Dream Act Plan Believe

Can You Experience True Success Without Play?

Leisa Watkins — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:16:45 +0000

Image Courtesy of Todd Baker

Many people are so driven to succeed that they neglect to play. I am, or rather, was one of those people.

You see, I’ve always been driven to succeed. But, I was so driven to succeed that my life had slipped out of balance and I found myself failing to really enjoy life.

I kept thinking that once I achieve “this” I can relax and play more. Once I achieve “that” I can take a few hours off to go hiking, or take a vacation.

But then the next big project came along and… well…you probably know the rest of the story.

Mark Twain said, “Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.” Work can be play. And play can be work.

Mark Twain also said, “Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.”

My problem was that throughout my life I had a pattern of turning the things I loved to do for fun into obligations – thereby turning it into work. My love of ballet turned into teaching ballet. The art and crafts I loved to create turned into a design and craft business with deadline upon deadline.

The reason?

I could only justify doing those activities if it was bringing me closer to my goals. And having more fun, I didn’t think, could simply be a goal.

But, don’t get me wrong…

Image Courtesy of H. Koppdelaney

There is nothing wrong with created a career out of what you love to do! In fact, I encourage it. Work should be something you enjoy doing!

The problem arises when you fail to give yourself permission to do those things just for the fun of it.

After all, according to Dictionary.com play is an exercise or activity for amusement or recreation. Not an activity you have to do.

In November 2007, my husband and I were attending an iLearningGlobal Mastery Conference where we had the opportunity to learn from many great speakers. The presentation on play by Kevin Carroll really struck a cord with me and made a significant impact on my life. I became more dedicated to consciously playing, just for the sake of playing. Kevin says he is a “Katalyst For Change.” And that’ s exactly what he was for me that day.

His presentation ignited in me the knowledge that I can’t really experience true success without including play in my life. Perhaps Heraclitus describes my new found knowledge best when he said, “Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” And fully being myself is the truest form of success.

So what do you think?

Do you give yourself permission to play?
Can you experience true success without play?
How does play complete you?

Additional food for thought:

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Let the Bloggiesta Festivities Begin

Leisa Watkins — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:00:18 +0000

Well my somewhat unintended blogging break has gone on for quite a while. Perhaps long enough. You see I committed to working on blogging today as part of the Bloggiesta festivities hosted by my sister at Maw Books. I’m over a day behind in getting started, but I’m now officially joining in the festivities.

This long break didn’t really start out as an intended blogging break, but…

It all began with that post back an entire month ago, A Productivity System for Getting Things Done , in which I began a quest to get my productivity back on track.

Don’t get me wrong. I was still being highly productive, but not as productive as I could be.

You see, my systems had fallen by the way-side and I’d fallen out of the habit of using those system that helped me produce the most amount of work I could in the shortest amount of time. Things were falling through the cracks, I was missing appointments, and forgetting important things.

So I made a conscious decision to not even think about blogging for the past month. Sure it hurt my blog, but I’ve made big gains in other areas of my life and it was well worth it.

So in my effort to focus on the most important things, as part of today’s Bloggiesta activities I am going to concentrate on just a few things.

Focus the bulk of my time in creating the landing page and follow-up system that I want to have in place before I can add the bulk of the blogging posts that are you on list.
Do a little blog housekeeping.
Spend 45 minutes helping Natasha with one of her blogging tasks in which she said, “Talk to my sister about my huge list of template sidebar changes that needs to be done.” (OK. I spent much longer than 45 minutes. But most of it is done.)
Upgrade three of my blogs to the latest version of WordPress.

A Productivity System for Getting Things Done

Leisa Watkins — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:25:22 +0000

This entry is part of a series, Productivity Tips for GTD»

Image Courtsey of kogakure

I’ve always been an extremely busy person, but I’ve been EXTRA swamped lately so that’s why I haven’t even gotten my first post done in the Envision It series. I haven’t even had time to get in many Tweets.

It’s primarily because our iLearningGlobal business is booming at the same time I’m trying to get Rich Women Sisterhood relaunched (after we found some problems in BETA mode). I’ve also been coaching several small business clients, something that just kinda happened as people asked for help in setting up their business to market online.

The Problem

The problem is my old methods of tracking my projects, and everything I had to get done, wasn’t working anymore…

I’d used a paper-based planner since junior high. When I first got married I worked for Franklin Covey (back before Franklin merged with Covey) and fell in love with the Franklin planning system. Once I began homeschooling and running several business I found that it wasn’t working as well anymore. Primarily because of the many repetitive tasks and multiple projects.

