Friday Flicks: Urban Nomad Life Coach Cabaret

If you've been reading along, you know that my book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" is available in paperback! Much of it is based on this blog, so if you love the blog you'll love the book!

What better way to do the book release party than in the form of a cabaret? This video explains it all. (If you're having trouble viewing it here on the blog, you can also view it at my website.)



Join me in St. Paul or New York  City, or contact me to talk about doing the cabaret for your organization. As you know, my bags are always packed and I'm ready to travel!

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Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places in the form of an eCourse that starts April 9. You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as we examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in your world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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: What did you do Today?

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For more challenging questions, check out my new book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" now available for purchase! Better yet, get a signed copy at the book release cabaret currently planned for St. Paul and New York City, or contact Dawn to do the cabaret with your organization in April or May, 2012.

Ask these and other important questions by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places. You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in your world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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.

Monday Musings: Don't Compare Yourself

I find that one of our favorite games as humans is to compare ourselves with other humans.

This seems to go nowhere fast and end badly.

If you compare yourself with someone else and you decide that they are better than you, you feel inferior. You become jealous. You may even wonder if they somehow cheated in order to get what they have. (Did she get botox?) You may also try to tear them down or watch closely for their imperfections. (Sure, he's nice now, but I heard that he can snap in an instant.)

Conversely, if you compare yourself with someone else, and you decide that you are better than them, you feel superior. You become condescending. You might get caught up in maintaining your advantage at any expense. You look around for confirmation that you are, in fact, superior and that everyone else does not measure up.

Why not just be so excellent at being you that it doesn't even make sense to compare?

Even if you and another person are pursuing what appears to be the same goal, you will still follow different paths to the goal. For example, I know a lot of life coaches. Many offer telephone sessions and eCourses and some have even written books. However, when I had the idea to make my book release party into a Broadway cabaret, I wondered if I should keep my idea quiet until I had it ready to go. Would someone steal my idea?

Then I realized that there is absolutely no way that another life coach just wrote a book and is going to launch it by singing show tunes based on the themes in the book.

I'm not always good at the game of non-comparison. When I started to attend professional auditions in New York, I told my vocal coach that I would psych myself out as I listened to everyone else audition. She told me to keep my eye on the ball. No one is exactly like me, so I needed to sing my song in the way I sing it. If that's what they wanted for the show, they would hire me. If not, I couldn't do much about it so I may as well move on.

At auditions it seemed like we were all working toward the same goal, yet there was no need to compare. I just needed to do what I do well. It also freed me up to offer a helping hand to the people around me. Even when we are all lined up to audition for the same part, I may as well tell the woman in front of me in line that she has something in her teeth. I can help her be her best self because it takes nothing away from me being my best self.

Stop comparing and be your best self.

Quick tip: If you are having trouble with this, turn off your television. In my observation, the entire basis of reality television is to encourage the viewer to make unhealthy comparisons with the people in the show. "At least I'm not as messy as the hoarders" or "I'll never be as beautiful as the bachelorette." It's a quick and easy way to get out of that cycle.

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A version of this blog post is in my new book, "Urban Nomad USA: Travel Sized Life Coaching for Journeys of All Sorts" and is paired with a show tune for the book release cabaret. Attend a book release cabaret in St. Paul or New York City, or contact Dawn to do the cabaret with your organization in April or May, 2012.

Ready for some serious momentum? Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in your world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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: Live for Others

{Phot found via Pinterest} 

One of my Facebook friends recently wrote one of those status updates where they phrase it as an open letter to something other than a specific person.

"Dear motivation, please come find me. Sincerely, {name of person.}"

Motivation generally does not come to find us while we sit in a lump on the couch. Motivation is more like momentum. Momentum does not start from a completely inanimate state. Something needs to already be in motion, and then momentum makes it easier to continue. Same with motivation.

If you want motivation or momentum, start with the easy part. Once you get started, it's much easier to continue. If you really can't get started, maybe it's time to ask some bigger questions.

***
Ready for some serious momentum? Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in your world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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.

Monday Musings: Becoming an Entrepreneur

I am in the process of ordering new business cards. On them, I have listed my business as "Board Certified Coach, Professional Actor, Published Author, and Collector of Experiences."

Yes, I really do all of those things.

No, I don't have another job.

It hasn't always been this way. At one point I had a "regular job." I worked 8 to 5 as a corporate trainer while also working on my life coach certification and auditioning for professional musicals. I had an inkling that I wanted to own my own creative business, but not a solid plan about how that would happen.

It turns out that it would have been good to have a solid plan. On the day it became clear that it was time to take the leap, I was absolutely certain that it was the right thing to do. I just didn't quite know how to do it.

I think one thing that keeps people from following their dreams is that they can't imagine how to actually transition into being a freelance business owner. How do you start? Wonder no more. My friend Michelle has created a workbook that helps you make a solid action plan for leaving your day job and starting as a creative entrepreneur.

I met Michelle when she was considering just that sort of leap. I choreographed a production of "Whoop Up" in New York City (no, you've never seen it, unless you saw our production, which you should have because Michelle was brilliant). Michelle was in a 9 to 5 job to support herself as an actor and searching for what was next. Since then, she's become a certified life coach and concentrated on helping creative people make the leap into creative careers. She took her own leap away from corporate America exactly two years ago today, March 19. In honor of what she calls her "entrepreneuriversary"she's offering her "Effective Escape" career change workbook at the great rate of "pay what you can." That's right, you decide the price. After today, it's $19.

If think you might be considering a career change into the freelance world any time soon, today is the day to pop over there and get your workbook. Seriously. It's good stuff. She'll show you, step by step, what to do before you leave your 9 to 5 job so that you have everything in place for a much more civilized jump into being a creative entrepreneur.

