Winning In Life And Work : Dare To Dream
About this ebook
It is a book which explores the concepts and really brings them to life through sharing the experiences of 17 diverse people from around the globe who dared to dream. Each author shares their own experiences - the highs, the lows, the obstacles, and the eventual triumphs, in a way which seeks both to inspire us as to what it possible, and to motivate us to keep going and to achieve it.
By reading them all, the book becomes greater than the sum of its parts, as the various experiences and lessons resonate across chapters, reinforcing in surprising ways, and build within the reader the desire, the will, the commitment to Dare To Dream.
"Dare to Dream offers a collection of beautiful stories and powerful perspectives from a variety of authors. It shows us how the human spirit can shine through a myriad of challenges and how we each can develop the courage to live our dreams."
- Marci Shimoff- #1 NY Times bestselling author of "Happy for No Reason", and "Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul".
Dare To Dream is the eagerly anticipated fourth book in the internationally bestselling Winning in Life and Work series (which includes Volume 1 [2013], New Beginnings [2015], and Success Secrets [2017])
Like its predecessors, this book is concerned with helping you to win in life and work.
It follows the same well-proven premise - experts sharing their experience, skills, and knowledge in specific areas to help you to become even better at winning in life and work.
As with previous books, the chapters follow a specific theme – in this case, that of daring to dream, to believe in our dreams, and to follow our dreams wherever they may take us.
It is not necessary to have read the previous volumes in order to get the most from this one, although after reading this book you might become inspired to seek out the guidance and suggestions offered within the first three.
For this book, creator Keith Blakemore-Noble brings together 17 international experts to share their messages, learnings, experiences, and insights into the power of dreams, all of whom seek to inspire us all to Dare o Dream.
Contributors - Keith Blakemore-Noble, Laura Di Franco, Lynn Dehnke, Jennifer Whitacre, Paula Kalik, Shelia Heard, Veronica B. Light, Manuela Rohr, Karen Fulkerson, Margie O’Kane, Amy Boyer, Nadia Gualtieri, Jason Withers, Gila Nehemia, Stephen Bryant, Nick Manci, and Lori Zeltwanger.
Chapters include -
1 - It’s Never Too Late
2 - Transformation is a warrior’s path
3 - Adversity: Make It Count
4 - The Subtleties of Self-Sabotage
5 - The Elephant In The Room
6 - Life Happens
7 - At The Centre Of Your Being
8 - Broken Dream
9 - I Pressed On: Destigmatizing Depression
10 - No Time For Regret
11 - Taking Responsibility for our Inner Pain
12 - The Power Of Beliefs
13 - Pocket More, Stress Less – Simple Pathways to Profit
14 - Forgiveness Leads to Peace
15 - First Steps Into The Unknown
16 - The Solo Search For Sanity
17 - Pain Pain Go Away - Don’t Come Back Another Day!
"Dare to Dream is not only a good book, it’s a way of life. There are some great examples in these stories of how to live outside the box that so many people are stuck in. If you want more from life, you should read this book."
- David Alan Arnold - Helicopter Cameraman of The Deadliest Catch and Author of Help From Above
Ratings and reviews
About the author
As the UK’s #1 Fear Strategist, Keith has helped over 5,000 people across 5 continents to transform their lives since 2010. He helps people to transform their deepest fears into their greatest strengths.
Whether it’s speaking to people, stage fright, audition anxiety, scared to be who you truly want to be, afraid of how you will come across on TV, or just a good old phobia; with the right strategy, that fear can be eliminated once and for all.
Keith is a certified master practitioner and trainer of NLP and Hypnosis and has personally trained and certified many practitioners globally.
But he is so much more than that.
He’s lived that life held back by fears.
He’s experienced the pain, the loneliness, the despair that creates.
And he’s experienced the sheer joy of conquering these fears and unleashing true potential.
As a coach, international speaker, best-selling author, entertainer, trainer, and show host - everything Keith does is about helping you to transform your fears, from building a strategy through to executing it and completely transforming those old fears into something positive and powerful.
Bringing a strong analytical background from a previous 20-year IT career, Keith uses these in his unique blend to enable clients get to the bottom of their issues swiftly, and helps them to resolve them equally swiftly – his record so far is a client permanently conquering their phobia in under 10 minutes!
Laura Di Franco, MPT is the owner of Brave Healer Productions and she wants you to know, you were born, so you’re worthy. Your message matters. And you’re about to read a bit of hers.
