Mentor Yourself With Patty DeDominic Part Two

Interviewee Name: Patty DeDominic
Company Name: DeDominic & Associates
Website: http://dedominic.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I'm a businesswoman and an entrepreneur. Now I make my living as a professional coach and I guide high achieving professionals and organizations in making major transitions for themselves and their organizations.

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

It is a challenge. I have three sons and five grandchildren and I try to spend time with them, talk to them online, and in person. Our grandson lives with us right now, he's a college sophomore and he's on summer vacation so we have the opportunity to make some positive impacts in our grandson’s life and we love that. My three sons are grown now but I try to stay in touch with them. For a number of years until 2006 my oldest son worked with me in my company and it was really wonderful to watch him grow. He eventually became president of one of my companies. I loved working with him until we sold our organization in 2006.

It does take a lot to juggle personal relationships and family life. I think communication and sharing your dreams and sharing your values with a person in your life – in my case would that be my mate – takes work and effort.

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

1. Be the change you wish to see, and that was one of my wonderful Gandhi quote.
2. A Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
3. The third one would be to follow your passions. Stay in your genius zone you will be more effective.
4. Don’t neglect your fitness because it’s important. Not carrying around an extra 50 pounds is going to make a difference in your energy level and your overall self-esteem, at least it did for me.
5. Always surround yourself with people who are extraordinary. I try to do that in the people I have as clients, employees, business colleagues and I look for people who are passionate, with high personal integrity, and high moral character, who want to do something that’s meaningful for themselves and for their communities. That kind of theme runs through my network, and I believe that my network and other people’s network is a very powerful tool to help you have a much better life. It makes living so wonderful to be able to share it with other extraordinary people who can help each other.

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

I love walking in the hills with my dogs and sometimes with my friends and clients. I love taking hikes. It’s a great way to stay fit and to enjoy sunshine and to think. For me it is better than a golf game.

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

I get great ideas from my friends. I read and I try to learn a lot from other successful people.

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

There are two. One is a beautiful quote by a Chinese philosopher, Lao-tzu, “The journey of a thousand miles must begin beneath one’s feet.” I realized that when I needed to make changes in my life I needed to start where I was. It doesn’t do any good to wish for a miracle to happen. It would be great to win the lottery, but I’m not going to hold my breath until that happens so I must start where I am. The other quote is one that I put in my own book, How I Lost It, “Every day I make time to enjoy the beauty of a fit lifestyle with friends, animals and nature.” And I love that quote because it’s mine and an affirmation for a good life.

Note from Avil: the older translation of the Lao-tzu quote, and the more accurate one is above, but the more popular one is, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

By being able to work and do the things you want to do with great people, and to be able to make a difference for yourself and others.

Avil Beckford: In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

The formula for success includes thinking about what you want to accomplish, and believing that you can accomplish it, so it’s conceive, believe and receive and that’s getting help from other people. Receiving success is doing it and making it happen.

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

There were many: I had to study, I had mentors, I had to believe that I could do it, I had to experiment and practice, make mistakes and learn. So those are the steps, it’s conceive, believe, receive, and achieve. Being grateful is an important part of being successful. I think you must be grateful for the things you have that you have been given.

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

If you are starting out as an entrepreneur, I would say to surround yourself with extraordinary people, get crystal clear about what your goals and objectives are then work hard to accomplish it. It’s trial and error. It’s progress and not perfection, and always keep learning.

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?

1. Gandhi because I’d like to know more about how he visualized the world.
2. Margaret Thatcher because I always admired what she did for the world as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
3. I’d like to meet John Kennedy because I think he was a role model for a lot of people in many ways and his vision to put man on the moon was an extraordinary, brave, and bold accomplishment.
4. I would like to meet Jesus Christ and I would like to know if there is anything else I should be doing in my life, and see if he had any additional guidance for me. I try to talk to him frequently, but right now it’s sort of a one-way conversation.
5. I’d like to meet Lady Gaga. I think her audacity is just amazing and I think she and some other contemporary female recording artists are making business history and I would just love to learn a little bit more about what her business goals and strategies are.

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

Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. My father had me read it as a child and I learned a lot from it and I think my interpersonal skills and my ability to relate to other people were guided by Dale Carnegie’s philosophy about learning about other people, trying to help others with their objectives, and that’s how you get your own objectives met as well.

Avil Beckford: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five books that you would like to have with you and why? Summarize the book in two sentences.

1. Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants. It’s just a great book, I just finished reading it.
2. Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: I really love what he has to say.
3. Dan Pink’s Free Agent Nation: It was a really interesting discussion about what’s changing in the job market today.
4. Two of my own books: How I Lost It (99pounds.com) and Make it Real (makeitrealsystems.com) which just came out. I would like to read those books, make them better, then when I get off the deserted island I’d like to share them with the world.

Avil Beckford: What one music CD and movie would you like to have with you (on the deserted island) and why?

Midnight in Paris the new Woody Allen movie is just great and the music CD would be anything by Annie Lennox.

If you cannot view Midnight in Paris YouTube movies trailer please click here.

If you cannot view the Annie Lennox YouTube video please click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Every day! Being able to learn new things and interacting with great people.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

By surrounding myself with great people, reading, being with my animals and with people I love.

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

The end of wars.

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

I enjoy the beauty and a fit lifestyle with friends, animal and nature.

Get Started Here – I want to help you get started on your learning journey. Read The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge, then Join the Facebook Group for the Reading Challenge today, connecting the ideas from the books you read!

In the meantime, THANK YOU for your time… Thank you for sharing this post, and thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest! What was your biggest takeaway from today?

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