1. Diversify your feedback-collection methods.
Nothing like asking a fifteen year old and a seventy-five year old what they think about you, your business plan, or your last relationship decision.
2. Hit up the experts.
Take your CEO to lunch for a preemptive performance review and some tips on how to gracefully scramble the ladder. Ask a gifted writer what they really think of your pitch letter. Hire a stylist to purge your swollen closet. It may sting, it may be a major relief, but either way, expert opinions will propel you to the top of your game.
3. Work with people who are savvier, speedier and more accomplished than you.
Last year, I advised a mega-stellar online magazine that has the #1 community forum on the ‘net – a super savvy duo who are #1 in their industry and have one of the finest business plans I’ve seen, and a kick-ass marketing forum of some of the best and brightest marketers, motivators, and communicators on earth. With each client, I had to leap further to meet my intuition, dig deeper into the industry, and listen more actively. They made me sweat, spin and soar. I learned some new dance moves.
4. Stand naked in front of a full-length mirror.
Don’t leave until you can say three deeply loving things about your physique, the miracle of your health, and your full-bloom humanity.
5. Dust off the chopping block.
Fire your most irritating client, team member, or energy-abusing friend. You’ll wished you’d done it a long time ago.
6. Kill the chatter.
Turn off the TV. Commute without talk radio. Remove the iPod earbuds. The silence may shatter you. With our addiction to noise and distraction held at bay, our painful beauty and genius has room to surface.
7. Underachieve.
Attention, Type-As and workaholics. You are hereby invited to slack off. For one week, cryogenically freeze your to-do list. (I know, your palms are sweating at the very thought.) Set aside your novel, your knitting project, your non-critical responsibilities. Be late just because you wanted an extra five minutes in the hot shower.
8. As the Dalai Lama says, “Love until it hurts.”
Personally, this would mean volunteering at an old age home. I can hardly bear the wastage and scarcity of dignity that characterize most nursing homes. It slays me. I always leave a total wreck, with renewed appreciation for…everything.
9. Say no.
Only offer the simple explanation that “it just doesn’t feel right.”
10. Say yes.
Just for the hell of it. Whimsy rarely leads to social exile, destruction or doom. Be expansive – and see what unfurls.
Editor’s Note: Danielle LaPorte is the creator of WhiteHotTruth.com, which has been called “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality.” She is the author of The Fire Starter Sessions: A Digital Experience for Entrepreneurs, an inspirational speaker, former think tank exec, and news show commentator. You can read all of Danielle’s EcoSalon guest articles here, and find her on Twitter @daniellelaporte.
Image: mahalie