In all fairness, I’ll take that back…

I had automated the system by using the Franklin Covey software, but my computer crashed and I couldn’t install it on my new computer. I wasn’t willing to invest in new software at the time. Though now their online planning system looks pretty good.

Don’t get me wrong, I still find great value in the teachings offered by Franklin Covey system, particularly when it comes to aligning your tasks with your values and core believes. I also firmly believe that it is a fantastic system for many, many people. And I will continue to use many aspects of it in conjunction with what I am doing now. But, there had to be an easier way than creating a new list every day.

Getting Things Done

So some time ago, I searched and found David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and fell in love with the GTD methodology. I highly recommend you read the book!

I downloaded and printed some fantastic forms for GTD (I’ll still use many of them) and created my own DIY planner and used it in conjunction with the Hipster PDA. I found that worked fairly well, but things were still falling through the cracks. Plus it was costing me more considerably more for printing than the Franklin planner cost.

But my system wasn’t working

It wasn’t flawed, but…

I spend a good share of my day at the computer, or away from my home office. Some days I’d go to add things to my list and realize that my planner was in the trunk of the car. Not a problem, unless the car is gone for eight hours. Even if the planner was right there next to me, I’d end up taking notes on a piece of paper – simply because I’d be in to big of a hurry to find the correct page to write that particular task on.

However, now after quite a bit of research and a little time organizing I think I’ve come up with something that will work well for me. Perhaps it, or parts of it will work well for you.

A New Productivity System

It’s a system that uses technology (and no I don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry), to track all my projects and tasks, and combines it with other productive tools. It allows me to easily capture tasks on the run. Plus, my husband, and business partner, can automatically add tasks he needs me to work on as well.

So I’m not giving up my DIY printed planner /Franklin planner /Hipster PDA completely and I still have a project folder for each one of my projects. But I’m merging them with other tools for getting things done. I’ll share with you what I use each of the tools for.

If I were to include everything in one post it would be counter productive, and difficult to follow. So over the next few weeks I’m going to share with you the tools I use to keep track of all my projects and tasks. Perhaps some of the tips will help you not only dream, but act. And not only plan, but believe.

Productivity Tips for Getting Things Done

First post – coming soon

Entries in this series:

A Productivity System for Getting Things Done

Rudy Ruettiger Lives A Life Without Limits

Leisa Watkins — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:22:51 +0000

Daniel Rudy Ruettiger lives a life without limits. Just how far Rudy is willing to go to reach for his dreams and the best in himself is demonstrated in the 1993 inspirational film based on his life titled Rudy.

If you aren’t familiar with Rudy’s story here is some of his inspiring story, or you can read a synopsis of Rudy’s life at the end of this post.

As a new member of the iLearningGlobal faculty Rudy gave an electrifying speech at the iLearningGlobal convention in Las Vegas last month. We had the privilege of meeting him after his speech. I was grateful that my teenage son was able to learn from him.

Here’s some Rudy Ruettiger quotes from that speech:

“Your thoughts and actions get you to where you want to go.”

“The day you stop dreaming is the day you give up hope.”

“Inspiration is the key to all education.” (my favorite)

“Little victories give you confidence.”

“It’s not what you know, it’s what you do!”

And some of my favorites tidbits of inspiration from his website:

“Always have a Dream. Dreams give us energy to go to new levels. Dreams change lives … the power of life is in your Dreams!”

“Eliminate the confusion. Find mentors who encourage you. The right information will eliminate confusion. Visualize exactly what you want to be … and focus on that … believe in yourself and don’t let anything stop you. Reinforce your Dream every day with positive information from tapes, books, and mentors. Each day you will get closer to your Dream. Eliminate the confusion and fears, and make it happen.”

Here’s Craig, myself, and our son Austin. I’m 5′3″ and you can see that Rudy really isn’t that much taller than I am at 5′7″. That photo puts things into perspective for me.

Craig Watkins, Rudy Ruettiger, Leisa Watkins, Austin Watkins

I do recommend you view the video above, but for those who just want to read more about Rudy here it is (compliments of wikipedia)

“Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger grew up dreaming of playing football at the University of Notre Dame. While achieving some success with his local high school football team, Ruettiger lacks the grades and money to attend Notre Dame, and talent and physical size (the real Ruettiger was only 5′6″ and the film suggests that the fictional Rudy was even smaller than that) to play football for the Fighting Irish. Instead, he takes a job at the local steel mill where his father Daniel Ruettiger Sr. (a huge Notre Dame fan) works, and he prepares to settle down.

