The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Mother Teresa’

10 Self-Mentoring Ideas from Deborah Nixon

1. Build a network of contacts who you can call on, and take the time to nurture those relationships.
2. Your relationship with people is absolutely everything.
3. Follow your passion. If you’re sensible about it, usually takes you to a really good place.
4. If you come from a place of integrity, honour and humility people respond to that.
5. Most of us can survive almost anything.
6. You have to read your market very well, and be willing to change and adjust your offering because you cannot convince the market. The market is what the market is, and you have to be open to letting go.
7. When we go into things, and we assume that what we’re trying to get out of something is what the other person wants to get out of it as well, we often do not check with the other person, we don’t question assumptions, and sometimes it’s wishful thinking because we want something so badly that we won’t look critically and won’t ask the tough questions.
8. If you have resiliency it gets you really far in life.
9. Integrity is all about what you do when nobody is looking.
10. Pay attention to where things are going and read widely.

Invisible Mentor: Deborah Nixon, President/Founder

Company Name: Trust Learning Solutions, MyMoneyMindset

Website: http://www.trustlearningsolutions.com 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Deborah Nixon:  My area of specialization is working with leadership teams in organizations trying to build better relationships, conflict resolution, and actually to help them work more effectively together. I have another business which is quite interesting as well called My Money Mindset. I work with women helping them to look at psychological issues toward money.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Deborah Nixon: They’re intertwined, they integrate well. I think when your work is your passion, when you’re doing your work it doesn’t feel like work. I love what I do so the integration is very smooth. Maybe because I work in the area of trust, and for me it’s something that I speak to my son a lot about and the way in which I live my life and model my behaviour. It’s a pretty seamless thing.

 Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Deborah Nixon: One of the things I do is go on retreats – that is probably the foundational thing that I do and it’s so important to me. Every quarter for three to four days I go on a retreat, and once a year, I go from seven to 10 days. On a regular basis, I try to stay away from TV and the media, and I walk with my dog.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Deborah Nixon:

1. The importance of resiliency and I teach it to my son. I think if you have resiliency it gets you really far.
2. Have a great respect for people’s journey.
3. When bad things happen we have a moral obligation to grow something good out of that.
4. There is no shortcut around working really hard.
5. If you’re not doing what you’re passionate about you really won’t be successful. Being a success requires hard work and is all about resiliency.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Deborah Nixon: I go on retreats. I’m most creative when I’m on a retreat. The process there is a silent retreat how I have no connection to the internet, there is no TV no newspapers, no radio, it’s just you and the silence and nature. And so much happens.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Deborah Nixon: It’s my own quotation and I know it sounds egotistical, but it is the one that I live by. “Integrity is all about what you do when nobody is looking.” It’s my favourite quote because it’s the measure I use to evaluate other people and it’s part of my work, and it’s part of my philosophy.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Deborah Nixon: Success to me is twofold and believe it or not I do think there is an element of financial success in there. For me success is doing important work that allows you to achieve a certain level of survival and comfort. So although it’s important to follow your passion, it’s not helpful if it doesn’t generate any income for you because you won’t be following your passion for very long. The formula for success is to find what you love and be really strategic about how you can make a living from it. The key to that is developing a solid network.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Deborah Nixon: I was always a very great networker very early on so I’ve built an incredible network, and what’s good about that is that there are always people to reach out to for advice, to check your ideas. You asked me earlier if I had a mentor and I don’t have a single mentor but I have an unbelievable network, and my network is very wide so some of the steps I took were: (1) I listened and paid attention to where I excelled in my career so I knew what I was good at and not good at and then I decided on what I needed to do so I decided to get my Masters and PhD. All along the way, I built the network, and my network is very wide so I spoke to people who were successful to find out what they did to learn from them about what it took and what they did, and to really engage people in my journey. So the step I took was really making connections.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Deborah Nixon: Focus on building your network and pay attention to what’s happening in the field, not only what’s going on today, but pay attention to where things are going. Read widely, I’m a great believer in reading, think carefully and project where things are going because things are changing so quickly.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Deborah Nixon:

