Devoted to women of color in business

"No one every told me I could dream.
They told me to...
Be a good girl.
Be quiet.
Get good grades.
Get a good job.
Marry someone nice.
But you are the first person who told me that I could dream!"

The story above was related by Marcia Wieder at the Mt. Diablo Business Women's dinner a few nights ago, where she spoke about "Forget about Resolutions... This Year Go for your DREAMS!"

Marcia is America's "Dream Coach" at www.dreamcoach.com, and her presentation is totally dynamic. It boils down to the following points:

1) Identify what you want
This means to clearly define how you want your life to be and what are you willing to do about that? What are your dreams?

2) Take a step forward towards that dream.
A good way to get started is to break down a project into manageable "chunks" each month. This helps you feel like you're accomplishing something and gives you something to go for each month.

3) Act with integrity.
If you say you're going to do something, then do it. *OR*, just get it off your plate. Make decisions based on your heart and clear your calendar of anything that is not 100% aligned with your goal.

4) Share your dream with others.
As you become more certain of your dream and more aware of your goals, share your goals with others who will support you. Accountability is a huge motivator and when you measure something, it will most definitely improve.


Marcia had an inspiring talk and for those of us in business, I highly recommend that for the remaining part of this month, we go through and specify goals for 2007.

What are your business goals?

Which are your measurable targets in terms of growing your business or increasing your numbers?

Let's identify specific benchmarks we must hit by the first of each month to feel like we're making progress towards those goals.

Share your goals with others by forming a support group and networking with other women in business.

"With joy in life," says Marcia, you can "do more of what you love: you do it with more enthusiasm, with more energy, with more vitality, and with more creativity."

She points out that there is always a "doubter" and a "realist" who want the strategy and the plan for a goal that may seem far-fetched at ay time, but all of us are in the midst of "structural tension" that determines where we are going: that tension always resolves towards the pull of our deepest, most steadfast commitment.

So, for example, if we're committed to the status quo, then we'll stay there.

But if we're committed to our dream, we'll move towards that dream, surely, steadily, and measurably.

"Take your vision, articulate it with passion, and invite and enroll people to join you in making that vision a reality," says Marcia. "And work with intention and integrity... Intention is the rudder that guides you to where you will go. Integrity is the ability to keep your agreements, so that you do what you say you're going to do."

As a side story, Marcia shared her first trip to the Oprah Winfrey show, where, behind the scenes, Oprah came up to her, put her hands on Marcia's shoulders and said: "If there is just one attribute for my success, it is this... I always believed in my dreams... even when no one else did."


Questions for you from Marcia Wieder:

+ What's precious to you?
+ What is your "entelechy" (guiding principle of your soul)?
+ How may you live your life in alignment with that entelechy?


"The moment you take one step forward, you're one step towards your dream."
- Marica Wieder