Per il vostro successo (To Your Success)

From Barbara Winter:

There's a popular notion that in order to be an entrepreneur you must be a card-carrying risk taker, but the average experience is closer to the truth. You don't have to be a big risk taker to participate in the Joyfully Jobless life, but you do have to be willing to experiment. In fact, the word "experiment" keeps coming up over and over again in people's stories.

The willingness to approach building a business as an experiment assumes that both success and failure will occur. That might sound somewhat unemotional and left-brained. It doesn't have to be that way. Handled properly, an experimental approach makes you smarter and more confident. You continually evaluate results, eliminate what doesn't work so well, have the fun and excitement of doing things in new and different ways.

Why don't you test this out? For the next 90 days, focus on creative experimentation. Challenge yourself to find one new approach every week. Or every month. Give it some time, then decide if you want to keep it in your portfolio or move on to another approach. Who knows what you might discover?

One of the things I know for sure is that when we honor our own dreams, we almost automatically want to support the dreams of people we care about. There are all sorts of ways to do that. I really liked the one that Patti Thomas from IL shared with me.

Patti writes, "For the past two years, my standard graduation gift for high school and college graduates is: a tool kit, a cookbook, and a copy of 'Making a Living Without a Job'. I feel these three items contain the basics for starting a young (or any age) person off on the right path to a future of 'get(ting) out of bed excited and happy about how we're going to spend the day.' I want my children, and my friends and their children, to feel the self esteem to become joyfully jobless."

Per il vostro successo,

Terry

Offer to Make Your Books

Hi Everyone - Happy Easter!

Boy, today is a far cry from Easter 2 years ago when the little girls raced around the lawn in their little strappy sun dresses and searched for Easter Eggs - it has been snowing all week, and although a balmy 34 degrees right now, not the type of weather you'd like to be tramping around the squashy, snow-covered lawn in.

I just added another service to my business - Celebration Storybooks - for those of you who either aren't "crafty", don't have the time, or don't have the inclination, I will create your beautiful storybooks for you! Here's how it works -

I will set up a time to meet - you should have some idea in your mind what type of book you would like - a theme or occasion, perhaps. You should gather your photos - electronically or physically, and when we get together we will decide on what type of book you would like me to help you make. I say "help you" because there's no way I can totally do it myself - I need your preferences, ideas, themes - and I will elaborate on them. I will scan your photos (if need be), put together all of your pages with beautiful art and embellishments, type in your text (we need to talk about that...), and bring the book to completion to be submitted to Heritage Makers for publishing.

Now, it may sound very expensive, but just think how much it would cost you if you did it in a traditional scrapbook (all those papers and putz), or if you do nothing and don't have a great storybook to display on your coffee table OR (heaven forbid) - something happens to your photos before you get your story told - that is the biggest tragedy of all!

e-mail me for a price sheet - it runs about once again the price of the book - and we will get started. Make sure to allow quite a bit of time - we want to do it right - but most of all - do it!
Get it started, begin, start, commence - whatever - you will be glad you did!

Storybooks can be seen at www.celebrationstorybooks.com.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Terry

Great Friends

Great Friends

I think deep down everyone has a burning desire to be great. They want to be the best plumber, the best carpenter, the best mechanic, the best engineer, the best lawyer. They want to be the best dad, the best mom, the best uncle, the best cousin and the best friend. They simply want to be the best - they want to be great. It's human nature to want more for ourselves and to want more for others. We simply want to be great.

The other day a good friend of mine gave me a call. We were talking about a recent promotion that I was passed up for. I work full time as a project manager and had been told that I was going to receive a huge bonus for work well done but the compensation didn't fall through. I was offered a title change but nothing else. I wasn't in the best place and my wife and I hadn't talked in almost 36 hours because of our conflicting schedules. It was in that 36 hour that I received a call from a good friend of mine - my friend Jason. I was really upset that I had been passed for promotion because I thought there was something 'wrong with me'. Jason didn't see it that way. He asked me what had happened and listened to my story.

While we were on the phone, something happened. I'm not quite sure what happened, but I felt a shift - I felt lighter. I shared my story with Jason and he just listened. When I was all done he just said the most beautiful words. He said, "Steve, with your skills and experience you can work anywhere you want. You're going to do great things." I told him how much I appreciated his call and he told me, "No Steve. Thank-you." My heart melted. I felt like crying but I didn't. In all the years of our friendship, he never said such a thing. It was in that moment I realized what a great person he is - and in his greatness I realized how great I am. If you ever forget who you are, stop and listen to your great friends.

Make great friends and keep them forever.. It's in their greatness that lies the greatness in YOU.

