Aimee Gallo is a Licensed Primary Sports Nutritionist and Certified Holistic Health Counselor helping people lead happier, healthier lives through nutrition, fitness, and uncovering abundant joy. She coaches in person in San Diego and nationwide by phone. Her mission is to provide unparalleled support in helping others live the best life they can imagine!  She’s our guest blogger for March, and can be reached at www.vibrancenutrition.com.   Thanks Aimee, and Happy Passioneering!

Staying Motivated to Live Your Passion

By Aimee Gallo

Living your passion can be a full-time job. Sometimes it requires significant amounts of overtime, and for most of us there is no time-and-a-half or honorary plaque to put on the wall. When the rewards for our work seem far away the motivation to continue can weaken. 

My personal ups and downs along the way have allowed me to gather a fine set of motivational tools. These re-invigorate and reinspire me when my energy and stamina are faltering:

1)      Personal Inventory: Do I need to pull the radical self-care card? Have I forgotten myself in all this? If my cup isn’t full, I cannot be the support and encouragement my clients count on. The first thing is to take a moment and self-reflect on what I am feeling and what I need. It may be as simple as extra sleep or emotional support from a friend or it may be something more monumental – like reorganizing my business to accommodate who I am as a person now versus when I started. Sometimes the answers come right away and sometimes I need to sit and allow them to percolate. But first, first we must ask the question. To assist with this, I keep a list of things that invigorate me that I can refer to when I get overwhelmed. Journaling and running also release stuck mental blocks and allow space for my creative brain to find solutions.

2)      I look to my own sources of inspiration to find the drive to continue. Who refused to give up? Abraham Lincoln, Colonel Sanders, my father, Oprah Winfrey, Mohandas Gandhi…read a biography, talk to someone in the field you admire, or consider the alternative – giving up your dreams (unthinkable!) and let this pull you up.

3)      Take a trip down memory lane: What have you already weathered? How was it worth it? How did you feel when you first began? What initially inspired you? Your own story can serve as a powerful motivator. As the author, you determine which direction the story now takes and how it unfolds. What will you choose?

4)      Watch your Mouth: How is your self-talk? When you say, “I can’t do this” or “This is too much” you do not give your infinitely creative subconscious permission to find an answer. Switch your mentality to “How can I make this work?” “What is it that inspires me?” and brainstorm with others as needed for answers.

It’s perfectly normal to have your passion and inspiration wax and wane; none of us can be 100% all the time! When you find yourself struggling, reach both internally and externally for support and motivation to continue living your dreams. It’s not how you do on any given day (or week, or month…) but how authentic and true you are over the journey of your life. May your travels be exciting, rewarding, and abundant!

Aimee Gallo is a Passioneer® inspired by forests, glitter, and how her own body functions. She coaches others on living the best life they can imagine for themselves through food, exercise, and radical self care. She loves to share stories of others’ successes as tools to motivate. To reach her, visit www.vibrancenutrition.com or call (206) 227-1231

Elizabeth Lombardo, PhD, MS, PT helps people around the world have less stress and more happiness, regardless what is going on in their lives. A clinical psychologist, physical therapist and author of the bestselling book “A Happy You: Your Ultimate Prescription for Happiness,” Elizabeth has been interviewed and featured by some of today’s top media outlets including CNN, Newsweek, MSNBC, NPR, Glamour, Self, Elle, Redbook and Woman’s Day. 

This Wednesday, March 3rd, we will be interviewing Dr. Lombardo  live on our Blog Talk Radio Show, The Passions and Possibilities Project®, at 9am PST.  Our focus will be on her passioneering journey, ups and downs, how she has stayed happy throughout, and her tips for others.  We welcome your comments and questions, so please join us live: 347-205-9038 or via streaming or archived audio at www.blogtalkradio.com/passionsandpossibilities. 

Special Drawing!  We will be holding a drawing at 9:30 am during the radio show to give away three signed copies of Dr. Lombardo’s new book, A Happy You.   To be eligible for the drawing, please join our Facebook fan page, The Passions and Possibilities Project  and also send us an email with your name and email address to passioneers@yahoo.com.     Happy Passioneering! 

