Live Your Dream with Celina Lee

First Step Towards Career Happiness: Gain Self-Awareness

One of the questions I get a lot is “How do you coach people? How do you help people find fulfillment in their careers?” 

True happiness in a career is possible only when what we do is aligned with who we are.

Too many people are unhappy, feel stuck, and don’t know what to do next. Why? Because we overthink and underact.

In the next 3 episodes, I’m sharing with you the 3-Step framework that I use to coach people out of jobs they hate and into careers they love. This framework has been proven effective in transforming careers and the lives of many professionals.

Step 1. Gain Self-Awareness – Learning about ourselves and knowing our values are the first step towards discovering work that is aligned with who we are.

Step 2. Overcome Internal Obstacle – Many of us stand in our own way of living the life we want, because fear stops us from taking action. It is crucial to overcome internal struggles, learn how to reframe failure and rejection, and be able to manage negative inner-voice.

Step 3. Take Action – It’s only through action that our lives will change. We need to learn how to create career vision that is aligned with our values, and then take steps and actions towards the career that gives us joy and meaning.

I am talking about the Step 1 Gain Self-Awareness in this episode, and will cover Step 2 & 3 in the next two episodes.

In this episode, I share how we can gain self-awareness by learning about our values.

1) What is a value, and how it is different from morals or ethics

2) Where our values come from

3) The importance of living our own values and not those of others

4) How our emotions tell us what values are important to us

5) How knowing our values helps us to make important career & life decisions

Today’s show notes: www.celinalee.co/episode20

How an Elementary School Teacher Became the New York Times Travel Writer- Seth Kugel

Seth Kugel is the travel writer for the New York Times. He has the job so many people want— travel around the world and get paid for it.

He wrote the New York Times Frugal Traveler column for 6 years and has published the book, “Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious.”

He has the job so many people dream of, but he didn’t actually plan on becoming a travel writer or even a journalist.

His first job out of college was a third-grade bilingual teacher in the Bronx in NYC. After getting his masters degree, he then worked in an immigrant services project for the City of New York.

After being encouraged by a college friend, he took a writing class, which led to him becoming a freelance writer for the New York Times and then a travel writer.

He shares how he turned his hobbies into his job, such as learning new languages and traveling, and the unusual and kind of crazy ways he learned Portuguese and Spanish.

Another fun fact about Seth is that he is also a Youtube star. He has two Youtube channels, Globally Curios and Amigo Gringo in Portuguese.

Amigo Gringo has almost 500,000 subscribers and he has been on every late night talk show in Brazil. He is a celebrity there— people recognized him on the street and ask him for his autograph and pictures. He has achieved his life long dream of becoming famous in another country!

Learn more about Give One Dream, the community I have built to inspire people to pursue their dreams: www.giveonedream.com

Today’s show notes: www.celinalee.co/episode19

Five Things I Learned From Starting My Podcast

In this episode, I share with you the story about how I started my podcast and what I learned from the experience.

Starting a new project is scary, and I of course had fears and doubts.

“Who would listen to my show when there are so many great podcasts out there?”

But I didn’t want to be the person who doesn’t try because she is scared. So I launched last summer, made plenty of mistakes, and kept going.

18 episodes and listeners from almost 70 countries later, I share with you what I have learned from this experience.

It’s not easy turning an idea into a reality. It takes a lot of hard work and persistence, but it is a very meaningful journey.

I still cannot believe people from all over the world are listening to my tiny one-woman show. I would never have known that would be possible if I didn’t try.

I share with you what I have learned in the hope that it will inspire you take action towards your ideas and dreams.

1. Don't let what you don't know or afraid of stop you from pursuing what you want to do. It doesn't matter what you don't know but what you commit to learning it.

2. Tell people about your ideas, goals, and dreams. You never know who knows who, and who can help you. The one way to guarantee you never achieve your goals and dreams is to tell no one.

3. Find your Tribe. It can be a lonely journey pursing your dreams, and finding people who are walking in similar path will be crucial for your success. When you put yourself out there, you will attract the right people.

4. Doing what you love requires doing things you don’t like. But it will be worth it because it is meaningful to you.

5. Outsource what you are not good at or you don’t like to do. You can’t do everything by yourself. It’s okay to ask for help.

https://www.instagram.com/celinasdream/

https://www.facebook.com/celinalee627

Today’s show notes: www.celinalee.co/episode18

When Are You Too Old to Pursue Your Dreams?

I often hear people say, “I’m too old to pursue my dream… If I was just 5 or 10 years younger, I would learn this or I would try that.”

In this episode, I share with you a story about my grandmother who first started taking pottery lessons when she was 80-years-old. When she passed away at 90, she left many of her work as a reminder that we are never too old or it is never too late to learn something new, take on a new challenge, or pursue our dreams.

 My grandmother was born in the worst time in the Korean history. She grew up during the Japanese occupation era and lived through the Korean War.

