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

Rob Britt: Sure.  My name is Rob Britt, and I primarily consider myself a writer, although I wear a lot of hats.  I work with my wife in a company called Britt Marketing, which is a sort of an internet marketing, social management stuff, and I also blog at The All Health Network about health and fitness pretty much daily, and I do community theater, and I also do improv comedy, plus I am the inspiration scout for the Get Inspired! Project, at least for a couple more months.

Toni: Absolutely, and if you wouldn’t have added that to your introduction, I was definitely going there.  So everybody who has enjoyed the interviews, Rob has just been one of, as he calls himself, the inspirational scout, and has found you and your referrals, so thank you so much for that as well.  It’s important for you to be part of the Project in the last 100 days, so this is awesome.  Rob, when you think about inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does it happen?

Rob: Well, I inspire people I think … and I think this a question a lot of people struggle with because you like to think you put things out to the Universe and that, you know, people are responding, but you know, are you “inspiring people?” That’s in quotes “inspiring people.”

I think that because I put myself out there and I try to provide information to people, and people find me through different websites that I have or through maybe YouTube or different video hosting areas, and I put out videos and blog posts on sort of how to do things — let’s say instructional sort of videos, things on software, some WordPress stuff, Moviemaker, all kinds of things like that — and I think people find those and realize that, you know, even if you don’t know about something, you can find the answer somewhere.

I try to help people by providing answers to questions, so if somebody wants to make a video or wants to learn how to be more fit maybe they might find what I provide, and maybe it helps them to lead a better life or, you know, at least some aspect of their life gets better.  So hopefully people are inspired by that sort of thing.

Toni: So really the inspiration occurs … as you said, sometimes you don’t know, but what you’d like to think is that it occurs in all the work that you do trying to find resources, and then putting it out there for people.  So it’s not only finding the answers for others to learn from, but it’s also the process you go through.

Rob: Right, exactly.

Toni: How do you think that by doing that and living the life that you’re leading and the work that you do, Rob, how do you think that it helps people to explore their potential?

Rob: Well, I have sort of a couple of examples.  I was poring over this question trying to figure out how people explore their potential through things, and some of the videos I have, like I said, help people to do things that they might not know that they can do.

I think the thing that really kind of sends shivers up and down my spine sometimes is when somebody writes me and says “Thank you for doing this, because I realize that I can accomplish this goal.”  One in particular I had, a young kid who I was think 18-19 years old and found a video that I have that’s like an instruction on how to run a 5K – which 5K is just a little over 3 miles – and the video was about if you don’t even walk much, you can follow this program, and within eight weeks or something, you could run a 5K.  And I’m not talking running some sort of world-record time or anything, but just completing the task.

This kid found the video and followed it, and then he wrote me and said “You know, I followed your video and through the instruction, I completed a 5K and I’ve lost 50 pounds, and it has totally changed my life.”  It totally changed his perspective from being just, you know, like … I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but from being like a couch potato and being overweight and not being able to do things, and knowing now he can do things, and I helped with that.

And you know, I think either in fitness or in work or your life or whatever, you’re either making an effort to make things happen, or you’re making excuses why they’re not happening.  I’m trying to help people know that their efforts can bear fruit, I guess.

Toni: Well that’s a great way to put that as far as people exploring their potential.  If they don’t put the effort forth, then they won’t be able to do that, so you’re not only trying to educate them on what the end result can be, but what that effort would look like, and that’s a really cool way to handle that.  So Rob, what inspires you?

Rob: Lots of things.  I like … it sounds … I mean, because we’re so close to this Project and obviously listening to the interviews on a regular basis, and you know, sometimes I won’t listen to an interview or any interviews for a couple days in a row and then I have like this marathon session of listening to four or five interviews within an hour or two, and it kinds of gives a window into what’s possible.  I think that listening to them lets people know that you aren’t really limited in what you can do, and I think a lot of people don’t realize what is possible and what they can do, and what’s inside them.

