Getting Back to My Roots
Most of my consulting clients have heard me say, “Sometimes, you have to slow down to speed up.”
Clients often come to me overwhelmed and overworked, scared to hire support because how would they even get started?! They are seeking strategy, and instead I tell them to take a day off and go for a hike.
Like my clients, when I feel overwhelmed, the last thing I need to do is work harder or longer hours. Instead, I need to rest, go for a walk, or get in a good workout. After I get grounded and clear my head, then the work flows, I delegate more and the work takes half as much time. In the words of Eddie Cantor, “Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”
In the spirit of living what I teach, I started 2022 by going on a solo adventure to Costa Rica to attend a week long yoga retreat.
Yes, it was wildly uncomfortable to leave my family (and clients) for over a week, right after the holidays, and I thought of a lot of reasons that it couldn’t work, including COVID, but I still made it happen. Thank goodness, because it was a magical week filled with yoga, SUPing, journaling, hiking, and relaxing!
The retreat itself was located at Finca Luna Nueva Lodge, a farm-to-table lodge located in the mountainous rainforest. Two to three times every day, I joined eight other women to practice yoga on an outdoor pavilion surrounded by jungle life - howler monkeys and keel-billed toucans loudly chimed in, while morpho butterflies floated around us. We even saw a three-toed, pregnant sloth, which is a highlight of my LIFE!!!
Everything about the trip- the fellowship and fresh farm food- nourished my soul and my body and helped me to get clear on my goals for 2022. More importantly, the trip reset my nervous system and helped me to reconnect to the person I was as a child.
Meet the 4 year-old version of Dorothy (aka Dot).
I would put on sunglasses and tell my Grandma that I was a celebrity, yet I had no dreams of being famous (and still don’t). I was a high-energy child who did flips everywhere and was seriously focused, driven and hardworking. I was confident that I would one day change the world and fly airplanes and do all the things they said only men could do - like run a business and be in charge. I would write books, speak on stages and become a momma to boys, and I knew all of this at a young age.
People naturally followed my lead when I came up with grandiose ideas and created clubs like the SOS (Sleepover Sisters) and the more practical homework clubs. All of my ideas had followers and supporters, and many of my ideas were pretty far outside of the box and fueled with my creative spirit.
Well, watch out 2022 because not much has changed and this celebrity has some big goals!
Here are some of mine that are worthy of sharing because I hope you will hold me accountable to them!
(The others you will witness as I roll out new programs and ways to support my clients.)
#1 - Getting published in Forbes
#2 - Doing arm bar muscle-up at CrossFit
#3 - Going fully paperless in my personal and professional life
What are your goals for 2022?
I challenge you to create a quiet space away from your family and your work to 1st get grounded, and then to get clear with what you want to accomplish. Instead of saying I don’t have time, try saying it’s not a priority to set goals. Is that true, or can you make it a priority and create the time and space you need?
