Interactive Web Success

I recently read that Malcolm Gladwell wrote most of his book Blink while away from his desk. He wrote at coffee shops, restaurants, and other public places.

I’ve only done a little of this myself, but I’ve always found it a valuable practice. If I feel stuck in a creative rut, working in a public place is a great way to get new ideas flowing.

On Monday I spent most of the day on the Las Vegas Strip (only a 20-minute drive from my house), alternating walking around and stopping at various places to write and/or eat. I didn’t bring my laptop just a pen and some folded up paper. Mostly I was brainstorming, so as soon as I’d get an idea, I’d stop and sit somewhere and write it down along with any others that came to mind. Usually I could find a good place to sit, like a food court area, but sometimes I’d sit and write at a slot machine. Then I’d get up and start roaming again. I started at the south end of the Strip at the Luxor Hotel and gradually worked my way up to the new Wynn Hotel and then back again. With all the wacky themed hotels, there’s an abundance of visual stimulation a giant pyramid, a castle, a miniature New York City, the Eiffel Tower, a pirate ship, Roman statues, a volcano… plus lions, tigers, and ferocious flamingos.

I love the vibrancy of the Strip… the ching-ching-ching of the slot machines, the cheers and groans around the craps tables, the unskilled blackjack players who don’t know you should always hit a soft 17, the rowdy college kids, the happy newlyweds and their wedding parties, and of course… the buxom cocktail waitresses who look like they’re about to spill more than a tray of drinks.

Oddly it’s sometimes easier to concentrate when I’m surrounded by distractions. I think the reason is that I know they’re distractions, so I can tune them out more easily. But in my home office, I’m surrounded by unconscious distractions the kinds of things that seem important but aren’t. When you go out and leave your computer and internet connection behind, you can’t succumb to routine distractions as easily. If you bring only one kind of work with you, like a pen and paper for brainstorming, you can’t easily kid yourself that you’re working when you aren’t. You can’t simply claim to be working merely because you’re at the office. The line between working and not working becomes much sharper.

Try spending at least a half day away from your usual work environment. Walk around, eat at interesting places, and just sit for a while. Change your scenery often. Bring some simple work where you can carry all the materials in your pocket, like a pen and paper for brainstorming.

If you can’t take the time away from your office to do this, then do it for yourself on one of your days off. Take a list of decisions you need to make, and consider them one by one as you walk. Set some new goals. Write a personal mission statement.

Great ideas don’t always come knocking on your office door. A day outside can help scramble those stale inputs and get your creative juices flowing again.

Copyright © Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog (blog)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles (articles)

Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.

What Is Self-Esteem?

Self-esteem literally means to esteem, or respect, yourself. Having high self-esteem means that you have a positive image of yourself. Let’s look at where such a positive self-image comes from.

In her classic book Celebrate Yourself, Dorothy Corkville Briggs makes a distinction between the real you and your self-image. She says that the real you is unique and unchanging. Most of your self-imagewhat you think is true about yourselfis learned. It is not necessarily accurate at all!

Where are your beliefs about yourself drawn from? Where did you learn them? If you think about it, you’ll see that they came from:

• What others said about you
• What others told you
• What others did to you

Your self-image is the result of all the messages you heard about yourself as a child. These messages added up to a set of beliefs about who you are. It may have nothing to do with who you really are.

For example, you may believe things like:

• I’m not very smart.
• I’m naturally passive.
• Girls aren’t any good at math.
• I’m too old to start over.
• All of the women in the Breski family become doctors.
• I’m painfully shy.
• The Hurleys never lie.

In addition to learning to believe certain things during our early years, there are certain situations that make most people feel inferior or lacking in self-esteem.

