Everyone wants long term success. But it is elusive for most.

Long term success is dependent on knowing where you are now and where you are headed. Then closing the gap. Frequently. Continuously.  Whether it’s your business, your career or your life at home., it’s easy to get off track, lose touch or get buried under. Without a true sense of where you are in the moment, it is impossible to realize your dreams or be a leader in your field.

Re-calibrate your profound knowledge

The only way we can take 100% responsibility for sustaining our success is to keep re-calibrating-in every aspect of our lives and organizations.

Key to successful recalibration is to acquire what my dear departed mentor, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, coined as Profound Knowledge. This umbrella phrase emphasizes understanding change and how to measure it, being aware of emerging trends and shifts, and learning how to apply this knowledge to leading and sustaining long term success.

Bottom line: If we don’t acquire Profound Knowledge we cannot know how to prepare for and leverage coming change, thus how to sustain our success long term.

Understanding change means understanding shifts in our personal world as well as tracking trends that capsize us, overtake us, or cause us to flounder.

Learning the Hard Way

Unfortunately one of my Gen X male clients learned this the hard way. A rising star in his field and recently married, he was planning far a great future for his kids, tons of time for fun and all the trappings of success. As if out of the blue, the rug got pulled out from under him. His “Happy Homemaker” wife fled, saying I’m out of here!

Somewhere along the way there was a breakdown or perhaps many small fissures below the surface. Had they been recalibrating an checking in with each other, communicating the truth of what was so for each of them…perhaps they could have saved their marriage…or at least ended it with love, grace, and forgiveness.

Even in the most secure relationships, unexpected change happens to ruffle our plans. A recently returned to work mother of teenage kids reported that her new career is now going gangbusters and she no longer worries about the empty-nest . But, the new ripple in her life is that her once very successful husband, in his late 40’s, now faces an unknown future. Surprised by the shifts in his industry, “suddenly” he and his business partner are facing the probability of closing their doors. What once appeared to be the sure path to their dreams, is no crumbling beneath them.

Change is inevitable. If you can learn what Profound Knowledge is and apply it you can avoid these same pitfalls and NOT LEARN THE HARD WAY!

What steps are you going to take to future cast your long term success?

Then in the 60s, the boomers turned this notion on its head, and the mantra flipped to not trusting anyone over 30.

Now, with boomers clearly over 30 themselves, we are poised on the brink of another transformation in perspective. But as stories like Helen Hatton’s (here) show, that transformation doesn’t have to be a return to the past. We are at a time when we can choose mutual respect and intergenerational cooperation. A time when everyone can be seen and heard.

As I talked about in another post, We The People;, this form of cooperation isn’t in and of itself new. We’ve always relied on it to varying degrees, although I think it is safe to say that today, people younger and older than ever before are now a regular part of any form of intergenerational effort. We’ve always had child prodigies as well as remarkable achievers late in life, but only in modern times are we actively bringing the very young and the very old into the conversation—in science and technology, business, politics, art.

Science fairs, internships, and online presentations put the very young in touch with real-world opportunities. Now, the reverse of this is coming true for the other end of the age continuum, as Helen Hatton discovered when she teamed up with her son to bring her crafts store online. As more and more business and governments are discovering as they gear up to re-envision the aging population as vital, active, productive workers, leaders, and innovators for decades to come.

The lines we have carefully drawn between age groups are blurring. As we can see from this article (here), technology is no longer a symbol of the great divide between the generations, as people over 50 become the fastest growing group of social media users, increasing their presence on Facebook by 84% between 2009 and 2011. In fact, women over 65 alone increased their presence on Twitter by a whopping 96% during that time.

Some say that this spells the demise of these media as the younger generations pull out, not wanting “their news feed cluttered up with their parents’ news,” but this prediction ignores two key trends: (1) social media is evolving to be so individualized that no one can clutter your newsfeed but yourself—you choose entirely what and whom you wish to see; and (2) social media, and society as a whole, is becoming more interest-based, with other factors, such as age, being irrelevant. Just as AutoCAD software can’t tell the difference between the 70-year-old architect and the 20-year-old engineer using it to draft buildings of the future, the 95-year-old lab tech and the 10-year-old who discovered a molecule aren’t going to leave a beloved chemistry Facebook group because of the other’s age.

