where the blueboots go

It will be a balmy 70 degrees out in Boston today! It feels like spring.

On my first walk outside this morning, I was already excited for a wonderful Wednesday. The sun is out, the birds seem to have happily returned to nest near one of our windows, and iced coffee and tea are on the agenda along with perhaps a gourmet Kane’s donut to share (along with a bit of work, but just a bit).

If you’ve been here before, you may have noticed the first post focusing on inspiration from the word “Create,” in this series, Insights from #GIRLBOSS. I’ve read #GIRLBOSS, a book written by Sophia Amoroso, self-discovered entrepreneur and creative.

In honor of #internationalwomensday yesterday, I’d like to honor the women who are choosing to make the little things count in a big way, by sharing some inspiration I’m thinking about.

At this stage in my life (and yours, anyone?) I’m approaching my career wide-eyed and as Amoroso says below, with a sense of “tourism and exploration.”  Sometimes we have to tolerate jobs we don’t LOVE as part of #GIRLBOSS training. The result?

I didn’t expect to love any of these jobs, but I learned a lot because I worked hard and grew to love things about them. Admittedly, some were way below anyone’s intelligence level. But no matter what, I approached them with a sense of tourism and exploration. Rather than being tied to how it all worked out, I felt like I was just going to see where things went. When you approach everything as if it’s a big, fun experiment, then it’s not that big of a deal if things don’t work out. If the plan changes, that can be even better. There are secret opportunities hidden inside every failure… (65)

Secret opportunities sound like an adventure for BlueBoots! It is really a lot due to attitude and keeping a worthy goal in sight that allows one to see the opportunities instead of the failures or tasks that aren’t stimulating or joy-giving. What does this attitude entail?

…You can be entrepreneurial without being an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial people are passionate about what they do, comfortable taking risks, and quick at moving on from failures. (187)

If we get a wonderful opportunity, is that due to luck? Or a sustained positive attitude and willingness to grab chances and make something of them, even in the most unlikely circumstances? Identifying with the latter, Amoroso calls this “everyday magic.”

Hundreds of thousands of businesses fail. Mine succeeded. Was that all just because I “got lucky”? I don’t really think so.

What I hate about luck is that it implies being devoid of responsibility. It implies that you can do nothing and then step into success as easily as stepping into a pile of dog poop on the sidewalk. It implies that success is something given to a knighted and often undeserving few. Luck tells us that we don’t control our own fate, and that our path to success or failure is written by someone, or something, entirely outside ourselves. Luck lets us believe that whatever happens, whether good or bad, it’s not to our credit or our fault. That is why I don’t buy luck.

But I do buy magic. (119)

…There’s also the everyday kind of magic that we make for ourselves. And that’s really not magic at all. It’s just recognizing the fact that we control our thoughts and our thoughts control our lives.

You get back what you put out, so you might as well think positively, focus on visualizing what you want instead of getting distracted by what you don’t want, and send the universe your good intentions so that it can send them right back. (120).

I love that – focus on visualizing what you want instead of getting distracted by what you don’t want.

Every time you make a good decision or do something nice or take care of yourself; each time you show up to work and work hard and do your best at everything you can do, you’re planting seeds for a life that you can only hope will grow beyond your wildest dreams. Take care of the little things– even the little things that you hate – and treat them as promises to your own future. (121).

The most important person to make a promise to is yourself, that you will take care of yourself and do everything you can to support the strong person within who deserves attention, care, and success.

Wishing you all an uplifted day when you read this, and cheers to all the wonderful women in your life who inspire you!

Who are some of the positive, entrepreneurial, visionary women you look up to? Comment below!  

Cheers,

BlueBoots