Find your groove with these habits that build courage and personal strength.

3-22-2017, Entrepreneur -- Anyone who has ever started a business has faced fear. A little bit actually can be a very positive catalyst. But when fear overwhelms your ability to make decisions, it can become paralyzing and leave you feeling stuck. That’s a sign you need to take action and restore the sense of confidence you once had.

When we're young, we think we're invincible. We can do anything (just ask my teenagers!). Yet for many of us, that confidence and self-assurance erodes over time as we get older. We wake up one day confronted by thoughts we can't shake: “I can’t. I shouldn’t. I couldn’t possibly.” We start to question our choices and ourselves. We second-guess our gut instincts and overthink things.

The stories we tell ourselves limit or enhance potential.

Fear and self-limiting beliefs create imaginary boundaries that can keep us from acting in our own best interests. There's a reason: Our brains are wired to resist change. They will process anything we repeatedly think, say or do and formalize it into a habit. It’s easier for our brains to depend on habits because they don’t have to work as hard. It’s comfortable. But if those habits aren’t serving you, where does that leave you?

We don’t get stuck overnight. We slowly dig a rut that gets deeper every time we think or behave the same way. It doesn't take much imagination to get complacent and content with the status quo. If we stay in a rut long enough, it can feel as if we'll never climb out.

Singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard urges us to "get out of your rut and get in a groove." But how do you shock yourself back into that wonderful state where creativity, courage and passion seem to flow effortlessly? 

Creating new habits takes courage.

Know that hitting the reset button requires courage and determination. You'll need to take risks to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and go after what you really want. 

If you don’t feel particularly courageous, there’s good news: Courage is a moral habit we can develop with practice. How? By choosing new habits. When we think and behave in new ways, we create new neural pathways in our brains. The more we think that way, the stronger those pathways become. This is why it's so important to push beyond what seems comfortable, familiar and safe.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

3-20-2017, Forbes -- On Episode 37 of The Limit Does Not Exist we sit down with Janett Martinez, who has held a singular mantra throughout her zig-zag career: "it's all about scrappy resourcefulness." The CEO of fashion-tech startup Loomia got her start in technical theater while still a teenager at the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. (Fun fact: that's the public arts high school FAME is based on.)

Martinez studied theatrical scenic, lighting, and sound design and construction and worked at Lincoln Center as a scenic charge before matriculating at Emerson College to study design technology. She liked the intersection of technology and performing arts, and she was doing well in her program. But in her sophomore year both of her parents had health issues that prevented them working. So she took a leave of absence and returned to New York, where she got a job as a concierge at the Bryant Park Hotel to help support her family.

She built a binder several hundred pages thick with notes on menus, maître d's, and special events as she hustled to build relationships across the city. It paid off, and after a very successful year in the role was able to go back to school. But her interests had changed since she left Emerson, so Martinez decided to stay in New York and complete a certificate in audio engineering. She had been acting (including an appearance on Law and Order, a veritable rite of passage for professional actors) and singing original songs during her year as a concierge, and wanted to learn the technology and craft behind recording engineering.

Read the rest of the story HERE.