Laura’s mission is to build a revolution of brave healers sharing their badass, authentic stories out loud in order to heal the world one word at a time.
She invites you to join her on a journey to empowerment. Learn the secrets to living fiercely alive and conquering the boring fear of not-good-enough. These pages open a private door to her story because she’s always believed if she shared her healing out loud it would help someone else. What if the thing you’re still afraid to share is exactly the thing someone else needs to hear to change or save their life? Laura lives bravely every day with this question in mind.
Laura’s a powerhouse who writes to Feng Shui her soul. She’s a six-time published poet and author, inspirational speaker, holistic physical therapist and third-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do with almost three decades of experience in healing. When she's not writing she's probably raving, driving her convertible, or eating dark chocolate.
Lynn Dehnke is uniquely qualified to write and speak about making adversity count with her overcoming warrior mindset. The University of Life is where her strength of character and ability to overcome adversity was forged. Life experiences such as: an unstable childhood, an alcoholic parent, multiple forms of abuse, relocation across the country, a failed marriage, a brain tumour in a family member, two miscarriages, cancers in her family, an injury that lead to her Dad’s earthly death, being a power of attorney for health care decisions for dying loved ones, chronic debilitating back pain and nerve injuries, multiple deaths in her family, and trauma from trusted people in her life. Lynn weaves her personal stories into her writing to show the reader how they too can not only overcome adversity but also experience personal and spiritual growth. Lynn completed Bible school and is credentialed through End Time Glory Ministries.
She has conducted workshops at state conferences, spent years teaching weekly studies, holds book discussions seasonally, offers one-on-one adversity coaching, and facilitates a personal history workshop to provide an opportunity for people to identify good and bad experiences from their lives in order to make peace with their past, live mindfully each day, and find hope and direction for their future.
As you read this chapter, may you dare to dream while making every adversity count by becoming an overcoming warrior and living your life to its fullest potential.
Jennifer Whitacre is an Empowerment Strategist, a trauma specialist, and an expert myofascial release therapist who is skilled at helping her clients move beyond the self-sabotaging habits and knee-jerk reactions that keep them stuck and feeling lost.
Jennifer has the education and, more importantly, the life experience to help you move through your stuck places and your fears to achieve success and fulfilment in your life. Having spent too many years spinning her own wheels, Jennifer understands how jagged and knotted it feels inside when you feel lost, overwhelmed and like an imposter. For years, from the outside looking in, Jennifer appeared to be successful, balanced, and happy. On the inside, she was imploding.
Sound familiar?
Through trial and error, Jennifer created an Empowerment Strategy program to help people who find themselves in the same stuck places she used to be.
Because she understands the power of inspiration, Jennifer also hosts the Yes, And… Podcast where her guests share some of their most vulnerable stories and the lessons they learned from their experiences. She is also an emerging writer whose articles and chapters are starting to get published.
When Paula made her entrance into this world, she was a disappointment to her parents because of her gender. This pattern followed her throughout life creating many limiting beliefs that attracted abuse, physically, emotionally, and sexually. It started as young child, the grooming and sexual abuse, she was raped as a teenager and saw no worth in herself. Denied of education and forced to work in a trouser factory at the age of fourteen, her life seemed very bleak. Breaking free at fifteen years old, she left her roots to find excitement, and there were some happy times that she subconsciously sabotaged to remain a victim.
Being a successful entrepreneur brought her wealth and stability, she raised her boys singlehandedly and all went well until at the age of fifty-four. Pursuing justice left her bankrupt, homeless and wanting to end it all. Starting at the bottom of the pile she took a job, something alien to her as she had been self-employed for thirty years. Feeling like a hamster on a wheel, working and paying with little fun or peace in life, the wolf always at the door.
During this time Paula looked for ways to heal, earning a degree in psychology was the start of her love affair with the mind and healing trauma and events. Acknowledging the past for what it is, past, and letting go. Stripping away the layers opened new possibilities and perspectives, healing occurred, and her life became vibrant as she discovered happiness within.
Shelia Heard, a retired Army veteran and founder of the My Life My Terms™ Movement, is notorious for refusing to give up on "Self" despite the circumstances. That resilience saved Sheila:
• after she retired from the military to care for her daughter
• after she overcame a neurological illness leaving her blind with no use of her arms and legs
• after her son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia
• after another son died, and her third son was charged with murder.
