What Drives Me
“I need 250-500 words on what drives me,” I said to Bill. We’ve been together since 1979.
“Want me to write that for you?” he deadpanned.
I laughed and asked, “What would you say?”
“Creativity, making a difference, be a better you. Loving, nurturing – the garden, the dog, me, or others. High standard of ethics. The mot juste,” he struggled to explain this one. “And…you’re too smart for your own good.”
Le mot juste, coined by 19th century French novelist Gustave Flaubert, means “the exact word or phrasing”.
I think Bill struggled with “le mot juste” because he meant to extend the meaning from words into actions. I’m always looking for the next right step. This would include my first social entrepreneurial project of making a meal for my family when I was five, to creating a successful business in yoga and movement in 2006, to this recent initiative and Founders Grant proposal.
Too smart for my own good? There’s something foolhardy in being an entrepreneur.
It takes persistence and courage. Every morning, I get up and do what I can to make my goals and dreams for the Lightenment™ Show come true. No day is the same. I start with my own meditation.
Then, I look for funding and marketing/sales opportunities, create show content, or edit beta videocasts. I meet with partners or new guests for the shows. Friends and family say – keep going.
I manage roadblocks and failures as well take the risks of investing my personal funds and time resources, balancing my livelihood with home life and relationships. The Lightenment™ Show business model is built around sustainability rather than profit. I have the expertise to make that happen with a background of 20 years in marketing management and 20 years with my own successful yoga and movement studio.
Competitors? No problem. The more avenues toward the Lightenment™ goal to further mindfulness practice, the more people realize the benefits and a sustainable wave of individual and societal change ensues.
My videocast series audience is the people of all ages who will be among the five-fold increase in mindfulness practitioners in the next five years. The Lightenment™ Show brings the message that everyone already has the insight and awareness that mindfulness brings. They only need listen for it.
Entrepreneurs produce new products or services that result in significant improvements in productivity, reduction in costs, and improvements in quality of life. The Lightenment™ Show and weekly free guided meditations have potential to influence the individual and collective. The videocast messages can help people improve life fruitfulness and health with a ripple effect to reduce the costs of social injustice, violence, and environmental destruction.
That’s my dream. And so far in my life, dreams come true.