Success is Sweetest - Life Coaching by Janice Hoffmann

ON CREATIVITY: A-Z tapas sized notes on imagination, originality and enterprise.

Janice — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:08:24 +0000

A is for AVANTE GARD. Leading the ranks and pushing against the norm.

B is for BACKGROUND MUSIC. Epic Aretha and Leonard Cohen scratched in with early morning birdsong.

C is for CONTESTS. We get ready. Suss out the competition. Share our best work. Learn some new rules. Raise the bar. And go the extra mile.

D is for the DRESSER. To all behind the scene stylists, personal assistants, confidantes, multitaskers and repairmen. Huz-zah!

E is for the EDGE. Get closer.

F is for FOOD. Relish all sweet and savory experiences.

G is for GARDENS. A vibrant green expanse of purpose and pleasure.

H is for The HIGHLINE. Rescuing a decaying structure. Overcoming bureacratic hurdles. And transforming an urban eyesore into a world class green escape.

I is for INSPIRE WIRE. This is a visual and inspirational prompt. I have one hanging on the wall directly across from my bed. It includes a dozen 4×6 framed photographs shot one summer during my beginning photo class. It’s a colorful and happy reminder of my love for this season and the journey of learning something new. One morning, in the middle of the winter, I woke up feeling deeply uncertain, and there it was, urging me to create.

J is for JANICE (shameless marketing)

K is for KICKing @$$. Whenever possible move into high gear.

L is for LIBERACE.

M is for MAKING STUFF UP. Everyone is doing it. I had a coach. The best in the world, who said, if you don’t know for sure, make it up. Not very encouraging when you’re paying someone big bucks to lead. But I quickly learned that when making sht up you have to be willing to let go, to use what’s in front of you, and to rely on every possible soul stirring resource and impulse. When I’m creating, whether its soup or an entrance on stage, making it up pushes me to deliver a fresh take on everything I already know.

N is for NOVELTY, NARCISM (a healthy dose) and NEVER-ever-GIVE UP.

O is for OBSERVATION. Ease drop. Study and listen.

P is for PHILIPPE PETIT. A French high wire artist born in 1939 who followed a calling of the romantic sort and walked the wire (actually a steel cable a quarter of a mile in the sky across the 130-foot gap separating the towers.) Spell-binding, operatic, timeless, profound, impish, from another planet and beautiful. The New York Times adds to this descriptive list, saying, Petite makes us all feel that ‘extraordinary’ is within reach.*

Q is for QUESTIONS. Use them as mining tools.

R is for RETROSPECTIVES. Two of my favorite retrospectives were centered around Sajit Ray’s movies and Sommerset Maughman’s writing. I looked back to move forward and discovered a comprehensive collection of beautiful stories and a broad cultural and social ideology.

S is for STORE FRONT WINDOWS. Recently, I’ve noticed personal statements, such as “sorry for the window display, I’ve been uninspired lately.’

T is for TENSION. When it’s present treat it with respect. When it’s absent break dance.

U is for UNPLUGGING. In a wired nation, the distractions of the world wide web can become mind-boggling and time consuming. To unplug means your attention is on less virtual and more tangible stuff. Think of a tree, a book made of paper, and the art of small talk.

V is for VENDING MACHINES. I-pods, art, bicycle parts, travel supplies, snacks, newspapers, umbrellas, flowers, gold to go, weddings, stickers, medicine, laundry soap, all neatly packed into a 72 x 35 small biz foot print.

W is for WARDROBE. I ooze appreciation for those who wear their imagination on their sleeves, but in reverence of Georgia O’keeffe’s simple black frock, ‘wardrobe’ wants to be ‘the uniform’ but ‘U’ was already taken.

X is for the X FACTOR and celebrating the unknown variable.

Y is for YES and believing in an outside chance

Z is for ZHO. (Sounds like Joe) a cross between a yak and a cow. Say what? In art its a mashup or a hybrid. Combine two different ingredients to make one singular cool thing.

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7 Sure-Fire Ways To Hang In There Baby, When The Resolution Doesn’t Look So Hot

Janice — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:37:20 +0000

It’s the year of the dragon. A symbol of power and happiness. Dragons bring fortune and good luck; auspiciously great timing for those fiery resolutions and goals.

But we’ve come to believe that resolutions don’t work. Don’t rock. Don’t stick.

“Phewy,” we say.

Think again Unicorns. Studies show that people who do a little manifesting around their goals do better than those who don’t.

If YOU WANT TO BURN BRIGHT AND RE-IGNITE YOUR GOALS; here’s SEVEN sure-fire ways to hang in there baby, when the resolution doesn’t look so HOT.