Even if you're not sure if you need the workbook, it's worth a visit to her page just to see the super cute cartoon of me that she has next to my testimonial.

Click here to view more details.
(In the interest of full disclosure, this is an affiliate link, meaning I get part of the profits when you buy her workbook. Hopefully that's even more incentive for you to get it!)
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If you are considering leaving your job in order to change the world, buy Michelle's workbook and then join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in their world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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: Motivated by Love

{Photo credit: http://shecoyote.tumblr.com}

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Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in their world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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: Go Somewhere, Part 2

{Phot found via Pinterest} 

One of my Facebook friends recently wrote one of those status updates where they phrase it as an open letter to something other than a specific person.

"Dear motivation, please come find me. Sincerely, {name of person.}"

Motivation generally does not come to find us while we sit in a lump on the couch. Motivation is more like momentum. Momentum does not start from a completely inanimate state. Something needs to already be in motion, and then momentum makes it easier to continue. Same with motivation.

If you want motivation or momentum, start with the easy part. Once you get started, it's much easier to continue. If you really can't get started, maybe it's time to ask some bigger questions.

***
Ready for some serious momentum? Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in your world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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.

Monday Musing: Make a Plan

I recently met an artist through a mutual friend. The artist said she wished that her art would create enough income to support her. She was attending workshops to hone her skills, marketing her art in her area, and producing her art in every free moment. She was also living with her parents.

I asked where she wanted her artistic business to be in a year. She had no idea. I told her that's why her art was not creating enough income to support her.

(By the way, she took it rather well, considering we'd just been introduced in a gluten free bakery, and not in an actual life coaching session.)

The artist inside all of us doesn't want to make a plan. Our inner artist thinks that when we make a plan we limit our possibilities. What if we make a plan and miss out on something better? At first, the choice to have no plan seems to allow space for creativity.

These reasons for not having a plan all have the same root: fear. We don't trust ourselves to make the "right" plan. We tell ourselves that we are waiting for just the right opportunity. We also protect ourselves from the possibility of failure if our plan does not work by simply not having a plan.

There's really no reason (other than fear) to not make a plan. In the words of the great American philosopher, Dr. Seuss, "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose."

Here's what I could have said to the artist at the gluten-free bakery: Make a plan. You are creative enough to make an appropriate plan. You are creative enough to be creative within your plan. You are also creative enough to integrate a new opportunity into the plan if it comes along before you reach your destination. Finally, you are creative enough to learn from your mistakes if your plan is not successful.

Choose a direction and go. Just don't live in your parents' basement any longer than you'd like. 

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Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse that starts April 9! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in their world. Find out more, and register today.

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 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: A Year from Now

{Photo credit: 27.media.tumblr.com via Pinterest}

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It's launch day! Join our world wide movement of Good People Going Great Places by enrolling in the 4 month eCourse! You'll be in a group of intelligent, creative, spiritually-minded people as they examine questions of identity, purpose and passion, and then actually do something to make a difference in their world. Find out more, and register today, Thursday, March 8, for the special launch pricing.

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 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: Edit

{Photo from http://simplemom.net via Pinterest}

I finished editing my book. Editing is much more than fixing grammar and locating mistakes. I added a few things, took a few things out, and clarified sections that were unclear.

If only it were that easy to edit certain areas of our lives: add a few things, take a few things out, and clarify sections that are unclear.

While we edit a book after the first draft, only rarely can we edit life after a first draft. What happened is what happened, and only in extreme situations do we follow up with a necessary apology, clarification or celebratory message.

Our best chance for editing is while preparing for an experience. For your next adventure, what do you need to add in order to be prepared? What do you need to remove? What do you need to clarify?

Start editing.

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A 14-week eCourse to explore your purpose, passions, identity, and how you can build an even more meaningful life launches Thursday, March 8 with a one-day discount off the cost of registration. Take a sneak peak at the course!

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.

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 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.

Monday Musing: Courage

Cake by Bethany at Simply Decadent

On Friday evening, I went to a viewing party to watch two episodes of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" that featured my friend Mark. If you're wondering if you saw him, he was the guy that looked exactly like the guy on this cake. He was also the most entertaining contestant of the week, hands down. Mark's television appearance included such comments as, "If you're going to be rich, you gotta look good" and other gems that make daytime television into true entertainment. 

Afterward, I asked him what he learned. "I learned that I should go with my gut. It turned out I was right for every question that I skipped or walked out on. [Editor's note: In the new version of Millionaire, the three life lines are two opportunities to skip a question and one opportunity to ask the audience.] It's about having confidence in what you know and what you think you know. Courage is hard, but good things can come from it."

There you have it. To win a game show, you need courage. That in itself would be good advice for all of those times that one might end up on a nationally televised game show, but then he made the kind of big thought leap that I love. He pointed out that courage is also the basis of all positive social change. Nothing has ever happened to change the world that didn't start with courage. Rosa Parks needed courage to stay seated on the bus. We tried to think of a solid exception. Are there major social movements that don't start with courage? We couldn't come up with an exception, and didn't really want to. Our conclusion is that the world changes because of people with courage. Thanks, Mark. Incredible insight. 

Today, cultivate courage in whatever experiences you have. Once you know yourself to be courageous, you have the tools to make a change when the opportunity arises.

By the way, Mark did well but he did not become a millionaire. He answered eight questions correctly to win $45,500. He chose not to answer the ninth question, and walked away with half of his "bank," for a total of $22,750. An incorrect answer would have caused him to walk away with only $1000. [As I said above, the rules are all different than what you may remember.]

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It's coming! A 14-week eCourse to explore your purpose, passions, identity, and how you can build an even more meaningful life. Registration launches 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.

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 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.