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- My Very Own Rose - by Prior to heading into the house, I noticed our roses were also out in full force, so off we headed to gather flowers for the dinner table. Now, before you become too impressed, I must confess I do not have my sister's talent for nurturing plants. I am convinced the reason for the rose's success ...
Views: 772 - 5 Steps That Will Allow You To Take Charge Of Your Life - by Do you find yourself setting goals and then not following through on them? You start, then get sidetracked. Before you know it, you have fallen back into your old pattern and given up on your dream once again. If this sounds like you, don't give up. Read on...
For the first 38 years of my life ...
Views: 981 - Is Cow-Thinking Controlling Your Life & Business - by With all the sensationalistic, gloom-and-doom type hyperbole and half-truths we constantly hear on the mainstream media these days (even if we are just scanning the channels for a quick 15-minute break ... as I often do to catch a breath), I couldn't help but remember a very funny (sad, but ...
Views: 853 - Traumatic Stress/Crisis Intervention Techniques and Tips - by This "how to" guide highlights key questions and concepts, illustrative vignettes and intervention strategies for understanding and responding supportively and therapeutically to individuals grappling with post-traumatic effects after Tuesday's "Day of Terror." The five areas outlined are: 1) ...
Views: 902 - The Mystery of Practice - by A few years ago for my 40th birthday, I gave myself the gift of voice lessons. The first several weeks were a rude awakening. I, who had always loved to sing, couldn't open my mouth properly, articulate vowels correctly, or command my tongue to occupy its assigned position at the bottom of my ...
Views: 881 - Make and Keep Commitments that Matter - by I often explain coaching by telling people that I help clients "make and keep the commitments that matter: to themselves, their families, their work, their communities."
Honest assessment of our motives and of what we have to gain or lose by our actions is the key to making and keeping the ...
Views: 835 - The Black Hole Where Your Dreams Belong - by Do you know a lot about what you DON'T want? If so, beware. The gravitational pull of negativity is extraordinary, and you may well manifest your incredible power by attracting a nice fat black hole where your dreams belong.
This image occurs to me as I reflect on a conversation with a ...
Views: 3326 - Self Care, Whether You "Deserve" It Or Not! - by Is self-care something you practice based on how well you have behaved or performed lately or how much you have left to do? If so, you run the risk of running out of gas in the middle of the night on a deserted highway.
The image is vivid, yet it can still be difficult to care for ourselves ...
Views: 907 - Play Your Bigger Game - by "Shine your life like a light."
That line from the Indigo Girls captures what I mean by playing a bigger game.
The players in what I term the "bigger game" are individuals and organizations who are ready to step out of a paradigm in which inspiration and compensation come from outside sources ...
Views: 824 - Co-Creation - by It occurred to me as I was driving up the highway to buy berries at a local farm that all creation is co-creation. I’d been musing about the difference between times of ease and forward momentum and times of struggle. At the risk of oversimplifying things (and keeping this week’s quotes firmly ...
Views: 867 - The Power of Stories - by 2. WORKING THOUGHTS: Powerful Stories
=====================================
"That’s the story of my life."
"What’s your story?"
"I want to hear the whole story."
"The rest of the story."
"That’s his story."
"A likely story."
These phrases attest to the power of story. Stories shape our ...
Views: 612 - Calling Your Energy Home - by Do you have the energy to sustain a full and balanced life (what I often refer to as "your bigger game"), or do you sometimes suspect that if your dreams came true you would be too tired or scattered to sustain them?
Two reasons we run short of energy are leakage and lack of focus. These ...
Views: 692 - Top 10 Ways to Upgrade Your Life - by Goals are the plateaus we arrive at en route to our vision. Some of us have personal goals while others have business and career goals. We also have political and spiritual goals. For maximum momentum towards the realization of your goals, "try on" the following approaches for quantum leaps in ...
Views: 981 - "Even Tiger Woods has a coach" - by What do Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and several Fortune 500 executives have in common. THEY ALL HAVE A COACH. Coaching has come a long way since the late 1980's. It is not just Tony Robins and high priced seminars anymore. It seems that every fifth person you meet these days is ...
Views: 1263 - Life at the Margins - by As many of you know, in recent months my husband and I bought a new home, built an addition on it, and moved our household and my business. Any one of these is a significant undertaking, and in experiencing them all within a few months' time, I've learned again about the importance living with ...
Views: 811 - Money: Love It or Leave It - by If I had a dollar for every business owner or professional I've worked with who had a love/hate relationship with money, I would be a very rich woman indeed. The fact is, if you are ambivalent in this area, you might as well close your doors today and save everyone the agony of watching you ...
Views: 872 - Clarity about Clutter - by I'm an organized person-just ask anyone who knows me. In spite of my talents at organization, clutter loomed its ugly head during our recent move.
You see, I'm committed to making the most from what I have and I can find a use for practically anything. As a result, I'd turned our home and my ...
Views: 915 - What Do You Want? - by I've been exercising my "wanting muscles" for the past six weeks and I am amazed at the results.
