What Smart Women Can Learn From Einstein About Reaching Goals

January 5, 2012 By Joy Chudacoff

My favorite quote by Einstein is “Vision without execution is merely hallucination.” The first time I read this I was surprised at the glaring truth to this simple statement. At the same time, I realized it’s sometimes easier said than done.

Goal setting, New Year’s resolutions, dreams, and big ideas-these are heavy on people’s minds right now as we cross the threshold into 2012. Everyone wants to make up for lost time and start off the year on a course to reach their biggest goals and why not? It’s a leap year which makes it even more exciting to think about soaring to new heights. I’m right there with you. I, too, have big ideas, dreams and goals.
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Smart Women Dream Big

January 13, 2011 By Joy Chudacoff

A few days ago, I was visiting my daughter’s second grade class and the teacher started a discussion about Martin Luther King and the importance of having dreams. The children’s ideas about dreams were interesting, “Being able to make your own decisions,” “Peace in the world, no war,” “Stop cutting down trees to save the environment.” Then the teacher went a step further and gave them a piece of paper to help them create their own “Dream Story Organizer.” I thought I’d share that with you today.

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Smart Women Have Dreams Too!

January 21, 2010 By Joy Chudacoff

My son Jack came home from school today with an excited, “Yippee Mom, there’s no school next Monday because it’s Martin Luther King Day!” A few minutes later he comes running back into the kitchen and asks, “Mom, who is Martin Luther King anyway?” Wow—what a question. How do I answer that one and still have time to get dinner on the table?

So here goes. Martin Luther King was a man who lived in courage and vision every day of his life. He was a man who most likely lived in fear and faced challenges for pursing his dreams and convictions. In August of 1963, he gave a speech entitled, “I Have A Dream”, which changed the way this country saw equality and fairness forever.

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Smart Women Love, Give……and Have Fears

November 12, 2009 By Joy Chudacoff

This morning, as I sit here at my desk looking out the window at a beautiful, 11-12-09Article[2] sunny fall day, I’m a bit at a loss on how to begin this article. This article isn’t any different from the others I share with you each week. As usual, it’s about my own life and the reflections that I believe are helpful to other Smart Women. This article is about loving deeply, giving gifts and feeling fear along the way. Sounds like something all women deal with—yes?

Over the last few months, I’ve been going through testing at UCLA Medical Center here in Los Angeles to determine if I might be a possible match to donate one of my kidneys to my husband, Greg. Greg has Polycystic Kidney Disease and one of the affects is possible kidney failure over time. His kidney function has steadily been declining and we’ve known for some time that this day would come. What we didn’t know until now, is that I am, in fact, a match! On Tuesday, December 1, we will go together to UCLA Medical Center where I will undergo a procedure to remove one of my healthy kidneys and Greg will receive that kidney so he can feel healthy, energetic and enjoy life to the fullest once again.

Why do I tell you this story? Because what I’m going through right now holds many similarities for women. Women love. Women give. Women have fears. Some days I want to go jump in my bed, pull the covers over my head, go to sleep and wake up to realize that this has been a bad dream. Do you think I’m scared? You bet. Do I have anxiety? Of course. Will I feel the fear and do it anyway? Absolutely. How do you feel the fear and do it anyway? I’m sure, as you are sitting here reading this, you are thinking about some fears that you have, right? And it’s possible that you haven’t been able to overcome that fear yet.

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Smart Women Can Be Action Figures Too!

June 19, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

In my Success Circles, women create vision boards which represent their big ideas, dreams and plans for living a life filled with energy, passion and purpose.  I invite them to bring in favorite photos or magazines they enjoy reading, as possibilities for their board.  This week, Dawn, a Circle member (and smart woman) brought in “The Big Book of Action Stickers.”  It was a big colorful book filled with stickers for just about everything you can imagine from animals to people.  As I flipped through the pages, it got me thinking about how simple it is to become who you want to be in the world.

Have you ever watched a child take an action sticker and place it somewhere on their body?  They instantly become their version of who that sticker represents to them.  When my daughter puts on a “Batman” sticker, you better believe that she is Batman.  Same thing with Spider-Man (for those of you who know Jenna – she is not going to put on a Cinderella sticker!) Children have this incredible imagination that they can become anything they choose.  My son Jack, will tell you with great confidence that he is going to be both a professional baseball and basketball player.  You may be reading this and thinking, “Oh well, children have such a big imagination.”  Yes, they certainly do.

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Smart Women Rarely Hallucinate

February 25, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

Albert Einstein said, “Vision without execution is merely hallucination.” The first time I read this, I thought it was so powerful and spot on. Since the beginning of the New Year I’ve been writing about taking risks, realizing your dreams and goals, and taking inspired action on your big idea. I’ve been expressing the idea that you need to create the space in your life to explore and discover what’s next in your life’s journey. How is that going for you? Have you landed on where your energy and passions are at this time in your life? Do you have a big idea that’s calling out to you? Do you have a vision of what it looks like?

How many times a day do you see a new product or concept and say, “I thought of that idea a long time ago.” Or, how often do you have a new idea or a better way of doing something and you say, “As soon as I can find a pen and paper, I’m going to write that down.” And then what happens? You get stuck at the grocery store, kids baseball, meeting with a client, and forget about it. Or you remember after a long day of being a wife, mom, business woman, and community volunteer and you say, “Oh, it wasn’t such a great idea, forget it.”

How do I know this happens? Ladies, I’ve lived it many times! I became so frustrated over the years of having this happen to me that I created the Big Idea book concept. This has helped me to act on my vision and execute at a faster pace. The Women in my Success Circles use this regularly to make sure that they never lose a creative thought or idea on their journey to their own passion and purpose.

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