Discouragement from the outside world is one thing. Discouragement from yourself is another.
Bethenny Frankel has felt a ton of discouragement around her, but never within her. Surrounded by hostility and defeat, Bethenny recalls her childhood as difficult. Her biological father stopped supporting the family and her mother, Frankel says, “was always drinking” and often argued violently with her stepfather. After moving many times, she eventually found herself in New York City to attend the Natural Gourmet Institute.
This was the first step on a long road that would eventually lead to her Skinnygirl empire, worth over $100 million along with countless television shows, one becoming the highest rated of any series in Bravo’s history.
When we talk about women getting things done for themselves, we talk about Bethenny Frankel. She’s a woman who truly has come from nothing and worked to achieve everything. Worth over $100 million after selling her Skinnygirl cocktail company, not only has she done everything herself, she’s done it despite all the ‘no’ in her life.
The NO she received from friends and family when she told them she’d be on Real Housewives of New York. The NO she received when she told them the title of her first book. The NO she received when she tried countless other businesses that ended up failing.
Bethenny never let the failure, doubt or discouragement take her from her path. She followed her gut and her instinct, however hard it was at the time, to keep her eye on the target. Below are her best pieces of advice from her latest book, A Place of Yes: 10 Rules For Getting Everything You Want Out of Life.
“Make the most of every moment. Get excited about every little thing. Why not? Why not have your wonderful moment of excited anticipation? Why not be happy NOW? This is my greatest challenge, but something I’m pouring my heart into: learning how to enjoy what I have, right here, right now. Every moment is precious and although sometimes I struggle to see it, I see it more and more every day.”
“Life is an obstacle course. You succeed at one thing and then you move on to the next. When an obstacle is tough, you try harder. When an obstacle is insurmountable, you change course. But you never sit down and refuse to finish.”
“No matter where you are right now, no matter far along you are on your own path, don’t wait to “have it all” to celebrate. You’re never going to figure it all out. Make being happy your business, all along the way. Life can’t be one long, tough haul, with a little party at the end. What good is that? Life should be punctuated with celebrations and you have to build them into your time because being happy isn’t easy.”
“It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks of your life. All that matters is what you think of it, and what you decide to make of it.”
“Fear is a mindset, and so is the will to succeed.”
“No matter what you’ve done, even if you regret it, even if you don’t know what the hell to do next, every single thing that happens to you has the potential to open new doors. It happened for a reason—and it’s still taking you somewhere, even if you can’t see it right now.”
“When you regret something, what you aren’t seeing is that someday, later, or maybe sooner, you’re going to see why you didn’t get the thing you wanted. So often, something better is just around the corner.”
“And so what if it takes a while? What’s the hurry? Great things take time, and your life is a project.”
“I realize that if you work hard, hold onto your dreams and plug away going forward, you will get to your destination. All roads lead to Rome. You may be diverted, distracted and feel defeated, but if you move forward, you will get there.”
“Take it or leave it—you take the good and build on it; you leave the bad, in favor of a new idea. Most important, you keep moving forward, never settling for what doesn’t work.”
“It’s not about being the most beautiful women. It’s about being the most interesting women.”
“I told myself, You are destined for something special. But no one can do it for you, and no one can save you. You have to save yourself.”
“If you have a good idea, go for it. Don’t assume it has already been done. Never assume anyone is smarter than you because they’re not.”
“You may be diverted, distracted and feel defeated, but if you move forward, you will get there. I built everything I have with a bit of a brain and a lot of personality. Never take yourself too seriously and love yourself. Put on your beautiful face and smile and have a good time. People want to be with the most interesting girl in the room, not the most perfect.”
