Perspectives in Brief

Be the inventor

We look at inventors as those of us who come out with a brilliant idea out of thin air and act on it.  What if we applied that very principle to our lives?  What if we applied that principle to our present lives?  I tell people to invent their future.  Inventing your future is also looking at how you think and react right now.  It’s your personal paradigm.  Rabindranath Tagore says “Do not say,”it is morning,” and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name.”

What would you name it?  Dare to imagine.  What’s possible?

So what can you do?

The first thing to do in being the architect of your life is to start looking at what is working right now through new eyes.  What’s amazing that you’re not paying attention to?  If you’re coloring all the great parts with a brush of what isn’t working, aren’t you minimizing what’s already great?  OK so take what’s great and build on it.  You know the concept, if at first you don’t succeed do something you’ve already been successful at?  What if your life was already successful in so many realms?  How extraordinary would it be and what would it look like?  Start writing.  It’s time to define it to the nth degree.

Define what you want

Take all the reasons you might list as to why something won’t work and trash them.  Park all your preconceived ideas of failure and replace them with possibility.  If you set your mind to everything that won’t work then all your energy and focus will remain on that negativity.  If you focus on what you can do, what you have a passion for, what you really want to create in your life and figure out the first step you need to do to get there, then it’ll happen.  Articulate it until you see it, feel it, and taste it and you’ll be half way there.

When’s the best time to start?  I know what I think.  What do you think?

Last But Not Least:

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com   

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:

http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

Our Time Mastery Program is almost ready to launch, so stay tuned.  And later this year my colleague Donna and I will be holding a Boot Camp for Coaches, Businesspreneurs and Solopreneurs.  Stay tuned for that as well!

Time to invent your future or it’ll just happen all by itself.

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307

def: to cover or bury beneath a mass of something;  to be overcome completely in mind or feeling 

Reality Check 

Are you feeling overwhelmed?  I have never seen so many people overwhelmed, especially this time of year.  Most have recently come back from holidays, not that they actually took a lot of time off, but it was a break in schedule at the very least.  Yesterday it struck me that most of us are in positions of overwhelm and it’s something we have to look at and carefully.  If this is what’s happened just after holidays then what’s ahead? 

Just yesterday my son told me he had emails coming in from work all weekend.  Another friend / colleague told me that everyone seems to be working weekends, including us…coaches who are supposed to “know better”.  Weekends have become catch-up time.  Many of my clients go into the office to wade through old emails and paperwork that they just couldn’t get to during the week.  

We seem to dive into way too many projects and commitments this time of year as it’s a new start, right?  Nothing like taking on the world!  However for many it feels as if they’re wearing the weight of the world on their shoulders.  It’s time to redefine so we don’t reach the point of overwhelm. 

So what can you do? 

Well it all depends on your level of responsibility and extent of engagement.  For me, I do a great deal of my reading and writing over the weekend as it’s quiet and I can retain what I read.  I also have to check my emails otherwise when Monday morning comes along I’d have to take half the day just to catch up and that won’t serve me.  I do not answer my client emails over the weekend, but I will know how to hit the floor running on Monday morning.  If you feel you have to check your emails or BlackBerry, go for it,  but don’t answer them!  Same goes for late at night or in the middle of the night when you have insomnia.  Read them if you must but if you write back you will be expected to always answer at everyone else’s whim and 24/7.  Is that what you want?  Didn’t think so!  There’s way too much to cover for one newsletter, but let’s at least take a stab at it for now. 

Define and redefine: 

Redefine your work plan.  Figure out how you want to grow in your work, what you want to learn and how you want your business or career to evolve.  Don’t write it in stone. Use it as a guide, more for number of commitments than anything else as you will end up dropping something and replacing it with something that works better as your world morphs.  Just don’t jump in with both feet without analyzing time commitment and level of responsibility.  That’s where positive delay is invaluable, and setting personal boundaries. 

You’ll know if it’s an amazing opportunity that you can’t pass up, however ask yourself what you can drop or delegate to someone else (staff, virtual assistant, colleague etc) if you do take it on.  Also ask yourself what are the ramifications of taking something on?  I was asked to do a 10 minute professionally produced piece for American Airlines on coaching.  It would potentially reach 28,000 travelers.  Now if even 1% of those contacted me to hire me to coach there would be no way I could take them on.  A great honor to be asked but to what end?  If you can’t be your own reality-checker, then ask someone you trust implicitly to be one for you. 

Same goes for amount of work you take on in the office.  If it’s getting beyond do-able, then it’s time to have a conversation with the powers-that-be to see what can be parked for now.  You can only do what you can do.  If you burn out then you won’t be doing anything about anything.  Remember that. 

