as it is navratri, it's only apt that i post something about 9 ways to spark a breakthrough :)
i need it just about now ... you know? really, really need it. hoping there's a bolt of something
that helps the light go off in my head :)
whatever your goal, there comes a point when you require a special kind of strategy to jet propel yourself to the next level.
maybe you've hit a motivational wall and need to get back on track. or maybe it's time to head down another road entirely. but how? what you're looking for is a breakthrough. here are nine ways to make it happen.
1. go public
when grand plans linger in the daydream stage, there's always a risk that they'll die there. going on the record is one way to keep them alive. "if you tell everybody you're running a marathon, you don't want to quit," says laura skladzinski, who at 24 briefly held the record as the youngest woman ever to have run marathons in all 50 states. months before she started her record-breaking quest, skladzinski launched her blog,
4. when in doubt, diy
if help isn't forthcoming ask yourself: 'is there another way to make this happen?' for amanda hocking, hundreds of rejection slips initially crushed her hopes of being an author. "then i realized, if you have a dream, you can't let people tell you no," she says. "i decided to do whatever it took for my books to get out there." so she self-published her novel electronically on
7. spread the word
when vicki abeles realized that the endless homework and standardized-test preparation being forced on her kids was souring them on school, she decided to make a documentary about the problem. with little hope of landing a conventional distributor, the lawyer and mother of three school-age kids screened her film at every church, library, and school that would have her. viewers told their friends and fellow parents, who requested screenings in their cities. "we developed a supportive community for the film by word of mouth," says abeles. the rough cut expanded to a feature-length film, race to nowhere, that's now been watched by some 750,000 people in thousands of venues across 17 countries. abeles, who frequently moderates audience discussions afterward, says, "with every screening, the conversation about homework is starting to change."
8. cultivate wonder
"many of the world's inventions don't come from people simply working hard and throwing themselves at a project," says life coach kathlyn hendricks, phd. "they come from wonder—from curiosity and a willingness to be delighted. that is your fuel source and your reservoir, and most people need to practice it at least ten minutes a day." the best way to shake free of your usual thinking patterns, hendricks adds, is to make the sound hmmm aloud. "it's impossible to criticize yourself when you're making that sound," she says. "follow it up with a question: 'hmmm, i wonder what the company logo should look like. hmmm, i wonder if i need a web site. hmmm, i wonder if i can....'" the answers will often launch you into new territory.
9. embrace your critics
naysayers come with the territory. baseball lover justine siegal endured a lifetime of put-downs. as a 13-year-old, she was told that her coach didn't want her on his all-boy team. at 16 she heard that no man would listen to a woman on a field. "i'm shy but determined," says siegal, who in 2008 spoke at the society for american baseball research conference. "i stood in front of hundreds of people, mostly men, and asked them what major league baseball was planning to do beyond selling pink jerseys to get girls involved." soon after, siegal was hired as an assistant coach by minor league team the brockton rox. then siegal, a longtime pitcher, reached out to major league managers about going where no woman had gone before: to the pitcher's mound during spring training. everyone turned her down, but she persisted with in-person pleas. this past spring, siegal pitched batting practice for the cleveland indians. she went on to throw for the oakland a's, the tampa bay rays, the houston astros, the new york mets, and the st. louis cardinals. sure, it's intimidating. but every time she climbs the mound, she says, "i take all the butterflies and trembling and i just stuff them."
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