Day Dream Believer

{Day Dream Believer by Julia Eves}

On the occasion of the death of Davy Jones, singer of Daydream Believer, it seems appropriate to write about something that I've been wondering about regarding dreams.

We tell children that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. 

We tell adults that they cannot be anything they want to be now that they are grown up.

Why the shift? I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to tell adults that they can be anything they want to be? Adults have more energy, resources, education, and connections to make their dreams happen. Seriously, 3-year-old Jack lacks the hand-eye coordination to operate a backhoe, 4-year-old Samantha just doesn't have the network and lineage to be a princess, and who is going to tell 5-year-old Keisha that we don't have astronauts at NASA anymore?

Do we let children dream because it's really just a game of imagination, and adults are supposed to be more "realistic"? I question this logic.

I realize that some options are simply not available to people of a certain age, although there are Olympic swimmers who are forty and people getting college degrees during retirement. However, I don't run into this type of thinking regarding things that our bodies and minds simply cannot do anymore. I more often run into this type of thinking among people who have stopped allowing themselves to dream. People who know what their dream was, but don't feel like they can pursue it. People who have given up on a little part of their soul that calls them to create, to dream, or to risk becoming who they are.

Today, why not ask some over twenty-five what their dream is? They may be surprised that you asked, but if you get an answer, you can be one of their Daydream Believers. What an honor.

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Keep an eye out for a big announcement next week about an all-new eCourse! Registration is launching on Thursday, March 8 with a one-day discount off the cost of registration.

Download "Sacred Spaces," a free chapter of my upcoming book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" from the right sidebar of this page.

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Do you know an intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

Tuesday Travel Tip: Assemble a Team of Experts

{The sign outside Nola Studios in New York City}

For the first round of auditions for musical theater, the first step is often to sing part of a song. While we are permitted to sing whatever we choose, we generally try to sing something in the style of the show. If things go well at one of my musical theater auditions and an artistic staff thinks I might match what they need, I am given a callback to do a particular scene and song from the show for the director, choreographer, and producer. Thus begins another series of events. For a callback, I develop a character, learn the scene, and learn the song.

Sometimes, it’s a lot.

Almost always, it all has to happen overnight.

I have two or three experts I can call on short notice. They serve as my vocal coach, voice teacher and acting coach. I collaborate with them on how to interpret my scene or song. They encourage me to make stronger choices and allow me to take risks, which is always the goal of an actor. When I rehearse alone, I don't seem to take things to the most creative place the way I do under the direction of my team of experts. They tell me what's funny, what needs to improve, and sometimes even teach me a better way to act or sing a particular section.

Without my team of experts, I would not be as successful in my callbacks. It takes an outside set of highly trained eyes and ears to help me achieve as much as possible in a short amount of time.

Although my years of training and experience are important, I can’t just depend on what I learned in the past to carry me through each new callback. I need to constantly improve in order to stay competitive. My team of experts pushes me to reach new levels that I wasn’t sure I had.

There are so many factors at play in the world of auditioning for musical theater. We sing, dance, and act all at the same time. To be chosen for a particular production, we have to have the right resume, right union status, right vocal range, be the right size to fit the costume, look like we fit into the family or group of friends that is onstage, and a dozen other factors. Among all of these aspects that I can’t control, I control the things that are within my reach. By working with a team who pushes me to be better, I’m ready when the producer wants a 5’5” Caucasian woman in her 30s for a quirky mezzo-soprano role.

Who is on your team of experts when you need to achieve something new?

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Download "Sacred Spaces," a free chapter of my upcoming book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" from the right sidebar of this page.

Expand your team of experts through one-on-one coaching by telephone or email.

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Do you know an intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

Thursday Thoughts: Impossible

{Photo found via Pinterest}

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Align Your Commitment

{Photo by Michael Sladek}

I am on the leadership team of an annual convention for Lutherans called the ELCA Youth Workers' Extravaganza. The event moves from city to city, and this year we met in New Orleans with almost 700 participants.

For participants, it can feel like the biggest family reunion they've ever attended, the deepest spiritual retreat they've ever been on, or the most qualified set of experts they've ever had access to. Each year, someone asks, "How do you do it?"

The E-team, as we call the leadership team, has equal commitments to excellence and hospitality. It's a good combination.

Excellence without hospitality means something really awesome on the surface which no one really cares about deep down.

Hospitality without excellence means that everyone is really nice, but nothing truly remarkable happens.

It takes both.

For the E-team, this means we bring our "A game" while still caring about each other and the participants. We want participants and vendors to only have to ask for things once, or maybe not at all since we already anticipated what they need. We want people to be impressed with our program but know they are heard when they give suggestions for the future.

We also show hospitality within our E-team by being super responsive, super communicative, and building trust by getting things done well and on time.

It also doesn't hurt that we all just like to be together.

It's a great place to live for one week a year.

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Download "Sacred Spaces," a free chapter of my upcoming book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" from the right sidebar of this page.

Explore excellence and hospitality in one-on-one coaching by telephone or email.

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Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

Monday Musings: Founding Fathers

{Ben Franklin}

I love President's Day. It's well situated between Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Easter, providing a true day off without any specific religious or cultural celebrations.

One year on President’s Day weekend, I was invited to a party for which we were instructed to dress as our favorite dead president. While I don't really have a favorite dead president, there's no question about my favorite founding father: Ben Franklin. In fact, I probably could have gone to that party as Ben Franklin since I imagine there are a fair number of Americans who actually think he was president at some point in those early years of the United States. Had he been younger it may have happened, but he was 25 years older than George Washington and died a year after Washington took the oath of office.