Some examples are:

• Being criticized
• Not being loved
• Being rejected
• Experiencing failure

What Low Self-Esteem Feels Like

In situations like these above, it is not uncommon to feel emotions such as:

• Sadness
• Inferiority
• Anger
• Jealousy
• Rejection

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is one of the most successful methods for helping people feel better about themselves. Cognitive therapists help depressed and anxious people feel better by identifying how faulty ways of thinking are making them feel bad. They believe that faulty thoughts cause us to feel bad, which makes us feel bad about ourselves.

Cognitive therapists call these faulty ways of thinking “twisted thinking.” Cognitive therapy is a process where the client analyzes his or her thoughts and beliefs, and learns to substitute more healthy ways of thinking and believing. These therapists help their clients feel better in four steps: First, identify the upsetting events that cause bad feelings; second, record your thoughts about the event; third, identify the distortions in your thinking process; and fourth, substitute rational responses. When the client successfully completes these four steps, the client usually feels better about him- or herself.

Thinking the right kinds of thoughts is one way to feel good about yourself. Now let’s talk about a second way to increase your self-esteem: by taking a look at your life environment and seeing whether it supports you feeling good about yourself. You may find that some nourishing elements need to be replenished. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do you have people in your life who:

1. Treat you with love and respect?

2. Encourage you to do and be anything you want?

3. Help you find out what you want to do, and how to do it?

4. Encourage you to explore all of your talents and interests?

5. Are thrilled when you succeed?

6. Listen to you when you need to complain?

7. Help you bounce back from failure without making you feel bad?

Take a moment to think about each of the items on this list. Note where your environment is providing adequately for you, and where it is lacking. This can give you clues to how to build your own self-esteem.

Strategies for Esteem Building

1. Pay attention to how you are feeling from moment to moment. Tune in to what your five senses are experiencing. Take it down to the most basic level of “I feel warm right now,” “I feel light-headed,” “I feel a tightness in my stomach.”

2. Revisit your interests and goals. Make a list of things you’d like to do and learn. Today, take one step toward learning more.

3. Spend less time with critical people and more time with those who appreciate you.

4. Spend some time with yourself at the end of each day. Review what happened and how you were feeling. Write about it in a private journal.

5. If you are feeling bad about yourself, consider finding a therapist to help you get your life on a positive track.

Garrett Coan is a professional therapist,coach and psychotherapist. His two Northern New Jersey office locations are accessible to individuals who reside in Bergen County, Essex County, Passaic County, Rockland County, and Manhattan. Garrett also offers online and telephone coaching and counseling services for those who live at a distance. He can be accessed through http://www.creativecounselors.com or at 201-303-4303.

Are you maximizing your strengths and promoting your talents at work? If you have sharp analytical skills, have you sought to apply those skills to your current job? I know it sounds crazy to ask for more work when you are already overloaded, but any assistance that you can provide now will ultimately help you advance in your present position or in a future one.

You have gifts and talents to offer the world. Your current or potential employer desperately needs to use your talents NOW, especially since they are focused on increasing revenue.

Just what ARE your talents and how can you apply them to your career?

1. Discover Your Hidden Talents

a. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

b. How can you capitalize on your strengths and improve your weaknesses?

c. Can you enhance your strengths and dissipate your weaknesses by learning on-the-job or by taking additional classes or training?

2. Promote Your Talents Within

a. Once you have an analysis of the talents you have to offer, start promoting them. If you don’t tout them, then no one will.

b. Talk with your boss about helping out the team. Your pathway to the top is by being someone who can be counted on.

3. Take Action

a. After you tell your employer about your hidden talents and your ideas for using them, you must live by your words. Remember your integrity is at stake and that means something.

b. Using your talents is not a one-day project; it is a way to live and work more effectively every day. So go out there, and put your talent to work!

It may be hard to focus on your talents when the world around you is so uncertain. Put your worries behind you, and your best foot forward. You can be proud of your effort no matter what the future may bring, because you swung out and gave it your best shot.

Sean North primarily helps writers gain focus, motivation, remove mental blocks that help to unblock the writing process.

