport two weeks ago on my way back home.  I thought it was well written and it made me think a lot more about the cultures in which we are raised, whether the country of our ancestors plays into account or economic status.  The author Malcom Gladwell made compelling arguments for both, backing up his theories with historical examples of successful people in our history.  Some lesser known individuals from Jewish lawyers at the turn of the century to Bill Gates to Korean pilots turning their legacy from those with the most crashes to the least.

This weekend I was visiting my Dad and I was telling him about this book and we got into a bit of a debate over the theories behind success.  One of them in the book covered a series of serendipitous events.  For Bill Gates, it was that he was born in the right year and city and surrounded by the right group of mothers who contributed to building a computer lab in his high school and being within walking distance of Washington University among other things which led to the magic number of 10,000 hours of computer programming before he became a computer genius.  Or the Beatles, who caught their break with a gig performing in a strip club in Hamburg for 8 hours a night for weeks on end which ultimately gave them the practice they needed to become a well-oiled machine singing and playing their hearts out before they were 'discovered.'  

My Dad believes that it doesn't matter where Bill Gates was born, he would have created the opportunities needed to become successful in computer programming and later building a great software company.  I argued with him that not everyone gets such lucky breaks and brought up Chris Langan, who is also discussed in this book as being the quite possibly the world's smartest man.  He had a series of equally similar bad breaks that seem to have prevented him from climbing the ladder of success.  Since our discussion, I have thought more about my own upbringing and how that has impacted me.

One of the books I remember reading over and over as a child was the The Little Engine That Could.  I haven't read it nearly enough to my own children, but I repeated one of the lines this weekend on a golf cart ride as it seemed we would not be able to climb a hill and the golf cart moved so slow it seemed it would stop before reaching the crest of the hill.  "I think I can!  I think I can!  I think I can!"  And then we reached the stop and started sailing down.  So I followed it up with "I thought I could!  I thought I could!  I thought I could!"

I realized that my Mom gave me one of the best gifts ever.  Not just with reading this book to me repeatedly as a child, but in other conversations as I grew up.  She always believed in me and instilled a belief that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to.  Sure, there are other things that reinforced that throughout my young years, but they were all situations that required a lot of work and when they paid off, I was able to say "I thought I could."  In the summer before I started 8th grade, I went to Space Camp for a week in Huntsville, Alabama.  I was terrified of being by myself, away from my parents and not knowing any of the other kids who went.  I was homesick and cried myself to sleep each night.  Before it was over, I also had to give a presentation on rocket boosters to an auditorium filled with over 200 kids and adults.  I don't remember if I did it flawlessly, but I got through it.  I think it is one of the things that just reinforced I could do anything I set my mind to.  Although, I may have also been so young that I didn't know to be scared of talking in front of so many people.  Either way, as an adult I don't have a problem speaking in front of others now.

As an adult, I don't think I am largely successful.  I'm not a gazillionaire like Bill Gates.  I'm not the top lampworking Twitterer on the internet.  I'm only middle management at the phone company.  I dropped out of Taekwondo for a second time and I don't exercise like I should.  Nor am I a particularly phenomenal photographer.  Yet I get comments from friends and strangers on my blog or in emails saying "I don't know how you do it all."  I work full-time, I will be celebrating 11 years of marriage next month and 11 years with my company this month.  I try my best to make the right decisions as a mom for my two kids and raise them with self-esteem, but also with accountability to be responsible and kind.  I have become a shoddy blogger this year and fail to find the time on my torch that I used to.  Life is busy and getting in the way of my hobbies and goals, but I'm okay with that.  I keep telling myself "I think I can, I think I can" and take tiny steps toward my goals. 

When my kids OR my friends tell me that they think they can't, I tell them to be a little kinder to themselves and that I believe they can do whatever they want.  I hope that sinks in with my kids, although I think some of my friends tend to tune me out.  I think encouragement is so important and that it does make a HUGE difference in how well each of us can do.  I am so excited when I hear about my friends attaining their goals or exceeding what they never thought was possible.  Not just excited for them, but it is an indirect reinforcement for me that if I keep trying I will reach my own goals.

So with this long wordy post, I want to ask you two questions.

1) What goals are you reaching for that might seem impossible now?

and

2)  What have you done that you never thought you could?