Marie gave us an assignment for that night: write a “painted picture” of what you’d like your life to be like 3 years in the future from this exact date.

Who are you spending your time with?

Where do you live?

What are you doing during the day?

How much are you making?

What are you working on?

How do you feel in your body?

What are your relationships like?

Like me, you’ve probably done exercises like this one before. Notice if you just checked out because you decided you “know this already.” Stay engaged. When we approach life as though everything is new we get a heck of a lot more out of it.

What I love about this version of visioning and what made it different for me is that a 3 year time window seems just far enough out to allow myself to think a little bigger and dream more than I would with a 6 month or 1 year time window. But, a 3 year window isn’t so long that I can’t imagine what I could possibly be doing in my life that far out.

(If you’re a read-the-instructions type of person, you can dive into Chapter 1 of Cameron Herold’s book Double Double where Marie got the inspiration for this exercise here – it’s free!)

You can create visions of all the fabulous things you’d like to do, be, and have in your life until the cows come home. You can make stuff up, think about what your best friend might like her life to be like, imagine what Oprah might like in her life, and think about what kind of a life would make you look really good. You can think about what you could create to prove something to your former boss who told you you don’t have what it takes or your mother who warned you not to get too high on your horse when you shared your dreams with her.

Or you could create your “painted picture” by listening to your soul. Sounds really easy when I write it like that, doesn’t it? “How do I listen to my soul?,” you might ask. She doesn’t have a phone number but you DO have her direct line.

When you sit down and create your “painted picture”, which I highly recommend you do, just start writing. If you like a little ritual to invite “her” in, light a candle, take an Epsom salt bath, and put on some beautiful music (or dirty hip hop if you want – your soul might really like to shake it – mine does). It might take a few minutes to get into the flow, but if you let your pen touch the paper and commit to not picking it up, she’ll feel welcome.

Feel free to invite her in verbally: “Hey soul! Come on down! I’ve got this exercise I want to get your opinion on!”

Or you can invite her with your silent reverence to a voice wiser than the chatter that usually takes up all the bandwidth in your consciousness.

Refer to the questions I wrote above, refer to the Double Double chapter, or simply write and refer to nothing at all. Here’s what’s great: there’s no “right” way to listen to your soul.

Now here’s the part that’s really important. When you’re done, choose someone who loves you dearly and supports you no matter what to read it aloud to. (If you don’t have this kind of person in your life, feel free to read it aloud and be your own witness, just so long as you can do that with loving kindness.)

Marie suggests sharing your “painted picture” with your business partners and team and anyone else who’s a key player in your life.

I decided to read my “painted picture” to my man. I hadn’t written it intending to read it to anyone and I hadn’t re-read it since writing it. Naturally, I felt a little shaky and vulnerable as I opened my RHH Live notebook and began. About a paragraph in, tears welled up in my eyes. At the bottom of page one I had to take a break and breathe deep because my words got so caught in my throat that no sound was coming out of my mouth.

When your truth is present in a profound way, your body will tell you.  Some people get chills, some people feel it in their gut, and some people, like me, cry.

Mike listened to my whole “painted picture”, waiting patiently as I paused and cried and blew my nose. When I finished he smiled, gave me a tender kiss, and said, “Sounds good.”

Your vision for your life has to send sparkles up your spine, make you want to drop to your knees in rapture, or at least burn the back of your eyes with some liquid truth tears. If your “painted picture” doesn’t get you so jazzed that you have a physical reaction, go back to the drawing board.

If you’re not so practiced at listening to your soul, this may take you a bit more time. But the time put in is so worth it. Why bother organizing your life to move toward a future that doesn’t make your cells jump for joy in anticipation?

When you get clear on where you’re going, then you can go about getting there. Breaking down your “painted picture” into projects, choosing which projects to work on each year, and laying out tasks to assign to yourself and your team is really the easy part.

But there’s no sense in steering your ship in the direction of a future that doesn’t profoundly pull you from the depths of your being. Sound dramatic? It is. This is that important.

Don’t create your life to make your mother, father, boss, husband, or dog happy. Don’t create your life so that you’ll look good.

Call it God, your soul, your inner guide, your higher power, your deepest knowing, or Yahooti. It doesn’t matter what you call it or that you call it anything at all.

What does matter is that you live from that place of your deepest truth. Because when you do, you’ll always be in the right place right now, and you’ll always be headed in the right direction too.

Reading Danielle’s work about self-actualization is like sitting in a temple getting a download of ancestral wisdom that your cells remember but that you had forgotten how to articulate.

