Wringing Out Last Year's Mess

Click to watch Judy's TEDx talk & find the power of your message.

Before you chide yourself for already breaking those New Year's resolutions, or not even making any... hold on! It just might be that your 2013 messes can lead to your success!

I based my recent TEDx talk on showing how the messes in our lives are springboards to our successes. Watch the talk, and you'll see that if you stop to examine your successes, I can guarantee that you'll be able to trace each success to some unpleasant past event where you felt "less than," humiliated, or got caught lying on your resume - no, you really didn't run the office, you just have a copy of MS Office.

If you study the history of successful people, this "Mess-to-Success" storyline becomes obvious. For example, look at Steve Jobs: his mess was being adopted, and feeling disconnected from his family. His success? He creates devices that connect us all.

Most successful companies have their own M-2-S stories. Microsoft's mess? They started in a garage and couldn't afford an office. Their success? Now everyone buys "Office."

My mess (one of many) was having a humiliating speech impediment, and now, my success - people pay me to speak.

I've started to look at everything I do with this M-2-S hindsight and see that it ALL connects. I got an email asking for a contribution to the Innocence Project, a charity that helps free people falsely imprisoned for crimes they didn't do. I HAD to click and contribute. That's when I realized that as a child I was locked in a closet as punishment - many times falsely imprisoned. My contribution, in a way, helps me heal my own personal anxiety as well as helps others.

So, if you have 14 minutes, listen to my TEDx talk and it just might give you an insight on how your past messes can carry you to business success - and be a catalyst for change.

After watching my TEDx talk, please add your comments to the TEDx YouTube page.