EVERYONE who writes has been stuck at some point in his or her career. You do not have to accept these mind-boggling roadblocks!

seannorthstn@aol.com

(586) 216-7516

I was once told that there are only two types of people the world dislikes.

People that fail

People that succeed

Where do you play, and Do you take a Stand in Life?

Many of us spend way too much time playing the middle for various reason. Whether we are fearful of failure or lacking belief in our ability to succeed we face the temptation to play the middle ground of safety.

You see, the middle ground keeps us out of the limelight of public failures and safe from the resulting criticism and we also avoid being targets because of success. What we are doing is playing it safe. Most people don’t like to be targets of criticism.

Are you playing it safe? Are you playing NOT to win? Are you playing the average joe role so as not to rock the boat of others and so that you may avoid the risk of failure or the discipline needed for success?

If that is you, realize this…average is your enemy not your friend. It is your right to shine and to shine brightly. You are unique and created for extraordinary living. At the end of the day you are choosing the average standard that you are destined to live an unfulfilled life so that you don’t offend others.

Live Out Loud and Split the Room

When I walk into a room I’d rather split the room between those who like me and those who don’t because my life makes a bold statement rather than going unnoticed. The temptation to play it safe and avoid rocking the boat is a strong one. Yet playing the average joe takes the greatest toll then any criticism, failure or success when cause.

Live out loud and be bold about who you are! Be noticed and enjoy it! You don’t have to conform to anyone but you own belief and values. Resist peer pressure!

You pay a price no matter what level of living you choose but I think the greatest price is paid by those who live a life of quiet desperation..that is a average life.

Every one of us has had a yearning and a dream of something extraordinary say, do and become in life. Every one us must confront that yearning and make a conscious decision to deny that spark of greatness and desire or choose the step out in faith and courage and go for it. Each time we deny ourselves for the average life we just create a greater internal conflict of building frustration and unhappiness.

You will never be happy playing it safe. I believe a lot of people are grumpy because they regret either never daring to live the life they imaged or they are currently deny themselves that opportunity.

You must resist that temptation to play it small and just play it big!

You must build the strength the live a life that is bold statement about who you are, what you believe and where you are going. You will not find power, joy and happiness until you begin to live your values, beliefs and stretch yourself for the greater success of your choosing.

Who cares about failure or success or criticism when you are living your best life now? The object is to become transformed and create a life for yourself that has the power to make a difference for other people. Failure becomes feedback and success becomes that expectation. Critics have to justify their existence somehow so what they say may validate their existence in their own minds but it has nothing to do with you. Right?

Focus on your finish and your enemies and critics go unnoticed by you.

I encourage you to choose extraordinary living! Whatever you do, great or small, do with and extraordinary mindset, extraordinary action and extraordinary words!

That’s extra-ordinary. Be more than ordinary in all that you do. I know it isn’t easy but you can do it. Start small and act with excellence and confident. Realize how special you are and gifted and talented you are and celebrate that in all that you do.

Don’t you dare hold back on your gifts and talents because other people feel uncomfortable! They should be uncomfortable. They need to get up off their hind-parts and let their let shine also. But never hide your light or your life because others can’t handle it.

Never! Your life is given to you once and it is up to you live well while you are here. You must choose to live well.

To live well you must fight the enemy called average. To fight the enemy called average, you must leave your comfort zone, risk failure and expect success!

Make today an extraordinary day!