Candi Wingate, expert on all-things-nanny, shares her wisdom and passioneering journey with us today, live, Wednesday, 2/17, 3pm PST, !  Dial in at 347-205-9038 or steaming audio:

More on Candi: 

Candi’s been a nanny, owned a nanny agency, started Nannies4hire.com, Babysitters4hire.com and Care4hire.com, authored “100 Tips for Nannies & Families,” plus is a wife and mother of 2. Her nanny experience actually goes way back. She was a nanny for a family with 5 children, which included newborn twins. After becoming a nanny and working in a nanny agency for several years, I purchased the successful Nation-Wide Nanny Placement Agency. After finding that she needed to expand, Nannies4hire.com, Babysitter4hire.com and Care4hire.com was born. Call in with questions about becoming a nanny or following another passion!  You can reach her at www.nannies4hire.com.

We recently interviewed Terry Kohl about her Passions & Possibilities™.   She’s the creative founder and inspirational author of  http://www.LostYourJobNowWhat.com, and you can read more about her at http://www.TerryKohl.com.  Here’s what she had to say on the topic: 

SO: What’s your definition of “passion”?  

Passion is what motivates me to become all that I can be. Passion inspires, knows no boundaries or limits, and fuels my heart and soul with joyful energy. When I am “in passion” I am alive.

SO: What are your biggest passions for serving others, and how are you expressing them (also include hobbies and volunteering)?  

I want to inspire people to live in the now, for that is all there is. Right now we always have everything we need. It’s diving into the past or jumping into the future that takes us away from our purpose in life. There is nothing but right now, and when you practice that art of allowing NOW to be all there is, so much joy and relief is experienced! I also:

• Write a monthly What If newsletter

• Put on Playshops (not WORKshops) designed around my What If newsletter series

• Provide a daily Facebook and Twitter encouragement

• Am author of Lost Your Job? Now What!

• Help those out of work find their passion, not just a job

• Am a well-known tealeaf reader who guides by empowering

SO: Your biggest challenge(s) in leaping into your passions for serving others, and how you have addressed them?  

I truly have had no challenges. My service to others is all about shining my light and helping others to do the same. I have found that when you are living on purpose, “challenge” is not an experience you need to accept.

SO: Your experience of “prosperity,” as you define it, in making the leap? 

Prosperity knows that you have all that you want at any given moment. When we live as if we have it all, we then send out those vibrations that attract what we want. My favorite saying about this is, “Believing is seeing,” which is the exact opposite of what we were taught to experience. When we believe, our mind races to find things to support that belief. If we believe we lack, then we will see nothing but lack. If we believe we are prosperous, we see that manifest in all areas of our life.

SO: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in making the leap?

To trust my inner guidance system. We are all vibrational beings and have our emotions (inner guidance system) to thank for letting us know how we are doing at any moment in time. If we are feeling negatively about something we are not in alignment with our higher selves. When we feel joy, love, PASSION, we are one with our Source which can only express those higher emotions. My daily constant is to find whatever thoughts I can for passionately feeling joy and love.

SO: What’s your support system look like; how did you create it?

Well, my support system is me, and while I have many who appreciate and support my offerings and seek my services, I am my own wellspring of support. If you count on the support of others (and do not get me wrong I appreciate support) then you must also be swayed by those who do not support you. We are not here to gain the acceptance of anyone else. Whatever light you shine and whoever it touches is all that matters.

SO: What wisdom do you have for someone who’s scared/discouraged about their own leap?

We have choices in life and isn’t that a delicious knowing! We can choose to leap or we can choose not to. There is no right or wrong, only in the doing (of either) will we know if we are vibrating with our higher self. If not leaping feels good, then there is no reason to leap. Fear is only False Experiences Appearing Real.

SO: What’s your next big milestone?

I do not set goals. I follow the energy of my day and do what feels good and joyful. As simple as that may sound, it is of the highest order. When we are “in the flow” of life, all is well.

 Thanks and Happy Passioneering Terry!

We interviewed Rocky Reichman, founder of LiteraryMagic.com, on our Blog Talk Radio show, on January 6, 2010.  He’s a brilliant young man, Renegade CEO (thanks to Shonika Proctor)  who’s received many accolades in the literary community, including from William Safire!

His interview follows below:

SO: What’s Your Definition of “Passion”?

Passion is something that’s more than just an interest. It’s something that fuels you and makes you willing to dedicate hours of effort, a day or even your entire life to.

SO: What Passions Are You Expressing?

My biggest passion is writing.  I first started to express that by writing novels. When I was 12, I wrote my first novel, when I read the Magician’s Apprentice.  That took about three years.  …My second book took three days.  One January vacation, for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, I sat down from 8am to 11 at night and just wrote, wrote, and wrote, and got that book out.  I decided to publish my own online literary magazine, Literary Magic.  I also got into etymology, which is the study of the roots and history of words. 

