Building Leaders for Success is proud to present our first in a monthly series of success stories of people following their dreams while helping others to follow theirs. I first had the opportunity to work with Paula Caselton on tour through Europe for Make A Wish. What you are going to read is a humble snapshot of a life filled with success through intelligence, talent and beauty. Paula has used her craft to bring art to millions of people while her heart has moved her to work for a charity that helps so many. The Success Story of Paula Caselton presented by Building Leaders for Success: My name is Paula Caselton and I am a professional dancer from Long Island, New York. I started dancing at age 3 and continued to take my dance training very seriously until graduating high school. I dedicated everyday after school and weekends to training and rehearsing to compete in national dance competitions. I started my professional dance career at age 19 and have been fortunate to be able to make a living doing what I love since. I danced for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line for 7 years as a performer in the productions shows. I was able to travel the world, do what I love, meet people from all over the world, and get paid! I then lived and worked in Las Vegas for 4.5 years as dance captain for a show directed and choreographed by Tony Award Winner, Jerry Mitchell. Being a dance captain is very prestigious. It means the choreographer trusts you to maintain the integrity and style of the show and choreography. However, it is very stressful. It teaches you how to multi task, how to think on your feet, retain a large amount of information very quickly and it helps you understand the production side of being in a show and putting a show together. I am now living in New York City and auditioning for Broadway Shows. Auditioning is not easy. Do you know that dancers face more rejection in one week, than most people do in a lifetime? It’s the passion, drive and perseverance that keep us from giving up on a dream, and making our dream a reality. In the meantime I am also producing a show. I feel if you want something bad enough, sometimes you need to create the opportunity for yourself. I am taking a chance but that’s what life is all about. Things happen for a reason and to prepare you for what your future is meant to be. We learn and take away something from every experience. Without all of my past accomplishments I’d never be able to produce a show because I’d have no idea what goes into putting a show together. There are many contributing factors to my success and where I am in this stage of my career. My parents and family are my biggest fans and are always there to support me. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. They made many sacrifices so I could get the proper training to make my dreams of becoming a professional dancer come true. Seeing what they did and how much they gave, has taught me appreciation. My dance teachers, David and Kim Sanders are a perfect example of what it is to be dedicated, passionate, and have patience. They have taught me how to accept constructive criticism and that no one is perfect. Practice makes better, not perfect. They taught me to always believe in yourself and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something or that you aren’t good enough. I have learned to be strong and to never let anything stand in my way. They have been such an inspiration to me. They have taught me everything I know about dance, performing and what it is to be a true professional. They have instilled in me discipline and perseverance. I still hear them in my head telling me things they said when I was 15 years old! I do love to share my passion for what I do with others. I enjoy teaching and inspiring young dancers. I find myself saying the same phrases to my students that my dance teachers once said to me. Sometimes certain people make an impression on you that lasts a lifetime. David and Kim Sanders are a major contributing factor to my success! I am the director of an annual charity event I started in Las Vegas 5 years ago. Jerry Mitchell started the event in NYC 24 years ago and it was such a huge success he thought it would be a great idea to start the event in Las Vegas. Being the dance captain of his show there, it was natural he looked to me to organize it, and in only 3 weeks. I had no budget and no idea what the event was like in NYC. But I did some research and gathered up as many dancers as I could and we put on a show and raised $10,000! Now we are in our 5th year and in 4 years we have raised over $100,000.00 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. I enjoy helping others in need, those less fortunate and giving back. I love that I can do this by sharing the joy, passion and love I have for performing. Jerry Mitchell is an inspiration because he started this event in NYC 24 years ago with 6 friends and was determined to raise money to help those in need and to continue to do so year after year for many years to come. He is a Tony Award winning choreographer and director, but started out as a performer. He set goals for himself and has achieved them! I had the honor and pleasure of teaching for 2 years at a private school in South Florida. You really never know the impact you can have on someone. I keep in touch with some of my students and they have since graduated and moved onto college. I get emails time to time from some of my former students thanking me for what I taught them, for taking the time and having the patience to make sure they understood a certain step or dance move, for encouraging them to strive to reach their goals and to follow their dreams. You see success, in my opinion, is not measured by a dollar amount, how much money you make or what others deem it to be. To me success is setting your own individual goals, for yourself, and doing what it takes to achieve them. I set a goal of becoming a professional dancer and did everything possible to make that happen. I set a goal for Las Vegas to raise money to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and did what was necessary to make the event a success. I have since set new goals for myself and am currently doing what I need to achieve those goals. Remember, anything is possible if you apply yourself and put your mind to it. The world is your oyster, now go and get yourself a pearl! Thank you Paula for sharing a small part of your story. I am sure that we will see you again making your dreams come true and helping improve the lives of others. If you are enjoying our blog series, the best compliment you can give us is a referral. Please like and share this post on our Facebook page and please feel free to share on your favorite social networking site. For more information on Building Leaders for Success visit us at www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com or email us at buildingleadersforsucce
0 Comments
As you step into those leadership roles that are allowing you to showcase your talents while allowing you to work towards your goals you need to think about the people around you. If you have the option to build your team for a project, build a team that you can lead who will also support your goals. Think about your goals and through your research thing of the areas where you are struggling. If there is someone that can go on your team who is an expert in the area where you are lacking, you have just filled a necessary void in your goal process. Utilize their knowledge and learn from them. This will allow you to take that newly found knowledge and apply it to your success plan.