I mean, I listen to interviews.  I’m huge into reading books.  I think like it’s like visiting an old friend, because I re-read books a lot of times, or like finding a new friend.  I read mostly fiction and biographies because I’m looking for information.  I mean, I read some light … scratch that … I read mostly nonfiction and biographies.  Sometimes I’ll read some light fiction just to give my mind a break, but I like reading things on thinking, the process of thinking, and psychology and fitness and stuff.  I really like authors like, I’ll say, Malcolm Gladwell where he looks at one little thing and kind of opens up your eyes about it.

I hope that I’m passing all my love of reading … at least one of my kids, my youngest daughter, gave me a book for my birthday this year that was called The Yes Man and it was by a guy named Danny Wallace.  They made a movie about it; Jim Carrey starred in it.  The movie was pretty good, but the book was … I mean, it was a true story where this guy just decided that he had too much negativity in his life, and he was going to start saying “yes.”  Whenever anybody made an offer to him, he was going to say “yes” and just see where that led him, and he made a kind of pact with himself that he was going to do this for a year.

My daughter read this book, and she immediately, which I’m blown away, that she immediately thought of me and she was like “Wow, that’s like my dad” and she bought it for me and gave it to me for my birthday.  That’s like, you know … it’s just the possibilities of what’s out there if you say yes, and I think that goes along with the rest of what I said with this answer, that you don’t know what’s possible until you try it, until you really make an effort and say yes to things.

Toni: Absolutely.  What a great inspiration you must have been for your daughter to think of you for that book as well.

Rob: I have hopes.

Toni: So how do you explore your own potential?  You’ve spoken about how you love to read and learn and you do this research – what else happens with you?  What else do you do to explore your own potential?  How about in the … you mentioned in your introduction that you do theater and stand-up?  What happens?  How do you explore your potential in those areas?

Rob: Well, I think that a lot of life – and you mentioned the word education – that it’s like challenging yourself and not getting into a rut, because, you know, there’s an old saying, and I’ll probably get this wrong because I’m kind of doing all this off the top of my head, but there’s an old saying that, you know, the difference between a rut and a grave is like the depth, and if you stay in a rut long enough, you’re going to walk yourself right into your grave.

I think that everybody needs to challenge themselves to kind of try to, you know, look at themselves, because I think that people start out their life and make huge decisions about their life when they’re young.  You know, are you going to college?  Are you not going to college?  Are you going to work?  And then you end up working at something that maybe doesn’t have anything to do with your passion and you’re stuck in this rut.

So I think, to answer your question, at certain points in my life … like I was 36 years old and said to my wife … and I’m so lucky to have a wife who is so supportive of things, because at 36 I just said to her “You know, I think I’m going to audition for this musical.”  I saw an ad in the paper for auditions, and I think most people would think you were insane, because I never did any theater whatsoever.  I didn’t do anything in high school, I didn’t do anything in college.  I didn’t do anything in this nature at all, and I auditioned for a musical and got cast in the lead in the musical singing a five-part harmony, and it just like blew me away that, you know, I’m doing something that I really hadn’t ever thought of much in my life.

I had a conversation last night about this where you don’t have to think “Oh, I’m 30, I can’t try something new,” or “I’m 40, I can’t try something new.”  I graduated from college when I was 41 because I had … my first marriage broke up and I had a lot of troubles, I’d say, early in my life.  My first marriage broke up because my first wife didn’t support me in things that I wanted to do, and she thought going to school was a waste of time.  I had gone to college when I had first gotten out of high school and dropped out of college because I just got involved in things that weren’t conducive to thinking so much, I’ll just put it that way, and she wasn’t supportive of me getting an education, so you know … that was one factor, and we ended up not together.

That’s another thing where you can say, you need to know that you’re not stuck, no matter where you are.  I got divorced, and I got custody of my two kids who were one and three at the time, and I was a single dad for four years with those two until I met my new, wonderful wife, my forever wife, and you know, you don’t have to be stuck in a rut.

