YES, CHEF! 👨‍🍳👨‍🍳

Follow your joy, be the chef!

Isn’t the optimism, passion and unstoppable can-do attitude of a kid incredible?

Kids, for the most part, do and be anything they want to do and be and listen to their instincts and just go do what makes them happy.

Yesterday they wanted to be chefs — and thanks to the insightful foresight of my sister-in-law, and perfectly timed Halloween costume sales BOOM two chefs were born — and they were the absolute happiest, bossing us around, taking orders, making meals, and completely owning the part.

This is what Pure Joy and actually DOING THE THING you want to do is all about. It’s so simple and beautiful, and *ahem* this is the part where we should all be taking note and doing exactly this: find what brings you joy and what you want to do, and then GO DO IT.

Sounds easy enough, but often feels hard because as adults we all get super hung up on the part where we only focus on the “but I don’t know what I want to do”, and the problem with that is: we’re missing the really important piece on JOY, which guides us in the right direction and gives us purpose and meaning.

In today’s #APodcastADay, I listened to @EmilyAbbate interview @AllyMissLove on #HurdlePodcast and amongst the many goodies in there, this is the one theme that rang home for me: “You are not the first person to be lost…read a book on someone who’s doing what you want to do…” and then figure out how to do that thing, and go do it.

Make no mistake: the long game of getting where you truly want to be is not easy, but taking small steps to get to your true north IS.

Here are some tips I gleaned:

1| Read books on someone who’s doing the thing you want to do, and learn how they go there. Get inspired, see the many unique paths to success.

2| Listen to podcasts that align with your interests and joy. There’s something to learn around every corner, and podcasts are a free easy way to plug in and access good conversations and are and excellent source of motivation.

3| Do things for free that “pay you” in a platform or experience gain. Should you take that “job’ for free? Yes, if you gain something beyond money in return — nothing is necessary free if there’s something in it for you and your growth.

4| Dive into the world of “How to do XYZ”. Google it. Read about it. Ask experienced folks the hard questions.

5| Make a list of the talents that you have and what brings you joy, and lean into those things, activities, and opportunities at all costs, and don’t take on anything that isn’t in alignment with those things.

6| Learn or sharpen a skill that aligns with your passions. Take the class or the training. Go to the conference. Go practice the skill you need to hone — be an amateur or a newbie and start practicing wherever you need to, however you can. Social media is a great space to trial a lot of things: on-camera work, writing, networking, teaching, marketing, empowering others etc…

7| Schedule get-to-knows to listen to people’s stories, learn from them, and then ask you can help them. Build and nurture your network.

I truly believe that everything is figure-outable (engineer here!) and you should too.

xx, Danielle #BossUp #Hustle #MotherHustler

#BossUp