The Daring Female Blog

Where has Daring Female gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:33:00 +0000

I suck! I can't believe I just went one day and stopped posting here. To anyone who has come and wondered what might have caused this, firstly, I apologize. That's now way to stop a blog.

What has caused this is a complete life change.

I quit my high-paying secure gig that I could not stand.
We moved to a different city with my husband and daughter.
And I started my very own company called Work It, Mom!

None of this is an excuse, of course, for not letting my fellow Daring Females know about the many changes and the likelihood that I will not be able to post regularly, and for that I apologize.

I do hope that you will go over and check out Work It, Mom! It's a community and resource for working moms which I felt was missing and I had to start. It's my first venture as a full-time entrepreneur - no safety net of any kind - so I hope you will go over and share some support there. Even if you're not a mom, it's a cool place to visit.

Thank you all for being part of Daring Female. While I don't think I have the time to keep up this blog the book and the dares and the dare collage do live on and I hope you will continue to make them part of your life!

Remember: Always keep DARING!

Need more hours in a day!

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:40:00 +0000

I really hate that I have not had any time to write in this blog. It makes me both sad and mad at myself because the inspiration behind creating this site and writing the Daring Female book is still alive and kicking in me. Probably more now than ever as I embark on my adventure of starting my own company and giving up the security of a well-paid but miserable job.

The new venture is extremely exciting, but it is also entirely time-consuming and is taking up all my available energy outside of being a mom. And so I've had to follow my own advice and prioritize, which has meant not writing in this blog. But just because I prioritized and rationalized, does not mean that I am happy about it.

I hope that you are getting an inspiring kick in the butt to pursue your dares by browsing through the Dare Collage and (fingers crossed!) reading the book. I also hope that once things stabilize a bit that I will begin to post on this blog more frequently, including updates on living my new life as a full-time-no-safety-net entrepreneur.

And I've got to tell you - these days I am truly living what I am preaching:

To get the most out of your life, you have to dare yourself to do it!

Overthinking

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 20:11:00 +0000

My brain hurts. Almost literally.

For the past several weeks, I've been hard at work on my new business venture. I am at the start line of a really long marathon - I have an idea and I am beginning to really dig into it, spec it out, work through how it would actually come to life.

There are two main groups of feelings I experience as I go through this daring exercise:

"Wow, it is so exciting to be creating something from scratch! I think what I am working on is really valuable and needed!"

"Holy crap! I am totally freaked out about creating something from scratch - what if no one will care, what if there will be tons of competition, what if I won't be able to make this product unique enough...!"

Having been an entrepreneur and having worked with entrepreneurs for many years, I know that both of those types of emotions are part of what you go through when you set out to create something new. Both are necessary. The first is your energy, your fire, your fuel for those late nights you are staying up to work on your creating. The second is your critic, your smart friend who makes you evaluate what you are doing with a more independent eye, making sure that you are creating something truly unique and exciting.

But what I've realized lately is that it is all too possible to become consumed by those types of What If? thoughts and for them to actually hurt your creativity, your drive, and your passion for what you are doing.

Be your own toughest critic, but be constructive and positive about the criticism. Focus in on an issue, think about it, come up with a strategy, and move on. Overthinking a new venture, a new book, a new life detour, a new dare of any kind won't make you more successful at it - quite the opposite.

I am hoping to learn my own lesson and will let you know how I do!

More dares added to the Dare Collage

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:58:00 +0000

Each time I get an email with a new dare in it, I get so excited just to open it - I know something inspiring, encouraging, empowering, and amazing is inside!

We added a bunch more dares to the Dare Collage this week - check it out!

Being friends with Arianna Huffington

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:54:00 +0000

I don't know Arianna Huffington personally and have never read her blog, but I saw an interview with her the other day and now I think I should call her up and invite her for lunch. She and I can be friends. Not because we are both glamorous and famous - her specialties - but because both of us believe that women should be more fearless (her word) and daring (mine, as you know).

Check out her new book, On Becoming Fearless. I am not saying you should buy it - I have not read it, so can't recommend it - but you should go to the bookstore and flip through it. I am doing this today. If it kicks me in the butt and inspires me, it's mine. I certainly liked what I heard when she spoke about it.

