I’m so excited to finally have my new website up and running (though I think it will always be a work in progress)! Many people have been asking me what the #HBRMethod is, and what my new #HBRBootcamps are all about, so I’ve incorporated those into my new site www.sarahcentrella.com go check it out and tell me what you think!
I’m also super excited to introduce you all to my first HBR Master CoachLeticia Christen. She’s AMAZING and I’m so blessed to have her on my team, she’s currently available for one-on-one HBR immersion coaching and is leading our next #HBRBootcmap which starts Oct 17th. Read more ›
My blog was my first attempt at writing when I started it in 2009, and it’s been my closest and sometimes only friend from that point on. It was the one place where I could speak my truth, not knowing or even caring if anyone heard it. It was for me. My soft place to land.
Over the past year it’s been hard to keep up with posting, as life has taken on an increasingly crazy warp speed. And for that I’ve felt guilty, because these quiet nights when I sit with a glass of wine and spill my guts, have been sorely missed.
This week has been some of the highest highs and lowest lows of my life, and I’ve not been able to take a moment to even try and process all I’ve been through this past week. So tonight I needed to go back to my roots, grab a glass of wine and let it out. Read more ›
Last night was one of those #HustleBelieveReceive moments that makes me pinch myself and say, “Wait! Did THAT just happen!?”
This is the breakdown of how the #HBRMethod works to manifest dreams bigger than you can truly imagine.
A few months ago I began the stressful process of finding an ideal candidate to provide a quote for the cover of my book. One of the first people that came to mind was Kimora Lee Simmons. She’s not only a household name to millions; she’s also a savvy boss chick who’s built a fashion and media empire, all while raising four children. She’s one of those people whose hustle I’ve always admired. So I put my wish out into the Universe, with no idea how I’d make it a reality. People like Kimora (@OfficialKimora) are not exactly the easiest to reach!
Fast forward to yesterday. I’m in LA for my day job waiting on my client to join me for lunch in Beverly Hills when I scroll through Instagram. I see Kimora’s post (@OfficialKimora) that she recently opened a new boutique for her KLS fashion line just minutes away from where I’m having lunch. Instantly that “dream” pops into the back of my head, and I make a note to walk by her storefront after lunch. Read more ›
Last week I lived one of the most full circle, #ManifestThat! #HBR moments of my life. One year ago I was selected by producer Marc Anthony Nicolas (@Marc_Nicolas) to have one of my fifteen-second videos air on CBS The Talk.
At the time I was excited obviously, but didn’t think too much of it. Fast forward to two months ago when I “randomly” (#HBRMethod teaches us that nothing is ever random) get a call from Marc Anthony asking if I again wanted to submit a video. I told him that I’d actually be flying during the time he needed me and wouldn’t be able to do it this time. We chatted for a few minutes and then I got the balls to quickly tell him about my book, and to my surprise he not only let me give my quick “pitch,” he actually wanted to know the website! And right there ,on the phone pulled it up!
I think right away he could see that Hustle Believe Receive was special, and so I asked the big question; Would he be willing to share his story as well?
I’m so blessed to say that not only was he excited to do so, but when I did his interview his story BLEW ME AWAY! I am in awe of what he’s accomplished and his #RelentlessPursuit it truly is inspiring.
So last week when I was in LA I had a few hours between meetings, I asked Marc Anthony if he’d like to grab lunch since I was in the area and we’d never met in person. When I got to Studio City (I was about two hours early for our lunch), I told him I’d be working at Starbucks nearby and to just let me know when he was ready. To my total surprise Marc Anthony instead invited me to come watch the live taping of The Talk, which was just about to air live!
Security Station at the CBS gate
When I arrived at the CBS lot, the security guards had my VIP pass waiting. I will never forget driving into the CBS backlot (where all the networks shows are filmed), parking and walking to Stage 16, where The Talk was already broadcasting live. Marc Anthony met me at the door, and ushered me back stage where producers and the camera crew filmed the show in front of a live studio audience.
Backstage with Marc Anthony Nicolas
On the set of CBS The Talk
Backstage at The Talk
The cast chairs…
Standing behind Sharon Osborne’s chair
With producer Marc Anthony Nicolas
The door to stage 16, red light on. Live!
It’s hard to do justice with words what it felt like to be standing there; shoulder to shoulder with a four time Emmy nominated producer, watching Sara Gilbert and Aisha Tyler chit-chat with guest Kellan Luntz. It was one of those amazing pinch-me moments that you can’t quiet fully process.