Shelia has defied the odds vowing to never lose "Shelia"... To never lose "Self." Her strength will inspire you. You will feel power boiling up inside your gut, until it bursts open, freeing you from the control suffering and sorrow once had over you. That's because Sheila believes that while pain is unavoidable, suffering is a choice. She will invite you to choose freedom, to choose happiness, to choose life... on your own terms.
Veronica B. Light is passionate about self-empowerment and has been a seeker of truth since she was 7 years old. The profound, mystical experiences she has had that began at the age of 18 have led her to her life purpose and calling. She is a Spiritual Teacher, Licensed Ui Mentor, Empowerment Coach, Lightworker, practices mindfulness, meditation and is certified in several healing modalities, including NLP, Akashic Records, Yoga and is a Reiki Master. Veronica is on a mission to raising consciousness and teaches Oneness that closes the separation gap that occurs when people forget they are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Manuela is a certified yoga teacher and therapist with 32 years of experience, infusing the age-old wisdom of yoga with the therapeutic mindfulness-based practice of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy in Europe and the US.
Manuela is the mother of a special needs’ girl, born a micro preemie. Sarina, now 28 years old, is her greatest teacher. Manuela shares powerful tools with other special moms in her transformational workshops to help support their child to find their dream, whilst not losing sight of their own.
Manuela believes that if you can breathe you can practice yoga. Supporting people towards a life worth living, no matter the obstacles, is her mission. She knows life’s a balancing act and chooses to embrace what’s possible, staying committed to living with deep joy.
Manuela shares her healing journey in blogs, books and on social media. Her memoir-in-progress, I Cannot Die Until My Daughter Belongs, documents her mindful path as a special mother. And 365 Tiny Islands offers soulful practices that help us thrive despite life’s challenges.
Born in Germany she now lives with her husband and daughter in Santa Rosa, CA.
Karen Fulkerson is pretty sure she’s the quirkiest author on the planet. She’s a study of contrasts and a walking, talking non-conformist. She wears men’s flannel shirts and loves watching sports while also harbouring a weakness for shoes, jewellery, and wine. This short, slightly frumpy woman is also a natural-born caretaker and educator; she is at her best when providing guidance and support to others as they achieve happier lives for themselves. Her gifts for warmth, humour and authenticity are relished.
In this chapter, she hopes readers will be moved by her lifelong fight with depression and inspired to learn a step-by-step strategy for removing the illness’s stigma.
Life was rough during Karen’s earliest years; her depression, diagnosed at age 30, came from both genetics and emotional abuse. These experiences, while painful, provided an awakening... a drive and a focus to communicate that depression defines no one, and being diagnosed with it is not shameful.
She has only recently become a published writer, though she’s authored non-fiction works for years. After a career in science with the Government, she worked and volunteered in her local school system while raising her son with her husband.
Karen is now pursuing a decades-long dream to create family-friendly books that teach as well as entertain, to encourage family members to read together and discover interests in science, history and geography (#KayfulBooks, Fall 2019). Residing with her husband in Virginia, this quirky non-conformist loves travelling, spoiling her four rescue kitties, and attending every Def Leppard concert she can.
Margie O’Kane is a talented educator, speaker, visionary and mentor who has spent her life in the service of others. She has a fervent commitment to making a difference in people’s lives. This innovative gifted communicator has made it her mission to support people to live their value.
Her background is in client centred care, and she has worked as a Registered Nurse, Midwife and Consultant for over 50 years, as a Manager and Director of Nursing. She has trained hundreds of people in leadership, communication and clinical skills. She is a skilled auditor in many various Quality Standards.
Apart from her many Nursing and Midwifery qualifications, Margie has a BA Health Administration, a Master Trainer in Neuro Linguistic Programming and a Grief Counsellor qualification.
Her skills have helped her to mentor and consult many people, particularly women in their 70’s who she feels are made invisible by society, to encourage them to believe in their wisdom and skills and to share them with others in a meaningful way.
Margie’s new adventure is to equip baby boomer women to reignite their passion and purpose, so they have no regrets and live a complete life.
She lives by these words she was gifted with when she met His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “Have no regrets, put meaning in what you do and have a peaceful mind”.