Robert Paisola
robert@trumpworldwide.com

Robert Paisola is an expert in the field of Personal Real Estate Investor Training. He is a professional speaker who has been featured on CNN, CNNFN, and the Wall Street Journal. He can answer your questions on the “Basics of the Real Estate Investing Business” to detailed issues regarding your specific transactions. Life Experience Robert Paisola is a Professional International Seminar Speaker in the Areas of Real Estate Investing, Tax Lien Investing, Rental Property Management, Real Estate Coach and Mentor Training and Business Management. He has served companies throughout the world. If you are interested in learning the business from someone like Rob email his office at robert@trumpworldwide.com or visit http://www.allexperts.com/displayExpert.asp?Expert=38419

or contact the Success Training Network at 1-877-517-9555

Reality testing and dream signs

The secret to lucid dreaming success is to get yourself into the habit of noticing when you are dreaming and when you are not. The way you do this is to train yourself to do reality checks during your waking hours. Reality checks are conscious, deliberate tests that will reveal whether you are awake or dreaming. If you consistently practice reality checks during your waking hours and then one day (or rather one night) you will do a reality check during a dream, when, hopefully, you will spot that you are actually dreaming. This is the moment of ‘going lucid’, and, after perhaps weeks of hard work, to discover that you are actually lucid dreaming is a wonderful moment.

Try doing reality tests four or five times a day. Ask yourself, ‘Am I dreaming now?’ A good time to do a reality test is just after something odd happens during your waking hours, the logic being that many odd things happen in dreams, and if you can get into the habit of reality checking right after something unusual happens, then sooner of later you will do a reality test in a dream, and then the dream will reveal itself.

Reality tests not only focus your mind on whether you are awake or dreaming, they also focus your mind on looking for dream signs, signs which give away an experience as a dream. When you do reality tests during the day, consciously look out for dream signs — any indications which would give away an experience as being a dream. Of course during the day there will be no dream signs, you’ll be awake, but your search for dream sign in your waking life will prepare you for an experience where you will think you are awake, but you’ll actually discover that you are dreaming.

What sort of dream signs should you look out for?

Watches are good things to focus on, so make sure you wear one during the day. Look hard at the numbers to see if they remain constant or if they change. Do this often enough, and one night in a dream you will stare at your watch and the magic will begin. I am referring of course to the dream phenomenon noted by researchers where text (words or numbers) changes before the dreamer’s eyes. This happens in 75% of cases where the text is re-read and in 95% of cases where it is re-read twice. So during the day, train yourself to look at the numbers on your watch, then look away and back again, away and back again. If the numbers on the watch face change then ‘no’ you are not going mad, the truth is that you are actually dreaming. Re-examining any form of text in a dream is likely to give away the dream since the words will rarely hold their configuration on repeated re-examination. What you just read and understood as a coherent sentence will in most cases morph into nonsense when you re-read it, thereby revealing your experience as a dream, provided, of course, that you have trained yourself to spot this dream sign.

A good idea is to carry a bit of text around with you during the day and look at it regularly. Soon enough you will remember to look at the same text in a dream (your mind will reproduce it) and you’ll spot the dream sign as the text breaks up, or changes before your eyes.

Another dream sign to look out for are malfunctioning light switches; try flicking a light switch in a dream and you’ll generally find that they do not work to alter the lighting conditions.

Other dream signs will be your abilities. In dreams we are often able to fly, we may be able to pass through walls, or make things around us move. Things around you may also not be as they are in waking life: in dreams you might encounter strangely coloured animals, malfunctioning devices, and you may meet deceased people. In order that you are ready to spot these odd occurrences in a dream, try to imagine such things happening during the day. One such test that works for me is to imagine myself lifting off the ground. I did this several times a day for a few days and sure enough, I remembered to do it in a dream, took to the air, spotted the dream sign and I ‘went lucid’, and then set off on a wonderful adventure.

Your dream signs

Of course not everyone will experience the same dream signs - the signs you experience will be personal to you, but this is where your dream diary will be of assistance. Dream recall is essential to lucid dreaming success and by keeping a record of all of your dreams you will focus your mind on remembering them. As soon as you wake, record all the dreams that you can remember from the night before. In doing this, you will be making a record those dream signs which you regularly experience, and then by studying the patterns in your dream signs you will be on notice to look out for them in future.

Reality testing by looking for your dream signs may sound a little crazy, but once you get yourself into the habit of frequently testing reality in the real world, it is only a matter of time before you remember to do it in the dream world, and then you will start lucid dreaming.

