January is drawing to a close and the days are getting longer, which is very uplifting!

My all time favourite quote is “You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true” Richard Bach.
 
Every time I remember it I feel incredibly empowered and excited. It  means that anything my imagination conjures up can happen. The other day I rented a DVD called ‘Man on Wire’ and it shows beautifully how true that quote is.
 
‘Man on Wire’ is a documentary film about an incredible French man called Philippe Petit. In the late 1960’s Philippe decides he will walk on a tight rope from one of the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center to the other.
 
What makes this really incredible is that when he decided to do this, the World Trade Center hadn’t actually been built NOR could he tightrope walk. He read about the towers being built in a magazine in a dentist waiting room.  As he was reading he got the idea to perform this incredible act.
 
Over the next 6 years in was consumed with  realizing his dream. He teaches himself to walk on a tightrope, and he gets some of his friends on board as he needs help with the practicalities of getting the wire in place.
 
His plan to perform this tight rope walk  is actually illegal. However there is something very innocent about this crime after-all he isn’t trying to steal anything or hurt anyone. Besides the possibility of being in serious trouble with the law, the walk was exceptionally dangerous…he could have died.
 
I won’t tell you all the details because I would like you to watch the film with the same sense of excitement that I felt. However this story is the perfect example of how even ‘crazy’ or ‘far fetched’ goals can be realized.
 
Adults with ADHD have many brilliant and inspired ideas. Yet very often instead of  following through with them and making them happen, they bring themselves back to ‘real life’. While it won’t be possible realize every idea ( chances are you have many), it is possible to implement the ones you feel extremely passionate or excited about.
 
Your ideas don’t need to put you in physical danger! Perhaps yours is a business venture,  a travel adventure, or a relationship that you would like to pursue. When you get an idea that excites and inspires you, rather than push the idea away and think ‘well that is so outlandish’ Remember Philippe Petit’s amazing story and follow your dream  knowing with certainty that you have the power to make it come true.

I have been sorting through my photos of the holidays and found this one that makes me smile. It was taken on New Years day in Edinburg Scotland. My brother James and our friends were all sitting at the table…reading my book. As you can tell they are very engrossed!

This weeks article is all about setting goals…and next Friday I am hosting a teleseminar about setting goals. If you would like more details send me an email at Jacqueline@untappedbrilliance.com

Have a wonderful week.

Last week I was traveling from Europe to Canada and I had the worse flight experience I have ever had. Approximately 15 times a minute my seat would get hit or kicked by the passenger behind me. Causing my seat and body jolt forward and then pulpit backwards. It was a 7 hour flight, so that is A LOT of jolts!

I did all the usually actions, spoke nicely to him, ask the flight assistant if I could move to another seat (there weren’t any), the flight assistants all spoke to the gentleman. All to no avail.  In the end all I could do was tolerate the situation. What was interesting about the situation was I wasn’t able to do the things I usually love to do when flying. I wasn’t able to enjoy my novel,  the work I had taken with me, have a nap or even enjoy a film. The only activity that was possible was to watch mindless TV comedies, which helped to block out reality. This experience got me thinking, if in our daily life we are tolerating annoyances then they are seriously stopping us from achieving our potential. Rather than pursuing activities that engage our brain, and nurture us, having to tolerate annoyances means we do activities that help us tolerate life rather than grow and develop.

In order to untap your brilliance and allow your full potential to shine, it’s important that you first realize what things in your life you are tolerating and then start to get rid of them.

Tolerations range from the mundane for example, a broken light bulb, to a relationship that is no longer working

Adults with ADHD tend to have more tolerations in their lives than others. This could be because they get distracted, and so keep meaning to do a task but then jump to something else, because they never feel they have enough time to address the toleration, or they don’t feel they deserve better…a result of low self esteem. Tolerations are often mundane to fix and a little boring, so it’s more interesting to do other things.

So its time to blitz those tolerations! You will have so much more mental and physical energy when you and you will also feel so much more cheerful, relaxed and healthy too.

