Today’s post is interview style: I’m here with Laura Gwen, an inspirational speaker and an authority on universal laws, including the law of attraction.  Laura is kicking off Aspire Media’s Inspiring Speaker Series with her talk April 15: Stress is Optional: Success is a Choice, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, RI.

Of course, I will be in the audience tomorrow, but I also thought that my readers might love to hear Laura’s ideas on being successful in completing a project, such as writing a book. I know many of you feel some stress around finding the time to write and complete your book and Laura has some powerful answers around how to make it happen with ease.

Laura: It’s a moment by moment choice to head with ease in the direction of your dream. We often get caught up in unconscious thoughts that keep us from experiencing our goal.

Lisa: For example?

Laura: We may get up in the morning, already thinking about the many things we don’t have time to do. We are already feeling stress before the day has even started.  For instance, I have so much to do; how am I ever going to work on the book today?

Lisa: Setting ourselves up for failure?

Laura: Yes, we take a huge leap into how we’re going to get through a whole day within five minutes of waking up.

Lisa: How would you suggest starting the day?

Laura: Upon waking up, I suggest considering five things that went well yesterday.

Lisa: Why start with yesterday?

Laura: Because, if we start with yesterday, we can attach the emotion of how that felt with the accomplished experience. It gives us a reference point for how it feels to be successful.

Lisa: Why is that important–that emotion of feeling accomplished?

Laura: The law of attraction states that the way we think and feel creates an outward experience that matches the inner feeling and thoughts.

Lisa: So if I’m feeling overwhelmed, my emotions will create more of that?

Laura: Yes.

Lisa: And if I’m feeling excited about my accomplishments, then I’m actually aligning myself with accomplishing more today, with a certain ease?

Laura: Yes.

Lisa: So we start the day with the five accomplishments of yesterday…

Laura: My next suggestion would be to break down the day into small segments.

Lisa: Why is that?

Laura: As we take an entire day and break it into small parts, we notice that it’s much easier to accomplish what’s right in front of us with ease than to try and keep our focus on the entire day and all of its tasks.

Lisa: So once we break things up into tasks, we can focus on one thing at a time and not be distracted or overwhelmed by the whole of our to-do list?

Laura: Get back into the now so you can be present with what you’re doing. If we’re going to create space in our lives for the things we want to accomplish, it’s important to be mindful about where we are placing our intention with all of the things we need to do, and not leave the things we want to do for the last part of the day, when all other obligations have been complete.

Lisa: So you would schedule in the dreams, such as working the book, early in the day?

Laura: I would make it as important as any other thought or task within the day.

Lisa: So what if you schedule time for an activity and it takes longer than expected. Do you drop it at the scheduled time or keep going?

Laura: Before an activity, I would set the tone for how that will unfold. If I start with the idea that I won’t have enough time to finish it, I won’t have the time.

Lisa: Yes, I think sometimes we even tell ourselves we will have enough time to accomplish something, but we don’t believe it. That sets us up for failure, too, doesn’t it?

Laura: Yes, even if we set up an hour’s worth of time, but realize we only have a half hour. Rather than panicking that we won’t accomplish what we need to within the short period of time, we could consider the idea that we have all the time and creative ability necessary to successfully accomplish the task.  We can tell ourselves, I have all the words, knowledge and know-how to accomplish this with ease in thirty minutes.This can be an easy and fun experience.

Lisa: That’s something I emphasize with my clients and students all the time. If they expect it to be hard to write a book, it will be. If they expect it to be joyful and easy, they can have joy and ease, along with their book.

Laura: Stress is optional, because we are the ones who think the thoughts that create emotions that feel stressful. As we change our minds about how something is going to unfold, we experience an emotional shift, which allows greater room for success in all of our activities and projects.

Laura has the profound ability to help people shift their experiences instantaneously. Hearing Laura speak is more than hearing a speaker, it’s about remembering who you are and what you already know deep within you, and then putting that to work, practically, in your life, to experience all the joy, success and love you were meant to.

If you’re in Rhode Island, Connecticut or Massachusetts, I highly encourage you to go to the Inspiring Women’s Speaker Series site and purchase your ticket today. If you can’t make it, there will be a podcast available for purchase on the Aspire website and I will share the link with you when I have it. Hope to see you April 15 for this empowering event!