Stay calm

Going lucid for the first time (realising that you are actually dreaming) can be extremely exciting, so try to keep calm or you are likely to wake up, and your lucid dreaming experience will be over before it has really started!

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

This is a technique pioneered by Dr Stephen La Berge which should be practiced immediately before you go to sleep. The technique involves setting yourself up to notice you’re dreaming and then to wake and remember the lucid dreaming experience in as much detail as you can. What you do is repeat out loud — like a mantra — your intention to lucid dream and to have perfect dream recall. I tried this technique and had immediate successful with it. I should add, however, that by this stage, I had already trained myself to pick up on dream signs. As I lay in bed I repeated over and over, ‘I will have a lucid dream, and I will remember it, I will have a lucid dream..’ I pushed all other thoughts from my mind and focused hard on my intention to start lucid dreaming as soon as I fell asleep. In no time at all, I found myself in a garden, when it occurred to me that I might be dreaming. Uncertain as to whether I was dreaming, I tried my flying reality test, and took to the air, confirming the experience as a dream.

You can also use the MILD technique (or the mantra technique as I like to refer to it) to direct yourself to have a lucid dream about something in particular, or to perform a particular task. Just adapt your mantra to the specifics of the task.

Napping

Dr La Berge’s research has revealed that periods of waking interjected during sleep increases the likelihood of lucid dreaming. This is known as the napping technique. Try waking one and a half hours earlier than you usually do, and then remain awake for about half an hour, then go back to sleep. Research shows that you may be able to increase your chances of lucid dreaming by as much as 15 to 20 times! It helps if during the waking period you read about lucid dreaming, think about practicing reality checks, and follow the MILD or mantra technique as you fall asleep.

As a general point, REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep, during which you dream) comes in cycles, and each cycle is longer than the last. The final cycle could be as long as 45 minutes to an hour, so by waking at, say, six in the morning, then setting yourself up for a final bout of dream sleep (using MILD) you could have a fruitful hour long lucid dreaming experience.

Here’s a link to an interview with Dr La Berge where he talks about how he first became interested in lucid dreaming, the benefits of lucid dreaming and the lucid dreaming techniques he and others have developed.

Lucid dreaming induction devices

You can also buy devices, known as lucid dreaming induction devices such as DreamLight or NovaDreamer which you wear whilst sleeping and which give you artificial dream signs e.g flashing lights. The lucid dreaming induction devices work subtly so that they do not wake you up, but rather the signals enter your dream and become part of what you perceive. Research shows that these can be very effective at notifying the dreamer that they are in fact dreaming. Such devices are quite expensive and I would suggest that you try the lucid dreaming techniques detailed on in this article before having recourse to an induction device.

Good luck, and happy dreaming.

© Stephen Turner 2006.

Stephen Turner has set up an information and resource website Lucid Dreaming. On the site you’ll find loads of lucid dreaming information and advice, articles, features, discussion and specially chosen links to other lucid dreaming websites, so please take a look. Stephen would also welcome your feedback on the site: click on the contact link on the site. This article may be reproduced in its original form provided that the author’s copyright note and this ‘author resource paragraph’ are displayed below the article.

What do creativity managers do?

Replace the word management with the word optimisation.

That’s what creativity managers do: they optimise the quality of the idea pool (creativity) and the implementation process (innovation).

There are many methods of optimisation and the creativity leader must be aware of all of them, in other words, he or she must synthesise them for optimal effect.

Areas [within creativity] that need managing include motivation, organisational culture, organisational structure, incremental versus radical effects and processes, knowledge mix, group structures, goals, process and valuation.

Areas [within innovation] that need managing include idea selection, development / prototyping and the art of commercialisation.

It is worth noting that 4000 good ideas result in 4 development programs, which in turn results in 1 winner.

