Editor's Letter: What "Become the Fire" Means (Plus What's Trending On 30Seconds This Week) Editor's Letter Career
Since last week's announcement about my upcoming book, Become the Fire, I've been asked what the book is about. At the heart of it, the book is a set of mindset shifts that take you from feeling overwhelmed and "burned" by life's chaos to not only overcoming it, but also leveraging it for success.
We all experience chaos, challenges, friction – whatever you want to call it – in our lives. Perhaps the easiest way to say it is, “shit happens,” and it happens to all of us in some way or another. While it shows up in our lives in unique and personal ways – racism, ageism, sexism, abuse, illness, disease, disability, divorce, disconnection, inequality, injustice and more – everyone deals with it.
When you’re an "outsider," though, and when chaos keeps coming at you from every direction, you develop certain skills – such as heightened situational awareness. Not only can you read the room (or the street or the person or the threat or the opportunity) faster and more accurately than other people, you also may see things other people don’t see. This gives you the type of vision that allows you, ultimately, to see what’s around the bend – an incredible strength. If you're an outsider, you are likely already a visionary, though you may need to exercise that muscle a bit before you’re able to fully use it. Become the Fire will help you build that muscle.
I have a code word for that chaos, challenge, friction, shit. I call it fire. So what does this mean – become the fire?
It means not allowing yourself to be in the fire, getting burned, but instead using the fire to ignite your motivation and drive, passion and grit.
It means not waiting for a lucky break, but instead making your own luck by preparing for and creating opportunities.
It means not focusing on what you don’t have or can’t do, but instead leveraging what you do have and what you can do.
It means that your mindset matters; your choices matter; what you focus on matters; what you do with your time matters.
It means that instead of letting the fire burn you, you harness the flames within and use them as opportunities to grow stronger, wiser, braver and more resilient.
Becoming the fire doesn’t mean you won’t have embers in your life. In fact, they will likely always be there. Rather, it’s about seeing the fire as fuel to propel your success, because it can.
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You can learn more about me at ElisaSchmitz.com, and get my inspiration for achieving career and life success at BecomeTheFire.com.
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