Just a quick note to send you a personal pick me up!

If you are feeling stressed out and want to let it go….read this post.

First,  as you may know, years ago, one of my clients was Ruben Gonzalez, 3-Time Olympic Champion and now the ONLY athlete in the world to compete in 4 Olympics over 4 decades.  Very cool.  Anyways, Ruben has an interesting story as he was called “the unlikely athlete”.  Really he had almost non-existent sports background but his dream was to be in the Olympics.  In fact he KNEW he would be in the Olympics – so he went to the library – tried to figure out what sport he could do – and then followed his dream, one little step at a time.

Last week during the Olympics here in  my home city & country, Ruben and I went out for dinner, plus he slotted me in to interview him for 30 mins before the NBC TV and right after the NY Times.  I laughed at that.  In fact he kept NBC waiting for an extra 5 minutes while he chatted with me.  I LOVE it!

Anyways, he did this call just for ME and just for YOU!  Listen to it TODAY and pass it onto your kids & friends and family – EVERYONE needs to hear this call!

His Story & Private Interview for you: http://www.privatejvclub.com/millionairementors/rubengonzalez

Also as something fun – I get so frustrated with airports sometimes and wonder where all the personalities and fun went out of flying.  Some days it feels like airport personnel are prison guards (and guess who the criminals are) so this showed me that the human fun and human spirit are STILL here – watch and be surprised.  This REALLY happened at a Portugal airport.  It was a planned – yet looked spontaneous for the passengers.  This is for All those who are flying!  I was inspired to send this as my Business Olympians are travelling to spend 3 days with me to brainstorm and create their businesses! 

Airport Surprise video: http://vimeo.com/8468959  (copy and paste into browser)  Be patient – keep watching.

See you guys soon – I can’t wait to give you big hugs and see your big breakthroughs!

If you ever need some good songs to get you inspired here are my 2 top favorites:

Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7k0a5hYnSI

Black Eyed Peas – Today’s Gonna Be  Good Day!  http://www.youtube.com/watch#!videos=Eb6hnZYtiOY&v=CVQorfIX84w

These songs are my THEME songs!!!!  Feel free to make them your own.

Guaranteed – these items will PERK YOU UP!!!

Hope you are smile today.

Much love!!!
Stefanie

Ok so this is my final Olympic Blog post as the closing ceremonies was on Sunday.  I live 2 blocks away so I could hear it outside and on TV, it was wild. 

Thank you by the way for all your responsive posts and emails back to me – 98% of you were so happy to share the experience, and 1 or 2 were annoyed and thought it was a waste of time.  Hey – I can’t please everyone but it would be impossible for me to live here, go through this and not share it with you, my readers.

It’s just my nature to share my experiences – I do it every day with you in business & marketing and giving you behind the scenes info, so is it so out of place to share this experience too – especially when the whole world is also watching?  So once in a while I will share my personal thoughts on my blog as well as my business ones, and I’ll try not to offend too many people.

Well, I promised I would write about my Medals experience.  It was really cool.  We were lucky enough to have a company provide us with VIP tickets to the Mint to see the medals.  What this meant was that we could by-pass the line and get in free.  Listen, I’m not a “showy” person who goes after these kinds of things but when it fell into my lap – I’d be an idiot not to go.

People were lining up in the rain at 4:30am to go inside and we basically just showed up and walked in at our set time, which was 8am on a Saturday – but hey we didn’t have to get up at 4am.

I felt bad getting this ticket as I saw the line and wished I could sneak every single person under my jacket.  If I could have I would have!!!  I went inside swiftly and quietly and tried not to make eye contact with anyone in line.  Once inside I was thrilled.  The building is set up with 3 main areas – the kid area (downstairs) where you do kid stuff and send live video tweets.  Then the top floor on the left held the medal room and the right held the coin collection room.

Obviously I went to the medals first.  It was a fairly large room with only 20 people at a time, so you were given tons of chances to take photos and touch all the medals – Gold , Silver & Bronze.  Plus it included how the medals were made as well as display of Paralympics medals.

Here are the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefaniehartman

People asked me what it felt like.  Well literally it was heavy, and I love the fact they are not round, they have some style.  The back has the Olympic symbol plus Braille text.  That was a neat surprise.