Theater, doing that and going out for that show … I auditioned for a few more shows and then somebody told me about an audition for an improv troupe, and I thought “Wow, that’s kind of cool,” because you know, I think of people like John Belushi or Dan Aykroyd or original Saturday Night Live people and thought “That’s really cool stuff.”

So I auditioned for this troupe and made it and ended up going out to Second City in Chicago, which is a training center that all these people went to — Joan Rivers, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Mike Myers.  And I went out there for a week’s worth of training just on improv and writing, and just thought “I’m going to try to do everything I can and challenge myself to new things,” which is kind of what I said a few times in this interview; you know, challenging yourself and not getting stuck in a rut.

You mentioned stand-up, and we talked a little bit about that offline.  I’m 47, and tonight I’m going to go to an open mic and I’m going to do stand-up.  It’s going to be the first time ever that I’ve done it, and I’m scared and excited, but you know, I think you have to keep challenging yourself in life to grow, and that’s how I try to … that’s where I get inspired.

Toni: Well, you can hear a lot of … I think the word education is really the takeaway for me here, because with your interview – and people will have their own perspective as well – but the way that you’ve shared information, even during this interview about who you hope to inspire and help people explore their own potential by the education that you go through for yourself so that you can provide that education for others and encouragement, and then it’s also what you’ve been through.  You know, the road that you’ve traveled, the courage it takes to do your stand-up tonight, to say I’m just going to do it – and raising two children on your own because that was important, and learning along the way, so that’s what I’m hearing.

It’s not just, you know, staying at it and being tenacious, but it’s learning and then sharing, and that’s awesome.  So for sharing your time today on the Get Inspired! Project, we can’t thank you enough, Rob.  And also thank you for all of the work that you’ve done to help bring this Project to life.

Rob: Well thank you.  It’s been an amazing journey for me; I think for all of us who are directly involved in this Project, and such a learning and growing experience and tenacity – you just used that word.  I mean, you’ve been doing these interviews for nine months, and doing anything every day, getting up every day is tough.  Interviewing somebody every day … it blows the mind, you know, the journey we’ve taken, and I’m very happy to be a part of it, and I’m very happy to be a friend of yours.

Toni: Oh, thanks, Rob.  Take care and knock ‘em dead tonight!

Rob: Okay, thank you!

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For more information about Rob Britt:  www.britt-marketing.com, www.theallhealthnetwork.com, www.selfesteembuilder.net

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Toni Reece: Thank you so very much for agreeing to be part of this project, Ken, and before we begin with the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Ken Robert: My name is Ken Robert, and I created a website called mildlycreative.com; and I write about my little creative journey on there.  The tagline is “leading the life of quiet inspiration,” and it’s just about how I have begun just to explore things I wanted to do and try things out and then see where it led, and that’s how the website came about.

Toni: I love that saying, “quiet inspiration.”  And saying that quiet inspiration and in what you do Ken, or even in your personal life, when you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Ken: Well, I think the people that I hope to inspire — I mean based on lettters I get and what I have in mind when I write posts for the blog — is I’m trying to inspire people who …  Imagine if someone is reading a novel or a poem or they’re listening to music and they think to themselves, “How do they do that?  I’d like to know how to do that.”  I want to inspire them to give it a try.  And the way that I do that is by giving them permission to be bad at it and to be a beginner and just start things and not finish them.  Because I think there’s a focus about having goals and a mission and a plan and getting things done, but we don’t spend much time encouraging people to explore things.  And so that’s what I try to do on the blog.

Toni: I see, so basically by writing, through your writing, you are trying to give other people the permission to start something, stop something, but to experiment along the way, to maybe not focusing on the end game so much?

Ken: Yeah, because one of the things …  How it all began for me was I knew I wanted to do something creative, but I would get kind of panicky because I have all these ideas and I didn’t know how to implement any of them, and I thought you had to have a plan.  And what I began to do was just kind of get quiet and ask myself, “You know, what am I interested in doing right now at this moment?”  And I would kind of sit and wait and listen for the answer, and it might be, you know, I wanted to try an electric keyboard.

