We were lucky to catch up with Cara Brookins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Cara, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
My earliest memory of stepping confidently into an unlikely project comes from the exact same place my latest wild idea sprouted from: Curiosity. And I don’t mean a gentle sort of curiosity, but the fierce kind that makes you absolutely have to try a thing to figure out if you can achieve it. When I was six this meant hiding in the basement with a book about knitting until I figured out how to make a scarf. When I was thirty-six the habit had grown so big that I used YouTube videos to build an entire house with my four kids. We’re all born with a fierce innate curiosity, but how well we feed it and how often we give ourselves permission to try, fail, and try again determines how big it grows.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I became a motivational speaker by accident. I was an author who had shied away from being the center of attention my entire life, So when I left a traumatic domestic violence situation and built my own house using YouTube videos with no construction experience and a crew of four children between two and seventeen, naturally, I told no one.
My kids and I built a foundation, raised the walls, and a roof. We installed our own water, sewer, and even gas lines. We worked twenty-hour days figuring it out as we went until we had built our 3500 square-foot home.
It wasn’t until some friends heard me mention the project that I was talked into writing, Rise, How a House built a Family—a memoir I wrote believing my dad and four other people would read it. Instead, the book sold at auction to a major New York publisher, was optioned for film, television, and reality television, and I was featured in media outlets around the world. The story gained global recognition and I received hundreds of invitations to share my story on stages. Overnight I became a motivational speaker—and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
It’s now my full-time job to challenge audiences to take on the massive, unlikely projects and give it everything they’ve got. With my latest book Unstuck, I share the science of motivation so even the most uncertain procrastinator can set big goals and stay motivated to reach them.
I’m still setting those kinds of goals, too with my latest work as a United Nations Association Advocate to raise awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three skills that have impacted my life the most are curiosity, optimism, and a willingness to fail as I figure it out. These three qualities are intentional and anyone can exercise them with just a little practice and determination. You can start this by allowing your natural curiosity to really paint a picture in your head of the positive impact a new goal might have, and then just going for it with a figure it out mentality that allows many tries to get it right. And this isn’t some new, revolutionary way for you to think, it’s actually the way your brain is designed to work and the way you learned new things as a child. Welcome your childlike wonder and enthusiasm back, and you can reach any goal.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My parents encouraged me to brainstorm actions in the wildest way. When I asked how to do something, they didn’t just automatically give me an answer or accept the most obvious solution as the best. They asked me to come up with ideas in an anything-goes manner. How can we move that massive slab of rock from the back of the house to the front? I was allowed to say: elephants, helicopters, and Egyptian pyramid style, even though we didn’t actually have those things on hand. Then we broke down each method and figured out some real possibilities. One of the most important ways this method of brainstorm still helps me succeed without procrastinating is because I know there are infinite ways to do every task, so I don’t have to wait to figure out only one right way. I can start now and figure out how to do it my own way as I go.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carabrookins.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carabrookins/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carabrookins
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carabrookins/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cmbrookins