Killeen Luntz showing off his wig on The Talk while I watched behind the camera -Photo Cred: The Talk
Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that submitting that fifteen-second video a year ago, would lead to Marc Anthony being featured in my book, and giving me a personal tour of the show. It’s the ultimate proof to me that #HustleBelieveReceive is real and constantly working in our lives.
Even though I never imagined this chain of events, I have for years imagined having my own talk show, and being a guest on talk shows. When I was a guest on the Steve Harvey Show it was a huge manifestation of that dream, but this was even more so. This felt so right, it lit a fire under my dream in a way that imagining it alone never could. #ManifestThat! brings pieces of our dream to us so that we can get excited about them, feel them, and live them. That’s exactly what I did, I felt the joy of the moment and was beyond grateful for it.
I don’t care what your dream is, or how “unrealistic” it seems, if you believe in it and are willing to hustle toward it, then it will show up. Probably when you least expect it, and in the most miraculous way. When an idea comes to you, act on it. When an opportunity presents itself, jump at it. And ALWAYS do it from a place of childlike excitement and gratitude.
I wanna thank Marc Anthony for giving me an experience of a lifetime, and facilitating a moment I will never forget, truly a dream come true. And I wanna thank the team and crew of The Talk for being so gracious, kind and welcoming while I was visiting. I’ll cherish that day forever.
My book #HustleBelieveReceive featuring Marc Anthony’s story is available now for pre-order, release date Jan 5, 2016.
UPDATE
So after I posted this yesterday I got a very happy surprise! Marc Anthony is a guest co-host of the Lillian McDermott Radio Show, and I got the sweetest email from Lillian. She said that her and Marc Anthony talked about me on Fridays show and asked if I’d like to be a guest on an upcoming show!!
I’m telling you…. you never know what doors will open when you push through your fear, follow your instincts and believe in your passion.
I’m starting to think that the movies we watched as kids, those sci-fi depictions of what people would be like in the future, is actually our current reality. We really are heartless robots walking around all day long looking down at our phones… yet not responding to anyone. I’m starting to think that’s the only real relationship anyone has any more… if it’s not the only, it’s certainly the most important; the one between hand and phone.
But this is not news to anyone, we’ve all become addicted, I get it, and I’ve been just as guilty. This has been annoying kids, daters, spouses for the last decade. The thing that I see changing is that now people are not only ignoring the living breathing person in front of them in favor of their phone, they are also ignoring half the people on their phone too.
So when you used to be able to pick up the phone and call a friend, now you only get voicemail. Where you used to be able to have a text convo, now you can’t get a response for hours or days if at all. You used to be able to get a response from a Facebook message, or a comment on social media or a reply to an email….GOOD FUCKING LUCK NOW!!!
Now no one can be bothered to interact.
Why is this so annoying you ask?? Because people still have their phones in their hand!! It’s not like they’ve found a magical way to unplug or detach from the device. No they have just detached from person to person interaction of any kind.
Our smart phones have so much crap on them that people spend their day playing on their apps, when a few years ago they spent it texting/messaging actual people. Now they can be on the phone and interact with no one. They can scroll through Instagram all day but not actually comment/like their real life friends posts. They can happily accepts your likes and comments, but can’t be bothered to return the gesture. They can look at Facebook all day, but not interact or post. They can Tinder all day, but not strike up an actual interesting conversation.
I’m starting to believe people have become heartless, emotionless, insensitive, rude, detached robots. It’s easy to block people out, or not respond because it’s just a message on your phone, right? But I think we’ve forgotten that in doing so over and over again, you’re actually destroying real life friendships, relationships, loyalty, respect, bonds and trust. Things I grew up believing were a necessary part of being a good human being.
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe all my –friends, family, clients, business partners, coworkers, associates– maybe all of them have decided in the last year that they can’t stand me. And if that’s the case cool, I stand corrected. But I have a feeling that it’s not just me. No one is responsive these days. The cold truth is that no one gives a shit anymore. People don’t care about how their actions affect anyone else.
Everyone is busy. Blah Blah Blah. I hate it when I get that excuse from people, I want to send them a breakdown of my day and be like… really? Top that! Yet I still took the time to reach out to you, to check on you, to put effort into keeping in touch and good old fashioned communication.
At what point will enough be enough? When will we stop to realize that the millions of ways we receive messages from people who don’t matter to us are destroying the relationships with the people who do? That all the apps in the world won’t replace a real life shoulder to cry on. When will we stop being so isolated in our own head that we take a minute to actually draw on human emotion. Connect with someone real, tell someone who is important to us that they matter? In a real way, not a social media bullshit way?
