Don’t Stop Believing: Keeping the Faith

Have you stopped pursuing a dream because you didn’t think you could do it? Have comments from others made you question whether or not you can achieve something? Are you ready to throw out your doubts and share your gifts with the world? Learn how to focus on staying the course to believe in yourself. Don’t stop believing as I’m cheering you on!

Certified life coach, author & award-winning professional life organizer Julie Coraccio shares steps and tips to support you in creating the life you choose, deserve and desire through decluttering your life, end of life planning, mindfulness and how to organize your life.

Transcription

Julie Coraccio 0:01

Today on clear your clutter inside and out. We’re talking about believing in yourself. Have you stopped pursuing a dream because you didn’t think you could do it? have comments from others made you question whether or not you can achieve something? Are you ready to throw out your doubt and share your gifts with the world? Learn how to kick out to the curb as we continue our month focusing on clarity. Do you control your clutter? Or does your clutter control you? unclear your clutter inside now. We’ll teach you awareness as well as action steps to create change in your life. Come on. Let’s get started. Today’s episode was inspired about my journey in self publishing, I trust in divine timing. And through this process, I really felt like giving up at times. I was just clearing some email this morning. I was trying to find something. No, if you have a Mac, and you upgrade to not Sierra, I don’t know what it is Catalina you can lose programs like apparently my Microsoft bundle was a 32 bit and now they won’t take anything under 64 so just a heads up you just sometimes can’t immediately upload So anyway, it was a three day journey. I lost some computer programs and was trying to find the receipt for one so I can get the upgraded needed and not have to pay for it anyhow. So I’m looking through emails, and I realized I had started I thought had been two years actually started on the books four years ago. I had found a email on email from 2015 when I had sent the beginning of the book draft to someone, I was like, Holy moly, I can’t believe that I started it that long ago. And so I’d obviously been percolating on these books for a while. When I think about it, first, I trust in divine timing. If I’m honest, I think that my hesitation came from putting myself out on a bigger market. now have the books on my website, that Amazon I mean, I do the podcast, I’m on YouTube. And if people are looking for me, they’re going to find me and again, same with Amazon. But Amazon exposes me to a bigger market. I’m very fortunate that you all who listen and share your comments, you all are awesome. But sometimes people are downright mean. The majority of time I don’t take it personally. But guess what? I’m still human. I’m a human being happy. A spiritual experience and if I wouldn’t do it to someone else, I would hope that I would get the same consideration but again, I have no control over everyone the majority of comments and feedback I receive are really good. And I can’t remember if I shared this on the first episode, but for instance I had someone just attacked me on youtube just how much how awful I was and blah blah blah blah blah. And they did it as like hey, it’s organized 1234 this is what you should have not and I responded and you know ultimately feel sorry for them because it went completely over their head because I was like, well please share your podcast or your video and show me how it’s done. I said in a way or give me an example of video and and they were upset with my mantra said I didn’t announce correctly and I should practice it. I did. I would listen. Someone got upset when I did the one on the Japanese art. N am I even tried it begins with an online we try to pronounce it because it’s Before I found that I went, you can find Google sounds like I hear it again and again again for pronounce it. And they just were crappy. And you know, I’m not a fan of keyboard warriors who do that. And so my whole point with this is so now getting books on Amazon and other places, puts me in front of a bigger crowd, people are going to be anonymous. And I take reviews with a grain of salt, like I know when I’m looking and deciding whether to purchase things. And my brother told me, I remember years ago, he’s in marketing. And he said, Here’s how you can tell our review is fake. And I remember I was asked to review something. And I said to him, I said, I’m going to give you four stars. I said, I’d give you five stars. But reading your reviews, it looks like everyone only reviews you have or people that you gave the product to because you have to disclose that. Well,

you’re supposed to not everyone does that anyway, I said and if I was reading your reviews, I think if I was at a five star and my critiques are like I would offer in different colors, and one other one, but I said I think it Does yourself a disservice I get it in your business and trying to get out there and you have to compete with SEO. And if you have a company that has a huge marketing budget, then you can’t compete with that when they can spend millions of dollars using Google. I read somewhere recently that Marie condos, husband is a marketing genius. I think that he did Mark now you know, hats off to her. I really like her energy and she’s helped a lot of people and supported them. So I think that’s good. And back to the conclusion again, so I’m a little nervous, okay, you’re putting yourself on Amazon. They’re going to be more people out there. And so I think that that was a hesitation. I really No, I’m good writer, I believe in my skills, and I also stink at grammar. I also am just, I’m consistent, though, guys. I’ve been bad at grammar since childhood. And all the comments were when I I won one award in college. It was for creative writing. And he was awesome. He was an old school professor. But he’s like, yeah, your grammar grammatically challenged. So anyway, at least I’m consistent. One of the things I’ve committed to is I will read every response on Amazon and respond. But if someone’s really critical, especially if it’s someone who hasn’t purchased the book, because you see that quite often I’m going to call them out because I don’t want other people who would like to write a book and haven’t because they’re afraid of the criticism. I’ve committed to that because if you have a book, or a sculpture or painting, get out there, there are going to be people that criticize you. But stay the course. This was also inspired because I reached out to an alum, I went to a small women’s college I graduated with less people in college and I didn’t High School, and if anyone from my school contacts me, I always respond, because I just think that one is a courtesy and two, because we’re alone on Sunday, it was kind of disappointing. Even if she would have said this is the dumbest idea ever. I would have preferred that than radio silence and that I had to buckle down so Okay, and then I could have spent a lot more time sending out my More query letters. And I thought, You know what? I had a potential connection here. I’m willing to try it. But that just encouraged me again, you know what I’m going to self publish? Because that was two years ago when I wrote that. So how do you keep going? When you maybe have a long project like this, or the dream seems not achievable, because maybe someone’s planted something in your head. I’ll never forget. When I was living in Los Angeles, I first moved there and got a facial Don, and the woman was telling me I want to be an actress. But when I moved here, early on, someone told me I wasn’t pretty enough or talented enough. And she believed that she held on to that and so she deferred her dream she put pursuing acting. And I hope that you never allow someone to do that. It’s hard. It is hard. I was really fortunate. I’m just going to share this the story of my father’s I turn and look, I have it framed up here in my office to remind me, I was living in Los Angeles, I took a screenwriting course And the guy said, this script needs work, but you have real potential. And you can work one on one with me as a professor at UCLA. The cost is five grand. Okay, so this is 2025 years ago. So yeah, you know, inflation. You guys are smarter than me what 10,000 maybe even no Who knows? big chunk of change. So I shared this with my father, my father had said, This is my savings. I want you to pursue your dream, and I believe in you. And he was willing to write me a check for $5,000. And I am very fortunate to have parents that believed in me, because not everyone is. Now we’re fortunate that my uncle had a connection with someone who’s a writer was like now, just don’t do it. And so I didn’t. And when I look back and think about things because that was a dream that didn’t happen. I really wanted to be a screenwriter had some interest, it never happened. And now I can say, I’m fulfilling that dream through this writing because I’m choosing to make a difference. In a world I want you to heal. I want you to reawaken your brilliance, I want you to share your gifts with the world. And I’m going to be able to do that and support people much better through these books and doing a screenplay. Now don’t get me wrong if a star says, hey, you’re awesome write me a screenplay. I would definitely take a shot at that. But I now understand that and why it didn’t work out I needed to leave Los Angeles and need to be in nature. I needed to come out here and meet Tony again, you know, again, with years and years perspectives. It’s just important to stay the course and to trust and all of that. And, and my hope is with today’s podcast, that it will allow you to keep moving forward that maybe perhaps reigni