1. Sweeping huge projects are cool and important. ( I love and encourage Wow Projects.) But accomplishing big wthout paring it down into small, single, vivid, measurable, doable tasks can slow you down. If you’d like to pull off a big deal, then focus on a set number of tasks, for a set number of days. Limit yourself to one BIGGIE a week.

2. Restore the house where your goal resides. If you’re eager to save big bucks for your next great adventure; your wallet needs to reflect this goal. No credit cards and cash only. If you want to eat healthier and shed a few pounds; stream line and zen-fill your fridge & cupboards with fresh and nourishing food choices. Every goal has a primary environment. Upgrade and organize each hut until it supports and inspires your success.

3. Accountability rocks. Tell the world what you’re up to. SHOUT IT OUT. Get your friends, family and colleagues on board. Post it on facebook & twitter and watch all your cheerleaders and referee’s surface.

4. Outsource as much self-discipline as possible. Hire a personal trainer. Meet with an exercise buddy. Have a wellness expert overhaul your pantry or consult with you on a meal plan. Combine them all together and your chances increase by 80%.

5. Setbacks happen. Don’t freak out. Don’t over-indulge. Don’t throw in the towel.

Stumble.
Sweat it off.
BREATHE.

Now you’re smokin*

6. Curb your enthusiasm vs. Ringing in the New Year.

Mmm?

Going without depends on will power. And will power is a limited fuel that burns out from overuse. Switch things up by creating daily experiences that empower and lift rather than deny and deplete.

7. For every plateau or win celebrate with small rewards. ( Flowers, movies, massages, books, wine + friends) Gold star perks keep the spark alive and make it all worthwhile.

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Big and small. More or less. There’s a bounty of ways to tap into the energy of the new year…

Take ONE idea from above. Polish it and make it your own. Or breeze on over to my in-box and grab An EASY GUIDE to SUPERSIZING your PROJECTS and SETTING FREE your GOALS in 30 FABUOULOUS DAYS.

It’s simple.
It’s sassy.
And it’s free!

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It’s All Made Up

Janice — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:14:10 +0000

I’m a believer in taking massive action and I love the idiom, ‘ just do it.’ I think a full day of sweating from the brow and dirtying ones hands is good for the soul.

I also like to make things. My camera is with me at all times. I play with paper and paste and scratch around for words and ideas in books, music, movies, newspapers, plays, poems, nature and neighborhoods. It’s a push-pull-mash-it-up mindset; a running around and howling at the moon experience.

LIFE PRACTICES ARE NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL but HERE’S one THING I KNOW FOR SURE:

Trust in the little experiment and the dummy run. Get in the habit of creating small projects. It’ll prep you for the big stuff.

I’VE LEARNED FROM THE REHEARSAL PROCESS TO SHOW UP EVERYDAY, PRACTICE, AND PLAY BIG. THIS IS PASSION AT WORK.

-If you love stories, actively listen. Stories are embedded with instructions. Pick up your ears. Quiet now. A muse always leaves clues.

-If you’re visually bent, set a beautiful table before your next meal, or grab a camera and hunt for heart stopping light, motion, and color. Then turn your best photos into LOVE letters and thank you notes.

-If you desire more culture, lean into a neighborhood. Explore parks, cafes, and markets. Assign yourself the role of historian and detective. Snoop for local splendor. Bring along a friend and make it a walking tour.

-And for big talkers, memorize a historical speech or a poem – say it out loud, relish the rhythm, and step into another person’s shoes.

With a bit of wrangling and a serenade, a made up list, (and it’s all made up) becomes a soul-reviving endeavor and a remarkable wow project. The possibility is the seed. The seed is the source. And my BEloved go-getters, the source IS the whole.

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Let’s Go

Janice — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:48:59 +0000

find life experiences and swallow them whole.
TRAVEL.
meet many people.
go down some
dead ends and
explore dark alleys.
try EVERYTHING.
exhaust yourself
in the glorious
pursuit of life.

-lawrence k. fish

It’s Not About Later

Janice — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:31:24 +0000

Whenever I get an inkling or an idea that evokes a strong image, I give it a nudge just to see what happens with a bit of energy behind it. It’s a tryout of sorts and even the smallest of gestures; a check- list or a rough draft can wake up a fleeting thought and move it forward.

Everybody has their own way; and I’ve learned the more I invest in my ideas and the more I listen to the stories that surface, the bolder the notions and the more specific and remarkable the feedback.

BUT LISTENING IS HARD. IT TAKES PRACTICE. AND IT REQUIRES THAT WE STAY PRESENT.

Sanford Meisner the legendary acting teacher understood this and developed a repetition exercise used to intensify the actors ability to listen.

You look awesome.
I look awesome?
Yes, you look awesome.
I look awesome?
YES! You look awesome.

It starts off mundane and awkward but the rigor of the repetition tethers the actor to the present making the work alive, interesting and truthful.

