Each month our Brilliance-Based Blog Panel shares their perspectives on questions I pose to benefit Brilliance-Based Businesswomen.  I invite you to add to the dialogue by commenting below.  Today’s question:

As Brilliance-Based Businesswomen, how do you find time for emotional, mental, and physical stillness? 

Stefanie Frank - Initiative Based Writing™

Stillness comes easily to me – it finds its way naturally into my schedule. In the 3+ years since deciding to become an entrepreneur I’ve recognized that building my Brilliance-Based Business requires stillness. When I don’t have it, things get hard and I get cranky!

Here’s how I do it:

• There is always “white space” in my calendar that I use to recharge in a number of ways throughout the day:
• A nap
• Time out to watch comedy reruns and laugh (Scrubs and Three’s Company are my current choices)
• My spiritual practice

I was raised to be in stillness whether I wanted to or not. During the summers my mother would enforce a “quiet time” rule where my brothers and I had to go off to our separate spaces and do something “quiet” for an hour. No TV, no talking in loud voices.

While I hated it at the time I now see it as a huge blessing and critical component of my own self-care. My mother’s influence and compassionate discipline ensured that I can thrive in a six figure business and embrace the stillness.

I’ve come to really understand the value in taking time to be still; to rest, relax and rejuvenate.  Being still gives me the space for the inspired ideas (from the Universe!) to be heard and then moved into manifestation.

Being still is also the time where I consciously align and activate my energies so that more of what I want comes into being.

This is where my divine creativity gets fed.

I check in with my clients…think you don’t have time to be still? Think again. Your success depends upon it.

Jennifer Zwiebel - A Place of Joy™

It’s an excellent question, and I have to say it’s been a challenge for me. I know what a difference it makes, and that it’s probably essential to being grounded and clear and to creating what you want for yourself, and yet I still let a million things get in the way of practicing stillness.

Two things that help me are (1) taking it out of my hands, and (2) redefining stillness.

Taking it out of my hands means taking myself out of my home, away from the distractions of my computer, phone, dirty dishes, and anything else that beckons when I try to quiet my mind and give myself some space. It means going to a meditation class or getting a massage. It’s about acknowledging that this is a challenge for me right now, and then giving myself permission to depend on something outside of myself to help make it happen.

Redefining stillness comes from understanding that what I seek from stillness is to be present, and I am most present when I’m with my kids. I often still have to work to bring my mind back to the moment, but there are long stretches of lolling around on the bed with the kids climbing on top of me, or of staring into my baby’s eyes, during which I am more alive, more aware, and more amazed than I’ve ever been. And in those moments that dissolve like cotton candy, it is my heart that stands still, and I find what I’m seeking.

Are you finding time for stillness in your life?  To be a successful Brilliance-Based Businesswoman, you absolutey need it.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed and would like a step-by-step process for getting your joy and energy back, email us to arrange a brief one-on-one chat, my gift to you.   

Stefanie Frank is an entrepreneur, triathlete, and lawyer who lives, works and trains in southern Nevada. She writes website copy and content for lawyers, business coaches, and service professionals who own small businesses.

Stef creates continuity between what her clients want to achieve profit-wise and what readers of the content want and need to receive in order to buy.

She also helps clients put together and use solid professional service agreements that help build lasting client relationships.

Stef is currently training for Ironman Boise 70.3 and the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Henderson, Nevada. Learn about Stef’s business: http://initiativebasedwriting.com/ and follow her training: http://ramblingbydesign.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Zwiebel is the founder of A Place of Joy™: Inspired Organizing, Systems and Solutions for Business, Home & Life. Jennifer specializes in helping creative individuals move from overwhelm to clarity, clear out their inner and outer space, and design solutions that bring ease, joy and prosperity to their businesses and lives!

Discover the secret that’s been transforming lives everywhere, one miracle at a time: www.aplaceofjoy.com/10minutemiracle

Heather Dominick, EnergyRICH(r) Entrepreneur Success and Master Coach, is the creator of the EnergyRICH(r) Entrepreneur Success System and EnergyRICHcoach.com, a company devoted to teaching healers, coaches and heart-centered entrepreneurs around the world how to partner Universal Energetic Principles with practical step-by-step “How-To’s” to joyfully make more money in your business so you can better serve the world.

Through her EnergyRICH(r) Entrepreneur Success System, Private Mentor Coaching Programs, and products, Heather shows her students how to transcend lower-level energies like fear and doubt to be able to build their business from a place of serving, joy and abundance. Get started right away with your free EnergyRICH® Success CD: http://www.energyrichcoach.com

Bryn Johnson spent 20 years in Corporate America as a passionate leader of high-performing teams and endless multi-million dollar projects.  ONE of her many secrets for success?  Her ability to take complicated, often impossibly overwhelming information, and to quickly make it simple and fun. She is now bringing that same passion for planning and collaboration, along with her laser-focused implementation strategies, to her clients and broader online community.  Visit Bryn at http://www.brynjohnson.com.

One of my joys of entrepreneurship is occasionally letting my kids skip their after-school program to have playmates over after school. Monday afternoon was such a day for my daughter K and her friend D.  The two girls schemed for this event for a week.  They planned to wear matching outfits, bake cookies, and go door-to-door in our neighborhood selling them.  When K initially informed me of the agenda, I admit I was completely resistant. 

I was surprised at my resistance.  Shouldn’t I have been excited that the Joy of Entrepreneurship could be catching on in my next generation?  Then I remembered my secret truth: selling scares me.  Oh, yeah – that. 

Determined not to let my fears get in the way of my kids’ growth (just as I do everything I can to push gently through my fears for the sake of my business’ growth), I chose to wholeheartedly endorse her idea.  Here’s what I learned about selling from K and D’s foray into the one-day cookie business:

1. Believe in your product.  The kids sampled both flavors (sugar and chocolate chip!), so they knew first-hand how delicious they were and could speak to  prospective customers about it.  Note for Brilliance-Based Businesswomen: recognize and be able to articulate your Brilliance and its value.
    