Emotionally I felt grateful to get this chance to hold one.  Then I thought about the athletes getting one and tried to imagine the pride they’d feel at simply achieving a huge dream.  Then I thought  – damn I want to be recognized for something.  I want an award!  Ha Ha!

But what really hit me was how great it must feel to achieve your ultimate dream.  I have achieved goals but never had that overwhelming feeling of pride or an Ultimate Dream, so that was a weird realization.  Maybe my big dream hasn’t happened yet.  Food for thought.  I typically have a huge goal, but when its reached, there are new goals.  How do you know what you’re ultimate dream is?  How can u measure that?  Do you have an Ultimate Dream?  If so, please post a reply and let me know what it is.  I’d love to hear about it.

Later I saw a $4 million dollar coin and held a gold bar.  I walked out with some gold Canadian Olympic coins – don’t worry I bought them, only cost me $5 bucks.

Anyways, on another note, I had a contest to give away FREE Olympic mittens.  And I wanted to surprise everyone who entered by buying them a pair- but the store was sold out – AHHHH – so I have 2 to give away and I will choose those people shortly.  I so wanted to be your HERO!  Hopefully I can be in other ways.

So check back to see if you won!

Ha Ha here’s a video from my publisher and CEO of Morgan James Publishing.  I sent a big Canadian care-package to his office & family.

Morgan James recently gave me a contract to publish Canadian & American authors with them to get international HUGE distribution.  I was thrilled!

Thanks guys!  Love you too!  You are so good to me and my people.

Stefanie

live coverage of Olympics – http://www.ctv.ca/

Hey, so this is so cool.  I sent a pair of mittens to my famous MIT Grad Dr. Scott Brown who went from university professor salary to selling over  $1 Million in products in 2 years – working weekends and from complete scratch, using my system.

Here’s his photos & email

———————–

Marisol loves Canada and all things Canadian.  She loves your gift and was really surprised!

Much love and thanks!

-Scott and Mari
———————–

You’re welcome Scott & Marisol!  Love you guys!

live coverage of Olympics – http://www.ctv.ca/

Stefanie

I was so excited because this year my Exclusive Mastermind Group – the Business Olympians received a special gift from me.  I sent each one a pair of the HOTTEST and most coveted Olympic souvenir – the famous red mittens.  It was all over the news that people were lining up at stores around Vancouver, Canada for hours and hours and there were NO MITTENS to be found.

Luckily I have a connection at the Hudson Bay and imported directed mittens for my special group.

Then – I watched Oprah and the Today Show she was wearing the mittens and her audience went NUTS when she revealed she asked Hudsons’ Bay to send her mittens.  Ok, so she copied me.  LOL.

BUT you saw it here first!  Ha Ha!

So I have 1 special pair left!!!!!

If you would like it – write a comment below and we will choose a winner & ship it to you – remember to add in your email address so we can contact you!!

These will be a FABULOUS souvenir for you and by the way – now there is security round the store, a 4 mitten minimum per person AND a 4 Hour line –up wait.

So exciting!!!!

Go here see my other Olympic  photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefaniehartman

Stefanie

What a day.  I have never been to an event where there was so much excitement and devastation on the same day.

For those of you who have not heard, one of the athletes died during practice of the Luge sport the day of the opening ceremonies.  This sport is dear to my heart as my favorite Luge Man –  Ruben Gonzales, a friend and past client of mine also competes.  Unfortunately Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian slider, died when he flew off his sled going around a corner during practice on the Olympic track.  He was travelling at 88 miles an hour and hit a medal structure beam.

That night during the opening ceremonies all eyes, hearts and minds were on the Georgians, when they entered the area.  No matter what country you were from, you got out of your seat and supported these athletes, who were such a small group, and were now down 1 very good friend and teammate.

All 60,000 people also prayed silently as they honored Nodar with a moment of silence.  I believe Nodar was watching the ceremonies or walking down the great oval alongside of his teammates.  You could certainly feel his spirit and presence.  He will be missed by those who loved him and every one of the 60,000 fans in the audience.  We all felt for him and their teammates.  