1)Walk round your home, your office and car and take an inventory of everything you are tolerating

For example, a broken drawer that is difficult to open and close. All your socks seem to have holes in so you have to sort through numerous ones before you can find a pair to wear. Your guest room is full of clutter and it sucks you energy every time you walk it.

2) Think of all the people in your life, is there anything you are tolerating there? Perhaps someone is also criticizing you, or talks about other people behind their back

3) Are there any personal habits that you have that you are tolerating?  Perhaps smoking even though you don’t want to. Never recycling, even though you would like to.

4) Are there any health issues that you have been meaning to get looked at? Have a mole removed, teeth cleaned, ingrowing toe nail looked at.

When you have your list don’t be daunted by its size. The more the better. Set yourself the challenge of addressing one thing on the list a day. Perhaps a phone call to book an appointment with your dentist one day, a conversation with your friend who is very negative the next.  With each toleration being taken care of you will notice how much your quality of life improves and be in a much better space to achieve what is important to you!

On January 12, following the series of earthquakes that devastated Haiti the news of  the human suffering that has followed has left us all feeling shocked and helpless. While it’s not possible for us all to go in person (as much as we would like to)  what we can do is show support with our donations so that basic supplies like water, food, and medical supplies can be distributed

There are many ways to make donations …but here is the link to the Canadian red cross.

Red Cross

If you live in Montreal there is a fund raising event for Haiti on Tuesday the 19th. DJ Andy Williams will be playing and there are some super cool raffle prizes. For more information press this link:

Haiti Tweetup

Hugs,
Jacqui

When we think of the New Year we automatically think about New Year Resolutions. However resolutions are usually a highly ineffective way to achieve what we would like in our life.

For example, if your new years resolution is to lose weight, or get fit, you will likely to do really well for the first few days or even a few weeks, eating an extreme diet or going to the gym every day. But then the resolution way of life becomes hard and boring and its more comfortable to revert back to old ways.  New Years Resolutions are based on pure will power, and without a compelling goal, or big enough why,  Resolutions will not be sustainable.

However the New Year IS a great time to set goals. I have just read an inspiring book called ‘Taming Tigers, Do things you never thought you could do’ . The author Jim Lawless tells of how he achieved his goal of riding his first televised horse-race in the space of one year.  Before he set this goal for himself he had only been pony trekking twice!  In order to achieve this ambitious goal he had to get up every day at 5am to train, continue his day job, lose 1/4 of his body weight (jockeys are very light), move houses to be near the training ground, and give up alcohol (which can’t have been easy for someone that hadn’t gone to bed sober for 17 years).

It would have be extremely hard to do these things if Jim hadn’t had a compelling goal. This year when you are thinking about what you would like to achieve think BIG. What would you move heaven and earth to achieve?

Start with your big goal and then work backwards. You are much more likely to stick to a diet, declutter your house, get fit, etc. when the big goal excites you.

The sense of exhilaration that Jim felt when he completed the race was ‘ Absolute Elation’. Not only did he achieve his goal but he now has the knowledge that he can do anything that he sets his mind and this will stay with him forever.

When  inspired Adults with ADHD can achieve incredible feats in a very short space of time, so can you. So your first action for 2010 is to create a compelling and exciting goal. Don’t worry about how you will achieve your goal, your only job today is to think WHAT you would like to achieve!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It’s December 31st 2009! the New Year will soon be here. As I am typing away, I have a lovely view of Edinburgh city skyline, and just to make me feel at home there are rather a lot of snowflakes hurtling down towards the ground. As well as my cup of tea, I also have a note pad by my side so that I can jot down goals for the new year as they pop into my head.

I always feel a sense of excitement about the New Year starting and the things that could be accomplished.

This year I will be letting the New Year in in Edinburgh Scotland with my brother, his lovely wife and some friends. As well as some yummy food and champagne we will also experiencing our first ‘Hogmanany’ which a Scottish word for the last day of the year and has come to mean celebrating the New year. There are all sorts of events taking place. The one I am most looking forward to are the fireworks. To see more about hogmanay check out the website. http://www.edinburghshogmanay.com

Whatever you are doing this New Years Eve I want to wish you a very happy time!

Hugs,
Jacqui