Day 288: Ann Farrell
“… that has been a huge part of what fills me is the opportunity just to show other people that, you know, I’m just a regular person who cares a lot, tries a lot, and amazing things can happen when you put those two things together.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Ann, for agreeing to be part of this Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
Ann Farrell: Certainly. Toni, my name is Ann Farrell, and I am a retired corporate executive who retired four years ago to launch my own executive and leader coaching business. I am passionate about helping women in particular to live their great lives and do their great work.
Toni: Well thank you, and thank you for showing up for us today. Ann, when you think of the word inspiration, who do you inspire and how does that happen?
Ann: You know, I had this conversation with my husband and he was like “Oh my God, you inspire everybody” which … ah! So it’s my family, it’s my friends, it’s just the people who know that what I do comes directly from my heart. In my corporate life, I was and am still the only woman who made it from entry level position to top of the house, and so all those other women in the organization were inspired just by the fact that if I can do it, they can do it. And that has been a huge part of what fills me is the opportunity just to show other people that, you know, I’m just a regular person who cares a lot, tries a lot, and amazing things can happen when you put those two things together.
Toni: When you care a lot and try a lot?
Ann: Yeah.
Toni: You know, how simple is that? The most simple statement, but yet the most powerful. That’s fantastic.
Ann: Thanks.
Toni: So by being this way and working this way, how do you think it helps other people to explore their potential?
Ann: Oh, thank you. You know, it’s because in all of us is the capacity to make a huge difference, and the first step is just being aware of the special gifts that we’ve been given. And then the very next step, as soon as we are aware, is the knowing that there’s responsibility that comes from that.
So helping others to see that they are special, to awaken to their gifts, to their experiences, to knowing that everything that comes to them comes to them for a reason, and the reason is never about them or us, right? It all comes whether it’s the gift, the experience, the pains, the joys, so that we can be in more service to others.
So just living this way and freeing others from, you know, the simple ways we get in our way, like the thought of perfection or thinking that things should be different than anything other than what they are. Once we can free those kind of burdens that get in our way, it’s amazing the difference that we can make, and they get to feel that very, very quickly.
Toni: What inspires you?
Ann: I am inspired by need. It doesn’t take much looking around to see that there is need everywhere, and I know that I can make a difference for a whole lot of those needs. So I have to say, Toni, that I am always inspired. What I’m not always as clear about is exactly how I’m supposed to make a difference in different places, but where I have that clarity, I know that I have to do something.
Toni: Can you give your definition of need?
Ann: Thank you. You know, the first word that came to mind when you said that was pain.
Toni: Why?
Ann: When I think of the needs that call to me the strongest, it’s when I see others who are in pain. The pain of loss, the pain of fear, the pain of the common one of “I am not enough.” That is the pain … that is the need that calls to me the strongest, to help people let go of the stories they’ve made up that give them pain. And it’s like that is the critical need, and beyond that there’s lots of others, but when we’re not in pain, we can become so much more self-efficient that we maybe don’t need as much help from others.
Toni: It’s interesting … I just thought that, listening to you, that the less that you are in pain as well, the more sustainable you are.
Ann: Yeah.
Toni: And that’s a huge word. That’s a very powerful word, sustainable, sustainability, and the less pain … there’s so much around that, so that just sparked that thought for me, and I’m sure others will think about your words as well in different ways. It’s amazing.
Now, when you are searching for inspiration, you might wake up one day and say “You know, today’s the day I really could be inspired; hello?” Do you tend to reach consistently for the same types of tools or resources when you’re looking to be inspired?
Ann: So here’s the irony, Toni – whenever I’m looking to be inspired, something happens, and it’s usually something that has to do with my 14-year-old son, or my husband, or my dad with Alzheimer’s. Something happens that’s sort of just like a 2 x 4 up the side of my head that’s like “Oh, yeah, look at that. There it is all along.”
So when I say that, it’s like … my son is the most genuine, authentic person I’ve ever met in my life, even at the expense of whatever that may cost him. So watching him — like no guy, no “pleaser” bones in him — inspires me to be more like that myself.
My husband is the best person I know in the world for knowing how important it is to take care of yourself on all levels; you know, your happiness, your peace, your physical … I mean, all of that. And so, when I watch him and what he does, that inspires me to take more care of myself.
So I am blessed to be surrounded by people in my life who are my lessons that I need to learn. So I take inspiration by watching them, and if I need more inspiration … I don’t know if this is true or just something that I’ve made up, but I think that I know in my life two kinds of souls – blue souls and green souls.
I have friends, and my husband is this way as well, that when they need to feel recharged – which to me, that’s what is … if I’m not naturally inspired, then I need recharging. When I need to be recharged, I seek out blues. Water, blue sky. Somehow, just looking at those I can feel deep in my soul a recharging happening. My husband and several of my friends are recharged by greens. You know, walking in a forest, being amongst trees. The green of a river bed. In nature, while it may call to us differently, there’s a huge recharging capability of just letting go of everything else and being with what is so natural.
So that is always my final level of if I really need more inspiration beyond what the Universe is bumping me upside the head with every day, then I just need to be around blue water, blue sky, and that does it.
Toni: When you made the statement that it’s being with something that’s natural, what does that mean?
Ann: That means something that is not human-made, something that brings me back to the spirit that is in all of us, the connection that lives way beyond any of us individually. It’s a way for me to connect with that which is bigger and so much more important than what I’m trying to achieve with my little life.
Toni: What are you doing now to continue to explore your own potential?
Ann: Oh, Toni, I know that I am preparing for a much bigger game. I feel it. I am constantly recreating and reinventing myself and my business and my impact. What I have to keep doing is to keep getting ready, to be open to what comes into my life and be prepared to do something with it when the time is right. So I compare knowing that I want and need and have a responsibility to play a bigger game with …
My biggest stakes are right here at home. So it’s the game versus the stakes that I’m constantly aware of, and to finally be able to be home with my son — I’ve been here since he has been 10, versus being this corporate executive who is really busy and hurried home as fast as she could. It’s a gift to me and it’s a gift to him. Being here for my dad as he’s going through the final stages of Alzheimer’s … I have to say that too is a gift to me as much as it is to him. Being here for my husband so his career is the one that gets to come first, it’s a wonderful … again, it’s a joy for me to watch him flourish and thrive and grow with that freedom.
So my stakes are here, but even underneath all of that, I feel myself getting ready for when the time is right to really take the gifts that I have and make a bigger difference for the people that need what I have to give.
Toni: This interview has been incredibly powerful; I mean, they all are, but there’s words that I write down, certain words that come to me as I’m listening to these interviews, and listening to people speak like yourself, and the word that I wrote down for you is connection, because there’s connections between yourself … it’s almost a reciprocation going on. You’ve got connections with not only who you inspire but how that happens, and how that manifests into people that are exploring their own potential between you and them, but also the connections to your family that you spoke so beautifully of that you are connected with, that inspires you, but that also then is reciprocated back to those who you inspire. That is the biggest thing that I have heard in this interview, and that is beautiful.
Ann: Wow. Thank you, Toni.
Toni: You’re welcome. Thank you very much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project, Ann, and we will post a link that people can check out a website and see what you do at the bottom of the transcript, and for being here today with us, thank you.
Ann: Thank you very much. It was my pleasure.
Toni: Take care, Ann.
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For more information about Ann Farrell: www.quantumendeavors.com, www.yourcorporatesuccess.com
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