Dan Miller's Advice to "Take Action" Pays Off

At the "Coaching with Excellence" workshop in May, 2012, Dan Miller gave a piece of advice at the closing. He said, "When you leave here, if you learn one thing from all of this, it is to 'take action.'" I'm probably paraphrasing his exact words, but that little piece of advice has been drilled into my thoughts since then. I have a sticky note on my desk to remind me of this each day.

One of the things I had been putting off for several years was a book to help families with deaf and hard of hearing children. Right after the workshop, I went to work on that book. I had only written a few pages over the years. I worked on it during the summer months, which was a real challenge because my kids were home and I was training for barefoot tournaments. In September, I released "The Parenting Journey, Raising Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children" on Amazon.

It hit a number one spot in its category and Lee Woodruff from CBS This Morning gave it a tweet:

The book has lead to several speaking opportunities as well. But the reason I'm writing to share this is the REAL purpose behind the book-- I wanted to reach out to families and make a difference. I wanted to take all the lessons I learned as a mom of three deaf and hard of hearing kids and share them--and perhaps make the journey a little smoother for others. Three days ago, a review came in which made tears run down my face:

As a mother to a child with severe hearing loss, the emotions I felt were different and scary. Leaving me feeling all alone to cope with the loss of my dreams for my daughter. I felt selfish. Guilty, angry, confused and so on. After sitting down to read The Parenting Journey, Raising Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children - I feel MORE confident in making decisions for my child. I no longer feel alone and I feel I have a better understanding of how to cope with my own sadness of my daughter's hearing loss. My daughter failed her newborn hearing screening and for 3 long years, I was told by 4 different doctors that she was fine and I was just a nervous mother and I even had a doctor refuse to see her because of my voicing concerns. My entire family sided with the doctors, I was constantly told to push her harder to speak and to not speak for her. Her father, my husband, felt the same as the rest of the family, that nothing was wrong with his babygirl. It was a steep uphill battle for me to get someone to take me seriously. Finally, an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor listened to me and sent us to an audiologist. She confirmed my fears and my husband looked devastated. I cried. But my daughter - she smiled. For her, this is not new. She's been hearing impaired since her creation started - she's not sad, none of her dreams have been crushed, she's a happy 6 year old. She has had her hearing aids for 2 years and 4 months, she loves them. She goes to a school with a class for the deaf and hearing impaired. She is behind in her language, which ALL the teachers and doctors have me a nervous wreck about making sure she can make a certain sound before she turns 7 - so no one older than 7 has ever learned a new word? A new language? Please, there's no age limit on education. I'm 31 and I learn new things each and everyday. Reading this book made me realize that there is no wrong answer, mistakes can and will be made but you will learn along the way. I don't have to make my daughter only use her words, she can also use ASL unlike what her teachers and speech pathologist say. I have also realized that I am strong enough to raise a happy child regardless of her hearing impairment. I felt little, weak and over my head before I read this. I needed this confidence boost. But mostly, my daughter needed me to have a boost, to realize that I'm not the only parent in the world who got little to no information along with little to no support, so I could regain my confidence to be the best mommy I can be. We still have our struggles, and when times feel overwhelming, I turn to page 117 and I read that quote. I can honestly say that this book really reached out to me. It truly helped me. If I could shake Karen Putz's hand - I would be overjoyed. Her book gave me my confidence back. I sincerely thank Karen Putz for sharing her insight with me through this book.

I'm sharing this today because I hope Dan's words will encourage you to take action on something you've been dreaming about for a long time, something you KNOW you want/need to accomplish, something you're born to do but have been putting off because of doubt/fear/whateveritis -- take action TODAY. Every day, with every action, you're either moving toward your passion or away from it.

What about you? What will you take passionate action on?

Tags: a, action, book, dan, goals, miller, passion, take, writing

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Comment by Karen Putz on March 7, 2013 at 5:52am: Peter, thank you for sharing. What courage it takes to put ourselves out there but as you found, the richness in return is priceless. To "affect lives and do something meaningful" as you said. I look forward to seeing what you take passionate action on next!

And kudos to your son! :)

Comment by Karen Putz on March 7, 2013 at 5:50am: Thank you, Lesley! I'd love to hear what you're taking passionate action on too!

Comment by Peter A Ferguson on March 7, 2013 at 5:19am: Karen, excellent reminder, thanks for sharing. I too was impressed by Dan's words and it started my blogging career. It was extremely slow and intimidating at first, but it is building up steam and starting to move forward quickly.

I've been very inspired to watch you, Adam Rico, Joel, and others who attended continue to make progress forward. It is hard to believe it hasn't even been a year since we sat in the Sanctuary - yet the amount of personal growth that has resulted in taking action has been 5-6X the amount of personal development achieved in previous years combined.

One blog I did not share on this forum but is on my website is about a dear co-worker who passed away very suddenly this week. I was able to put what many of us were feeling into words - something I would have struggled to do a year ago. As a result, many others have read the blog and written their own comments as a tribute to the legacy Calvin has left behind.

Often when someone dies, you feel helpless. The contrite words are spilt "if there is anything I can do, let me know ..." It was nice to be able to do something small, but allowing many to grieve through providing their feelings and emotions verbally within a tight community.

It has been a real blessing to have a platform to be able to do all of this. To really affect lives and do something meaningful. It also aided in inspiring several others to write very heartfelt posts on their own platforms and as an aggregate whole, it has paid a great tribute to a quiet, humble, and fantastic man who will no longer be in our lives physically.

You continue to inspire me Karen! Thanks for the post. (BTW, my son has been getting straight A's in ASL, but I need to still take you up on a Skype lesson or two for him)

Comment by Lesley Sobeck on March 6, 2013 at 7:43pm: Congratulations on moving forward with this! I'm sure you'll continue to impact many in a positive way. :)

Comment by Karen Putz on March 6, 2013 at 1:06pm: Thank you, Dan. Just know that I think of you every day when I glance at my sticky note. Thankful for you and your books. :)

Comment by Dan Miller on March 6, 2013 at 5:45am: Wow - what a moving testimonial from that Mom and what an affirmation for you having taken action. I don't know of another way of releasing our best self other than taking specific action. And you're the queen of knowing what needs to be done - and doing it. Congratulations on the success that's coming your way.

Comment by Bernard Haynes on March 5, 2013 at 9:05pm: Thanks for the reading the book. Here is my email (bhaynes7@gmail.com) to send the testimony. Send me your email and I can send you the entire book. Thanks for your help.

Comment by Karen Putz on March 5, 2013 at 6:11pm: Kathryn, I look forward to watching your book materialize with your action-- go for it!

Comment by Karen Putz on March 5, 2013 at 6:10pm: Bernard, I sat down and read your Lead to Impact mini-book tonight and I love it. I would be happy to do a testimony for your book. I especially love the examples you used and the quotes you pulled out. What a blessing this book will be to others!

Comment by Kathryn Gerken on March 5, 2013 at 2:42pm: I went through CWE in January. I have been trying to take those words to heart as well. I have a personal finance book in me someplace. It is probably already in my blogging. Thanks for the reminder to "Take Action"