An Inspiring Story About Doing the Right Work

Suzanne discusses finding one’s true, right work with mega bestselling author Laila Ibrahim who made the unlikely pivot from preschool director who’d never written a thing to top author on Amazon. In this episode I’m focusing on a subject a lot of us wonder about—that thing you spend your days doing, called a job. What if you’re job is FAR FAR FAR from what you really want and need to do? My guest is one of the most successful authors on Amazon, Laila Ibrahim, whose story will blow your mind. But first…a related topic. I riff on ideas about self-sabotage and how to push through it with my blog, The Bad Habits That Drive Self-Sabotage and What to Do About Them. Here I recount many of the ways we may not be aware we’re self-sabotaging. And I offer up some possible solutions. See if it resonates. My guest, Laila Ibrahim, has sold nearly two million copies of her books, particularly Yellow Crocus, a historic novel set in the antebellum South of the US. It tracks the relationship between the white baby born to a plantation slave owner, and the enslaved black nursemaid who cares for the child as part of her job. The book is incredibly moving, and full of profound truths about our very humanity. Laila, who was formerly director of a pre-school, shares the wild story of how she, ‘of all people’, did the highly unlikely thing of writing a novel—and then becoming a super, super successful author. And how she overcame all the odds against her. This is an inspiring story that will help YOU get on the path to truer, better, more destined work. Among other things, I learned: The vision that started all of this How Laila talked herself into actually pursuing this vision Where she found support with her dream How she found the courage to keep going, despite the rejections How she handled the inevitable bad reviews How her full destiny finally arrived May you find this story as inspiring as I did. -- Suzanne RESOURCES Yoga by Kashi Ananda Suzanne’s Blog, The Bad Habits That Drive Self-Sabotage and What to Do About Them Laila Ibrahim’s Website Laila’s books : Yellow Crocus Paper Wife Scarlet Carnation         OUR GUEST Of the 500,000 books that are published each year, fewer than 20 sell a million copies. Laila Ibrahim’s novels reached that mark several years ago—with Yellow Crocus. Now she’s up to 1.75M copies sold.   Laila Ibrahim is a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our hurting world. She lives with wonderful wife, Rinda and toy Australian Shepherd, Hazel, in a small co-housing community in Berkeley, California with two other families. Her beloved young adult children live nearby and are kind enough to take trips to Disneyland with her. She is surprised and delighted to be working full time as a novelist and writer. Laila enjoys calling/Skyping into bookclubs and classes.