SO: So Has This Been in Your Heart and Your Skill Set?

Through Literary Magic, I’ve really come into contact with amazing people.  Writers and editors around the world.  I’ve not only learned about these people, but also how to interact:  customer service, marketing.   I’ve written some short stories, some columns on literary sites.  Once I discovered Twitter and everything, I met Shonika Prcotr, who has been very helpful to me.  William Safire contacted me, and he called me a “word maven”.  A few months after that, McCraw Hill contacted me for an internship.  That gave me even more opportunities to learn about entrepreneurship and the world of business.

SO: What Are the Challenges that You Have Face and How Have You Move Through Them?

With Literary Magic, it’s been the business model, and building readership.  As a writer, writers love their works, and put all of this effort into their creation.  So if an editor wants to make a change, sometimes that writer is not always open to that change.  So definitely phrasing, giving, learning to give criticism in as positive a manner as possible, that’s always been a challenge.  In my personal life, when I had some family losses, that was definitely a challenge; however they’ve led me to build up resilence and create new projects from that.  When my father passed…he used to tell us these stories.   …So one day we decided to type them up, and we now have it in the published version.

SO: What Else Would You Say to Somebody Who Is Making the Leap?

No matter what, you have to get it out.  Don’t let anyone tell you that what you have to say isn’t worth anything.  It’s always worth anything.  First of all, to you it’s worth something.  And also to your friends and family.  And likely the information or advice or even just the message that you have to share can radiate and help people anywhere.

SO: What Would You Say to Someone Who Doesn’t Know What Their Passion Is?

I think you have to try different thing out.  Read a lot of fiction, even if you don’t want to be a writer, because fiction isn’t just entertaining.  It teaches us about life.  A lot of people think “I’m a non-fiction person, I only read to get information.”  Fiction can open us up to different worlds and possibilities.  Another idea is to go to a college website and look at all of the different subjects, and you really get a feel for what you can do.  Whether it’s writing or biology or if you want to be a doctor or a scientist or law enforcement.  There are so many possibilities.  I was lucky enough to once I read that book Magician’s Apprentice, I knew I wanted to write and kept doing it.  Never wall yourself in.  Of course you want to focus, but never say “I have my passion, and this is all I want to do.”  Always be open to new experiences.  Try something that you normally wouldn’t be exposed to. And then see what happens.

SO: How Have You Stayed Focused?

I like to write a lot of stuff down, write plans, and goals.  I always make sure that on one day, if there’s only time to do one thing, then I get that thing done.  And then I have a task list…if I end up having surplus space then I can do this or that, but I always have one thing that I know must get done that day.   Another thing, which isn’t totally going off focus, but if something comes in, like a quick email…something under 4 minutes, I will try to do it right then.  Otherwise those things just pile up.  Then it can ruin your schedule later in the week. 

I didn’t read Getting Things Done, but I did read an article by the same article that shared the same topic.  I learned a lot about productivity and time management from there.

SO:   When I Say “Do What You Love and the Rest Follows,” Would You Agree?

For everyone I have interviewed, this has been one of the underlying tips that they have all advised:  “That you have to find a way to do what you love and get paid for it.”  If you first don’t succeed, you can always try again.  You can even have a job and make sure that you do your passion on the side.  Like if you’re a lawyer or doctor, then you still have time to write novels on the side.  I know some people at McGraw Hill that works crazy hours and are writing fantasy novels on the side.

SO:  What About Prosperity, the Money Aspect of Doing What You Love?

I think doing what you love, you don’t need to make money at it.  You’re doing it because you like it.  You’re not doing it because you want to make money.  Of course, one of your end goals might be to make money from it.  If you can, then that will ultimately give you more time to focus on your passion, and not to worry about other ways to make money or retirement or college savings. 

Don’t think that in order to be an author to have a chance you have to quit your job and dedicate your entire to writing.  Even if you do get your work published, there are lots of writers out there.  For all the ones that are best-sellers that can take off the day, there are many more writers that have to have other jobs, who might not want to sit writing all day.  You can get a job, pay the bills and work on the side. Plan it out.  Write an hour a day.  Write five pages a day.  If you do the calculations, it won’t take too long to get your book out, maybe a few months.

Write or brainstorm some of it now.  Right after this interview ends.  If you want to write a book and haven’t had the time to do it.  Stop what you’re doing and take five minutes to brainstorm what it is. Maybe even write a sample paragraph or a log line – a line about what your book will cover. Just jump right into it.

Thanks Rocky and Happy Passioneering!