Instead of writing a traditional article for this edition, I wanted to take a moment to talk about my experience writing, selling, and launching my Emergence book and program, which (hopefully) many of you are aware of — and have your copy 🙂

I decided to share this because I want you to see that I, like you, have my fair share of struggles. In fact, every reason you’ve told yourself why you couldn’t move forward, finish that book, invest in that program, launch that business, get in shape — whatever the goal — I have probably bumped into it myself, in very painful ways!

What made all the difference for me was two things: (1) Being a student of the principles behind Emergence and (2) Practicing them NO MATTER WHAT. No matter how I felt, no matter what others told me, and no matter what my own head was telling me!

When I first wrote the book, it was turned down by every agent. So I did the work I teach, became the mental, emotional, vibrational equivalent of my vision, kept walking toward it, writing, rewriting, and trying again…until I finally I got an agent.

Then it was turned down by every publisher.

My agent stopped returning my emails. The project seemed dead again, and I wondered why God had forsaken me! But I dug back in, studied the principles, and practiced them — releasing limited beliefs, embracing the shadows, and lifting my vibration to become a match to the vision…until it finally sold.

Then I got an editor with a very different vision for the book as me, and what ensued was one of the most difficult creative periods of my life, where the book ultimately stalled and wasn’t going to be published. So guess what I did? The work! I got clear on the vision, why it mattered, what I wanted, how I would feel, and who I would be…and I practiced. The result was that my writing was taken to a whole new level, the book found new life, and the publishing date was set.

Then my team fell apart.

Here I was needing to plan and execute a major book and program launch, including gathering all the partners and building the whole platform — and I had to hire and train a new team to do it with me.

Like the Jack Pine that needs a forest fire for it to release its new seeds and allow the next stage of its potential to emerge, I was definitely going through a trial by fire, but it had only begun…

The book release date was moved to January 6, causing us to have to market during the holidays, when most of my partners were on vacation, and also putting us up against the biggest books and programs being released for the New Year.

I had a major family transition that turned my whole personal life upside down AND had a big family vacation, all happening during the week BEFORE MY LAUNCH.

At my publisher, two of my marketing people went on maternity leave and another went on vacation DURING MY LAUNCH, leaving me basically on my own to promote.

So what did I do? Practice, practice, practice…

Then the day of the launch, with about 50 hours of interviews scheduled that week, I woke up feeling like A TRUCK HAD RUN OVER ME all night long. I hadn’t had a cold or flu in years, and my soul chose this day to suddenly get sicker than I had in a long time.

Every day for two weeks I woke up feeling that way, and every day I had 5-8 hours of interviews, not to mention the rest of the launch to manage. Cosmic joke…or a great chance to PROVE the principles?

Practice, practice, practice…a lot of meditation and a little over-the-counter medication (hey, full transparency here 🙂

Then several partners suddenly couldn’t promote and others could only do a little. And our online customer and sales systems had a MAJOR glitch that caused serious problems with capturing people’s information. We began losing significant traffic, leads, and sales, and it looked like the launch would be a major failure…

Practice, practice, practice…and a good glass of Pinot!

I came face to face with my deepest shadows, fears, values conflicts, the desire to quit multiple times, exhaustion, dissent, mutiny, betrayal and scandal! Okay, maybe not all of those things, but it sure FELT like it!

And how did I manage it all? Practice, practice, practice…

So what’s the moral of this? We all have our share of challenges, limited beliefs, fears, and doubts. But none of that can stop us if we’re willing to remain a student of these principles and PRACTICE them. Not just when we feel like it, not just when it appears to be working, but always, every day, in every way.

That’s all that separates us from the masters, leaders, and true champions. Pele, one of the world’s greatest athletes, was once asked how much he practiced in order to do what sometimes seemed impossible on the field. His answer: “Everything is practice.”

So how did it all turn out? The book shattered the publisher’s expectations for the entire year in the first week, sold out TWICE on Amazon, sold out of multiple print runs, and (as of this writing) was #16 out of ALL books and #1 in all its categories on BarnesAndNoble.com.

The Emergence Live program is full, with several hundred people, already having major life breakthroughs, the annual retreat was an amazing transformational success, and my sense of soul stamina has never been stronger.

Please join with me this year to become masters at practicing these principles and PROVING their power, NO MATTER WHAT.

Let’s discover how strong we are, how committed to change we are — and make this our best year ever! Are you in?

I love and appreciate you.

To Your Emergence!