Radical Disruption and Steady State Continuity

We are constantly searching for the radical disruptive leap, the big bang, the disruptive technology. However, very little is often noted about the value of steady state continuity.

After an idea has been successfully commercialized, one critical element of continued success is continued steady state investment in the idea and incremental change that leads to radical shifts.

However, at the same time it should be noted that a successful idea will reach maturity and a newer radical idea will take it’s place. This can be noted using the example of Microsoft versus Google at around 2006, where Microsoft’s business model was challenged by software delivered as a service on Google’s platform.

Thus successful idea management requires decision-makers to simultaneously manage their existing idea in a steady-state fashion and a keep investing in new ideas to prevent the other guy from attaining competitive advantage.

In the chapter, “Corporalita: The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise”, of his book, “How to think like Leonardo da Vinci”, Michael Gelb describes Da Vinci’s practices and attitudes about wellness and physical fitness. He invites us to explore and apply many principles.

Self-Care. “Da Vinci believed that we should accept personal responsibility for our health and well-being” (page 194).

I was pretty thrilled to read this, considering my own passion for self-care and my belief in our personal role in our own health and wellness. Years after quitting smoking and adopting Daily rituals of self-care, I can now truly say that self-care is a way of life for me. A way of life that keeps me healthier and happier than I’ve ever been before!

Self-care requires two basic beliefs. If you don’t believe them yet, pretend until you do. The first belief is that it doesn’t matter what other people might be thinking about us - that’s their problem. When pleasing other people becomes more important than our own health, we’ll always be out of sync with our self-care goals.

The second, and possibly the most challenging, is the belief that we deserve to be healthy and well. Until we do, we’ll always find ways to sabotage our efforts.

Adopting these beliefs can feel very foreign after years of being controlled by people-pleasing tendencies and by feelings of low self-worth.

A great place to start is recognizing when you’re reacting to those old beliefs. Make an effort to shift things, in the moment, and try on more healing beliefs and healthier habits.

In Gelb’s self-assessment, he asks us whether we’re “aware of the ways in which my physical state affects my attitudes”, and, consequently, whether we’re “aware of the ways in which my attitudes affect my physical state” (page 196), bringing us to Da Vinci’s next principle.

Mind/body connection. Da Vinci obviously believed strongly in the mind-body connection. We know from the Law of Attraction that, “what you focus on, grows”. A positive attitude and beliefs (including the two I mention above), healthy and supportive relationships and a sense of personal empowerment can all do wonders for your physical health.

Be aware of the language that you use for health issues. Are you fighting an illness (conjures images of combat, anger, struggle, winning versus losing) or are you encouraging health (conjures images of nourishment, blooming, healing, radiating, glowing)?

If you’re tempted to focus on something that hurts (maybe your neck is sore after a long Day on the computer), you can focus instead on being grateful that the rest of your body is healthy and well enough to carry you around through the Day.

When you’re sick, talk and act as if you’re getting healthier by the moment. Because you are! Focusing on what you’re growing into (health) and not what you’re growing out of (illness) keeps you more positive and keeps things moving in the right direction.

Mindful Eating. “Don’t eat, dine”. Da Vinci’s approach to physical health was simple and full of common sense - balanced physical activity that included aerobic, strength and flexibility exercises, emotional wellness, balance and moderation.

He also touted mindful eating (making dining a pleasurable and sensual experience, one to enjoy and savour), and suggested the best time to stop eating is JUST BEFORE you feel full. That’s a lot easier to do if you’re paying attention while you’re eating!

Think back to the last time you ate a meal among purposefully chosen surroundings - soothing music or positive conversation to listen to, delectable aromas to smell hours before your meal, pleasant colours and textures surrounding your eating area and delicious, fresh, wholesome and natural foods to taste and savour.

Quite different from how many of us eat - on the run or standing up, listening to chatter or the depressing television news, and surrounded by stacks of unopened mail, business folders, laundry or whatever else happens to have landed in our dining space.

