Day 172: Cheryl Martinson

March 21, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“… first and foremost, my own belief is in myself.  We cannot become truly inspired if we do not believe in our ability to achieve greatness.  Also, it’s critical to surround yourself with like-minded and empowering individuals … they will enhance your experience and improve your chances of succeeding by giving you like added inspiration and encouragement …”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Cheryl, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Cheryl Martinson: Yes.  My name is Cheryl Martinson, and I call myself an “inspirepreneur.”  What my aim is to put together a website.  I’ve actually got one going right now, CherylMartinson.net, and it’s inspirational resources for anyone who is seeking personal transformation, and I’m hopefully becoming a well-known author; that’s my main goal.

Toni: So how do you go about this, the way you inspire people?  Who you inspire, I would imagine, are people that would come to you for these resources, but how does that happen?  How do you inspire others with that?

Cheryl: Well, I’ve gathered a lot of information, a lot of resources that I personally use.  I brought it all together into one site so everyone can come together and actually use those.  In other words, sometimes if you’re not sure exactly where to go about trying to change your life for the better, where do you go, what do you do?  Well, I put it all together.

Toni: Oh, that’s fantastic!  Well when you … knowing that you are … well, the resources that you’ve used to inspire yourself that you’ve put this collection out there for others for personal transformation, how do you then help others to explore their potential with this?

Cheryl: Well, my goal is to inspire those who are currently and actively seeking personal growth and transformation, so anyone who has an interest in creating a better life and is willing to learn.  So, I do this by providing the related products and services and putting them all on the website, and I’m also putting together a workbook and an e-course that’s going to be available like around the end of March, beginning of April.

Toni: Oh, okay, so this is for whatever tool that someone reaches for, they might be able to have a workshop to support it?

Cheryl: Yes.

Toni: Oh, fantastic!  So what brought you to that?

Cheryl: Actually, it was a passing of one of my friends.  She passed away, and I remember feeling that life was over as I knew it.  And I guess once I started to pick myself back up and realize that, you know, life is going to go on regardless, and I started to look into other things that actually made me feel better – I started reading books and listening to audios and then I actually … it sparked a real passion of mine, and then I’ve just gone from there.

Toni: So that leads very nicely into the third question of the Project, which is, what do you need to be inspired?

Cheryl: Well, first and foremost, my own belief is in myself.  We cannot become truly inspired if we do not believe in our ability to achieve greatness.  Also, it’s critical to surround yourself with like-minded and empowering individuals, people that really make you feel good.  These people will not do the work for you, but they will enhance your experience and improve your chances of succeeding by giving you like added inspiration and encouragement on our spiritual journey.

Also, I use a whole bunch of books, and those are such a huge inspiration to me.  Our libraries are a wealth of knowledge and stories of success that can help inspire you to keep going, even when life appears to be challenging.  Actually, I just went to the library today, and I always get audio books and drive around in my vehicle listening to anything that’s inspiring and motivational.

Toni: What are you drawn to?  Are there particular tools or books or types of inspiration that you seem to reach for on a consistent basis?

Cheryl: Yeah, anything to do with Napoleon Hill.  Right now, I’m listening to the Laws of Success.  It’s like a five-volume audio book.  So anything to do with things like Napoleon Hill, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, anyone who looks really, really deep into how we tick and how we can actually improve ourselves with our mind.

Toni: Now the personal transformation that has, I don’t know, become this passion, I guess, is the way you would describe it … you said that there was a moment in time with the loss of your friend that led you down this path – do you think you were always on that path, or was it truly that that was your defining moment for you?

Cheryl: Well, I’ve always been a seeker of truth or a seeker of knowledge, but never to this degree, but I’ve always read books and I’ve always been interested, but I’ve always found that I never actually went too much into detail with it, because I was almost embarrassed.

Toni: What would have been embarrassing about it?

Cheryl: Well, I never knew there were other people that felt the same way or believed the same thing, and I always … I guess I didn’t have the confidence to even share that portion of myself, or wasn’t quite sure, but I think that at that point, I was … I would just … that’s where it blossomed.

Toni: Yeah, and that’s where it became a personal transformation for you.

Cheryl: Exactly.

Toni: Right, right.  So, Cheryl, what do you do to explore your own potential?  What you need for that to happen?

Cheryl: I would say time.  I put a lot of time to the side to focus on myself and my personal development.  I do this daily, and it does not have to be a long time during the day – it can be 10 minutes or an hour, however long it takes to reenergize and refocus and regroup.  I also ensure that there’s time … that this time is a priority.  It’s not something that is a special occasion.  It’s a priority; it’s a need.  It’s one of my basic needs, really, and so whenever I can squeeze in some time … usually I schedule this time like in the morning.  I take the time to meditate, visualize, read, whatever I need to do to achieve focus on my personal growth.

I don’t use this time to clean or do extra errands for myself; it’s actual personal development time, so it’s specific to turning to myself and is made to be a part of my daily ritual.

Toni: That’s pretty incredible that you’re actually carving that out.  So many of us don’t do that.

Cheryl: Yeah, they don’t see it as a need.  They just see that as something that they would definitely try to, you know, oh, I’ll do that one time.

Toni: Absolutely.

Cheryl: Yeah.

Toni: Are there resources now that you’re also reaching out for to help you explore your own potential, that you can continue to provide these resources, new resources, to others?

Cheryl: Yeah, I do this on a daily basis.  I continuously research, and I always find something really, really amazing just around the corner.

Toni: Is most of your research done on the web, then?

Cheryl: Yeah, a lot of times it’s on the web.  A lot of times I also go to a center here in my hometown, and it’s a Center for Spiritual Living, and a lot of times I’ll go there.  It’s right up my alley with personal transformation and growth.

Toni: Oh, that sounds fantastic.  Well, I know there’s a lot of people that will benefit from the resources that you’ve put on your site, and will be able to see where you are and find you.  We’ll post your information at the bottom of the interview, and for what you’ve done for others and what you’re doing for yourself, we can’t thank you enough for being so honest on the interview, and thank you very much for being here today.

Cheryl: Thanks for having me.  It was wonderful.  I’m really excited about the Project.

Toni: Well, thank you, Cheryl, and good luck to you.

Cheryl: Thank you.  Take care.

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For more information about Cheryl Martinson:  www.cherylmartinson.net

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