1. I would love to meet Nelson Mandela. I have great respect for him, what would I say to him? I would say, “Thank you!” I would thank him for his commitment and his belief in his mission.
2. I would like believe it or not to meet Bernie Madoff. I’m very fascinated by his fraud and I would like to ask him about his process to do what he did and why he did it.
3. I would also like to meet Mother Teresa because she is a great inspiration for people who have a bigger mission outside themselves.
4. I would like to meet a group called the Desert Fathers and Mothers who lived in the fourth century. These are people who left society to live in the desert. I’d like to ask them about what they heard out there and what the lessons are.
5. The last person I’d like to meet is Bill Clinton because he survived a scandal, and he was someone who was a trusted leader. I’d like to talk to him about the experience

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Deborah Nixon: The book is The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Joan Didion is a well-known American writer whose husband dropped dead suddenly right in front of her while they were having dinner in front of their fireplace. She wrote a book about the year following his death, and it had a great impact on me because she was very real and authentic about the craziness, the insanity when someone close to you dies.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Deborah Nixon: If I’m stuck on a deserted island I would need something to make me laugh.

Two Years

I would do what I do when I’m on a retreat. I would write the book I’ve been wanting to write. I would write and reflect and I would always workout and I would swim. I would come out with my book on trust.

Five Books

1. The Desert Fathers
2. The Year of Magical Thinking
3. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

These are inspirational books and books of the soul. The other two books are The Bible and a Jamie Oliver Cookbook (Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast).

Music CD & Movie

The CDs I would take are by Snow Patrol (Fallen Empires [Deluxe Edition]) and also another group Guster (Ganging Up on the Sun), which is not well-known. Those two groups make me feel very good. I am moved by music and their music is different and creative and puts me into a good space.  I would take Something’s Gotta Give because Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in the movie make me laugh and I can relate to it. It’s a middle aged couple who find romance with each other and I like movies like this one because they are authentic and you look at it and go, “That’s me”.

Snow Patrol – In The End

Cannot view this video, click here. Published on Jan 13, 2012 by SnowPatrolVEVO

Guster – Do You Love Me

Cannot view this video, click here. Uploaded by GusterVEVO on Sep 13, 2010

Something’s Gotta Give – Trailer

Cannot view this video, click here. Uploaded by TheMovieSceneUK on Jul 20, 2010

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Deborah Nixon: The possibilities. I’m a very hopeful person and I always expect something exciting and special to happen down the road. And what’s exciting is that we’re in more control than we think. And even when we get upset and think about why something happened, we have a lot of power to change our direction. And I think that’s really exciting.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Deborah Nixon: Going on retreats. I’m very spiritual and I nurture my soul through my faith and it’s very important to me.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Deborah Nixon: Oh my God I’d wish for money! I would wish for a lot of money so I could do my work for free. There are so many people who I know I can help who can’t afford to pay me and the reality of life is that the bank wants their mortgage payment. So I would like money, I’d like a benefactor who would give me enough money so that I can live on, so I can take my work out to the community, to people who can’t pay me.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Deborah Nixon: I’m on a retreat – that’s my happiest moment.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

“No matter how much it rains, or how much it pours, the sun will always shine again. It may not be today or it may not be tomorrow, but it will shine.” Joann Lim

Invisible Mentor: Joann Lim, Making It Happen Specialist & Professional Coach

Company Name: Big Picture Fine Focus

Website: http://www.bigpicturefinefocus.com/ 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Joann Lim:  I’m a connoisseur of life and a make-it-happen specialist. I’m a lover of all things food and world travel.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Joann Lim: Most of the time it’s fairly synergised in the sense that what I do professionally comes into my life personally. The context and the discussions pieces that I have with clients are things I internalize as well. I often give make-it-happen opportunities in my client sessions, and they are pieces that I would never give somebody that I wasn’t willing to do myself. Part of my work is to help people grow within themselves, to have a deeper connection to their lives and to others, by having a deeper connection with themselves.

My work is simply an extension of who I am personally and the more I am as a person the more I am able to offer, the more enriching my professional life becomes. 