I can never stress enough about reading books and attending lectures on leadership. Even if you have heard the information before you never know when there might be a nugget of genius that you hadn't thought of that will help you. Plus being around a person or people who are energetic about leadership can serve as a great motivator for your own leadership and success energy. Get inspired from a person, book, movie and do your best to stay in that feeling of inspiration. This is a task not easily achieved and especially hard to maintain. It might be easy for us to be in that state of good feeling while we are in a seminar or reading book or watching a movie but the tough part comes when life gets in the way. There is always going to be stressful situations that are going to test us. Stress is a very strong negative force. It can do damage to your mental, physical and emotional state. Once this happens it is very hard to bounce back. Don't worry it doesn't mean that you can't. It just means that you are going to need to expound more focus and energy to recovering from stress and getting back in that positive state of mind. They might not always admit it but people want to be inspired. They want positive, ethical leadership. This is the formula for great leaders. Be positive, be ethical and be inspirational. Be imaginative and motivational. As Ghandi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." If you want to see better leaders in the world then take the steps to be that leader. If you want success, take the steps to be successful. Remember it is all up to you. If you like this blog, the best compliment you can give us is to like and share this blog with your family, friends and colleagues. Please visit our website at www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com and on Facebook at Building Leaders for Ducc Just as the title implies achieving success means you are going to have good leadership skills. Yet as you grow your leadership skills you improve your chances for success.
Success is proven through leadership. Keep this in mind as you continually develop your success plan and goals. Somebody has to be the person driving your vision. Why not you? Why not now? YOUR success is dependent on YOUR actions. If you are not directly in a leadership position, take the opportunity to be a leader. If there is a project that would give you a chance to show your leadership skills, ask to take the lead on it. If it lines up with one of your personal success goals - TAKE IT! Once you take that step of leading a project, do all that you can to make sure that it is successful in execution and profitable. This looks really good in the eyes of the boss thus increasing your opportunities for more leadership roles, which in turn, can increase your chances of achieving your success goals. Give yourself a challenge. Remember that leadership and success are based on personal growth. When you take on projects it is ok to make sure your first one is simple enough that you could do it all by yourself. However each subsequent project should be more challenging. This will force you to broaden your horizons, research better sources, meet more people, work with people that you may not normally work with and allow you to gain knowledge that you may not otherwise have possessed. All newly gained knowledge can be put to use in achieving your success goals. Plus stepping out of your comfort zone to be a leader and achieving success will only make you stronger. Good leaders know when to lead and when to follow. This is somewhat of a paradox because good leaders and going to lead all the time. However that leading action may mean that you are leading others by following the actions of another leader. Good leaders are going to be respectful of each other but are going to be true to who they are - leaders. I can be in a room full of people who are leaders and I might have to be the one who starts up the discussion but the others being the leaders that they are will follow suit and jump in. Even amongst leaders there has to be a leader. Stay tuned for part 2 of this blog. If you are enjoying these blogs, the best compliment you can give us is a referral to a friend. You can also like and share these blogs on Facebook, twitter and linked in. Please feel free to direct your friends, family and colleagues to our website as well - www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com |
AuthorFrank Taylor is founder and CEO of Building Leaders for Success, Inc. A musician of 25 years, educator of 15 years and a motivational speaker of 16 years, Mr. Taylor brings a wealth of knowledge that will promote success and fundamentals of leadership. Archives
April 2017
Categories
All
|