Natalie Ledwell: Hi! I'm Natalie Ledwell and this is the inspiration show. Now today, my special guest and passion peep is founder and CEO of Dream University, Marcia Wieder. Now she is known for giving inspiring and moving talks to notable companies such as ITNT, Gap, American Express, she is very very much in demand. Now in addition to being a very charismatic speaker, which you will soon find out, she is also the renowned author of four chain books dedicated to achieving your dreams. So books like Making Your Dreams Come True, Life is But a Dream and Doing Less and Having More. She's also a columnist of the San Francisco Chronicle. In that column, she encourages people to take the great dream challenge. Which is a call to arms for dreamers of all walks of life. Now Marcia has appeared several times on The Oprah Show, not just one, and the Today Show. She's been sharing her message of a passion filled life with means and means of use. She is also featured on the national PBS television special, Making Your Dreams come true. Now, not only am I, had such a pleasure to have met Marcia because she is an absolute inspiration, but also I have her on this show. Now, also I know this is a little bit out of the ordinary, but please keep watching watchers to this interview cause I have a very special announcement that I would like to share with you at the end. So enjoy, and I'll see you at the end of the video.

Natalie: So hi Marcia, welcome to the show.

Marcia: I'm happy to be here. Hi!

Natalie: Now, the reason that we've been asked you, this is the passion peep segment, because you are someone don't only lives your life on passion but you inspire others to do so as well. Now I'm sure that it hasn't always been an easy road for you. So can you share some of your story with everyone.

Marcia: Well it's really a question of how far back we wanna go. I mean the year that I was born, my five year old sister lost her hearing, actually went deaf. And she's still my big sister and she's quite handy. But it was a big part of my story and I realized that a certain point after being on Oprah, many times and in front of live audience as the audience getting bigger and bigger, I was filling less and less fulfilled. Because the truth if it was, the person that wanted to hear me was my deaf sister. So that was a big early on story formed me. Also I was married and the marriage didn't work out. You heard my story, I bought a house and it turned out that the house was falling off the cliff. So, I think any good speaker or coach or teacher has lived through the ups and downs of life. And I think it's really, I'm not the first one to say this, but it's really about how do we deal with it. And I just come back to this practice of trying to remember who I am, and that okay, good days and bad days, in spite of it all, can I stay more committed to my dreams than to any doubt fear or reality that tries to get in my way. And that's been my motto. But certainly it has been a life of ups and downs. And I would say that the things that I would celebrate the most, the highs of my life, and the things that I'll probably grieve or mourn the most have been the most profound moments of my life. So all of it.

Natalie: Right. Okay. Now, I often find that fine threads or maybe a specific event that gets you from the life that you were living to where you are now. So is there any kind of moment or event or fine threads that actually got you to this, on this journey?

Marcia: Well, I've been on the journey for a long time. 14 books ago, I've been doing this for a long long time. I was doing volunteer work for the Make a Wish Foundation, I think that was probably the moment form me. And, Make a Wish is been in the business, non-profit, but in the business of granting wishes to dying or children with life threatening diseases. They've granted tens of thousands of wishes all over the world. And many many years ago I went into do volunteer work. Five of us sat around a table. I remember there was an exposed light pole hanging down, paint kind of peeling off the wall, non-profit land but the work that they were doing there was so priceless and meaningful. And I love the meeting, during the meeting we talked about how we are gonna raise money just send a kid to Disneyland and get a little girl puppy dog. And I loved that meeting when I went out to my car, I went to put my keys into the ignition, and I started to sob. I've been so deeply impacted by who those people were, what they were doing. And at some level I was being shown my own future, my own destiny. Because the next 30 years, kind of shocking to me, but the next 30 years my life has been and continue to be dedicated to help people make their dreams come true. And the extraordinary thing, that's current now, is that just recently I moved to Santa Monica, I mean development on a national television show and I got too asked to be on the adviser board for the Make a Wish Foundation. And it all happened kind of in one day. Did this audition and they said "oh you're perfect." And then I went to the Make a Wish Foundation and they said "we'd love to have you." It was this extraordinary balance. Something that can make my head really big. Like "oh, you want me for TV?" And something really heart felt and important being on the Make a Wish Foundation Board. The, I think for me that's really where it all started. But I have to tell you Natalie, I never imagined that the rest of my life would be about making dreams come true. And I have a quote that I like and it's: there's the dream that you have for your life and there's the dream that life has for you. When they meet, it's a magical moment. But I just, it's just I never would've imagine that my life would've been dedicated to helping people make dreams come true. Now, from where I sit, now, now, I can sit. Okay, next year working with it to make 1 million people achieve their dreams. Now, it's like it took me for long enough that I finally surrendered to, not only that this is what I'm doing but it really is who I am. So, it all started with a volunteer.