Not to mention the fact that she’s a hottie (inside and out), a generous and loving friend and mentor, a spell-binding speaker, a world-class entrepreneur, and a priestess.

Pre-order a copy of her forthcoming book The Fire Starter Sessions (April 2012, Crown): http://amzn.to/tAJkJy

Yesterday, Danielle launched Your Big Beautiful Book Plan with Linda Silverstein.

Your Big Beautiful Book Plan promises to teach you how to write a book proposal that will make you a visionary writer, a stronger business person and land you a publishing deal.

I can’t tell you how many brilliant writers with ideas that will change the world can’t get their work out there because they don’t know how to market themselves (and the publishing industry certainly isn’t teaching them). Enter Danielle and Linda. If you’ve got something to say, head on over and get your copy now. I did and I can’t wait to implement their wisdom as I work on my book.

Glimpse TV with Danielle LaPorte

Back in October I met Danielle in her room at the Ace Hotel in NYC after Rich, Happy, and Hot Live to shoot an episode of Glimpse TV. I just watched the episode while editing it (well, my version of editing which is basically adding a few titles and trimming the end) and its pretty amazing.

Click below to watch the episode and you’ll find out what I’m talking about. Seriously, I’m sitting here by myself feeling very, very inspired after watching my own show because Danielle really serves it up for you.

In this episode you’ll:

• find out exactly how to deal with negative feedback
• learn the most important through-line that Danielle used to create her rocking White Hot Truth empire
• get the goods on how Danielle turns traditional marketing wisdom on its head…and rocks her bottom line while doing her soul’s work
• hear us telling secrets about Glamour magazine
• get some insight into what success feels like to Danielle
• meet two amazing special guests, one who’s green and squishy and rode with Danielle all the way from Vancouver, and one who Danielle calls a Spiritual Technician

This may very well be the best episode of Glimpse TV to date. It may also be the longest. And worth every single minute. So grab a beverage, put your feet up, and get ready for great questions, uncontrollable giggles, and a glimpse of the Divine Ms. Danielle LaPorte.

Tweetables from the video:

Desire should be the driver of your to-do list. -@daniellelaporte to @katenorthrup #glimpsetv http://bit.ly/w49qNh

To go bigger and to serve more, its gotta be scalable. -@katenorthrup to @daniellelaporte #glimpsetv http://bit.ly/w49qNh

I would so much rather be miscellaneous than categorizeable, wouldn’t you? -@katenorthrup to @daniellelaporte #glimpsetv http://bit.ly/w49qNh

What future to do you belong to? -@navjitkandola to @daniellelaporte + @katenorthrup #glimpsetv http://bit.ly/w49qNh

Links to stuff we talked about in the video:

Pre-order Danielle’s book The Fire Starter Sessions here: http://amzn.to/tAJkJy

My Glimpse TV with Nicole Daedone: http://katenorthrup.maryweise.com/slow-sex-glimpse-tv-with-nicole-daedone/

Get Your Big Beautiful Book Plan: http://bit.ly/ugfzkD

Danielle’s site: www.whitehottruth.com

Danielle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/daniellelaporte

Danielle on Facebook: www.facebook.com/whitehottruth

Navjit’s site: www.navjitkandola.com

Leave a comment below!

What does success feel like to you?

What future do you belong to?

Other thoughts, comments, questions welcomed!

Are you exhausted? Might be time to quit.

I remember when I was growing up, the other kids would tell me that they hated going to basketball or lacrosse practice, but their parents had taught them not to be quitters so they just toughed it out. I was always totally mystified by this. I had tried and quit just about every sport available and I had no problem with it. (The only thing I stuck with was tennis because I liked the skirts.)

What was the point in grinning and bearing it through hours of practicing something you had no intention of doing past graduation? What was the point of wasting hours of our precious childhood just so as not to be seen as a “quitter.” I just didn’t get it. It turns out, this same philosophy applies to my adult life (and perhaps to yours.)

I’m a quitter and proud of it. It means I’m in hot pursuit of my passion and purpose. It means I know what feels good and what doesn’t. It meant I value my time, my energy, and myself.

When I left on The Freedom Tour and told people I was going on an “indefinite road trip around North America” the most common question I got was, “For how long?” to which I would reply, “Until I’m done.”

In early September my man Mike and I decided not to go to Asia in Spring 2012 because it just didn’t feel right to either of us. So we decided to stay put somewhere for six months or so. We were already in Scottsdale, AZ and since I have family there and the weather is awesome in the winter, we decided that was our spot. We found a gorgeous apartment. We scouted yoga classes and rock gyms and juice bars.

