Last week I went to Santa Barbara to a yearly conference that is hosted by The Hudson Institute, which is where I proudly received my coaching certification some time ago. It was a time to reconnect with peers and deepen my own growth and learning about my work.

The speakers were full of knowledge and spoke with an energetic passion that was contagious. If you’ve been “too busy” lately to attend your own professional development conferences or maybe you have seen a seminar or workshop that is interesting and you just can’t seem to “find the time,” I invite you to make the commitment. Register for the event, get it on your calendar and Go! To be in a community with other people who share your love for a topic or hobby is great fun and re-energizing.

And if you think you need “permission” to do something like this, don’t miss my article today.

Be well,

 Joy

Recently, I was having a conversation with a woman when she asked me a crucial question: “What are the steps I need to take in order to live a life filled with passion and purpose?” It’s really a 3 part process. When a woman is ready to create her own extraordinary life, she needs to first decide what she wants. Then she needs to decide how she wants to design her life. Finally, she needs to give herself permission to have the life she has chosen. It’s essential that she believes that she deserves to have the life she chooses. If you decide what you want your life to look like but do not believe that you should really have it, then your “dreams” will never become a reality.

My work is designed to support women in their journey to living their own extraordinary life. Years ago, I knew that I wanted to make some big changes in my own life. I had to first decide what I wanted. Then I had to design my life how I wanted it to be. Lastly, but crucial, I had to give myself permission to create this new way of being. You have to believe it so you can ask for it. This can be a challenging part for women in the process. Once they begin to visualize what they want, they may have trouble asking for it. Who do you need to ask? You have to communicate to those who matter most to you what you want in your life–what changes you desire. Your spouse, partner, children, co-workers, boss, employees, family, and friends. We become fearful in the asking process. We begin to question whether we “deserve” this. It’s very easy to make our needs secondary, to be comfortable and stay in the place where we are caring and nurturing others—helping others reach their goals. When I decided to begin my coaching work, my husband Greg needed to take on more of the activities with the children and this was a process for us.

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