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Joann Lim: I love to travel. I love seeing the world. I think it’s one of the best and most nurturing ways to learn about people and life. I love spending it with family and friends – the people who inspire me, and help me to see things from a different perspective. I love cooking, for me it’s a freedom of expression and creativity, taking ingredients and making it into something of value, of nutrients of nurturing. It’s just a wonderful experience. The last part is just having quiet time. I think that it’s in the silence that I get inspired the most.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Joann Lim:

1. To truly embrace life we must be willing to face death. And face death in the sense of coming to terms with what death means to us, and how it’s going to impact our lives, and how we may live life differently.
2. To be completely free, I have to be completely me. We embrace who we are and take responsibility for our lives, and then we can experience true freedom.
3. Richness and abundance is available to all of us. There are a lot of people who think materialistically, which isn’t abundance that stems from within, and it’s when we have that attitude and perspective that everything in our lives becomes more valuable, meaningful, richer and more abundant.
4. Let love rule! Love is the ultimate power in our lives. As human beings we have the capacity to love and be loved, and it’s when we open ourselves up, when we’re vulnerable, when we’re willing to give the very best that we can that we truly set ourselves up to receive the very best that life has to offer.
5. Laugh! Life is not that serious. Have fun, and for some people it may be scheduling fun. If you need to do that, then that’s great. Life isn’t meant to be serious, we’re meant to have a great time. Make it a point to celebrate each day. Find time to make “now” moments “wow” moments because this is your life. Make it one of purpose, meaning, richness and amazingness. Celebrate each day and have fun.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Joann Lim: I listen to a play list every day, it called my big picture play list, and it has artists of all genres that inspire me. Just listening to their words, and the way they communicate truly inspires me. It’s in reading all sorts of different books. Dr Seuss is probably one of my favourite, and sometimes even just looking at a blank journal. Seeing a blank page and having colourful markers in front of me, that’s sometimes all I need to just let loose and be free.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Joann Lim: “Dying is an inevitable consequence of life, living is man’s privilege.” In that quotation we are challenged or invited to think of living as no longer an obligation of “I have to,” but it’s a privilege of “I get to.”

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Joann Lim: Make success part of the journey. If success is the journey, every day will be a success. Love what you do, give everything that you have, give your best every single day, and you will set yourself up to have the very best that life has to offer.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Joann Lim:

1. Identified what success meant to me. To make success meaningful to me I needed to understand how I defined it.
2. Asking myself what it would look like to give my best to the world.
3. How can I be more completely me? And that ties into the step above. How can I give more to this world? What do I need to give my best?
4. Sharing, sharing with everybody. Sharing honestly and authentically. Just being me with the people around me. Be willing to be vulnerable, sharing the ups and the downs. And beyond that, giving them a space to be completely them.
5. Perseverance – to not let one closed door end the dream. More often than not, one closed door results in another amazing door to open. Embrace opportunities as they come, and maximize very ounce of who you are, everything you know and everybody you know, take them along the journey, and the journey will be a success.

Joann Lim:

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Joann Lim:

1. Jesus Christ
2. Mahatma Gandhi
3. Mother Teresa
4. Pope John Paul
5. Dr Seus

The question I would ask is, on the days that you may have not felt good enough, what pulled you forward? What helped you to keep going, what inspired you, and what pulled you to the next level?

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Joann Lim: One of the books that had the most profound impact on my life was a journal that was written personally to me. It took place over the course of a year, and this person as opposed to writing a journal recounting things to him, he did it to me – he wrote it to me. There is only one in this entire world and I have it. it was beautiful because this person wrote this intentionally for me, sharing in an experience from a different perspective, and it is something that I will always hold close.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Joann Lim:

Two Years

You know what, I actually don’t know how I’d spend my two years. I was thinking to take each day as it comes. I’d spend a lot of time reflecting, exploring, and just being in the moment. There is a great saying that says, “Man plans and God laughs.” We can plan all we want to the nth degree, but more often than not, it’s not the way it happens. So it’s embracing the here and now and making use of every moment, and giving my best into every moment.

Five Books

1. Blank journal: For the inspiration, for the empowerment, for anything that came to mind.
2. SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions by Rainn Wilson from The Office: It’s really a fun book, but has all sorts of questions that probe deeper, let us challenge who we are, that help make meaning in our lives.
3. Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Collection #1 (Your Favorite Seuss (58 Volume Set)): A large book that has 12 of his most famous books. They are fun and inspiring.
4. Daily Readings from Love Your Life by Victoria Osteen: She is a spark plug from Houston, Texas, who speaks with passion and vigor, and has a zest for life. She is someone who women can learn from.
5. The journal that was written especially to me. It’s a reminder of how somebody feels for you, how somebody sees things, and what it means to care for somebody, and what it means to create a customized experience for someone.

