Cortney McDermott - Change Starts Within You

Change Starts Within You is the perfect segue to Cortneys electrifying TEDx Talk. If you want to follow the road to success without detouring through burnout and self-disillusionment, McDermotts book will be your trail guide!

Nadine Hack, Top 100 Thought Leader on Trustworthy Business Behavior and adviser to Nelson Mandela and President Obama

Soulful, sassy, and full of practical insights. If Eat, Pray, Love married The 4-Hour Workweek, McDermotts book would be their firstborn child.

Monika Lutz, vice president of sales at Voiceplace, author, speechwriter, and Harvard University valedictorian

Sincere. Entertaining. Actionable.

Suzanne Pflaum, design strategist at Context Partners

If youre looking to unearth your vision, Change Starts Within You is the key to feeling more free and confident so that you are able to sustain yourself.

Stacey Roen, traceability manager at Lululemon Athletica

The world doesnt need another self-help book, but we do need Cortney McDermotts book, Change Starts Within You. Its self-awareness without being preachy. Cortney offers insightful wisdom for lasting change through simple strategies to remember that your most precious resource is yourself.

Betsy Blankenbaker, founding partner of Beautiful Infinity Books and bestselling author of Autobiography of an Orgasm

Change Starts Within You was what I needed back when I was searching for the right path for me and learning to trust my intuition. I love this book, and McDermotts simple steps to learning to trust your intuition are priceless.

Carla Coulson, author of Italian Joy, Paris Tango, and Chasing a Dream

If youre ready to stop fighting yourself so that you can flow, then youre ready for Change Starts Within You. This book guides you on your journey to becoming your truest self. Again.

Adam James, award-winning singer, songwriter, life coach

I was thoroughly delighted by the profound wisdom displayed in such a pure and simple format. Thanks to Cortneys tools and powerful exercises, I can now see and feel my Timbuktu.

Francis Pich, founder of the Resilience Element

Change Starts Within You provides an easy-to-follow road map to help navigate the question that so many of us are facing today: how to make an impact in the world, create abundance, show up for your family and communityand maintain a healthy relationship with self and planet. Cortney shows you how to live a sustainable life where anything and everything is possible.

lan McAllister, Tony Awardwinning Broadway producer and Qoya teacher

Optimistic, enthusiastic, and encouraging, the words and exercises in this book will help you blaze your own path toward a life that is truly sustainable.

Kate Snowise, psychologist and life and executive coach at Thrive.How

Copyright 2017 Cortney McDermott

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Sustainability Simplicated, Chicago
www.cortneymcdermott.com

Edited and Designed by Girl Friday Productions
www.girlfridayproductions.com
Editorial: Nicole Burns-Ascue
Interior Design: Rachel Christenson
Cover Design: Rachel Christenson
Author Photo: Alberto Bogo

ISBN (Paperback): 978-0-9989552-0-9
e-ISBN: 978-0-9989552-1-6

Sometimes rock bottom can look a lot like being at the top to everyone else.

Flash back six years: Im sitting on a private jet, sipping an espresso, newspapers from all over the world neatly stacked beside me, on my way to Brussels for work, and... an essential piece of my life is broken.

Its my BlackBerry.

Its locked, courtesy of my two-year-old daughter, and I want to chuck it out the window, Im so overwhelmed. My minds racing ahead to all the unanswered e-mails, all the missed calls, the headache of figuring out how to get it fixed while traveling and racing from one meeting to the next.

And thats when a quiet calm sets in and I hear, Whose dream is this, anyway?

By societys definitions of success I had it all: a rising career at a Fortune 500 company, publications, awards, husband, daughter, marathon medals, Jimmy Choo heels...

Yet inside those designer shoes, I felt cramped. And that wasnt the only signal of stress, or distress, that my body was sending. My skin was dry. My hair was fried with yet another straightening treatment. My smile was gone. (And you know you cant fake a smileits in the crows-feet.)

And heres what the layer under the surface looked like: frantically packing for yet another trip, freaking when my daughter decided my BlackBerry was a toy, scrambling all the way to the airport in failed attempts to reconnect...

On that plane, flying toward Brussels, while everything in my body was flying in the opposite direction, what really worried me was realizing that even if Id had a working BlackBerry Id still be in this Mayday mode.

How come no one told me that being successful could feel so miserable?

It was becoming increasingly clear: chasing gold star after gold star, coupled with unrealistic ideas about work-life balance, was not sustainable.

Yet its very likely I could have gone on collecting badges at an ever-increasing pace if it hadnt been for that visceral nudge that day on the plane:

Whose dream is this, anyway?

Was I living for me? Was I honoring my values? What were my values? If I wasnt living for me, then whoor whatwas it all for?

And thats when I realized: we all care about living and working sustainably; weve just been defining that inadequately. We think sustainability means consuming less energy and reducing waste. And while these things absolutely do matter, that macro view has made our micro solution invisible.

We are the missing variable in this equation. Its time to stop looking outside for the solution.

I wrote this book to share what I learned after that fateful day on the plane: how to tune back in, confidently lead from your values, and create a truly sustainable vision.

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Leo Tolstoy

My theory of sustainability is simple: change starts within you. If youre making yourself a better person, youre making the world a better place.