Christina Semmens

I attribute my success to the values I live by - a growth mindset, courage, perseverance, and holistic integration. But honestly, it's been mentorship. It's been those who have seen something in me and have been willing to invest in me. Just a couple of months ago, I went down to see friends in the Keys, and on the way I stopped to see two couples who were my high school coaches and teachers to have conversations with them, and I remain connected to other mentors from college. These were the people who, along the way, saw that I had potential and were willing to invest in me. I try to do the same thing for other people. It doesn't matter whether or not my name gets mentioned, but if I have a positive impact on someone so that they're able to find their success, that's sufficient for me. The opportunities I received over the years through organizations. For example, receiving the 4-year Army ROTC scholarship - that was huge. I would not have been able to go to the university I went to without it. Same applied when I received the James Madison Memorial Fellowship, I would not have been able to get my first master's degree without it. So it was those organizations and receiving personal mentorship from people along the way that has made all the difference.

Life is too short to do anything that you're not passionate about. This was reinforced by walking the journey with my husband on his cancer journey and his subsequent passing. Yes, there's always gonna be boring type grunt work, things that we don't like having to do, that's a part of whatever it is we're passionate about--like sending emails or making follow up client calls, or tracking a spreadsheet. But the essence of what you are about needs to be something you are passionate about doing. For me, I'm passionate about helping people become their best selves and for them to be able to see that they truly are a gift to the world through everything that they have to offer. There isn't a single person that does not have something to offer this world. Otherwise, they wouldn't be here. So, life is too short to not be doing something that you're passionate about.

Look for people who are doing it the way that you envision you want to do it and seek them out for mentorship. Reach out and just say, hey, I really admire what you did with whatever. Could you share a little bit about how you came up with that? I would love to be able to implement that. I would love to be able to learn how to do that. It could be something as simple as you saw someone compliment someone and you're like, wow, I want to be able to do that. You just go up and say, it really touched me that you took the time and you really saw the person and you gave them a compliment that obviously meant a lot to them. I want to be able to do that. How can I cultivate that? So seek out people that you admire, of how they're doing it in your business, and then ask for that help, for that mentorship. And if somebody says no, or if they kind of rush you off or whatever, you probably don't want to model yourself after them. So often we'll think, oh, well, it must be something about me I'm lacking, and actually that's not the case at all. All the people that I've seen that are most successful in every field, I mean truly successful, are people that are giving back. And they do it without thinking about the cost. They just give because they have been given to. Look for those mentors, seek them out, model yourself after the people that you see are doing the things that you would like to be able to do.

It's the same challenge that's actually across all fields, and it is resistance. There's so much change that's going on right now in our culture and in our society that what happens is people resist any change at all. You see this resistance especially towards considering a different perception or way of looking at things or approaching things, primarily because people are afraid in the midst of so much uncertainty. The tendency is to rely upon what we know works, even if we know it's not working as well as it used to and that we should consider a different way of doing things. But most times, people are resistant because it is so hard to start something new, and there is the fear of failing. This is why courage is so important. It's far better that you have tried and failed, because then you know what it is that you don't do. I mean, how many times did Thomas Edison fail at the light bulb? If he hadn't tried all those different ways, he wouldn't have finally found the way that did work. Resistance is the hardest thing to overcome, and that is probably the biggest challenge facing us right now.

Having a growth mindset, knowing that there's always going to be improvement, not resting on prior accomplishments, or, I've already done that, but rather realizing that I need to continue to grow and develop. Golf is a perfect example of this, there is never the same golf shot. You can be on the same golf course, but there's never the same golf shot. It's a different lie, it's a different wind, it's different weather, whatever, but it's never exactly the same, and the same happens in our lives. So, to have a growth mindset, always be seeking to grow, not for change itself, but in awareness of who am I now? What is it that I need to be attentive to so I can continue on my journey? In addition to growth mindset, the courage to not be afraid to fail. To take the chance, to not be afraid to mess up, because we only learn from failure. Failure gives us the opportunity to ask, so what's the lesson learned? So, courage to take the chance and to fail and to learn from that. Perseverance to keep going. And the final one is being attentive to your holistic development. To be attentive to your whole self and the integration of all the aspects of yourself as a person so you can live a whole, integrated life. That's the key.