Iraïs Browaeys’ Post

This week’s Butterfly Star* is….. Jen Carpenter ! She excels in sharing insights and encouraging thoughts, helping people find a way to thrive. Fill your mind with these gems of wisdom focusing on moving forward, courage, mindset, awareness, and believing in yourself… 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 “Failure is like the baking soda in chocolate chip cookies. A necessary ingredient.” “We must fail to move forward, learn, and grow.” 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 “Courage comes before confidence and you can’t allow failure or fear stand in your way from taking action.” “As long as you do your best, you can do no wrong. There is a lesson learned in all we do. What can you do better next time?” “You must take a seat in your own driver’s seat in order to figure out how to parallel park or merge on to the highway in your ‘93 Saturn, even if it seems scary. It’s the only way!” 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 “You can’t have a fixed mindset if you want to be an entrepreneur.” “Look within yourself, ‘How could I have done better?’ ” “What actions can I take to improve next time?” “How am I talking to myself and treating my mind and my body?” 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 “We cannot control other people. We can only control ourselves.” “Hold yourself 100% accountable for your own actions and choices and stick to it.” “Do not blame others for your actions, thoughts, feelings, and results.” 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 “Think, feel, speak, and believe what you want into existence in your life.” “Living in the past, thinking in scarcity, and living in fear causes chaos and panic.” “Live in the present moment and think positively in abundance for the future.” Thank you, Jen, for your sincerity and compassion! Keep shining brightly – you are needed! * A “Butterfly Star” is someone who gives value to others and shares hope and love. It’s a way to honor someone who is making a difference in the world. #butterflystar

Wednesday is a day that I reflect on some great speeches that were an impactful to me in my journey during looking back on the Project Bravery progress. There is a great series of ones in a Album called Better that Yesterday which the first one that starts in that series is called "Built Different". One of the first key phrases had me really describing how I felt during that first year as I was going through so much while reinventing myself. "You are different. That is your greatest Power. Don't you ever forget that." "There are no role models. It didn't matter. I was built different." When you are going through this first phase of tearing down everything you have known you will feel alone which is a dark & rough journey. There will not be a lot of people in your corner in those early days and many around you will just say you are going through some "weird phase" or you will will snap out of things in the future going back to your old self. But this is what makes Lions different from others animals and why they are built differently. The journey to find purpose is a process you have to find and seek with intention on your own. No one else can do this for you or write it down to solve all your problems. One of the first things that happened during the initial days of realizing what my purpose and words that would represent my journey was head to a park in Lake Pine in Apex. I sat out on the park bench looking out on the water just taking in the moment of being myself. It was a scary feeling wondering what was going to happen back then with this new found purpose. Would I really be able to rebuilt myself and 40+ years of doubt, self-destructive patterns, stalling professionally, and feeling like everything was honestly out of my control? Was I really willing to do this alone regardless of what anyone thought about it or if I was not going to get any support in this journey? And then I started uttering those words and listening to this speech which brought a sense of something I had never felt before: Purpose There was no doubt in my head on that bench I was going to make it and knew this was something I was ready for this time. I was never going to head back to who I was no matter what. So as you are on the journey to find yourself I recommend heading to some place on your own for a period of time to go into deep thoughts on the journey ahead. My message today is that you will have to be built different to find your purpose and reinvent yourself. Are you willing to put in the work to make this a reality even if you are the only person that believes in it? Speech Link: https://lnkd.in/gnUTFnw4 Purpose ----> Attack + Connect = Impact Roaring out to all the Lions and Lionesses this morning! Rise up Lions and Fight for your Life! #AttackAndConnect #LionPride #courage #strength #bravery #leadership #heart #lionattitude

I’ve been reflecting on a recent conversation with a client, an executive, in a fast-paced environment who described his feelings in one word as he went through his week and headed into Friday--“UGGGH!!!! This feeling had been building throughout the week. Expectations of a major cost-saving project being completed were still slowly creeping through the channels of ineffective communication. Other Projects were also taking longer than they should, getting in the way of what he wanted to get done. People that he had to work around, all their issues. As his week moved on everything became harder to do and the words “I have to do this, I must do this, I should do this”, repeatedly ran through his mind. His energy and motivation were limping along at best, life felt heavy, and his mind was living for Friday to just kick back, and relax, no one would be home, the wife and kids were headed to the mountains for some fun. As he got home, kicked back, ready to escape the week, his wife called and said, “The van broke down, we’re in the mountains. We need you to come and get us!” He told me that “his thoughts were not good ones as he made the 90-minute drive to where she was, and over $500 to get it towed and fixed. He said things that later, he wished he had not. He also shared that is not how he wanted to show up with his wife, that is not who he wanted to be. This is not how he wanted to live his day! It strikes me that many of us have had similar weeks, or even months and can empathize and relate. Others might say that my client just needed to change his attitude, get over it, and move on. My experience though, working with hundreds of executives and entrepreneurs with their habits of thinking, is when we are triggered into a mindset of have to’s, musts, and should do’s, we will experience what Dave Blanchard said, “… this habit of thinking (obligation) wants you to be motivated by an exhausting sense of obligation and fearing the consequences if you don’t. You are at risk of getting stuck in a painful cycle of obligation, exhaustion, rebellion, thinking about quitting, feeling guilty, recommitting, and then doing it all over again and again.” I totally agree. I have lived far too often in the exhausting obligation cycle and resentment. Living there is not joyful living. It simply gets us to the point of sarcastically, resentfully thinking “Another day in paradise”, until we quit. We can survive, but we cannot thrive when have to’s, must do’s, and should do’s drive our lives. I have learned that in order to move from survive to thrive it requires awareness and then action. When you hear and feel those challenging words, "I have to, I must, and I should, replace them with an energetic "I WANT TO! I GET TO, I CHOOSE TO!" You can command and you can take charge of your day!