You can do anything in a year!

Rob and I are listening to James Taylor’s holiday CD while we scramble to wrap Christmas presents and clean out closets, cupboards and bookshelves.

I always love to start the New Year as uncluttered as possible!

My best go-to book on this subject is Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston, who assures us “you can sort out your life by sorting out your junk.”

And, this past year, I have been greatly inspired by a woman who certainly isn’t dealing with clutter when it comes to extra clothes, shoes and frivolous items.


Last January my colleague Jamie Eslinger and I playfully — and powerfully — launched into 2011!

For the past 352 days, Woman on Fire Jamie Eslinger hasn’t bought any of those things!

As many of you know, Jamie and I work together at Women on Fire.  We were at Lake Austin Spa Resort in Texas working (really!) more than a year ago when Jamie was struck by the power of our Women on Fire Aspiration: “I invest in myself and in my potential.”

She noticed that the price of massages and facials at Lake Austin Spa were the prices she’d been paying for a dress or shoes.  And, it hit her.

What if she gave up buying clothes, shoes and frivolous purchases for one entire year and invested her resources instead in her mind, body, heart and soul?

Here is Jamie on video on Day 3 of her 365-day promise to herself to take that leap.

As she roars toward the finish line in 13 days, our Jamie has an amazing story to tell about all the new discoveries and incredible surprises she’s had while not buying clothes!


In a snowstorm in Alpena, Michigan, Jamie attended a Women on Fire Tea. Because she wasn’t buying, she made her rainboots work in the snow and Woman on Fire Mary Ellen Jones gave her a coat. Somehow, whatever she needed always appeared!

I’ll let her tell all about her year herself at The Promise 365 where you can read her daily journal.

What I will share is that after one year of not shopping, she is now healthier, happier, thinner, fitter, more peaceful, grateful and confident than when she started on January 1, 2011.

Jamie is a wonderful reminder of the great power that with inspiration, strategies and support – and she made sure she had all three when she embarked upon The Promise 365 — you can do anything in one year!


Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress — Jamie was stuck once without proper clothes to wear to a wedding and had to borrow a dress from her friend Sara.  Turned out it was a dress Jamie had lent Sara years before!

Already Jamie has inspired a legion of others including professional photographer Josie Donatelli, who is rocking the world with her inspiring new blog Changing It Now about her own day-by-day journey to return to being fit and healthy.

If you would welcome the inspiration, strategies and support to take on your own inspiring challenge in 2012, Jamie is leading a virtual coaching group for 10 Women on Fire starting January 16.

The cost is $397 a month but if you are a Women on Fire member, your cost is only $97 a month! (If you have not yet signed up for membership, you are most welcome to here and you will be eligible to receive the amazing discount!)

I’m so excited about the possibilities of change over this next year that I’m joining Jamie’s group, too.

My goal is to increase my self-care and I’m determined in my crazy, busy schedule to do that in 2012.  I’ll keep a daily diary that I will share with you.

Please share what exciting thing you’d love to promise yourself this year in the comments below and then join Jamie and me to make it happen!

Great Start 2011: 5 Ways To Powerfully Begin The New Year

I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions!

People make them on January 1 and by January 11, sadly, resolutions are often gone, a dream wished for and not a goal or plan on track for success.

You deserve to have your dreams and goals, and there are proven ways to achieve them.

After 15 years of successfully coaching people to meet their goals and realize their dreams, here are five of the many methods I teach Women on Fire and the ones I personally use to live the life I want.

NPR Talk Show Host Ann Fisher of WOSU Radio in Columbus, Ohio recently interviewed me about these strategies. About midway through this interview, we discuss these 5 Powerful Ways to Start Your New Year.

 

This week is a wonderful time to take account of the past year and develop your goals — a specific plan for your “resolution” — for the next. 

Enjoy!  And, let me know what your theme is for 2011.

What would happen if you married your passions?

I’ve just returned from a fabulous time in New York City and Columbus, Ohio.

I’ve been on the road for the past two weeks to attend Women on Fire tea parties. And, while in Columbus, I talked about 5 Powerful Ways to Kick Off  2011 on NPR’s All Sides With Ann Fisher (you can listen to the interview here.)   I also co-led with my best friend Jan Allen a transition session for members of outgoing Ohio Governor Ted Strictland’s senior staff.

All that meeting and talking about how to express your life’s potential reminded me of how powerful and inspiring it is when we combine — or marry — our passions, interests and skills.

Today I’m going to introduce you to a woman I’ve personally wanted to meet for a long time who has done just that.  She combined her various interests in a surprising way and founded one of the country’s leading ice cream companies!

But first…


My new “do” courtesy of celebrity hair stylist Jacob Neal

I’ve been so busy traveling that I hadn’t scheduled time for a haircut. So, I was running around like a shaggy dog when I remembered my former stylist in New York City Jacob Neal now operates a gorgeous salon in Columbus.

It was fabulous to reconnect with him and in no time at all he whipped up my great new short haircut.  I felt ready to take on the world!

Then, the coolest thing happened.  I went to see Women on Fire book co-author Patricia Wynn Brown perform at TedxWomen in Columbus.  (Tedx, by the way, was brought to Columbus by two terrific, inspiring women you should know, if you don’t — Ruth Milligan and Nancy Kramer.)

While attending, I met up with a woman I’ve been dying to meet who has inspired me for years: Jeni Britton Bauer, founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams!


How fun to finally meet rock star ice cream entrepreneur Jeni Britton Bauer at TedxWomen in Columbus!

As much as I would go to the end of the earth to eat her ice creams — with unusual combinations of flavors you might not associate with ice cream such as Salty Caramel, Wildberry Lavender, Thai Chili, Cocoa Zin, Riesling Pear, Goat Cheese with Roasted Cherries — it is her story that intrigues me.

She grew up enthralled with the tastes and smells of the herbs and flowers in her grandmother’s extensive gardens.  At college she majored in art and worked in a French patisserie.  And, at age 22 she married her passions for flavors, textures, smells and the creativity of art and food and applied it to ice cream!

“At our company, all roads lead to ice cream,” she told women in Columbus.  “The memory associated with flavor is very strong. Flavor takes you to a feeling and a memory.”  Her ice cream, created from local ingredients, and more flavorful than sweet became Jeni’s vehicle to deliver pleasure!


Woman on Fire Jan Orosz first told me about Jeni’s Elderberry and Ohio Sweet Cream ice cream. Jeni brought it and two other ice creams as a treat for TedxColumbus attendees. YUM!

Jeni went on to describe her life as an entrepreneur, saying that she views herself first as a mother with two small children and then as a customer advocate.  Her office includes not only a desk and chair but a kitchen with a stove and refrigerator where she and a colleague test until perfection each and every flavor of ice cream.

Success is starting to come fast for Jeni with a new book about to hit the market and new cities and markets clamoring for her special ice creams.

Still “every single day we wake up fighting for our lives,”  she said, adding that the joy, however, supercedes the terrifying roller coaster that is often the life of a business owner.

When you think about your own life, what passions have you combined to create something new, exciting or rewarding?

And, if you’re working to figure out your next steps in your life, like Jeni, which of your talents, passions and interests could you combine to create your next great thing?

I’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to share in the comments section below.

Until next week, take extra good care of yourself.

And, if you’re anywhere near Jeni’s Ice Cream, please treat yourself to a scoop of Banana Caramel Cashew or Raspberry Mascarpone or Cayenne Chocolate — and know you’re also celebrating the success of a woman’s courage to pursue her passions!

Much love,

Debbie