Speaking of being fearless, I think it's a good idea to always have a few things going on that you are being daring or fearless about. As usual, in the interest of practicing what I preach, here is mine:

Moving to a new city (end of spring)
Starting a company (in progress)
Quitting my well-paying, stable job that contributes 2/3 of our family's income so that I can work full time on my own business (soon and this is truly scary!)

What's on your list?

Daring Females in Business

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:13:00 +0000

Yes, I know my blog posts are far and few between lately. My bad. I am hard at work on my new venture (a real business for which I plan to quit my job - AHH!), and between that, my still-here-for-now day job, and my family, I hardly have time to take a shower.

BUT..

When something interesting comes along, I can't help but let all of you Daring Females out there know about it.

Check out this list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, from Fortune.com. Here are some women with some really big jobs. It's fun to look through and see what they are doing (and yes, the insane amounts of money they are making.)

Daring Female Update

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 18:21:00 +0000

I love getting emails like this:

"Well, things have been BOOMING since I was a Daring Female! In December 2005, Kensington bought my novel, HELL'S BELLES, in a three-book deal. The book hits the shelves on January 2, 2007 (available for pre-order now on Amazon). HELL'S BELLES is a humorous paranormal romance about a succubus who runs away from Hell, hides on Earth as an exotic dancer, and learns the hard way about true love. The second in the series, THE ROAD TO HELL, is waiting to go to my editor once he's not swamped. I'm currently working on two more
novels, HOTTER THAN HELL and SCHMOOZING THE ALMIGHTY."

Wow, congrats Jackie.

To see Jackie's Daring Female profile, click here.

To visit her site, go to www.jackiekessler.com.

Tough choices

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 15:45:00 +0000

Hi there, my fellow Daring Females!

You might be wondering what I've been up to during the last few months of sparse blog posts and few weekly dares. For some of that time I was away on a true vacation (read: vacation where there is no good internet connection and the cell phone does not work so well!) with my husband and my daughter. Wow, that was so great and so very needed. But then we got back and the reality of what happens when you leave work for a few weeks set in - so I spent the next few weeks trying to catch up on the endless emails, phone messages, and to dos at work.

And then I found a few quiet moments to think. Because they are so rare, they usually result in some dramatic decisions and it was true this time.

I decided to start working on a plan to create my own company.

(Wow, it feels so amazingly scary to just write that sentence!)

I know probably too much about what it takes to start a company - I say too much because sometimes a little naivete is very helpful - to know how tough it and that deciding to do it is one of the easier, although scary, decisions along the way. Sure, I may change my mind. Of course, things might come up along the way that make it necessary that I change course. But for now, at this very moment, I have decided and it feels pretty cool, scary, exciting, liberating, and many many other things.

Deciding to take this huge dare (and it is so much bigger than my previous effort at starting a publishing company because I plan to QUIT my regular well-paying family-supporting job to do it!!!!) has several immediate implications.

Implication #1: I need to dedicate time each day to my new venture. Nothing gets done unless you do it and I have to start doing it.

This means I have to cut down on doing other things. And one of the things I will be cutting down on is writing weekly dares for this site. This was a tough decision for me because I feel so passionate about the Daring Female message, but it is something I have to do. The Daring Blog will remain and stay active, as will the growing and amazing Dare Collage, profiles of Daring Females, Daring Resources, and of course, the Daring Female book! (In fact, I will be posting about the progress of my new venture on this blog since it is a true dare for - so stay tuned!)

I hope that you will stay involved, share your dares with other Daring Females by submitting them to the Dare Collage, commenting on the Blog, and most of all, remembering the Daring Female Manifesto:

To get the most out of your life You have to DARE yourself to do it!

This week's dare

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:39:00 +0000

I've been back and forth from work to vacation, but didn't want to miss an opportunity to write a new dare for this week:

Dare to go on a mini-adventure this week!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful pre-holiday week and I'll be back after Labor Day!

100 Dares Every Daring Female Should Attempt at Least Once in Her Life

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:05:00 +0000

Here's our joinly updated list, please keep posting your suggestions!

