The Unexpected Exceeds Expectations

I have been on the road for 3 weeks and am now back in Boston for 10 days before hitting the road again. The tour has been great fun so far! I want to share with you a recent experience from my travels.

On the morning of Friday, January 20th, I drove 9 hours from Virginia to Hilton Head, SC. Getting there was a 4 hour diversion from my original Washington DC to Atlanta travel plans. But my PR firm arranged for a 30 minute television interview with the local independent station there. The opportunity seemed to justify the extra travel. After the long drive, I arrived at the studios at 4:45PM; 15 minutes before the scheduled start. The studios were pitch black. No one was there. Did I have the wrong date? The wrong time? After a few phone calls, I discovered that the studio messed up. Although they could not pull together a camera crew before I had to leave the next day, they said that would try to pull something together after my Atlanta gigs – on my way back to Boston.

Instead of getting upset about the mix up, I chose to accept it as an opportunity for something new to show up.

For dinner that evening, I chose a restaurant where I might be able to meet some locals. I sat at the bar — a nice open space. I started speaking with the woman sitting next to me, Kerrie. We hit it off and went for a drink afterwards. We agreed to get together and paint the town red when (if) I returned for the TV shoot. Now I had a reason to return; I was glad for the mix-up with the TV studio.

Fast forward to Wednesday, the day I drove back to Hilton Head from Atlanta. As I made the 4 hour drive, I got a call from Kerrie. She needed to leave town unexpectedly; she became an aunt a month earlier than anticipated. We would not have a chance to get together.

Again, instead of getting upset, I decided to find other opportunity.

Kerrie & I talked about going to a piano bar that just opened up the month before. I decided to go there on my own. I had an amazing time. Scott, the piano play is incredibly talented. The people in the bar were so much fun. I hung out there until 2AM having the best time. As the bar was closing, Scott asked if I would be interested in golfing the next day. I was, and so we did. It was a spectacular day on an Arnold Palmer designed golf course, which we had to ourselves. Heavenly. That evening I returned to the piano bar to listen to wonderful music and hang out with my new friends.

If I were in Hilton Head solely for the goal of doing the TV show, I might have been disappointed (we did tape the show upon my return). Or, if I gone back with the expectation of getting together with Kerrie, I certainly would have been disappointed – we never did meet up. However, in spite of all of that, it turned out to be the most fun I have had in a long time! New opportunities appear when we are not too attached to our original goals.

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January 24th – the Most Depressing Day?

A British psychologist calculates January 24th to be the most depressing day of the year. One of the reasons has to do with failed resolutions. “The majority of people break their healthy resolutions six to seven days into the new year, and even the hangers-on have fallen off the wagon, torn off the nicotine patches and eaten the fridge empty by the third week. Any residual dregs of holiday cheer and family fun have kicked the bucket by January 24.”

Click here to read the full article

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Business Week featuring Goal-Free Living

BusinessWeek.com has a new quiz entitled, “Ready to Start a Business?” Depending on your score, you might find that Goal-Free Living is the solution.

Take this quiz and see if the time is right for you to start making your vision a reality

So you dream of quitting your job and building a business from scratch. Psychologists, business professionals, and other experts agree that you need resources — from money to emotional support — to make your fantasy a reality. And people with certain personalities tend to fare better than others. For instance, someone who can adapt quickly to the unexpected and remain calm in a crisis might be better suited to running the show than an introvert who tends to stress about challenges. In which category do you fall? To find out if you’re ready for your second act, click here to go to the BusinessWeek.com quiz.

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Funny Email

Here’s an email I received last night…

I just got your book yesterday and started reading it. My 7 year old 1st grader came over and slowly spelled out the title: goal-free-li-ving. He then remarked “I didn’t know there was a book about our soccer team!???” – his poor team hasn’t scored one single goal yet this season.

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Letters to the Editor — O Magazine

The response to the O, The Oprah Magazine article about Goal-Free Living (written by Dawn Raffel, Executive Articles Editor for the magazine) was overwhelming. Several of the letters to the editor were shared with me. All were incredibly inspiring. In this month’s O, they published one of those letters. Enjoy.

My love for O was sparked anew with “Are Your Goals Holding You Back?” by Dawn Raffel. A few years ago, I felt lost and frustrated. My life was the result of the goals I had laid out for myself according to what my parents (lovingly) wanted for me. When I realized that happiness is a choice and that fulfillment comes when we slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy each moment, I had an awakening. I do have certain things I want to accomplish. But the possibilities are endless. The novel of my life has no determined ending – and that knowledge has given me a sense of freedom that’s hard to describe. The checklist mentality can take us only so far, and, as the article mentions, arriving at that one moment can leave something to be desired.

Rachel Climer
Vero Beach, Florida

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