Reading: Why Every Day Is a Chance to Reinvent with Gina Bianchini

“True communities deliver meaning. It’s why people are put on earth. Even the most busy or lazy people are about mastering something together.”

So says Gina Bianchini, founder of Mighty Networks, the private social networking host for our CoveyConnect app.  The Stanford Business school graduate (and Cupertino native) speaks with Lesley about growing up in the heart of Silicon Valley, as the descendant of Italian immigrants, living through the dot com bust, selling her first company (Ning), and launching Mighty Networks, a platform that allows creators, coaches, and brands to create their own communities, content, and courses that bring people together. “It’s my passion and my mission,” says Bianchini.

The greatest gift you can give to yourself is the ability to wake up in the morning and say ‘Today is Day One. Whatever happened yesterday is yesterday.’ For me it’s a daily practice of waking up, sitting down with some paper and a pen, and whatever is in my mind, I write it down, and then I follow the ideas. And it lets me quiet the messages in my head that say ‘God Gina, you should’ve done this already,’ or ‘that was so stupid,’ and replace those messages with ‘Today I get to take what I learned yesterday, and translate that into something that I am allowed and able and empowered to do differently today.’ That very small shift has made the biggest difference in my own life.

I think each and every one of us knows what it’s like to be kind to ourselves, but is a very rusty practice. It’s a weak muscle. So every once in a while I concentrate on one thing I can do to be kind to myself. Maybe that’s working out, maybe that’s a favorite treat at the end of the day, like a popsicle or piece of watermelon, or maybe that’s just the messages that I tell myself. That’s all under my control. It’s not lazy or indulgent – it’s a way to allow myself to show up for other people. It has a ripple effect that manifests in very positive ways all over the place.