Lugemen will tell you their sport is not reckless, they are “engineers” as my friend Ruben Gonzalez says.  Engineers who analyze the track and have the courage of test pilots.

This tragic event has caused many of the fans to appreciate the risks and the heart, the passion and the courage, that all athletes encompass.  Often this is overlooked as we focus on whether they won a medal or not.  How easily we can forget all the work and sacrifice and mental workout they do to even compete and represent us – the bystanders enjoying our hot dogs and festivities.

This also caused some of the athletes to remember that there is more in life than competing, some of them commented that they were retiring and moving on to other goals in life.  For others, you could see it in their faces, the process of overcoming fear and emotions to achieve their goals.  You could see this, as the next day, all the lugemen and woman practiced on the very course that killed their friend and fellow athlete.  Just think about what strength you would have to materialize to take that journey down the track – even to take the first step.

I am in awe.  This year my powerful pack of leaders are called the Business Olympians (www.hartofsuccess.com/circle ).  Today I know that each of us may face or have faced days of devastation or obstacles that we did not foresee, and I hope each of them (and you) really think about those athletes on that track the morning after this tragic accident.  If they could do that – what could you do?  And what did they think about in order to keep going?  What would you be thinking in their shoes? Their skates? Their luge sleds?

What would you have to feel in your heart and think in your mind?  What would you be telling yourself?  And this is all after (I’m sure) a somber sleepless night.

Have you given up – with so much less real adversity – before?  If you have, I hope you use this day as a reminder of what you CAN do in your own life.  We ALL have that power.  Claim your moment!  Show yourself you CAN do this, even if it frightens you.  There is perhaps no stronger inner power than walking calmly and carefully through your fears or facing your own ring of fire.

Now for the celebration….

Hey – I told you it was a wild day.

Here’s how it went…

Security was actually pretty easy if you followed the guidelines of what to bring, very similiar to airport security (I did get my apple chips confiscated).

Then when we found our seats, there was a box attached to it.  This was a fun surprise.

Inside the box (which was shaped like a heptagon) was an audience participation kit.  There was a colored flashlight, an electric candle, a white poncho, a drum set, and a Canadian flag.

In the audience were “helpers” in white sweaters with bright red hats on.  These “helpers” would rehearse with us and then also cue us for our participation.

Here’s what we did:
First we had to assemble all our equipment – get everything ready.  Then we rehearsed the opening countdown that you saw on TV where the lights counted down 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1!  I was seated in the first group – section 10.  So we had to take our drum box, and stand up on cue with our box over our head and yell 10.  Each box was color coded to give a huge affect of the number 10 in the audience on TV.

It was very cool.

There was pressure on us – especially because we were starting.  We didn’t want to be late.  In fact I was laughing as 4 people were seated behind me that came in bit late and were totally stressed (in a funny way) on the pressure to participate.  It was funny seeing people juggle their hot dogs and standing up then sitting on all these cues.  I laughed so hard.

After this countdown we were able to watch the ceremony.  Basically we had about 20 mins between each participation activity.

The ceremony (I thought) was really spectacular.  The lights show was amazing.  I won’t describe the whole event as you would have seen in on TV.  It began to my left with snow falling and a snowboarder entering the Olympic stadium by sliding down a ski jump through the Olympic rings onto the center of the stage.  It was unexpected and made many people next to me (and ok me too) jump.

Then the athletes entered the arena.  It was a parade of nations, everyone entered in alphabetical order with the exception of Greece going first and Canada coming in last.  Korea was split into 2 teams this year (which was different than in 2006) and came in at different times.  And as I mentioned everyone was on their feet in support of Georgia.

The organizers really transformed the arena to look like a snow covered blank canvas from which lights told an ever changing story.  A story of our history, plus highlighting the seasons of Vancouver, Whistler and rest of Canada. This portion was designed to demonstrate how the climate & landscape shaped the Canadian culture.

There was a 20-meter led bear that rose up out of the floor, hundreds of fiddlers and tap dancers, aboriginal dancers welcoming everyone and skiers and snowboarders hanging in mid-air, skiing down a curtain of snow and lights.  The lights turned off and suddenly it seemed as if hundreds of skiers were (rollerblading) over the ice in red & white lights.

