What are the things you do that make your heart sing, make you smile, laugh, and give you energy rather than take it? This is a process of what I call noticing your happy tracks.
Finding your happy tracks and doing more and more of them is the key to your happiness in life. The key!
Don’t tell me – “I can’t. I won’t make money doing that.” Oh, girl, you’re preaching to the choir. I have that voice in my head. It’s so easy to let it (him – mine’s a guy voice) control me – don’t let it control you.
That voice wants you to be safe and secure above all else. It wants your life to be full of control, routine, and predictability. So, it also doesn’t mind if you’re bored, miserable, and lonely – as long as it thinks you’ll be safe and secure.
While this voice is a good lieutenant it makes a lousy CEO. Let it know you’re in charge.
Then, find your happy tracks and listen to them, really. Even if they seem impractical. Even if they seem silly, frivolous, irresponsible. Hey, you’re a grownup. You can add some fun and playfulness.
That voice is convinced that if you give an inch you’re going to be a bag lady on the street. Really?
Now, if you’re like me, finding your happy tracks may be a bit tricky. You think I’d have it all figured out at 54 years old. Well, maybe I’m a slow learner, or maybe what makes me happy is a continual unraveling process.
Early on I ignored my happy tracks completely because I thought I HAD to do things in order to make other people happy. So, my happy tracks were literally outside of me – watching to see if I pleased my dad, my mom, my boss – you get the picture.
That’s how I wound up as an engineer, getting an MBA, working at Arthur Andersen, doing tons of corporate work.
However, ignoring what I felt, trying to please everyone else, lead me to loads of chronic physical issues, an unsatisfying relationship, and work where I felt like a fraud. I was terrified I’d be found out.
Ignoring my happy tracks also led me to a breakdown.
Afterward, I could no longer ignore how I felt. I decided to make how I felt important.
This made finding MY happy tracks sooooo much easier.
I shifted to a lower stress job and worked part-time. I started to find MY happy tracks:
Learning to paint
Dancing
Auditioning for a local play (an extremely happy track)
Becoming a life coach
Writing and publishing our first book
I realized that I love being creative, emotionally expressive, and connecting with others in a very personal way.
Plus, looking back at what I had done I realized it wasn’t all bad. There were things along the way that did make my heart sing. These are clues to my happy tracks:
The sense of team when I rowed both at the UWA and on USA Olympic team
When I was asked to lead a cross-functional team at Boeing
Giving our MBA graduation speech and getting a standing ovation
Coaching executives on change at Arthur Andersen
Partnering with Susan to build thrive!
From this, I realized I loved teamwork, leadership, speaking, coaching, and working with someone I love. I have had an amazing life, really, and I’m still unraveling my happy tracks.
Today, I’m not so thrilled with all the corporate training work we are doing. It’s a lot of work and not much creative expression. I also don’t like working with mostly male executive teams. Don’t get me wrong, men are fine, just not the main people I want to support. Plus, I’m tired of volunteering to do things for free or nearly free.
I’m letting you know right here and right now….
I want to coach and work with more woman – like you. I want to help you find your:
Confidence – MOJO
Your voice and improve your RELATIONSHIPS
Do what you LOVE and create what you WANT
Make loads of MONEY doing it!
Plus, I want to do more SPEAKING, more ACTING, more WRITING, and more DANCING!
So that’s what I’m focused on—creating. We’ll see how it unfolds.
What are Your Happy Tracks?
Want to start right now?
Review your day-to-day what makes you smile and gives you energy. Yes, even if that has nothing to do with making money!
Review your life and see when where you’ve been the happiest. What were you doing? How were you making that happen?
You too can create what you want. Follow your happy tracks and believe!
Hugs,
CrisMarie
P.S. Want support making your happy tracks a reality? I’m happy to coach you to make it happen. Heck, I’m using a coach, why shouldn’t you?
CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke
Coaches, Business Consultants, Speakers and Authors of The Beauty of Conflict
CrisMarie and Susan work leaders and teams, couples in business, and professional women.
They help turnaround dysfunctional teams into high performing, cohesive teams who trust each other, deal with differences directly, and have clarity and alignment on their business strategy so they create great results.
Check out their website: www.thriveinc.com. Connect with CrisMarie and Susan on LinkedIn. Watch their TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It! Find your copy of The Beauty of Conflict: Harnessing Your Team's Competitive Advantage here.