It’s the chemistry that matters.

No transformation is inevitable, however. I see the signs of this trend developing, but life and society can change on a dime. But I believe this is a trend worth developing, that it’s time we reach out across generations and work together based on common interests. A future that has a place for all of us is one with fewer artificial barriers (such as those based on age, gender, race, and class stereotypes) and more genuine connections.

Again, it’s the chemistry that matters. Together, we can discover more than “just” a new molecule. We can discover, we can create, new worlds.

Get a sneak peek into Karen’s Amazon #1 Best Seller, The Ageless Way
Claim your FREE chapter, “Agelessness Across Generations” download here. 

Midlife crisis. It is a term bandied about, which can conjure images of sports car purchases, new gym memberships, flirtations/affairs/divorces, botox and bikinis. Midlife is, for many, a time of transition, including whether or how to retire. It can be a time of more questions than answers, a time in which you feel less steady as you review and revise who and what you find most meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile. Some changes are desired and welcome, while others feel forced or unavoidable.

I believe, as I share in my upcoming book, The Ageless Way, that  “Those of us who are entering, in the midst of or, like me, leaving our rich middle years, are well poised to use such times of transition as opportunities to tap more deeply into our reservoir of innate soulful greatness – what I refer to as our Signature Greatness DNA. As history has shown, change makers and world shakers always deepen their culture and leave a legacy for future generations by confronting the difficulties of such times with invention, insight, and transcendent understanding.”

It is at these times that many people choose, whether out of desire or necessity, to begin a second (or third, or fourth…) career, which is often referred to as an encore career. There are different reasons people choose to pursue an encore career, such as: financial security; personal fulfillment and meaning; the desire to give back to the local/national/global community; flexibility; work/life balance; learning new skills and utilizing those that have been acquired over decades; sustaining social connections; pursuing a long-held dream…

Regardless of the reason(s) for selecting an encore career, those in their middle and later years have garnered personal and professional experience and wisdom which they can offer to employers and clients. In addition, Boomers and Matures (members of “The Silent Generation”) grew up in eras which inspired active, organized involvement in response to diverse current events, such as WWII, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the fights for civil and women’s rights. As a result, these workers are often valued for their efficiency, sense of responsibility, loyalty, hopeful attitude and strong work ethic.

The trend toward an increasingly older and diverse workforce creates multiple opportunities for building successful intergenerational office environments. Encore career professionals offer a variety of abilities and knowledge to enhance the capabilities of the younger generations and benefit, in return, from their colleagues’ perspectives and talents with new work aspects like technology. Such mutually supportive business cultures ensure a more solid future for everyone, from those engaged in encore careers to the generations yet to come.

There is even a movement afoot to support those choosing or hiring for encore careers. Encore.org’s mission is “building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond to improve communities and the world.” It seeks to engage the vitality, wisdom and talents of those in the third and fourth stages of life while emphasizing social purpose. Seeing an aging society as a solution to, rather than creator of, problems, Encore.org connects generations in diverse ways, including hosting an annual conference and offering The Purpose Prize for people over 60 who integrate their passion and experience for the betterment of society. Created in 2005, the prize aims to “showcase the value of experience and disprove notions that innovation is the sole province of the young. It’s for those with the passion to make change and the experience to know how to do it.”