Movie & Music CD

My one movie would be Something’s Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. It’s a fun movie that I could watch over and over again. And for the CD, I would take the Grace. They are an amazing group from South Africa, and when they sing it is like fire works in the sky, it’s magical, it’s an amazing thing when voices come together and produce such beauty and harmony and giftedness. It’s incredible, and I encourage anybody who has a chance to hear them sing to please check them out – they are amazing.

Something’s Gotta Give – Trailer

Cannot view this video, click here. Uploaded by TheMovieSceneUK on Jul 20, 2010

Soweto Gospel Choir – Amazing Grace (Most beautiful version!!)

Cannot view this video, click here. Uploaded by scutter4christ on Mar 4, 2009

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Joann Lim: The potential of it. There is so much to experience and so much joy to be had. The potential is truly outstanding, and I think it’s when we embrace what life has to offer with very little attachment to the outcome, life is amazing. It’s an adventure, and it becomes like a maze where we don’t necessarily know where we’re going to go next, but at the end, we know where we’re going to be.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Joann Lim: Surround myself with amazing people, spend quiet time with my Heavenly Father, reading great books, spending time with mentors, and showing up every day. And not just showing up, but asking myself what I need to do to give my best, and to do it – to really give everything that I have, everything that I am, everything that I know to each and every day are the best ways I know to nurture my soul.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Joann Lim: The group of people I would use it on are the people who feel most alone in this world, the people who have never been told that they matter, those are the people I would use this wish on. To let them know that they do matter, to let them know that they are loved, and no matter how dark it may seem, there is light and to offer them that glimmer of hope to remind them that you matter and there is more to life than what they have experienced.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Joann Lim: I’m happy when the sun is shining. I’m happy when I’m surrounded by people who I love, care about, and am fascinated by. I’m happy when I’m giving the world the very best that I have.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

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This is what we talked about on The Invisible Mentor Blog this week: By a Thread by Jennifer Estep, Mother Teresa, CEO of the Missionaries of Charity, and Diane Craig, President, Corporate Class Inc.

Adventures in Learning

Self-confidence is an excellent leadership trait. Overconfidence is a dangerous quality to have, which could result in serious repercussions. It’s important to build and protect your reputation. And it’s great to be known for something, but don’t ever let it get to your head and affect your performance.

The Dangers of Believing Your Reputation 

Booked for Mentoring

By a Threadby Jennifer Estep is one of the books in the Elemental Assassin Series. Gin Blanco, an assassin whose moniker is Spider has finally found a way to kill Mab

Mother Teresa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Monroe, Queen of the Underworld. However, things have not gotten better in Ashland because now all the factions in the underworld are jockeying for power to take over Mab’s place. Each day, Gin is fighting off the bad guys as they try to eliminate her since they know they can only rule effectively if the Spider is out of the way.

Book Review – By a Thread by Jennifer Estep 

Wisdom of Life Profile

Mother Teresa was CEO of the Missionaries of Charity, a large and growing organization in India. She dedicated most of her life to working with the poorest of the poor, and was practical in that she catered to both their spiritual and physical needs.

Mother Teresa, Founder of Missionaries of Charity and Nobel Prize Peace Winner 

Interviews for Mentoring

This week we featured Diane Craig, President of Corporate Class Inc. How does someone recover first from the death of her husband and then the death of a child? Here are Part I and Part II of Diane Craig’s interview.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Mother Teresa was CEO of the Missionaries of Charity, a large and growing organization in India. She dedicated most of her life to working with the poorest of the poor, and was practical in that she catered to both their spiritual and physical needs. “In 1982, during the siege of Beirut, Lebanon, [Mother Teresa] negotiated a cease-fire between Israeli and Palestinian forces. This cease-fire allowed her to evacuate mentally handicapped patients from a hospital on the front lines of the battle.”

Name: Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu)

Mother Teresa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Birth Date: August 1910 – September 1997

Job Functions: Nun

Fields: Charity

Known For: Caring for the poorest of the poor and homeless in Calcutta

To get the most from The Invisible Mentor Profile of Mother Teresa, while you are reading it, answer the following questions:

1. Are their similarities between Mother Teresa and yourself?
2. What are your five takeaways from the profile?
3. When you think of the person profiled, what thoughts immediately come to mind?
4. In what ways can you use the information in your work and life?
5. Look at the process you use to get your job done, think of ways to improve the process and make it more efficient. Is there a way to eliminate a step or combine steps? Also, is there a way to do your work in a more cost-efficient manner?
6. After reading the profile, what is one concrete action you can take?

