Here at kikki.K we have a real passion for learning about anything that will make our lives better. That’s why we love Margie Warrell’s wonderful books, especially Make Your Mark. It’s full of information and questions to help you live with more courage and create a roadmap for your dream life. That’s why we decided to work with Margie to release a limited edition kikki.K designed version of this inspiring work.
We caught up with Margie to find out more about her inspirations and the journey that led her to writing this book…
Can you tell us a little about you & what led you to write Make Your Mark?
I grew up the big sister of a large Catholic family on a small dairy farm in rural Victoria Australia. As a kid I remember my dad, who milked cows for nearly 50 years, telling me that he could see me one day growing up to be a nun – Sister Margaret Mary – running a convent. While I was never particularly allured by dad’s aspirations for me to join a convent, both my father and my mother (who actually was a nun before meeting my dad) always instilled in me the importance of sharing our time, talents, skills, resources and ‘hard won wisdom’ in ways that make the world a better place.
Fast foreword the clock, in my early thirties I left my corporate career to pursue a strong sense of calling to help people live more meaningful, rewarding and happier lives. I’ve now spent the last 15 or so years working around the world as a coach, speaker, facilitator and author (Make Your Mark is my fourth book) helping people expand their vision, rewrite their ’stories’ and confront the fears that too often drive us to sell ourselves short and deprive ourselves (and others) of the mark that we are each born to make.
Make Your Mark was actually inspired from the Live Brave programs I began running a few years ago in response to what I felt was a growing need for busy people to take ’time out’ from the hustle of their daily life to reignite their passion, reconnect with their purpose and reset their “life compass”. Because not everyone can make it along to one of my programs I wanted to write a ‘guide book’ that would help people who felt stuck, at a cross roads or just looking for fresh direction to sit with the big questions of life that we too often fail to reflect upon as I believe that the answers we are looking for are already inside us. We just have to ask better questions and take a look at how we are looking at life. Hence Make Your Mark is a book to be read with an open mind and pen in hand.
What does living a brave life look like to you?
For me a brave life is about continually challenging myself to show up more authentically and daring to do more than I think I can in the service of a cause bigger than myself. It’s abut laying our pride and vulnerability on the line for something more important. And it’s about trusting in ourselves more deeply that no matter what unfolds for us, we can handle it and emerge from it stronger and wiser.
Of course being brave means many different things at different times in our lives. Deciding to have my fourth child felt very brave at the time. But more often being brave can show up in the small daily choices, like sharing something with a friend when we’re afraid how we may be judged, risking rejection or even just saying no to an invitation despite the fact we know someone wants us to say yes.
What do you hope your readers will get out of reading Make Your Mark?
I hope it will help them to connect to a deeper sense of purpose in their lives and to create a bold and compelling vision that really inspires them (even if it scares them.) But I also hope that it will help them embrace their innate ‘enoughness’ as I see so many people spending so much of their lives trying to please and prove themselves because, deep down, they feel they are not enough in some way. Finally I hope that by finishing the book and doing the exercises they’ll have a game plan that will help them step into (and stay) in action. Hence why I made it a ‘guide book’ because it’s not just about ideas and feeling good, it’s about actually changing what you are doing so you can enjoy more of whatever it is you most want — whether to create an amazing career or build a brilliant relationships or pursue a dream you’ve long been putting off.
What is one change everyone can make today that will make a huge difference to their lives?
Take five minutes every day to reflect on the question: What would I do today if I were being brave? And then not waiting until you feel sure or confident or certain or brave before you take action toward what it is you want more of in your life. IN other words, spending a little more time simply “being” so that you can be far more effective in your “doing!”
What’s one dream that’s still on your bucket list?
To meet Oprah and share my message with the millions of people whom trust her wisdom.
What stationery item can you not live without?
My daily planner!