Even though she was an educated, very smart woman, there weren’t many career opportunities available to her because she was a woman. But she didn’t let her circumstances or the situation she was in limit her possibilities or her future. She started multiple businesses, was a leader in her community, and helped so many people. 

People ask me what drives me to do the work that I do, and I think about my grandmother. If she was lucky enough to be born in my time, what would she have done?

I of course have my fears when I take on a new challenge but when I remember my grandmother, I know I have to at least try for her, and on behalf of all other women who came before me but didn’t get the chance. 

What I learned from my grandmother 

1. I’m never too old and it is never too late to pursue my dreams, learn something new, or take on a new challenge.

2. Don’t let my current circumstance or the situation I am in limit my possibilities or my future.

3. Take full advantage of the opportunity I have to study and learn, because that opportunity won’t always be there and it’s not available to everyone.

4. Share the blessings I have with others.

5. I can achieve anything I put my mind to.

You can see my grandmother’s potteries on my Instagram and Facebook.

https://www.instagram.com/celinasdream/

https://www.facebook.com/celinalee627

Today’s show notes: www.celinalee.co/episode17

How a Mom of Four Turned Her Diet Soda Addiction Into a $100 Million Company - Kara Goldin

Kara Goldin is the founder and CEO of Hint, well known for its flagship product, Hint Water. Kara started the company with a simple idea, to make water that tastes great.

After leaving her job at AOL, Kara was overweight, had low energy, and was suffering from adult acne. Even though she changed her diet and worked out a lot, she still had a hard time losing her weight, and then she realized that her addiction to diet soda was the problem.

She quit drinking soda and tried drinking plain water, but she hated how bland it tasted so she began cutting up fruit and throwing it in pitchers of water. And this little experiment not only helped her to continue drinking water but led to her starting her business.

While she was trying to build her company, she was introduced to someone who was pretty senior at Coca Cola who said her idea was terrible, and told her, “Sweetie, Americans love sweets.”

Kara proved him wrong, and fourteen years later, she grew Hint into a $100 million company, and also raised 4 children during this time.

Today’s show notes: celinalee.co/episode16

How To Pursue Your Dreams Even When Your Loved Ones Don’t Believe In Them

One of the hardest parts of pursuing your dreams is going against the grain of what's generally accepted -- and that sometimes includes your loved ones.

Even though I'm very close to my family, it was difficult at times to get their encouragement and support -- especially when I set out to write my first book. The good thing is that my story ended well, but that didn't make the process any easier when I went through it.

My hope is that this episode will encourage you to pursue your dreams and that the process I share here will help you move forward.

Today's shownotes: celinalee.co/episode15

Five Things I Wish I Could Tell My Younger Self About Life

Soren Kierkegaard once said, "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." In this episode I share 5 things that I wish I knew earlier in life, but might never have learned if I didn't go through hard times and tough seasons.

I share some personal stories in this episode, and my hope is that these takeaways will help you on your journey to live your dreams!

1. Don't worry about a problem that isn't a problem yet.

2. When faced with an upsetting or annoying situation, ask, "Will this be a problem one year from now, or no?" If the answer is no, then let it go.

3. Wait 24 hours before sending an angry email or making an angry phone call.

4. Trust your intuition.

5. Life doesn't always work out the way you planned, and that's ok. 

FREE RESOURCE: 3 Steps to Finding True Career Fulfillment

Get this free guide: celinalee.co/steps

Today's shownotes: celinalee.co/episode14

Check out my interview on Mike Kim's podcast here: 3 Steps to Finding True Career Fulfillment

How World Travel Inspired Katrina Markoff’s $30M Vosges Haut-Chocolat Brand

Katrina Markoff is the founder of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a $30M brand that was launched in 1998 and is now sold in over 2,000 outlets around the world.

Katrina shared with me how trusting her intuition and following her heart led to an amazing journey where all of her life experiences came together to create a beautiful chocolate brand that nurtures awareness and appreciation of the world’s diverse cultures.

Today's shownotes: celinalee.co/episode13

Five Ways to Help You Achieve Your New Years Resolutions

It’s January and there’s still time for you to write down your New Year’s Resolutions if you haven’t already.

To help you, I asked my friend, Michael Kim, the founder of the law firm Kobre & Kim, who I interviewed in episode 3, about how he comes up with New Year’s Resolutions.

5 ways to help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions:

1. Make specific, small goals and not vague or big goals.

2. Pair up a goal with an experience you enjoy.

3. When you add a goal to your list, take out another goal from the list.

4. Remove all obstacles or distractions that could get in the way of achieving goals.

5. Review your progress on achieving goals every week.

Shownotes for this episode: celinalee.co/episode12

Celebrating Thanksgiving: I am Grateful to a Stranger in Paris

On Thanksgiving, I share with you a story about how a Parisian woman’s random act of kindness has inspired me to pay forward, and how paying forward became a big mission for Give One Dream, the community I have built to inspire people to pursue their dreams.