Stephen Martile

Turning Desire Into Dreams

February 22, 2008 Turning Desire Into Dreams A strong sense of optimism may well up within you today as you review your plans for the future. You may feel encouraged by recent successes and, as a result, more confident in your capabilities. Whereas once you might have considered all that can go wrong, you are now likely focused wholeheartedly on your positive expectations. You can make the most of this optimism by using it as inspiration when you visualize your future accomplishments. Thinking about what you hope to achieve as if it has already occurred can help you create the future you desire with a minimum of strife. Should you find yourself plagued by pessimistic thoughts today, simply remember that your thoughts can have a profound effect on your ability to apply yourself enthusiastically to your goal-oriented tasks. Because optimism attracts opportunity, maintaining a hopeful outlook can help you draw positive prospects into your life. People tend to focus on worst-case scenarios, ostensibly to prepare themselves for what the future may bring. However, our thoughts are the seeds from which our lives grow and take shape. Your optimistic thoughts will lead you to seek out the people and activities that will become the building blocks of the life you desire. When you are focused on the eventual realization of a bright and fulfilling future, you will be more apt to recognize the steps you must take to attain such a future. A hopeful attitude can serve as an everlasting source of encouragement. The optimism that has taken root in your soul today will help you craft the life of your dreams. From Daily OM

Outside The Comfort Zone

Things We Don’t Want To Do

Most of us have had the experience of tackling some dreaded task only to come out the other side feeling invigorated, filled with a new sense of confidence and strength. The funny thing is, most of the time when we do them, we come out on the other side changed and often wondering what we were so worried about or why it took us so long. We may even begin to look for other tasks we’ve been avoiding so that we can feel that same heady mix of excitement and completion.

Whether we avoid something because it scares us or bores us, or because we think it will force a change we’re not ready for, putting it off only creates obstacles for us. On the other hand, facing the task at hand, no matter how onerous, creates flow in our lives and allows us to grow. The relief is palpable when we stand on the other side knowing that we did something even though it was hard or we didn't want to do it. On the other hand, when we cling to our comfort zone, never addressing the things we don’t want to face, we cut ourselves off from flow and growth.

We all have at least one thing in our life that never seems to get done. Bringing that task to the top of the list and promising ourselves that we will do it as soon as possible is an act that could liberate a tremendous amount of energy in our lives. Whatever it is, we can allow ourselves to be fueled by the promise of the feelings of exhilaration and confidence that will be the natural result of doing it.

From Daily OM

Being Clear About Desires

Getting What We Want

The best way to get what we want from life is to first know what we want. If we haven’t taken the time to really understand and identify what would truly make us happy, we won’t be able to ask for it from those around us or from the universe. We may not even be able to recognize it once it arrives. Once we are clear about what we want, we can communicate it to those around us. When we can be honest about who we are and what we want, there is no need to demand, be rude or aggressive, or manipulate others that are involved in helping us get what we want. Instead, we know that we are transmitting a signal on the right frequency to bring all that we desire into our experience.

As the world evolves, humanity is learning to work from the heart. We may have been taught that the way to get what we want is to follow certain rules, play particular games, or even engage in acts that use less than our highest integrity. The only rules we need to apply are those of intention and connection. In terms of energy, we can see that it takes a lot of energy to keep up a false front or act in a way that is counter to our true nature, but much less energy is expended when we can just be and enjoy connections that energize us in return. Then our energy can be directed toward living the life we want right now.

Society has certain expectations of behavior and the roles each of us should play, but as spiritual beings we are not bound by these superficial structures unless we choose to accept them. Instead, we can listen to our hearts and follow what we know to be true and meaningful for us. In doing so, we will find others who have chosen the same path. It can be easy to get caught up in following goals that appear to be what we want, but when we pursue the underlying value, we are certain to stay on our right path and continue to feed our soul.

From - Daily OM

The Beginnings of the Abundance Fairy

The Abundance Fairy? Last spring, we were going to host the first ever A-MAY-ZING Heritage Makers training in Minneapolis in mid-May. I wanted it to be educational, rewarding, and most of all - fun. The teachers at our school had filmed a crazy video showing "things not to do in school" including frying bacon in the girls bathroom (this really happened), smoking in cars in the parking lot, not being late for class, etc. and it inspired me.

Anyway, we have a few students that are into movie-making, so I wrote a script and gathered the troops one afternoon (it was pretty urgent because our training was coming up very fast) and we filmed in the library of our school. I literally grabbed kids that were in the school at that time - I wanted Micalie involved in it, but she had a rehearsal at the other school that day, so every warm, willing body was fair game.

We ended up with 2 boys and 4 girls who played the parts of a new consultant and party guests who were doing all the wrong things, but of course, the Abundance Fairy saved the day and made the celebration a success! From then on, it was providence. The film made it's way to Utah and even a short showing at Reunion.

Stay tuned for the sequel.