100 Dares Every Daring Female Should Attempt
at Least Once in Her Life

I would like your help in building this list - the more Daring Females who contribute their ideas to it, the more powerful, gutsy, honest, fun, unique, exciting, and DARING it will be. I will kick it off and will keep adding to it - but I hope that many of you will contribute!

(It's simple - all you do is add a comment to this blog post or to the future ones where I post this list and I will add your contribution to our list. If you'd like, you can also email me.)

So here goes - and in no particular order :

100 Dares Every Daring Female Should Attempt
at Least Once in Her Life

1. Travel somewhere alone
2. Perform in public (speaking, singing, dancing, juggling, fire swallowing)
3. Conquer a fear (of heights, of public speaking, of being alone)
4. Make the first move in a relationship
5. Compete in a race
6. Write a book (or an essay, article, poem)
7. Stand up for a cause (start an organization, participate in a rally or a protest)
8. Quit a boring/dull/unfulfilling job
9. Become a great dancer
10. Get in amazing physical shape
11. Write a note to someone you admire, love, hate, are envious of or inspired by and tell them how you really feel about them
12. Speak up for yourself
13. Learn to play an instrument (piano, guitar, violin, flute, kazoo, whatever!)
14. Be a great friend (to yourself and someone else)
15. Be a great lover
16. Pick the thing that scares you the most and do it
17. Stop in a foreign city that you love and live there (for a couple of months, a year, a life) - find somewhere to live, a job, new friends, a favorite cafe and new confidence
18. Go to a nude beach, and take off your clothes (for at least 5 minutes!)
19. Run for public office
20. Stand up to a bully
21. Get a daring, funky haircut
22. Try surfing
23. Learn to snowboard or downhill ski
24. Take yourself out for a fabulous solo date
25. Go skydiving
26. Wear a bikini and feel fabulous
27. Eat a whole chilli pepper
28. Walk barefoot in the rain without a coat or umbrella
29. Paint a huge canvas and display it in your house
30. Learn a foreign language

Please join me in creating this list - add your comments to this blog or email me with your suggestions for what should go on it!

Dare Collage

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:42:00 +0000

We added a bunch of newly submitted dares to the ever-growing and ever-inspiring Dare Collage, so check it out and if you haven't sent in your own dare, do it!

This week's dare

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 11:22:00 +0000

Check out this week's dare:

Dare to find excitement in chaos!

A great dare

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:28:00 +0000

Jennifer submitted this dare for the Dare Collage and I really loved it and wanted to share it with you here:

This summer I dared myself to become the woman I told myself I always could be.
I jumped out of an airplane at 10,500 feet, pulled my own ripcord at 5,000 feet and am taking motorcycle lessons.

As a next step, I dare myself to finish my resume and find a job that brings me personal fulfillment.

For the first time since being a child, I am finding pleasure in just being me.

Thanks, Jennifer, I found this so refreshing. An as promised, a signed copy of the Daring Female book is on its way to you!

Have you shared your dare? If not, click here to do it!

Dare Collage and other slowness

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:54:00 +0000

My apologies for lack of blog posts and for the terrible slowness in updating the Dare Collage. Some of it is due to vacations - oh, how I wish there was more time for that - some to an overwhelming amount of other work. But I want to assure you that all of your wonderful dares WILL become part of the Dare Collage just as soon as our webmaster (aka my kind but too busy husband) finds a bit of time to work on them.

I hope you are enjoying your summer!

This week's dare

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:02:00 +0000

Check out this week's dare:

Dare to spend five minutes this week being brutally honest with yourself!

It's got a fun worksheet as part of it and I hope you give it a shot.

Summer is vacation time!

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:51:00 +0000

Yay, another vacation - this time, with our daughter! Nature, swimming, no noise or crowds - I can't wait!

Have a great week, Daring Female and the Weekly Dare will be back after August 7th!

In the meantime, check out the Daring Female book, the incredible and inspiring Dare Collage, and the newly updated Resources section, with some fun new printouts and worksheets.

