29 Maya Marcia Wieder » Just Keep Learning

Maya Marcia Wieder Just Keep Learning Summary

She has written 15 books that can help you achieve your big dreams. It’s no wonder she was a repeat guest on Oprah. Today we talk about how to achieve your big dreams, grief, building a business, and living life on purpose.

Episode Notes

Her most recent book was called “Dream: Get Clarity & Create The Life You Want.” Clearly, she is a great spokesperson for the JKL brand and values. A lot of time manifestation gets a bad name, but I trust this interview will clear a few things up when it comes to getting what you want.

Maya is one of the best dream manifestation coaches and business leaders ever. Ever. As the founder of Dream University and author of 15 great books on life goals, she is one of the best at helping you learn that “YOU are a creator once you can shake loose the grip that the ego has on you”.

That’s a pretty incredible accomplishment given there are so many influential “dream big” authors, speakers, and coaches. We talked about integrity and intention being the guiding principles of manifestation.

She is an incredibly open and honest leader in the business world. As humble and wise as she is, there are a ton of business accolades that she could boast about. We talked a bit about business and career success. But much of the conversation was about life.

We got into our major, recent experiences with grief, which wasn’t easy, but I think was an important part of the conversation. Specifically the importance of staying in the present moment. We also chatted about the fact that finding balance with grief is so valuable. We have to dig into our emotions, and trauma, but not so much that we beat ourselves up. Remember, if you’re struggling, there are people you can reach out to. Talking about it is really helpful.

She shares a bit about building some celebrity notoriety, fame one might call it and deciding to close up shop for things she found more important in life. We learned about changing her name and shifting business passions for art passions, particularly as a painter.

We talk about living on track and on purpose as individuals having a truly unique experience. Maya has an incredible level of wisdom that we can all learn from. Especially in the business world. Getting caught up in things that aren’t genuinely impactful in this world can be so easy. And being true to ourselves is the key.

I absolutely love her take on discernment, the idea of being reflective enough to make decisions for ourselves. Maya shared her thoughts that many of us have “to-do” lists. But, in reality, most of us need “stop doing” lists instead. If we don’t know our values, and what actions mapped to them, then we can’t figure out what to do, and not to do. Given the choice, we should stay true to ourselves.

She is such an inspiration for many reasons, but practicing what she preaches is definitely one of them. It takes a unique, confident person to use this discernment to walk away from an incredibly successful and growing business because it wasn’t suitable to who she wanted to be anymore. I love all of our interviews, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart. Hope you enjoy.

