Last week I shared the story, An Interview With Dream University Founder Marcia Wieder Part 1 here on 8 Women Dream and today I am offering Part 2.
Marcia Wieder is the Founder and CEO of Dream University who travels the world as an ambassador for making dreams real. She is also known for her inspirational speeches.
In addition to being a charismatic speaker, she’s the best-selling author of 14 books dedicated to achieving your dreams: Making Your Dreams Come True: A Plan for Easily Discovering and Achieving the Life You Want!
Appearing several times on Oprah and the Today show, she’s shared her message of a “passion-filled life” with millions of viewers. Equally exciting, was the PBS featured national television special, Making Your Dreams Come True, the namesake of her best-selling book, which has also been translated into numerous languages.
Our interview continues …
4. Sometimes I have watched dreamers encounter “road blocks” that naturally appear when you are on a dream journey, and when they hit that first stumble, they immediately want to give up. When this happens I always think about how Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield’s Chicken Soup for the Soul book was rejected by 144 publishers. How do dreamers know when they should continue on, or when it’s OK to quit and try something else?
You have to be honest and ask yourself if you are really, truly putting everything you have into your dream. At some certain point you have to take a little survey, because sometimes you are unconsciously sabotaging your dreams with your own fears and limitations, then checking out just a little bit too soon.
But at the end of the day, if you are giving it absolutely everything you’ve got and nothing is happening, then I would try a completely different route. Sometimes I say to people, “Go back to the basics. Why is this dream important to you?”
Like somebody might decide for a dream that they want to be an Opera singer, but they can’t get into the Metropolitan Opera. But really what they love about this dream is the singing aspect, and there are ways to sing that don’t require that they get into the Metropolitan Opera.
I think when you get stuck you tend to get a little linear — you tend to try just one thing and when that doesn’t work, you give up. I think that people go further in life with passion and commitment over skills, experience, and even gobs of money.
Success is the ability to stay the course and what can often help you is a coach. Coaching has become a multi-billion dollar industry. When we tell someone else our dream we are 1,000 times more likely to do something about it.
So I think having a coach, or a support system, or a dream team will prevent you from bailing on your dream the first little bump in the road. I think that can make all the difference.
5. I’ve also had dreamers who come very close to succeeding at their dream, only to quit just as it is coming true, and when I press them for why they are quitting their dream, they answer, “Well I don’t really like it!” And I am puzzled, because they picked it and then spent a lot of hours working on it … why would they pick a dream they don’t like?
I used to have this habit of where I would get really excited about something and then I would go for it … and then I would say, “Why am I doing this?”
You know, like I’d be halfway down the road when I would begin looking at what I was doing.
Now I practice when I get excited about something, I stop and I ask myself a question like: “Why am I excited about this?”
Then I answer the questions before I dive right into it.
I think a lot of dreamers often dive right into things without really thinking about it first. This happens all the time.
6. How did you find your dream Marcia?
I think I wrote my first book back in 1993 and I felt that I had a message — sort of a gut feeling and I thought well, I’ll write this book and see if there is really anything there. That first book was Making Your Dreams Come True and it’s still out there.
I was with a small publisher at the time and she me that she was going to give me books to sell at the back of the room. I said, “What room?” I didn’t know what she was talking about and she said, “You are going to speak and you are going to sell things and people will buy your book!” And I said, “I am?!? … Ummm OK.”
And that was kind of the beginning of my public speaking career and now I sell hundreds of thousands of dollars at the back of the room, so I am grateful for the education because I didn’t know much about it.
And then someone early on told me that I was a gifted public speaker and that I should think about doing it professionally. I couldn’t believe that people would actually pay you to talk. (We both laugh). And then my dreams really unfolded from there.
From there I moved out to California because I had this dream of living in a cosmopolitan city near the water where it didn’t snow.
I believe if you are really going to master manifestation in order to achieve your dreams then you must master what I call “enrollment” and that is your ability to talk to anyone, anytime, anyplace about your dream in a way that inspires people to help you or to hire you — even invest in you.
Because the obstacle called “I don’t have enough money” disappears if you can get people really excited about what you are doing.
7. My final question here is what was it like meeting Oprah for the first time and how did you remember to breathe?
(We both laugh)
First of all, you’ll appreciate this: I was giving a free talk for the Professional Business Women Conference. It was a breakfast and then Mayor Willie Brown walked in and sat down almost right in front of me as I was asking if there were any questions.
The Mayor raises his hand and, of course, I call on him and he says, “Would you be willing to speak at my summit for women?” And I joked and said, “Oh, I can make that dream come true!”
He hired me and as it turns out I was the warm up speaker for Oprah.
(I said, “Wow”)
Months later when I was sitting in the green room waiting for her to be introduced to me and she pops her head in and I said, “People are going to ask me — how did I get here?” and she said, “I heard you speak at Major Willie Brown’s summit for women.”
I said, “You listened to me?” And she said — honest to God — “How do you think I got to where I am today?”
She was lovely and I got to ask her about her dream. Her dream was to create a company where people would come together, make a contribution and they would give back to the world.
And then she turned and asked me, “Marcia, what is your dream?”
It was a little intimidating because 35 million people and my mother were watching.
And I said, “My dream is that we’ll all have dreams again and we’ll take the steps to make that dream a reality.”
Then I was invited back.
The next time I was invited on Oprah was as a passion expert. Oprah and I sat on the stage and she would ask people what they were passionate about. It was my job — live and in the moment — to help them figure out how to turn it into a business opportunity.
It was a very exciting opportunity and of course, when she held up my book, Doing Less and Having More: Five Easy Steps for Achieving Your Dreams
She is an amazing women, an incredible visionary and has helped millions of lives for such a long time that I think she is back at really looking at the place of: what is my dream?
My final question was to ask Marcia what 8 Women Dream could do for her. She wants to get the word out on her Million Dreams Campaign.
She is on a mission to change the world of dreaming.
To read more about the Million Dreams Campaign click here to view Marcia’s blog.
If you are in the San Francisco area on July 21st, 2012 from 9:00am to 7:00pm — come meet some of the women of 8 Women Dream and attend one of Marcia’s FABULOUS workshops.
Marcia is offering her Create Your Future Now workshop free to 8 Women Dream readers.
You have to register with a credit card, but will be credited when you show up at the door (this makes sure that there are not empty seats that people could have used).
Heather (of 8 Women Dream) and I are registered and will be there!
So come join us and let’s spend the day dreaming together and seeing Marcia Wieder!
I want to thank Marcia and her PR agent for putting this together for 8 Women Dream and allowing me the opportunity to meet such an amazing person.
She truly is an inspiration and we can now check this dream off my bucket list.
What she said about Oprah is how I felt about her.
What are you going to do for your big dream this week?
Catherine
Remember to go to my post, 3 Free Ebooks From Marcia Wieder for Readers of 8 Women Dream to read how to get your free copies of Marcia’s e-books on dreaming.
They are a wonderful collection to help you get your dream going!
And don’t forget to go to the Million Dreams website and post your dream!
Catherine Hughes is the founder, content director and editor-at-large of 8WomenDream. She is passionate about helping women step out of their own way and strike out into a world waiting for their special talents. She’s a published author and a former award-winning mom blogger. Catherine has helped companies both large and small create engaging web content, social media narratives, and unique blogging platforms. She claims to be a redhead, but don’t hold that against her.
Note: Articles by Catherine may contain affiliate links and may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link.
