Monday, July 3, 2017

Interview with life coach Lauren Holder

Life coach Lauren Holder is my first featured guest for July. She’s here to chat with me a little bit about her new self-help book Why Not Now: Create the Success and Happiness You Deserve.

Bio:
Lauren is a certified Life Coach, practitioner of Neuro-Linguistics Programming, and a member of the International Coach Federation. Through personal and group coaching, workshops, and public speaking, Lauren has inspired and led thousands of people through life-changing transformations. She has coached CEOs, small business owners, teams, and individuals with impressive results, including increased revenue, better team efficiency, improved work/life balance, and the creation of new businesses.

Welcome, Lauren. Please tell us about your current release.
Why Not Now is my way of spreading the message to live your life now. The world of personal development can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to books and implementing what we read. This book simplifies it. I share how five simple steps literally saved my life at a time when the doctors had their doubts that it could be saved. Following those steps also shifted me from a victim-minded, constantly complaining, never-good-enough, the-world-is-against-me type of person to the positive, inspiring, motivating, happy, and make-it- happen woman I am proud to call myself today. These steps, which I lovingly refer to as The 2x4 Effect, can transform your life too. Wouldn’t it be great to live your life in a way that was more aligned with your values, to make more money, to be happier, and to have more fun? This book is intended to inspire action and help you create positive change in your life.

What inspired you to write this book?
Hearing feedback from people after my first speaking engagement is what initially inspired me to write this book. I was terrified to share who I used to be with a room of complete strangers. I told them about the old me: the victim minded, world is against me person who would do anything to fit in and be accepted. I also shared the pivotal moment where life almost got away from me. Lastly, I shared my journey of personal transformation and how I became the positive and empowered woman I am today. I received a standing ovation and had a line of people going out the door wanting to share how I touched them. So many recommended I write a book. I listened.


Excerpt from Why Not Now: Create the Success and Happiness You Deserve:
Every situation we find ourselves in can be traced back to a choice we’ve made. Some people estimate the average adult makes up to 35,000 decisions every day. That’s a lot of decisionsand consequences.
Decision making involves that wrinkly pink and gray lump in our heads that we call the brain. Although the brain weighs in at just about three pounds, about 2 percent of the average person’s total body weight, it’s some important real estate. I think HGTV would agree that its location and features merit some big-time property value. Unfortunately, our decision-making minds can sabotage our mental health almost effortlessly and become our worst enemy. Yet, we don’t have to just sit by and allow this to happen. We’ve all proba­bly heard the old adage “Mind over matter.” They say we can train our brains to do the impossible. The question we need to ask ourselves now is, are we ready for the impossible? The first step to getting what we want is to decide what that “want” is. It’s time to make the choices that get us to our end goal.
Some decisions are simple and relatively mundane while others are more complex and important. Simple choices are what we choose to eat for breakfast, whether we brush our teeth or not, or what movie we decide to go to at the theater. These choices don’t take a lot of brain power for most of us, although that last one can be a doozy sometimes. Chick flick or a spooky horror movie that will keep us on the edge of our seat? How do we decide?
Then there are the choices that take a bit more thought. Perhaps it’s deciding whether or not we let our sixteen-year-old daughter go out on a date with some young man we do not know or deciding if we should ditch our family and take a vacation with our BFFs this summer that is going to cost us time and money we didn’t originally plan for. These types of choices take some consideration, as they affect our family and/or our financial situation.
There are even bigger decisions. For example, do we take the enticing promotion and move our family across the country, or do we quit our job and start that business we’ve always dreamed about? While these different types of decisions vary as far as how much thought goes into them, each of those 35,000 daily decisions we make directly affects our lives.
Whether we are the one making the decision or not, choices are being made. To create the life we want, we want to be the one making those choices whenever possible. If we aren’t the one in charge, we are living a life by default. I’m not recommending that we become self-absorbed or controlling, or that we disregard what our family wants, just that we deeply consider what we want and choose intentionally. Otherwise, as Forrest Gump famously said about the box of chocolates, “You never know what you’re gonna get.” It pays to be decisive.


What exciting story are you working on next?
With the positive feedback I’m receiving about Why Not Now, I’m working on an opportunity to dive deeper into the message and process shared in the book. It will likely include a workbook and video lessons.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
English and writing were always my least favorite subjects in school. Writing was always difficult for me. I began writing in journals just a few years ago as a way to capture my thoughts. That’s when it became more fun. I still have to remind myself from time to time that I am a writer.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
No, I do not write full-time. I am a success coach and help entrepreneurs and small business owners create businesses and lives they love. For some, the goal is to increase productivity and make more money. For others, the goal is to create a better work and personal life balance. I teach and empower through personal and group coaching, workshops and public speaking. Writing has become a method for me to reach and help more people on their personal growth journeys.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I must write chronologically. I’ve been told when I hit a block, to skip ahead and write a later chapter that inspires me. Nope! That doesn’t work.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I don’t recall aspiring to be anything specific. When the topic came up, my response was simply, “I want to get paid to have fun”.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Everything in your life is the result of a choice. What do you want? Decide that and go for it! There is no guarantee of tomorrow and you deserve to live the best life possible. I love to hear from readers what insights they take away from my writing so please feel free to contact me at lauren@laurenholder.com.

Links:

Bonus: Free companion journal download at www.whynotnowbook.com

Thanks for being here today, Lauren!

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