My favorite is when it looked as though real whales were swimming across the stadium floor, complete with spurting blow holes.  Everyone cheered! 

What were clouds became trees with a light change.  It was very magical and you never knew what to expect.

And something that made us all laugh was Canadian slam poet Shane Kcyczan recited a poem entitled “We Are More”, which had many on their feet with drums banging in agreement.

One of the ways the audience helped with the transformation was we all had to wear our white ponchos.  This allowed for a unity in form and color throughout the area, and provided a limitless backdrop for the lightshow to continue.

We were guided to blink and twirl our flashlights in unison to create a diamond like sparkle that took over the arena.  We gently waved our lit candles to the melodic sounds of Sarah McLachlan, K.D. Lang, and Jodi Miller.  We beat our drums as the percussionist background to Brian Adams & Nelly Furtado.

We saluted our Canadian athletes, and stars (Donald Sutherland) and much loved Wayne Gretzky – known to us as the greatest Hockey player ever to have lived.  And in true Canadian fashion, he was humbled by the cheers and adoration and took it all in red & white stride.  He said lighting the Olympic cauldron was one of the greatest days of his life. He was joined by NBA star Steve Nash, gold medalist Nancy Greene Raine and speedskater Catriona LeMay Doan.  There was a slight hitch as one of the columns would not come up. But in the end it was no big deal.

All in all this spectacular ceremony united our country and we were able to take pride in our spirit, beliefs and culture.  Everyone was smiling, and fans from every country went to celebrate over a beer together.  Isn’t that the way we should always be with our competitors?  Sounds good to me.

It was an amazing event.  I took LOTS of photos – so go here to check them out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefaniehartman  and add your comments please.  I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts –please post below.

Thank you!

So…What’s next?

Well every night there are fireworks right above my house – it is seriously freaking out my dog, but I hope you all enjoy it.

There are TONS of ceremonies and music concerts and all kinds of slow to fast paced entertainment going on all around the city.  You can take a quiet stroll on Granville street downtown and cuddle with your date and soak in the lanterns from around the world – a romantic idea or go ice-skating downtown and sip a cocoa or take in a rock concert around town.

Oh – and of course the games!!!!

Olympic schedule of events: http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-schedule-results/  

2010 Free Attraction Guide: http://www.vancouveraccess2010.com/2010-olympic-games-free-attractions

Live webcast of Olympics: http://www.ctv.ca/

Special Events: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Events+List+Olympic+concerts+galleries+Zones+entertainment/2541896/story.html

My photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefaniehartman

Talk to you soon.
Stefanie

On Friday I attended the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and as  a good Canadian I went to the Bay ahead of time and bought some Olympic T-shirts & fleece jackets – plus the customary (and hard to find) Fuzzy red official Torch Relay mittens!  I was prepared to go into the stadium in nice jeans and my gear.

But then I was told I was attending an Olympic business luncheon before and had to dress Business Casual.  I was also told the limo was cancelled as the streets were shut down so I had to somehow combine business casual, with Olympic Gear, with shoes that I could walk 5 or 6 blocks in –oh and it will likely be raining.

Ok, that’s a tall order.  So what do you think?  Did I pull it off?

Stefanie

The Olympics are Here!!!!

I am so excited, in a few hours I will be heading to a cocktail luncheon downtown, then off to the Olympics Opening Ceremonies.  Some of my friends where at the rehearsal and they said it is going to be spectacular.  I am so excited and so lucky to be able to attend.  I will let you know what it was like, and see if I could sneak some photos for you.

The city has road closures all over the place and lots and lots of people, but the mood is really good and really alive.  You can walk down any street in and around the downtown area and hear people laughing.

Almost every night there is some celebration as well.  This Sunday (for Valentine’s Day) we’re going to the Olympic Medals Award Hand out, then Nelly Furtato (Canadian Singer) is doing a small concert.  I am trying to get tickets to INXS but haven’t been able to get them so far.

Anyway, what a great way to come home from JV Alert and all the fantastic people I met there.

Gotta go – try to figure out how to wear my Olympic fleece mittens, scarf and jacket with cocktail wear.  A girls dilemma!

