TED Tuesday: Secrets of Success

I promise you that the video below will be one of the quickest and pain-free TED Talks I'll ever put you through. If you're hungry for more, head to the archives.

Success - what does it mean to you?

When thinking about being successful, the formula seems almost impossible. First you have to be in the right place at the right time. You then have to be willing to put in the work, have a passion for what you're doing and be comfortable with the idea of being in the spotlight.

In my career I feel like I've been pretty successful. From pushing boundaries to making ideas a reality, my daily goal is to prove myself to those around me who may not know what I'm capable of doing.

That said, never have I felt more inadequate for the tasks and challenges in front of me than I feel today. What is expected of me on a daily basis is more than I know what to do with. It's clearly a lesson the universe is trying to teach me. In the words of a teammate at work, "If Jessi can make it through this, the sky is the limit for her career."

Success is for the gritty, the passionate, the persistent, the pushers, the dreamers, the outside of the box thinkers. Success is for me.

What I adore about the short TED Talk below is how simple success can be summarized by remarkable TED contributors who aren't strangers to what success looks like at its most fundamental level.

Before I leave you, I want to share my absolute favorite part from the video that happens at the 2:50 mark:

"PERSIST"

Persistence is the #1 reason for our success.

You have to persist through Failure and you have to persist through CRAP!

Criticism

Rejection

Assholes

Pressure

Yep! 4.5 Million Views and it can't be a hard 3 minutes of your life.

[ted id=70]

Weekend Across the Border

Happy Monday here from Toronto!

This weekend didn't feel like much of a weekend at all. Usually I have long runs in the mornings, mid day naps, and evenings with the laptop out half-blogging, day drinking and some DVR catch up with my guy. This one was cut short with a red-eye flight Saturday night.

But Friday night I cheated so hard on Paleo. Dan and I headed to the theater to watch Wolverine (his pick) and couldn't resist the theater popcorn seasoned with jalapeno butter and cheddar topping. It was out of my control, and I have no regrets from my "cheat meal". With the movie came the realization of how incredibly irresponsible we are as parents. We got home at 9:30pm to an energy-filled Holly who wanted nothing to do with the must-sleep-now plan that we had in mind. Dan slept like a baby, but she kept me up for hours before I was able to finally get some zzz's

Then remember how I said that Saturdays are for sleeping? Well Saturday I didn't get out of bed until 5pm. Sure I 'got out of bed' for food and coffee, but I was mostly horizontal with my iPad, iPhone or laptop catching up on reading blogs and making changes to my own blog.

That's right, do you see the FANCY new social media buttons to the right of your screen?

Thanks to Sarah's amazing tutorial that also works for Wordpress I was able to work my own design, map the image to three separate links and make it fit nicely over there underneath my photo. No more awkward Facebook (like anyone ever clicked that) twitter and Instagram with Bloglovin' separately. I'm seriously thankful for Sarah's Saturday Sessions.

Saturday when Holly and I woke from our slumber when we heard Dan get home was followed by a late round of laundry, a 5 mile run, and some quick packing for my 12:55am flight to a 6 day business visit to Toronto.

I feel like Red Eye flights are for the most productive people you'll meet. Nothing like an air bed & breakfast before arriving to your destination city with upright seated-sleep. Red eye flights are also an excellent excuse to get something that will settle you down and help you to rest a little easier.

Beer & sweatpants, that's my kind of Saturday night.

Flight #2 from Minneapolis/St. Paul was less than fun - I was all the way in the back of a tiny plane (only 13 rows) and had this stink hole next to me. Blugh. I also had a stink hole to my left but that's a different story for a different day.

Since my mission was to enjoy the city on Sunday you'll be seeing some photos later this week that summarize my adventures. I'm hoping this trip allows me to relax a little more than the last one and to actually get some rest. It doesn't look that way from the emails that came through this weekend but a girl can dream, right?

Wishing all the luck and confidence in the world today to my amazing teammates back home today who are presenting my super crazy normal job responsibility on top of their other work. They're going to rock it.

Thrilled at the thought already of being back home - counting down the days!

Backing it Up to Toronto

How fantastic does it feel that Friday is here?

Sometimes Fridays make me feel like dancing, and I mean really dancing.

This week was hard. That kind of hard where you don't know how you got here, how you can take back your life and thoughts like 'how will I ever have a family with this type of workload?'. That can be emotionally distressing for anyone right?  I am thankful to have a guy in my life who doesn't care about mascara and eyeliner smeared on his polo shirts at the end of a long day.

After yesterday's goal setting I really want to start the month off right with some thank you's that are necessary.

Are you ready for a list? 

|| Thanks Mom and Dad for inviting us over last night for amazing Paleo Meatloaf (look for a recipe here soon!)

|| Thanks Dan for letting me vent and understanding what I'm going through.

|| Thanks teammates at work who are undeniably the greatest teammates a girl could have. I know you'll never read this but you keep me going.

|| Thanks Portland for the gloomy and rainy day yesterday, I am a lover of Fall and can't wait for sweater weather.

|| Thanks alarm for getting me an extra hour of sleep yesterday.

|| Thanks kind hearted people who always lend a hand when they see someone who is upset and in need.

|| Thanks to my wonderful friends who haven't given up on me - you know who you are!

|| Thanks to Canada, for having a holiday on Monday and a technical "free day" in the city. Bless your maple leaves.

|| Thanks to Saturday, because you my friend are for sleeping!

And maybe Saturday is also for flying, take it away Sinatra!

Fly Me to The Moon