A terrible way to get perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:06:00 +0000

It's been a really sad and difficult week - a colleague of mine died from complications to cancer a few days ago. He was 37 years old, had a wife and a 3 year old son. He's been sick for a while, but that didn't make his death any less shocking.

I remember meeting him a year ago, when he joined our firm. We went out to lunch with and after the usual work-talk, started talking about all the things we really wanted to do with our lives. I talked about the Daring Female book coming out and how I wanted to one day write full time. And he talked about taking trips with his son, improving his golf game, becoming a basketball coach, not working 12 hours a day.

A death of someone you know is a terrible way to get life perspective, but nevertheless, as we've all been dealing with the eath of our colleague, I've certainly gotten my dose. It's important to make life plans and have big dreams, but it's equally important to actually pursue those plans and try to make those dreams come true. Not later, not at some point in the future when we think we might have more time, more money, more energy. But right now, when we are excited by them and want them and have precious hours and minutes to pursue them.

Life is about sacrifice - if you want to start a business you might have to give up a steady paycheck for a while. If you want to write a book you might have to give up watching TV. If you want to travel you might have to spend less money on going out or buying clothes. But there is one sacrifice none of us should make - we should not sacrifice our dreams to our fears or reluctance or laziness.

If you dream, do. And if you do, do now.

This week's dare

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 02:21:00 +0000

Check out this week's dare:

Dare to give up something in your life!

I'd love to hear about any creative ways that you take this one on - post a comment and let me know!

Giving yourself credit

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:31:00 +0000

One of the more terrible things that we do as women is not give ourselves enough credit for things we've accomplished in life. (I am sure there are guys who do this as well but I don't know as many of them, so there's my unscientific generalization on this matter.) I am as guilty of it as any other Daring Female.

So here's a dare for the weekend:

Click on the link below and print out this "I Rock" Daring Female Certificate. Fill it in with all the wonderful, amazing, gutsy, difficult, creative things that make you proud of yourself and post it somewhere where you can't miss it. Enjoy it. Re-read it. Be proud of it.

(And stop short-changing yourself!)

How to be happy

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 20:29:00 +0000

New York Magazine did an interesting feature last week about happiness - it's a little long, but worth a look. The article include a sidebar that I thought was funny, poignant, and logical - check it out.

The author of the article refers to a happiness test - here is a link if you want to take it. I was kind of surprised by my result. It is called the Authentic Happiness Inventory Questionnaire and takes just a few minutes to complete.

This week's dare

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:41:00 +0000

Check out this week's dare:

Dare to like your dislikes!

Featured Daring Female!

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:20:00 +0000

I am having a horror week at work, so no time or mental sharpness for witty blog posts, unfortunately.

BUT, check out our most recently featured Daring Female, Diane Danielson.

And a few more dares have been added to the ever-growing and ever-inspiring Dare Collage!

(Thanks to Jodi for sending in an original graphic with her dare - check out the first dare in the top left corner. I'd love to feature your dares with your own art work, graphics, whatever - all you need to do is to email the jpeg file my way!)

Wow...

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:30:00 +0000

... did I need that vacation! It's amazing what spending 5 days away from the usual life routine can do - I hate cliches, but I genuinely feel like my batteries have been recharged. My husband and I went up to Montreal and Quebec City while my parents kindly took care of our daughter in Boston. We stayed at an incredible hotel - thank you credit card points! - ate too much of amazing food, spent too much money, listened to amazing music, and most of all, spent the days not running around like we usually do.

My short vacation inspired this week's dare - check it out:

Dare to do too much of something!

Vacation!

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 16:07:00 +0000

My husband and I are doing something next week we've not done for a very long time - we are taking our daughter to stay with my parents and then flying to Montreal for a 6-day vacation we need very much. I am making it a true vacation - no Blackberry, no Internet, no work of any kind, including no Daring Female.

So enjoy the 4th of July celebrations and I'll be back on the 10th!

100 Dares Every Daring Female Should Attempt at Least Once in Her Life

noreply@blogger.com (Natasha) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:44:00 +0000

We're adding to our list of 100 Dares Every Daring Female Should Attempt at Least Once in Her Life - check it out and add your own!

Click here to read the ongoing list.