2. Knock first on the doors of the people who like you best.   K didn’t methodically go up and down the street knocking on every single door.  She started with the neighbors who know her.  With each big sale, she and D felt more confident going to the next house.  Note for Brilliance-Based Businesswomen: networking is great, but start by selling your services within your existing community. 
    
3. Buddy up.  K can be shy at first, but D felt comfortable stepping right up to ask for each neighbor’s business. K handled the money.  Eventually they felt ready to trade roles.  Note for Brilliance-Based Businesswomen: if you can’t bring a friend or team member when you talk to your prospects, work with a mentor to learn the ropes until you feel comfortable. going at it alone.

I’m proud of myself for supporting my daughter to experience something that scared me a bit.  Do I see the irony in having this fear of selling, when I teach entrepreneurship skills to women?  Absolutely!  But we all teach what we’re here to learn.  It’s part of our Brilliance.

I first met Cristin Lind at a class she taught almost 10 years ago. From the moment I heard her speak, I knew she was a Brilliance-Based Businesswoman.  I hired her to help me establish viable organizational systems (with methods I still use and recommend today), and from there we became friends. A few years ago she successfully sold her business, choosing to focus on her family and finding her calling.  I’m honored she agreed to be featured in the first edition of my Reflections of a Brilliance-Based Careerwoman series.

Briefly, what are the highlights of your career story?

The past twenty years of my professional life have been a circuitous path. I’ve been a business consultant and a professional weaver. I’ve worked in a cheese shop in a European capital. I’ve been a project manager at a translation company and I’ve sold art and antiques on the nation’s largest public television auction. I was the office manager at a textile conservation center that conserved Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress and I conducted phone surveys of college students. I was fortunate to find interesting work but nothing that could be considered a calling.

Just as a theme of arts and non-profit management emerged in my career, I gave birth to a son with complex medical, behavioral and cognitive issues in 2002. Work was pushed to the back burner while I focused full-time on coordinating the healthcare, education, and public health programs that he needs to live a full and joyful life.

One of the skills that allowed me to manage these complex systems was time management and personal organization. My desire to share what I had learned led me to found a corporate training and consulting business in 2005 that focused on helping others become more focused, productive and organized. Several years later, my son’s challenges required my full attention again and in 2010 I sold the business to focus on his needs full-time, but I still possess a love of personal development.

What do you do now?  How is this role a reflection of Your Brilliance?

After years of managing a complex healthcare and education system to advocate for our family, I now use my experience to transform healthcare and create authentic community for all people. I serve in a variety of leadership roles that focus on partnerships between parents and healthcare professionals to ensure that parents’ and families’ perspectives are part of the design and implementation of the healthcare transformation process.

What’s different for me now is that my personal and professional lives are so intertwined, and I like the synergy of that. My personal life is the testing ground for concepts I share with others professionally, and I’m constantly learning new professional skills that help me dream bigger for my son, my family and myself. It’s energizing and rewarding.

How do you define “success” for yourself?

Success for me means being aware of my strengths, playing to them, and sharing them to benefit the world. One of the best things about being a parent of a child with special needs (and one who is typically developing) is that I’ve completely redefined what it means to be “gifted.” We all have gifts. Success means figuring out how to create the opportunity to use those gifts for the benefit of everyone.

What changes have you made or experienced in your life and work that have enabled you to experience more ease?

After my son was born, I spent a long time railing against what I perceived to be the injustice of his challenges. With practice, I was able to see what a blessing and opportunity I had been given—life presented me with a challenge so big I needed to rethink everything. Over time, I’ve shifted from a perspective that asks “Why me?” to one that asks, “How did I get so lucky?” Perspective is everything.

Shortly after the birth of my son I discovered the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, right in my neighborhood. I had walked by it hundreds of times but never noticed it—then one day, there it was. I started practicing vipassana meditation, a tradition that emphasizes mindfulness and insight.

What would you love your next breakthrough to be?

To have fewer breakthroughs and just give things a chance to integrate for a while.

What brings you joy?

Besides being with my family? Creating things—drawing, gardening, decorating a room. Spending time in nature, especially having a picnic. Simple things—anything lavender scented, having a puzzle out on my dining room table, grabbing a beer on the deck with my husband at the end of the day.

In my free time, I enjoy yoga, writing, leading my daughter’s Girl Scout troop, traveling to Sweden to visit my husband’s family each summer and reading fiction, usually about fascinating women who live in exotic places.

Most everything brings me joy, so long as I am truly present for it.

What support do you have on the journey of your Brilliance-Based career?

It definitely takes a village for all families, but our family requires a bigger village than most. I have a wonderful husband who trusts my choices even when he doesn’t understand them. My mother is a great help. My son’s healthcare team, especially his PCA (personal care attendant), is top notch. I have neighbors and friends who help us out when we’re in a pinch—which is more often than I want to admit.

I have a few close friends and mentors who see things in me before I see them in myself. They hold that space open for me until I’m ready to step into it. I’m really grateful for that.

And in a spirit of full disclosure—the village isn’t complete without a great therapist, a fabulous house cleaner and a wonderful Indian takeout around the corner.

As a successful Brilliance-Based Careerwoman, what’s your best advice for other aspiring and active Brilliance-Based Careerwomen?

Know that your gift is valuable and is needed. Take responsibility for how you spend your time. Look for the activities that leave you more energized—and do those things more often. Trust that there’s enough in the world for everyone, including you.

What’s the best way for others to learn more about what you do?

Please feel free to stop by my blog: www.durgastoolbox.com.