Biography

Mother Teresa was born and named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Macedonia under the rule of the Ottoman Empire (See Gertrude Bell profile in wisdom). At 12 years old she knew that she wanted to work for the poor, and during her teenage years she gained clarity and focus on what she wanted to do.

At age 18, Mother Teresa left home and joined the Sisters of Loretto, a community of Irish nuns who ran schools in India. She took the name Teresa as a tribute to the French saint Thèrése de Lisieux and Teresa of Avila (See Teresa of Avila profile). Mother Teresa received training in Dublin, Ireland and Darjeeling, India – she took her first religious vows in 1928 and her final vows in 1937. One of her first assignment, which lasted 17 years, was to teach – catechism, history and geography – at St Mary’s High School (1930 – 1944) and subsequently served as principal at a school (1944 – 1948) for privileged Bengali girls in Calcutta.

Mother Teresa left the convent life in 1946, because while riding on a train, she received a calling from God to work directly with the poor, and received permission from the Vatican to leave the Sisters of Loretto. To embark on her journey to directly serve the poor, Mother Teresa received intensive medical training with the American Medical Missionary Sisters in Patna, India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, a new order of nuns, and in 1950 she received official status as a religious community within the Archdiocese of Calcutta. The goal of the Missionaries of Charity was to provide care for the hungry, naked, crippled, blind and those with leprosy.

Mother Teresa learned Bengali and Hindi to be able to better serve the poor and received India citizenship in 1948.

She gathered children from the slums who didn’t attend school and taught them, and ended up attracting much needed financial support and volunteers. Mother Teresa dedicated her life to serve the poorest of the poor. Her religious community ministered to the dying so they would be filled with dignity and love as they transitioned from this world. Over the years Mother Teresa was criticized for the small scope of her work, but even though some may have thought that what she was doing was only a drop in the bucket, she knew that it mattered to those who received the help.

In 1957, Missionaries of Charity started to work with people with leprosy and they also opened a home for orphans and abandoned children. And in 1959 they expanded their work outside of Calcutta, and soon had a presence in 22 Indian cities. Pope Paul VI granted the Missionaries of Charity a pontifical order, which paved the way for their expansion beyond India. In 1969, Mother Teresa allowed a group called the International Association of Co-Workers of Mother Teresa to affiliate itself with Missionaries of Charity, to assist with their work.

In the 1970s they expanded into other countries, Jordan (Amman), England (London), United States (Harlem, and New York City). Over the years, The Missionaries of Charity received a lot of awards and media attention for their work, and Mother Teresa was very skilled at using it to benefit the work they did.

For instance, in 1968, Mother Teresa was interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge for a documentary for the British Broadcasting Corporation called Something Beautiful for God and as a result, in 1971, he published a book of the same name. In 1971, she was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for her service to the poor, and in 1985, President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Mother Teresa received a grant from Joseph Kennedy Jr. Foundation. All these accolades made Mother Teresa well-recognized, which brought her publicity and financial support – she always deflected the spotlight from herself and on to the works of the group. Mother Teresa was voted America’s Most Admired Woman in 1980, 1986, 1995 and 1996.

By 1979, the Missionaries of Charity group had over 200 operations in 25 countries. The expansions continued into Russia, they opened a home for AIDS patients in San Francisco, California in 1991. And at the time of her death in 1997, Mother Teresa had created over 600 homes in 130 countries, offering food centres, orphanages, homes for AIDS patients, people with leprosy, shelters for battered women, dug addicts, the poor and unemployed. Her religious order had 6,000 nuns and 100,000 lay volunteers.

An important reason for the Missionaries of Charity’s accelerated growth, funding and publicity was because of Mother Teresa who was viewed as pleasant and direct, and respected for her values. She was apolitical and concerned only with finding solutions; Mother Teresa never criticized governments for their policies that contributed to poverty. She was never angry or indignant but instead focused on how they could alleviate the problem. One thing Mother Teresa spoke out about was capital punishment and war. Mother Teresa was criticized for her opposition to abortion and contraception, especially in an overpopulated country as India.

