“We have to continually
be jumping off cliffs
and developing our wings
on the way down.”
– Kurt Vonnegut

Earlier this year, I wrote about the small steps of kaizen. Since I am a full-fledged advocate of embracing paradox, I will now write about big steps, jumping-off-of-cliff steps. After all, how do we develop wings without these steps.

I am not talking about being a dare devil jumper, but rather about a willingness, in following your true path, to take big steps when needed. There are just times when a big step is called for.

Of course, taking a big step is scary because there is some risk involved. Two things on risk: Helen Keller told us that "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all." And on the other side of this, I got knocked over the other day. My face is still swollen and hurting. I would like to say that I was ocean kayaking or rock climbing when this happened, but I was taking out the trash can, when a gust of wind came up and blew a fence gate into me. If I can get hurt taking out the trash, I might as well "go for it."

And there is that risk of the unlived life. I know in business they talk about the cost of inaction. Check out the Parmenides Fallacy from Professor Philip Bobbit from the University of Texas. Parmenides was a Greek philosopher who believed the world was static and change was not real. I have a few arguments with him.

’There is plenty of research to show that inaction does not serve the entrepreneur. I took a big risk a few years ago, when I "jumped" into my car (Note: I did not literally jump into my car) and drove north to join Bill Baren's Big Shift program. I wasn't sure my car, or I, would make it to the positive side of being an entrepreneur, but here I am! (I wrote that like the declaration it is!)

As for writing your book, there are risks. You might find out in the process of writing the book, that you don't know as much as you thought you knew. As you write your book, you might find you have to prioritize yourself and your book, and risk what your friends and family will think about that. When you publish your book, some people might disagree with what you wrote. You do see that written out, all of these risks have simple remedies or just don't matter.

In fact, I would argue that the risk of not writing your book, of not standing up and offering your wisdom to the world, is the risk that I don't wish for anyone. So write your book :-)

Last Sunday we had the first Write On! Mini Writing Retreat, and I was again reminded how powerful writing can be, and how powerful writing can come from each of us. Each writer dove deep and opened up memories and stories, ideas and words, their creativity and intuition – and each in their own way. Writing does indeed rock!

Writing rocks because it takes you on a journey to find gold – and the gold is pure you. It is your wisdom, your being, your knowingness. If you let it, writing will teach you what you know and who you are. It will answer your "why's" and lay out your "how's." It will be your guide and muse. It will reveal the inner paths that lead to your unique and wonderful stories. It will step you up to your visionary-ness!

On the opposite end of this, if you are living your life without tapping into and opening up your stories, you risk the agony that Maya Angelou speaks of: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Don't let this happen to you. Share your stories, and by sharing your stories, empower yourself and contribute to the world story... because when you add your stories to the world story, you change the world in beautiful ways. This is true no matter what stories you tell, as long as they are authentic.

Writing also rocks because it gives you the unique language and voice that can carry your message into the world in a way that can be heard. When you have the bridge of writing, you can truly articulate and share yourself in an insightful way. I created the Write Your Book program because one of my missions is to find and help people who are truly ready to step up to their wisdom and visionary-ness, and writing a book "forces" you to develop your "vocabulary," which then becomes your container for carrying your message to others – and this rocks too!

Writing rocks for so many reasons... so I urge you to write on!

Just last Sunday, we had a great brainstorming workshop about finding your awesome message. Everyone was happy to have participated in the workshop, but several people told me that either the night before or the morning of the workshop, they wanted to turn their original Yes into a No. They could confess this at the time because each one of them was very glad they came – in other words, happy to have turned the tempting No back to a Yes.

Linda Hargrove wrote and shared this with us at the end of the day: "I really didn’t want to come here today, I felt sort of angry about having agreed to it, and a whole day at that. Argh. but now i love it, and love being around people with so much passion and in sakada’s house and having my voice heard...." Lots of heads were nodding in agreement with her.

I can definitely relate to this push and pull dance between Yes and No, but in a "Year of Yes," how do you deal with the temptress of No? I am talking about the No that wants to hold you back and keep you in your assigned role and old stories. The No that stops you from truly stepping up and into your visionary-ness. The No that keeps your dreams of writing your book on hold for "later."  The No that keeps your prosperity at bay and your business success from truly taking off. Yeah... that No.