They say chivalry is dead. Well honey, it’s so dead that I had to look up the meaning of the word! It’s non-existent! But is human decency also dead? Is human connection in any form, a thing of the past? Will my kids never know what that’s like? Where are the acts of kindness, and human interaction that I knew growing up?
It seems impossible to build or maintain a relationship or connection with anyone anymore. I’m praying that this trend reverses, and that people learn to shut out the noise. If it doesn’t, I shutter to think what the future holds for our children.
Time to ditch the unresponsive robots.
It’s all just too much. It makes you cynical after a while. And I guess you can say I’m there. Because speaking for myself, I believe I’ve hit my limit. I’m now cutting people out of my life who can’t be bothered to invest anything into our relationship. All the one-sided friendships/mentorship/client relationships, whatever with whom ever…. I’m done. Goodbye to unresponsive robots. I’m over it. I’m exhausted. I’m going to save the little energy I have left and invest it into my kids and the few people in my life who show they care. And take the time to show my kids how to be connected, kind, responsive, decent human beings.
Last night I got home from the vacation of a lifetime with my kids. I’ve been to New York many times over the past five years for work, but on every trip I’d wished that my children could fall in love with The City the way I have. Only one problem… I’m a single mom on a budget, one that does not allow (yet!) for such extravagant trips across the country for a family of four. Never mind that NYC is the most expensive city in America!
Never-the-less my kids and I had been dreaming of the day they could make the trip with me, especially after they saw the movie Annie.
Flight to NYC with Mira
The last few years have taught me to expect the impossible and believe in a little magic, because God knows I’ve been putting in my hustle! And so this past week I proved yet again that the #HBRMethod is no joke! It really can manifest your dream.
Here’s how:
In February of this year I’d finally acquired enough miles (through all of my work travel) to purchase four round trip tickets to New York (I only had to pay the booking fee of $25 each ticket #MoneyAintAThing!). I booked them immediately using #CourageOverFear to trust that somehow the rest of the trip would fall into place. I knew finding all four tickets was a sign that this trip was a #ManifestThat! moment in the making.
That moment when you see Manhattan for the first time… and your 7.
Back in 2011 I stayed in a hotel in Midtown, which was then called The Alex Hotel. My job had made the arrangements, and I was so floored by it that I made a video and posted it to my YouTube, realizing that I’d manifested that moment. I wound up staying at the same hotel several times, and one day I got a room that blew me away! It was a beautiful 2 bedroom/2 bathroom full condo/suit with an uninterrupted view of the Chrysler Building. I remember sitting on the couch looking at that view, and around the giant condo, and being so excited and sad at the same time. I couldn’t help but feel ecstatic at how beautiful it was, but I wished more than anything that my kids couldn’t see it and experience the magic I felt that night.
I made a promise to myself that somehow, some way I would bring them there.
Fast forward to this year and I’m searching online for a “reasonable” (nothings reasonable in New York!) room for the four of us and of course I look up that hotel. I was disappointed to learn that they’d turned it into a time-share by Wyndham, and that it no longer functioned as a stand alone hotel, but it still offered a limited number of standard (plain) rooms. I had been so set on showing the kids this hotel that I decided to book a regular room with two double beds, even though the experience wouldn’t compare. At least then they could stay in the same hotel I’d stayed in four years before.
When we arrived at the hotel at midnight the front desk clurk looked worried. She went to get her manager and after a few minutes of looking at our reservation and whispering behind the desk, he said; “I’m so sorry, but it looks like we’ve given away your room for tonight. I could however, upgrade you to our two bedroom suite at no additional charge.” I screamed quietly inside and graciously took the keys. (#MoneyAintAThing!)
Mira looking up at the Chrystler Building
When we walked into the room, my kids and I all started screaming! It was the same room I’d stayed in four years before!! Kanen had his own bedroom with a panoramic view of the Chrysler Building, and his own bathroom. The girls and I shared the master bedroom and bath. It was beyond a dream come true, even if we only got to keep it for a day. #ManifestThat!
The kids looking at Grand Central Station from our living room
That is the power of my Future Board and the #HBRMethod to deliver your dream in a way you’d never expect and bigger than you could even dream it! I never let go of the dream that one day my kids would see the view from that room, and I manifested it exactly without it costing a penny more!
Aside from the cost of the room I did that entire trip to NYC on under $600 for a family of four!!! You don’t have to be rich to live like you are! You just have to want it bad enough, be willing to work for it, believe in it with your entire being and then take the opportunities when they are presented.
This is just one tiny example of how I’ve manifest experiences far beyond what was ever on my “vision board” I have so many more, using the #HBRMethod. If your ready to change your life, just know this… YOU CAN.