Two weeks ago I was in NYC for Marie Forleo‘s spectacular event Rich, Happy, and Hot Live. I told my friends who I ran into on Friday night that I was moving to Scottsdale, AZ. Every time I said it, the response was, “Why?” And inside me every time I said I was moving there, I asked myself, “Why?”

Do you ever make a plan just so you can have something to tell people?

I called Mike that night and he told me my aunt and uncle were leaving Scottsdale and given that they were basically my only community there, it suddenly dawned on me that there was no good reason to move there. Moreover, it didn’t feel good, and quite frankly that’s all that matters.

Based pretty much all on instinct and what feels good, Mike and I have decided to move to Sag Harbor, NY. We’re actually going to sign a lease and stay put. I’m going to teach yoga. We’re going to eat vegetables, build solid businesses, and work out with consistency. (All of these things, and more, have been challenging on the road.) I’m going to write a book and hibernate.

Yes, it appears that that moment of “Until I’m done” has arrived. The Freedom Tour is winding down in absolute perfect timing.

Have I done everything I planned on The Freedom Tour? No. Absolutely not. In fact, the last nine months turned out nothing like I had imagined. They were better.

Those parents of my childhood friends might look at me and call me a quitter. This year I ended a business partnership that I’d invested three and a half years in. I ended another business partnership that I’d invested several thousand miles, several thousand brain cells, and several months in. I bowed out on an investment where I had a large chunk of change coming my way. I said no to a sponsorship deal with several zeros even though the paperwork had already been signed.  None of these things felt right anymore so I quit.

Call me a quitter. I welcome it.

Just like it makes no sense to spend an entire winter of beautiful afternoon hours in a stinky gym if you don’t even like basketball just so you won’t be a quitter, it makes no sense to keep doing anything that no longer feels right or feels good. Even if you’ve invested thousands of hours or thousands of dollars. Even if it will disappoint someone. Even if it used to feel like a good idea and suddenly it doesn’t anymore.

It doesn’t matter. I give you permission to quit. If you feel done, you’re done. That’s the only information you need. Let it go. Expand your expense allowance for “projects that I decided not to pursue further because they didn’t feel good” and simply write it off at the end of the year. Let it go. Move on. Quit.

There will never be a payoff after spending time, resources, and precious energy doing something that no longer feels good that will make it worth it. I promise. It just won’t happen.

So, I’m quitting The Freedom Tour as it currently exists. I don’t quite know what it will morph into, but I’m certainly not quitting on freedom.

Next up: an exploration of freedom within the structure of living in one place and having regular routines. Stay tuned.

What are you doing that doesn’t feel good anymore?

What are you doing that doesn’t feel right anymore?

What do you continue to do just so you won’t be a quitter?

Have you ever been called a quitter? Why?

What are you ready to quit?

What are you ready to let go of? Leave a declaration here!

Leave a comment. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say on this!

In my experience if fame is your primary goal, a lot of other things can go by the wayside like the quality of your work, being of service, and creative expression.

Luckily I know Laura personally I really respect her business acumen, the way she’s grown her brand, and how much practical content and wisdom she puts out into the world. So, I decided to get that girl on Skype and find out what was behind her Creating Fame product.

Tune in to our Glimpse TV episode to find out how online business maven Laura Roeder is turning conventional business wisdom on its head, what’s the most important thing for you to do in order to become an online expert in your field, and how Laura manages to never work at night or on the weekends (what?!).

***Note: The Skype video has a very artistic quality between the framing, lighting, and somewhat frequent video freezing. I’ve always been passionate about combining business with art. Enjoy!***

Here’s the link to Laura’s video on “The Day When Her Worst Fear Ever Came True” that she mentions in our video.

Find out more about Laura’s program for becoming the go-to person in your field: Creating Fame.

Tweet about this to share the love!

Watch this before you get famous: @lkr and @katenorthrup on #GlimpseTV: bit.ly/rGI3xS

What is Creating Fame really about? @lkr and @katenorthrup tell all on #GlimpseTV: http://bit.ly/rGI3xS

Find out how to be the “go-to-person” in your field w/ @lkr + @katenorthrup on #GlimpseTV: http://bit.ly/rGI3xS

 More Laura:

www.twitter.com/lkr

www.twitter.com/GetTheDash

Get The Dash, Laura’s super-practical weekly newsletter for building your biz online.

***I'm a very proud affiliate of Creating Fame. ***