Well, first and foremost, realize there is always a choice and it is yours to make. It is easy to give too much power to what is happening around you or what others think or believe about your life and choices. I have to just say straight out – grow up and make your own choices, and make choices that serve you. Ironically, only then will you be able to truly serve others.

I do want to acknowledge that not all No's are bad, so it is important not to automatically think of a No as a "criminal" there to keep you from your visionary-ness and success. You do need to access the No voice and see what fears it is connected to. Remember, the No that says the waves are too high and stormy for your swimming ability might be the lifeguard looking out for you! So don't put all No's into the same basket!

When I come to a Yes or No fork in the road, I simply try to listen deeply to my intuition and instincts, be open to all the possible truths, and make my choice with courage.

This does not mean I make the "right decision" all the time... but it does mean that I don't spend my life waiting at those forks in the road. Sometimes I even go down a road (Yes), and at a point realize it is not my road. I then turn around and go back (No) to the original fork and take the other road (Yes). The important part to this scenario is not to beat yourself up for the first choice – just revise your choice. It is all good.

Of course, the final fork-in-the-road story is that you choose a path (Yes) and despite all the temptations to retreat (No), you keep going down that road and make it yours (Oh Yes!). Don't you love road trips!

“Accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.”
– Tao Te Ching

Kaizen is a process of taking small steps for the continual improvement that leads to significant change. In Japanese, kai means “change” and zen means “good.” Kaizen is often associated with Japan after World War II. By applying the concept of kaizen, originally developed by American Edward Deming, Japan was able to successfully rebuild its businesses, and in a very short time, become a thriving industrial power.

The reason I want to talk about kaizen now, at the beginning of the year, is because it is easy to get swept up in the excitement of the new year and make big proclamations about and plans for change. Unless you ground these in the “small steps” of kaizen, you might just be setting yourself up for failure.

Kaizen is magic because it focuses on the small steps of your journey, the steps that are right in front of you. As with any significant project, writing an excellent book can be daunting if viewed as one big project. But if broken down into small steps, it can be very doable. This is why I created the Write Your Book program – because a process/system makes big achievements, like writing your excellent book, doable.

The small steps of kaizen also trick your fears into thinking nothing is happening. In the case of writing your book, if you sit down to do some writing exercises or fill in an outline, you are working on your book, but the critic-demon instigator is not triggered. The critic-demons then sleep through your writing session and this makes your writing easier and more powerful and your writing session more fruitful. On the other hand, if you sit down with lots of bravo to write your book, all the critic-demons pile onto your shoulders and critique every word while endlessly harassing you. This is not fun or productive.

Additionally, small changes can easily become small, but powerful, habits. There are different day counts given for how long it takes to create a habit, but it makes sense that if you make a small change it will be easier to consistently repeat that change and this repetition is crucial to creating a habit. I am still surprised at how much my writers grow by simply writing five minutes a day. They create a writing habit, they stay connected to their book-in-progress and this triggers lots of sub-consciousness work, their writing process gets easier and their writing gets better. This is win-win-win-win. I love lots of wins!

"Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now.

You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away."

– Indira Gandhi

So if you are ready to take a kaizen step towards your book, check out this upcoming workshop:

Find Your Awesome Message For Your Excellent Book:
A Treasure Hunt and Brainstorming Workshop.

Sunday, January 12, 2014
10 am to 5 pm
At GeniusWork in Torrance, CA

$299
Special Price: $199
Enrollment is limited

I'm a visionary. You're a visionary. The question is: Are you ready to say "YES!" your visionary-ness! One definition of "-ness" is a state or condition. This would make it something we can choose, because we choose, to some degree, our state or condition. So I ask you, what would make you choose to be in the state of visionary-ness? And just how great would you feel in that state!?

Another part of the definition of "-ness" is "an instance of this." For instance, kindness is an instance of being kind. On this, I want to note my experience of knowingness, because it is related to how I am a visionary. You see, I am not a visionary who walks around 24/7 as a visionary. I am a visionary who struggles every day, sometimes minute by minute, to stay in my sense of visionary-ness. I am a wabi-sabi visionary (watch for an upcoming post on wabi sabi if you want to know more about it). I know knowingness only because I have had brief moments of intense knowing. In the same way, I am a visionary, but a "struggling" one.

In conclusion, let's be visionaries together this year. We need not do this because we think so much of ourselves, but instead because the world calls to us to step up and do our best.