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Episode 444 – Why the Quest for You?

• Welcome everyone
• Thank you so much for joining me on this podcast and on this journey that I call Quest For you
• We have taken on many journeys in life that have nothing to do with ourselves
• We follow the direction of others
• We do what is recommended, profitable, admirable
• But we rarely look within to see what it is we actually want to do
• And by missing ourselves like this, we also miss our greatest potential
• Because we never actually explore it
• We are to caught up being entertained, following 30 day plans, signing up for things that promise the world and generally spending most of our time in a state of distraction
  • Where everything calls for our attention expect us
  • We don’t call on ourselves and don’t pay attention to us
• This is what I want to do with Quest For You
• I want to bring that attention back to us so we can see what is possible when we turn inward first, and then face the world around us
  • Not the other way around
• Because the direction for our life has to come from within, from us
  • Our desires, our passions, our interests, our curiosity
  • It comes from within
• And then, by facing the world we live in, it finds a way to express itself
  • We notice unique opportunities
  • We play with changing circusmtances
  • And we seek out challenges to experiment and discover what we are capapble of
• This my friends – is the quest for you that I want to take you on, together with me
• I am on the same quest
• This quest has resulted in this podcast,
• It helped me discover mountain climbing
• It brought so many new and wonderful people into my life
• The quest to turn to me – to Janine
• Has changed my life
• And still is changing my life
• Earlier I was sitting over my Moleskine agenda and planned out June – since here are already in June
  • I have shared how I plan with you before and about my awesome Moleskine agenda that I discovered this year
  • Episode
• And as I wrote down my major areas of focus for June I realized –
  • While a lot is still in progress, I am working on some major stuff
  • Never before, in my 40 something years have I been so deliberate about the things I am working on
• This is my journey – my quest for me
• Imagine what yours can be?
• It starts with awareness
• Everything starts with awareness
• For me it started when I finally listened to my own questions
• Questions like –
  • Is this is?
  • Is this all there is to live – wake up, go to work, to gym, home, sleep, eat in between and have a couple of trips and a few special events that are highlights during the year?
  • Why am I not happy?
  • I have a lot of what I thought I wanted
  • What I thought would make me happy
  • What else do I need?
• These questions were always there, sometimes louder than other times
• But I never had an answer
• And when I finally listened – answers appeared
• Some of these answers were there before too
• But I never saw them because I was distracted
  • Instead of going to the food bank where my friend invited me to to help out over thanksgiving, I was shopping – looking at purses to see which one I should buy next that would get me the most compliments
  • Instead of exploring something new, with a chance to meet new people, add value to others lifes and doing something that has meaning, I chose distraction
• And I did this many times in my life
• Sure – there were times I listened to myself as well
• It wasn’t all bleak
• But the older I became, the more stable my life was, the less I ventured out
• Which brings me back to the quote I shared on an episode last week and that I want to bring back because its so important for our quest
• Read it
• Repeat: The less you venture out – the greater your risk of failure.
• If this doesn’t sound right to you, let me prove it to you with numbers:
  • Say you want to quit a bad habit like smoking or drinking alcohol or consuming to much sugar
  • Its January 1^st and you decide – I am quitting today
  • But you don’t make it through the day and fail
  • Youre discouraged now and give up on your goal
  • Maybe next year, you tell yourself
  • You failed one time
  • But lets imagine you are determined and you try again on February 1^st, and while you fail again, you try again on March 1^st
  • All year long, you keep trying to quit
  • 12 times – once per month
  • You failed 12 times
• I know – you’re thinking – 12 versus 1 time – clearly, Janine must not be good at math
• But here is what you’re not seeing
• Failing 12 times doesn’t sounds attractive but let me ask you
• January 1^st the following year rolls around
• Same goal
• Who do you think is better prepared this time?
• The you that failed once and did nothing all year?
• Or you who failed 12 times, picked herself up each time, made mental notes of what works and doesn’t, and learned something each time?
• Failure makes us stronger because we a redeveloping a muscle
  • The muscle of being ok with some discomfort
  • The muscle of trying again, no matter how hard it is
  • The muscle of building up resiliency
  • The muscle of learning, correcting, revising
  • The muscle of repetition and training
• Just like a math test you take over and over again
• There will be a point when you know how to answer the questions
• This my friends is the power of 12 over 1
  • Of a bigger number over a small one
• This also applies to anything new we want to try
• Apply to 1 college or 12 –
  • Get only one rejection? good
  • Get 11 rejections but one acceptance ? Much better
• The more we put ourselves out there
  • Taking a chance
  • Trying something new
  • Exploring an idea
• The higher the chance of success
• The enemy of success are comfort zones
• We try something new
• We take a big bold step and it works out
• Great
• But then we get into a routine
• My podcast is a perfect example
• I have now finally challenged myself to take it up a notch and do more with it
• But for years this big bold step of mine became just another comfort zone
• I know you all are not sitting at home watching Netflix all day and eating ben and jerrys
• Otherwise you wouldn’t listen to this podcast
• But have your former challenges become new ruts that keep you stuck?
  • Your gym routine
  • Your weekend plans
  • Your circle of friends
  • Your well-planned out trips and vacations?
• Then I challenge you to ask yourself:
• Whats next?
• Not for the simple purpose to be uncomfortable
• But to discover more of yourself
• To see what else you are capable of doing
• How much more you can contribute with your unique set of skills and strengths to this world that needs them so much
• I have found that there is so much more within me than I could have ever imagined
  • But when I spend Saturdays at the mall, in front of the television, or at Starbucks chit-chatting useless stuff with people that didn’t care about me – or course I couldn’t discover my potential
  • I was distracted
• Even when I spent them writing and recording my episodes,
  • Yes I was doing something of value
  • But when I did merely to check them off my to-do list
  • That’s when I knew – I am in a comfort zone
  • The challenge is gone and I am missing out on more

• When we don’t try, we don’t fail
• But then we also never get to see what could be possible
• The process is described simply:
  • Look within yourself to see what draws your attention
  • Then go out and play with it
    • Experiment, discover, learn, and grow
  • Its not magic
  • Your sense of purpose will most likely not strike out of the blue one day
  • You may not have a glue what it is you are here for
  • I didn’t either
  • But the slightest step into the direction for your question will open up a tiny door
  • You explore and walk through that door into a bigger room with more doors
  • And slowly you will find your way
  • Your quest for you
  • But don’t be afraid to fail
  • Because the quest for you is based on you trying
  • If you don’t try to explore, to challenge yourself, to risk something big once in a while, then you will stay in the same old boring room and miss out on everything beyond your 4 walls
  • Don’t get stuck because of past or recent failure
    • Dust yourself off and try again
  • Don’t get stuck because your life is comfortable and you think you have everything you need
    • Try something else, or new, or different and let yourself be surprised like I was when I discovered climbing
  • Don’t get stuck because you don’t know what to do next
    • Answers rarely come when you are in the same old routine
    • They come when you venture out

So venture out my friends

Be brave

And be ready to discover your potential

Much love