Celenia Serrano works for a private consulting firm based in Toronto, ON. Her true passion lies in promoting gender equality in lesser developed countries and understanding the economical and social barriers to development. It is her mission to challenge the antiquated gender roles in her own culture and promote an equal partnership between males and females. When not at work, Celenia participates regularly in yoga, in playing music and in staying active with the many dogs and horses on the farm. 

I describe myself in the About Me section of my site using many adjectives.  You will notice that “shy” isn’t one of them.  I have a confession to make: I used to be extremely shy and still am sometimes.

I am shy when I am in some social situations, as are the majority of individuals.  More than 90% of the world’s population have been shy during some form of social interaction.  My shyness occurs when I am in unfamiliar groups.  The initial meeting is difficult for me; however, once I start talking to the people in the group, I am no longer shy.  I am very comfortable around people who I know well and most would call me an extrovert.

I'm excited that Loren Fogelman has decided to share with me as part of my series on perseverance.  Loren Fogelman is author of The Winning Point and founder of Expert Sports Performance.com, a company devoted to teaching elite athletes how to consistently achieve high performance, maintain focus during competitions and create the confidence to reach their BIG goals. Having been a psychotherapist since 1985, she knows how to identify core issues -- the challenges that are getting in the way of your game – and how to tackle them with a laser-focused approach. During courses and coaching programs, Loren teaches her clients proven strategies for reaching their goals by working smarter, not harder. Psychology, physiology and productivity strategies when combined create a comprehensive training program, boosting performance.

I'm excited that Amanda Abella of Grad Meets World volunteered to be part of my interview series on perseverance. I can relate to her experiences and she has inspired me. Amanda Abella is a freelance writer and blogger based out of Miami, Florida. Her day job consists of interviewing job candidates for a small employment agency while she moonlights as a personal development junkie. When she's not at work or at her local yoga studio you can find her running the popular Gen Y blog Grad Meets World or writing copy and blog posts for clients. Her mission is to help Gen Y see the potential they have while providing practical tips and resources to help them create their post-grad lives. 

Throughout conversations with others lately, the words "freedom to fail" frequently come up.  It seems that many people are too afraid to make mistakes and as a result they stay in the safe zone.  For example, when trying to achieve excellence in a certain area, mistakes will happen along the way.  However, I know many individuals who only put in a minimal effort so no mistakes are made. My friend Adam Panacci shares an account of this situation.

I came up with the idea to interview individuals while walking by the water this past Easter weekend.  Instead of only asking people to share their stories, I’m also asking them the following questions that have been featured on my blog.  To kick off the series, I decided to share my personal answers to the questions.

I connected with Art Butcher a couple of months ago, and I am delighted that he agreed to write this post.Thank you, Art! Please check out his bio and the link to his website, which are included at the end of the post. Building on my post from yesterday about the importance of social support in goal setting, I think Art's post is a wonderful follow-up to the question. Read Art's guest post below!

I have decided to start a new feature on my blog, “Question of the Day.” Every so often, I am posed questions; I thought I would start to share these periodically with you before doing related follow-up posts.

I was emailed a question this week that I have heard many times; I would appreciate your input.

The email was from a reader who has a friend who has been struggling with living a healthy lifestyle for several years; as a result, the friend is severely overweight.  The reader wants to be supportive and a good friend to the other.

Have you ever felt like this?

I started on this path, by first creating a vision board to get a sense of what is important to me and what my goals are. A vision board is a visual display of the goals I would like to accomplish in my life.  Vision boards are really fun to make. If you haven’t made one, you should give it a try! You can check out mine here.

Soon after, I realized I needed to write a personal mission statement.  It took a bit longer than I had hoped, as I had many general ideas but needed to get specific.

I was watching Oprah's Lifeclass on OWN Network last night and was asked by a friend what my favourite moment ever on her show was.  Their question got me thinking and I thought I would share my answer with you.

I have had many favourite moments watching Oprah. However, I do have one favourite moment that stands out as life-changing.  It was on December 10, 2003, when Oprah had A.J. McLean from the Backstreet Boys on the show.  She gave A.J. a safe space to talk about his personal issues, and for the first time anywhere, he went public about his drug and alcohol addictions. His bandmates then joined him on stage for an emotional reunion, as their musical tour had been sidelined due to A.J.’s addictions.

Have you ever been so excited about an idea that you want it to develop and to be shared with others? Yet, you are unsure of how to do it. I have a solution, and it isn’t rocket science.  One of the best ways to develop your idea is to REACH OUT and connect with others.

I was in that boat about a year ago when I first started my blog.  Seriously, I thought only my friends and family would be reading it but I was eager to meet new people and start discussions.  Since I was new to the blogging world, I was a bit naive; I thought, “I’ll write great material, and a community will immediately develop.”  Boy was I wrong! I should have realized that building an online community is the same as building an offline one – it takes time and effort to develop.

Over the last month, I have been focusing my posts on perseverance.  I think it is such an important quality to possess and is essential to life. I have asked individuals to share their stories on how they overcame obstacles.  One of my loyal readers, Sarah L., wrote the following message on what perseverance means to her.  It is such a strong message, and I'm so thankful she reached out and shared with us. Thanks :)