Interview of Jennifer Smith

Jen Smith is a personal development blogger and life coach. Jen lives near the Kent coast in the UK. As well as her online and life coaching work, Jen is a student mentor for local universities. Jen also enjoys running, cooking, reading and spending time in nature.

Jen believes we all have the potential to shoot for the stars and go for our dreams and writes about this topic on her blog Reach Our Dreams(reachourdreams.com/). You can also find her as a guest blogger on many other sites.

Interview

Q.: Jen, you’re a life coach and you run a blog Reach our dreams dedicatedly on it. What types of topics you cover there?

I write about personal development and ways to enjoy our lives more and get in touch with what is really important to us. I am really interested in helping people to reach their dreams and live a life they really love.

Q.: What really inspired you to choose the life coaching profession?

I did a Psychology degree and I also took a Counseling Certificate as well as having tried lots of different jobs! Through trying different things as well as my own personal development, I discovered coaching and found this was a great fit for me. I found coaching such a powerful tool to help people move forward with their lives. I like that it is about listening to and empowering people but is also very much about taking action and moving forward. One key thing that drew me to be a coach is that as a coach it is not my job to give advice but to help my client find their own answers. We all have an innate wisdom and we really are our own best teachers. I facilitate people to realize that and find their own answers.

Q.: You’ve written an article on Mahatma Gandhi by name “The Wisdom of Gandhi.” In INDIA, he is praised as the father of nation. How do you look at his deeds?

I have always been very interested in Gandhi. What really fascinates me about Gandhi was that he achieved what a lot of people would think as impossible at the time (Independence of India from British rule) in such an extraordinary manner … by standing up for what he believed in a peaceful and non-violent way. He educated his ‘enemies’ simply by ‘being’ an inspiring stand for truth and what was ‘right’. I think his deeds and lessons are as relevant today as they were in his time. If we could all “Be the change you want to see in the world” what a difference that would make!

Q.: What according to you is creativity?

For me creativity is about bringing forth a vision to the world, creating something that didn’t exist before that comes from a place of inspiration.

Q.: When it’s about personality development or positive thinking or anything of that sort, there are thousands of books, dvds, audios are available to preach the youth. But still, it doesn’t solve up the issue. What’s your take on such books and dvds that claim to be success in few hours?

Great question. Personal development is an ongoing process and I know that some personal development books and DVD’s have definitely changed my life, maybe not in a hugely obvious way to other people, but I know I haven’t been the same after reading or listening to that thing. I do think huge changes can happen quickly and I have seen that in my own life and other peoples. On the other hand, I think we need to be discerning. There is some great material out there but there is some not so great stuff. We need to listen to ourselves and trust our intuition so we can choose what’s right for us (and not waste our money!) Ultimately nothing can replace putting the work in to achieve our goals.

Q.: Money is one of the major issues of today’s youth. Would you like to share some of the interesting and cool projects/ideas/business modules that can earn them money?

To be honest, I would say with regards to this … follow your heart. Do what you enjoy. What you enjoy will be different for everyone. Doing something just for money, may work but will leave you feeling empty at the end of the day.  I am not saying don’t earn money … absolutely do, but don’t make that the end game. Find out what you love doing and find a way to earn money doing that. Projects and ideas will then become clear when you know your vision.

Q.: Does your blog help you earn money too? Do shed more light on it.

I have just started offering life coaching services via my blog so that is one way in which I plan to monetize my blog. I don’t earn money through my blog in other ways yet, but am looking into doing this in the future.

Q.: Films like Dead Poet’s Society, Good Will Hunting and 3 Idiots (Hindi – INDIAN), do talks about doing the things that we love to do. What’s your take on this concept?

I think that doing the things we love is essential for our happiness. Somehow there is a topsy turvy message in this world, that doing what we enjoy isn’t ‘real work’ or wrong. I think that’s rubbish! Do what you enjoy, as much as possible! Life’s too short to be doing things we don’t enjoy. When you do this you are not following someone else’s template for life and by loving what you do you are much more likely to be successful in that area.

Q.: What special message you would like to share with SpeakBindas readers?

Enjoy each moment, do what you love and love what you do! Life is precious and we have huge potential. Don’t waste it or doubt yourself.