And so I went and bought this Casio keyboard at a local store, and I sort of played with that.  I wasn’t going to become a piano player, but I think what I’m trying to say is like, for instance, when they talk about Itzhak Perlman, the great violinist, and how many hours he spent to become a great violinist, is like 10,000 hours that he figured out to play the level he does.  And I think people look at that and they say, well, I don’t have 10,000 hours to spend, so I’m never gonna pick up a violin.  And if they’re interested in the violin, they don’t have to become Itzhak Perlman, they just have to be whatever it is they’re going to be with it, something that entered into their lives.  You know, everything doesn’t have to have an end game.  It can be just something for enjoyment or can feed some other aspect of your life when you enrich yourself, so that’s the idea.

Toni: Building on that thought, do you think that that also helps people to explore their potential, if they’re given permission to be bad, if they’re encouraged to explore?  Does that also help them with possible potential?

Ken: One of the things I talk about is do something daily, and before I had mildlycreative, I had a blog called Ken On Paper — which is how mildlycreative came about — and I had it and I wrote a thing called “Why bother writing?”  And then I didn’t write anything for 8 months, and then one day I said, “Well, what would happen if I wrote at least a sentence and posted it every day?”  And I called it the 365-day Experiment and it didn’t go for 365 days, because about day 90, I had ideas of what I wanted to do and that’s when I started to create mildlycreative.com.  But I would not have known that if I hadn’t explored that “what if” question, and as a result of sitting down and just …

It wasn’t a whole plan, it was just “Let’s see what happens,” and by doing that I think my writing got better and then I got the blog, and I started to draw, and I started to write poetry, and I started to do all these different things that I would not have done if I hadn’t just simply allowed myself to follow my curiosity.  And so that’s what I try and get people to do is, instead of …

I think we look around and see what other people are doing and say “I need to do something like that,” or “I need to figure out exactly what I’m going to do and have a plan for it.”  I think by giving them permission to just explore and to do something daily, just some small thing and see where it leads, at some point you’ll find out what it is you really want to do and then you can start setting the goals.  I think that is where you find your potential is by following what it is you’re interested in and what’s grabbing your attention and then doing something with it.

Toni: And if we’re not allowed to take that time to find those things that we’re interested in, how are we ever going to understand where our potential is, or that could lead to another road of a talent we didn’t even know we had.

Ken: Right, or an interest we didn’t even know we had.

Toni: Right.

Ken: I didn’t expect to write …  I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m a great poet, but I had no intention of writing poetry when I started to write that blog.  As I started to explore things, it came up one day and then I picked up a book of poetry and I started writing on my journal in verse.  Everything I was writing was in verse, even if it wasn’t great verse, it was in that style, and I found a new thing that I enjoyed doing … and some people enjoy reading.  But without that exploration, I would never have discovered that.  If I had said, “This is who I am going to be, and this is who I am and this is what I’m going to do” and didn’t allow myself to do a little wool gathering, I wouldn’t have known that about myself.

Toni: When you are in that spirit of exploring for yourself, what do you need to be inspired?  What do you find yourself reaching for or doing when you search for inspiration?

Ken: I talked about like curiosity, but I think of three things; one is that right there.  I’ve tried to be …  I went through a long time not feeling very motivated, and I think I was trying to be motivated by things that people were telling me I was supposed to be motivated by, because they were motivated by them.

For example, I applied for a position once, and I took this test and the recruiter said – these were his words – but he said, “Man, you couldn’t have scored higher on this test.  It shows you being visionary”; you’re this, you’re that.  He said “There’s only one problem.”  And I said what was that?  And he goes “You’re not very externally motivated.”  And I said “What does that mean?”  And he goes, “Well, basically it means you’re not motivated by money.”  I almost thought that was a weakness, but it’s just the way I am.  So to be inspired, I just follow that curiosity.  When I latched on to that, I realized that was my motivator.  That was my motivating factor.  That, and I have to connect to other people somehow.  I couldn’t be by myself all the time.