I mentioned the term encore career in a blog posted earlier this week, “Second Time Around” , in which I wrote about Barbara Beskind who is now in her third year of work as an inventor, a lifelong dream she achieved just shy of her ninth decade. Additionally, I have met/worked with diverse women and men who have chosen (are choosing) to embark on an encore career. One 51-year-old woman hot shot media executive left her job to pursue what she always wanted to do as a teenager — she went back to school to become a social worker. Another high flying 62-year-old woman left an intense demanding sales executive post to return to the beloved art career of her youth. A 63-year-old retired teacher became a published author. In her January 16, 2015 New York Times article, Older Job Seekers Find Ways to Avoid Age Bias, Kerry Hannon shares the story of a 66-year-old man who was laid off from a high-powered position. After undergoing the unease of transition, questioning his purpose and averting age discrimination encountered in interviews, he ultimately ended up teaching part-time, making money, and feeling valued. And I am one among many who have found fulfillment in an encore career by creating their own business.

Encore.org and the AARP  are just two of the organizations offering programs, resources and information for those embarking on an encore career. In the short term, this transition may require additional investment of education and retraining (including working with a certified professional career coaching and strategy-creation coach). The rewards, however, can be infinite. Following your passion while giving to others can be stimulating, enlivening and offer adventures which demonstrate that, despite pleasurable memories, the best is still yet to come.

When musicians are called by an audience to perform an encore, a demand for more, it is surely a sign of success. Whether you choose an encore career out of need or want, in honoring and utilizing your skills and knowledge you are the one whose success is to be celebrated. Bravo!!

What’s your encore career story?  Please share your experience below.

Many of us are waiting. We’re playing it safe, not taking any risks, putting off our next big steps, the transformations we long to make in our lives and work, until the winds of global economic change die down. We’ve locked the doors, boarded up the windows, and headed down into the basement.

But the problem is that boarded-up windows not only keep the winds from coming in, they keep us from seeing out—we close off our perspective, our ability to see the big picture. The problem is that sometimes playing it safe and sticking with the status quo is the most unsafe choice we can make.

When we finally venture out from our basements and tentatively open our doors, we are likely to see a different world out there, one created and reshaped by the people who didn’t hide away, who instead realized that the only way to survive was to start planning the rebuilding process before the structure collapsed, not after.

We are likely to find that the place we held in the old world, that we so desperately tried to protect, no longer exists. And because we weren’t part of creating the new world, we also weren’t part of creating and ensuring our place in it.

Now I’m not suggesting that you just abandon everything and throw yourself out into the storm. If you are an executive or business owner, you need to start preparing to lead change by figuring out exactly what that means and how you can stay ahead of the curve of change without abandoning what already works in your organization.

If you are not financially ready to start that new business you’ve been longing to start, quitting your job today isn’t the answer. But as I’ve said before, the choice isn’t either/or. It isn’t either you stay at an unfulfilling job or you risk everything and start your business. The choice is both/and.

Stay at the job while you take concrete steps toward starting your business, going beyond just dreaming about it. Commit to taking action every day to build it, and taking into account the bigger world picture as you do: The world is undergoing an epochal shift. Build your business based on what the world needs and will need, based on likely trends as well as the changes you want to see in the world. If you build your future assuming it will look like the past, your business will be obsolete before you even open its doors. In fact, the business of the future might not even have doors, not the way we’ve always thought of them anyway.

Waiting on the world to change is the riskiest move we could ever make—not because it won’t, but because it will.

Young hearts can go their way.
Can’t put it off another day.
I don’t care what others say.
They say we don’t listen anyway.

Time has come today.
Hey.

Time.
Now the time has come. Time.
There are things to realize. Time.
Time has come today. Time.
Time has come today. Time.

Time. Time. Time. Time….

~The Chambers Brothers
“Time Has Come Today”

Making big relocation changes in midlife is very different than it was in my youthful 20s, 30s, and 40s. Reality dictates: Time is a diminishing asset. It always has been. I just didn’t get that truth in the same way as I did when I turned 50. Now in my 60s, it’s my daily contemplation. In our youth it’s not such a big deal to change our minds and move on . . . even to return again. Now I feel an urgency to dig in and make my new home base home. But caution rules since I want to limit the number of mid- and later life relocations ahead. I’m not looking for where to retire, but where and how to live my greatest life yet. I know I’m not alone in this pursuit.

Is this up for you too?