Like the rest of us, Mother Teresa had her shortcomings. According to The Times, Great Lives: A Century of Obituaries, “Mother Teresa had her human failings: she was spokesman for her community so that, until her retirement, one rarely heard the views expressed of any of her nuns; she was adamant in what she believed and dictatorial within her houses, which she visited regularly all over the world.”

After her death, Mother Teresa was beatified by the Catholic Church, the first step in the canonization process to becoming recognized as a saint. She is now formally recognized as Blessed Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa’s Steps to Success

• Knew what she wanted to do and took the necessary action.
• Made changes as was necessary.
• Was pleasant, direct, humble, and intelligent.
• Apolitical and didn’t play the blame game and instead focused on solutions.
• Skilled at using media to further the work of the Missionaries of Charity.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Works Referenced/Cited

Encyclopedia of World Biography

UXL Encyclopedia of World Biograph

The Times, Great Lives: A Century of Obituaries

World Religions Reference Library

Contemporary American Religion

Encyclopedia of Modern Asia

New Catholic Encyclopedia

Women in World History

Prejudice in the Modern World Reference Library

This week we feature Luba Rusyn, Owner, Red Squirrel Productions Ltd. To get the most from The Invisible Mentor Interview, while you are reading it, answer the following questions:

1. Are their similarities between the interviewee and yourself?
2. In what ways can you use the information?
3. In what ways would you respond differently from the interviewee?
4. What are your five takeaways from the interview?
5. After reading the interview, what is one concrete action you can take?

Invisible Mentor: Luba Rusyn, Owner

Company Name: Red Squirrel Productions Ltd 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Luba Rusyn:  I’m an expert collector. For the past 30 year, I’ve been collecting resources – educational, financial and spiritual. What I provide my clients with is a needs assessment for them in the business community. Entrepreneurs with zero to $10 million in revenues have been my general clients, and after I do my needs assessment I stick my hand into my collection, and support them in any area that they need, to help them increase their productivity in their business. I’ve been an entrepreneur for 30 years.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Luba Rusyn: I’ve been traveling a lot, so what I do, as this interview while I’m driving to our event and I keep in contact with my friends and family by email, Skype and phone. I have a daytimer and I schedule, I guess the integration part is that I schedule every personal or business appointment and I dovetail them in there. 

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Luba Rusyn: I enjoy quiet time and I make sure that I have some quiet time to myself to reflect as well go into nature, whether that is my backyard or to the ocean. I reflect and always read.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Luba Rusyn: Go inside and reflect and record the ideas. After I’ve had that time for reflection, I mind map. I record whatever pops into my mind, and then I do brainstorming through a Master Mind group.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Luba Rusyn: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow, and learn as if you were to live forever,” Mahatma Gandhi.

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Luba Rusyn: I define success as accomplishments. Simply, whatever it is one chooses to do, doing it to the best of your ability. The formula for success is perseverance, correct, and continue. State your goals, persevere and as things come up, correct and continue as required.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Luba Rusyn: I defined an actual goal, created the action steps required to accomplish it, broke it down into detail, and then I persevered through each of those steps. And when I found out that the original results I thought it would be were different, I would course correct and continue because sometimes variables change.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Luba Rusyn: Make sure that you’re educating yourself on the area you want to go into whether it’s reading or watching the mentors in the industry that you want to go into. Learn from other people’s mistakes and get ideas from different people in the same industry because everyone has different perspectives. Look at that and see how it fits in with what you want to do.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Luba Rusyn:

1. Mother Teresa
2. Mahatma Gandhi
3. Princess Diana
4. Robert Herjavec
5. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

I would say to them, “Thank you for your bravery and sharing your wisdom.”

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Luba Rusyn: First off it would be the Bible and that’s because I would never be alone. And the other one is Jonathan Livingston Seagull (See The Invisible Mentor Review), and the lesson there is dancing to the beat of my own drummer.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million?

Luba Rusyn:

Two Years

I’m going to use the time to explore the environment and I’m going to record all the findings and interactions in the environment – Myself to the environment and the environment to itself. I would be an observer in that space.

Note from Avil: The interview got cut short because her cell phone dropped the call and we didn’t get opportunity to complete it.

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