Day 25 #Nando25 Challenge: The "Be Do Have" Way

The #Nando25 challenge idea: We have become trapped to the idea of instant; our internet, our oatmeal, even our love lives are put on the fast track. "I hate dating" or "I'm so tired of the dating rat-race." or "I just want a relationship." So we go on match.com and expect to "find love" after 20 minutes of clicking.

I want you to re-read that.

So we go on match.com and expect to "find love" after 20 minutes of clicking.

It seems like everything nowadays is high speed, quick-running or just add water and stir. But many areas of our life don't work that way. I've always subscribed to the idea of: anything worth having is worth waiting for but anything worth keeping is worth working for. Are you looking for instant blogger fame? What about a quick promotion to the top? That guy you've been dating hasn't introduced you to his friends yet, what is he waiting for?

Many of us follow a script of:

Once I have my wedding, I will be married, and then I will do what's needed to make the relationship work.(Have - Be - Do)

Or:

I will do what I need to get my instant blogger fame, then I will have more advertisers, then I will be SUPER BLOGGER.(Do-Have-Be)

Or

Once I have a boyfriend, I'll do what I need to keep him and then I will be happy.(Have-Do-Be)

But I'm here to tell you--you have it all mixed up. All of you, even me at times--because of the way we have been conditioned are getting life wrong. It's not your fault, breathe, relax and get ready to learn.

The correct formula for life is actually:

(Be-Do-Have)

The lesson:Six years ago I was on the quest to be a famous photographer. I know, I think the Universe got me mixed up with Mike Ruiz, but I digress. My goal was to photograph celebrities in New York City except I never told anyone about it and never claimed my space, so instead, I worked for a firm that treated me like crap. The context I had created around jobs was, "take any job that will have you and be grateful."

Eventually, I was fired from that place because little by little I was creating a new work context. I wanted it to be fun, creative + I wanted to be in control. Because I was re-writing my job context, my current job was no longer in alignment with the NEW context which in turn, I created the circumstances to get fired--except I didn't see it that way at first. Because in reality, who wants to get fired and stress over money? Me.

Initially, I played the blame game and made then WRONG. Looking back, I even tried to get back in their good graces but it didn't work. (How many of you have ever done that? You know that a situation isn't good for you but you still want to go back?.....dating, work, living with someone, etc) There were several questions that popped into my head after I knew I really had no job. How would I pay my bills? My rent? My haircare products?

The guy I was dating at the time asked me, "What would you be doing if you could?" Was he nuts? I wasn't about to tell him. I wasn't about to declare that I wanted to be a photographer. What if I failed? What if I was all wrong for it? What would people say? It was all my company's fault for putting me in this position. (How many of you have also asked those questions when it comes to your dream job or your dream ANYTHING?)

Looking back, I was all about trying to look good and making people wrong. And I stayed in that for about six months. Several shifts occurred.

Relationship: We moved in together and became an official couple which meant we were now happy, right? This solved my rent problem temporarily but then it accelerated our relationship to the next phase which we weren't really ready for. (Do - Have - Be)

Self worth: I had little of it and until I had a new job--I would be happy.(Have-Be-Do)

My relationship began to crumble apart because although the guy I was now living with was a fantastic guy--who bought me my first camera when I finally choose to tell him my dream job--he was really insecure about my new passion. In his eye, because I was now "creative" I would eventually want to be with another "creative" and leave him. So my new photography career, in his eyes, was a threat. I enrolled in an 8-week intro photography course and one week after I completed, I got my first official gig--a wedding. The money I made on that job, I bought a professional camera. And the jobs kept rolling in. I went from taking pictures of people for their online dating profiles, to special events, to celebrities. Yes, Celebrities!

I remember getting the call, it was for a Mariah Carey's charity here in New York City, The Fresh Air Fund. They called and booked me. They said, "You've done celebrities before, right? I said sure! When I arrived, they gave me the "shot list" which is a list of the people I had to get. When I saw the names, I got really nervous. Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, and the list when on and on. It was one of the most exciting events of my life and I can still look back at it and see myself asking Mariah to get out of the way as I took Alicia Key's photo--which she did not appreciate. Let me tell you, Mariah did not allow any of the other celebrities to be photographed by themselves--she had to be in every photo.

But there was an internal struggle in between my photo class and that event with Mariah Carey. When I made the shift to "photographer" I never really believed I was good enough, and I was embarrassed to hand out my cards. I thought, once I had major clients, I would get more clients then I would be an official photographer.(Have - Do- Be)

But life didn't work out that way--and in my head I was never a real "photographer" and I eventually ruined my own photography career, because I just never thought I was good enough. Eventually, my relationship fell apart--and it wasn't because I found a "creative" to be with. But his insecurities completely took over my then-boyfriend, that I walked in on him having sex with one of our friends. I walked out and never turned back.

But something great did come out of all of this--I remembered while taking people's photos for their online dating profiles, that I would also give them a quick style makeover and dating tips. I always felt "at home" doing that. In essence, I was already coaching people, I just didn't know it had a name. And because that felt so natural, I never struggled with the formula, I knew for me it was Be - Do - Have.

I became that dating coach in my head first and I believed in myself. So I had the BE part of it down, but what does a dating coach DO next? Blog? I began my blog several years ago, but it wasn't advice or tips driven, it was stories of my humorous dating life in New York City--so I made the shift, I was no longer doing personal stories and was focused to helping others navigate the dating trenches. And what happens after you BE and you DO....you HAVE. 

I claimed my dating blogger hat and my dating + relationship coaching abilities and HAVE clients, blog readers, speaking engagements, a product line (ebook + my Breakthrough Inspiration Cards), and now my #Nando25 Day challenge. (I also got a talent agent who is sending me around for various reality shows--she found me online and after reading my blogs and watching my videos, reached out and said, "Nando, I want to represent you!")

Life will throw you in different directions, and you will have many opportunities to choose or decide, re-write context, wear your crown, claim your space, take unreasonable action, and so much more of what the #Nando25 Day Challenge has presented you--I did this challenge for YOU, not me. I wanted to give you the chance to choose a new way of being...I wanted to give you the formula BE DO HAVE and present it in a way that you could grasp it.

You first have to BE it. And in "being it" is only means believing in yourself by putting it into language, because life only happens in language. Once you "are" it--you will "BE" it. Only after you "BE" will your life shape itself for you to DO. If you choose to BE a singer, then you need to DO what a singer does. If you choose to BE a mother, then all of your heart and soul goes into "BEING" a mother and naturally, you will DO what it takes to continue to BE a mother. And after you BE and you DO, you will HAVE motherhood in the grasp of your hands. If you want to BE happy--don't trick yourself into thinking a relationship will be instant happiness. BE happy, once you embrace that, you will DO happy things to keep you in that happy state....and who knows...maybe, just maybe while you are BEING and DOING....you might neet someone and HAVE that relationship.

The #Nando25 challenge Homework:

1. Take a look and the things you want in life. Identify what formula you have been following.

2. Now, use the BE DO HAVE formula and turn things around.

3. As the last day of the challenge, I ask you to write in our facebook page, even if we haven't heard from you before and just say, "I got it, BE DO HAVE!"