Natalie: Awesome! that's an awesome story.

Marcia: Thanks for asking.

Natalie: Now, the next question I have is that, you know, I know that, in my experience, success doesn't just happen. And most successful people have, you know, daily routine or specific success habits that they have to keep them on track. So, what are some of the things you do in your days to keep you on track and focus on your goals?

Marcia: So, Every morning I hear from God. And, I don't, it's not that I pray, I actually do a practice called active imagination were I dialogue with God. In my journal I write M for Marcia and G for God. And it's like being in a conscious relationship with my trusted source. And it's where I get my wisdom, my insight, my guidance. I never feel alone, I always feel health, I feel very protective most of the time except when I forget and I literally have 30, 40 journals. Filled with this, this conversation with God. Now the practice is, to live in integrity with my source, You know, I have a little thing that I do right, muscle test myself, you know, show m yes show me no. So I do it for like chicken or fish. Should I eat chicken or fish? And if I ignore it, it starts to really disempower my ability to trust my intuition. So it's the same thing if I'm getting a download from God or from my trusted source or whatever, you know, however you referred to that part of yourself. And then I go: Ah, never mind. Or: Ah, not so much. That really disempowers it. So I think the fact that I have this practice for so long, and has such a deep level of respect for the wisdom and really do my best, I'm human, do my best to live in integrity with it. It's really proven to be a priceless, really really priceless practice for me.

Natalie: Awesome. Interesting.

Marcia: Yeah. And the other thing I'd had on is that I, you know, I'm crazy for integrity. Like I just really really bend over backwards to keep my word. I recently had this, I really don't like to admit it, but I really had this insight that actually using integrity as a way for me to control everybody in my life.

Natalie: Right.

Marcia: You said you do. Then you have this. I'm coming clean, right here. In front of Natalie and the world. You know, but most the time I just tried to really really keep my word and if I screw up I try to clean it up as quickly as possible. And I think it makes me a really good girlfriend, it makes me really trustworthy teacher and that's something I have a lot of value on.

Natalie: Exactly, and the thing is, if that's what you project to the world, that's what you're attracting back.

Marcia: I like to think so. And it is a key thing, I mean, I've trained and certified over 12 hundred dream coaches, like life coaches. And all over the world this work is being thought in prison, in battered women shelters, in the school system, incorporation with lots of individuals. And the number one principle of being a dream coach is to live with integrity. So it's a three levels, keeping your agreements with, for me, keeping my agreements with myself which is often the hardest, keeping my agreements with others, which I tend to be better about, and then in a deep spiritual level, keeping my agreements with God. Which is really about living on purpose and really living into my destiny even when it scares the bajeezus out of me.

Natalie: When you think really I'm going down this road.

Marcia: Me? Me? This? What? Why? Yeah, and I think that's really good for your listener's to know that that, you know, I've been Jack Hanfield's personal coach for three years and, you know, I'm very proud of my accomplishments. I've worked very very hard but I still get neurotic, insecure. I still have doubt and fear. The good news is I know how to catch myself in the act and coarse correct a little more quickly. You know, and I have coaches and colleagues and friends and mentors that I turn to, and it's just really important. It's not a linear process and the bigger the dreams sometimes, the more the freak out but, you know, God has a plan for you so what the heck?

Natalie: Exactly!

Marcia: Hold your breath and jump.