Last But Not Least: 

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com  

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:
http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm 

Our Time Mastery Program is almost ready to launch, so stay tuned.  And later this year my colleague Donna and I will be holding a Boot Camp for Coaches, Businesspreneurs and Solopreneurs.  Stay tuned for that as well! 

Time to run with life, not be run over by it. 

With deepest respect, 

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com 

ISSN 1913-6307
 

As the New Year unfolds, people dust off their New Year’s resolutions and try them out for size yet again. For those of you who know me, you know my opinion of those pesky resolutions. You mean well at the time but do you remember them a week or so later? I was sitting here thinking of many of the things I work on with clients and suggest to friends and family alike. And the only reason they listen is because they’ve seen me live it, each and every point as I make changes in my life. I want to create a life I love, not just exist through its days. Life is much too precious for that. I want to learn more, be open to experience and surprise…not to have control over life or exist through it but truly live it. The promise I made to myself is to be my authentic self, not what someone else wants me to be…and, from that basis, to give of myself by choice, not demand or expectation.

So want some pointers?:

• It’s the start of the new year so nothing like jumping in with both feet. Ready?

• What are your environments? Is your foundation strong? i.e. taking care of health, people in your life who nourish you in all ways, physical space, mental space. Time to clean it up and choose what you want within every environment.

• Reach for the moon but be happy with what you have, regardless of circumstance. Whether or not you feel it is so, your life is perfect the way it is even if it’s to teach you what you’re made of.

• Do you want to expend energy on reacting to things in your life or choose how you use that energy? It isn’t limitless. And if you’re going to spend time, which is a precious commodity these days and energy which, if anything, decreases as the years increase, it better be worthwhile and of your choosing. Take at least 10% of your time to make the other 90% easier. Eliminate delay. If you do that, you avoid a lot of wasted time catching up.

• Never stop learning…knowledge feeds you in every way. And while you’re learning about others and life’s lessons, take time to learn more about yourself as well.

• Ask yourself what it is you can give in life, not get. What gifts do you have that you can share with others?

• Your values come first. If you live from that basis, everything else falls into place. Live your life according to your vision.

• Get out of your own way. Let yourself succeed and celebrate those successes. You’re allowed.

• Get rid of the baggage of the past. If it’s still hurting you then it’s your memories that are doing it, not the person or event. Let go of the future and live in the present. If you perfect what is right now, the future falls into place all on its own.

• Make sure any goals you set for yourself are those you want with a passion. If they’re what you feel you “should do” you won’t do them. It’ll be a tug of war.

• Start planning for financial independence. Now…. not next week. That ten dollars a week adds up really fast and disappears even quicker.

• Don’t change your behaviour. Grow into who you are. See what works for you and what doesn’t and evolve into the person you want to be.

• Life is more than making money. You need to take time to nurture your spirit. There’s intellectual and emotional banks to consider as well. Do you have reserves in all?

• Hang around people who will help you grow, not pull you down. Energise don’t deplete. The fastest way to suck your energy dry is by hanging around with takers and users and those in perpetual bitching mode. Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you.

• What are you waiting for? Act! Call, do, move, create, initiate, challenge the status quo.

• Have a problem? Even if it was handed to you? Solve it. Get rid of it! Saying “It’s not my problem” or “I didn’t start this!” lets it fester. Get rid of it before it becomes costly baggage.

• Enjoy change. Have fun with it. Embrace it!

A Great Quote to leave you with:

“Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life.

Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too.

Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth —

Don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.” - Meryl Streep

Web Stuff

For those of you who want a one stop portal for every conceivable information link such as news, financials, travel, business, tools, reference links and playtime, check out CEO Express at http://www.ceoexpress.com/default.asp

As Always:

These newsletters will be parked at http://www.perspectivesinbrief.com/ Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for a future newsletter or blog post. Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com/.

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here: http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

*****For Newsletter Subscribers Only*****

Program launches and pricing specials are available only to subscribers to Perspectives in Brief. Click here to subscribe. 

Wishing you all a very happy new year!

All the best…

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com/

ISSN 1913-6307

I know it’s not the typical Tuesday newsletter; however I wanted to get my wishes in before you take off for the holidays.  This is a reflection and creation newsletter.

What are your favorites?  I love reflecting on favorite things this time of year.  When you look back at 2007 can you remember what your favorites were?  Something that remains embedded in the best of your memories is worth making note of don’t you think? 

There is a method to my madness….stay tuned.