When I’m in the midst of a major shift, it’s terribly important to listen to all my inner rumblings as well as the facts. I have to avoid getting intoxicated by what I want versus staying conscious of what is so. Thankfully my dreamtime has been rich. My body’s truth verifiers have been alerting me to when I’m drained and when I’m juiced. More importantly, I’m noticing what causes each. It’s such a visceral transition, whether you are just starting in your 40s or fully engaged in your 60s or 70s . . . and beyond.

Too much either/or can really bring me down. I’ve been watching my duality struggle play out before my eyes. In my middle years I yearned for my quiet time in nature, reconnecting with deep soul currents within. Being virtual and near an airport, it worked. I never expected this quest would be not only restorative but also transformative.

With the clarity of a newbie, I realized that I want to continue feeling awe every day and to breathe deeply. Nature here in Litchfield County and in the western desert feeds me. Tribe and vibe have always been important to me—now as I age, they are even more so. My nagging conundrum: How do I get the vibe, the tribe, and nature too?! Suddenly it became crystal clear. Not to worry. I can continue to have both/and versus living in either/or. There’s no rush but time itself.

True to my always being on the cusp, as I move between later midlife and early elderhood, I still want to keep accomplishing and making sure we live independently as we grow older. But more than ever before, what I do has to matter and make a huge difference in how you and I move into our collective and personal futures. Esteemed gerontologists and developmental experts like the late Erik Erikson refer to this midlife task as moving from “stagnation into generativity,” and in later midlife and beyond, into “ego integrity” as wisdom keepers. For me it’s all about moving from success into significance . . . leaving our footsteps in the sands of time for generations to come.

Every year, my time out west brings blessings far beyond my expectations. I am constantly in a state of attraction at warp speed. My new Tribe keeps showing up. I’ve re-met high school friends I haven’t seen in decades. I’ve met others whom I know will be new longtime friends and colleagues.

As I told a group of new colleagues, I’m the “wandering crone in the desert seeking my tribe.” Thank goodness they laughed with me. It is a big thing to own “her” publicly. But what became sharply apparent is how important finding my Tribe really is for me.

Synchronicity is my friend big time in Arizona. Doors keep opening without my saying “Open, Says Me.” Everywhere I go, my reflection as elder is mirrored back to me. Questions I posed years ago, before boomers were ready to hear them, were now on the lips of the folks I met. Experienced seekers and accomplished professionals are asking not only, What’s next?, but also how to make the big shifts in their middle and later years.

As a “Crone-in-training” for many years, it appears I’ve now arrived solidly in early Elderhood. Now that is a big shift! Back in my Connecticut office, I dusted off tons of material I’d relegated to the top shelves in my file room, marked “SAVE for the Right Time.” I’m now being called back to Arizona, bringing forth a new book, Visionaries Have Wrinkles, keynotes, and workshops so we can create the future together in a whole new way.

With so much shifting going on for all of us, time is of the essence to get our energies lined up with our intentions so that we can create the results we envision for our greater future.

What are your big shifts?

At one WFS meeting, Dennis Bushnell, a chief research scientist at NASA, discussed seven major and simultaneous societal issues, any one of which will greatly change society as we know it. “The impacts of all seven,” he said, “including potential synergisms, is approaching the unfathomable.” Number one on his list: climate change and energy shifts. Number three, very much linked with number one: water and food shortages and environmental issues.

He discussed several climate change impacts on our future:

• The arrival of ice in summer waters
• A greater projected rise in CO2
• The ocean rising faster and acidifying faster
• Fossil methane being release from tundra and ocean
• A reduced ocean CO2 uptake, which causes temperature increases, acidification, and algae reductions
• Offshore and near shore methane “burps” caused by ocean warming inciting undersea landslides, causing great tidal waves, which would lead to millions and millions of deaths
• Rapid glacial melting leading to many of the world’s rivers, which are glacially fed, to dry up, affecting 1/6 of the planet’s humans—soon

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates, based on solid science, that by 2100, world temperatures will be 5 to 6 degrees centigrade higher and that the sea level will rise a meter to 2.6 meters. The IPCC is cautious, even, because its conclusions are drawn from thousands of scientists. It’s possible that the situation will be much worse by 2100, with temps as much as 12 to 14 degrees centigrade higher. This would melt ALL ice, cause the ocean to rise about 75 meters, and directly affect over 2 billion people.