For the actor, the present has everything they’ll ever need. And the instant they loose sight of it, is the moment they falter.

Buddhist and ordained nun Pema Chodron, writes, ” Be there for what’s happening. Sit with what you have. It’s a very rich place to be-it’s not about later.”

And it’s not just for the 1%.

This business of listening and living in the present is fair game-and anyone who’s willing can start where they are.

The Life of Pie

Janice — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:20:58 +0000

This time last year, I noticed a rent sign on a small, cute, and sunny storefront that sat up on the hill across the street from the local library overlooking the river.

Whenever I visit this little town, I re-imagine the nick-nac shops and the over run nail salons into a book store, an indie movie theater, a corner grocer, a wine bar, a street cafe, food stands and an inn, filling the shuttered and empty retail spaces with food, art, commerce and life.

It was then that I started obsessing about pie; (Apple Crumb, Cherry Crunch, Pumpkin, Butter Pecan, Virginia Blackberry, Wild Blueberry, Bumble-berry, Lemon Meringue, Chocolate and Coconut Creme) and dreaming of Pie Shoppes.

Like Brooklyn’s Four And Twenty Blackbirds operated by two sister bakers from Hecla, South Dakota.

San Francisco’s Mission Pie. Simple and unfussy pie centric yet not pie-exclusive.

Norther Michigan’s Cherry Hut serving homemade pies and jams off of US 31

Seattle’s High Five Pies including cutie pies and pie pops.

WHEN PRE-OCCUPIED WITH PIE ONE MUST ALSO CONSIDER THE BASICS OF PIE CRUST.

3 CUPS all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
2 tablespoons ice water, plus extra as needed

1. Pour flour and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix.
Drop the butter and the shortening down the feed tube. Continue processing.
2. Slowly pour chilled water down the feed tube, then add water drop by drop until the mixture forms a ball. Stop.
3. If making 9 inch pie crusts, divide the dough into 3 pieces: if making the large crusts, divide it into two. Flatten each piece into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge.

And finally, obsession full circle; I found myself appreciating the life force of pie and a few kids who used it to revitalize a neighborhood.

A place + a slice of pie = conversation.
Conversation = ideas + design.
Ideas + design = positive change.

PieLab from PieLab on Vimeo.

As for that the little store that sits up on the hill; it’s been rented and filled with apparel and gift(y) sorts of things. Remarkable? Let’s just say, it’s no match for the sweet social glue we all know and love as pie.

Enchanted, To Be Sure

Janice — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:21:39 +0000

1. Take the road, the classroom, the kitchen; wherever it is that you do your work, your nurturing, your creating, and your imagining-immerse yourself. Lean into the learning and the lore and breathe life into it.

2. In favor of fire and less ice, devote yourself in every way to a meaningful and diligent practice.

3. Tap into the universe. Ask for what you want. Make powerful daily requests.

4. Listen to the questions, the longings, the understandings, the whispering and the stories that surface.

5. Quietly steep yourself in nature. Feed the mountain, the desert, the river, the trail.

6. Surround yourself with seekers, children, healers, friends, thinkers, creatives, and storied people who came long before you.

7. Be willing to share even if it’s your last bowl of soup.

8. Be willing to turn upside down all the things that hold you back and keep you from howling and laughing.

9. Don’t go on and on. Make something. Often.

Related Posts:  Thinking Rumi

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Our Street

Janice — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:24:59 +0000

I moved to the suburbs and as I did when I lived in the city, I use public transit, ride my bike, and walk to get where I’m going. In this way, I stick out, something, I’m not entirely comfortable with. Anyway, that’s another story.

The sun has just set and I’m walking home from the train station along the Hudson River. A man crosses the street and his big smile spills into words. I’m intensely focused on my destination. But he’s excited, and in a very thick south african accent, he says, I’m so happy. I got a job. I start tomorrow. I congratulate him with a good luck, man.

He say’s it again. I’m so happy. I ask, where? He sings, The Stop and Shop. I answer, that’s a good job. (And then the coach comes out in me.) Get a good nights sleep and arrive early.

I’m still walking, my pace is quick, and in the distance I can hear him declare; I can now help out my mother.

Related Posts:  So Be It

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Listening Tour 2011 (Mary Anne Flanagan)

Janice — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:20:41 +0000

 in celebration of listening

JANICE: Mary Anne thanks for agreeing to share your story and to talk about your business Toning The Om.

I want to jump in and ask about your blog roll which includes Channeling, Happiness, Shamanism, Healing, and Storytelling. I’m thinking, WOW, poles apart from business and career topics typically found on a coaching website.

