I’m sure that you, like me, struggle each day to juggle your important conflicting priorities. From dedicating precious time to family and friends, to doing your work well, to focusing on your health and well-being, to using your creativity, to helping others, to getting enough sleep – there are an unlimited number of important areas in our lives that we attend to daily. But amidst all of this, are you dedicating time for the things that matter MOST – that make you feel alive, inspired and ready to be more?
In my coaching work with women, we speak daily about the importance of identifying your highest priorities, and honoring them. But in reality – DOING this is far more challenging than talking about doing it. But when we do – when we say YES! to making the time to pursue what matters most to us – it dramatically changes the shape and direction of our lives for the better.
I had an experience of this yesterday – a deeply humbling, inspiring and moving day that made me realize suddenly that I want to do and be so much more.
I was invited to attend the U.N. Women for Peace annual awards luncheon, and then join a hundred others in a march in NYC to support ending violence against women. As a person in the media, I’m grateful to receive many invitations to exciting events, and I have to turn many down each month. But when I learned of this event, in honor of International Women’s Day, something inside me knew I had to make the trip to New York City, and participate. I had a feeling it would be a game-changer for me, and it was.
I listened with awe and humility as I learned more about the UN Women for Peace (UNWFP). Founded in 2008, under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, UNWFP promotes and advances the goals of UN agencies whose missions are to provide opportunities for women through social, cultural, educational and empowerment programs while partaking in a global peace building process. UNWFP focuses on supporting and funding UN humanitarian programs for women in developing countries and countries in conflict, and by providing scholarships to benefit underprivileged women to study at the University for Peace in Costa Rica.
UN Women for Peace also supports the UN Trust Fund To End Violence Against Women. The Trust Fund, established by the UN General Assembly in 1996, assists efforts to prevent violence against women and girls, provides services to those affected by violence and strengthens the implementation of laws and policies on violence against women and girls. The Trust Fund is particularly concerned with ending violence against women in developing countries and countries in conflict. The Trust Fund invests, through its partners, in long term solutions for a world free of violence. UN Women for Peace’s contributions to the Trust Fund directly fund these efforts.
During the awards luncheon, we heard from Trudie Styler – winner of the 2014 UN Women for Peace Humanitarian Award – speak of her important work for the environment and human rights, through her role as UNICEF Ambassador, her fundraising efforts and documentary film work, and through her and her husband Sting’s Rainforest Fund, an organization devoted to protecting rainforests and their indigenous peoples. We heard too from Dina Powell, representing Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative, the 2014 UNWFP Achievement Award winner. 10,000 Women is a five-year, $100 million global initiative to help grow local economies and bring about greater shared prosperity by providing 10,000 underserved women entrepreneurs with a business and management education, access to mentors and networks and links to capital.
I share this experience with you because it was deeply inspiring to me, and it spurred me to want to figure out “how can I help in a deeper way?” In that three-hour experience, I met scores of women who are 100 steps ahead of me in how they are using their talents, gifts and passions to make an enormous difference in the world. They aren’t wasting time – they’ve figured out exactly what matters most to them, and they’re putting their time, money, energy, passion and commitment into to it, full-throttle. No excuses, no doubts, no confusion, no waffling – they are clear, focused, and passionate about their causes. As Trudie Styler has so aptly shared, “If I’m connected to an idea, it just doesn’t let me go.”
I left with new resolve to find new ways to help women globally – not just those in the U.S. and abroad who want better careers and lives, but those who don’t have the advantages we have, who desperately need a supporting hand and beacon of light to help them build new lives for their children, their families and their communities. I’m ready to do more.
Are you?
Do you know what matters most to you, and are you carving out time in your life to pour yourself into those issues and endeavors that make you feel most alive? My dear friend Charles Decker wrote on my Facebook page – “People find time for things that matter to them.” I love this idea, but sadly, in reality, I see every day that it’s not the case. So often, we stay stuck in our small worlds and our small spheres of influence, thinking we can’t do more.
In honor of International Women’s Day, I hope you’ll take today to stop your normal routine, step out of your box, and stretch yourself into new endeavors and causes that help remind you of why are on this planet, today.
Are you ready to carve out time and energy for what you care about deeply?
(For more about UN Women for Peace, visit www.unwomenforpeace.org)
(To learn more about building a career that makes you feel alive and of great use in the world, visit The Amazing Career Project, Ellia Communications and Breakdown, Breakthrough.)
Dear Kathy, Thank you for your enthusiasm and desire to make a difference. As you mentioned, it is all too easy for people to get stuck in what they believe is possible, not aware of the impossible that is waiting for them to reach for. In this vein, I have an idea to share with you that won’t let me go. I want to make you aware of my moon-shot.
When President Kennedy announced in 1962 that we were going to the moon, most respectable people in this country thought he was plain nuts. Certain that it was at best a waste of billions, it really is a wonder that we made it. And yet that foolish venture is what initiated the process that allows me to write to you on this computer through the internet, both of which were birthed out of that vision.
At the foundation of all the problems you mention in this blog is one major issue–literacy. If we don’t solve literacy, we will not solve these other problems either. Without literacy we may invest in programs which will tip the balance a little the other way for a while. The permanent solution is bringing our nation and then the rest of the world to true literacy. The main obstruction to achieving this goal is an almost universal belief that it is impossible. If you listen to literacy experts, they speak in terms of twenty and fifty year plans. If you are interested, I would like to share with you my one year plan.
Less than one year is how long it takes for one adult to mentor one child to a high reading ability that turns into a love of reading for a lifetime. I figured out that all we need is for one out of ten adults in this country to step up and mentor one child the Point to Reading way for 30 minutes, 3-4 times a week. That is enough adults for every child in every elementary school in the whole country. Once this message gets out, that means we can transform literacy and education within one year.
If this catches your attention, I hope you will contact me. I am looking for the one out of ten and I hope you will help me find them. Thank you for listening. Henry
Thanks so much, Henry, for sharing your “moon-shot” vision. Helping transform literacy and education is an exciting and inspiring goal, and I love that it’s an idea that won’t let you go. Fabulous! I’d be happy to spread the word about your programs and approach – please feel free to connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and FB and I’ll be happy to share the word. Thanks!
What an inspiring article Kathy! Loved it. Thank you for sharing your experience and wise words.
Thanks so much, Kirsi. I’m glad it resonated.
Kathy,
Like Kirsi, I too am inspired your article. Please continue to share your journey and your thoughts along the way.
Thanks for your comment, Beth. Happy to know that my journey may be of help to others.
Hi Kathy, This is what it is all about-inspiring women to share their gifts and passions with others. Thank you for being the force behind women encouraging us to action.
Cindy – I appreciate that. I spent so many years hiding my talents and passions away in a corporate career that was so ill-fitting, that if I can encourage one woman a day to let her light shine, I’m a happy woman. Thanks!