When his best friend Pete is killed in an explosion at the mill, Rudy decides to follow his dream of attending Notre Dame and playing college football for the Fighting Irish, and leaves for Notre Dame, against his father’s warning that “Ruettigers don’t belong at college.” Ruettiger fails to get admitted to Notre Dame, and instead goes to a small junior college, Holy Cross College, hoping to qualify for a transfer to the university.

During his final semester of eligibility transfer, he is granted admission to Notre Dame. After walking onto football practice tryouts, Ruettiger convinces coach Ara Parseghian to give him a spot on the football practice team, where Rudy exhibits more drive and desire than some of his big-name varsity teammates.

Upon Dan Devine’s installation as head coach, Ruettiger fears he will lose the chance to dress for a home game, an arrangement he had with Parseghian. Late in the season of 1975, his teammates, led by team captain and All-American Roland Steele, rise to his defense, demanding to Devine that Rudy be allowed to suit up in their place (by throwing down their jerseys, one at a time, on top of Devine’s desk) for the final game of the season.

The final game of the season comes, against Georgia Tech. And while Rudy is suited up, his teammates feel this is not enough, this starts a chant that soon goes stadium wide. Coach Devine eventually gives in and lets Rudy play on the final kickoff. Rudy then stays in for the final play of the game and sacks the opposing quarterback. The final scene depicts him being carried off the field by his teammates.”

Oh, here’s a clip of the famous Rudy Notre Dame play…

Questions to ask yourself:

Are you letting little things hold you back?
What obstacles have you overcome?
Have you given up one some dreams that can be resurrected?

And finally…

Who do you know that is living live without limits? We’d like to feature them here.

Envision This and Make Your Dreams Come True

Leisa Watkins — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:30:13 +0000

Perhaps as a child you dreamed of being a ballerina or playing in the world-series. Perhaps you dreamed of traveling to exotic locations, of flying to the moon, or of being in movies. All of us had childhood dreams. And many of us still have the same dreams now as adults.

Dreams are nothing more than what we imagine our life would be like. It’s the experiences we hope to live.

Sadly though, many have given up on their dreams.

“It’s to late,” they say. That may be true…

It may be to late to play in the world series, but you could still attend the world series, and adult form of “play.”

It may be to late to be the star ballerina, but it’s not to late to dance, and to enjoy it. And it’s not to late to attend the ballet often.

And…

It’s not to late to build more dreams!
It’s not to late to make your dreams come true!

You’ve just got to give yourself permission to dream!

To help with that I’m adding a new resource, via a series of posts, here at Dream, Act, Plan, Believe. The word envision is to picture mentally some future event or events, so the new series is called Envision This.

The Envision This series will showcase some of the things I dream of doing, fascinating places to visit, exotic foods to try, things to experience, and some things you may just find interesting. It is designed to provide you with ideas – ideas of things that you can do to bring more joy in your life.

It’s a tool for you to use in creating new dreams and making dreams come true.

The first post is coming Monday.

By the way, you’ll recognize the posts in the Envision It series because they’ll have the envision this image (shown at the top of this post) in it.

Be sure to explore the site to find additional resources on how to make your dreams come true.

Excellence and a Prevailing Attitude

Leisa Watkins — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:30:38 +0000

This entry is part of a series, Excellence»

I was recently asked what one of my favorite “excellence” quotes was. There are many great quotes related to excellence, but this is the one I shared that night:

“Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” ~ Charles R. Swindoll

But what exactly does that mean?

The key word in that quote is prevailing. The definition of “prevailing” is

predominant
generally current
having superior power of influence.

So…

To achieve excellence you you should think of what it is that you are trying to achieve, and how to BEST achieve excellence in that area. And you should think about it most of the time. You strive for excellence, and are currently working towards excellence.

Your dominant thoughts should be thoughts that generate excellence.

Your thoughts will then begin to have superior power or influence, and those thoughts then go on to influence your decisions and the way you act. Excellence comes from within.

Successful people seek excellence because they believe in striving for the best within themselves. Yet, they understand that it is necessary to give up achieving excellence in some areas of our lives so we can better our success of achieving excellence in other areas.

What’s your thoughts on excellence?
What are your prevalent thoughts?