Natalie: Exactly. So my next question is, probably one that I get the most out of all questions I got sent, and it is: How do I keep positive when everything around me is negative? My whole world seems working against me, nothing seems to be going right. How do you keep focused on positive in that situation?

Marcia: Well I could talk a lot about that, let me see. The most important thing I would say is, when my favorite dream coach questions this: are you more committed to your dream or to your doubt, fear or reality. And you can tell which one you're more committed to by the action that you're taking or not taking everyday. And the number one way that we sabotage our dreams is, with three little words, we go "but what if." But what if I go for it and I fail, but what if it's bad idea, but what if I'm not good enough, blah blah blah. So I like to help people, can I tease apart, what is your dream, what is it that you want, what are your doubts and fears? And then I tell people: Hear from the doubter. It's a funny philosophy but you turn the voice of the doubter down it becomes the realist. The realist wants to know what's the plan, where are you gonna get the time, where are you gonna get the money. And before you turn the voice down, I invite you to hear from the doubter. Because your doubter voice will give you your list of obstacles. And wherever there's an obstacle, you can basically design a strategy to manage it. But it's all mushed together, we tend to do one foot, you know, one step forward two steps back. The other thing I wanna say is that: reality is an important part of the mix. You have to know where you are in order to design strategy for where you wanna go. But the question is: what has being realistic cost you. If you're overly realistic, it can cause you your passion, your dreams. It can cause you years of your life. And what is that mean being realistic anyway? What most of us do is we compromise our dreams down before we explore the possibilities. Looking at our checkbook, which is a terrible place to look, or the stock market, or the news. The place to look to decide whether not you believe in your dream is in your own heart. And my favorite question, what dream university stands for completely is: can you completely believe in something not because there are promises guarantees or assurances but simply because it matters to you? And then demonstrate that it really matters to you by doing something about it. The way to break through the dean, the doubt, the fear, the negativity in the world is to show that you're more committed to your dreams by taking action. And I also really do encourage have a coach, have a friend, have a colleague, have a support system, people who will lift you up, cheer you up, remind you of what a gift you are and most importantly support you. You know, support you and supportively hold you accountable taking your next step. I mean we all have fears and setbacks at different times. You know, it goes back to where we started. The questions what're you gonna do with it.

Natalie: Absolutely.

Marcia: Show that you are committed to your dreams by taking action cause your dreams matter. You know I also would say that for me personally, it's never been a better or important time to act on your dreams. The naysayers would say: what are you, kidding? This isn't time to hunker and be realistic. This is an extraordinary time to go into your heart, to discover what really is important to you. To put a stake in the ground and then to take action on it. To prove to the world, and I guess, to yourself that you're nor just talking about it, but you're serious about it.

Natalie: Absolutely. Okay, now I have one more question.

Marcia: Sure.

Natalie: And it may be hard to narrow this down to one thing, but if you have one piece of advice that you could tell the people watching today that they could implement today that would facilitate a positive change in their life, what would that one thing be?

Marcia: Let me think about that one thing. Write your dream down. I know it's been talked about forever. Fifty sixty years, you know, but the bottom line is get your dream out of your head.

Natalie: It's been absolutely fabulous. Now, if everyone wants to find out more about you where should I go? What URL?

Marcia: Best website for us is DreamUniversity.com. You'll find out about our life programs, online courses. There's all kinds of goodies right there on the home page. Free stuff. We love presents. www.DreamUniversity.com and I'm Marcia Weider, I'm the CEO and founder.

Natalie: Well I hoped that you enjoyed that interview. Now, what I wanted to say is next week, I'm attending an incredible seminar called How to Become an Inspiring Speaker which is being run by the beautiful Marcia Wieder. Now my invitation to you, is that if you are someone who has an amazing message to share with the world, I would like to learn the most powerful and effective way to do that then click on the banner to the side there. And you'll go through a website of Marcia's and you can find there how you can stream live into this game changing event from the comfort of your living room. Now, this is an awesome opportunity to, not only get access to leaders in the speaking world, but there are a ton of free bonuses there as well. So thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed the interview and I hope you can join us next week. I'll see you soon.