If you don’t know Lynn Howard, you should. She’s a leader – in her career (she runs 3 companies – HTS Alarms, Referral Institute Hawaii, and BNI Hawaii), in her community, and in her life. She wows – a lot. And I have the distinct pleasure and honor of knowing Lynn on a personal level.

I remember one day saying to Lynn: “You have a very buys life.” Her answer was SO Lynn: “I hate that word – Busy. It’s overused and bastardized. I believe in priorities and having a full life. I also believe that I can always squeeze in more for what is important for me and for those I love”

This is Lynn. She does what she wants and without excuses or apologies (well, most of the time.) It’s almost like she sprinkles pixie dust everywhere she goes. People are drawn to her. She’s magnetic.
We sat down on my radio show last fall and chatted. Here are a few of my favourite nuggets of Lynn Howard wisdom:

GINA: How do you define success?

LYNN:

Miss America answer: I want to leave the world a better place than I found it.

Personal success – to be authentic to who I am, not to lose who I am at the core and understand that it does not matter what I do in life as long as I am only enhancing that person, leaving a positive mark and inspiring others.

Some days, success for me is just getting out of bed. There is no a cookie cutter answer. I can’t put myself in a box. Success is about finding a positive in every little thing that happens in life.

GINA: Do you know what your bigger purpose is?

LYNN:

It’s evolving as I grow into who I am. I believe I am here to inspire others to be different and to want different things. To understand they don’t have to be the circumstance they were brought up with or be the person they are told to be. When everything is said and done, we have to choice. It may not be easy but we always have a choice.

GINA: How did you get where you are today?

One day looking at the ocean complimenting life I realized if you couldn’t invest in yourself how can you ask others to? I realized then that I had to share where I came from and my past. I finally got it. I had been wearing a mask and was being someone I wasn’t. I grew up fighting; I was given this life and these lessons to do something with. This is what has pushed me to do what I want to do.

I met some amazing people on my path growing up. I came across caring in their eyes and little glimmers of hope along the way that made me feel like I wasn’t crazy, that maybe I fit somewhere.

This is what I try to do along the way – give back. I choose to do different, to fight, push forward and not make excuses.

If you’re ever in Hawaii, pop by BNI Hawaii and say hi to Lynn. She is a woman who doesn’t take shit and lives full tilt.