Gaia is self-correcting. The question is, How big a catastrophe, and how many, will it take for us to reach our tipping point, to emerge from emergency and save our planet, our future, ourselves?

Even as the evidence of climate change and its effects has continued to mount, often tragically, and as an unprecedented number of scientists agree that climate change is a real, human-caused problem, naysayers continue to reject the science and our responsibility to act. A small number of vocal, politically and financially (not scientifically) motivated people claim that climate change doesn’t exist, or that it’s natural and not caused by humans, or that the Earth is actually cooling. They trot out the same long-debunked “evidence” and use scientists to support them, even though these scientists have no expertise in climate change, kind of like asking your vet to diagnose and treat your heart condition.

Yet here we are, still in denial, as the damage accelerates and grows. The latest in the long line of global-warming impacts is the increased chance of severe flooding occurring every few years along our coastlines, east and west, as a result of rising sea levels (“Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S.”). We can even plug in our ZIP code at http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/ and assess the likelihood of flooding in our current or future dream location. But still, upon hearing this, many people are blowing it off: “Oh, well, we have to die sometime,” or “We can move again before it happens.”

These statements come from smart folks in their 50s and 60s who are planning to move as a part of downsizing. Yet anyone pouncing on the “deals” in the Hamptons, the shoreline of the Carolinas, Florida, California, . . . are going to be in deep trouble in the next few decades, before most boomers will pass on. This is a very real threat. To Coasters, it threatens their homes, financial security, and very lives. Why take the chance of having to rebuild your home and your life? Even having to sell and move again seems like a waste of time, in the years when we could be realizing our greatest visions yet.

In fact, this threat would hit all of us in the pocketbook, as taxpayers, not to mention the effects on the family members of those hit by disaster. Even those inland are likely to be cut off from services if a flood knocks out the coast, not to mention the effects a flood would have on food and water availability, and the ripple effect on the environment.

So what now? It’s time to reassess what truly matters. As you figure out what’s next for you, make a list of MUST HAVE criteria, then look at your options to see which ones intersect with your list. Of these options, use all tools and information available to you (like the ZIP code search above if your “what’s next” involves moving) to narrow down your list realistically.

Consider also how you can integrate your vision for the future with ways to work in your local community to improve the future for all of us. We are on the front lines. It is our responsibility to protect the future for the next seven generations. Even though places like New York are taking steps to protect the shoreline, just imagine what happens to the financial solidity of the world if Manhattan is deluged. We have to do more than just build a wall to cower behind. We have to do everything we can to stop, prevent, or reverse the causes of these floods and other natural disasters.

If we keep our heads buried in the sand, we won’t even notice when our future gets washed away—until it’s too late.

It was an ad for Cindy Crawford’s wrinkle-erasing skincare line.

False beauty, false youth, false advertising, really. I don’t know if I could think of a less meaningful definition of beauty if I tried.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I have always embraced the changes in my appearance as I entered midlife and beyond. Looking in the mirror and seeing those first fine lines, then the deepening of those lines into wrinkles, along with the sagging and other changes in my aging body was never easy. The person I saw in the mirror didn’t match how I felt inside. That isn’t me. And if that isn’t me, who am I?

Who am I if I’m no longer young?

And that gets to the heart of what the anti-aging industry, from skin creams to face lifts, is really promising. A reprieve from having to ask that frightening question. The chance to be who we think we are for just a little bit longer. To be noticed, relevant, visible.

Yet answering that question for ourselves, figuring out who we are when we’re no longer young, can be the most meaningful, liberating, and life-affirming step we ever take. It can lead us to fulfilling our purpose on this planet, to awakening our visionary and creating the legacy we were always meant to create but couldn’t until we’d reached this point where experience, wisdom, and the search for meaning all coalesced. But we can’t create this future if we are focused on living in the past.