Body awareness. We spend much of our time in our brains, rarely tuning into what’s carting them around and keeping them safe. Breathing exercises and other mind-body practices are simple pathways to body awareness. Tuning in to your breath can be grounding in moments of stress and anxiety, or as a way of enjoying positive moments on an even deeper level.

The Body Remembers. When we perform actions repeatedly, the body remembers them. I notice this when my fingers Dance over the keys when I type the URL to my website, or when I get through playing a song on the guitar while I was so focused on my client I didn’t even realize I’d changed chords. I see this also in my elderly music therapy clients; I once a spent a joyful few minutes observing a woman knit effortlessly, when just a few minutes earlier she was sitting motionless, staring blankly and not responding to my greeting. Her hands just knew what to do when the knitting needles were placed there. Her body remembered.

Ambidexterity. Da Vinci also stressed the importance of developing ambidexterity - the ability to perform tasks equally well using both hands. As a piano student, my two hands had to do a lot of similar things - the left hand didn’t get a break just because I’m right handed!

And I believe that as a result of those early piano experiences (I’ve played from the age of 5), I do have limited ambidexterity. I notice that when I perform some tasks (kitchen jobs, throwing and catching a baseball, bowling, etc.), it’s sometimes difficult to determine which hand is stronger. And sometimes it’s the opposite of the one it’s “supposed” to be.

The drum kit was another instrument that I studied that allowed me to explore ambidexterity. It was always much easier to do if I just “forgot” that my right hand was supposed to be stronger, and just relaxed and let the music and rhythm come through me.

Flexibility. Speaking of relaxing - flexibility training, such as stretching and some types of yoga, can be a wonderful mind-body workout. Tuning into the muscles and body parts that you’re strengthening and stretching is a wonderful way to also tune in to the body.

There’s strength inherent in flexibility. A strength that is pliable and resilient in its very nature, not at all rigid.

And I think this flexibility, this resilience, is at the very heart of a life of self-care, health and wellness. It’s being strong enough to say, “No” when “No” is what needs to be said. It’s being strong enough to stop and change your behaviour when you see you’re stuck in an old unhealthy way of living. It’s being resilient enough to start again after a slip, and it’s being flexible enough to let go of controlling diets and strict regimens.

Da Vinci taught us that to take care of our bodies, we can adopt a series of common-sense practices. I invite you to join me in a life of simple self-care, just carrying on and making one healthy choice after another.

Originally published on the Creativity Portal website (http://www.creativity-portal.com) in January 2006.

© Linda Dessau, 2006.

Linda Dessau, the Self-Care Coach, helps artists enhance their creativity by addressing their unique self-care issues. Feel like your creativity is blocked? Sign-up for your complimentary copy of the popular e-course, “Roadblocks to Creativity” by visiting http://www.genuinecoaching.com

I went to work for ServiceMaster which was a national cleaning
franchise. ServiceMaster offered me 200 dollars per week salary,
against 20% commission. The commission seemed more exciting to
me than the 200 dollars per week salary.

After I was there for about 2 weeks, I noticed a man working in
the warehouse. He labored with little excitement. I went out to
talk to him to see what he was doing.

This man and I was the only two workers besides, the owner, his
wife, and the secretary. He explained to me he was doing a smoke
job. I looked in the box, and there were items from a house that
had smoke damage.

He seemed very depressed. “I wish I had your job, he said. At
least you get to drive around and see people and listen to the
radio. I am stuck in this warehouse.” This man was a great
artist, and his main work was marble sculptures.

The city of Denver had purchased one of his sculptures for
downtown, and paid him $30,000.00 for it. I don’t remember this
person’s name, but I felt sorry for him. For most of his life,
he was about 50 years old at the time, people had always
purchased enough sculptures from him to provide him a good
living.