As is often the case, my personal process and what's going on with my clients is very much in synch. I've watched two clients get the jobs of their dreams after they became crystal clear about what ...
Views: 842 - Bow to Failure (It? Not What You Think) - by If you're like most folks, failure comes with negative judgments, and you have a variety of ways to dodge both the judgments and the bad feelings that come with them. You hunker down, often hunching your shoulders, pulling your energy in, and perhaps adopting an apologetic posture as if to say, ...
Views: 874 - Discernment - by To discern: to perceive (something obscure or concealed). The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition.
The word "discernment" showed up in my thoughts and conversation several years ago, connoting a way of perceiving the right course of action when right choices are not obvious. ...
Views: 1024 - Work That Works for You - by About 25% of my clients are working on career change issues. Some know what they want to do, but don't know how to get there. Others are faced with the difficult realization that (at 20, 30, 40 or 50 years of age) they still don't know what they want to do when they grow up.
This excerpt ...
Views: 811 - The Art of Time Management - by Time.
That's the primary focus for my own coaching call today as I contemplate how I will find time to get this newsletter written, edited and laid out in time for it to reach you in a timely fashion. Not to mention where the time for updating The Bookstore at Coachladybug.com where the Bedside ...
Views: 934 - Meeting the Enemy--and It's You! - by How often have you started a fitness program, decided to learn a new skill, promised yourself to paint your living room or finish a landscaping project, only to encounter seemingly endless resistance? Sometimes the resistance is generated internally; sometimes it comes from external sources such ...
Views: 665 - Why Teens Act Out (Book Excerpt: from Dear God I Have Teenagers Please Help!) - by I remember my teenage years all too vividly, and, for the most part, I put my parents through a living hell.
I rebelled, acted out, stayed out all night, tried drugs, cut school, lost my virginity, and was deeply unhappy during that phase of my life.
You may wonder what triggered it all inside ...
Views: 832 - For the 21st Century, We need intuition - by In the aftermath of September 11th, many people claim we face a new world. Yet what I see is not a new world, but a need to become aware of what the world has become. The nineteenth century brought the Industrial Revolution, which changed the way we did things. The twentieth century introduced ...
Views: 1141 - Your sacred space - by Many of us have a place in our lives where we feel especially free and creative. They are places we retreat when we want to recover from a bad day, celebrate a good day, think through a knotty problem, or write the first draft of our next chapter.
Some people head for the hills and the parks, ...
Views: 1041 - Ten Tips for Non-Traditional University Students - by If you are attending college or university after a lapse of several years, take heart! I did it, and I survived. Being older than your fellow students can offer advantages, but also pose stresses and challenges Here are some tips to help you.
(1) To get in the right spirit, check out a ...
Views: 2817 - TEN THINGS TO DO IF YOU REALLY, REALLY HATE YOUR JOB - by 1. Begin focusing on what you want instead of how much you want to escape. When you find yourself sharing the latest horror story, stop in mid-sentence and say, "What I want to have is..."
2. Create an image that describes you in your job. Are you on a riverbank with no way to get to the other ...
Views: 915 - Sticking To It vs. Sinking Into It - by Drama #1: Sticking
Scene I: X calls a coach. "I need to get moving. I'm not comfortable here."
Scene II: Two weeks later. X emails coach: "Could we postpone the call? I'm a little tired today. And I'm SO busy…"
Scene III: Three months later. X emails coach: "What's going on? I'm not getting ...
Views: 824 - Talk your way to financial freedom - by Feeling trapped by lack of funds? We can learn from those who live comfortably and retire early. They speak a different language from those who are stuck in a scarcity process.
1. Banish the word "expensive" from your vocabulary. Replace with, "That's not a priority for me."
"Expensive" is ...
Views: 829 - Three tips talk yourself to financial freedom - by Feeling trapped by lack of funds? We can learn from those who live comfortably and retire early. They speak a different language from those who are stuck in a scarcity process.
1. Banish the word "expensive" from your vocabulary. Replace with, "That's not a priority for me."
"Expensive" is ...
Views: 2923 - When Coaching is working - by Ten ways to tell coaching is working:
© Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D. www.movinglady.com
1. You find yourself saying, "I can't wait to share this [book, story, experience] with my coach."
2. You feel more energized.
3. You feel as though you're listening to your own intuition, not following ...
Views: 738 - Read the fine print of your dream - by "In the factory we make lipstick; in the drugstore we sell hope." That's what Charles Revson, Revlon's founder, supposedly said.
Self-help guides work the same way. They promise a new life, easily and effortlessly, starting tomorrow.
Take Marsha Sinetar's best-seller, Do What You Love -- The ...
Views: 872 - Learn the Language of Financial Freedom - by Feeling trapped by lack of funds? We can learn from those who live comfortably and retire early. They speak a different language from those who are stuck in a scarcity process.
1. Banish the word "expensive" from your vocabulary. Replace with, "That's not a priority for me."
"Expensive" is ...