The anti-aging industry doesn’t offer meaningful beauty. It delays or even stops us from ever finding it.

There is a difference between wanting to enhance our beauty and wanting to change who we are to feel beautiful. I love finding flattering clothes or getting a new hairstyle that makes me look and feel great while expressing my personality. I am not going to pretend that I don’t. In fact, I am totally drawn to the promise of smoother skin, fewer wrinkles, and a more youthful looking body. This is not a condemnation of that desire or of the women who act on it. I think we all have it to some degree and always will. We all struggle with where to draw the line between enhancing our appearance and accepting ourselves as we are.

But let’s not pretend that we are going to find meaning in that jar of eye cream. The less time and energy we spend distracted by the promise of holding on to our youth, the more we can focus our time and energy on what really matters to us, to the people we love, to the world. The more we make the effort to find actual meaningful beauty in ourselves, in who we are now, the closer we get to fulfilling our greatest vision yet.

After all, what kind of vision can we have if we don’t even see ourselves in the mirror clearly?

This weekend marks another year ending and a new one beginning, and an opportunity to both celebrate and reflect, with our loved ones as well as within ourselves. In this, my last blog post of 2016, I would like to share some of my favorite rituals for celebrating the turning year.

The first is a ritual to share with family and friends. Gather your loved ones and create a special time for expressing gratitude and appreciation. Many of us ritualize this time by passing around candles and lighting one as your turn comes to speak about…

1. What’s mattered most to you in the past year
2. What you are grateful for
3. Letting go of the past year and being open to the new, including your vision for the future

The second ritual is just for you. This simple exercise is extremely powerful. Time goes by so quickly that we forget to celebrate the good things that happen and to acknowledge what we need to learn going forward.

First light a candle, then write down your answers to each of the following. Then, if you are so moved, read them aloud, blowing out the candle after you’ve said the last one.

• What are the 12 things I’m most proud of accomplishing this year?
• What were my disappointments, and what did I turn over to a Higher Power to handle?
• Who am I most happy to have in my life?
• What is the most significant area of personal growth for me? What would I have done differently, and what is the lesson I got from it?
• What 5 things am I most grateful for, and how will show this gratitude?

Leaders can adapt this ritual by reflecting on additional questions:

• What are my leadership strengths?
• What needs to be strengthened?
• What mistakes have I made?
• What regrets do I have?
• What do I need to learn? Or change?
• What are my next steps?

In addition to our tangible goals for the coming year, let’s fully realize

• Our hope and vision for a better life for all
• Our yearning to be awake and fully conscious
• Our birthright to greatness
• Our leadership potential

If we are open to magic and mystery, each new year and each stage of our lives bring us to greater understanding of ourselves and our world . . . brings us closer to why we are here at this time of planetary transformation . . . and guides us to come into alignment with our innate greatness.

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. May your tomorrows be far greater than the best of your yesterdays.

Seeking a Firecracker Keynote?
Calling for expert guests?
Let’s Rock Your AGE, come pick my brain!

The future of our economy lies in our ability to innovate, connect, and work together in new ways: “When everyone has a laptop and connection to the world, then everyone owns a factory. Instead of coming together physically, we have the ability to come together virtually, to earn attention, to connect labor and resources, to deliver value.”

Seth is right. The Industrial Age is over. In its place is the potential for us to create a new age, what I call the Age of Greatness. In this new economy, we can reinvent ourselves and how we work and play so that we do well while doing good for others. We have the opportunity to be forerunners in the new way of working, to create businesses, lives—futures—that combine profit with purpose, creativity with cooperation, consumer value with our core values.

With every momentous change in our lives as individuals and as a society comes the opportunity for us to answer the call to Greatness, to listen to that visionary voice inside us that will not only lead us into the new age but will enable us to lead the new age. But the future won’t wait for any of us. Now is the time to map out how you plan to reinvent yourself and your world. You don’t have to go it alone. This new future will depend on developing connections and working together like never before. Start now by finding like-minded members of your “tribe.”

