I’ve been inspired by Tara Mohr since she spoke at a Women’s Network event held at my workplace a few years ago. At that event Tara, inspired the audience with her message: Play Big at work and in life. Her ‘brilliant’ wisdom is embodied in these 10 Rules. Since the event I’ve explored Tara’s work and am a proud alum of her Playing Big Leadership Program. Tara’s message inspired me to start the Bliss And Radiance website as a way to pursue my own calling and voice. I hope you find Tara’s words as inspiring as I do.
1) How were you inspired to find your calling with your Playing Big message and how it has evolved over time? What is on the horizon for you?
I’ve had a lifelong calling – to notice where women’s voices are missing, and to play some part in helping to bring those voices forward. That started in childhood for me. But as for many of us, the way that calling manifests for me has evolved over time, and I’ve worked on women’s empowerment in so many different ways, and in different fields, through my career. The Playing Big message evolved very organically for me when I started coaching and started seeing the remarkable patterns in how my women clients were being deluded by their own self-doubt and fears.
What’s on the horizon next is probably a next book and body of work – and the focus of that is unfolding….
2) How do you re-connect to that original calling on a daily basis?
I’m lucky that for me now the calling is central enough to my work and my identity that I don’t forget about it or get lost for weeks or months not working on it.
The challenge is more that I might get caught up in the details of the work, the logistics, and lose connection to big picture inspiration and purpose. Or I might get caught up in ego and worrying about how my work is doing in the world, losing connection to the deeper sense of service.
Praying each morning to be of service is a major anchor for me. And talking to women about their challenges is another that always makes the work feel more personal and real again.
3) Where do you look for new inspiration?
I surrender a problem or dilemma to the greater force of love and light beyond myself.”
Tara Mohr
Women’s lives – listening to them talk about their lives and careers, and observing their lives. Authors and podcasts, too.
Travel – changing up my perspective by being in a new place.
Motherhood, and all it teaches me.
Grace – the little whispers of new ideas or thoughts that show up in my head from a mysterious source, when I take the time to slow down, or when I surrender a problem or dilemma to the greater force of love and light beyond myself.
4) How can your work positively impact a woman’s inner bliss and outer radiance? And what does the phrase ‘inner bliss and outer radiance’ mean to you?
I believe our outer radiance emanates most strongly when we are following our destined path – following our true callings and using our unique gifts. All the playing big work – from quieting the inner critic to finding the inner mentor to unhooking from praise and criticism – is ultimately about living that destined path. I have infinite respect for the unique path each soul longs to take here, and I want to help people have enough respect for it in themselves that they take it. When we are living it – whether through our jobs or something we do outside of our jobs (which by the way doesn’t really matter) – we radiate.
Tara Mohr is an expert on women’s leadership and well-being. She helps women play bigger in sharing their voices and bringing forward their ideas in work and in life. Tara is the author of Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead, named a best book of the year by Apple’s iBooks and now in paperback. In the book, she shares her pioneering model for making the journey from playing small–being held back by fear and self-doubt–to playing big, taking bold action to pursue what you see as your callings. Tara is the creator of the Playing Big leadership program for women, which now has more than 1,000 graduates from around the world, and creator of the global Playing Big Facilitators Training for coaches, therapists, leadership development professionals and other practitioners supporting women in their personal and professional growth. A Coaches Training Institute-certified coach with an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree in English literature from Yale, Tara takes a unique approach that blends inner work and practical skills training. Her work has been featured on national media from the New York Times to Today Show to Harvard Business Review, and has captivated women from all walks of life including Maria Shriver, Jillian Michaels and Elizabeth Gilbert.