Entries in this series:

Excellence and a Prevailing Attitude

An Idea Journal – Your Imagination’s Notebook

Leisa Watkins — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:28:12 +0000

This entry is part of a series, Manage Your Imagination»

Image courtesy of romanlily

Imagination that doesn’t get used begins to fade away. Eventually it may fail to produce many original or creative thoughts, or your imagination feel that it can only safely come out to play during your dreams

Do you want your imagination to work for you? Yes! Then it needs to know that it is being taken seriously. You’ve got to show it you are paying attention.

I believe your mind is more open to creative imagination, and apt to give you those million dollar ideas, if it knows that you will take them seriously. One sure fire way to stimulate your imagination, is to keep an idea journal.

Your idea journal really doesn’t have to be fancy, in fact, it could be as simple as a spiral-bound notebook. However, writing down my ideas in a beautiful black leather bound journal seems to communicate to my subconscious mind that “your ideas are important enough to me to not go in any old notebook. They are going right here in my book that will last for centuries.”

The ideas I capture in my idea journal almost immediately seem like they are more of a reality. So be sure to transfer any of those ideas contained on floating pieces of paper, or a napkin to your permanent journal.

How to Use Your Idea Journal

Use your idea journal in a way that works for you. Some people start at page one filling-up one page after another. Personally, for me that was to frustrating. I couldn’t find the idea when I wanted to refer to it later. So I numbered my pages and divided it into sections. Ideas related to business ideas go in one, ideas related to my family go in another, etc.
Ask yourself questions. Place a question at the top of a page. Then let your imagination work on a solution. When ideas come I write them down on the page. This method never fails to stimulate my problem solving abilities.
Carry your idea journal with you everywhere. Sometimes it may just be unrealistic to have it with you. So if you are stuck somewhere without it, your job it to first commit all your ideas to any paper that you have handy. Carrying 3 x 5″ cards with you is often the perfect substitute. Once you get back home make sure those ideas make it to your journal.
Don’t judge the ideas. Write down the ideas as they come to you. They may not appear like a great idea now, but that idea when combined with something else may make it a winning idea.
Don’t use a pens that bleed, or fades.
Write your name, address, and phone number in the front cover and you may want offer a reward for it’s return if it is lost.

What To Keep in Your Journal

Keep track of those things that capture your imagination – those things that give you inspiration, and those things that you notice. Basically, any idea, that you get can be written down in your idea journal. Some of them will be huge, and some of them almost insignificant. For example:

Business ideas.
Product ideas.
Sketches of paintings.
Ideas for blog posts.
Ideas of books.
Ideas on how to more effectively communicate with someone.
Record the things you’re grateful for.
Titles for books.
Sketches, or story-boards.
Character ideas.
Ideas on how to improve your home.
Plants you want to plant in your yard.

You never know what you will learn until you start paying attention. You may soon discover ideas you never knew you were capable of producing.

How are you going to capture your next big idea?

Do you use an idea journal?
What have you found works well for you?

Entries in this series:

Manage Your Imagination to Increase Your Success
Your Imagination is Starving - Feed It!
Stimulate The Creative Palette - Ask Questions!
Imagination and Creativity Go Hand-in-Hand
An Idea Journal - Your Imagination's Notebook

Imagination and Creativity Go Hand-in-Hand

Leisa Watkins — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:52:12 +0000

This entry is part of a series, Manage Your Imagination»

Image Courtesy of Mavens

Imagination and creativity go hand-in-hand. By breaking down the words creativity and imagination we can gain a great understanding of how closely connected they are.

Imagination

image – to form a mental picture
ate – join
ion – action

So we can see that imagination is an action. It’s the act of forming a mental picture and is not the ability to recall a mental picture.

Creativity

create – to evolve something from one’s own thoughts or imagination, such as creating a work of art or an invention.
ity – a suffix expressing a state or condition

So creativity is the ability to express what one sees with their own thoughts or imagination. And imagination is a skill that helps to bring things into existence.

If imagination is the skill that helps to bring the things we create into existence and creativity is the ability to express what one sees with their own thoughts or imagination then one can’t really exist without the other.

Imagination and creativity are at work when new inventions are created, when new breakthroughs in science are discovered (see science is imagination), when new clothing lines are created, when new pieces of music are created, and when new recipes are served up.

So pay attention to those images that pop into your head. Your imagination just may be trying creativly solve a problem.

What are they telling you?
How can you bring that image forth from your imagination and create something that will make a difference?