*The hashtags refer to steps of the #HBRMethod as outlined in my book #HustleBelieveReceive.
The past week I lived out a pretty huge #ManifestThat! moment with my twelve-year-old son Kanen. I’ve had a picture of the Hollywood sign on my #FutureBoard since 2009, and although I’ve been to LA many times since then (even seeing the Hollywood sign), this past week was the moment when that dream became my reality.
One of the reasons I tech people to chose images for their board that represents moments they want to live out, and memories they want to make in life, is for this very reason… so you can take a pic with you in that exact same “moment.” There is no grater proof that the #HBRMethod works than picture proof! Below is the picture of my board that sat on my desk back in 2009 with the picture of the Hollywood sign under the picture of Disneyland. Below was a pretty great moment on Tuesday this week with my son.
Top: My 2009 #FutureBoard Bottom: 2014 #ManifestThat!
This trip was the perfect example of #MoneyAintAThing! I’m still a single mom, and sole supporter of my family of four, so my budget is always accounted for. I have a full-time job and a salary, but I like most people have to watch my budget very carefully, and I don’t have “money to throw away.” But I do believe that I can live a fabulous life with my children, regardless of that minor setback. In fact for the past six years I’ve been proving that to be true. I’ve lived a pretty lavish lifestyle, on a pretty merger budget.
How?? Using the #HBRMethod and not allowing the “lack” of money to come between me and my dreams. This trip, I was able to take my son FIRST CLASS to LA, stay in a beautiful hotel, rent his dream car, and fly us both first class back home. I did all that on a TOTAL budget of $350, and $200 of that was for the day-pass to Universal Studios!
Here’s the details: Over the past year with my day job (my #Hustle), I’ve flown quite a bit (I cover a national territory for a legal services company), and had enough miles on Alaska Air for the tickets, because of my flyer status I got first class both ways for both of us. Because of my travel points I got a free, two night stay at the Hyatt, and free car rental with Enterprise on my rental points! I’m not rich (AT ALLLLL!) but this week felt like I was. This week a year of hard hustle, paid off in a really fun and amazing way, next month it will even pay off bigger when I take my whole family to New York for five days!!
Off to LA in First Class!
He was like “Mama could we get the red car!”
Lunch at the beach
Universal Studios was well worth it!
Our favorite ride!
The beauty about the #HBRMethod is that it will deliver your dream to you, when you least expect it, bigger and better than you ever imagined. I was able to take my son to the beaches in Malibu, Huntington Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. We eat dinner at the famous SUR Restaurant in Beverly Hills (yes it’s an ACTUAL restaurant not just the show Vanderpump Rules LOL). We spent an amazing day at Universal Studios together riding all the rides, walked on the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We did it all, on a budget and felt like royalty.
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. I AM PROOF.
You just have to dream it, imagine it, believe it, hustle and when it’s right for you it will show up. These moments make me so grateful for the tools I’ve learned to change my life, I shutter to think where I’d be had I not made a concrete decision six years ago to thrive, rather than just survive.
Kanen having dinner in first class on the way home.
I don’t remember ever hearing the words “you’re beautiful” when I was growing up. I remember criticism about my weight, or my chubby cheeks, or my mother telling me to never cut my hair because it was my “saving grace.” But I don’t remember anyone ever saying “Sarah you’re beautiful.” As a result I struggled, as most young girls do, with a very negative self-image growing up.
I searched for that validation from any source, including doing pageants as a teenager in hopes that it would make me feel beautiful. But instead when I didn’t win, I felt less validated and cut myself down even more. I learned early on that if I made fun of myself, or was self-deprecating that I’d be the one to control how people saw me. I thought that if I brought it up first, and often, then they would realize that I already knew I was “fat and ugly” and therefore I’d save them the trouble of pointing it out. But I didn’t realize that all this did was make the people around me uncomfortable, and pressured them to compliment me.
When I met my ex-husband at sixteen, I constantly looked to him to tell me I was beautiful, which was something that he was not naturally good at. It made him uncomfortable to verbalize it, so when he did I argued and cut myself down even more, in a passive aggressive attempt to get him to tell me more. But all that accomplished was him telling me less and less.
When I got divorced, I made a conscious decision. I’d learned that my beliefs and thoughts created my reality and I decided I no longer wanted to feel this way about myself. I was thirty-four years old and I wanted to find true happiness, and that meant loving and accepting myself as I was. I started by looking in the mirror every morning and telling myself, out loud, that I was beautiful. It was the biggest lie I’d ever told myself, and it felt uncomfortable and awkward, but I was relentless. I looked myself in the eye and said it over and over, day after day. I made a commitment to say it to myself every time I looked in a mirror.