He told me that always he had sold about $30,000.00 to
$50,000.00 worth of sculptures in a year. But people just came
to him and purchased them. He was not a salesperson. The
previous year he did not sell any sculptures and he ran out of
money.

He was like a fish out of water, and had to come down from his
mountain home to the city to find work. I did not know what to
do for him, but he said he would be happier doing my job, and I
was willing to switch with him.

I did enjoy cleaning carpets, but I decided I saw more potential
in what he was doing.

The owner agreed to let us switch jobs, but he explained that I
would no longer have a salary guarantee, only a commission. I
asked how much the commission would be, and he told me 50%.

That sounded fine to me. I started my own system in the
warehouse, to see how fast I could get all the items cleaned. I
categorized each item by the type of cleaning it needed, and the
types of chemicals I had to use to clean them.

This worked quite well, and using the factory type system I
cleaned all the items quickly. This pleased my boss, and the job
received no complaints from the customers. The quickness of the
job, and the satisfaction of the customer caused the insurance
company to offer my boss other jobs.

After a while I decided that since I had a system down, I could
hire people to help me do this job. So I called a local
temporary job agency, and asked for a couple workers.

I gave them a brush, or towel, or tool they needed, and showed
them how to do one technique. Using this method, I was able to
get a job done in 2-3 days that used to take 2 weeks or more.

I would spend a couple days after each job just looking busy in
the home we were working on, to make sure the home owners were
happy with the job. I felt it was better to be there when
something unsatisfactory was discovered by the homeowners, and
take care of it then. This helped to keep the insurance company
pleased also.

This resulted with even more work, and I hired even more
temporary workers. I remember one morning I was at work in the
warehouse and had 6 temp workers busy on my production lines.

The owner of the business walked in the door and gasped! “Where
did these people come from?” he almost screamed. I told them I
had hired them. “You can’t hire this many people!” He exclaimed.
I could see that this many people was stretching the size of the
business he was willing to build.

“Don’t worry” I told him, “Their pay comes out of my 50%”. He
stopped, turned around, looked at me, smiled, and said, “OK”.
That was the last I heard of that.

There were some days that even after paying the workers salary
out of my commission, I would make as much as $1000.00 for one
days work.

I knew this would scare my boss, as he was not used to seeing
big ideas like this. So the extra days of follow up with the
homeowners would help make it seem that I did not make so much.

These days I did not accomplish anything except to make myself
look busy, and to be there to take care of any complaints the
homeowners might have. This did help stop any complaints from
going to the insurance company.

However, even with this procedure, after about 8 months, my boss
called me into work and told me that we had a problem. I asked
him what the problem was.

He told me that I was now making more money than him and his
wife combined, and that did not seem right, as he was the owner
of the company. I asked him how that could possibly be, as he
was paying me 50% commission, and all the labor was coming out
of my commission.

I told him his 50% had almost no costs coming out of it except
the financing. He had to be making more than me.

He said that yes this was true, but he and his wife’s salary
were set to be the same every month, and since mine wasn’t, my
salary had grown to be more than their salaries. Now keep in
mind this man was the owner of the company, and could decide to
give himself a raise if he wanted to.

So I asked him, “Then why don’t you give yourself a raise?”

This comment did not set too well with him, and our conversation
ended up with me asking if he wanted 2 weeks notice, or should I
just leave now.

He told me he did not need 2 weeks notice, so I said goodbye,
and proceeded to leave. On the way out the door he asked me,
“where are you going to go? There are no jobs out there?” He was
shocked that I was leaving.

I said, “I don’t know, I guess I will sell something”. However,
this time I had decided I was going to do something BIG. I was
excited to get out there and find out what it was going to be.

You can read all the chapters of “How I Went From a Shoe Shine
Boy to a Millionaire and Found Passion for Life” by going to http://salessuccessmagazin
e.com. These stories are copyrighted by Timothy L. Drobnick
Sr. 1995 thru 2005. Any person using this article must publish
it without modification and include authors bio and links.