20 Things To Help You Dream Big

Develop a creator mindset that allows you to dream. You have to understand that everyone who has achieved anything was no better than you. They just let their dreams come to them.
Don’t wait. There will never be a better time to get started. That does not mean figure out the strategy, yet. That comes later. But, if you have a dream, go for it, start now.
Get clear on your dreams. This tends to be the most challenging step for anyone, at any age, in any season of life. Not to over simplify, but our minds simply make up our dreams. They just come to us if we let them.
Believe in your dreams. Prove that they are important enough to you by standing up to fear and doubt and choosing to believe in them. Not because they will come true for certain. Whatever is supposed to be will be, but because believing in them and their impact is important to you.
Act on your dreams. Once you have clarity it can be addictive to talk about what you would, should or could do. But the universe will get behind your work once you put it into action.
Stop telling your story. You are not your story. Your story will evolve and will even be completely different to different people, but it’s not something that you need to tell. Some times we get so stuck in past beliefs and we need to decide that they are no longer serving us. Move on from past stories by hitting your reset button and living in the moment.
Enrol people in understanding your dream. You won’t achieve it alone, and the only way to find the support you need is to share the goal in a compelling way that builds a community that is bigger than you. Create culture and connection around your dream.
Share your dream by building a community in two steps. First, inspire, and then invite. Most of us suck at inviting. Just think, what should you ask of people that is reasonable and will lead to making a change in the world?
Build your dream team. Don’t ask for “too much”, but articulate your clear vision to others. Ask people to help in whatever way feels appropriate to that particular relationship and make it easy for them to say “yes”. This happens through building trust and having them understand the clear, reasonable role that they play in supporting a goal that they agree with.
Understand dreams come from different places. Some are from necessity, such as the way we want to pay the bills, or put food on the table. Some dreams come from desire, like a vacation, meeting a celebrity, or driving a certain car. And the most powerful dreams come from purpose.
Purpose, which leads to our greatest dreams is about knowing who you are. What is your why? What are your values? What impact would you like to have? What are you non-negotiable?
To live on purpose requires three things. One, to have your spiritual practices. Could be walking, running, meditation, prayer, or art. Secondly, know what makes you uniquely you, your failures and successes that make you one of a kind. And third, decide on how you can use your gifts to be in service of others.
There are two types of obstacles. An internal challenge, one that requires self reflection and mindset growth. Or an external job, something that requires a strategy and plan to deal with.
Know your “Not To-Do List”. It is just as, maybe even more important to know what drains you of energy, or time that is not serving your purpose and stop doing those things.
Develop a coach like mindset. Whether for you, or a team, use reflection, feedback, innovation and making adjustments as part of your regular routine.
The difference between a dream and a fantasy is that you could craft a strategy to work toward a dream. But don’t choose a strategy too soon. The sooner we strategize, the sooner we limit the ways in which our purpose could come true.
If you’re working toward a long term, real big dream, then break it down into a shorter term project, or goal. What’s a reasonable next step that you can work toward each day for the next thirty days that is aligned toward helping that big dream? Make sure you can measure and celebrate the success of this short term progress.
We sabotage our dreams by projecting our fears and doubts into the goals. We do this with three little words, “but what if”. When you find yourself thinking “what if” as a barrier to taking the next step, remind yourself the quote from Peter Pan: “What if I fall? Oh but my darling what if you fly?” and most importantly remind yourself of your purpose.
Figure out some of your blockers in life. What is holding you back? Identify a particular skill that you would benefit from improving as it relates to your dream. Much like being an athlete, craft a practice. A practice is the smallest possible routine that you can do to turn that weakness into a strength. Do this practice on a prescribed regimen just like practicing for sport, or fitness, until you think it would be more beneficial to work on something else.
It’s a forever thing. No one who is still here has completely fulfilled their purpose. If we have the opportunity to still be here, then we still have purpose we can pursue. Keep going.

Memorable Quotes

“Intention & integrity are the foundation of living on purpose. Knowing what you value and bringing your gift to the world is incredibly important. Sometimes it will help you pay the bills and sometimes it won’t.“

“I love shortcuts. We can shortcut the process of learning by standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us.”

“The $64,000.00 dollar coaching question, are you more committed to taking action toward making your dream a reality, or are you more committed to your fears, doubts and insecurities?”

“Don’t be giving dreaming a bad name by living in la-la fantasyland. You need to apply strategy and take action.”

“You are a creator. Shift your mindset so that you can use your ego to help you create solutions that will do great things for yourself and others in the world“

“When you have a choice, start saying no thank you to things that aren’t in full alignment with your purpose. Over time you will see a shift from doing a lot of things in life you don’t want to do to doing more of the things you do want to do.”

“I’ve seen many people go further in life with passion and commitment than skill, experience, and gobs of money.”

Guest Bio

As founder and CEO of Dream University, Maya Marcia Wieder has spent over 30 years leading a DreamMovement. She also created and leads a modern day “mystery school”, The Meaning Institute, to help people live more meaningful lives.

Maya Marcia collaborated with 3 U.S. presidents, was a repeat guest on Oprah, had her own PBS television special and taught at Stanford’s Business School. She is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council and an advisory board member for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Unstoppable Foundation where she financed and helped build 15 schools in Kenya.

She is the renowned author of 15 books including; Dream: Clarify & Create What You Want, Making Your Dreams Come True, Life is But a Dream, Dreams are Whispers From the Soul and Doing Less & Having More. She writes for Huffington Post, is now a guest on Just Keep Learning and was also a syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.