The blog is a great way for me to connect with people.  People leave comments.  I use Twitter.  Getting that little feedback and support, that keeps me going.  And then when you explore things like …  I draw, and a lot of my drawings are really horrible, but every now and then when I draw something I go “That looks pretty cool, that turned out really good”, or I write a poem and I end up reading it myself 10 times and I really like this.  That little buzz you get from when you either accidentally or purposely create something that you’re really pleased with, that’s another inspiring thing.

Toni: It’s interesting because what I’m hearing is the recognition.  You know, you spoke about giving permission earlier and that’s what you believing that you’re doing with your writing and your blog and the mildlycreative.  However, you also give yourself permission to look at something that you’ve created and go “You know what, that was pretty good!”

Ken: Yeah.  And I told some people yesterday, the difference between me today and 2 years ago — before I started doing things like this — is that being bad no longer bothers me because I built enough trust and confidence in myself that I can say I know I can get better.  I’ve gotten better at half a dozen things, so if there’s something that grabs my interest, I know I can get better at it because I’ve already had that experience.

Toni: So you’ve created that baseline.

Ken: Right.

Toni: When you’re doing this type of work and the curiosity and the connecting with others and so forth, what do you do to continuously explore your own potential?  The curiosity definitely would play a role in that.  Are there tools or techniques that you go reach for that help you to explore that potential in other areas, or maybe in the area that you’re already in?

Ken: I kind of alluded to this when I said that by having gotten better at some things, I just realized that I could get better.  And I think that what that does for you is you might …  I think in the beginning you might try out things that you’re interested in, but they’re not your biggest interest, they’re not the big desire.  But that big desire is still too scary, so you’re trying the things that are kind of like almost there.

I don’t know if that makes sense or not.  And at some point, when you’ve had enough success with those things, you say “Okay, I think I’m going to tackle this big idea.”  And so your potential develops by being able, or working up the courage to tackle things that are really scary to you.

You know, there are things that you’re really afraid to fail at because you want them so bad, and for me, you know, I just recently have been really getting interested in fiction because that’s what I always wanted to do since I was a kid.  And now it’s like “Okay, I think I’m going to tackle that.  I think I’m going to try and solve that mystery and work my way into writing fiction as well.”  But I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had some even small success at the other things I tried.

Toni: So it’s really taking those baby steps that are building that courage in order to move out of that comfort zone.

Ken: Right.

Toni: Right, wow … so do you think that by you doing that and taking those baby steps, connecting with others, having that courage to try and maybe not do as well as you thought but create that baseline for yourself, is that then transferred or rather translated into your blog that you post as far as how you might believe you’re inspiring others, by your own journey?

Ken: Yeah, that’s what I share in the blog is what I’m going through, what my thoughts are, and you know, I don’t ever say that I’ve got all the answers.  I say maybe it’s the same for you.  Maybe you’ve been through this.  I try this, and this works.  You know, sometimes I say “Here’s what I’m trying to do” and then a week later say, “Well, that didn’t work for me; it might work for you.”

But I think I’m just trying to be honest and let people see this guy kind of flip-flopping around, trying to find his way, and that’s how — by doing it out in the open — I think that allows people to say, “You know, I can do that too.  I can take chances, I can take risks, and I can screw up and pick myself up and start over again.  This guy’s doing it on a stage, on his blog in front of everybody.”  So that’s the idea.

Toni: Well, Ken, I can tell you that the words that I said I love early on in this interview “quiet inspiration”, it’s a very gentle way that you have of the exploration process that you spoke about all through this interview, which is exploring and experimenting and working towards your own potential and hoping by either making it or failing at it or having the courage to go through it and taking those baby steps, what a message that you are giving to others.  And I can only imagine how inspired people must be by your writing and by watching your journey and how honest you are.  And just this snapshot of time that you’ve given us in these 15 minutes has been an inspiration to me, and I know others are going to benefit by this interview and learn from it as well.  So for that, I truly thank you.

Ken: Thanks, Toni.

Toni: Thank you very much for your time today, and good luck to you, and I hope we speak again soon.

