I have a new book coming out next week called Relax Into Inspired Action: Connect the Pieces, and Live Fulfilled. (Watch for the launch on April 2). In the book I share some stories of how people connect the pieces in their lives.
Over my years as a coach and my experience in training and development, I have witnessed and cultivated a process called connecting the pieces and living fulfilled.
During this process you learn to put together all of the pieces that make you feel alive and passionate in your life into a business or career where you make a meaningful difference and are well compensated for your contribution to this world.
My own Connecting the Pieces story:
My clients know me as “action Sheri”. I have owned my company since 2007, my books are available internationally, my podcast is global, and I work with my ideal clients every day. I take vacations (lots of vacations). I feel spiritually connected and happy. I golf. I read books. I hang out with friends. I am close to my husband and children and involved in their lives… But it wasn’t always this way. I didn’t always have it together. (And I don’t always have it together every minute of the day, now).
What drove me to carve out the life I live today? Pain.
My own world was shattered when I was 17 and I came home from school one day to find my younger brother after his suicide death. My identity was lost. I lost trust in everything (even God). It felt like I was on shaky ground all of the time. Our family was grief stricken. However, I did have one glimmer of light… I knew at a deep level… that I would not let this beat me. I would get up again. I would survive. I didn’t imagine ever being truly happy. I thought, if I got to OK, where I didn’t cry every day, I would be doing pretty good. I still went to college. I still went to work. I had some fantastic people in my life that lifted me up when I stumbled.
Then one day, I didn’t need to be lifted up anymore. I was on the road to getting better. I was okay.
My world shifted again when I was pregnant with my first daughter in 1994. I was on bed-rest and my mother gave me a copy of Steven Covey’s 7 Habits book. And it was the first time since my brother died, that I made the connection regarding the power of thoughts. This book set me on a path of self-discovery and personal growth. I was inspired to continue my schooling earning my Master’s and my PhD. I made it my life-long quest to discover what makes people happy and why some people are successful and other’s struggle.
I made the connection between thoughts and happiness. It was like a light bulb turned on and I realized that I could be happy if I decided to be happy. I even wrote my first book on happiness, Keys to Living Joyfully. I not only was okay, I was happy.
My early career was a hodge-podge of jobs with each one teaching me something about myself. Eventually, I moved to a career in management, and then I made the move to a career in higher education, and then training and development.
I felt, still, like I was missing something. I prayed and meditated about it. I woke up one morning in 2007 and knew I would start my own coaching and training company. I have never looked back. I had a learning curve and many challenges. It took me months to land my first client. I cried tears of frustration in the beginning. I had to learn how to market my own business which was much more challenging than sales and marketing for someone else. I had to work on my own sense of worthiness and conquer my fears, but it was exciting. It was exactly what I wanted to be doing. I thrived as I saw my clients change their lives and grow their businesses.
After a couple years of growing my company, I had another realization. I was working too many hours. There was a part of me that felt that I had to work really hard for success. I just couldn’t do it anymore, though.
I needed more balance. I dug deep, and I decided that I was going to do all of the things I really wanted to do. If that meant golfing three times a week or taking frequent vacations, I was going to do it.
My business didn’t miss a beat. In fact, it grew. When I was taking care of me and having fun, the energy of my business responded to that. I am still a queen of action, but I am relaxed about it. And I only act when I am in the inspired action state.
Every choice has a purpose. Every move is deliberate. I am deliberating creating my business and life every day.
Sheri Kaye Hoff
Coach, Trainer, and Author, Sheri Kaye Hoff, is a Business Coach known for inspiring massive action and a catalyst for personal and business growth, joy, and profits in a way that is fun, relaxing, and fulfilling, Sheri inspires people to do the work they love and make more money. Sheri helps business owners and professionals to relax into success. She uses both spiritual and practical techniques to obliterate blocks and create dramatic change. She is a business, leadership, happiness, and inner game expert. She has overcome nearly dying, and the loss of her brother at an early age. She has made it her life mission to discover the keys to happiness and success and then share them with her clients and community. Learn More About Sheri