All the best, Stefanie

Now that the weekend is approaching, I am sending you a personal email asking for you to support a sweet guy and friend of mine, Sam Worthington.

Don’t worry – it will be FUN.  And no, you don’t have to send me money.   Ha Ha. I’m not asking for that kind of support.

Just take a friend or your spouse out on an enjoyable evening and please go see the AVATAR movie!  My friend is the star of the movie, he  plays the main character ‘Jake Sully’.  Info:  http://www.avatarmovie.com

We go waaaaay back and I’m SUPER proud of him.

Besides, it’s a fun movie – I suggest you watch the 3-D version.  Very cool and nice message about our planet.

He is presenting at the People’s Choice Awards soon, yay!  

By the way – he has worked really hard at his career, he worried about the ‘next job’ as actors do.  He even spent some time living in his car.   Anyway, he is humble and grateful and very importantly works VERY hard at what he does.  And I think that is good for you to know.  He never felt ‘entitled’ to any success or for any leg-ups in this world.

So go watch the movie, and think of yourself and Sam – and know that dreams DO come true.  Just keep at it- like Sam.

Enjoy the weekend!

Stefanie

PS – for all you JV Club Followers – now YOU are 1 degree away from a major movie star!  Ha Ha.  But his hands are full right now, so please don’t send me ton of emails or requests to do a business deal or become a friend of his.  I will respect his privacy.  Hey – I’m not even posting all my private photos of him – same reason,  just this one great shot.

Much love!

Ok, this is a strange blog post I know, but hey- sometimes it happens – and this year – boy did it ever happen to me.  So I’m figuring that you may have had a similar bad start to the year – maybe not this year, but at least once in your life – and if you did – please share it with me and if there were any lessons learned.  And I tell you what –  the best 3 stories will get a special prize!  But – hey I may win my own prize.

But I figure if my first day was this bad in the New Year, then the rest of the year should be GREAT!  Just getting it all out in the beginning.

So here’s what happened…

December office was busy, trying to shut down for the holiday plans, the “holidays “(really we need another word here) were also at a fast pace as my family chose to split up the festivities this year, so it was 3 days of prep and 5 days of different cities and celebrating (not including new years).  But I love the holidays, giving presents and feeling all the warm vibes of the season, so I was tired but enjoyed it.  But I did feel I was trying to make everyone else happy and exhausted myself in the process. That’s sign #1.

But then I came down with a 2 week sinus affection that didn’t allow me to sleep, eat or breathe properly.  I had black eyes from this infection. And I am the person who doesn’t get colds even when I have sick people around me, so it was surprising.  Perhaps a sign to slow down.

During this time I also found out that a good friend of mine died and I attended the funeral and Shiva.  So that was a hard reminder that love and friendships are precious.  It was also a reminder that we’re all on a silent egg timer and we never know when the bell will ring for us.

A few days later I return to work and a business deal and relationship I am deeply involved in (and really enjoy) seems to have gone to hell in a hand basket (who made up this expression, it’s really good).  I am hoping this will end on a positive note, but the journey to get there is really horribly difficult, time costly and dragged me down emotionally for 3 days where I couldn’t even move – which is weird as I am typically the girl you call in any traumatic experience.  I am a rock and a strong guide in tough situations.  I was a crisis manager for pete-sake!  I can handle pressure.

But I must have been so sick, so exhausted and overwhelmed by the feeling of being let down, that it contributed to my emotional state.   In fact I almost missed New Years over it because I was so devastated by their actions.  Mostly because when they were really making big mistakes and I covered for them and was as forgiving as Mother Theresa.  Why don’t people appreciate or remember those things?  Do we have to be feared in business to get respect and appreciation?   I should be furious but I mostly feel disappointed.  I rationalize it thinking that even good people can do strange actions when they are emotionally or financially struggling, it helps people act from fear and lash out at others.

That same day (my first day back to work), my staff accidentally erased 3 of my main business websites.  Thank god for back-ups!!  This has created a few days of me trying not to panic, but it is slowly being resolved as we speak. But I couldn’t get mad because who can get upset at someone who is more upset at themselves, than I could ever be?  Mistakes can happen.