Entries in this series:

Manage Your Imagination to Increase Your Success
Your Imagination is Starving - Feed It!
Stimulate The Creative Palette - Ask Questions!
Imagination and Creativity Go Hand-in-Hand
An Idea Journal - Your Imagination's Notebook

The DREAM Act – US Immigration Reform Bill

Leisa Watkins — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:37:56 +0000

Image Courtesy of BdwayDiva1

Because of the title of my blog (Dream, Act, Plan, Believe) I’ve been getting of visitors looking for information on The DREAM Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. This post is more or less a public-service post. A way for my blog visitors to find the information on the Dream Act United States immigration bill that they are looking for

The DREAM Act Summary

The federal DREAM act is a proposed legislation would provide high achieving high school students, who arrived in the US as minors. They are undocumented immigrants and have lived in the United States for a long term legal status, if they serve in the armed forces or attend college for two years.

History of the DREAM Act

The DREAM Act 2006, and the DREAM Act 2007 were both defeated, but because all three candidates for president supported the bill there is a push to reintroduce the DREAM act. So we may be looking at a future DREAM Act 2009.

So for those of you arriving here looking for more info on the Dream Act 2009 here is a list of places on the web where you can find out additional on the DREAM Act legislation:

Please Note: The sites listed here are done as a service my readers. Inclusion here is neither a symbolic vote for or against the DREAM act. The listing contains more for the legislation because there simply is many more sites created in support.

National Imigration Law Center Page on the DREAM Act (for the Dream Act)
National Council of Latino Civil Rights (for the Dream Act)
People for the American Way – The DREAM Act (for the Dream Act)
FAIR Immigration Reform Movement The Heritage Foundation Article about DREAM Act 2006 (Against the Dream Act)
The DREAM Act Portal (for the Dream Act)
A Dream Deferred (for the Dream Act)
Economic Benefits of the Dream Act – PDF (for the Dream Act)
The “Dream Act”: Hatch-ing Expensive New Amnesty for Illegal Aliens (against the Dream Act)
Wikipedia Article on the Dream Act
DreamACTivist.org – Undocumented Students Action and Resource Network

Blogs About the Dream Act

Don’t Just Dream for the Act (for the Dream Act)
Dream Act – Texas (for the Dream Act)
Blogs at Wordpress.com that have written about the Dream Act (Both for and against Dream Act)

News Stories About the Dream Act

Latinos Gather to Support Dream Act Bill (April 29, 2009)
Dream Act Reawakens (April 25, 2009)
The American Dream and Obama’s First 100 Days (April 28, 2009)
DREAM Act, affecting children of illegal immigrants, fails Senate test vote
Pawlenty pushes against DREAM act
MCNBC Lessons on the DREAM act defeat

Live Life Without Limits with Nick Vujicic

Leisa Watkins — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:22:17 +0000

Nick Vujicic

I choose Nick Vujicic as the first person to feature in the Life Without Limits series because, born without limbs, 25 year old Nick Vujicic appears to have many limitations, however Nick doesn’t!

You see, Nick was born without arms or legs, and has faced countless challenges and obstacles. Despite the challenges Nick has traveling extensively (to over 19 nations), and has found ways to accomplish tasks that most people could only do by using their limbs. For example, he has learned to do things such as clean his teeth, brush his hair, typing on a computer, swim, play sports, and he earned a double bachelor degree majoring in accounting and financial planning.

According to Nick “the victory over his struggles throughout his journey, as well as the strength and passion he has for life can be credited to his faith, his family, his friends and the many people he’s encountered during his life who have encouraged him along the way. ”

Nick is now fulfilling his dream of being able to encourage other people and bring them hope, through motivational speaking and telling his story. Nick has traveled around the world, sharing his story and inspiring millions of people. Nick challenges others to examine their perspective, to look beyond their circumstances, to see obstacles as opportunities for growth, and to dream big.

Watch this video to get a glimpse of the kind of man Nick is and his philosophy of life:

Now that you’ve viewed that I’ll ask you:

What are you doing to live your life without limits?
What are you grateful for?

By the way, Nick is speaking in Salt Lake City next week. I am really hoping I can attend and meet Nick in person. If so, I’ll update you on the experience.

And…

You can lick here to learn more about Nick and his Attitude is Altitude program.

I can’t wait to share the story of two more incredibly inspirational people I had the privilege of meeting recently. You’ll be inspired by their story as well. So subscribe to my RSS feed to learn about more people who are Living Life Without Limits.