Amy Boyer has been a psychotherapist in private practice for over 15 years. She graduated from Fordham University with a Masters in Social Work in 2001. From the age of five Amy has experienced numerous odd events in her life. These experiences have been a part of a slow awakening that has led her to study energy and consciousness with many teachers including Peter Loffredo, Jill Leigh, Kristin Kirk and Rob Wergin. In her work Amy combines traditional talk therapy with energy work to help people who are energetically sensitive begin to understand the journey we are all on. She is passionate about helping others face and release the pain and fear we hold so that we may become lighter and aid in our own evolutionary process.
Nadia is a Heart-Cantered Entrepreneur, Yogi, Yoga Teacher, Travel Addict, Professional Wanderer, Retreat Junkie, Idea Machine and Creativity Lover, as well as – a Transformational Travel Specialist and Brand + Marketing Strategist with over 15 years’ experience in high-level corporate Business, Branding + Marketing in the travel industry.
She has travelled extensively and attended many retreats, some of them, very transformational, which led her to make big changes in her life, one of them was taking a leap of faith; she followed her heart and turned entrepreneur.
As a former corporate marketing manager working with companies like American Express, Virtuoso and Signature amongst other travel industry heavy-weights, and as a heart-based entrepreneur, she is empowered to wholly understand the needs, challenges, aspirations, limiting-beliefs and vision of like-minded entrepreneurs and offer a mindful and conscious marketing approach.
Jason is a Certified Profit First Professional Coach, specialising in driving Profit Growth in entrepreneurial and owner managed businesses. Jason’s mission is to help entrepreneurs and business owners create businesses that reward them financially for the effort that they invest. As a Profit Growth Strategist and Profit Mentor, Jason helps business owners to get clarity over their finances, teach them how to bake profit into every transaction, pay themselves first and set aside money for taxes - whilst taking the stress out of cashflow management.
Jason helps ambitious online entrepreneurs and owner managed businesses to get intentional about improving their profitability with simple strategies, meaning they get to live and love a more profitable existence.
25+ years of commercial experience blend into a hybrid mix of business coach, consultant and CFO bringing strategic and tactical support to businesses looking to transform their profitability
Gila Nehemia is a spiritual erotic poet, writer, coach, and wise woman. She’s passionate about empowering people to experience a Sacred Erotic Love Partnership within and without. She believes that conscious erotic self-love changes the paradigm of love relationships in a person’s inner and outer circles.
As a Shamanic healer, Gila loves nature and utilizes its inherent healing properties to heal herself and her loved ones. She holds Sacred Circles for women to provide support and divine transmission. She believes we’re all on this earth to help each other grow and to radiate our light and love onto the world.
Stephen Bryant is a former Pastor and business manager, having spent time in Maine, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
His resume includes ministry with the St. John's Maple Leafs, the AHL affiliate of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and has served in executive positions with the social profit sector for the last six years.
He is a certified coach, trainer and speaker with the John Maxwell Team.
Stephen now lives in Fort McMurray with Patti, his wife of forty years. They have four adult children and three grandsons.
Nick began his career in the mind/body world in 1998 as a fitness trainer followed by cycling coach and in 2001 a yoga teacher. In 2005 Nick started One Breath Yoga LLC and by 2012 had taught everywhere from treatment centers, Oregon prison system and for Nike and Adidas. In 2012 he started Mind Body Resilience Training after expanding beyond the western yoga model with circuit fitness, trauma discharging, myofascial release and cold therapy and took it to military and veterans. He currently lives in Sedona, AZ and integrates his experience with outdoor adventure into his 10 day MBRT training programs.
Lori is a licensed physical therapist, best selling author, featured representative on TV as women's health advocate & pain release expert and a 30 year leader in Myofascial Release from a whole body, mind & spirit perspective.
She founded Advanced Release Therapy in Sedona, AZ where people come from all over the world to participate in her signature Pain Release & Pelvis Wellness Retreats. She treats those struggling with all types of pain and is especially successful with those who have chronic complex problems that have not found results anywhere else. Through her gentle, intuitive approach, Lori has mastered the ability to facilitate letting go of the physical, emotional and energetic restrictions that are no longer needed and nurture the emergence of your potential.
Lori has masterfully designed 1 of the highest quality and caring expert teams that deeply care about each person and their journey to discover their own Body Wisdom. They all have the ability to evaluate and listen to what your body needs during each treatment & highly coordinated to guide the connection of your soul back home into your physical tissue for freedom from pain and total healing.
In addition, she founded the international Myofascial Mastery Academy, evolving the application of MFR to a whole new level, leading inspiring seminars with a fresh perspective on how healing from pain and trauma occurs from her trademarked Z-way technique.
