Dumbledore: “Back again, Harry? I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised.
I trust by now you realize what it does. Let me give you a clue. The happiest man on earth would look into the mirror and see only himself, exactly as he is.”
Harry Potter: “So, then it shows us... whatever we want?”
Dumbledore: “Yes… and no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts. Now you, who have never known your family, you see them standing beside you. But remember this, Harry. The mirror gives us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. That is why tomorrow, it will be moved to a new home, and I must ask you not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.”
***
Where was Dumbledore and all of his wisdom when I was a budding entrepreneur and messenger, reverberating with the chants of seminar gurus and personal coaches…?
• “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
• “Go bigger next year. Write it all down.”
• “The clearer the vision, the faster it will come to you.”
• “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”
• “What’s your 5-year plan? What’s your exit plan?”
Don’t get me wrong...
A DREAM of changing the world is what got me onto this path.
I saw clearly how my soul’s message alchemized perfectly with my personal experience and the skillset I had developed over a few years of truly painful “career failures.”
And GOING BIG WITH CLEAR INTENTION and WRITING down the vision was definitely part of the magic that propelled my dream forward and expanded my impact (and income) at what felt like lightning speed.
And TAKING BIG RISKS was a huge reason I grew my business as quickly as I did in those early days. It was such a regular occurrence, in fact, that Aaron used to say, “There goes my mom, flying through the air in her underpants again!” (Now that he’s in business with me, he understands just how accurate that statement is—the courage required to strip ourselves of all the beliefs and identities that would keep us from the dream! Whew!)
And PLANNING… well, it always takes plenty of that to pull off the dreams.
But you know what?
There have been so many more moments in which these inspiring chants have done the exact opposite of what they were meant to do. Instead of inspiring and driving me, they:
- paralyzed me
- provoked shame spirals
- pushed me to do things I never would have seen in my own Mirror of Erised
We’re entering the time of year when the thunderous chants and the pressure to dream, vision, write it down, go big, and plan get turned up, especially for those of us who feel called to create and contribute something much bigger than ourselves.
Some of you may be primed and ready for it—thrilled to sit down and map it all out.
And some of you may be feeling like the way you’ve been doing all that just hasn’t been working for you… and is maybe the opposite of what you need to do this year.
Either way, I hope you’ll consider joining me to experiment with an approach that has been serving me and my clients well for the last several years. Yes, that's right. I think I may have found not only our very own “Mirror of Erised” but a way to make sure you don't sacrifice any desperate parts of you on your way to the deepest desire of your heart.
This approach is so magical, I am never going back. And I can’t wait to share the epic ten-year dream that appears to be unfolding for me and this community right before my eyes.