Views: 783 - Tough Decision? Ask the Power Question - by We've all had the experience of pulling the right string and watching a knotty tangle unravel all at once.
When you're standing at a fork in the road -- or wondering where to turn off a traffic circle -- asking the right question can be equivalent to puling he right thread.
Let's say you're ...
Views: 960 - Losing your biggest customer - by Q: I was moving to my dream with my own business when -- wham! I lost my largest customer. I'm hurting, both emotionally and financially. What now?
A. I'm convinced that every dream includes a certain amount of nightmare. Owning a business gives you freedom but you have to spend time ...
Views: 1509 - Customers Want To Take Your Money! - by Many years ago, I ran a part-time resume service out of my New York apartment. My client showed up on time for her first appointment, nervously clutching her old resume.
"Can we just talk for awhile?" she asked.
"No," I said firmly, amazing myself. "If you want me to work on your resume, ...
Views: 1238 - The Nanny Diaries: Lessons for the Small Business Owner - by Nanny Diaries has achieved the dazzling height of Number One in book sales on amazon.com. The authors serve up delicious pseudo-gossipy scenes of a dysfunctional Park Avenue family, "Mr. and Mrs. X."
From the perspective of a career coach, Nanny is an independent contractor -- a very small ...
Views: 1383 - Jobs vs. Business: Risk Revisited - by Many people start a business to "be my own boss" or "find meaning in my work." Yet increasingly I talk to clients who realize they have few choices in the workplace.
Let's say you join a company, degree in hand, at entry level. You move up the ladder for fifteen, twenty, even twenty-five ...
Views: 786 - Transform Wet Blankets Into Comfort Quilts - by You've embarked on a major transition and your enthusiasm is growing. Just when you get a small fire going, someone comes along with a heavy wet blanket.
"You'll hate it."
"I turned down that job two years ago, but it's perfect for you."
"Nobody makes a living that way."
Strategies to ...
Views: 829 - When you're really, truly stuck - by When you are really, truly stuck
Every so often I get an email like this: "Cathy, I will be calling to book an appointment. I am miserable. I hate my job. I hate where I'm living." Signed:
"Gloria".
I send what I hope is a gracious response, attaching my "get ready" worksheet and a list of ...
Views: 880 - Critcs Killing Your Dreams? Turn Wet Blankets Into Comfort Quilts - by You've embarked on a major transition and your enthusiasm is growing. Just when you get a small fire going, someone comes along with a heavy wet blanket.
"You'll hate it."
"I turned down that job two years ago, but it's perfect for you."
"Nobody makes a living that way."
Strategies to ...
Views: 805 - Your sacred space - by Many of us have a place in our lives where we feel especially free and creative. They are places we retreat when we want to recover from a bad day, celebrate a good day, think through a knotty problem, or write the first draft of our next chapter. Some people head for the hills and the parks, ...
Views: 1045 - Am I lucky? You bet! - by Q: I get so angry when people tell me how lucky I am. Don't they realize how hard I'm working? I try to stay away from people who believe you have to be lucky to live your dream.
A: Yes, I know the feeling. When I took a year off to play, when I moved to New Mexico, when I took a special trip, ...
Views: 942 - Help! I'm disorganized! - by "My boss says I'm the most disorganized person he ever saw. It took me three weeks to recover."
"My chaotic style is great when I'm cooking or painting, but disastrous to a smooth-running office."
"I keep forgetting appointments and losing memos. If this keeps up, I'll be history."
Sound ...
Views: 1216 - Not-so-random acts of kindness for the 21st Century - by Remember those bumper stickers, "Random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beautify?" People would do things like pay tolls for the car behind them. Well, that was nice, but in the new millennium here's what's really kind.
1. Find a broken link on a site? Get an "invalid address" response ...
Views: 1124 - Why midlife career change can feel like getting a divorce - by Most of us are aware that we need to grieve the death of a close friend, relative or favorite pet. We are beginning to learn that other events -- relocation, divorce, illness -- can also be experienced as loss.
Losing a professional-level career can also be a source of grief, anger and ...
Views: 1250 - Want to grow your business? Don't fall for the tactics trap - by Michael refuses to offer a free trial consultation. "They can read my articles or ebooks," he shrugs. His business is booming.
Marilyn offers her clients a full half-hour of free consultation. She has few takers.
Michael and Marilyn send high-quality articles to ezines. Michael's opt-in list ...
Views: 1015 - Should you return to school for that degree? - by Q. I hate my job as a computer consultant. The aptitude tests say I should be a recreation specialist. I like the idea but I dread returning to school for a new degree.
A. Before you invest in a degree, take a test drive. Find two or three people who are doing what you want to do and ask to ...
Views: 1211 - Career victim or career vulnerable? - by If you've been hanging out in the self-help world, you have been told to "stop being a victim" and "take charge of your life." Being a victim means that you let someone else have power over you. You tolerate repeated insults, remain in a job you hate or revive old hurts on a daily basis. ...
Views: 860