A few days ago I interviewed real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran and ABC TV’s Shark Tank star for our monthly Women on Fire members’ CD program.
(She was an absolute hoot — funny, candid and inspiring, and I can’t wait for you to hear her wisdom! If you’re not yet a member of our monthly membership and CD program, I’ll leave the details for you in the P.S. section below.)
Barbara Corcoran (Image courtesy of Barbara Corcoran)
Anyway, Barbara said something profound about success that really has me thinking.
And, Barbara should know about success. She who turned a $1,000 loan from her boyfriend into a business she sold for $66 million!
Barbara said in her experience the single determining factor for success for whatever you want in your life – more than experience, more than money, more than contacts – is the amount of time we take after failing or being rejected to get back up, dust ourselves off and move forward.
The quicker we reduce “oh, woe-is-me” time, the faster we are back on our path toward what we really want. I buy that, Barbara.
“I started getting a higher and higher batting average because I got better (and faster) at failing. I knew how to fail well,” Barbara told me in a wide-ranging conversation about love, life, business, family and success.
And, her insight also made me explore what happens during that “in between” period of losing my balance and pulling myself back up.
In reviewing my own sorrowful history of being knocked down – and spending months and even years recovering – I know part of what kept me stuck – and kept many of the coaching clients I’ve worked with over the years mired in place – is an inability to simply drop “the story,” forgive (myself, mostly) and get on with it.
Forgiving someone or something – whether you’ve been dumped by your lover, lost your job, been violated or wronged – doesn’t mean you agree with what happened.
Forgiveness means you let go and free up your energy to get on with all the good that is waiting for you.
Way easier said than done, I know!
Over the years, my best strategy for forgiving and shortening that “wallow-in-my-pity” time has been to find role models. People who have had way bigger transgressions to forgive than I could imagine – yet somehow they’ve released the blame and anger and moved on.
Last week I came upon this video for Project Forgive (Video Link). I hope you can take five minutes to see what happens when an unthinkable event occurs where forgiveness would seem nearly impossible.
I was so inspired by Shawne Duperon’s Project Forgive, in which we are all invited to share our forgiveness stories, that I invested in it.
My wish for you is that if there is anything holding you back from the freedom to bolt toward your dreams and goals that you will take a page from Barbara Corcoran’s playbook and ask yourself this:
What is it going to take to shorten the time between when I’m down for the count and I hop back up on my feet?
I would love to hear about any of your own experiences with forgiving and being forgiven. Please leave comments your comments belowfor us all to learn from.
Have a happy week ahead.
I’ll see Women on Fire members on the LIVE CHAT this Tuesday night where we will discuss your gifts, strengths and talents!
May you always be on the path to living your extraordinary life,