MARY ANNE: I think it was always about choosing something a bit different. For some it’s a little woo-woo and out there. The people that are going to come are the people who want to tap into something more purposeful, holistic, grounded, and spiritual. Not that I don’t have business executives. I work with CEO’S, managers of banks, and people who have been in successful businesses for 25 years, and they’re burnt out. They’ve put in their dues. They’ve run the race. They want something else and they just have no idea where to start. This work gives them an outlet.

JANICE: Where did all of this come from?

MARY ANNE: As the story goes my mother passed away in 2000, two weeks shy of her 56th birthday. It was the deepest grief I had ever experienced. I tried everything, exercise, therapy, sleeping, everything under the sun. I was depressed and didn’t know what to do. And then a friend invited me Upstate New York on a Native American Medicine Wheel Retreat where she taught.

I started to do the drumming and the fire ceremonies and all of a sudden something happened. Something opened. It was the rhythm of the primal drum. I was so drawn to the drum that I bought African drums, Egyptian drums, instruments from Cuba, India, and all around the world. I started to become this awakened person. And I don’t play an instrument. I tell people, if your heart beats, you can drum.

JANICE: I love the name Toning The OM.

MARY ANNE: I was on my way to Minnesota to lead a drumming circle and I wanted to give it a name. I took out a piece of paper and the second name on the list was Toning The Om. And that was it. People started asking when are you doing the next one and the next one. And little by little, I added classes on meditation and chanting and forgiveness. It all just spiraled into this international healing arts company.

JANICE: This morning you tweeted a quote by Chip Conley. We can either have a job (survival), a career (success), or a calling (transformation). Is TONING THE OM a calling?

MARY ANNE: It is a calling. I’m so humbled and in awe of how much trust people give to me with their lives and their stories. There’s a movement. It has a heart beat. I always say, from the deepest grief to the greatest grace.

JANICE: From grief to grace, that’s beautiful. And storytelling? How does that fit into your work?

MARY ANNE: Everyone has a story to tell. I came here with only $200.00 in my pocket or I’m from the South Bronx. It’s the power of story that connects us. People need to hear and tell their stories. Many of us are very busy in the doing, the business planning, and the bill paying, but they’ve forgotten why they’ve even started. It’s about shining the light on that which is right there but we don’t always see. The story give us that. The coaching gives us that. Shamanism gives us that.

JANICE: A Shaman isn’t someone we encounter every day. Tell me what it means to be a Shaman?

MARY ANNE: It’s a medicine person. It’s the person who goes between worlds. The unconscious and the conscious. To put into alignment the energetic body which is always moving, which is always active. To tap into the gifts and to witness healing, whether it’s physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental. I work basically with the energy body. People come who are feeling depleted or exhausted or have chronic physical complaints. It’s the Shamans job to be the in-between and say ‘what’s in the way of your healing’. We do this through breath work, through sound, through gifts, through illumination and through soul retrieval.

JANICE: Were you a practicing Shaman before you started Toning the Om?

MARY ANNE: The Medicine Wheel was two years of Shamanic weekends, and the third year, I apprenticed with my teacher. After that, she said, you’re on your own. You need to see people on your own, because your too gifted not to. I was petrified. I was thinking who was going to see me? Talk about doing it afraid. That’s my living line. Do It Afraid. Do things despite yourself and see what happens. So, I sent out emails and told people what I was doing. I don’t even think I had a website at the time.

JANICE: It’s so rich and specialized and I can see how this is a movement towards grace. But what about the everyday sacred?

MARY ANNE: That’s the most important question to ask. Everything can be prayer and everything can be a living meditation. I’m not always good at it. I scream at I-95 when I’m in my car, just like the rest of us. But in the morning on the subway, I choose what I listen to. A particular chant. I can set up my office in a particular way that has the cloths from trips around the world. My office has a drum, it has a rattle, a stone, and a feather. I take 10 minutes every morning just to be quiet. I block time in my outlook, once a week, and make a meeting with myself. And I choose in that hour what to do. Sometimes I write, sometimes I sit quietly. The work, as I see it, is always about integration of mind, body, spirt, work and family. Practicing how to integrate.

JANICE: You’re also a writer. I’m always reading your blog posts to see what’s on your mind.

MARY ANNE: Other than the Lady Gaga one?

JANICE: I didn’t see the Lady Gaga one.

MARY ANNE: I LOVE Lady Gaga. I went to her concert and there was a lot of teenagers. She got up there in these amazing costumes and said, “If people put you down, don’t believe it. People made fun of me, and I’m up here singing at a sold out concert in Madison Sq. Garden, having the time of my life. ” And I started crying, and I turned around and all these teenagers are crying too. Because you can’t hear that message enough. Everyone needs to hear that they’re perfect just the way they are.

Related Posts:  Listening Tour (Clayton Dean Smith)

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RIP Steve Jobs

Janice — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:31:56 +0000

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