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For more information about Ken Robert:  www.mildlycreative.com

Home page thumbnail image from original art by Ken Robert.

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Toni Reece: Good morning, Barb, and I really appreciate that you have agreed to participate in this Get Inspired! Project and before we begin, can you introduce yourself?

Barb McMahon: Certainly.  My name is Barb McMahon, and I’m a blogger.  I have two sites.  One is called Happy Simple and the other is Strapped for Daily Photo.  I really enjoy writing; I like photography and just getting out and meeting people.

Toni: Great!  Well that leads us nicely into the very first question, which is, when you think about inspiration, Barb, who do you inspire and how do you go about that?

Barb: You know, I’m always surprised to find out that I have inspired anyone, and certainly in terms of the people around me, it’s always just a really pleasant surprise when someone says “Oh, I’m so inspired” by something that I’ve done or something that I’ve said.  And I think I do it mostly just by being true to myself, doing what I’m interested in and following my own inclinations.  And somehow people are inspired by that.  In my blog writing, I just try to write my best stuff, put my best stuff out there.  If it’s not very good, I wait until I can fix it up and then do it that way.  But I always think of inspiration as a conversation, and there’s two parts to it.  There’s what I do and then it meets a matching spark in someone, or it doesn’t.  And I can only control what I do, and if that sparks something in someone else then that’s fantastic; and if it doesn’t, I don’t take it personally.

Toni: Do you know, do you have a vehicle in place, that you know when you do inspire others?

Barb: I have comments open on my blog, and sometimes people will write in and say “Well, that was so cool, and it’s inspired me to do something.”  But I think sometimes people just take something away, and if they don’t leave a comment then I just won’t know, and that’s fine, too.

Toni: When you’re doing your work and your writing or even in your personal life, when you’re thinking about inspiration and writing your blog or dealing with others, do you ever find yourself in a place where you’re helping others to explore their potential?

Barb: I think I do sometimes and show them how to do something, encourage them to try something.  I was talking to … before I started this interview … that I’m not a life coach and I kind of joke that I’m actually more of a life cheerleader.  I really like to, if people say “Oh, I’d like to try such-and-so,” then I get behind them and say “Yes, you can do this, you can just give it a try, even if it doesn’t work out it’s okay, just give it a try.”  There’s no danger to most of it, you know; it’s give it a try and if it works fantastic and if it doesn’t, well, you’ve had the experience.

Toni: So it’s realizing that experience.

Barb: Um-hmm … and I don’t have a huge ambition for success; I have much more ambition for experiencing things.  And if I can encourage people to let go of success and failure and just experience, then I think I’ve done my job.

Toni: How do you do that?  Is it through conversation?  Is it through … Do you use any particular methodology when you’re working with other people to help them explore and realize that they need to just have the experience and not the success and failure?  Is there an approach you use?

Barb: I think it is just through conversation, and I really try to just listen to them and hear what they’re saying and try to figure out where they are in the process.  And then it’s just very gentle encouragement and sometimes it’s just leading by example.  Like right now, I’m papering my living room walls in newspaper because I want to see what it looks like, and people come in and go “Oh my!  You don’t have to use real, certified wallpaper!  You can just …” And then, that gets them thinking about things they might like to try in their home.  So yeah, leading by example, I think, is huge.

Toni: When you seek inspiration, where do you go?  What do you need for yourself to be inspired?

Barb: Quite a few years ago, I made it a New Year’s resolution to spend more time with positive people.  And it works so well that I just renew that resolution every year, and there are people in my life who … they’re always so positive and so full of energy.  And just having a cup of tea with them kind of gets me going for the rest of the week; and so I try to spend time with them.

If people aren’t available, photography really … a beautiful picture, a great photo of something will get me going again.  So I have some picture books that I look at over and over again, and just sit down quietly and relax and sort of fill back up with that.

Toni: Do you ever reach for any particular tools or approaches when you seek inspiration, when you know that, you know, “I think it’s time for me now, I need to fill up a little bit”?  You’ve mentioned photography and being around positive people; are there any type of tools that you seek out or do you look for certain things?

