Can't believe I'm on camera doing THAT

Ohh I do NOT love having my picture taken!

I spent years as a travel blogger, and from alllll that time there are probably only a handful of photos of me. 

I'm usually the one BEHIND the lens! 

(Big mistake, I now realize in retrospect. If someone's going to be interested enough to check back and follow your adventures, they want to know who's actually having them!)

Even now that I've done more video work, webinars and (eek!) Facebook Lives, and spent time coaching myself through the discomforts of being visible and putting myself out there, it still feels ... weird ... to plaster my face all over my website. 

But that's exactly what I was up to all afternoon yesterday as we prepare to update The Uncommon Way...

Not just getting photographed, but getting pictures IN MY HOUSE! With my dog, and my baby ... and all my STUFF.

At times I felt my mind wandering down a dark path (People will judge me!), so I took a deep breath and a sip maybe three of wine, and focused my thoughts on the amazing opportunity it is to open up, show the real me (spoiler: travel obsessed), and thereby find common ground with people I've never even met in states and countries far away.

And you know what? Thinking of it that way actually made it ... kinda fun. Who knew?! 

Meanwhile, my husband documented the whole thing on his phone ...

...making sure to capture all the living room furniture moved around...

...and me juggling a baby that refuses to be put down and a puppy that still gets jealous...

...until those times when the baby really wants nothing to do with me because there are LEMONS within arm's reach!

...and I really can't believe he snapped an image of me doing this ... but it was too funny not to share with you all.

So yes that's me, smearing mayonnaise on my orchid plant. Because there's absolutely nothing better for making those leaves look super green and glossy. (Credit for this secret goes to my German landlord.)

And there you have it. The kind of things that will never make the final cut for the new website...

Here's to turning the lens on yourself,

Jenna

Getting in your own way? Maybe it’s because…

We all have hopes and dreams, but only a few of us ever take the necessary steps to turn them into reality. Why?

My favorite answer comes from the crystal merchant in Paolo Coelho’s must-read fable, The Alchemist.

The main character, Santiago, a Spanish shepherd in search of a treasure, meets the crystal merchant in Morocco when he’s down and out. The merchant gives him food, a job, and a place to stay, and as they get to know each other better, he reveals his own dream: to travel to Mecca.

(He doesn’t have the time or money to travel to Mecca right now, but someday….)

Soon, an interesting thing happens.

As Santiago works in the merchant’s store, sales start to take off. Before long, the merchant has all the money he needs for his Mecca trip, and could safely leave store operations in the hands of Santiago.

But he doesn’t go.

When Santiago finally asks why, the merchant answers:

"Because it's the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive. That's what helps me face these days that are all the same, these mute crystals on the shelves, and lunch and dinner at that same horrible café. I'm afraid that if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living." 

In other words, it never really had anything to do with money. And it wasn’t about time.

By keeping his dreams as dreams, he could hold on to the status quo rather than risking the unknown.

The trade-off? He lives an unsatisfactory life that never measures up to his dreams.

Using the lottery ticket example from last week, the crystal merchant’s story is like buying a lottery ticket in the hopes that it will enable you to live an entirely different life, and actually winning(!!!) … but then doing nothing.

So now a question for you: If you’re not currently pursuing your dreams, what do you think is the deeper reason?

(I’d love to hear the answer, and would be so honored if you’d share it with me in the comments below or in our group, The Uncommon Way Community.  No matter how big it seems, voicing it in the open will start undercutting its power.)

The bottom line is this: Defining what you want is the critical first step, but it isn’t enough.

To actually get what you want, you’ve got to decide that you’re really going to go after it. (And that’s what most people never fully do.)

Here’s to allowing yourself to ask for something more,

Jenna

The lottery ticket that changed my life

It was one of my first years living in Spain, and I was receiving almost daily reminders of how people there seemed to think differently than anyone I’d ever known.

• When people asked, “What do you do?” they didn’t mean work.

• It was completely normal to see one or two people get up and start dancing, unfazed by the fact that everyone was watching them.

• And everybody – I mean everybody – played the lottery at Christmastime for the fattest prize of the year (literally called el Gordo).

I went along with it, because, hey, when in Rome… even though I knew it was a waste of money, and my semi-illegal status meant I hardly had two pesetas to my name.

(And that dates me. There was no such thing as the euro.)

I clearly remember buying the tickets in a little shop on a cobblestone street, spending the equivalent of $10, which seemed like such a fortune. Then we went for coffee, and I turned to my partner and asked, “Ok, what will you do if you win?”

He frowned and tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

I explained that the real value of lottery tickets was the fun of fantasizing about all the things you’d do differently if you won. Everybody knew that the odds of actually winning were infinitesimal.

He thought for a second, and then shrugged, “I like my life. If I wanted to be doing something else, I’d be doing it.”

I was floored.

For him, a huge windfall meant just this: You’d have more money.

It wasn’t a way out of that job you hate. It wasn’t your ticket to finally travel overseas. It wasn’t the key to unlocking the life of your dreams.

Because the truth is that you don’t need to win lotto to do any of those things.

It might sound like an exaggeration to say my life changed then and there, but the truth is that sometimes it happens like that.

There was a canyon of difference between the way I saw life, filled with “if onlys,” and the way he saw his, filled with “why nots.”

Ever since, I’ve made it my goal to be able to answer the same way he did if anyone ever asked. (I don’t always succeed, but it helps ground my decisions when I get off track.)

That one question has led me to change industries, end relationships, and say no to opportunities that weren’t really in my best interest.

It also opened new doors. I’ve studied things I otherwise wouldn’t have and committed time and resources to projects even though my plate seemed full. I’ve treated myself to indulgences and traveled to far-off places now, rather than later.

It has kept me focused on what I truly wanted in life, at each point in my life.

And it let me see possibilities around every corner.

And now, let’s talk about you 

Which brings me to an insanely important question:

If YOU won the lottery, what would you do with your life?

In other words, what do you really want?

Take it from a wise Spaniard and the people he has inspired, and live life as if winning the Powerball wouldn’t change a thing.

(Sure, you might make some upgrades, but none of the fundamentals would change.)

You don’t need to be born in a Mediterranean country to adopt a carpe diem attitude.

I was raised in a highly pragmatic, follow-the-rules military culture, so I definitely know the internal struggles of making choices that seem crazy to those around you.

But I also know there’s no fulfillment quite like following your own compass.

That's why I’m really excited to share more over the next weeks about making that shift, so that you can see exactly what I’m talking about.

Here’s to those winning lottery tickets (the kind with spiritual rather than financial payouts),

Jenna

P.S. If you’re stuck because you can’t figure out what you actually want, I’d love to help you get out of limbo. Let’s hop on a call and see if it’s a good fit for us to work together. 

P.P.S. I'd love to know what you think about this. Is it possible to have the life you want, regardless of current resources? Tell us in the comments below.