So what was your favourite book?  Dinner in?  Dinner out?  Movie?  Vacation or break?  Favourite song?  Favourite surprise? (good ones, obviously).  Favourite piece of clothing?  Favourite learning experience?

You’ve got the drift.

Reflection:

What if your intention for the new year was to experience something new in every one of those realms?

Years ago I did a workshop for Health Canada and over their lunch break I gave them a task.  They had to eat something they never ate before, or eat something they think they remember not liking but couldn’t remember why and see if they still had the same opinion of it.  28 people walked back into the training room with their stories about their eating experience.  Now let me tell you, the cafeteria at Health Canada at that time was pretty pathetic when it came to choices, so most of those 28 people had discovered the only thing they hadn’t tried before or thought they didn’t like because of the heat were Jalapeno chips. 

Each and every one of them had a different story or experience to share.  I’ve since bumped into some of those attendees who still remember that experience and continue to try new things to this day! 

Why in the world am I asking you to do this, you ask?:

Because most of us live our lives looking through the rear view mirror rather than from a sense of possibility.  What we might not have liked once, we might love at this stage of our lives.  Half the time we can’t even remember why we didn’t like something or someone.  We’re just too stubborn to let go of the control history has on us. 

A new year…new beginnings, new experiences, new possibilities.  It’s all about intention.  Intentions equal results.  Think of how strong that one sentence is.  If we intend to stay stubborn then that’s what will happen and if we intend to open ourselves up to possibility then we’ll do that too.  Your choice.

So What Can You Do?

Celebrate life.  It might sound corny but think about it.  We can regret things, let things fester, hold onto things that no longer serve us or intend to do something different or be different.  Your choice.  Life starts now, not one day.

Web Stuff

For those of you who didn’t make the postal deadline to send cards there are all sorts of eCard sites that have beautiful cards you can send electronically.  Check out http://www.hallmark.com/ or http://www.americangreetings.com/ and touch someone from across the miles or around the corner, no matter what holiday they celebrate or just to show you celebrate them for no reason at all.

As Always:

These newsletters will be parked at http://www.perspectivesinbrief.com/ Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for a future newsletter or blog post. Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com/ . Check it out at the end of the year to learn more about what we’re up to at ABP.  

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:  http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

*****For Newsletter Subscribers Only*****

Subscribe to this newsletter to receive notices for our program launch and special pricings.  Click here to subscribe.

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays!

All the best…

Donna Karlin 

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com/

ISSN 1913-6307

Do you lead from a position of passion or control?  I believe anyone can be taught leadership if their passions are triggered and ignited.  Once people discover their passions, causes, what’s truly important to them and their well-being and sustainability, (professional, personal, whatever), they will usually step up to the plate.  If you help them realize what their lives will look like when they do step up, leadership emerges, is fueled and burns brightly.

One doesn’t learn leadership from a text-book.  They can learn it when they pull in the context of their lives look at how it impacted them and those around them and draw the parallels.

Learning and practicing leadership doesn’t necessarily mean automatic success.  We have to recognize the differences there.  In learning to lead, even though you might fail now and then, getting up, dusting ourselves off and trying again, is one of the characteristics of a courageous leader.  Models and studies track trends.  What if we studied behaviours and triggers within various contexts around leadership rather than models and organizations?  That would give us a much better indication of what works and why in our own worlds.  We all know that what works for one organization might not necessarily work for another.

Reflection:

Take a moment to reflect on when something just clicked.  It worked for all reasons and for no specific reason but what you remember most is the energy and enthusiasm and joy of doing whatever it was at a specific time of your life.  Was it amazing because you learned something and grew exponentially?  Or was it amazing because everyone did their thing and collectively created something as close to magical as it gets?  Or was there some other reason why it was amazing?  What if you could recapture that feeling?  What about what you did could be replicated in some way in your day to day life / work?

Perspective Check:

Are you telling yourself right now that it’s not possible to recapture that time in your life?  Are you talking yourself into the why not rather than asking yourself “Why not?”  Amazing where the mind will take you….up or down.  Your choice.

So What Can You Do?

See what you can change.  Who do you need to connect with?  Are you wasting time with people who suck you dry of energy or who ignite a fire underneath you?  These choices will make all the difference in the world.

Web Stuff

For those of you who want to start a Blog, I recommend http://wordpress.org/ .  It’s super easy to use, free (and as they say, priceless at the same time) and gives you a web presence in no time at all.  It’s also available in French, can be private or public, or by invitation only and is a great vehicle to get the word out, share personal experiences with colleagues, family and friends and become a portal for your memories and pictures.

As Always:

Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for a future newsletter or blog post. Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com   

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:  http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307