Then for some strange reason my outlook refused to open, so I had no way of looking at past, present or future emails.  Weird.  It later repaired itself.  It may have been a sign to walk away.

Did I mention that my grandmother is ill?

Seriously, I’m not sure you can top 8 years of work being wiped out in 1 day, a death of a friend, a possible end to a part of a business I enjoyed, computer failures and feeling like crap? – but hey you can try.  Be my guest.

So what do I take from all this????  Well you may have more enlightening answers (and if you do please send them my way).

Here was my thought process:

Ok, someone cursed me.

Ok, everyone but me is crazy.

Ok, I must suck at business.

Ok, I must be the crazy one and don’t see it.  Well, I am talking to myself here.

Jeez, I am dehydrated from crying.  Can someone get dehydrated from tears? 

Ok, maybe a possible (hopefully not) end to a partnership deal, my business being deleted is a signal for me to become a vet.  I love animals – but no, can’t operate on them.  Vet is out – plus I don’t look good in white, I need more color. 

Hmmm, Ok, I should go back to bed, and hide under the covers until I can smell tulips in March.  Hopefully my husband will remember to keep feeding our dog.  He probably won’t. Damn!  I have to get out of bed.

Ok, am I going to let this get me down???       Hell yes! 

……Ok, try again, am I going to let this get me down and quit?      Well, maybe I can look at the positives; maybe SOME people still love me.  Maybe I shouldn’t take this one weird week as the representative of my 8 years of doing good work on the planet and helping so many people find their way and reach for more.    Ok, feeling better.

Getting Proper Perspective Back
Why is it I pay more attention to negative actions of a few, than the many more positives?  I know why, because I try so hard to please everyone, and it just doesn’t work all the time.

Maybe the world has better things to do than single me out for a take-down, after all, I’m not one of the bad guys – just an imperfect woman trying to be perfect 24/7 and make the lives of others a better place.  Bound to make some errors, maybe I have.  Maybe I should forgive others and forgive myself.  Hmm, good start.  That feels better.

Next – look at the bright side:  Ok, I have my health back, which is so important.  My personal relationships are great right now.  My dog is super cute and definitely still loves me.

I have incredible circle of people in my group this year – really top notch and include some of my favorite people.  I am also looking forward to seeing my new MIT members change & grow and helping them along the way like a proud mum.

I may have lost 3 pounds from my cold, which makes up for the chocolate binge on the 3 days I was feeling sorry for myself and not getting off my sofa.  Ok, I’m on to caramels now – and I am currently accepting chocolate or caramel donations.

I am also reminded of an email my good friend, our fabulous MIT coach and circle member Nat said to me last year.  He said his computer froze, and at first he panicked – but then he sought to see the beauty and positive in his situation.  He realized that all he needed to do was do a “de-fragmentation” repair on his computer – this also mirrored his office.  So he took this spare time to clean up all the bits of paper and stuff cluttering up his office and felt a weight lift.  Both he and his computer got a clean-up that day.

So taking Nat’s advice (after all not only is he a rocking MIT Coach, but he is also a Buddhist monk and entrepreneur.  That’s a strong combination) I reflected …

… And thought- if my whole business disappeared (which it did temporarily) – would I be ok?   Yes, I can rebuild.  I would find a way.  Or maybe this is a wake-up call that I should look at changing the program and starting with a fresh perspective.  I have been meaning to do updates.  Or maybe start something totally new.  Is there something else I have been meaning to do?  Is there a new path?

Regarding the deal and partnership that I so treasured… I will keep in my thoughts that both my partner and I will be very happy with whatever the outcome or resolution may be and remain friends and still send each other business.  Perhaps letting go is good – even though it scares me and fills me with unanswered questions about the future.

This also made me realize – when things went – poof! Gone!  That we have a CHOICE to be here.  We have a choice to keep offering the same programs or start again from scratch or even change what we do every day. No one is forcing you to stay at your job, even though it may feel like that sometimes.   We always have a CHOICE to look for new solutions or not. 

It made me remember that in ANY industry you will meet villains, saints and people who do things you just don’t understand (out of fear, jealousy, negative belief systems or desperation), so accept that.  There will be people you help who may resent you for your help later.  I think dogs are the only animals that won’t bite you after you feed them.  People unfortunately can sometimes.  What’s with the dog theme here?