My brother and I began to develop an admiration for Ben Franklin on a visit to Philadelphia when I was four and he was seven. Our parents took us to see every historical site in the city. This was back in the days when you could walk right up to the Liberty Bell and touch the crack for good luck. Ben Franklin’s hometown came alive for us. We learned about his diversity of talents as a printer, scientist, statesman, and diplomat. Not only was he one of the leaders of the constitutional convention, he invented practical items that ranged from the lightening rod to bifocals. He also started things we loved, such as America’s first public library and the United States Postal Service.

We didn’t learn about the questionable chapters of Ben Franklin’s life until much later, yet we also learned more about his courage and his virtue. Ben Franklin was committed to goals much larger than himself, even when it was dangerous. Not only did he believe in to American independence when it didn't seem possible, he also was part of sharing that vision with others and helping them to remain focused on the goal. Ben Franklin was interested in a wide variety of topics in which he didn't just dabble; he sought excellence.  Throughout his life, he created his own fortune through creativity, vision, resilience, and hard work. After establishing his wealth, he worked to systematically improve himself and to raise the standards for those around him.

It's almost like Ben Franklin was America's first life coach.

Who is your favorite founding father?

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Download "Sacred Spaces," a free chapter of my upcoming book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" from the right sidebar of this page.

Explore possibilities in one-on-one coaching by telephone or email.

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Do you know an intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

Thursday Thoughts: Watch Your Thoughts

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Download "Sacred Spaces," a free chapter of my upcoming book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" from the right sidebar of this page.

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Friday Flicks: Life Coaching Intro Video

Some of you may not have seen my slightly updated website. There's an everybody version and a Lutheran version. Take your pick. The best part is this fun new video to introduce people to me and my services. Take a look here, or view it on the upper left hand corner of either page. Let me know what you think!

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The next round of eCourses start February 20 and 23. Join a group of like minded people to learn more about yourself, get organized, and set and achieve goals. Learn more about eCourses.

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Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

Thursday Thoughts: it Doesn't Matter How Slow You Go

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The next round of eCourses start February 20 and 23. Join a group of like minded people to learn more about yourself, get organized, and set and achieve goals. Learn more about eCourses.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Help Others Help You

{Photo found via orgsites.com}

I know someone who has trouble getting others to help with projects. He works at an organizations where volunteers could be doing many of the tasks, but fewer and fewer people have been involved. He thought it was due to people's busy schedules, the lack of commitment to volunteer organizations, or maybe even the economy. However, that would not explain why volunteering went down just as he took over the organization.

So I challenged him to ask a volunteer. The volunteer was polite and didn't say much. He had to ask more than one volunteer. Finally, a teenager told him she would no longer be updating the bulletin boards, and she told him why.

"You never like what I do. I think I'm done and then you come and correct everything, and tell me there's a better way. I feel like I'm doing it wrong all the time."


If you don't allow people to do the project their way, soon they won't want to do the project at all.

This leader narrowed things down to a few issues:

• He had a very clear vision for how he wanted everything to be done, and didn't always communicate that vision. 
• He had trouble allowing people to do projects and solve problems in their own way.
• He didn't always rank what projects were vital to the organization and must be done exactly right, and what projects were open to interpretation.  
• He was looking for factors outside himself to explain a drop in volunteerism, when really he had the capacity to improve it himself.

It came down to communication, trust, prioritization, and taking responsibility. Those are huge things to work on, but knowing what the issue is helps him start the journey.

Whether you are leading an organization or just need someone to transfer your luggage, allow them to understand what needs to be done and to accomplish the task in their own way.
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The next round of eCourses start February 20 and 23. Join a group of like minded people to learn more about yourself, get organized, and set and achieve goals. Learn more about eCourses.

Don't want to miss another blog post? Sign up on my website to have them delivered by email or become a fan of Urban Nomad on Facebook to see them in your news feed.

Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.

NY Giants' Winning Mantra

I generally don't participate in football festivities, but I happened to be at a Super Bowl party this year. Being in New York City, I knew our local team was playing yet I was just marginally invested. As I sat there eating what could only be called a gourmet selection of dips, our tradition struck me as odd. We all sit around eating high calorie foods while we watch some of the best athletes in our country battle for the championship. It feels like a disconnect.

Beyond the promise of fun dips and other foods, I get on board with sports if I know some of the players personally or there is an inspiring moment. Since I didn't know any of the players in the Super Bowl, I needed an inspiring moment. I must say, inspiration is generally easier to find in the Olympics than in other sporting competitions, but it's there.

For me, inspiration came after the game during an interview with coach Tom Coughlin. He said that he tells his players, "Talk is cheap. Play the game." After some googling, I learned that he even gave shirts to the team with this phrase in 2007. I love it. Not totally original, but it overlaps nicely with my One Little Word this year, action. We can talk all we want, but action is what counts in the end.

Congratulations, Giants. I applaud you as I sit here on the couch, finishing off the last of the guacamole.

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Start playing the fame with one-on-one coaching by telephone or email.



The next round of eCourses start February 20 and 23. Join a group of like minded people to learn more about yourself, get organized, and set and achieve goals. Learn more about eCourses.

Don't want to miss another blog post? Sign up on my website to have them delivered by email or become a fan of Urban Nomad on Facebook to see them in your news feed.

Do you know a smart, creative, spiritually-minded person who might be interested in this blog post? Please forward it in its entirety, compliments of Dawn Trautman, Urban Nomad. Copyright, 2012.