The more voices joined in answering the call to Greatness, the louder our voice for change.

Seeking a Firecracker Keynote?
Calling for expert guests?
Let’s Rock Your AGE, come pick my brain!

So what’s stopping us? Surprisingly, it’s not the outer patriarchy that does the most damage. It’s the patriarch we all have inside that limits us.

That voice that bellows, “You won’t be taken seriously. You can’t do this. Don’t make waves!” For women at midlife and beyond, the voice gets particularly nasty: “It’s too late for you. You’re not credible unless you are young and beguiling! Haven’t you got that yet?”

Shaming and guilting us, the voice hits every nerve we have, plunging us into self-doubt. We can’t be successful without abandoning our families. We aren’t strong enough, smart enough, savvy enough for that promotion. Or we’re just not ready.

Virginia M. Rometty,  chief executive at IBM, remembers how, early in her career, she was offered a position she didn’t feel she was ready for, so she told the recruiter she needed to think about it.

That night, her husband asked her, “Do you think a man would have ever answered that question that way?”

“What it taught me was you have to be very confident, even though you’re so self-critical inside about what it is you may or may not know,” she said at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit this month. “And that, to me, leads to taking risks.” (“For Incoming I.B.M. Chief, Self-Confidence is Rewarded.”)

Stop waiting until you are perfect before you seize an opportunity—or better yet, create one. Start from where you are and take the leap, learning as you go.

Stop listening to the voice that tells you you’re selfish if you care about money, or that there’s just not enough to go around. That you can’t be successful without being a bitch or a whore. Or, most insidious because its so ingrained, that you are just not good enough and never will be.

This voice seeps into the words we use in our thoughts, speech, and writing, and those words become a self-fulfilling prophecy: Women are never successful in this field. It’s just too hard to balance everything in my life. I can’t make a living and do something meaningful. It’s just not realistic. My business idea can’t succeed in this economy.

Michael Port has an excellent blog post on this idea. One of his examples is spot on when it comes to success: “If you generalize that, ‘All rich people are snobs,’ how are you going to see yourself as a wealthy person so that you can improve your professional and financial status?”

Right now, especially, with the top 1% being considered synonymous with unethical, greedy, and criminal, it’s difficult for us to strive toward the wealth we need to make our visions a reality. Of course, some, and maybe even many, of the 1% are unethical and even criminal, but certainly not all. The more successful you are, the more resources and power you have to make a difference. It’s how you choose to use your money, and how you choose to earn it, that is important. Having money itself is not evil.

We need to start being more careful about the words we choose, particularly when speaking to ourselves. We need to consciously replace that inner patriarch with the voice of our inner visionary. The visionary tells us, “Take your attention off other people. Keep focused on your goal. Everyone’s vision is worth the same! You know what you are doing. Go for it!”

Replace Women are never successful in this field with We need more women in this field to reinvent it and improve it. The field needs ME.

It’s just too hard to balance everything in my life with I can choose what matters most to me and not waste time and energy on other things, especially living up to other people’s expectations.

I can’t make a living and do something meaningful with The world craves people and businesses who live and work their values, who can make a real difference, and people will pay for it, now more than ever.

My business idea can’t succeed in this economy with How can I make my business idea succeed in this economy?

Perhaps most important, replace It’s too late for you. You’re not credible unless you are young and beguiling! with My experience, my talents and intelligence, and my unique perspective make the timing perfect for me to act now. I know how to focus on what really matters. All great visionaries have wrinkles.

Start paying attention to your words today and make a conscious effort to change them, for only by doing so can you transform yourself and the world.

What negative messages does your inner patriarch say to you? What could your inner visionary retort?

Download a FREE mini-book, “The Origins of the New HERstory of Our AGE“ based on The Ageless Way

Seeking a Firecracker Keynote?
Calling for expert guests?
Let’s Rock Your AGE, come pick my brain!