Letting Go Of My Maps
I don’t have everything planned to perfection as I typically do at this time of year.  I choose to not feel panicked about that.  Ok, I repeat, I choose not to feel panicked (I feel like Dorothy clicking her heels and deeply concentrating here – this is hard).   After all I think if there is one life lesson Stefanie Hartman is supposed to learn it’s that you can TRUST life more.  Life has a way of working out.  Life has its own map & timeline.   I hate not having full direction by now, not seeing what is to come.  I can adjust plans, but I typically need to have some direction.  I love maps!  So I’m easing up on that somewhat.  Yes I will identify a few goals, but if I don’t know where my next income is going to be made I will TRUST more that it will (back to the shoes clicking).

Letting Go & Taking a Stand for Me
I will not compare myself or my progress to others as that only ends badly.  I just realized that when I compare myself to others, I never compare to those ‘below’ me, just ‘above’ me (basically whoever has something I would also like to have)?   Really this is not a fair comparison without the two perspectives.   While there will be people smarter, more successful, “luckier”, prettier, taller, whatever, there will also be people whose life you would never trade for.  Many people have greater challenges and discomfort or pain.  I will remember the bigger picture and be grateful every day. 

There are very successful people who can feel like failures because they hold themselves to ridiculous standards or ‘fail’ their own self-imposed timelines.  I do not want to be one of them.

I will also retain my own successes in my mind and heart with personal pride and not let my achievements diminish as soon as they are accomplished for fear of being egotistical.  Being happy for myself is not a negative thing, especially when I am genuinely happy for those around me too.  I will no longer put my own happiness in second, third or fourth place.

I will continue to run my business in a way I am proud of, even if others are “getting ahead” faster through not so pleasant methods. 

I will be proud of myself and TRUST that my life has its own timeline and I cannot plan everything.

I will stretch time and spend 8 hours a month connecting with a business & personal relationships – out of the blue.  Telling them how much I care for them.

I will not hold onto what I think ‘should happen’ with a tight grip, even if I am sad or have fear – as I will trust that if it is not meant to work out (no matter what it is), gripping it will only give me a hand cramp and waste time and energy.   Letting things fall where they may, makes room for something better that I may never have even imagined.

It is possible that the plan I have is not as great as the plan the universe has.  I am betting on you universe – so now’s your chance. 

I will do more things in love of life and in spite of fear.

Humanity has gotten me down a bit this past year, so maybe I should add a project that will show the charitable and unexpected sides of people, or do something to help rescue distressed animals.  I will meditate on this.  Having a positive project may be good for me.

I will learn how to meditate.

I will continue to take the risk of opening myself up to the world (and who ever reads this, thank you), keep being transparent, VULNERABLE and real – and hope that I don’t need to be ‘perfect’ and a shark for others to see that while I have vulnerable moments I have many more moments of great strength, that in fact being vulnerable, not putting on a persona in public takes great courage and strength. 

I will try not to take to heart the 1 or 2 negative emails I get from people every so often.  I will instead put more weight on the hundreds of positive ones.

I will let myself be wrong occasionally and forgive myself.  I will forgive others as well.

Whenever I feel fear, I will remember its ‘made up’, not real, and I will trust more.

I will work on getting my body into a gym, and getting my mind/soul into some fun activities as well as some soul searching.

I will go and get some more chocolate caramels because I just missed lunch.

I will not be so hard on myself.

I will keep my sense of humor…it may be the last thing I take with me on earth.

Foreshadow: I‘m thinking my next year’s blog post may be about visiting the dentist from all these milk duds I am eating.  Ok I’m done with eating chocolate – free milk dud boxes for those who think they can top this!

Maybe if I keep saying MILK DUDS the company will sponsor my blog, milk duds, milk duds, and no calls yet…I will keep trying later.

Thanks for listening…..

Your friend, mentor (hopefully still after this crazy blog post) and person who may be YOUR biggest fan and cheerleader,

Stefanie Hartman

PS – Please post your proper email address as will will be contacting the winners!