Then slowly an amazing thing began to happen. I started to believe it.
That lead to me taking better care of myself, caring how I presented myself to the world, which lead to me believing it a little more. As time passed I became a new woman. One who truly believed that I was beautiful.
I am not a thin girl. I’ve always been curvy and have ranged from a fit size 10 (in my skinny twenties), to a fit and curvy size 14. I’ll never be a skinny girl, and I’m fine with that. I have come to love and appreciate the woman I’ve become, on good days and bad, whether I feel “fat” or great that day, I’ve learned to see myself as beautiful no matter what.
I have two seven-year-old twin daughters, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t tell them multiple times, how beautiful they are. Yes I tell them they are smart, and talented, and all of that knowing beauty is perceived to only be outward. But I believe that if you don’t truly feel beautiful, and if it doesn’t come from within, than your hiding your true potential and doing yourself and the world a disservice. When you feel beautiful, you also feel like you can take on the world. You believe that anything is possible. You feel respected and seen. Call it shallow but all of that builds your self-confidence, which empowers you to be your best self and to live the fullest life possible. And that is what I want for my daughters. I want them to believe that they are beautiful, and not be ashamed of that. I don’t want them to search for validation in men, or anything else to “feel” beautiful. I want them to love and respect themselves, which starts with knowing that no matter what they look like, they ARE BEAUTIFUL.
Last year I was the target of a body-bullying video created by Yahoo for their top daily news stories. They chose to freeze-frame images of me as a guest on the Steve Harvey Show that made me look morbidly obese, and deformed, even though they knew full-well what I actually looked like. That video got a half-million views in 24 hours, and thousands of comments that would have made the old me self-destruct. Those comments included death-threats, all based on just my looks. I called Yahoo out on this and they eventually pulled the piece off the Internet, which I am grateful for. However that does not excuse the acceptance in social media, and media in general to bully because of a persons looks or weight. That experience made me so grateful for all the work I’d done the previous years to change my internal view of myself, which enabled me to see if for the shallow, low-blow attack that it was.
This brings me to a new trend I’m seeing recently in the media, which I want to put my complete support behind. It’s the movement to change societies definition of “beauty.” Dove has released a campaign called #ChooseBeautiful, which is incredibly powerful.
I cried watching this video, and can’t wait to show it to my daughters. This video broke my heart because I know that until a few years ago I would have walked through the “average” door. And it made me emotional knowing that now I’d chose the “beautiful” door, but not without shame and embarrassment.
And that is a problem.
There is a fucked-up idea out there that if you “think your beautiful,” or god-forbid, say that you are, that you are a stuck-up bitch. There’s this underlying societal notion that you shouldn’t say that, and you shouldn’t act that way, because if you do then you’re a conceded narcissist. That you can’t believe you’re beautiful and be humble at the same time. I bet there were women who wanted to walk through the “beautiful” door, but chose not to for that very reason. They were afraid that others would look at them like; who do you think you are? Your not all that!
And that bullshit needs to change.
It’s okay to feel beautiful. It’s okay to tell yourself that you are. It’s okay to say it out-loud, and to carry yourself as a beautiful woman would. It’s okay to be beautiful, and know it, REGARDLESS of what others think of your physical appearance. Who cares what they think? You have the power to be self-defined. Don’t be ashamed. It doesn’t make you a bitch, or arrogant to believe that you are beautiful. It doesn’t make you “full of yourself” or “better than anyone else.” It just makes you a woman who loves and appreciates what God has given her, and wears it with pride.
I want to thank Lane Bryant for their recent campaign #ImNoAngel which is a swipe at Victoria Secrets “perfect” angel. Thank you for making curvy girls sexy. Thank you for showing the world that you don’t need to weigh 90 pounds and have fake tits to be “beautiful.”
THANK YOU!!
And thank you to Kelly Clarkson for not giving a fuck what all the haters have to say about her appearance. She’s been taking a beating lately by media and Internet trolls calling her “fat.” Good for you for not taking their shit and for embracing the beautiful talented woman you are. And for showing the world that it can really suck after you have a baby, most of us don’t automatically “bounce back” nine months after giving birth. I know I never have. So thank you!!!
And thanks to the newswoman in Canada who has taken cyber bullying for her pregnancy body, and who finally spoke out about it. Good for you!
This trend makes me so happy because I pray that it changes these insane views on beauty, so that my daughters will feel more acceptance than my generation has. I think it’s important to speak-up and let your voice be heard, because YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.