Barb: No, I think I know myself well enough by this point that really a cup of tea and a good book is all I really need to be re-inspired.  I mean, if I need to learn new techniques about something, then I just do the research there, and I’m constantly researching, blogging and writing and those sorts of things.  But to just inspire myself, to give myself the energy to keep going, a bit of quiet time with a friend or a good book and I’m ready to roll.

Toni: Well that leads me into — when you mentioned research for your blogs and when you’re working and you’re exploring your own potential — where do you go for that?  What do you need to explore your own potential?

Barb: A lot of it is just the time alone to experiment.  We’re not a very experimental society.  We need to know that “If I do this it’s going to work.”  So I just kind of give myself the little “it’s okay to fail” pep talk and then I just play.  I just play with whatever, whether it’s  craft or even just the photography, or my writing.  It’s well, let’s just try this and if it’s really awful, I’ll just scrap it and nothing will be lost and I will have learned a few things and will go on from there.

In terms of exploring the limits of my potential, scaring myself; doing something that’s frightening on a regular basis is good.  And I don’t mean like bungee jumping or anything like that, but things that take me to places emotionally or just something that, you know, I think “Oh, I don’t want to do this …” well, let’s just do it.  Just do it.

Toni: So you push your comfort zone.

Barb: I do, on a regular basis.  Because otherwise your horizon is just narrow constantly.  So yeah,  just get out there and be a little frightened and make a fool of yourself sometimes.  It’s okay.

Toni: The comfort zone, pushing yourself out of the comfort zone, does that also equate to the experiment?

Barb: I think so, yeah.  Because really, my inclination is to not enjoy, “Well that didn’t work.”  I mean, who likes “That didn’t work.”?  But if you just do what you know, well, you’re not going to experience much, and I’ve realized finally that sort of my over-arching goal in this life is to experience as much as I can.  To travel, to try new foods, to go to those places emotionally that most of us try to avoid.

Toni: Can you clarify for me, Barbara, what you might mean between the difference of experience and experiment; because you’ve used both words, and I’d be really curious to know what the difference is.

Barb: I would have to say that to me, experience is sort of what happens around me.  An experiment is something that I do.  So I experiment in decorating my house; I experiment in cooking or in photographing or in writing.  Whereas an experience is, “I’m here and I’ve kind of removed myself from myself and just see what’s happening.”

Toni: So basically, the experiment that you do — whether it’s in any of these areas — leads to that experience, whether it’s a success or failure by whatever measure you have.  That’s what I’m hearing, that that experimenting does lead to that ultimate experience for you.  And I would imagine that based on your own needs for inspiration and exploration of your own potential, with those two words of experience and experiment, I would imagine that transfers into that spark that you provide in giving others the courage to succeed or fail, to have the experience that you spoke about when you inspire and explore other people’s potential.

Barb: I think so, because we aren’t actually a very experimental society, and people are frightened.  And if I can make it okay for them to try something or to just step a little beyond what’s comfortable, then I’m happy because they’ll be happy to try something to be a little scared and to survive; they kind of go “Oh!  What else can I do?”.

Toni: Right, so it’s helping someone through that comfort zone into that little scary place, you know, out of the panic zone into a little scary place because that can lead to the best successes and the ultimate experience.  And I would imagine using your own methodology to do that in your own life is how you mirror that with others.

Barb: Absolutely.

Toni: I really want to thank you for your interview this morning, Barb, because there are many people that will be listening to this or reading this post ,and they’re probably sitting there also going, “You know what, I need to creep out of that comfort zone into that panic zone so that I can have that experience.”  And I believe so many people will benefit and learn from your snapshot of your experience this morning, and I really appreciate you allowing us to have that snapshot with you.

Barb: Oh, I’m really glad to be involved in this project; it’s very exciting.

Toni: Thank you, Barb; thank you so much for your time.

Barb: Thank you.

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For more information about Barb McMahon:  www.happysimple.com, www.stratforddailyphoto.com

Thumbnail photo on home page by Barb McMahon.

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